National opinion. [volume] (Bradford, Vt.) 1865-1874, 1866-10-12
THE ENFLlIEN(E OF THE
UNITED STATES IN EuI ROPE.
LETTER FROM CARLETON

LONDON, sept. ., 1866.
To the Editor Of The Boston JourRaI !:
The thunder of Gettysburg is
shaking the thrones of Europe
The men who stood like IA wall of
adamant on the Cemetery Ridge,
who rolled back the rebel hosts on
that eyenttul Sd OF July, 1868, stood
not for themselves alone. but for the
liberty loving millions of all lands.
Look soldiers of the Army of the
Potomac, maligned and scoffed at
by Copperheads, even in your hoar
OF triumph, with foe in front and
at your back, and see what YOU did
when you hurled Hood from Little
Round Gap and Pickett from Gem
etery Ridge! At that time Louis
Napoleon was only waiting for an
opportunity to recognize the Con
federacy. Maximilian was at the
zenith of his power in Mexico.-
Mexico and the Confederacy are
two cherries on one stalk" said that
would be Emperor to his protector
Louis Napoleon, in his last interview
before sailing to take possession OF
the throne of the MontezumaS.-
lou blighted both cherries. The
Confedcracy has gone down. and
MaXimllian is going. The steamers
which are to bring back the home
sick troops of France are now on
their way 10 Vera Cruz. Maximil-
ian's wife is i'll France, and Maxi
milan will soon he there. Mon
archy will then be at an end in
North America.
The time has not yet arrived when
we can fully estimate the influence
of that decisive battle of the Great
Rebellion on Europe, but that events
now ripening are clearly influenced
by that victory is very plain.
Here in England great political
evolution is at hand. 1t will prob
IDLY be peaceful, for the people can
obtain what they want without le-
sort to arms. The inspiration comes
from America. The newspapers
point their readers to what America
has done by universal suffrage, in
creating an army Of a million of
men, fighting long. bloody war to a
successful issue. and diSSOlving the
army without disturbance to socie-
ty. the elements melting away and
absorbed i'll the vast body polite as
noiselcsSlY as snow fakes before the
warm sun of spring. The Reform
speakers are enli ghtening the people
of England bypointing to the indis-
putablc fact that all this has been
done by a government Of the people.
in which every man has voice and
a vote. And the only reply which
the tory press can make is that the
people of the United States are bet
ter educated than the people of
England. But then comes the retort
that aristocracy has had England in
training a thousand centuries while
the people of the United States are
but two centuries from their exist
ence in a wilderness, and but eighty
NtdtIS IL .lutIOu.
By your victories at Gettysburg.
you, soldiers of the Union, have set
all England to thinking and talking.
Week before last 100000 English.
men Birmingham gave cheers
for the United States, and resolved
that they would have manhood suf-
trage. Next week the wOrkmen of
Manchester are determined to Outdo
their brethren of Birmingham
Liverpool is to follow, then Leeds
and York, and Dublin. In every
town and village there are nightly
meetings. and next winter Lord
Derby and Mr.. Disracli will he ask.
ed to entranchise several millions of
people, and if they refuse there will
be such an uproar as England has
not seen since 1858.
That the changes now taking place
i'll Europe are influenced by events
in the United States cannot le gain.
sayed. The people of Germany de.
mand unity. The example OF the
United States is before them. The
millions of Germans IN America are
in close correspondence with their
brethren of the Fatherland. Count
Bismarck is n statesman who com.
prehends the times, the temper of
the people, and the current of events.
He would make Prussia strong and
powerful, and incorporate the Ger
man States as component part of
the kingdom, and therefore brings
forward his universal suffrage bill.
under which Germany will be fieer
and stronger than ever before. He
has swept away kings, dukes and
princes with their costly courts, with
as little ceremony as the housewife
sweeps the litter from her door, and
the people will gain by it while mon.
archy loses. Would all this have
happened if the United States had
become two nations with monarchy
firmly established in Mexico l--
Would Austria have been an hum.
bled nation and Italy n reunited
people, with Vcnetia .iubilant after
her forty years Of slavery, if the
rebels victorious at Gettysburg had
marched on Philadelphia, and with
New York Ui ypu oxpY IN rehol r,,In