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(Previous
Page) vencing with his crew of cut-throats and fire-raisers, to burn
and sack the city in which he has been. an honored though unworthy guest, he
experienced Virginia's other style of receiving visitors, and will have an
opportunity of comparing the Libey with the Ballard. This SHALER, however, has
at least kept himself quiet, and has in silence laid up all these things in his
mind, and pondered them in his heart."
This is not the manner in which
men talk who are sure either of themselves or of their cause.
THE
FRENCH IN MEXICO.
WE have attempted to do our share
in exposing the relation to our own situation of the French conquest of Mexico.
That it is essentially an unfriendly act ; that it was begun because our
Government was supposed to be ruined; and that our ruin is a cardinal condition
of its ultimate success, no man who has considered the subject will deny. What
our policy should be is, therefore, a very grave question.
Yet, situated as this country is,
there is always one infallible test of every great measure proposed. It is that
which NAPOLEON gave to his marshal: "Find out exactly what the enemy wishes you
to do, and then with all your might don't do it." The heart of every rebel in
the land would leap for joy if we should declare war against France. Is it worth
while then to do it?
If not, there is henceforth but
one dignified attitude for us until we are ready to demand explanations, and to
make war if they are not satisfactory, and that is, silence. Congress, by its
Resolution, and the Secretary of State upon several occasions, have declared the
invincible repugnance of this country to the project of erecting an Austrian
empire by French bayonets upon the ruins of the Mexican republic. We do not here
discuss the manner in which the Secretary has done it. But no words can add
force to that simple declaration. The substance of the Monroe doctrine is
unquestionably a fixed principle of American political faith. Steadily opposed
to such a bald iniquity as the French conquest of Mexico, our action in regard
to it must be governed by circumstances. If, therefore, Mr. WINTER DAVIS, who is
Chairman of the House Committee upon foreign relations, thinks a war with France
wise, we hope he will frankly propose it, that the question may be fully
discussed. If, however, he is merely making a political demonstration against
the general conduct of our foreign policy, we hope he will see that, to stand
making faces and doubling up fists and threatening, without striking, is not a
dignified attitude for the United States.
THE
NATIONAL LOANS.
THE confidence of the people in
their cause and their Government is shown in nothing more significantly than in
the unflagging ardor with which the Government loans are taken. They give every
man who invests a direct personal interest in the maintenance of the Government
in which he thus becomes a stockholder. The subscriptions to the 10-40 loan
reported at the Treasury up to the 28th of May amounted to a hundred and sixty
millions of dollars. Could there be a more desirable or safer investment ? It is
to be redeemed in coin, and although the rate of interest is only five per cent.
in gold, it is now equal to nine per cent. in currency. It is exempt also from
State or local taxation, which may be reckoned to add two or three per cent.
more to its annual value, making a productive security which might satisfy even
Shylock himself. It continues to be taken at the rate of nearly a million a day.
The argument of an overpowering
and unmanageable debt drawn from the history of other countries does not apply
to this. The power of producing wealth upon this continent is almost infinite.
It can be measured only by our resources, and they are incalculable. After some
centuries, said MACAULAY, when your population is as numerous as ours, you may
know something of our perplexities and troubles. But it is well for us that our
great and costly struggle occurs in the very vigor and flush of our youth, with
an exhaustless continent subject to an indomitable energy.
"THE
LOUISVILLE NATIONAL
UNION PRESS."
THIS is the title of a daily
paper lately established in
Louisville, Kentucky, as the organ of the genuine
Union sentiment of the State. Its publisher, Mr. L. A. CIVILL, is known to us as
a gentleman of high character and admirable capacity, and the numbers of the
paper which we have seen are an earnest of the skill and ability with which it
is to be edited. The Union Press is unconditionally Union. It belongs to no
party but that of intelligent loyal men who understand that the United States
are a nation, not a league or a confederacy, and that consequently the doctrine
of supreme State sovereignty is a treasonable chimera. It believes that slavery
is the real cause of the rebellion, and that, as the conspirators have used
slavery as a means of destroying the nation, the nation is rightfully destroying
slavery to save itself. The Union Press is full of good matter, neatly printed,
and we cordially commend it as an illustration of that Border-State fidelity
which was thought by many hardly to exist. It will be for that reason a valuable
visitor in any household in the country.
DOMESTIC INTELLIGENCE.
CONGRESS.
