The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1866-11-27

Mhcu INC Iash VI rcloIu VIII uot W uotciiou
in their work by the crotchety distinctions Of
the Cooper Institute trustees between secular
and religious subjects The founder Of Chris
tian morality illustrated his most glorious teach
ings by subjects and incidents which were
purely secular, and very often on the Sabbath
day. Have the managers of the Cooper Insti-
tute ever read the parallels!
France, England and tho United states--A
Now Holy Alliance.
In the present relations between France,
England and the United States there Is one
distinctly visible fact-England and France
find 1t very difficult to struggle against the con-
sequences Of the great error in relation to the
United States to which they committed them
selves some few years ago. At the very begin
ming of the war against the Union the probable
result Of that war was fully discussed between
the Emperor Napoleon and Lord Palmerston,
and the deliberations and conclusions Of those
distinguished politicians were reflected with
more or less fidelity In the English papers,
which at the same epoch informed the world
in lofty periods that,the great republic was no
more; that the United States was no longer to
be numbered in the catalogue of nations; that
there was nothing left OF us but congeries of
discordant communities which would soon an
initiate one another and that the great expe-
riment Of popular sovereignty had ended in
sudden but positive collapse. French policy
and British policy were Immediately shaped
upon notions of that stamp. It was assumed
that our power was gone; and in Europe 1t is
the morality Of great nations that where there
is no power there must be no respect and is no
law. Any one may seize what the owner can
not defend France began her proposed spo-
lation upon us by taking up position and
concentrating troops in Mexico; and England,
more practical and blunt, gave us the benefit
of her neutrality, by which she drove from the
seas commerce that had already made her the
second maritime Power Of the world.
But, after all, the great republic did not 60
down. So far from the collapse Of our govern
ment ensuing we came out stronger than ever,
and the facts that forced us to battle and to
the exertion of our power first taught to us
and to the world the unimagined extent Of our
development Peace might have hidden for
another half century the important truth that
under our free system we had grown to be the
first military nation of the earth, if measured
by the power that we were capable of apply
ing to the purposes Of war. This demonstra-
ton Of our vitality--of the vitality due to our
republican system--reacted terribly against
those who had been so eager to determine our
quietus under the "crowner's quest law" of
their ambitious views. Its great lesson a. to
the power Of popular government tended to
shake down thrones. This was so felt in Ger
many that the arbitrary Minister Of the Prussian
King deemed It worth while to commend his
policy to the nation by proposing to base 1t on
universal suffrage. How it was felt in France
we may dimly guess when we see that in spite
Of the whole fabric Of police and the infinite
surveillance exercised, the Latin quarter is now
full Of secret societies and that arrests are
being made every day. It's effect In Great
Britain is seen in the impulse and intensity II
has given to the movement Of the masses
against the aristocratlc system that appears
in the thin disguise Of . movement for Par
liamentary reform, and also in the spread Of
Fenianism that at this hour endangers English
rule In Ireland.
Our European enemies did what they could
to escape from their false position. France
made the fairest protestations in relation to
Mexico, and England declared, with all the We
hemence and volubility Of which she was capa-
BILE, that the injuries done us were not inten-
tional, but only the inevitable results of defects
in her laws; and she promised to amend the
laws. But there were in the case some scarcely
surmountable points of dignity and national
pride. 1t was hard for them to swallow the
draught that circumstances commended to their
lips They made wry faces. France has de-
layed till the present hour the fulfilment Of her
promises, and is just as much in Mexico as
ever. England is just about naming commits
sion to revise the laws that offended us; but she
is doing it in a spirit that promises no remedy
for the evil She 10 apparently determined
that If her laws are revised Il shall be done In
the face Of all the argument against II that I'M
compromising hostility to the United States
can suggest. Such is the significance OF the
appointment on the commission Of Mr. Har-
court, the "Historicus" whose utterances on in
ternational law seemed so admirable to the
London Times. In what other light could any
one regard the appointment on the same COM
mission Of Mr.. Gregory, the member for Dub
lin, whose advocacy in the House Of that kind
Of neutrality illustrated by the Alabama can
not have been forgotteni
II Is an important question just now how far
these powers will 60 in their efforts to es-
cape the retraction Of their acts against US.
Many circumstances indicate that they are In
collusion--that there Is new secret under
standing with special reference TO their respec-
tive attitudes towards the United States. n
England refuses that satisfaction on the Ala
bama claims that has been categorically de-