England must have cotton.
From the
London correspondence (May 18,) of the New York Herald, we make the subjoined extract, merely to show the views that are now enforced upon the
Northern mind.--The object of the writer is to urge upon the mercenary
Yankees the necessity of a vigorous prosecution of the war, or total annihilation inevitably awaits them.
A more bloodthirsty composition it is almost impossible to conceive of; yet it may be there is some sarcasm in its conclusions, after all:
‘
The
Queen's proclamation has been issued, and in entire good faith all loyal subjects of her Majesty are enjoined not to join either of the belligerents, and they are assured if they do so their Government will not interfere in their behalf in the event of their vessels being captured or themselves made prisoners.--So far so good.
If the war is protracted even a twelve month, and the crop of cotton put in jeopardy or greatly curtailed, there will be wailing in
Lancashire.
Several Englishmen of position have told me that they believed if the supply was one million bales short of the average, it would produce such distress and lead to such a convulsion in
Manchester that the very existence of the
British empire and the throne itself would be in danger.
This is probably an exaggeration, but a scant supply of cotton will make a financial crisis and a period of distress and starvation that would require vast Government aid, or there would be an insurrection or a revolution.
To avert that, this Government are going to do everything possible to throw obstacles in the way of
President Lincoln; in other words,
to force your Government to stop hostilities.
You have seen the papers here up to this time, and how they have dealt in ‘ "bosh,"’ and weak arguments against ‘"coercion;"’ and, in fact, encourage the
South in their rebellion.
You may be perfectly certain that
Great Britain will follow up the proclamation and the discussions in Parliament by every possible species of inference, and if nothing else will suffice, find a pretext
to declare war against the United States, to force them to abandon their present ground, and acknowledge the independence of the
South.
Cotton must be had at all hazards.
And in the desire to sustain the
South, and to break the
Union, this Government will be seconded by
France, who burns to obtain some foothold and interest in
North America and the
West Indies.
Schemes are now on foot to get financial aid to the
South, though with very slim prospects of success.
I believe this Government, if there were any possible chance of doing it, would to-day advance ten millions to the Southern Confederacy, if by so doing they could see their way clear to either a separation of the
Union, a close of the war, or a full supply of cotton for the next two years.
Now, you may mark my words, and you will find them true, just as certain as the sun continues to shine on you, if
Mr. Lincoln's Government, sustained as it is by the twenty millions of Northern people, does not make a forced march right through secession within four or five months, completely regardless of climate, season and all other circumstances, then
John Bull will have a finger in the pie, and the Frenchman, too, and you will have three wars on your hands instead of one.
A Napoleonic stroke — a campaign like that which culminated at
Marengo — a sudden striking into the heart of the enemy's country — is the only mode you have got to conquer a peace and keep out foreign interference.
This overbearing nation has had a hand in every national quarrel in
Europe for hundreds of years, and now that the
United States have begun to assume a position among the Powers of the earth, the interference must be begun on that side.
I greatly hope I am mistaken in my surmises, and would be loath to say one word to encourage the
South in the belief that they are to receive aid and assistance from this side; but there is a fixed and full determination here — and the press are dragooned into it — to throw every species of ridicule, cold water, and material obstacles in the way of your Government in crushing this rebellion.
It is not altogether from jealousy of your growing power, or love of interference, or a wish to break up the
Union, or to secure a cotton supply, but they all have their influence.
I have it from direct sources that the
Times and the Morning Post have got their one from Lord Palmerston, and they are to act accordly.
Very direct hints have been held out to the
Confederate States of America that if the old repudiated debts of
Florida,
Mississippi, and
Arkansas, would be acknowledged, and the interest paid, they should have more money.
I believe the sums that could be borrowed here, if this were done, would be small, but it is a part of the plan, and it gives encouragement to the Southerners.
Now, if your Northern integral portion of the country has any military strength, any fight and endurance, with the ability to carry on a tremendous campaign with crushing force, vigor and success, they have no time to lose.
You have got to talk of fifty and a hundred millions of dollars at a time, instead of tens of millions, and four and five hundred thousand men instead of a hundred thousand.
It is the sublimest struggle of modern times, and one in which your very existence as a great nation is staked.
Let the
South break off, either with or without foreign aid, and where is your future national greatness?
A respectable nation, certainly, but not the one that could grow up between the great lakes and the
Gulf of Mexico. Six months will certainly decide the question, and you may as well believe it. It you have virtually conquered in that time, well and good; but if you have not, then you will find new complications and internal interference.
You may say that this publicly avowed position is the very way to give encouragement to the rebellious
South to continue their resistance, looking to the hope of foreign interference.
But still, you know that the great bulk of this nation are so much opposed to war, and more war burdens, that it would be impossible to get up a war, particularly with
America, without a show of a cause, and that pretext cannot be found immediately.
But let some British sailors be found privateering and hanged, let a blundering English skipper try to run a blockade and get captured, or let a
British Admiral, apparently by a blunder, but really intentionally, get into a scrape with some Yankee cruiser, and exchange shots, and then send a false statement home about being ‘" fired into,"’ and the cockadoodle newspapers could set the country in a blaze on the subject of Yankee impudence, and a peremptory demand could be made for a cessation of hostilities, or, in case of a refusal, a declaration of war — and all on the barefaced, false plea that it was done for humanity's sake.
You may depend that the
British government will let no possible opportunity slip to get some chance to interfere in your warlike affairs.
Every million spent before September, and every hundred thousand men enrolled, will be worth double the amount after that time; and if the
United States of
North America are ever going to be the first nation in the world, you have got one tremendous campaign to carry on during the next six months.
You had better have a Dictator, a King or an Emperor, and have the country under martial law from one end to the other for one or two years, and crush your enemies out, than get beaten by foreign interference and British sympathy.
’
