Year: 1861




ly position of the London Daily Ne,cs,


in its comments upon the Bull Run bat


tie. The following is the principal part
of this sensible and timely article


During the agony of our Indian re-


bellion, when the fate of an empire trem-
bled in the balance, and the proud heart
of England was shaken with anguish, the
sympathy of Europe, in the presence Of
a calamity in which the whole of Chris
tendon seemed to partake, was all but
universally expressed. Ancient enmi-
ties, foreign jealousies, held their peace
for awhile, and natural enemies We'd
with the nearest and dearest friends in
generous grief and hope. Among foes
and aliens, if tone of sneering pity or of
contemptuous regret Jared upon the pub
lie ear, it was instantly covered with
shame and reprobation by nobbr voices.
Over the narrow seas a gallant people
watched our varying fortunes with that
fraternal interest which brave men feel
in the actions of the brave faint and few
indeed were the mutterings OF unmanly
and malignant exultation at the tragic
vicissitudes of mortal struggle which
history shudders to recall.


But among our kinsmen beyond the
Atlantic it was not mere interest that
was felt for England at that terrible mo-
ment, or common human sympathy; it is
but the simple truth to say The heroes
and the victims OF Lucknow and Gavin
pore were honored and lamented by the
people of the United States, and the trials
and exploits of English courage and en-
durance treasured up as the immortal
part of an indivisible Inheritance of blood,
language and renown. And yet there
were voices of hate, envy and savage joy
to break the resolute stiffness of the ma
tional sorrow, and to insult the sympa-
thies Of Christian Europe. Abroad, and
even at home, there were Sepoy' jour
mails, which recounted with undisguised
satisfaction the horrors of the mutiny,
and frantcally foretold the end of British
rule in India. These Sepoy' journals,
however, had one redeeming merit-the
frankness of their ferocous taunts and
sinister predictions was appalling, but it
was more tolerable than insult and out
rage disguised in protesting pity, or sim
ulating regretful amazement and COM
passion.


When the day of trial and trouble comes
again for England, we trust it may not
be remembered that the most powerful, |
and therefore most responsible, Of Eng
lish journals celebrated the issue of the
first great battle between the army of the
United States and the army of the south
ern rebels as a loss of all, even OF mill
tary honor to citizen volunteers who had |
fought for nine hours of a summers day .
against overwhelming odds, for cause
as sacred as law and order, as precious
as national liberty and unity. Our CO.
would fain, it should seem, en-
deavor to reduce the conflict to the di-
mensions of border raid or a barbarous
brawl. But, as this is impossible, it de-
grades war from which anarchy and
slavery, or freedom purified and ordered .
anew for higher purposes, must spring to
the proportions Of "a senseess and bloody !
strife This is not only to caricature
living facts; ii is to give the lie to his
tory Civil ,car 1t scaS that mate the
Of the men ,0ho fought at Bull
Run great and free though, no doubt,
there were disinterested persons il those
days who condemned the senseless and
bloody strife by which our foretathers
dearly purchased at the cost of their lives
all that their descendants now enjoy.


The cynical selfsbness with which the

public opinion of England is SO often
credited by foreigners has never found
more exalted expression than in these
reckless utterances. Nor are these opin-
ions, even in their own sense, discerning
or acute. 1t was to be expected that
defeat of the federal army would, in the
ewes of the adroit and abject believers in
the sacredness of success, lend to the
cause of the south legitimacy which no
man could ever gain for it.
Yet already it is clear that the results of
the action of the DIST were not so disas-
trous to the federal army as to forbid al
together a southern advance this year


The victory of the southern army was
due no doubt to superior skill in its lea
ders, but the choice Of defensive posi-
tton and the ayriral Of timely reinforce
ments must be taken into account on the
same side and the panic that decided
the issue of the fight is an incident not
in the military annals of
Furonean mowers. The losses both in