Daily national Republican. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1862-1866, 1864-02-05


sndaciousIy rIsen up to overthrow Gov
ernment the most equal and Just that mas
ever been established among men, ana 70 erect
a new one exclusively upon the basis oil human
bondage The United States refuse to be de-
stroycd or divided by such an agency for such
a purpose. 1t Is not easy, on this side OF the
Atlantic, to conceive how such civil war can
be looked upon with favor or even win lnuli-
ference In Europe. We have, nevertheless, ac'
Cepted the fact that Great Britain ana france
do regard this nsurrCCtion with iaNor on the
demand Of the Statesmen ana the presses
which seem most to engage the confidence OF
Inc peopIc In those countries. France now re-
ouires us to 20 one step further and TO accept
the fact that Great Britain and herself ought to
vote for the admission of the insurgents into
the family Of nations. The ground upon
which the Emperor fayors that extraordinary
proceeding is that 1t Is expected that 1t would
tend to bring our unhappy civil war to a close.
His Imperial ajesty seems, to me, to have
widely misconstrucd the American people,
They are brave and Jealous people they
have made IL their chief duty, throughout a
whole century, to achieve a national indie
pcndenCe, and acquire continental in
nuence, Just like that which France and
Great Britain have respectively won through
the conflicts of eight centuries. The people OF
the United States undoubtedly desire peace,
but they would neither accept a peace that
the proposed combination would offer them,
nor acquesCo in 1t if 1t were possible to force II
upon them. European Powers can dictate
peace, even to Asiatc communities, only by
subjugating them, and yet they have been under
going the process Of moral decline since the era
of Alexander. American sOCiCty, on the con-
trary, 10 In the full yigor of youth; II Is too
enlighted not to resist vZtrpatlon or aggres-
sion by foreign Powers. | fOrbear from press
ing the consideration that such a proceeding to
enforce peace, in the United States, would be
immoral, or the consideration that acceptance
81 MI.
Those who should be prepared for an attempt
either to subjugate the United States by force
or to divide and separate them by foreign in
huence, could not be expected to apprehend the
sensibilities and the sentiments which prevail
among the people whom it is proposed In that
extraordinary way to pacify.
Certainly, however, 1t behooves all the par
ties concerned to consider what probably will
be the consequences TO Themselves II the intcm-
perate action Of British subjects and the induce
ments of French alliance shall bring on a war
between Great Britain and France and the
United States. suppose it to result in the sue
cess Of the allies. have already said that no
peace accepted at their hands could endure.
Arc the allies strong enough to garrison the
American continent Will they ever be pre-
pared to guarantee the new slave State, and to
hold Its ambition for territory and It's cupidity
for slaves within bounds And what are
the bounds to be prescribed Shall that new
oAaNN NNaNN bN AAAONth 70 tAlCllu slavery and
dominion only throughout the present territory
of the United States, or are the anomalous and
hateful Institutions to be restored in Mexico
and throughout Spanish America, including
the West India Islands II has required a
term OF fifty years and the cooperating power
oil the United states TO arrest the African slave
trade. How do the supposed allies now expect
TO prevent Its renewal when the United States
shall have rGlapsed into aCcOmpllccship with
that dreadful traffic Or is the arrested WORK
Of Christianizing Africa, through the mission
ary enginery Of the Middle Passage to be re-
uewed and carried on 10 its nsummatlon
under the auspictes orthe supposed alliesl
Prudent States, even though strong in mutual
alliance, must, nevertheless, always take into
consideration all the chances Of success and
failure. Let us suppose, then, that the allies
shall not succeed In their enterprise, and that
the nltcd states shall come unlarmed out of
the contest. Would there be nothing TO apprc-
hend from the temper OF a people who had
been, as 1t would then seem, wantonly brought
into national conflict on no other prCtuXt than
their uuwllliugnCss to surrender NJ their soy.
ereiguty and Independence! Is there any pos
session or any iBtCrest of France or Of Grrnt
Britain, domestic or colonial, that would hc
the better assured TO its lawful sovereign after
such war, than 1t has been heretofore assured
through the Justice and forbcaraucc OF the
United States, 50 long as they had constituted
nation!
There Is, moreover, moral opinion that per
vadcs the world, and when II Is excited ii works
marvellous things In the policy Of peoples and
states. The universal revolution towards Don
ular forms Of government received, from the
war in which that system was inauguratcd
here, al impulse which long continued to force
II forward, through unheard of Convulslous In
Europe, and which impcllcd 1t into triumphant
success throughout this CuQtinent. ThoscwLo
contemplate an alliance by European monarch.
lcal states against the United States NAV b,,
reasonably expected to consider how lOuu and
how far the aggressive Governments are likely
TO be willingly supplied with men end materials
for war that will be deemed to be warcd for
the suppression OF popular Institutions.
Alliances may, indeed, be made by monarrhs
and statcsmeni but, after all, they must depend
Tor support and continuance upon the allied
peoples and nations themselves Franco and
Great Britain are now equals. Alliance be-
tween weak State and strong one has snur.
times been preserved through several ,rcnrru.
tiOns when the States were separate and remote.
bul think there has been no case In which
voluntary alliance has permanently held
Two equal independent States through a lonir
war without producing in one or In both Of
them changes that, had they been rorescen
would have been sutiCiCnt. by way of warning
TO prevent the formation of the alliance The
statesmen OF France and of Great Britain If
the project OF an alliance were indeed seriously
entertained, could not, think, begin too soon
~ eIuuy now the expenses and the losses and
the profits and benefits, which must attend or
follow 1t, shall be cquilably allotted between
the two countries.
have thus surveyed not only our domestic
situation, but also The entire position of Our
relations with the chief maritime powers. not
because II Is seriously apprchended here that
either alone or In alliance with France. Grcai
Britain Is now about to adopt the Injurious aud
unfriendly measure which the Emncror nr
Franco has Indicated, but lrcausc the survey
furnishes basis for the renewal under ~.
Presidents instruction, of d Suggestion which
has for some time been held in abcyance
namely, that all the misunderstood
lngs which have arisen between the TniIed
States and Great Britain, including those
which now seem to be causing tho tv0
countries TO be drifting towards a
conflict which must he calamitous, are due to
the premature recognition of the Insurgents ms
belligerent Power, aud that two years of ex
perience have confirmed the wisdom and fLe
Justice of the protest that this Government
made against that extraordinary proceeding
The insurgents, Notwithstanding the mcalcul9.
bic benefits 1t has received from that unfortu
nate measure, has, nevertheless, languIshcd
from the very beginning, and has now dc.
0cended so low that manifestly 1t would perish
at once, If it were left like the late lnsurrectlou