Newspaper Page Text
i’O linl.I.AKS IM’R ANNUM IN ADVANCE
TH3 INDB?SNBENC3 OF THE SOUTH.
ATHENS, CLARK COUNTY. GEO. JANUARY 15. 1862.
VOLUME XXX-N UMBER 45.
'll ED WEEKLY,
Ljfcixiii & geese,
r.j-|. ii :-.r.
Editors am! Proprietors.
FK' K l l’-STAIRS, No. 7 Granitic Row
TERMS :
(HOLLARS PER ANNUM.IN ADVANCE
•» Cli.W* v, ;nitiui^ Sl<> in a.lvnurr,
»le« «ill lx- M-i't.
any s l>- nil r I'usimtr to give notice ofliii* <le
olodii .n.tinuc i.l' 'C.U.'criiit ion at the ex pirn-
n of l!» time for v.'. ich it lias boon pniil, will lie
:uidei. 1 a wishing to continue it, nml held C3
Uwi •iinliu^lv.
OV" imper m ill ho riucoiitinueil (oxoept nt
' optic d the editors,} until nil •'rvtarages nre
.id.
RAT MS OF ADVER IIMMi.
Forouo '.pi are.. ■onsbtinti «f twelve lines pmnll
pe,ors;i: univalent, line llollnr or the first
ertion. m l lifty fonts for etvoli weekly contiuu-
ion.
nade for yearly adver-
ISAAO HATER.
Importer of
RHINE WINE,
Al’Kl'STA, G A.
Imported by lumseU and warranted
any
Comments of the British Press Upon
American Affairs.
told
low as
Pure, and
House.
Reorders promptly attended to.
Oct £5 tf
1 at the usual rates.
tVice, Five Dollars,
t s have the desired
upon them when
U nt- published till
ATHENS STEAM COMPANY
It. IVIt'KERSO.X, Agent a Sip't.
|AR AXt I ACTUKKRS of V i rc u 1 <■ r Maw
J*" Alills, Mienin FliKiuea,,foiein^aml lift
in" PUMl'S,Shifting mid Machinery; Mill
Gin, and all other kind uf GRADING. Iiwn and
anting :of every description. SMITH
ING, Repairing and Finishing pr. .. ptly exoeu
led. Scleet patterns of Iron Fencing, Ac. Terms
CASH. May I t ly
A. Mi WINtt,
W HOLESALE amt Retail Dealer in Hard
ware, Crocker, and House Furnishing
Goods,one door below li.L. Bloomfield's Ulotliin3
Store. Athens, Ga. Jan.7, 185S
Northern I REMARKABLE CII.VMiE 1\ PUBLIC SENTIMENT
ON THE SLAVERY QUESTION.
As there is much speculation at this
time as to the future couise of Great
Britain in regard to affairs on this con
tinent, we give below copious extracts
upon her other institutions which have
already brought it to -the verge of ruin.
But the most remarkable part of Mr.
Lincoln’s speech is that in which he
touches the relations of his Government
with foreign countries. The fact seems,
on his own showing, to be, that all
foreign countries have hitherto pie-
served a strict neutrality; that they
have resisted all applications from the
South to make common cause with it
against the Ncith ; and that they have
quietly submitted to a blockade which
grievously injures their commerce and
manufactures. These facts would have
Mr. Welles’s increased navy is still but
a contemptible flotilla.
X ery different, however, is its forces
as proportioned to the enemy with
which it is immediately matched. The
Confederate States have no navy a*, all.
Against them the navy of Mr. Welles
is as a giant against a dwarf. Within
the last few months the Federal Gov
ernment has had 264 ships and 24,000
men, and their enemies two or three their State papers, they are not ene
will get more, we are well aware; for
we do not undervalue the pow£r or
energy of our rugged kinsmen if they
put their heart in a matter; but he will
get little “renown’’ for his department
in such a cause as that he so unneces
sarily proclaims, or against the antago
nist he so rashly dtfies. If either the
discretion of Mr. Welles or the ability
of Mr. Lincoln is to be estimated by
from late English papers. The Lon-,
don Times, the best indicator of public ™ IIed for,h ,rou \ the chiH of ary other
' 4 n na .nvi m/\nl in flirt M’Arl/l T.rvn hlioon
sentiment, ridicules Lincoln's message ;
NOTICE.
