The latest from Europe.
comments of the
English press on
Pope's defeat — Calls for intervention — the bravery of the south an object of admiration — the emancipation policy condemned, &c., &c.
The news by the
Angle Saxon, from
Liverpool on the 18th, is highly interesting.
The
Liverpool Telegraph says that besides the commissions committed to other ship builders by the rebel Government, which are being pushed forward with all possible dispatch, a large iron plated ram it being constructed on the river
Mersey, without any attempt being made at concealment.
This ran will be of the most formidable character, and will attempt to run the blockade at
Charleston.
The journal says that a vessel is lying at
Liverpool, taking in a cargo of iron plates, destined for Southern vessel, which is awaiting their arrival at
Charleston.
It is reported that three of the steamers on the
Clyde — The
Trounce, the and the Clydesdale — have been sold to the Government.
The
Paris correspondent of the New York
Herald, writing on the 16th, says:
‘
Since the arrival of the news of the first battle at Run there has not been so much excitement by dispatches from the
United States as was the result of those which reached here on Saturday evening up to the 4th of September.
We were in hopes at first that as has usually been the last for the past year, the first dispatches might have been of an exaggerated character, to be very much modified by subsequent once and by the from the journals.
We have had, this time, news that our troops have been driven in on
Washington, confirmed by the journals which have since arrived.
Upon receiving it
Mr. Slidell immediately sought and ob an interview with M. Thoubenel, in which he again urged upon him immediate recognition of the and probably took the occasion to communicate to him the substance of the proposals of
Mr. George N. Sanders is said to be the earer. The news has raised the recognition cry again in the secession semi-official government or which for some time past, have kept very on the subject.
The
Patric looks upon the war as
about over. -- the capture of
Washington as certain.
And expresses the hope that when this is accomplished
President Davis will act magnanimity.
’
The
Constitutionalist of this morning, after summing up the news, which it considers evidence of the defeat of the
Northern with the following paragraph:
‘
"From the point of view of
European interests, the present situation be prolonged!
We not.
The separates existence of the Confederate States is a fact as weighs a necessity; the impossibility of reducing them is demonstrated.
Can
Europe wait any longer before recognizing them?
Will she require that they shall have taken
Washington?
That will be asking of them what was not asked of the Greeks, the Belgians, or the Italians sufficed for the recognition of the independence of these peoples that they were masters of
Athens, and Milen.
We did not wait till they had taken
the Hague, and
Vienna.--They had driven away the enemy.
That was enough."
’
The military achievements of the, Confederates--recognition to be won by themselves.
[From the London Times, Sept. 16.]
The people of the
Confederate States have made themselves famous.
If the renown of brilliant courage, stern devotion to a cause,
and military achievements almost without a parallel, can compensate men for the toil and privations of the hour, then the countrymen of
Lee and
Jackson may be consoled amid their sufferings.
From all parts of Europe, from their enemies as well as their friends, from these who condemn their acts as well as those who sympathize with them,
comes the tribute of admiration. When the history of this war is written the admiration will doubtless become deeper and stronger, for the veil which has covered the
South will be drawn away and disclose
a picture of patri of unanimous self sacrifice, of wise and firm administration, which we can now only see in distinctly. The details of that extraordinary national effort which has led to the repulse and almost to the destruction of an invading force of more than half a million men, will then become known to the world, and, whatever may be the fate of the
new nationality, or its subsequent claims to the respect of mankind, it will assuredly begin its career with a reputation for genius and valor
which the most famous nations may envy. Within a period of eighteen months a scattered population, hitherto living exclusively by agriculture, and accustomed to trust for every product of art and manufactures to the
North, has been turned into a self-sufficing State, able to raise an immense army, and conduct what is now an offensive war.* * * *
It is satisfactory to find that we are not alone in our opinions, that we did right in refusing to meddle in American affairs, and that the people most deeply interested — namely, the
Confederates themselves — are quite of the same opinion.
There is nothing in the paragraph from the Richmond
Dispatch, which we published yesterday, but what may be thoroughly agreed to by every Englishman.
The of the writer, seemingly, is to show that the
European nations must either carry on a war with all their strength against the
Federal States, or entirely from interference.
