Year: 1865

| tempting to secure the good will of the
United States is rec0ncilable with his
character as q sagacious and polite
statesman. He gains time thereby for
consolidating the throne of Macmillan,
and, so far as tho Confcderacy is con-
ccrned, he is safe, at any rate, from in
terruption from that quarter. On the
other hand, if he regards our cause as
doubtful, and is seeking to make friend
of the United States for a rainy day, he
is the most gullible, instead of the most
sagacious, Frenchman now alive. lie has
studied the character of VIM. n. Seward
and the temper of the United States
people to little purpose if he supposes
he or they will be bound by any such
contract one moment longer than their
political and military necessities require.
If the United States come out triumph
ant from this war, it will have disposa-
bic army Of at least three hundred thou
sand men for the invasion Of Mexico. It
will have a navy which can blockade
every Mexican port and compete with
the regular navy Of France on the ocean.
1t can have a swarm of privatecrs which
will sweep every French merchantmen
from the ocean. 1t will seek to cement
its domestic power by enlisting all the
military adventures Of the South, who
will be disbanded at the close of hostili-
ties, in the same grand crusade. 1t will
be eager to create in hostility to foreign
power a new bond of union for the now
warning populations. Is itpossible that,
foresecing all this, Louis Napoleon
expects to propitiate the United
States by agreeing not to interfere
on behalf of the Southern Confederacy !?
If he does, he is the most gullble Of
mankind. The people Of the United
States have always coveted Mexico. There
was respect enough for the opinions of
mankind, at the close Of the war with
that country, combined with ignorance
of our own strength, to prevent the whole
sale plunder of it at that time from the
hands of it's own people. But the worlds
moral sense cannot be offended by taking
that, to which Mexico has given up its
right, from the hands Of those who have
compelled it to make the surrender. The
United States will 90 to Mexico as it's de-
liverers, and the great mass Of the Mexi-
can people will rally around its standard.
The United States is no longer uncon-
scious of its own power. II it comes out
of this war victorious, it will be the vain
est and most arrogant military nation on
the face of the earth. And whoever con-
ouers such soldiers as those of this
! Southern land, even with the odds of four
to one, will have no reason to fear any
force that France, or France and England
combined, can transport to this CONT
nent. Within six months after the con-
quest of the Southern Confederacy,
Mexico would become part and parcel Of
the United States. We are, therefore,
led to the conclusion, either that Louis
Napoleon has abiding faith in the ability
of the Southern Confederacy to achieve
its independence, or that he has no Sc
rious thoughts of the permanent estab-
lshment of Maximilian in Mexico. The
latter idea is scarcely reconcilablc with
the deliberation of his character and thu
tenacity with which he always pursue:
his objects. The weighty commercial
and political considerations which in
duced him to take so serious step a.
the occupation of Mexico and the estab
lishment of Maxilnilian on the throne
, cannot, We should think, be lightly aban
doned. However, we are inclined t
think that Louis Napoleon retains hi
t confidence in the ability Of the Southern
!, Confederacy to make good resistanc
which is as vital to the security of tn
t mower If Macmillan as it is to the indie


pendence of the Southern States.


The defence, by the North Carolin
t troops, of Fort Fisher is almost unprect
, dented in military warfare. Never, il