DIRECTORY.
s -ill'll run have
ail. for or..* year,
l not more
nt:i tor eaeb addi
D URING in}' nbsi'nro from tin
King is mv authorized agent
lie • '
noon-
All
Rate, Dr. AV.m.
an be toluol ut the Drug Store in the afte
K M. SMITH, M. D.
us. Sept. 1.
F. H. LUCAS,
WHOLESALE and ret nil dealer in Dry Goods,
* * t,ior lories, llardw me, ila*.,Nu.it liroad st
A then , Ga. ;.| B n 19.
* A .M A I i conn
ATTORNEY AT LAW t
MACON, GEO.
O M--IJT .1
of A. M. Kill
Mulberry Street, over the store
ksln ir Ac Co., in lloarihnaii s
r.'.nek. Will i-raetice in llihh,
Dooly, li lUHiuti, .viaenn, Twiggs,
Smnti r. N"V.’i if
\\ 1LLI.Y11 (i.
Attorney n
DELON Y,
Off
Knn.i
and in an article which wc do not pub
lish, extols that of President Davis.
LINCOLN'S MESSAGE—OPINION OF T1IE
LONDON TIMES.
[From the London Times, Dee. 1S.|
The style of the American President
has fallen with the fortunes of the Re
public. Instead of the jolly, rollicking
periods of former days, each of which
seemed to suggest at its close a stave
of “Hail Columbia,” we have now got
a discursive an 1 colloquial essay, ill-
arranged and worse expressed. Nor
does the matter ledeem the style. It
is really wonderful, when we consider
the present state of the American Re
public, how any one placed in the
position of Mr. Lincoln could have
taken the trouble to produce so strange
a medley, so incoroposile a rhapsody.
There are several subjects on which
we earnestly desire information, and
on no one is it atforded. Above all
things, we w int to know what view
the American Cabinet takes of the af
fair of the Trent, what advice it has
received from its legal counselors, anil
with what feelings it approaches the
coming controversy. On this point
T. .11.
. TUI ttMV a r
DIM ML,
i. A XV. — Alt
P N
A
Go
N.
R J
11, J. \ W. T. YIILLH VN,
V I 1. \\V—Will prim
W- Wi-t.-rn Circuit
:i. 1.,'im au I Hai
R. L. BLOOMFIELD,
WHOLESALE unit Trim! Clutliing Store,
VV Broad Strreet, Alliens, Ga. [May 111.
T. BISHOP iV SON,
W HOI.ESALE and Retail dealer* in Grocer
ies. Hardware and Staple Drv Goods, No.
1 liroad St. At lions Ga. ’ |.May 1
BOLTING (LOTUS.
VV I-l’C'AS keeps a full supply of tl,e
1 • best Anchor liraml C'lcths, at citv fric a.
March £0 *'
FAIRBANKS”
SCALES.
j^JDLD at Manufacturers price,
T. BISHOR A SON.
Alliens,October ii 1859.
LUMBEB! LUMBEWA!IS"
uvt) HUNDRED thousand kekt <> | measures by which the equillibrium
between revenue and expenditure is to
be preserved in the face of so vast an
outlay.
We should like to know what meas
ures the President proposes to adopt
with regard to the slave population ol
i the Southern States; whether, with
Government in the world, Republican
or Monarchical, a gracious and courte
ous acknowledgment of the respect
and forbearance with which a nation,
not remarkable for carrying either of
these qualities to excess, has been
treated by all other nations in its hour
of trial. Nothing can be more ungra
cious, more contrary to the usual con
ditions of international courtesy, than
the language with which President
Lincoln repays the consideration ex
tended to him: “These nations,’’ he
says, “appear as yet not to have seen
their way to their objects’’—that is,
the restoration of commerce—“more
directly or clearly through the destruc
tion than through the preservation of
the Union.”
This is a broad insinuation that for
eign nations are actuated by the mean
est and most selfish motives, and Mr.
Lincoln is content, as t c cannot deny
that we have hitherto done right, to
express a suspicion that we did so for
reasons we cannot avow without shame,
i It is not wonderful that a notice of
foreign relations begun in this spirit
should end in the exhortation with
which we arc already familiar in the
circular of Mr. Seward, to fortify the
seacoast, the great lakes and rivers
'6
I.umb.-r, well seasoned. ii
about live mile* from A
- ** tilled at short Hot ill'. I
-tied at short iiot.'C :
ilu-sawyer, Mr. James Gunnel*
I lids* ixpericm-cd in It.o eountiv.
j entire saiislio-lion.
