Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1869-06-18
GEORGE PEABODY
The Great PhilanthrOpistOn Amer
ican and British Relations.
Summers Sensation Subsiding---NO
Probability Of Ware
Latest Estimates and Opinions of
Fas English Statesmen. T2 i5E

| from ihe New York World OF IhurSdaN
If ANYTHING can neutralize the bos
which is ventilated Chiefly by Rae
icaI neWspapers) in regard to our reli
tiOns with Great Britain, it ought t
be the testimony of such a Venerabl
friend and resident of both this an
that country as George Peabody. Nh
Peabody arrived here from Englan,
Tuesday morning, and went imme
diately to the residence of his oil
friend, Samuel Metmore, No. ID Wa
yerley Place, where he has been in tn
habit of stopping whenever he ha
come to New York. In the course o
a conversation with him in Mr.. Wet
more's parlOr last evening, he seemed
particularly desir0us that this fac
Should be mentioned, and that tht
statement in a morning Journal tina
certain nepheWs, or a nephew, haC
taken charge of him when he landed
from the steamer, should be explicitly
set at naught.
Said Mr.. Peabody previous to the
Introduction of the themes of his in
terest in the public veal:
% am not very well. | struggle
with cough which sets in for about
two hours in the morning and recurr
for an hour or so before ! go to bed. !
am going to stop here until to-mOr-
row afternoon with my friend, Mr..
WetmOre, and then / intend to en-
bark at ) pm. on the Fail river boat
to visit my friends in Massachusetts
to get some rest, and, / trust, better
health. Please TO mention this, and,
also, that it Was owing to mistaken re-
ports in the newspapers of Yesterday
that Il good many friends and ac-
whom | would have been
glad to-see We're misled aS Ia the
place where am staying"
The bfssfr'' talk with Mr.. Peabody
the order of which is slightly trans
posed here, but the literal expressions
Of which, on his part, are as nearly as
possible adhered to) was then as fol-
lows:
To the inquiry, What was and is
the average opinion of English states
men. and the English people, of the
merits Of the present question between
the United States and Great Britain? ."
he responded:
Well, at first, men i'm England ac-
,ppted Summers speech as the utter
lnce,. as it were, of a man behind the
-hrone.' They supposed that he spoke
not only on behalf of the Senate and
he Radical party here, but as a
of the Administration IT.
;plf. This YOU know, because you
nave seen the evidence Of it in the
London newspapers, and because II
las infected all the kilograms which
nave been sent from London across
he Atlantic"
"Mr. Summers spsech was, then,
surprise in England? .U
4" y surprise, certainly; though they
we're prepared for some such express
ion by the rejection of the Johnson
stanley treaty. Upon that treaty all
England was WILLING enough to stand:
t had been long observation-disclosures
II the most public way, so that every
lody understood what ii was. II of
ended very few people, and there was
strong hope-largely due to Mr..
IOhnson's confidence in the matter
hat the Senate would confirm it''
Mr.. Johnson gained good opinions
n England, "
f" He was very much thought of.
Nay, more: no enerican in his posi-
ion could have taken q stronger hold
lpon the hearts, the affections, of
They only thought (the
huughtful among them) that he was
lot discreet enough; that be was too
.Ontident; that he promised too much
as the sequel shows. Mr.. johnson
anne down to Brighton, where | was
taying, and remained some time;
md | believe / can testify to the hon
sly and earneStnesS of his convictions
md endeaVOrs."
Did the sudden explosion of Sum
lcr's bOmbastie bombshell produce an
apprehension Of MAGE
E9 No. The government MAS not led
@ far rs to anticipate that; and even
he journals which have talked the
oOdest didn't believe in any such
Their first impulse was,
# course, to stiffen the national spine,
md let people on this side Of the
water know that there wasn't any
to be imposed upon in the
modern nature of John Bull, But no
,ersOn of any consideration believed,
rom the first, that Udr could come of
his difficulty. The commercial inter
Sts Of the two countries are so inter
woven and mutually dependent that,
Or this reasan alone war was thought
q be hardly possible"
"Was all this loud talk by the Eng
iSh press mere sham talk?"
"0h, no; it wasn't altogether in
ended for that, be sure. 1t was in
.ood part and faith the interpretS lion
Il the real feeling of Englishsben.
Nhen YOU touch an Englishman's
ense of honor. personal or national,
-Ou touch him in the tenderest place.
lie resents it. Every man in England
would have been willing to resent to
he extremity of war, the demand
which Summer sought to get the adj
10 enforce. Mr.. Bright,
who was the last man | saw in Lon
lon before l left (he lunched with me
t two o'clock, and | left at five), con-
irmed me in this impression. And
here is no,one there who has more
,arnest affection for this country than
has Mr.. Bright. Neither he nor any
could accept the prepos-
erOus theory of Sumner q ''otJd
g So Mr.. Sumner, as l anticipate,
has ceased to be the recognized eX-
,ositor of American opinion in Eng
and?" sr-fst
Decidedly. His speech, up to
he time when l left, had come to be
egarded as speech made more for
buncOmbe than for anything else.
t was pretty well accepted as a bid
" Sumner for popularity. The dis
'laimers Of the American press had
)roduced d reaction. Several of the
most eminent representative men in
England, associated with every phase
# politics there, whom / met, and
Who addressed me in writing before
NY departure, assured me of their
that Summers logic would
iot convince the majority on either
ideof the Atlantie.n
:. With this conviction, what is the
present attitude of the British gov
and the English people?'1
"They fold their arms. They srest
n their oars They considered that
he Johnson-Stanley treaty conceded
that Great Britain ought
O concede, They viii go no further
n the way of concession. They trust
hat the United States Government
-sTI -, ., - 4. v-flo,- ~, &LO 10