Public opinion in England.
--The Yankee journals pretend that the public opinion in England is that the war in America will soon be ended by the crushing out of the rebellion.If that be true, the public opinion of England must have turned a very sudden summersault. The majority of English journals and statesmen have hitherto maintained that the idea of subjugating the South was an absurdity so palpable that no people of the civilized earth failed to see it except the North. They have declared over and over again that though every city of the South should be taken, the real work of conquering the country would still remain to be accomplished, and in illustration of this have pointed to their own failure in the war of the first American Revolution. They have, moreover, declared that the spirit manifested by the South in the field of battle, and the profound and deadly hostility of its whole people to the North, forbade the idea of reconstruction, reconciliation, or anything else but war to the bitter end.--To suppose that English public sentiment has been completely revolutionized on these points by the events of Vicksburg and Gettysburg is to attribute to it a versatility and shallowness not characteristic of the English people, and which would strip their opinions of all weight and value.
We know that England has few sources of information upon Southern affairs except Yankee newspapers, and the prodigious clamor and falsehood which these have raised over a few Confederate reverses were well calculated to mislead those who had no means of learning the truth. But the foreign world ought by this time to know the precise amount of credit to attach to Yankee statements.--Journals in the Exeter Hall interest may predict a speedy termination of "the rebellion;" but we venture to assert that the London Times, the Herald, and other acknowledged organs of English public opinion, have not so stultified themselves. But it matters little to us what the world abroad thinks of us and our destiny.--We look to God alone and to our strong right arms for the decision of this quarrel.
