English view of coercion.
Lord Palmerston has again, in a public address, emphatically expressed the hope that the questions at issue betwen the United States Government the
Confederate States may be settled without an appeal to arms.--The same sentiment is reiterated without exception, that we are aware of, by the whole English press.
The civilized world looks with horror and amazement at the dire portents of this fratricidal and suicidal strife.
The
Lincoln Cabinet stands alone among the Governments of the whole civilized world in preferring a bloody arbitrament for this American quarrel.
All Christendom raises its voice against it; and even in the
North, it is a minority elected ruler alone who seeks to involve this nation in such unparalleled horrors.--The journals of
France, the most warlike of modern nations, cry aloud against this most unnecessary and iniquitous appeal to battle, and those of
England pronounce the crime of the act only equalled by its folly.
The
London Star says:
‘
"Under any circumstances, such a war as that which is now impending between the
Northern and Southern States is an act of madness Suits for the restitution of conjugal rights are as foolish between nations as between individuals,
‘"Let the ill-assorted pair agree to live apart — they may be mutually civil as friends, though their dispositions would not brook closer intimacy.
We should not be displeased to see a divorce declared between the
North and its uncongenial mate, the
South.
But in any case a struggle to avert it by force of arms would be not only a folly, but a crime.
It seems vain to hope that the commencement of such a warlike strife can now be averted.
But we still cherish the belief that it will not be of protracted duration; and that before long the combatants, yielding to the force of circumstances, if not to the inspirations of wisdom, will shake hands and agree to go their separate ways in peace."’
’
