Daily Richmond Whig. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1865-1869, 1865-12-22
RICHMOND WHIG.
FRIDAY MoRNING...........DEC. %, 1865.
THE UNITED STATES AND GREAT
BRITAIN.
The Present State of British Feeling TOwar'
America.
Iprom the london Times, December 81

There are few EngliShmcn Of any feeling VINO
would not have host uf once VIVID impressions re-
Viyed by the sight Of Dir. Seward uspaI'h 10 liie
American Minister IN our saturdays columns IL Is
only seven months since we heard the news Vi =
crime which grows in magnitude anu IN horror "s
We drift away from It down the sWiIt sIeah Vi
time. The intervening period has not been uhe'eht
tai or uneXciting. We too, like the Amerlcahs
have lost the political chief Of our Government anu
quietly accepted the next m authority. Ihe Ohlleu
States themselves have been pacted' re-ors"uI-eu
and rel united with 4 rapdlty and ease Iha' iu ooin
mand our admiration. Our own Ihhehse e"P'i0
has never failed to produce, somewhere OF oteI' W
lets of anxious or agreeable interest. Al homc We
are dividing our time between domestic economies
and organic reconstruction. Our hands are never
idle, but we can still feel the shock oil lle irgnuuI
tragedy which only in the spring Oi thls year
threw into the background every lesser or oluer hl
arv and might atone for any number OF errors IL
so happenud that Abraham Lincoln, by the prOsiess
of either amendment or truth, had rghted hlhse III
English esteem, and then stood as well IN our le
cards as any foreign potentate could ever hope 10
stand We admired the man, and were beginning
To ike him. seeing in him the able aud kind hearted
administrator OF the greatest work oil social peace
making the world had yet seen. 80 we ielt his
murder as we should have done that OF leading
British statesman AT the hands OF political fanatic.
There was more, indeed in his case than there would
ever be in this country unless could suppose half
| the realm making head against the other half for
several wears. There was the grand ceremony OF a
national reconciliation To be performed, and as heav-
| on would have it, there lay bleeding before us the
| victim To cOnsecrate il. Other victims were in
| tended. and the asSlsslns 50 far succeeded that
| one, the foremost statesman on the Federal
| side, aud the man with whom We had most To
| do had To endure for months 4 living martyr
| dom. The strong VIII, The active intellect, ana
| the ready tongue lay trembling between life and
death when the most difficult stage OF his great task
| had only lust begun. We could not but he deeply
impressed with catastrophe that appealed to the
chief qualities OF our race and the national sympa-
| thy burst out at n Thousand openings wherever
many or few had been want to come together and
| make common utter,tnCe. ID was the same else
| where So mail after mail took across the Atlantic
| such piles OF coincidence aS had probably never be-
fore been evoked by any national bereavement
| Answer could hardly be expected, for the man tC
answer was himself dying man, for the time as
helpless as his chief. So We were all cOntentt TO wait
and now, after seven months We lind that we can
revert to that crisis with uudImnshcd horror ut the
deed and larger and more certain knowledge of it
place in tho work of American reconstruction.
| The American Secretary Ot State has done all thai
could be done under the circumstances. Any at
tempt to produce form OF words specially apprO
pirate to every address and every community, would
have been only u ridiculous attempt at literar,
| clerkship. Even in ths country people are littl,
| aware OF the pressure Ot work IN the principal de
partments AN extraordinary crisis or in Il busy
| season. At Washington, there was war TO b,
brought to an end great empire to be rebuilt, and
4 good many questions with other countries to b'
settled, if possible, to the satisfaction alike Of The
| American and of the foreigner. Mr.. Seward, who
has recovered slowly from his terrible succession o
| injuries, has only Just been able 10 speak for him
self and his Government. The British public viii
| not have failed TO notice the mOdeSty with which
the Secretary alludes TO the cause of this delay -
His department was indeed crippled when he lay, a
MANY thought, on his death bed, with wound upOI
| wOund-fOr that was the peculiar calamity which
then impaired the efficiency of the American Foreign
office. That Government simply constructed for thu
transaction of necessary affairs IN the ordinary course
| Of public business should have been able to dc
| its share in the work of the war, itself q
| wonder to this country But when new
calamity involved new obligations the calamity
partial massacre of the government, and the " oh
ligatiOns" the duty of answering conference.-the
| worst foe of Republican Institutions could not bu
do justice TO the Government which went on at al
under such circumstances. We all saw, and duly
appreciated that there was not the least symptom
| failure or collapse. Everything went on as usual
AS far rs met the eye. Our own difficulties, indeed
aIe so different in kind that il is not easy to make
lust and intellig,ble comparisons but after witness
ing the confusion apt tn take place in other State
| upon the sudden Withdrawing or the disabling u
those at the head Of critical affairs, seemed to
cOgNiSe character like our OrR in people Whose
| chef rulers fell or were Frustrated III day, at
time when they we've more than ever wanted, bu
| which went ON just rs usual.
| The simple but very hearty acknowledgements o
the American Secretary seem TO give US an opening
|
| country toward the United States. 1t would he
quite idle to deny that there are points upon Whcl
! ffs country is Jealous or sore Ol without tie per
| feet sympathy that obtains between Two similar so
cial systems. With long arrears OF quarrels upon
one trle or another, and new one every year, ant
| with very strong opinion on this side that ou
rights were often sacrificed tO political eXgcnces II
the United States We certainly have found II dllhcu
10 appreriae the Americans rs we really wish to do
We can afford 10 make this confession when STATE
| what we believe to be the truth as TO the grea
| extent of our good wishes for America. We hare
not the least ObetiOH 10 the United StGteS iRcTeGS
| ing To any eTteat, and aRHeriRg any amount q
territory or Runlbcr Of States so long a,
| IL is all done honestly, ADORE board, and b.
fair appeals 10 The sympathy and good sense IF tn
people If the population either OF our own prOvin
ces or of Mexico freely and spontaneously declared
that they thought this their best chance of peace
and prosperity the British people would only fee
the most passing regret at the loss of Il name anj
| the prOpOrtiOnate aggrandZement OF the United
States. OF course the is altered if the object is
Ia be obtained by fraud, by force or by intimidation
Ia that ease, not only is there actual wrong done
upon our own loyal fellowship eClS and Others ent
tied to our sympathy, but there is also established
prescription policy and a temper ruinous u
the future peace and even progress OF the world
| History contains some very colossal instance;
of continual annexation by fraud, and by vi.
olencei in fact by policies constructed with
special view to perpetual aggrandizement Bu
the event yet condemns them; the moral senso
| Is opposed 10 lhelli ana modern politics ART
mainly dire, ted to prevent the recurrence of the
evil. Ii is from no special jealousy of the United
States that dread their indefinite enlargement bI
the means too often employed and vainly denounced
by American mOralistS. 1t is our English habit Oul
second nature our historical teaching our European
law Even in Europe we are glad to see Italians OI
| Germans achieve more comprehensive unions til 4
circumstances have hitherto allowed. Nor should
W. object to any amount Of aggregation in America
| b. equally allowable means. Only, as great State
we cannot bear to be ousted Outwitted and coerced
and to see our own people suffer for their loyalty