I All or-leis l.-Ii at the store of .1
■ l Mattli- w», or hamlet to ,i. A. Will
1 be pmmptlv attended to.
! June Ci) bin. JAS. D. MATTHEWS.
)D h.imi at my
■us. Any order j
kits ut all kinds
is one of the
nd will (jive ,
R. .V \V. F. |
.-spoon, will j
and stability of the Republic depend,
{ not on foreign nations, but upon our-
| selves.” That is perfectly true at this
| moment, because foreign nations earn-
j estly desire peace and to avoid all
j occasion of quarrel, but it will cease to
| be true the moment that America has
forced
I. MU.I U
.lot'll
in In
MILLIGAN,
'iLriKaville, Ga,
T
til '.-V
jr ”
HULL &. HILLYKR,
ATTORNEYS AT LAW.
Ill-: on 1. 1 -..'ll--; !i vin^assooiatc-dthemst-lves
toy -i.m i' ui ';-ia:'tu , <‘ ol' law, will attend
o-vt r ■! t’.-uiis in ilit* Western Gin nil. and
atu-ntion to all buainnss
I WM. II. HULL,
Athens, Ga.
T. H. WILSON ii BROS.,
join: pov.-oua
GUO 111 ELY UR,
Monroe. Ga,
Juiv 15-1}.
and I, Coll. v
M'reh In
iALFi
is, II
‘ Avenue, Athens, Ga
; one-half of his Cabinet, he is for etnan-1
cipation, or, with the other half of his !
into a war, for one of the
ils of war is that a nation is
by it of the control ol its own
to shape its
wretched privateers, and some craft
fitted for inland navigation. Yet we
believe that the Sumter is still plunder
ing the Federal commerce, and we
know that the Harvey Birch was burnt
close to our own shores; we see a
“sensation heading” in the last New
York papers, that “ the Federals are
blockading the channel of Tybee
Island and Fort Pulaski,” and we
have Mr. Welles’s own testimony
that although his navy “continued to
capture every rebel vessel which show
ed itself on the Potomac,” it ceased tc
do so “when the rebels erected batte
ries on sundry points of the Virginia
shores, and thereby rendered passage
on the river dangeious!” We con
fess that we are compelled to look be
yond these facts to discover the rea
sons for the tone of congratulation
which runs through Mr Welles’s re
port, and to deserve the increase of re
nown claimed for the Federal navy by
Mr. Lincoln. Mr. Welles himself seems
to think some lurther explanation ne
cessary.
He urges, therefore, the onerous du
ties of blockading a coast of three
thousand miles in leng'h, ol the active
pursuit of privateers, and of the organ
ization oi naval expeditions. This is
all very well, but it is necessary to show
that these duties have been accom
plished. The naval expeditions have
indeed, reached their destination, but,
as they had no enemy worth the name
of an enemy to meet, the renown of
the Federal navy cannot be much rais
ed by whnt was little more than trans
port service. The privateers have, as
we sain before, not been taken. The
blockade has been so notoriously a
failure, that nothing but the extraordi
nary scrupulousness of the European
powers has allowed it to continue.—
Ships have passed in and out at all
times just as they pleased, and, so far
as the harbors are concerned, there has
Lawago^kc^.®^ j n a r tR°fi he S ! cour --e" not : by'‘its'own'will, but'by the j never been any difficulty in getting in- j part of'its length.
nres greatly io be feared either in na
tional or civil warfare.
ENGLAND CONTEMPLATES A WAR IN
ANY EVENT.
IL<u:don (Dec. lit.) Correspondence of the Man
chester Guardian.|
The conviction forces itself upon
many that the day is not far distant
when the Southern Confederation must
be recognized; and that recognition
may be expected to bring about a fresh
difficulty, in which we must be pre
pared to maintain our policy. It is
with this view, and as a demonstration
of our intention to hold our own way,
that the government are sending out
10,000 men to Canada without - any
reference to the reply of the American
Cabinet. If Messrs. Mason and Sii-
dell landed at Liverpool to-morrow not
a soldier the less would be sent out.
If we are to have a war with the
North,in connection with this U. States
schism, there could be no more fa
vorable time than the present. It would
be a short and decisive war, and would
have a vital influence on the preserva
tion of peace and the uninterrupted
freedom of commerce for many years
to come, without our having to pass
through the ordeal of -social and mer
cantile confusion which warsasa gen
eral rule entail. Our military depart
ments are working double time. The
clothing establishment at Pimiloo was
at full work last night and the prece
ding one.
