The Opelousas journal. [volume] (Opelousas, La.) 1868-1878, 1869-06-19
a War With EnEinRsd-W nat il
Would Wenn-LG0k al the EGcts.
from the London Spectator.

Aoo
issue involved, to pause before they i'm
peril the future OF the world by pccipits
ting a civil war OF the AngL -Saxo1
race. They say, Or think, that til
struggle would be brief, because tn
conditions are SO unequal: We say tina
the combatsnts would be 50 equal,
matched in spirit, in tenacitv, and il
power that the only p~ossible result woul,
be the exhaustion Of them both, the tota
paralysis for good, perhaps even tn
permanent paralysis, Of the whole En-
glish-speakipg section of mankind, tina
is, of the only races whose rule WHITES
and who, it they can but keep from kill
ing each other, are advancing steadily
but irresistibly toward the peaceful mas
terry Of the world. No power on eartl
even now, and no combination Of pow.
ers, could rcsis, the command of the pco.
pie who speak English if united, and in
a century no power will ever venture tt
think oftrying. But, nevertheless, that
immense strength is more equally dis.
tributed between the two brauche. than
the American one is willing to allow
A war between them would bu d fyht, if
not for existence, at least for pre,emin-
ence, the whole spiri: Of both people
would be thrown into the struggle, and
sven on land the result woAlI be very
doubtful. The Americans boast with
great justice of their immense military
force; but have they ever seriously
thought out their position, if England
behaved as they themselves did in 1861,
determined to make the war final, devoted
to it her whole resources, and resolved
to wage it to the bitter end! We say
nothing of the possible adhesion of Ma
poleon, who is directly threatened by
every menace levelled at us for acknowl-
edging the belligerency of the South, and
conine the argument wholly to oursel-
yes. Why do Americans think Us weak?
Because we could not defend the Cana
dian frontier? Possibly not; but we
should infallibly try to do it, and Ame-
ricans who On this point, at least are
not unfair will acknowledge that to des-
troy a British army of a 100000 men,
backed by the Canadian population, and
by a feet sufficient to blockade every
port north of the Potomac, would be a
task requiring all their resources. That
effort would overtask us? We made it
in 1857, sending an army five times the
distance, and after three years of a war
which covered a continent, that army
remained in India, with its strength I'M
broken or increased, while at home ano-
Their still greater had gathered in reserve.
But we have Ireland? Has not the
Union a South, Or do Northern Ameri-
cans believe hat the sentiment of Irish
men toward us is worse than that of the
Southerners toward them? England, if
into this horrible war would and
could stop at nothing; would and could
rally in Virginia the men of the ''lost
cause" behind a well-appointed Euro. (
pean army, supported by a population I
North and South in Canada as in Virgin {
Ia, which would know that in her victory
alone could their security be found. I
The blacks? Are we an enslaving pow |
er, or is the Indian constitution intolera-
bio to colored men? Even then, when ,
his had been attempted and the Union L
gas assailed on two sides from North +
md South, in each direction by 1000, l.
100 of men rallying round that hardest d
# kernels, a British army, we should /
AVE exerted but one-ffth ofthe strength t
displayed in the revolutionary war, a
When, with Ireland included, we were v
'ut 100000. We are 20, ZOO, 900 r
low, without Ireland, We had then 1000, d
100 of men on foot, and drove through u u
spain a soldier who welded, when the ,
began, in men even greater , +
han those at the disposal of Gen. Grant. IL
Dur finances? A debt double that of u
America-that is, an addition of 5000
100000 to our debt-would but leave r.,
Is where the Union snow, for she pays I
ouble interest on her loans In ISIS d
every pound an Englishman received p
e paid Is. I'd. to the State. He now 50
avs Is. The difference alone would tt
ield one hundred and twenty millions a pl
ear-that is, support the war without IN
touring debt. But then our com- &c e,
'erce? There is no saying what resour- e. e.
thirty millions of A~nglo-saxons may IL
nd in their energy and patriotism; but NJ
g are Anglo-saxons, also, and at first h;
naval advantages would be on our it
de. The Americans are deceived by &C
a~rliamentary talk. There is no feet in ,z
z~istence which could stand three months u
our own; our merchant navy out !.
umbers that of the world in combina- %
on, and earth itself is but a sailing.
alton for Great Britain. From Heligo-
to HopgrKong, every where we have to
docks, Goals, cannon. Our sail tn
RS are the same in race, in training, in lie
as the men who followed Ezra ia
; our officers the same as the men g,r
'ho bloekaded the South; our vessels d. al,
10 result Of a competition to which NJ
has been but a party. Why tu
aould we be defeated any more than w
If cousins? Is it not, at all events, be
that after slaughter and ruin CT
ov nniobf maka I,,I, -