Richmond enquirer. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1815-1867, 1864-04-22

lChi law ihNAINSnJ WYNN wv "
to prevent Grant from withdrawing troops
from the Wost. We can see 70 reason against
On advance into kentucky; but everything
points to it rs feasible, practicable and proper.
We hear constant complaints, in private as,
in public, because Great Britain will not at
once recognize liz and lend us, with British
heartiness, q hand in our great struggle. Her
ancient rcnown es 4 lover Of fairness and JUS
tice, the sympathy which Englishmrh from
! time immemoriM have folt for the weaker
contcnding with n stronger adversary, the
frequent illustrations by her noble men of tho
| old Romans saying, Fctrir cauSa Dis pla.
( cait, sed nic!a catcno, and the acknowledged
kindly feeling of her higher classes for the
| South--all these haze been appealed TO NJ
| evidences, why she ought 10 assist us, even at
the risk Of o war. ii the only question was,
| how far Ensiard's honor il concerned, We
might safely leave the matter to her, as we
are not responsible for it. If our existence
as d nation depended on her assistance, we
might complain with moro justice; hut, God
be thanked, We can yet do without q helping
hand: for & nation that has for three years
maintained such armies as VIC have had, ID
neither feeble nor in danger.
Bat the fact is, that England cannot afford
to help US ard thus 10 risk IL war with tho
United States, because she is literally without
a friend in Europe, and that at a moment
when n war is raging there. which threatens
to envelope the whole Of the continent in
| flames. Her ancient allies have become es>
tYanged, her new friends, gained by family
alliances, are fighting among themselves. AS
| she looks around there arc threatening clouds
rising in all directions on tho horizon. RUS
bia is far from being friendly 20 her, for tho
| wounds Of the CrimeAn war are not yet
SCARED over, and the Polish question has
opened sorac of them afrcsh. She has ro-
monstrated on behalf oC those she thought
wrongcd, but refused to proceed beyond soft
words, and the natural consequence IL, that
she las rather offended one eide, without much
gratifying the other. England has never been
maguanimous enough to act fully up to
the received laws of war, which ayowedly
ignore tho question, which side is constitu-
tionally OF morally right, and ask only
whether both are strong enough to confront
ono another in tho cpen field. L: is not mere
ly her Edward, who treated the Scotch and
tho Welsh as rebels; nor il it only the Irish,
who have moro recently suffered as such: hut
George III and his Tories would have hanged
Washington as readily as they hanged the
Irish leaders, If they but could have lone so.
| Her relations to tho German Conledcracy are
not much better. Bound through her eldest
| Princess t. the b ufc Of Prussia, and through
her future King to that of Denmark, she is in
| q cruel embarrassment, and pays the unfail-
ing penalty of family alliances. In China
| she has involved herself, by strange blum
der Of her Government, in The quarrel be-
tween the Impcrial!s.s and The rebels, and her
| difficulties and responsibilities there amount
to but little less than actual war. In Japan
she has still to maintain 4 force which, incon-
| siderable in itself, still adds to the heavy
| drafts made in all parts Of the world on her
small military establishment. Her naval
| forces have taken some forts and laid q large
| city in ashcs; but she las n"t yet obtained all
| she asks for. and will, iu all probability, have
to continue tho war there another season.
| Her colony OF New Zealand is in blazing hos
| tility with the natives. and the worry existence
| of her numerous establishments there ut
| stake. 1t is the an.agonism Of races, with
| the aspirations and pursuits which civilized
| settlements in barbarous lands always call
| into action, ard which, for n time, require
protection by physical force. With Mexico
| she has ayerted a costly war only by great
| sacrifices, showing more discretion than bold
ness, for when she found what would be tho
| cost Of asserting G r,righ:s, she dropped them
| rather than accept the expense Of enforcing
| them.
1t is, however, in her relations to tho United
| States that she has shown mcst clearly her
! anxious desire to avoid the expense and the
risks of q war. When invited by her neigh
Dor and ally to recognize the Confederate
| States, she declined it because it would al
most certainly have been wsr-at least such
was the language of the Government, when
| summoned in Parliament to explain her re-
| fusal to join France. When the question of
+! the blockade Of onr ports came up, che took
reasonable and considerable" views Of the
| paper blockade, by no means agreeable to q
certain party in England, but the rejection of
| which her Government again declared to be
"caual to war" She professcd a sincere en-
deavor to be inst and disiuterestcd: We know,
| how little she has been able thus to please
| either party on this Continent. But q graver
! complication appeared even more threatening.
| Almcat for the first time in history the En-
glish have been n~cutrals. while q great naval
power is blockaling the ports of q stubborn
enemy. This has led large numbers of En-.
| glishmen, allured by the prospect of q good
market, and perhaps attracted by sympathy
| with our cause and our people, to Engage III
| the contraband trado with our ports. Thus
have arisen numerous disputes as to captures
at sea. The Yankees have turned tho tables
| against the English, and their courts have ex
ecuted the laws, which English judges laid
down in tho carly part Of tho century, and
condemned prizes with a severity of construc-
ton which shows that that they have careful
" studied the British decisions, which 80 en-
ragged the Continental nations Of Europe in
the days Of Napoleon. The English have
rcaped as they had sown, and tho violence, to
use no haTshcr terms, Of tho grandflthe7s
brings now sure rctrit'ution On their grand
children. Dozens of their finest vessels bave
been taken into foreign ports, sold there
l nth thnir narraan md tho nsnnanAa