It is a very common anticipation
among persons of Canadian experience
that a war with this country is likelier
to end in our acquisition of Portland
than in the capture of Montreal by the
Federal armies. In any case, there
are rectifications of our Canadian fron
tier, which can scarcely fail to follow
upon war. The States frontier,as set
tled by the Ashburton treaty, closely
hugs the postage road—our Canadian
highway from the coast—along a great
E
U. M. PITTMAN.
ToK.VK.Y-t Law.Ji-flVrsoii, Jacksonooun-
. oprompt attention tonnybu.
t.i liis
Jantinvv £1 — l£ui
\
tils
JOHN II. HILL,
TTDKNl.Y A r LAW, Augusta, Ga., will
11*t• ■ 11.1 promptly to all Ihimih-ss ontru'tcil to
j'S XVF.IiOPGN AM) M KITING FA , ,
I’llK.—Tlii-se erm be i-lill xnpplieil nt re COtll
'nil ut the llookatore. Oet £3
PEOPLE’S MILL SOLD.
7 E would inform our customers that we still
iJ.ui.8.
V- !
11. A. LOW 11ANCE,
Resident 3>SNTIST.
A THENS, GEORGIA.
OFFICE—CdIIpjji} Avenue, Athens, Ga.
Oct 18.
IHt. WM. KING.
Homo oj>ul/itr Pii//V/ei<i»,
O FF Hit* hi* professional services to the cit
i7.0ns of Athens amt vicinity.
Residence, at Mrs. Clayton's. Office*, corner of j
Clayton iimlThoinn** streets. May '.i.—ly.
McULESKEY, M. 1)7,
crinnnontlv toente.1 in Athens,wil
•ilieineainl Surgery,
i cT'Kesiilenee, that recently oceitpicd by Mr.
Albon Chase. Office* at home, where he may be
leuml. March 8ih, IStlO.
w have for sale a large amount of seasoned
lumber of varieus kinds. Also, Rickets, Laths,
and common fencing, at the Mill stand,and at the
Lumber vani in town. For particulars, cnquiic
of ' \V. R. TALMAGE, Agent.
Nov. 20. tSCl.
CASH!
of the slaveowner. On these points
our oracle is silent. * * * *
It is not easy to see why Mr. Lin-
should have omitted from his
speech all notice of the ease of the
Trent. If he means to give up the
persons illegally seized, one would have
thought it no unwise precaution to pre
pare the public mind for such a decis
ion. If he means to keep them, we
cannot understand why he does not
grasp at all the popularity that is to be
had in exchange lor present war and
future ruin, instead of allowing it to be
! picked up by obscure members of Con
gress embarking in a contest whether
deotsian oi war itself.
OPINION OF THE REPORT OF SECRE
TARY WELLES—THE BLOCKADE A
FAILURE, AND THE “STONE FLEET”
A C RIM E A G A1N ST Tit EI i ( MANKIND.
[From tiro London Times, Dec. 17.]
********-•>::<;*
We turn, then, to the report of Mr.
Gideon Welles, the Secretary, to the
Federal Navy, for explanation of these
hollow or enigmatical phrases in which
Mr. Lincoln boasts that the American
Navy created since the present diffi
culties began, has performed deeds
\ FTER the tir?t of J
sdgned will pell exclusively lor CASH !
Alliens, Jan. I, Dili. 11. M. SMITH.
ISO-.*, the under- i the transcendent merits of Com. Wilkes I which have increased the naval renown
GOODS SOLD ONLY
Jnn 1, ISi.J.
(■• L
J I" A VINO pi
I 1 eoniii.neth -j.r.v, tieeotMe
20 nuns. SUGAR
1 JOR sale cheap for cash, Ne
' lin Holme Building.
J.m 1 , 1802.
H . A !!. B. J. LONG,
W HOLESALE and retail Druggists, Athens
(ii . | Jan. J
THURMOND &\NORTH,
.A t tori toys a t Law,
* \ j j |,l, practice in eo partnership in the r.min-
iiut' (Murk. I Fulton. Jackson, Gwinnett,
//,i.| R : ,him. White. Franklin, Ranks, Haber-
•haul i,f the Western Circuit; and Hart nml Mait-
,,r .Vi rth.-'.u Circuit; and will give their
ndividuiil and joint nttcutionto all business eu-
.rn-ti'd to tin in. Tiio collection of debts will re-
iir.nnii*. a.-.d cnrclul attention.
