previous next


European News.

Yankee correspondence about intervention — Extracts from Foreign papers — the ‘"290,"’ &c., &c.



The Paris correspondent of the New York Herald writes, on the 14th ult., that there is a great deal of feeling there caused by England's refusal to second France, and the Emperor is much disgusted at her action. The writer says:

‘ In conversation yesterday with a distinguished journalist, the leading editor of a paper which is on the Government side, he expressed the opinion that this refusal would go far toward widening a breach which really exists between France and England, and which, though bridged over at present by an unnatural alliance, must sooner or later divide the two nations.

The present act of the Emperor would, he thought stand forever as an evidence of his friendship for the United States, of his desire to see brought to an end the fearful struggle which desolates our country, while he interpreted the refusal of England to unite with France as an evidence of the desire of the former country to see us ruined and destroyed; and this is the opinion, as you will see, expressed by the Government journalists, as far as they dare express it. It does not seen yet to be fully determined here whether England has or has not formally rejected the proposal of France. The report received yesterday was to the effect that she had. --To-day this is modified into an adjournment of the question until the result of the elections shall be known, and until dispatches shall have been received from Lord Lyons.

In any event, the Moniteur does not seem to give up the idea of the proposition having an effect in the United States.

In its bulletin of this morning, in referring to the guarantee given by the masters of two vessels taken by the Alabama, to pay eighty-six thousand dollars to the Government of the South, ‘"after the conclusion of peace,"’ the official journal remarks: ‘"If this statement is correct, this stipulation, imposed upon one side, accepted on the other, authorizes us to believe that in the United States itself a pacific solution is not considered as either impossible or far off. The question which the dispatch of the Emperor's Minister of Foreign Affairs has just put to Europe, will come, then, in good time on the other side of the Atlantic."’

Although there has been no official statement to that effect, it is generally believed that Russia has also refused to join France in the proposition, and it is now an interesting question upon which public opinion is greatly divided, whether the Emperor will or will not make the proposition to our Government alone. The Southerners here say he will, and that in case of refusal on the part of the Federal Government to accept it, he will lend the physical aid of France to the South, raise the blockade, and recognize the Southern Confederacy. The blockade once raised, they say, England would be glad to avail herself of the advantages thus offered to commerce, and would, of course, in no manner interfere with France in the aid which the latter would render to the South.

Mr. Slidell was received by the Emperor at Complegne, a few days ago, since the circular of the Minister of Foreign Affairs was written, and he is in constant communication with the Minister himself.

I am inclined to believe that the Emperor's future course upon this matter will be moulded entirely by what he considers his interest in Mexico, and it is very certain that he looks upon the prospective occupancy of Texas by a large body of Union troops with no very favorable eye.

In spite of the claimed ‘"impartiality"’ of the document of the Minister of Foreign Affairs, it is evident where the sympathies of the French Government at present lie. The bare fact that through the whole of it the two ‘"Governments"’ of Washington and Richmond are regarded as equally entitled to the consideration of France shows this: the French Government may be considered as committed to the Southern interest, and it behooves us to be on the alert and prepare ourselves for any future contingencies which may arise, we know not how soon.

’ A London letter in the Philadelphia Inquirer copies the following from a paper in that city:

‘ "So great is the impunity which Capt. Semmes and the crew of the Alabama appear to enjoy, and the utter inability or unwillingness of the United States to capture, burn or sink the famous Confederate, that the commerce between Liverpool and the United States is almost completely paralyzed and the trade is likely, unless a stop is put to the doings of the Alabama, to fall entirely into the hands of British shipowner. Already it is difficult to effect insurances upon American owned vessels, and we are informed that a large American ship, with a valuable cargo on board, and in the Mersey outward bound for the United States, was suddenly sold as she lay, for ready cash, at nearly half her value. As soon as the necessary regulations were complied with, in order to give her a British registration, and sailed for her destination with a cargo on board valued at two and a half millions of dollars."

’ The London Post, of the 22d, says:

‘ The steamer Nicolai I., which left Liverpool a few days ago, ostensibly for St. Thomas, but really to run the blockade, carried out an immense quantity of war material for the Confederates. The Nicolai I. cleared for St. Thomas, but she will make her way to Nassau, learn the latest news as to the position of the Federal cruisers, and act accordingly. Yesterday three vessels sailed from Liverpool for Nassau, laden with some things which are in great request by the blockade breakers at Nassau.

The names of these vessels are the Thistle, Severn, and Monmouth.

’ The Paris correspondent of the London Post writes as follows on the 20th ult.:

‘ Some French journals have declared that the relations between the Governments of England and France are by no means satisfactory, a coldness having arisen out of the refusal of her Majesty's Government to subscribe to the American dispatch of M. Drouyn de Phuys. This is not true.--On the contrary, I have reason to suppose that the French Government has rather modified its opinions as to the wisdom of precipitate intervention between the North and South.

Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 United States License.

An XML version of this text is available for download, with the additional restriction that you offer Perseus any modifications you make. Perseus provides credit for all accepted changes, storing new additions in a versioning system.

hide Places (automatically extracted)
hide People (automatically extracted)
Sort people alphabetically, as they appear on the page, by frequency
Click on a person to search for him/her in this document.
Slidell (1)
Severn (1)
Semmes (1)
Drouyn Phuys (1)
hide Dates (automatically extracted)
Sort dates alphabetically, as they appear on the page, by frequency
Click on a date to search for it in this document.
20th (1)
14th (1)
hide Display Preferences
Greek Display:
Arabic Display:
View by Default:
Browse Bar: