Shall we have a war with England? Nothing but a speedy settlement of the
difficulties with the South will prevent it.
The rebels are now hemmed in on every side, and vigorous attacks from
various points must result in their overwhelming defeat. The longer the Southern Confederacy stands,
the stronger is it becoming in the eyes of foreign nations. There is no way in which hostilities with
England can be prevented, but by the speedy subjugation of the South. If this war continues six months longer, we
shall have old England, with perhaps one or two allied powers, upon us.
The telegraph informs us that the governments of England,
France and Spain are mediating an early recognition of the Confederate
States. Their plea is said to be that of
“humanity” – a plea that our Government might have used with a thousand fold
more plausibility toward either Ireland or the Indies. Since the rendition of Mason and Slidell,
England has been vigorously preparing for war.
Her North American colonies are especially the object of her
solicitude. They have been more strongly
fortified, while one hundred thousand men have been raised to protect them from
aggression.
Our Government is aware of the preparations that this power
has been making for war. It knows that
they are not all intended for the conquering of Mexico, and it must know that
there is no way left under heaven to prevent hostilities with England, but the
speedy suppression of the rebellion now raging in our own country. Knowing all this, why there has not been a
general advance of the Federal troops ere this time, is more than we can
fathom. – But we “possess our souls in patience,” hoping each day that the next
will bring us news that the belligerents which have so long been threatening
one another on the Potomac have at last concluded to measure strength. We have the confidence in McClellan to
believe that the news of an advance of the Federal troops under his Generalship
would be akin to the heralding of a great victory and the postponing of the
recognition by humane England of the rebel confederacy.
–
Published in The Davenport Daily Gazette, Davenport, Iowa, Tuesday Morning,
February 4, 1862, p. 2
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