M U R.THURMOND,
r IsuigT Drug store,
JOHN I!. NORTH,
Jefferson, Jackson eo
Oeil8 if
i 11 mid R2 Frank-
J. I. COLT.
TO HIRE.
I HAVE several negro women anil boys to hire.
1 would prefer to hire them in the country.
Deo. 18, 181.1. S. R. THURMOND.
€C3 V^StsS IS ET "5T
A FTER NcwYenr's Day r.o accounts at the
Rook Store will lie continued. N'ales will be
made only for osh. Those having'iccounis hith
erto willoblice by nil early settlement of die same.
Dec £5 WM. N. WHITE.
would be best rewarded by thanks or
by a gold medal. Possibly the simple
solution may be that the President has
as yet arrived at no solution at all, and
that, perplexed by the divisions of his
Cabinet, he has been content to let the
matter alone till events shall determine
for him that which he is unable or un
willing to determine for himself.
!Ie will not have long to wait. Each
successive mail brings us the report of
some instance in which the American
nation is, step by step, committing it
self to a war policy with England, till,
when challenged for its final decision,
it will probably find that it has gooc
too fur to have any power of retraction.
The Government has received the Ad
miralty, has thanked Com. Wilkes,
and Congress has now given the seal
I of its approbation to a proceeding so
to them or getting out of them. ~ ! The Lnited States have two fortified
The Federal Government has itself j ports close upon that road,which would
CLOTHING.
Large lot of clothing can he lound nt It- L.
Bloomfield's,at very reasonable pi ice*
JACKS ON vV HUTCHINS,
V TTORN EYS AT LAW.—Will practice
in the i uuii'ifr-suf Gwinnett, Walton, Jack-
s ni. mil ilull,of the Western,anil the county of
F.iriyin of tin* Rim* Ri<lgc Circuit.
AM ES JyfGKSD.N, 1 N. L. llUTCIIINS, Jr.
Allienii, Giv. 1 Lawreiu'.ovillo,Ga
j*. S,—During Mr. J autumn's absence from Geor
gia, business letters should bo addressed to the
ffrin nt Lnwreneevillo. Sept 'A't--tf
Ur. R. M. SMITH,
Wholesale and Retail Dealer in
DRUGS, MEDICINES, PERFUMERY,
PJHXTS, OILS, RYE STUFFS,
yr.llllTNAI, ItitA.NDV AND WINE, &C., &C., &C.
I S NOW receiving and openingu large stock of
£ ^,,,, ,s, selected in tile Nor tl io I n Alarkelrt by him
,., „ it j, great cur e, a ml which he confidently recom
mend. 1.) the public as being pure
Athens, Jutin 9.1«59.
J. F. O’KELLY,
PUOTOGHAPH AM) A MB IF Tl
ARTIST.
R OO.TIH on Broad m d : pring streets, over the
, s'oro of Join* K. itlrtUiewa, Athens, Ga.
march “9 IW
Gil LLF VNI), DENTIST,
» INSVILLE as.reepoctfully solicit* the
Rnmningc of the Mirrounding country.—
-^P»*-iTTM'ac!ioli *•* ill bugiven in their profession.
April at*.
UR. C. B, LOMBARD.
af^ENTisr,ATHENS,GEORGIA! Roomain
MtM huild ng with North ofthejPost Office,Got-
ALSO,
A Inrge lot of boys' ntnl children's
ALSOj
Fax thread Military Buttons.
c oth ing to
GAEDEN SKEIX
I AM paying cash for the following gnrJcn seed
wiien l^un satisfied they are fresh and pure,
until I get the supply 1 need. Those displayed
aro most desired: „
■tunrh llrnna, Boiler lira*", loir
Bran., Cucumber, Egg Riant, D" 1 ®"’
•on lluiloiio,Carrot, Parsnip, lJuRlirn r« ,
Scarlet Radish, Turnip Radish, Sipinsb. r.nriy
Cabbage, North Carolina do.. Beets. Mixed MWs
ure of no use to me. WM. N. " HITt.
October 9th, lKCl.
GOODS
JUST RE4EIVED AXI) FOR SALE.