If England and France and land a hundred thousand men each, and drive bath the Federal armies of invasion, it will be well enough, but less than this will only prolong the and add to the difficulties of the
South by all the passions and what remains of the patriotism of the
Federal.
This is presides the reasoning which has caused ever, sensible man in
England to reject the idea of breaking the blockade, or making any other week and half and half demonstration of dislike to the continuance of the war. The name of
England especially would fill the recruiting offices of the
North better than all the eloquence of an Everett or the military fame of a Corcoran.
The war which may now at any time come to an end through the returning good sense of the
Federal, would probably, become more desperate than ever, the chief enemy being no longer the
Confederate, but the Britisher.
Then the multitude of men who would be thrown into idleness and want by the breaking up of commerce would add to the military force of the
Federal States.
‘"If the
Northern seacoast was blockaded,"’ says the
Southern paper, ‘"and the seaport cities captured, the
North would have more soldiers for her armies and few idlers to support.
If the
North was without a navy and without a mercantile marine, several hundred thousand men would be disengaged from their accustomed pursuits, be without employment, and burning with revenge and indignation against the stymies who had thrown them helpless on the world"’ On the other hand, the writer remarks that ‘"it is chiefly because the
South has been blockaded that she has exhibited such wonderful power.
If the
Southern blockade were raised, half the people would be diverted from the industrial pursuits necessary for conducting the war to selling tobacco and cotton and money making."’
It may be suspected that in the case of this Southern writer the grapes of
European intervention are scar, but, whatever may be his motive, he has uttered good sense on this great question.
An armed interference in the quarrel would be a fatal mistake for any European Power.
When the South has expected the enemy from its soil it may be entitled to act for recognition; but its frontiers must be both icon and kept by us own exertions.
A demand for foreign interference.--the blockade ought to be raised.
[From the
London Herald, (
Derby organ,) Sept. 16.]
There is a degree of Inhumanely in the attitude on this question assumed by the
European Powers which seems to us to call for the sternest censure.
We are standing with folded arms and a placid expression on our faces, while
America is being made in desert, and
Americans, most valiantly, are hacking one another to pieces.
Will it advantage us at all that the spirit of the country should be broken, a whole generation of young men slain or maimed in the
cruelest of unjust wars, and the benefits that the might receive from this thriving and once happy continent postponed for a century?
Let us do something as we are Christian men. It does not matter what they call it.
Term it arbitration, intervention, diplomatic action, recognition of the South, remonstrance with the North, friendly interference, or forcible pressure of some sort --whatever form or shape our action may assume, let us do something to stop this carnage.
For each year of this war at least 200,000 men are slain in battle.
Millions may be said to be wounded or stricken with disease; and for every one killed, wounded, or sick, a family is in mourning.
A territory larger than
Europe is given up to horrors that might have figured in
Dante's ‘"Inferno."’ Over fair Virginian plantations, and homesteads in old
Kentucky, by the rivers of
Tennessee, on the prairies of
Missouri and
Arkansas, among the eases and rice-fields of
Louisiana Georgia, red handed war strides triumphant. --What have all these people done that they should be so directly visited?
The cause of this war is a thinners, a fatal infatuation.
Let us not be content with muttering this to ourselves; let us tell the
Americans what we think of it, and cry — hold!
while something yet remains for
Americans to fight about.
If our Government will not do this we must held them in part responsible for the continuance of this plague of civil war — this standing outrage and against God and man.
The same paper says the blockade has not in anything more severe than temporary privation on the
South, as it is a self supporting section,
This is not the case with the
New England States, to them a blockade would be ruinous, and the interruption of foreign trade would destroy the chief, if not the sole source of their prosperity.
But we do not believe that even this would be necessary
if France and England were now to insist on peace, and to threaten interference if their mediation were . A year ago it might have been otherwise;
the pride of the
North might have induced it to endure rain rather than accept defeat and disgrace without striking another blow either for the
Union or for honor.
But a year of suffering may well have taught them humility; a year of hard fighting — the hardest fighting, with few exceptions, that the world has seen — has amply redeemed their military character, and they need no longer feel ashamed when confronted by overwhelming force to consent to a parley, and capitulate on honorable terms.
A people defending its hearths and homes may and must fight to the last; but in a war of aggression perseverance after success has become hopeless is the part not of bravery but of madness.
