English Views of the American war
[From the London Times, 3d.]President Lincoln's call to arms shows at once the strength and weakness of his Government. He is not the ruler of a people bound by tradition or a sense of duty to obedience. He has not like an European Sovereign, the power of enforcing his requisitions either by his own authority or by the assistance of a loyal Legislature. He is simply the first magistrate of a number of varying and jealous communities, each having its own organization, its separate interests and prejudices, and being fully capable of making these prevail against the demands of the Central Government. A week did not elapse from the proclamation of war to the second disruption of the Union. Mr. Lincoln at the middle of April was still the head of a Confederation of 27 States; by this time these are probably reduced to 21. The energy — we may almost say the ferocity — with which this war has been entered into on each side, indicates a conflict in which the Government at Washington will soon lose its control over events. The first effect of its action is to rouse the two sections of the Union into excitement, which, according to all accounts, has not had a parallel since the early days of the French Revolution. The long suppressed animosity between the North and the South has burst into a flame. To direct the course of this civil conflagration would seem beyond the power of Lincoln on the one side, or Davis on the other. Every Southerner has been suddenly filled with the spirit of the slave-owner, while the vast communities of the North and West seem animated with all the zeal of the Abolitionists. It certainly passes understanding that the New Yorkers, who a few months ago, would have excluded a negro from an omnibus, and were disposed to think the anti slavery party very little better than the blacks it favored, should thus on a sudden rush to the extreme of animosity against the Southerners, with whose claims they formerly sympathized, whose trade they mainly carried on, and whose plantations, if common fame does not belie them, they not unfrequently helped to stock by importations from Africa. But to doubt the fervor of the New York population is impossible, and it is equaled by the excitement at Philadelphia, Cincinnati, and other great cities. President Lincoln has given the signal; but the battle will be fought by independent States, we might almost say independent associations, regiments, and companies, arrayed against each other.
The warlike character of the United States' population has, no doubt, a large part in those results. From his earliest youth the American has been accustomed to military display and to hear of military adventure.--While yet a child he learns the use of a pistol and rifle, in the towns there are drilling and marching, and drumming and filing almost daily, in which he at once takes an interest, and soon come to bear a part. His fancy is inflamed by stories of the Revolution and of 1812--a little my thical it may be, but not the less inspiriting. All this time, however, he feels that the fates are adverse to him. He is forced to play at war, while his fathers and the great men he reads about had the good fortune to wage it. If he takes to business, he may forget these martial instants for a time, but there are all over the States numbers of young men in whom the love of adventure can never be suppressed. Even in the dull tide of prosperity an innate restlessness often tempts the American to sell out and migrate to some distant part of the Union, where the white man's culture merges into the wilderness. It may be, too, that the convulsions in Europe, the battles, sledges; romantic expeditions, the downfall of tyrannies, and the exaltation of heroic names, may have stirred the blood of the New World. However that may be, no sooner does the trumpet sound than the American people rush into the conflict with a fire and alacrity which we can scarcely ascribe to political causes. As far as we can discern, the Northerners have not stayed a moment to inquire what is the object of the war; they care not what is feasible or prudent, or advantageous. To conquer the Southern States, and to hold them by conquest, is the intention which we must logically deduce from the President's proclamation; but the North thinks of nothing but punishing traitors and pulling down the Palmetto flag; in other words, it wants to fight, and probably any plan for wearing out the South by a long blockade,--without fighting, would be received with general dissatisfaction.
On the other hand, the South is no less eager for the fray. The Virginians, proud and impetuous, and chafing under the reproaches of the Secessionists, have met the Proclamation of Mr. Lincoln, not only by immediate secession, but by acts of warfare which seem not unpremeditated. No sooner had the Ordinance of Secession passed than Harper's Ferry, the scene of John Brown's luckless exploit, was attacked by a strong force of Virginians. For the credit of the Federal officer in command, we may say that he did not surrender or go over to the enemy. The place is on the banks of the Potomac, and the other side of the river is in Maryland. The garrison destroyed the Arsenal, arms and munitions of war, and escaped across the river, continuing their retreat, it appears, till they gained the more friendly region of Pennsylvania. But a more important event, if true, is the closing of Norfolk harbor by the Virginians, and the possible capture of the United States ships of-war, which are at that celebrated naval station. Among the vessels detained is the frigate. Merrimack, among the finest in the Federal Navy. The fact of the channel being effectually closed, is, however, denied. No wonder that the news of these great events was received with great rejoicing at the South. Virginia, from her extend her population, her position, commanding the capital and the Chesapeake, her historical reputation, and her great influence with those States to the West, which were colonized by her, will be an accession of the greatest importance to the Southern Confederacy. The Virginians, there can be no doubt, have entered into the struggle with extraordinary ardor. They know that their country will be the seat of war, that on them the first storm of Northern animosity must fall, that only a river divides them from the city of Washington, where the troops of some dozen Northern States will be shortly collected, burning with desire to attack them; that every effort will be made by the Government to save the Navy-Yard at Norfolk; in short, that their lives, their property and their existence as an independent Commonwealth depend on their courage and resolution during the next few weeks. They will, it appears, be at once supported by the North Carolinians, who, though they cannot formally secede till after a Convention meets, have declared war against the United States and seized the Federal forts. On the other hand, we think it is quite possible that the Western part of Virginia will decline to cast in its lot with the rest. The region of which Wheeling is the principal city has very few slaves, and the people are almost as much Free-soilers in opinion as the people of the Northern States. It may well be that a county will think itself justified in setting up the same claim as a State, and will secede when the general policy does not coincide with its own notions of duty or interest.
Mr. Ewart's question last night was not in opportune, for the papers just received give the Proclamation of President Davis, authorizing the issue of letters of marque. The South has few ships; the people of the slave States are not sailors, and allow their trade to be carried on in Northern bottoms; so that the North has every advantage in waging a war, so far as blockade and the transport of troops by sea are concerned. President Davis now ventures on the extremest act of hostility to which a ruler can resort. Privateering has been abolished by the European Powers since 1856; but it will be remembered that when, after the Congress of Paris, in 1856, England proposed to the United States to join in this condemnation, Secretary Marcy rejected the proposal on the ground that privateering was justifiable in itself, and absolutely necessary for a nation which did not keep up great naval armaments. In the present case, however, the Government at Washington threatens to treat privateers as pirates, on the ground that the authority they sail under has no legal existence. Should this be carried out, and a Southern privateer be hanged, we must look for bloody reprisals on the part of the Confederate States. The passions of all classes are now aroused, and no one can say to what length the fury of civil war will carry them.