C 'lAN’riliB SOAP, a fine article; Bicarb.
J Soda; Salt-Retro; Black l'cppcr- Copciaa
SnutV; Blue Stone; Mnddei; Indigo, Ac. Ac. nt
It. M. SMITH'S Drug Store,
Dcc.ll No. 10 Broad St.
Vgc Avon »«*.
Feb 9— ’y.
o bought of us will lie duo on delivery of the
«oods. All persons indebted to up, cither by note
or account, ore requested to pay up ua catty an
'"wcitill have a good stock, and will sell very
cheap. We tiopo our friends will give ua a caU.
Jan. ), Ib’ti'v 1 . WHITE A KITC1I.
deeply offensive to Great Biitain. It
is hardly possible to imagine a Gov
ernment sunk so far below its duties
and responsibilities as to allow all this
to go on and make no sign either of
assent or dissent. The President is
bound to lend his aid in guiding the
Legislature to a true decision on a
matter so nearly touching the duties
and the character of the Executive.—
He ought to set before it the principles
involved in the question, and to give it
every opportunity in his power ol ar
riving at a conclusion conformable to
the real interests of the country. He
has done nothing of all this, and has
abandoned the vessel of the State to
drift helpless before the gale of popular
clamor. * * * * * * *
No wonder that Mr. Linuo n, luxu
riating in the Paradise to which the
will of an unbridled demociacy has in
troduced him, and looking forward to
a desperate struggle with England,
brought about apparently by the same
cause, should feel a pious horror of
those who venture to think such expe
rience not conclusive, and the existing
Constitution of the United States a little
short of perfection ! We have nothing
to say for slavery, but if Mr. Lincoln’s
description of the South is indeed true,
if she is fighting to emancipate herself
from the blind tyranny of a degraded
mob, from the elective Judges and
elected Governors, he has given his
antagonists a better title to European
sympathy than they have hitherto pos
sessed, and thrown upon his Govern
ment the stigma of fighting to impose
of the U. S. No nation has less reason
to underrate the renown of the Ameri
can Navy than we have. Since that
it rests almost entirely upon the cap
ture of the three or four English frigates
under circumstances of extraordinary
disparity, and seeing also that its vic
tories were gained entirely by English
sailors who had been seduced from our
service by a disparity in the rate of
wages, which, if our Admiralty is not
absolutely insane, will never again oc
cur, we have the best possible reason
for respecting that renown. Our diffi
culty is to discover how that renown
has been increased by the events of
the civil war. That Mr. Gideon Welles
has used a certain industry in the de
partment under his control, we are
quite prepared to admit.
He tells us that on the 4th of March
last the effective American navy con
sisted of only forty-two vessels of all
classes, carrying 555 guns and about
7,500 men—a very small navy for a
power which proposes to defy all the
navies of the world and to take liber
ties with the commercial ships of all
nations. He says that at the date of
his report he had increased this small
naval force to two hundred and sixty-
four vessels and 24,000 seamen. This
is creditable to Mr. Welles as an official
man, but the result is not exceedingly
terrible, especially when he proceeds
to tell us how this has been accom
plished, by hiring all sorts of commer
cial vessels anil gathering together
every floating thing that would eariy a
gun. These figures represent ajnaval
force which would be very terrible to
Piussia, which might alarm the fleet of
Italy, and which would cell for an ef
fort from Spain, but which France
could easily destroy, and England can
not but hold exceedingly cheap. This
is not the navy of a first-class Power,
it is enough for a people who desire to
be at peace, hut it is ridiculous for a
people who insist upon being quarrel
some. A little man who holds his own
against a big man who is trying to bully
him has every bystander’s sympathies
in his lavor, but nothing is more con
temptible than a little man who is noisy
a:nl offensive only in reliance upon the
impunity which he expects on account
of his own weakness and the generos
ity cf those whom he insults. To
sustain the pretensions of Federal
statesmen to insult all neutral nations,
emphatically admitted the failure of
their naval blockade, by an act of bar
barity which is unparalleled in the his
tory of national wars. They have ac
tually endeavored to undo what Co
lutnbus had done—to shut up from all
mankind forever the ports which the
great discoverer opened to the human
race, and to destroy by artificial impe
diments the gates by which men of all
nations enter and pass out of some
millions of square miles ol fertile and
productive lands. This is a crime
against all human kind. If it does not
call down universal opposition, it is
only because the enterprise is believed
to be impossible as its design is exe
crable.
