The Portland daily press., 1865-11-29
Lord Palmerston and the Affair OF tho!
ssTrento

In the November number of Bldck~ooaS
Maoazine is an article on the late Premier o'
England, from which we cut the following
passage. If the statements here mace "ie
correct, and we see no reason to doup' 'ne','
II was evidently no fault of Lord faliiiei''on
that the heat and ill-feeling growing ou' Vi
the Trent affair were not lahhee "ueAJ
managers into such fame as must nave
hurst out in war. When that nobleman cool
" put the explanatory dispatch OF MI, Sew
ard into his pocket, and then proceeded to talk
about what he kneao to be the unauthorized
act of an individual, as premditated outrage
to British honor by the United States Gov
eminent, he was doing his very best to give
England an opportunity for paying old grudges.
If such golden opportunity was within her
grasp, aud she suffered it to escape her, the
writer of the subjoined evidently feels that no
blame should attach to the Premier in conse-
quence: ..i.. b.. ....r... .
which it is now longer secret that Lord Pal
merston made up his mind TO go to with the Fed
bnIvin@ and insolence of the United Staes on many
occasions. and saw with the cearness Of his earlier
years, that an opportunity was at length come OF
putting stop to this bullying in time to come The
Emperor OF the French, equally longsighted agreed
with Lord Pamerston, and had there not been with
him in the Cabinet men to whom the thought of war
under any circumstances is dreadful, the message
sent to Washington would have required short and
categorical answer, because fleet, equipped for ac-
ton, would have escorted it to the mouth of the
Chesapeake. In the Cabinet, however, there sat at
that time not only Mr.. Gladstone, Mr.. Miner Gibson
and Mr.. Villers bnt Sir George Cornewan Lewis the
most subtle OF political reasoners the most pacific of
ra--0 ha hrnr 0lt In
that in the lives of nations in those of private per-
sons, there are moments when though it can never
be becoming to do wrong for its sake is perfect
!y ustiable to anticipate others, and to avert in
jury meditated on ourselves by infcting it them.
We had, when the outrage on the Trent was commit
ted, long list of outrages to be accounted for We
had been cheated-for there is other word for it
in the Ashburton treaty. The STATES claimed as
their territory what they had in their possession
which by the clearest proof belonged to u.s. and as il
to cap this outrage, the Island of ST. JUAN admitted
to be ours up to the moment OF its occupation by
American force, was invaded and kept military pos
session Of These with other lesser, but not there
fore unimportant, wrongs ranked and festered and
the Trent outrage presented such opportunity
as could never be expected 10 again for Fighting
them all by process which would have benefited
the whole world. Had we struck then, as Lord Pal
merston was anxious that We should do, the South
ern States would have achieved their independence
and become to faithful allies well our very best
customers. But section in the Cabinet objected,
LORD Pamerston gave way, andwe are, with the Fed
erals Victorious, conducting, through Lord RUSSELL
one OF the most vexatous, and We fear unsafe cor
responsiveness That ever tle Minister OF one power
was called upon to conduct with the Mi lister Of
other. y = q Z
Here we have the whole thing in nut
shell; and in addition we are favored with
some quite original doctrines of national
ethics. For instance, it is "'never becoming to
do wrong for its own sake but it is quite al
lowable when you wish to get the whip hand
OF somebody else. In this case, we don't pre-
tend, bless you, that we had any real ground
OF complaint, but it was so easy by little jul
dicious misrepresentation to make the English
people believe we had, and SO excite the ma
tional spirit to the fighting pitch. The Unit
ed States were a powerful rival, who had taken
the liberty to get ahead of us number
OF times, and here was capital chance,
when somebody else had got him down,
and was giving him as much as he could
manage, for US to steal up on the other side,
and, Witaout any danger to ourseloes, deal him
fatal stab. If we had only struck then, as
this good and great man desired,we should have
paid off our old grudge, rid ourselves of a for
midable rival, and pat money In our pockets.
But we didn't do it; and now the fellow is up
again, as lively as ever, quite capable, not on
ly of defending himself but of calling us to
account for our shortcomings"
Well-we pity the plight of our short-sight-
ed cousins, but we have no other comfort TO
offer them,