Intervention.
We published yesterday a speech said to have been delivered by the
War Secretary of the
Palmerston Ministry, (
Sir G. Cornwall Lewis,) in which the following passages occur: ‘"The war which was now going on in the
United States, and the blockade which prevented the cotton from coming to that country, would before long come to an end,"’--Again: ‘"Everybody who read the accounts of what was doing in
America would see that, although there was a war there between the two contending powers, it was a war which was as yet undecided — a war which was waged on the part of the
Northern States for the purpose of restoring the
Southern States to the condition of Union they were in before the war began; and, on the part of the
Southern States, it was a war to establish their independence.
But the war must be admitted to be undecided.
Its battle fields were still reeking with the blood of thousands of soldiers killed on both sides; and until the war had been decided on the one side on the other, or until it had been so far decided in favor of the
Southern States as to induce the
Northern States to acknowledge their independence, or to prove to foreign States that the contest was exhausted, and that the
Northern States were incapable of continuing the contest — until that moment arrived it could not be said, in accordance with the established doctrines of international law, that the independence of the
Southern States had been established."’
This speech puts an end at once to all the pleasing visions in which gentlemen have been indulging with regard to a recognition by
England, at any short date, or indeed, until we shall have fully established our independence by the valor of our soldiers.
Incredulous as we are wont to be, we had almost begun to think, from
Gladstone's speech, that the long expected time was approaching.
It will never come until we shall no longer be in need of it. If we should be crushed — which we do not think possible — we shall not need it. If we should be victorious — which we think certain — we shall need it quite as little, and we hope that should any future treaty — that is, any treaty after the achievement of our independence — between us and
Great Britain contain a clause acknowledging our independence, it may be struck out to show her and the rest of the world that inasmuch as we owe her no thanks for the fact of independence, so we will not accept her acknowledgment of its existence.
At the same time that he tells his audience in so many words that the
Confederate States can have no claim to recognition until they shall have fought out their independence, the
British War Minister assures them that the war will speedily come to an end. What he means by this oracular saying, we are at a loss to conjecture.
It is as mystical as a response from the Oracle at Deipht.
We are told that when Crœsus asked the latter what would be the issue of a war he was about to engage in with Cyrne, the
King of
Persis, he answered, ‘"the war will destroy a great empire."’ And so it did. It destroyed the empire of Crœsus himself, who, interpreting the response according to his own wishes, had taken it to mean the empire of
Cyrus.
So this war may end in a short time, by the defeat of somebody, according to Sir.
G. C. Lewis, but he does not tell us who the ruined party is to be. Let it be who it may, he has so framed his oracle that
he will lose no credit by the result.
Great Britain acknowledged the independence of the
South American States seven years before
Spain had ceased to make war upon them, and as for recognition, we do not believe
Spain has ever recognised them formally to this day.
Great Britain recognized the independence of
Greece when her armies had been reduced to a few predatory bands, and Ibrahim Pascha was as thorough master of the Morea as any gentleman is of his own plantation,
Great Britain recognized the independence of
Belgium while the
Dutch power was still unexhausted Even after that recognition the
Dutch invaded
Belgium and thoroughly routed the only army it had. The country, indeed, was completely subdued, until the
French marched in and drove out the
Dutch.
We tell our people for the hundredth time to place no dependence on foreign aid in any shape whatever, material or moral.
Would to God our authorities had never leaned upon that need.
We should have been spared much of the humiliation and suffering through which we have worked our way, and been much farther on the road to independence.
Great Britain has determined to make ours an exceptional case.
The Palmerston Ministry is dead against us, and so is the
Queen, if all accounts be true.
The people are for us — that is they sympathize with us. But assuredly they are satisfied with the course of the
Palmerston Ministry, or it would long since have been overthrown.
But us think no more about
England, but depend solely on our own exertions.