We have nearly exhausted the deeds
of the American navy during this event
ful year. One act, however, yet re
mains unnoticed,and it is just possible
that it may form the staple of Mr. Lin
coln’s general and very guarded allu
sion to the great additional renown so
recently acquired. This is the act
which has made the Mayor ot Boston
and the Governor of Massachusetts
eloquent with exultation, and which
lias excited even the House of Repre
sentatives to gratitude. This act is
have to be taken at the outbreak of
a war, as well as Cape Rouse, (which
they have been lately strengthening,)
within thirty miles or so of Montreal.
The London Observer, of the 22d of
December, (ministerial organ,) says
that England wishes for peace, but
that she will gain by war, as it will
enable her to rectify American fron
tiers, open the ports of the South, and
give a lesson to the United States.
THE DRAMA OF THE OCTOROON IN
LONDON—REMARKABLE CHANGE IN
RUBLIC SENTIMENT.
Mr. Dion Bourcicault,the playwright,
had his Abolition drama, The Octo
roon, lately produced in London.—
The lollowing letter from him to the
London Times, affords cheering evi
dence of a remarkable change which
is taking place in the public mind of
England in regard to the institution of
slavery.
In your criticism on my drama, The
Octoroon, it is stated that the reception
of the 5th act, in which the slave girl
commits suicide in order to escape the
embraces of her purchaser, contrasts
thus dealt with by Mr. Gideon Welles:
“Capt. Chas. Wilkes, in command of
the San Jacinto, while searching in the
West Indies for the Sumter, received
information that James M. Mason and
John Slidell, disloyal citizens and lead
ing conspirators, were with their suits,
to embark from Havana in the Eng
lish steamer Trent, on their way to
Europe to promote the cause of the in
surgents. Cruising in the Bahama
channel, he intercepted the Trent on
the 8th November, and took from her
these dangerous rnen,whom he brought
to the United States. His vessel hav
ing been ordered to refit for service at
Charleston, the prisoners were retained
on board, and conveyed to Foit War
ren, where thty were committed to the !
custody of Colonel Dimmick, in com
mand of that Fortress. The prompt
and decisive action of Captain Wilkes
on this occasion merited and received
the emphatic approval of the depart
ment; and, if a too generous forbear
ance was exhibited by him in not cap
turing the vessel which had these reb
el enemies on board, it may, in view
of the special circi mstances, and of
its patriotic motives, be excused ; but
it roust by no means be permitted to
constitute n precedent hereafter for the
treatment of any case of similar in
fraction cf neutral obligations by for
eign vessels engaged in commerce or
the carrying trade.”
There is no disputing the boldness
of this act, nor, indeed, the boldness
of this threat; but whether it is likely
to increase the renown of the Federal
navy, future events yet must show.—
Mr. Welles will want more then 24,-
000 men to make good these foolish
words. That he can get more and
strongly with the enthusiastic applause
which had accompanied the first four
acts of the play.
The question involved in these few
words is not one of merely the craft of
the playwright. I candidly admit that
your estimate of public sympathy, as
expressed last night, is as just as it is
inexplicable. Since the Uncle Tom
mania, the sentiments of the English
public upon the subject of slavery have
seemed to be undergoing a great
change; but I conless that I was not
prepared to find that change so radical
as it appeared to be when the experi
ment was tried upon the feelings of a
miscellaneous audience. May I claim
your attention to this view of a subject
fraught with much serious interest.
A long residence in the Southern
States of America had convinced me
that the delineations in “Uncle Tom’s
Cabin,” of the condition ol the slaves,
their lives and feelings, were not faith
ful. I found the slaves, as a race, a
luppy, gentle, kindly-treated popula
tion, and the restraints upon their lib
erty so slight as to be rarely percepti
ble. A visitor to Louisiana, who
might expect to find his vulgar sympa
thies aroused by the exhibition of cor
poreal punishment and physical torture,
would be much disappointed. For my
part, with every facility for observation,
I never witnessed any ill-treatment
whatever of the servile class; on the
contrary, the slaves are, in general
waimly attached to their masters and
to their homes, and this condition oi
things I have faithfully depicted.
