Richmond enquirer. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1815-1867, 1863-07-17
THE CoNFEDERACY IN FRANCE


following communication, and who has Just
arrived from France, has been long actively
engaged in advocating the Confederate cause
in the French press. lie has undertaken the
journey through the blockade, in order to see
something of our present condition with his
own eyes:
10 the Editors Of the Enquirer:
RICHMOND, July IL. 1863.
Gentlemen: 10 brother laborcr in the cd
itorial field, who has urst arrived from abroad,
will you allow roOm for some brief remarks
upon what he has seen and heard since
amongst you rs compared with what is really
known in France.
Having made Paris my headquarters since
LETT Washington il 1860, | can speak from
personal experience of the public opinion rs
expressed i'll the daily papers and the social
circles also.
Long have the people OF the Confederate
States been looking towards France for ali
early recognition Ut their independence aud
nationality. They are wondering that France
has not heretofore, and does not even now
come forward and stretch Il friendly hand to
the new CUnfcderacy.
The French people is with you, with the
exception Of the leaders OF IN Ignorant por-
ton, who are supposed to DE enlightened
These are the dcmugOcucs, the Red Republ-
cans, the Communists, who alike, blinuiolded,
follow their leaders, right Or wrong Thus,
what is termed in France the liberal party,
the Republicans at large arc against your re-
public. They are the descendants OF the
ConvcntiUnas, who decreed the abolition OF
slavery in the colonies pretcrring IL
sec the republic which they had found
ed perish rather than principle should
die. lsrssse Ia repuOIique putat gu I'm prin-
cipe was their creed. These men, ii in
power, not only would never . consent
u acknowledge your Coutederacy with slave
~ as an institution, bun would 70 so far
Us to hold no intercourse with any other cx-
listing nation, where the same institution now
| obtains. But happily for mankind, they arc
not in power, aud the power that now rules
over France is. with you, fully satisfied that
your independence is already an acquired fact,
| achieved by your own energies and your own
strong will. | wish not to critIcise here the
slow and protractcd diplomacy Of France
There are undoubtedly reasons for this state
Of things, with which your President must he
| acquainted. TO his wisdom and tirmneSs Of
purpose You must leave all further action in
| the matter. His liz h'standing in the public
| opinion Of France, whatever the shade may
| be, is the surcst guarantee Of ultimate recOg
milton.
As Il proof of this may state that when Pre-
sidcnt Davis last message to Congress reached
uS it was read and commented i'll highest terms
by official and unofficial papers alike, and
when q few days afterwards French transla-
rton Of it in Il pamphlet form appeared. the
| "Monitcur" reproduced it IN erttnSo with the
remark, that the suppression If any para
| graph would alter and weaken that most pow
criul document Few if any similar instances
could DO found in the columns Of the neTSpa-
per above alluded To.
Whenever recognition should come it will he
butAn act u tardv justice, and your people may
| then he proud To remember hereafter that
| their independence has been achieved by
means Of their collective energies alone
| Their position in the family of nations will be
| the bFiginsr !or owing to 10 one any debt vi
gratitudS
The people IN the other S;lo Of the water
arc not acquainted with tenth part Of the
| suffering, the endurance yours are undergoing
for the conquest VI their freedom. Thcy have
| not the remotrst idea Of the hcrOiSm and self
denial Of your entire population.
This | have witnessed with admiration aud
| gladdencd heart, the more particularly so for
| having been champion OF secession, in the
French press. from the very beginning of the
present struggle. Aliusion was often made
ty me to what considered an unconqucrablr
| people; but for many months did l stand
alone, the object Of skcptical snccrs or smiles
| on the part of writer's who thought themselves
better informed the arrival of Mr. Edwin
dc Leon in Paris has been to me great boon
of consolation. lie never hinched, always
uph"!ding the Confederate cause in the hours
vf -, rGTcrs:s is ~ the hu,.ts v; its Dgig.,tcr
PROSPECTS. His eminent talents his genial
| heart infused in mine renewed strength when
hosts were contending against my editorials,
and ever since have we combined our efforts
| to counteruct the audacious falschoods 'circu-
lated by q most mplacable foe. The time has
come now, in Paris, when the defenders of the
Confederate States arc listened 10 by i,s enc
mics, and every day sees the ranks Of its ad-
hcrenta and friends increasing.
Well may the people Of the Confederate
States already be proud Of its history, as it
shall hereafter be written in undyng pages.
4 history full OF startling episodes and long
to relate. They have fought unlike any 9th CT
people On historical records: their battle
fields are to be numbered by the scorc they
| have c"ntended against an enemy whose fcnd-
sh purposes have no parallel i'll the history Of
| mankind.
At first we compared the present United
| States to Russia, the latter coycting the genial
cline Of Southern Europe, the former the
| fertile plantations Of the Southern States but
the comparison proved by far too mild. THIN
| we drew parallel between them and the bar.
] bariaEs that invaded the Roman Empire ::
Lincoln to Attla, the braroure excepted; the
| Northern hofdes 10 the Goths and Eandals;
still the picture Of the Yankee invasion Of
your soil leaves far behind it in atrocities of
all sorts the Asiatic invasion of Southern Eu-
rope.
We had finally to leave of comparison, and
| speak of tho Yankees deeds az among tho
new inventions of that old Sect who, in by
gone days, landed on Plymouth Rock.
With one more observation will close this
letter, stating that the foregoing pages were
| not written with view to court any one nor
to ask favor Of any kind, but spontaneous
~, con amore, instinctivcly, because love
! what deem right, and hate what I consider
| wrong | remain yours, truly, {.
G. G1EARD.