Important Indications from France — Louis Napoleons organ Recommending the acknowledgment of Southern Independence.
The first article of
Le Pays, edited by the author of those famous pamphlets to which all
Europe looks for a disclosure of the purposes of the
Imperial master of
France and
Europe, has been followed, in its issue of February 21st by a second of greater significance, emphasis and directness, which clearly shows that gallant
France, our ancient ally at
Yorktown, is heart and soul with the
South, and that, in all probability, she will lead the way in the acknowledgment of Southern Independence.
Nothing but want of space prevents us from giving the whole of this important article.
Le Pays begins as follows:
‘
"The rapidly with which the
American crisis progresses obliges us, in order to prevent public opinion being surprised by events to abandon the discussion of secondary points, and arrive at once at by far the most important question which is proceeding rapidly from moment to moment towards being submitted to the decision of the
Government of
Europe.
"The American Union exists no longer.
South Carolina,
Georgia,
Alabama,
Mississippi,
Louisiana,
Texas and
Florida are, at the moment at which we write, assembled in Convention at
Montgomery, with the object of forming a new Confederation.
In entering on his functions
Mr. Lincolnville find himself face to face with another Confederation, regularly constituted, which he will be obliged to recognize as an independent nation or reduce by force of arms.
"The time for recrimination is past; philosophic aspirations, however seductive they may be, must vanish before reality; reason commands us to master them, that she may set before us a situation of affairs in which a more general interest is involve, for soon the new Confederation will be knocking at the doors of
Europe, demanding the recognition of its independence, and claiming a place among the nations of the globe.
"In presence of that approaching eventuality, it appears to us indispensable to give a rapid sketch of the importance of this new Confederation."
’
Le Pays then proceeds to give statistics of the territory, population, cotton, sugar, tobacco, rice, &c., of the new Government, and thus proceeds:
‘
"The prosperity of the new Confederation is, then, intimately bound up with
European interests in general and French interests in particular.
All those States, we have said, are producers of necessaries and consumers of manufactured productions.
In time they will extend their production consumption.
"All their ports will be open to the commerce of the world, and if
France knows how to profit by that favorable circumstance which facilitates the putting in practice of her new commercial policy, inaugurated by the
Emperor, her trade may, notwithstanding distance, become a formidable competitor with that of the
Northern States; for her productions, always in demand in foreign markets, will find, besides, in the difference of the manufacturing price, an advantage which, with the custom duties which will be undoubtedly, and by way of reprisal, levied on merchandize coming from the
Northern republic, will insure a considerable market for French goods.
"The Southern Confederacy is, besides, destined to become a natural ally, capable, if need be, of giving to
Europe, if circumstances should ever require it, a powerful aid in exchange for a simple recognition, which will very probably keep the fanaticism of the
North in check, and preserve from almost certain destruction the
Southern marts, which
Europe could not do without just now.
"We are no longer in an age, thank God, when it was made a boast of having been said from the tribune. 'Perish the Colonies, rather than a principle.'"
’
Le Pays then proceeds to show why
Europe cannot do without Southern cotton, and that
France ought to seize this opportunity of extending its commercial relations with the new Confederacy.
Not satisfied with this, it takes up the general subject of American slavery, and, for the first time, an influential organ of
Europe thus boldly espouses the cause of the
Southern States, and intelligently, nobly, and eloquently vindicates the gallant and generous and much-abused people of the
Southern States.
It says:
‘
But in awaiting these results, which would flow from the cordial welcome given by
Europe to the new Confederation, let true philanthropists be assure they are wonderfully mistaken in regard to the real condition of the blacks of the
South.
We willingly admit that their error is pardonable, for they have learned the relations of master and slave only from the work of
Mrs. Beecher Stowe.
Shall we look for that condition in the lucubrations of that romance, raised to the importance of a philosophic dissertation, but much rather inspired, unconsciously to the author, by the desire of leading public opinion astray, of provoking revolution and of necessitating incendiarism and revolution?
A romance is a work of fancy which one cannot refute, and which cannot serve as a basis to any argument.
In our discussion we must seek elsewhere for authorities and material.--Facts are eloquent, and statistics teach us that, under the superintendence of those masters, so cruel and so terrible, if we are to believe
Mrs. Stowe, the black population of the
South increases regularly in a greater proportion than the white; while in the Antilles, in
Africa, and especially in the so very philanthropic States of the
North, the black race decreases in a deplorable proportion.--How could
Mrs. Beecher Stowe reconcile this fact with her extraordinary assertions?
The condition of those blacks is assuredly better than that of the agricultural laborers in many parts of
Europe — Their morality is far superior to that of the free negroes of the
North; the planters encourage marriage, and thus endeavor to develop among them a sense of the family relation, with the view of attaching them to the domestic hearth, consequently to the family of the master.
It will be then observed, that in such a state of things the interest of the planter, in default of any other motive, promotes the advancement and well-being of the slave.
Certainly, we believe it possible still to ameliorate their condition.
It is with that view, even, that the
South has labored for so long a time to prepare them for a higher civilization.
"In no part, perhaps, of the continent, regard being had to the population, do there exist men more eminent and gifted, with nobler or more generous sentiments, than in the
Southern States? -- No country possesses lovelier, kinder-hearted, and more distinguished women.
To commence with the immortal
Washington, the list of statesmen who have taken part in the
Government of the
United States, shows that all those who have shed a lustre on the country, and won the admiration of
Europe, owed their being to that much abused South.
"Is it true that so much distinction, talent, and grandeur of soul, could have sprung from all the vices, from the cruelty and corruption which one would fain-attribute now to the
Southern people?
The laws of inflexible logic refute these false imputations.
And — strange coincidence-- while Southern men presided over the destinies of the
Union, its gigantic prosperity was the astonishment of the world.
In the hands of Northern men, that edifice, raised with so much care and labor by their predecessors, comes crashing down, threatening to carry with it, in its fall, the industrial future of every other nation.
For long years, the constant effort of the
North and a certain foreign country, to spread among the blacks incendiary pamphlets and tracts, have powerfully contributed to suspend every Southern movement towards emancipation.
Its people have been compelled to close their ears to ideas which threatened their very existence.
"Let the independence of the
South be recognized — that servile insurrection openly and boldly preached in the pulpits of the
North may cease to be of ever-present danger.
Leave her to her own inspirations, and at her hour, in her own good time, with the assistance of
Europe — that is to say, when the black shall be sufficiently advanced to understand that, free or slave, he owes it to himself and society to assist by his labor in the common weal--the
South will herself commence the great work of enfranchisement.
Nothing will then prevent it, for free labor will become less burdensome to the planter, at the same time that the entire of
Europe will not find itself threatened in the vital interests of its industrial relations by the rth of material which would now be the first and inevitable consequence of a servile war."
’
We can scarcely express the satisfaction with which we read this admirable vindication of the
South, from the principal journal of a nation which is not as much interested as some others in Southern commerce, but which leads the van of
European civilization and of
European chivalry; which is the oldest and most faithful friend of
America; whose arms enabled us to achieve our first independence, and whose acknowledgment of Southern independence will be an example which all
Europe will hasten to follow.
