New-York tribune., 1903-08-03
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR.
ENGLAND IN CIVIL WAR DAYS.
Testimony from an English Editor in Re
gard to the Real Feeling of the People
.ditor of The Tribune.

To the Editor of The Tribune
Sir: In the letter you did me the honor to pub
hsh in your issue of the 10Th inst, in reply TO
William Barnes sr., of Albany, took exception
to his statement that at the time of the Civil
War in this country 'the masses of the English
nobility were bitterly hostile TO the great republic
and intended to accomplish its destruction"
Neither Mr.. Barnes any Of your subsequent
correspondents has advanced anything in proof OF
the statement &C. A. H" has given quota
uons Of the sayings of few Englishnen, which
don't amount to anything. seeing that they were
the personal opinions only OF the individuals
quoted, and contain nothing OF hostile char
acter. The quotation OF Thurlow Weed as to the
Russian feet reporting for duty to the Presi-
dent proves nothing. The circumstances never
arose in which they were said to have to report,
and what those "secTet orders" were they are said
to have brought from their imperial master is
open to the charge advanced by Mr.. Philidor Of
having himself some evil design America such
as that which led to the Crimean War for the
protection by England and France of the sick
man" of Turkey. the division OF Poland, and. In
more recent years, the seizure Of Manchuria, etc.
The quotation of opinions" showing Southern
leanings on the part of Englishmen carries
weight whatever If you two boys fighting
on the street you Will find that the bystanders
will, almost invariably, side with the showing
most pluck and powers a fighter, irrespective of
the merits Of the dispute which led 10 the quarrel
The pluck and energy displayed by the Beers led
many in England itself to side with them and
wish that they might succeed. And I have no
doubt but that in New-York itself, to say nothing
OF England or any other country, there many
carried away by the pluck and fighting abilities
Of men like "Stonewau" Jackson, for example,
into adverse opinions as to the merits Of the dis
pute and the probabilities Of its successful terna
tion in favor Of the North.
II opinions" carry any weight I could quote
you by the hundred TO prove what I said in my
former letter, namely, that the great bulk of the
thinking portion of the English people were with
the North" But shall suffice. At one Of the
great meetings held by Henry Ward Beecher in
/ the city Of London. Washington Wilks, than whom
! no one in England was more likely to know, said:
The leaders of the English people-Our Cohdens,
Brights and all the chiefs in every liberal move
ment-were all on the side of the North and of
freedom. (Cheers1 I cannot recall the name of
one person, with any pretensions 10 be called
leader OF the people, who was on the other side.
"a voice; ''Brougham.'D Lord Brougham has ceased
for twenty years to be a leader" cloud cheers)
In face of testimony like this, representative
only Of a vast amount Of similar kind, of what
moment is the opinion Of the 9Th Lancers in the
city of Dublin, over their champagne and port
as given by Nathan Appleton in his letter Of the
10th inst? Men do sometimes say funny things
under the influence of the aforesaid beverages.
Opinions like those of the Lancers are just i'm
portant. and more, than the gossipy sayings at
one Of the old womens rural tea drinkings down
in Killarney.
Mr.. Appleton is not more fortunate in his letter
Of the 18th inst. respecting breechoaders If these
were Armstrong guns they were imported into
the South by blockade runners. Men DO all sorts
Of queer things for money. and willing 10 take
IN the city Of New-YorR Men and women, rlii TOO
are frequently caught trying to run the blockade
During the with the Beers, in spite of the
vigilance OF the English Army, large importatons
OF small arms were smuggled into South Africa
for the use Of her enemies.
South the English Government was more re-
sponsi6le sloilS than the man in the moon They
I'D so at his own risk, and their goods We're liable
as contraband OF war. The government also issued
Great Br{an for tbe confeeracE 'eins ooh9 "
In In my former let letter tried 70 show that at the
were not hostile to the North, desired the de-
struction OF the republic, Notwithstanding the
emissaries of the Southern cause" The Society
for Southern Independence published some very
scurrilOus things, and covered the walls of our
! towns and cities with the most offensive carl
to-day. there were newspapers and newspapers!
For until the millennium arrives We shall ind in
every community, in every country, men mean and
and designing indiTiduals and these English news
money their own personal interest, enlisted in
the cause of the Confederacy. The meetings of the
Southern Independence Society, however small
or trivial, were fully reported and made the most
Society were ignored. Whenever these renegaed
5d names were received with Kisses and groaHs
To the credit Of English journalism, however, by
Examiner and Times in Manchester, and host
0rncirIes The cause Of the North was charnpioned
/ throuEhout These papers were ably seconded by
almost every Christian minister and phianthrOpist
in the United Kingdom, and it was by this combina-
! ton of talent and righteousness that the evil
effects produced by the seizure Of Slide and
Mason from the English mail steamer Trent. by the
United States steamer San Jacnto, were ultimately
/ notified. That episode of the Trent was deeply
/ regretted by all true friends Of the North, not
| as mistake simply. but blunder! Had
| this never occurred Mason would not have been
| sion House. The evil effects produced by. the
/ Trent affair apparent throughout Great
| Britain. Thanks, however, TO the good sense Of
Mr. Lincoln's Cabinet. the evil atoned for. and
I the had feeling produced had almost eyapOrated
| when Henry Ward Beecher addressed the six
| thousand all conditions of life in the Free
| Trade Hall Manchester, October 9. 1863 in
! proof Of which and by way OF conclusion, l will
! give vou sentence from his speech it ap-
! peared next morning in The Manchester Examiner
! and Times "And I want you TO say TO me. and
through me TO nv countrymen that these irrita-
! tions against the North. and those Hkngs for the
South. have been expressed in your papers.
| are not the feeling of the great mass of your
nation. Great cheering, the audience rising)"
! Brooklyn July %, 1903 JAMES HALL