An English opinion of a slaveholding nation.
[From the London News, (Abolition.) Sept. 17.]
The friends of secession in this country are justified in celebrating the military exploits of the
Southern army.
Their praise it very high, the achievements of the
Confederates being found to be almost without a parallel. It is moreover, we observe, judiciously heightened
by a tribute to the courage and tenacity of the Federale, such as they would probably not have received had they been successful.
Far from wishing to extenuate or disparage the exploits of the Confederate army, we desire that they should receive the fullest justice, and be considered in all their significance.
We do not know of any political object, not of consequence immediately practical, to which the attention of Englishmen can be more usefully directed than to the remarkable feats of arms by which the
Confederates assert their pretension to the mastery of the New World.
Certain we are that such a study
will many widespread which have been propagated in this country.
The picture of Southern success which we are now invited to admire
must destroy the nation that a people whose social system is founded on slavery is by that fact condemned to military weakness. When this war broke out, the efforts of the
North to keep the slave power within the pale and under the restraints of the
Union were ascribed to the passion for empire, and our sympathies were asked for a people greatly outnumbered, and feeble in all but their indomitable patriotism, who desired nothing more than to be let alone.
Thousands of well intentioned persons in this country accepted these representations.
A slaveholding nation, they thought, might very well be allowed to achieve its independence; by the very frame-work of its society ti was condemned to feebleness, and in a state of isolation it would learn the necessity of conforming its institutions to the moral opinion of the world.
We shall not now, repeat the considerations we have urged to show that slavery, far from unfitting a State for war, is itself a nursery for soldiers.
We have to day what is more convicting than any arguments — a great face.
Here is a power which has for eighty years had unbounded liberty to spread itself over the
Southern portion of the
Union; nobody has until now dared to oppose its extension; its character has been developed with a freedom unknown, since the time of the Greek republics; its liberty in this respect is absolutely incapable of addition; it cannot point the world to a single circumstance in its condition and say. ‘"This is that which warped my course — this has hindered me in the path of civilization."’ We know as much of the character of the
South as we could know after it had procured the recognition of its independence, and this is the sum. It is at this moment the most barbarous Anglo-
Saxon community under the sun, the one which pursues the lowest ends in the present and takes least thought for the future — but it can fight I s system of agriculture, precluding the intelligence which only attends freedom, turns the most fertile portions of the earth into wilderness--
but it can fight.
Arbitrary arrests in the United States--the alleged tyranny of the Lincoln Cabinet.
[From the London Times, Sept. 16.]
There is not one-tenth part of the liberty of opinion or discussion in republican
America that in imperial
France.
But this law is interpreted by the same wanton caprice which made it. It seems an established rule that American treason is a crime that can only be committed by the party that is out — by the Democrats;
but that the same words and actions which constitute treason in them are no treason at all in the Republicans.
The merit of having voted for Mr. Lincoln has given them by nation portion the right to commit treason with impunity.--We cannot tell the amount of dissatisfaction which these things produce in
America.
It must be measured by the degree in which personal liberty is valued.
We must not look for its expression in the press, or in the proceedings of public meetings.
This establishment of arbitrary power will not be met by words, which only point out their speaker as a mark for the vengeance of the
Executive.
We have already a specimen of the manner in which it will be met. In the
State of Illinois there has arisen a secret association called the
Golden Circle, which puts one in mind of the societies which kept alive a spirit of freedom in
Germany under the reign of
Napoleon.
The
State of New Jersey threatens to call out its militia to resist illegal arrest of one of its citizens.
The more disastrous the war the more arbitrary and tyrannical becomes the
Government.
Mr. Lincoln and his friends seem really to believe that a policy which shocks the feelings of every liberal man in
England and
America, which tends to make the
Government odious at home as well as unsuccessful abroad, and which has the direct effect of
rendering inheritable a breach between the can and Democratic parties, for the time engaged in the same cause, as the sure means of restoring credit and of bringing success to his Administration and victory to his arms.
Opinion of the cotton Districts on recognition of the South--a strong Voice from Liverpool.
[From the
Liverpool Courier, Sept. 17.]
The sum and substance of the startling intelligence brought by the
Europa is included in a few brief words--‘"The remains of the three Federal armies are hemmed up in their besieged capital."’--That is the end of eighteen months incessant and sanguinary warfare. * * * *
This defeat of the
Federal is equal to the loss of half a million of men.
