New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1869-04-07
possible that they may all reach the same con-

sophie truth, that elementary piuiciPio III AZ
ternational craftsmanship, that " unsettled
Questions have no pity for the repose OF ma
tions,n especially when they recall the terse
language Of President Grants message, and
reflect upon the precedents which England mas
set and which America may be compelled to
follow, or picture to themselves the possible
results of q war with this Republic. The arls-
tocratic class in England has not heretofore
been unwilling to drift into war on slight
provocatiOn. They have spent freely the blood
and treasure of the country to protect what
they called the liberties of Europe, and even
to preserve in the East what Burke called
"the disgusting barbarian of the Turks"
Many of the most powerful of their order were
ready, during our Rebellion, to involve England
in the risks of war to secure the erection
upon the ruins of American Freedom OF an
empire with Slavery as its cornerstone and
the Slave Trade as its principal commerce.
But to-day war with the Republic would
be another thing, and perhaps the Irish ques-
ton might claim place in their calculations
The Irish have been described as looking to
"the West and grasping hands with the great
"Republicn-and the Green Isle might add but
little to the strength of England in the con-
test, even though no fears were felt that It's
chronic instruction would result in permanent
revolution. The American question, however, is
one that chiefly concerns the English nation; and,
as Bright has said, "the nation in every country
"dwells in the cottage" and that English ma
ton which, with the downfall of our Rebellion,
is rising to power, and becoming conscious of
its strength, knows well from past experience
that while in war the aristOcracy reap the
honors, it is the people who bear the burdens.
A majority of this English people during our
Rebellion sympathzed with the North and
Freedom. They never cheered John Laird
when making war upon American commerce.
They knew that we were fighting the battle
Of equal rights against privilege and oppression;
and when the Alabama seized the ship George
Griswold as she was returning from her friendly
GRAND of carrying bread to the starving oper-
atives of Lancashire, the workngmen OF Eng
land knew instinctively on which side in the
contest were their interests and their sympa-
thies If this English nation, however wanting
i'm land or wealth-for half the land in England
is owned by one hundred and fifty men, and
half the soil of Scotland by dozen more-if
this part of the English people are satisfied
that a great wrong has been done to us, they
will insist upon an ample reparatiOn. They
will presently see that such a wrong was done
in the recognition Of the Rebels as belligerents
at sea, in that the small courtesy of waiting
one single day for the arrival of Mr.. Adams,
representing the Government of Mr. Lincoln
against which the Rebellion was directed, and
when the Rebels had no ports and no prize
courts as required by the usages of civilized
warfare, so that England led the way in au-
thorizing the Confederate pirates to strew the
ocean with burning wrecks. .l,.I
No suggestion such az that of The Times, that
the only question was did war exist or not in
America can blind the honest English mind to
the fact that their Government dispensed with
the usual condition of ports and courts Of prize,
and thus established an international precedent
which creates q naval warfare akin to piracy.
They will see further that whatever apology
can be found for the escape of the Alabama,
in the illness OF Sir John Harding, or In
misconception of the weight of the evidence
submitted by Mr.. Adams, that illness and mis-
conception afforded no apology for 1.-THE con-
duct of the Government, after 1t had acknow-
lodged her wrongful escape az an English
pirate, "a scandal and reproach," and
after it had, by issuing orders to seize her in
one or more of the Colonial ports, admitted
that it was their right and their duty thus to
arrest her piratical career. They did not adj
here to that honest policy, but, changing their
ground, they assumed that che had been con-
verted into Confederate ship-of-war when
she hoisted at sea theIConfederate flag; and, so
far from seizing her when she entered tho
Colonial ports, or refusing her the hospitality
of those ports she was allowed to use them at
pleasure in her crimes against American COM
merce, being welcomed and assisted by the
Colonial authorities. There is no intelligent
child of the English people but what can un-
derstand, even though the aristocracy should
fail to compass the idea that this conduct of
the British Government In reference to the
iron -cads, after their illegal equipment, and
wrongful escape, and piratcal burnings, in
volved not acts Of negligence but acts of war;
We cannot doubt the correctness of The An
glo-American with regard to the tendency of
English opinion on the duty of repairing the
wrong done to us rs a nation, nor the increas-
ing anxiety of British merchants, as they real
ize the character and extent of the precedents
established by the conduct of their Govern
ment, not simply in reference Ito the recogni-
ton and rights of belligerents without port,
but in reference to the right of noutrals to af-
ford facilities to privateers fitted out in viola
ton of law.
Surprising England ready to assent to the
annexation Of the Canadas, would such step
be agreeable to the colonistsf Upon this
point we find some information In late
number of The Albion (March 27), which con-
tains letter from a Nova Scotian on Ameri-
can institutions. He declares that large An