New-York tribune., 1879-11-10

In Tn, LondoR IrQmner of the 2jth ult. is n
critical notice of Mr.. Charles G.. Leland's Life Of
Abraham Lincoln" he writer of this article iav0rs
Il, with his own estimate of Mr.. Lincons chaIac-
ter and also presents us with a notion of the AnlcrI-
can War OF the Rebellion which We had thought was
abandoned long ago by every intelligent person III
the world. Since Mr.. Rocbuck rantcd IN the House of
Commons while British people with more money
than brains were investing their savings in Con-
fedcrate bonds. no such mass Of misrepresentation
and misleading assertion has been given to the
world Thus we are told d: "The right Of secession
nnder the American Constitution is undoubted !;
the best proof of it being that the Constitution
had 10 be altered 20 bar IT in future.' The writer
should have given us the text of the alter
alton to which lac alludes for cannot
make n reasonable guess at what lie means.
Upon other points Tie EIdRinc exhibits an equally
blind hcedlessncss. In the matter of the Mason
and Slidel business. il blames Mr.. Leland for
" omiting all mention of the arguments IN the
shape of troops and ships which convinced the
Americans of the expediency of d,nouncing that
shameless act" This is to say that the United
States were bullied into doing what they would not
otherwise have done. " Those fellows" as The
London Times called them Messrs. Slidell and
Mason, were taken ont of the Trent on the sth Of
November, AMI Mr.. Stewards letter to Lord Lyons is
dated December 26, 1861. Cons derlng the difficult
and delicate character of the questions involved.
well as the novelty of some of them, there
! tanly no unnecessary delay. The truth l., Mr..
Seward as he said in his letter to Mr.. Adams of
November 30, waiting to know the
ground taken by the British Government
as he had right to wait. There was
reason for thinking that it might acquIesce
in the action of the American commander.
since in many respects it was surprisingly
similar to the course which it had often pursued.
In his letter to Lord Lyons, Mr.. Seward adhered
firmly 10 the opinion that as military naval per-
sons i'll the service of the enemy were cOntraband,
so were pretended Ministers of a usurping power"
But the Secretary admitted. alter duo reflection
and research, the mistake of Captain Wilkes III fail
ing bring the Trent into port for adjudication of
the legality Of his act. The prisoners, therefore,
were surrendered upon this techncality, and upon
no other ground. 1t is about truthful as it is
gentlemanly for The Examiner to insinuate that the
United States were actually scared into doing
right and 10 assume that otherwise they would
have done wrong We might as we'll say that Eng
land as frightened ont OF a recognition of the
Southern Confcderacy, which the writer plumply
declares was her manifest duty
there are other amenities in this article
to which we need merely allude Prcs-
dent Lincoln was al exceedingly common
place person." He "had not intellect enough
10 see all the difficulties of his position"
Booths dastardly deed literally justified by
the facts. The man he killed had murdered the
Constitution of the United States" These States
now represent nothing but the right of conquest
and are as much IA despotIsm the Russian Em-
pire.r while the position of Carolina differs no
whit from the position of Poland!
To loose writing like this there can be no answer
nor is il worth one Here is who coins his facts
to suit his passions and prejudices- who insists
that ne has made out his when he has merely
demonstrated his incapacty 10 tell the truth. The
worst of 1t is his presumption of the ignorance of
his readers, for should be sorry to think i'll OF
any constant reader even of The Lraminr to sup
pose 1t possible for him to be deceived by such
transparent Justification.