Mr. Lincoln may order a conscription, but men are justified in resisting the orders of statesmen whose incompetency loads but to death and disgrace.
The law Irish, undisciplined and caring little for the Union, will not replace the troops slaughtered at
Centreville and
Bull Run.
The Union has no fresh fields to fall back upon; there are no new States to pronounce in favor of the
Federal, and to send 50,000 men to die. The Confederates are differently placed.
But there is matter of still more consequence.
How can England and France now gently reject the demand for recognition made by the South? On what plea can we refuse to acknowledge that independence which is
a fact? It is not now the capital of the
Confederacy which is beleaguered, but of the Unionists.--It is
Washington that is in perd, not
Richmond.--Every conquest made by the
Federal early in the year has been given up, or is on the point of being surrendered.
The
Confederate States are free from the presence of an enemy, except at New Orleans and a few unimportant points along the coast.
Three invasions have been baffled or repelled; three invading armies have been shattered both separately and together.
What do we wait for or what do we require? Gunboats, indeed, may steal up rivers and fire commercial towns, but the spiteful vengeance of a malignant enemy is not to be a bar to justice.
The siege of
Washington places the
Confederates in a position to demand their recognition.
They are no longer on the defensive, but the assailants.
They have won the admiration of the civilized nations for their constancy fortitude, endurance, and bravery. They have managed to create resources when abut out from the commerce of the earth; they have beaten an insolent and bullying people three times their number; and are we to imitate the conduct of New York journalists, and ignore facts in hopes of other facts at some unmentionable period?
The siege of
Washington is the
death blow of the Union as it was. Five different confederacies, each larger than Austria and France together, will be formed out of the fragments. Is it necessary, is it just, that a million more men should be slain before we allow ourselves to pronounce an acknowledgment of an independence so nobly defended and so brilliantly achieved?
Manchester Joins in the cry for the rebels.
[From the Manchester Guardian,Sept. 16.]
Meanwhile, the
Confederates must be congratulated on having
fully vindicated the confident predictions with which, from the beginning of the contest, they have appealed to the sympathies of
Europe.
They have given a complete answer to all those persons who doubted whether they could cope successfully with the superior resources of the
North, and whether, therefore, they were justified in seeking independence by force of arms.
All doubts of that kind are set at rest by the recent triumphs in
Virginia.
The South, both by their military qualities in the field and by their statesmanship in the council, have clearly established their title to a separate nationality, and, the sooner that title is recognized by the North, the less cause will the latter have for subsequent regret. Should it delay the concession much longer, the result humorously fore shadowed by a New York writer may actually occur in the restoration of the
Union by conquest on the part of the
South.
Already
President Lincoln has lost much of his advantage in treating for a frontier, and a few more defeats like those sustained by
Gen. Pope, may almost leave him without a frontier for which to treat.
Revolutionary Symptoms in the Federal States.
The
London Globe, of the 17th instant, remarks that dissatisfaction with the
Government at
Washington can no longer be suppressed.
There are something like three Governments in the field.
The New York War Committee cames out with a proposal to raise two armies, if not with the consent of the
Washington Government,
then without it. Then what means the council of the
New England Governors at
Providence?
These men represent the abolitionist States.
Do they, too, contemplate some course independent of the
Federal Government?
The nation beyond the line of the slave States has begun to slip.
A Government in
Washington, a committee with revolutionary notions in New York, a council of abolitionist Governors in
Rhode Island--what are these but signs of incipient revolution?
At this rate there will soon be more wars than one in progress.
Meanwhile the slave confederacy, armed, disciplined, organized, tri-
umphant the only coherent power, will have its own way.
Chances of Union complications with England and France.--Napoleon's troops in Mexico may Operate in American difficulties.
[Paris (Sept. 16th.) Correspondence of the London Times.]
In the way of news from
America, we hear that the
Alabama, Confederate man of war, the departure of which from
Liverpool was lately noticed, had by this time arrived out at the Bahamas where she was to be mot, it is said, by another Confederate armed steamer, which would place herself under the orders of the
Alabama's commander, the renowned
Captain Semmos.
