Le Monde, the leading Catholic journal in France, in noticing the present war, says: ‘ England has already decided that she will maintain a neutral position and consider the war as one between two sovereign powers — In France it has been asked whether the Southern States were not rebels? It is difficult to admit this interpretation, when we reflect that the United States form a federation.--Sovereignty belongs to each State. The Union is a contract, a treaty; and when violated, either with or without a cause, it is and can be only a violation of the agreement entered into. It is not a rebellion; it is a war between sovereign States. The question in relation to letters of marque issued by the President of the Southern Confederacy is thus settled. Indeed, it is the only means of defence at sea which the South has against the North. States without a navy or with a weak one, can thus defend themselves against maritime aggression. This Congress of Paris endeavoured to set aside this long established principle. The United States did not yield its consent to the decisions had upon that subject. Strange to say. European diplomatists had completely misunderstood this question; and impelled by a spirit of philanthropy, they were depriving weak States of their only means of defence in cases of maritime war. Through humanity the rights of private property were respected both at sea and on land. The United States, having no navy, could not recognize a principle which gave them no hold upon the enemy's commerce, while theirs would have been exposed to total destruction. The right of the Southern Confederation is incontestable. President Lincoln has promised to hang the corsairs of President Davis. This is simply nonsense. If the corsairs of the South are treated as pirates, the prisoners of war from the North may be regarded as brigands, and shot. The French editors of Le Monde (says the N. O. Catholic Standard) are much better informed than the Irish editors of Catholic papers in the United States. ’
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