We cannot but admire the inextinguishable hopefulness and intrepidity of the Confederates abroad. We have often paid an humble tribute to their fervid and disinterested love of country. But the subject grows upon us as we consider it. We feel it impossible to repress our enthusiasm, to keep the tears of admiration from our eyes, and the shouts of "Bravo" and "Encore" from our lips. We have never seen, never heard, never dreamed, of such devotion to country. The fall of Atlanta, of Charleston, of Wilmington, only refreshes their indomitable pluck. The sky itself might fall; and if it caught those hopeful larks, it would be more than Lincoln's blockaders were able to do when they first flew from their beloved parent nest. It is delightful to hear the carols of these songsters, perched upon pleasant twigs in English flower-gardens, bidding the Confederate eagle, as he soars and screams in the thunder cloud, be of "good cheer." The closing of our ports may keep muskets, and cannon, and powder, from reaching us, but it cannot exclude the inspiring voices of our countrymen abroad. The sternest warrior feels fresh strength and determination when every gale from the East bears to his ears the irrepressible, magnificent strains of the Confederates abroad, and even the weak-kneed and faint-hearted feel inclined to imitate their heroic example, and wish that they, too, could join the Confederate orchestra in England, and swell their sublime chorus.
They assure us now — those considerate, cheerful, disinterested songsters — that, if we will only hold on a little longer, something is going to happen in a few months greatly to our advantage. They cannot, at present, inform us exactly what it is. The thing, you perceive, is confidential, and they would as soon forsake their country as betray confidence; but we may rely upon it that the world is going to be astonished in a few weeks. Well, we can tell them another secret; we are going to "hold on" to our country a good deal longer than they did; we have faith in our cause and in ourselves, and more faith in Heaven than in princes. It may be that, contrary to their own inclinations, the Powers and potentates abroad may be ultimately involved in this quarrel — we think it likely they will be; but whether they are or not, our intentions are the same. The Confederates abroad shall never have reason to blush for their countrymen at home. We will make them even prouder of us than of themselves.
Not that we would institute invidious comparisons between different classes of Confederate citizens. Each has faculties adapted to its peculiar sphere of exertion. Some are born for battle and for privation; others, for refreshing and encouraging those who must fight and endure. We do not expect our women or our confederates abroad to shoulder a musket; but they can still help the cause by stimulating those who do. The Confederates abroad are our orchestra, our bands of music, who keep up the spirits of our soldiers, and, by occasional comic melodies, prevent them from becoming melancholy, and, even amid the sulphurous stench and glare of battle, make them laugh. The exiles of no other nation have ever been able to keep up their own courage, much less that of their countrymen. Every one recollects the stern, sad faces of the Poles, who used to take refuge in this country, and how, whenever Poland made another attempt to break her chains, they rushed back to their native land like men possessed of evil spirits. If they had only remained here, like sensible people, and lived on the fat of the land, and sent word, by every packet, to their fighting countrymen to hold on a little longer, and America would interpose in their behalf, Poland might now be free. We rejoice that our Confederates abroad have had the good sense to profit by their example. There is not much of the Sobieski or Thaddeus of Warsaw about them. "Hold on a little longer." Certainly; we intend to hold on a good deal longer; and if the Confederates abroad will do the same, and remain where they are till they can return with honor to their country, they will consult their own interests and those of their native land. Let them only keep on promising European intervention, by every steamer, and telling us, with their last breath, "hold on, and you will see something astonishing, presently," and they will deserve a tomb in Westminster Abbey, with the inscription: "Here lies a Confederate Abroad."