These two steamers, it is considered, will be imply sufficient to give an account of the
Federal cruisers which have been allowed literally to blockade Nadean.
So we may expect soon to have the account of the war varied by details of an action at sea.
It is further stated to-day that French cruisers in the
Gulf of Mexico, on the lookout for
Mexican vessels, have captured some Federal craft, which, it is though, may lead to complications.
Another incident which, if confirmed — and it reaches me from good authority — is not likely to improve the state of feeling between the Cabinets of
Washington and
Paris,
is the discovery of 30,000 muskets having been from California to Mexico, with, it is po affirmed a sum of money in addition.
There is to be satisfactory proof forthcoming that the arms and spacle proceeded from the
Federal the
Government, and not from individuals.
Finally, a Paris paper, nothing the arrival at
Biarritz of
M. de Chasseloup-
Laubat,
Minister of Marine, says that his right to the Emp with the
Mexican expedition, which will be raised to 60,000 men, including the Lorentz division.
Without an exact number, there is reason to believe that the number of troops sent to
Mexico or possibly in the first instance to the
French West India Islands) will be considerably larger than was quite lately expected.
You had details of about 27,000 proceeding from different French and
Algerine ports.
The numbers of the Lorentz division are difficult to ascertain, as we have no correct account of the casualties by disease, &c., but with the small reinforcements previously sent him and the marines, &c., at
Vera Cruz, we must suppose not less than 5,000 or 6,000 men. We now hear of a further and considerable shipment as ordered, and or another as contemplated, and, should this last intelligence be verified, it is not improbable that, including soldiers of all descriptions, marines, naval brigade, (which might at any time be formed, since the men of war will have little for their crews to do, and could easily spare sailors,) and some Indigenous corps it is proposed to form, the
French force would not be lets than that stated in the
Paris journal already quoted.
Of course, if it prove to be thus, many persons will be hard to persuade that such an expedition, so much larger than is necessary to accomplish French objects in
Mexico, has not been formed also with a view to future eventualities or contingencies in the Anglo-American conflict.
An emancipation proclamation called for.
[From the
London Star, Sept. 15.
The crisis of the civil war has come at length.--The ‘"stunning defeat"’ for which
Mr. Wendell Phillips prayed has certainly been inflicted. * * The war has but arrived at the point which we have anticipated as the alternative to the adoption of the policy necessary to secure success, and even to justify the contest.
From the first we have held that it were better to separate than to hold the
South to an allegiance which could only be made a willing allegiance by the virtual submission of the
North to the slave power — better not to fight at all than to fight for the restoration of the
Union without the abolition of slavery — and difficult, if not impossible, to conquer in the fight, if the
South were to be allowed the use of the negroes as laborers in the plantation and in the camp.
But a week ago we said if
President Lincoln could be induced to proclaim emancipation only by a series of defeats and by the presence of the enemy in the subsumable
Washington, defeat and investment were to be desired rather than deprecated.
It is, therefore, with no regret but for the slaughter and suffering offer in any brave men that we learn the completion of these conditions.
Now, if ever, we presume, the
President will lay aside his hesitation and make an end of postponement. * * *
Will it (the
North) consent to send forth its youths and its middle aged men — to deport the flower of its male population — for service under
Generals who are constantly out manœuvred; who leave even their wounded in the hands of the enemy; who sustain a crushing defeat when they were confident of a decisive victory and who bring back their armies to entrenchments around their capital at the close of a campaign that was to have annihilated the enemy?
Will the
North do this, while the
South enjoys the unpaid services of four million negroes, to its land, to serve in its households, and to throw up its defences.
This we shall soon know--
and upon that knowledge will depend not only the sympathy of the world, but the fate of the Union.
The Retreat to Washington--English views of a Rising in Maryland.
[From the London Times, Sept. 17.]
These operations, now distinctly presented to our view, reflect high credit on the
Confederate arms, and
show the inferiority of the Federal Generals, if not of the
Federal troops.
Pope fought well, and it deserves to be noticed that he did succeed in preventing the enemy from getting between him and the capital.
Jackson did not out him off from
Washington, though he drove him for shelter to its walls; but there ends the
Federal success.
At every other point the Northerners have been foiled.
