The Kenosha telegraph. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1860-1888, 1869-05-20

the voyage, SO that afterward she wa.
Glameless. But the Alabama never con
Guided her voyage until she sank under
the guns of the Kearsarge, because sht
never had aport of her own. She was no
better than the flying Dutchman, and Sc
long as she sailed was liable for that
original sin which had impregnated
every plank with an indelible dye. No
British cruiser could allow her to proceed,
no British port could give her shelter
without renewing the completely OF
England. The Alabama case begins with
the concession bv which the rebels were
enabled to build ships in England and
then to sail them without being liable as
pirates; it next shows itself in the build
ing of the ship, in the armament, and in
the escape, with SO much of negligence
on the part of the British Government as
to constitute sufferance, if not connivance
and then again the case -reappears in the
welcome. and hospitality accorded ito
British cruisers and by the magistrates of
British ports to the pirate ship, when her
evasion from British jurisdiction was we'll
known. Thus at three different stages
the British Government is compromised,
first, in the concession of ocean bell.ger
ency, on which all depended secondly,
in the negligence which allowed the
evasion OF the ship In order to enter upon
the hostile expedition for which she was
built, manned, armed and equipped and
thirdly, in the open completely which,
after this evasion, gave her welcome hospi.
tality and supplies in British ports. Thus
her depredations and burnings making
the ocean blaze, all proceeded from Eng
land, which by three different acts lighted
the torch. To England must be traced
also the whispered consequences which
ensued. take the case OF the Alabama,
because it is the best known, and because
the building, equipment and escape of
this ship were under circumstances most
obnoxious to judgment, but it will not be
forgotten that there were consort ships
built under the shelter of that fatal procla-
nation, issued in such an eclipse of just
principles, and, like the ships it Embossed,
rugged with curses dark One after the
other ships were built; one after the other
they escaped on their errand, and one
after the other they enjoyed the immuni-
ties of British ports. Audacity reached
its height, when iron-clad rams were
built, and the peryersity of the British
Government became still. more conspicu-
Gus by its long refusal to arrest these de-
structive engines Of war, destined to: be
employed against the United States.
This protracted hesitation, where the con
sequences were so menacing, is a part of
the case. 1t is plain. that shipswhich were
built under the safeguard of this ill .omened
proclamation which stole forth from the
British shores, and afterwards enjoyed the
of British ports, were not only.
British in origin, but British in equip
ment British in armament, and British in
crews They were British in every res
pect, except in their commanders, who
were rebel, and one of these, as his ship.
was sinking, owed his safety to British
yacht, symbolizing the omnipresent sup
port of England. The cheers of a British
passenger ship crossing the path of the
Alabama encouraged the work of piracy,
and the cheers Of the House of Commons
encouraged the builder of the Alabama,
while he defended what he had done, and
exclaimed, in taunt to him, who is now an
illustrious member of the British Cabinet,
John Bright, that he would rather be
handed down to posterity as the builder
of a dozen Alabamas,' than be the. author
of the speeches of that gentleman crying
up the institutions of the United States,
which the builder of the Alabama. rising
with his theme, denounced 'sas of no value
whatever, and as reducing the very name
of liberty to an absurdity, while the
cheers of the House Of Commons echoed
back his words Thus from beginning to
end, from the fatal proclamation to the
rejoicing of the accidentaLnship and the
rejoicing of the House Of Commons, was
this hostile expedition protected and sen-
by England The same spirit
which dictated the swift concession oil
belligercncy with all its deadly incidents, !
ruled the hsur, entering into and possess
ing every pirate ship .
There are two circumstances by which
the whole case is aggravated. III One isl
found inthe date of the proclamation,
which lifted the government toan equali-
ty with the National government; open;
ing 70 them everything that was open toI
us, whether ship-yard, foundries or man
ufactories, and giving to them a flag on
Che ocean co-equal with the flag of. the
Union. This extraordinary manifesto was
issued on the day before the arrival of
our minister in England, SO that, aftex
an ocean voyage, he reached the British
Government to which he was, accredited,
he found this great and terrible indig- |
nifty to his country already perpetrated,
and the flood-gates opened to infinite
woes The minister had been announced
lie was daily expected The British Gov
ernment knew of his coming. But in hot
test haste they did this thing. The other
! [ Dora yation is found in its fragrant, unz
natural sH departure from that anti slavery4
rnIes which, Q by manifold declarations,
! fgislatiye, poiitical, and diplomatic. was
he ayowed creed of England. Often was |
this rule proclaimed, but, if we except the