But, behind all this, there are fea
tures in slavery far more objectionable
than any o! those hitherto held up to
human execration, by the side of which
physical suffering appears as vulgar
detail. Some of these features are, for
the first time, boldly exhibited in the
Octoroon. The audiences hailed with
every mark of enthusiasm the sunny
views of negro lile ; they were pleased
with the happy relations existing be
tween the slaves and the family of
which they were dependent, and the
heartiness with which the slaves were
sold, and cheered the planters who
bought. But when the Octoroon girl
was purchased by the ruffianly over
seer, to become his paramour, her sui
cide to preserve her purity provoked
no sympathy whatever. Yet, a few
years ago, the same public, in the
same theater, witnessed with deep
emotion the death ofUncle Tom under
the lash, and accepted the tableau of
the poor old negro, his shirt stained
with the blood from his lacerated back
crawling across the stage, and dying
in slow torture.
In the death of the Octoroon lie? the
moral and teaching of the whole work.
Had this girl been saved and the drama
brought to a happy end, the horrors of
her position, irremediable from the very
nature of the institution of slavery,
would subside into the condition ot a
temporary annoyance.
While I admit most fully the truth
of your statement that the public was
disappointed with the ‘ennination of
the play, and would have been pleased
with a happier issue, I feel strangely
bewildered at such a change of feeling.
Has public sentiment in this country
veered so diametrically on this subject,
and is it possible that this straw indi
cates that the feeling of the English
people is taking another course?
Yours, respectfully,
Dion Bourcicault.
Hereford House, Nov. 19.
From the New Orleans Delta.
Bourcicanlt’s Discovery.
Dion Bourcicault, the playwright,
who has assiduously cultivated the
faculty of adapting his dramatic colors
to time an.l place, for the purpo8e of
popular captation, as the chameleon
changes its hues for better chances ot
fly-catching, has suffered a grievous
miscarriage in an effort of this kind
before a London audience. The oc
casion was the performance of his play,
purporting to he a picture of Southern
plantation life, entitled The Octorcon.
His English audience, to his unspeak
able amazement, betrayed an icy in
sensibility to that portion of the play
which wns especially designed to pro
duce a sensation. The central senti
ment, the moral of the play, is in the
fifth act, where The Octoroon commils
suicide to escape the dishonoring love
of an overseer who had become her
purchaser. Here a stab is aimed at
the morality of Southern slavery ; here
a pathetic appeal is made to the sym
pathy of the audience ; here if they
have tears to weep they are expected
duly and copiously to shed them.—
But this was precisely where the play-
broke down before an audience of
Englishmen. Bourcicault mistook his
own countrymen. In New York, about
two years ago, he succeeded better.—
Though on the former occasion men
of sense and taste despised his prosti
tution of the drama to propitiate anti
slavery 1 igotry, his play, in the jargon
of New York criticism, was a capital
hit, a triumphant sensation, a brilliant
success. But with those English,
Bourcicault’s countrymen, who, he
reasoned, it they had a pronounced
weakness on any subject, had a pro
nounced weakness on the subject of
slavery—with that audience io which
he looked for the culminating glory of
dramatic appreciation, his hit was a
miss, his sensation was a collapse, his
success an obscuration ot splendn.
The London Times noted the fact,
and Bourcicault in a letter to the Times
acknowledged the correctness of the
observation, and expressed his amaze
ment at the change of English senti
ment in regard to slavery. It appears
to him pertectly inexplicable. It »s
quite evident Irom this that Bourcicault
is no political philosopher. Had he
studied political philosophy as diligent-
as he searched into the merits of
French plays which he transferred in
the disguise of a new name to the
English stage, he would have known
that political events and moral senti
ments act and react upon each other.
Tracing the operation of this pr nciple
in England, he would have seen a mor
al change coming over the English peo
ple on the subject of slavery, in pro
portion with the growth of a national
resentment against the North tor the
injury it was inflicting on commerce by
its insane and wicked war upon the
South.
Straws projected into the air will tell
us'the course of the wind. Bourci-
cault’s play ol The Octoroon may be,
in itself, a very light matter. But cir
cumstances have educed from it an ex
tremely pregnant sign. Its miscarriage
shows in what direction the popular
breeze of England is setting.
A western paper says : ‘-When you
see a girl so lazy that she can’t swoop
her own seven-by nino chamber, nml
then goes to a shindy and dances all
night with the power of a locomotive,
make up your mind aho is ‘got up’ on
bad principles. The sooner you take
your bat and depart the better. Such
sort of calico has boon the ruin of ma
ny a man.