McClellan's troops were not found available for
Pope's support, the lines of the
Rapidan and
Rappahannock have been successively lost, and the Unionists have sustained a fresh series of demoralizing,
though not disgraceful, defeats.
Their conduct in the field redounds to their honor; but the end of the campaign is that
Washington, instead of
Richmond is beleaguered, and
Maryland, instead of
Virginia, exposed to invasion.
It does not appear, indeed, that a single sore of Virginian soil is now held by Federal troops, except on the very brink of the
Potomac itself, and everything indicated that worse is at hand.
Possibly, the defences of
Washington, raised with so much care a twelvemonth ago, may prove too strong for the
Confederates, and it is not unlikely that
McClellan, who seems given to engineering, and who now commands at the capital may do better behind these fortifications than he did in an aggressive campaign.
But a single glance at the map will show that
Washington itself, with all its defences, may be turned by the
Confederates.
They have but to cross the
Upper Potomac, which, as far as can be judged from the latest advices, is their intention, and they will find themselves in
Maryland,
the whole of which State, with all its precious resources in men, money, and munitions, is prepared we are credibly assured, to rise and welcome them. Such an insurrection would leave the
Federal capital environed on every side by foes, and an escape by sea would be the only chance open to those rulers who have threatened the
South with conquest and subjugation.
These are the present prospects of the civil war. Well may the New York press begin to despair of the
Union cause, and well may the
Governors of the
New England States take counsel at
Providence.
If such reverses do not teach the
North to reconsider its course, we do not see how political wisdom is to be learned or political error retrieved.
The French Emperor on recognition.
The
Paris correspondent of the London
Times, writing on the 16th ult., says:
‘
The continued successes of the
Confederates, and the decided superiority which their armies, and, still more, their
Generals, seem to have established over those of their antagonists,
naturally embolden the hopes of the Southern sympathizers for their recognition by England and France.
That the Emperor is very much disposed to adopt that course there cannot be any doubt. It is no secret, and is quite certain, that to various English gentlemen who, being lately over in
France, at
Chalons or
St. Cloud, had interviews with him in which the subject was broached, he did not conceal the view he took on the question,
as decidedly favorable to recognition, and his wish that the English Government could be brought to adopt it. How far this is likely to be the case you are better situated to judge than I am. All I can tell you on the matter is, that there are persons here, Confederates and friends of Confederates, who profess to have reasons for
knowing that the American question is to be made, some time in the course of next month, the subject of very serious deliberations on the part of the British Cabinet — deliberations which those same persons hope way possibly, at no very remote date, lead to the recognition they so greatly desire. And encouraged by recent triumphs, they sanguinely reckon on fresh ones coming to give increased force to the claim to acknowledgment by European Powers of the independence of a country which has already shown itself so competent to maintain its rights and fight its own battles.
’
The battles at Manassas — the position of the Confederates.
[From the London Post, (Government Organ,) September 16.]
Three days afterwards the Army of Virginia lay behind the fortifications of
Washington.
They were fairly beaten back and driven in there by the
Confederates, for on the 1st and 2d of September the
Southern forces followed up their successes and attacked the divisions which were defending the rear of the
Northern army.
In those minor battles the
North lost two
Generals,
Kearney and
Stevens, who were both killed; and such alarm was instilled in the minds of the
Federal commanders that they resolved to seek safety behind the earthworks of
Washington.
They removed the planks from the chain bridge at
Washington, and the late besiegers of
Richmond are now contented with the hope of successfully defending their capital from impending attack.
From what quarter this attack will be made it remains to be seen.
Will the
Confederates cross into
Maryland and take
Washington in the rear by a
coup de main? Or have they the means of besieging it in their present position?
In a short time we shall have the answers to these questions.
Meanwhile it would be premature to anticipate the immediate consequences of this most important engagement. The next mail from
America may possibly relieve us from our suspense.
The "Inkling" of peace in Liverpool.
[From the London Times, (city article,) Sept. 17.]
The last accounts from
America have created a
strong impression among many of the cotton operators at
Liverpool that the
Federal Government,
may soon be forced to accept peace, and sales have been effected to-day at a reduction per pound, from the quotations of Friday last, In
London, however,
a majority of the merchants and others most connected with New York, a belief that the country will have to through many more months of misery before there will be any approach to
actual negotiations for a termination of the struggle.