SENATE.—May 25. The House bill
making an appropriation of $928,000 as an award for damages from the
depredations of the Sioux Indians was passed.—An amendment of the Tax bill,
making the tax on a barrel of lager beer, ale, beer, or other fermented liquors,
$125 instead of $1 50, was agreed to.—May 26. Mr. Johnson offered a resolution
calling upon the President for information as to the delivery of Senor Arguelles
to the Spanish authorities.—Mr. Powell offered a resolution characterizing the
act of the Administration in suppressing the publication of the New York World
and the Journal of Commerce as a violation of the Constitution.---May 27. Mr.
Sumner submitted a resolution "That a State pretending to secede from the Union,
and battling against the National Government to maintain their position, must be
regarded as a rebel State, subject to military occupation, and without
representation on this floor until it has been readmitted by a vote of both
Houses of Congress and the Senate will decline to entertain any application from
any such rebel State until after such a vote of both Houses." This resolution
was intimated by Mr. Sumner to have reference to the case of Mr. Fishback, of
Arkansas, who claims to have been elected United States Senator from that State.
Mr. Fishback was formerly an avowed Secessionist.—Mr. Wade's bill to amend the
act to enable the people of Colorado to form a Constitution and State Government
was passed. It changes the time for holding the election authorized under the
provisions of the bill.---May 28. The joint resolution to amend the charter of
the city of Washington in regard to the registration of voters was passed, the
Senate rejecting the amendment allowing persons to be registered as voters who
have heretofore borne arms, without distinction of color.—Mr. Doolittle
introduced a joint resolution voting the thanks of Congress to Colonel Bailey,
of the Nineteenth Army Corps, and directing that a gold medal be prepared for
presentation to him, under the direction of the President of the United States,
as a recognition of the invaluable engineering ability displayed by him in
devising and constructing works which enabled Admiral Porter's fleet to pass
over the falls of Red River. —Subsequently, in executive session, a
communication was received from the President nominating Colonel Bailey for
Brevet Brigadier-General.—The Senate struck out from the Internal Revenue bill
the clause taxing domestic spirits on hand.---May 30. The Tax bill was discussed
without any conclusive action. - May 31. Mr. Davis, of Kentucky, submitted a
preamble and resolution charging against General Butler complicity with the
rebellion in its incipient stages, and calling for a committee to investigate
the charges.—The Internal Revenue bill was then taken up, and a number of
amendments and provisions were acted upon. A proposed amendment of Mr. Powell,
in effect abolishing the bounties paid by the Government to the Eastern
fishermen, caused a long and very animated discussion, in which the character
and virtues of New England, her people and institutions, were assailed by
Messrs. Powell and Davis, and defended by Messrs. Morrill, Fessenden, Howe,
M'Dougall, and Wilkinson. A vote was finally taken on Mr. Powell's amendment,
and it was defeated. House—May 25. The joint resolution that the undistributed
portion of books and documents purchased by each House previous to the
Thirty-seventh Congress be distributed to the present members and delegates was
passed.—The Speaker laid before the House the reply of President Lincoln to the
resolution adopted yesterday, inclosing the correspondence between Secretary
Seward and Mr. Dayton relative to the resolution adopted by the House against
the invasion of Mexico by France.
Mr. Seward says that it is practically an
Executive question; that it does not belong to Congress to take action in the
premises, and that while the President receives the unanimous declaration of the
House with the profound respect to which it is entitled, he directs Mr. Dayton
to inform the French Government that he does not intend to depart from our
heretofore enunciated policy concerning the French occupation of Mexico.—A
report from the Committee of Conference on the Army bill was made, and a long
debate followed on the equalization of the pay of soldiers. The House insisted
upon its action that there shall be no distinction in pay in consequence of
color.—May 26. The Reciprocity question was disposed of. After rejecting a
substitute proposing a commission to negotiate a new treaty, and another
authorizing the President to give the stipulated notice for the termination of
the present treaty, the House, by a vote of 78 to 72, postponed the
consideration of the whole subject until the second Tuesday of December.—The
Senate bill providing for the payment of claims of Peruvian citizens under the
Convention with Peru was passed.—May 27. The Senate bill modifying the existing
law so that documents and letters may be sent to Government officers without the
prepayment of postage was passed.--May 30. A bill appropriating $250,000 for the
repair and preservation of the works for the benefit of commerce on the lakes,
and $100,000 for similar purposes on the sea-board, was passed.—A bill was also
passed extending the time fixed in the act of June, 1856, for commencing the
construction of the Marquette and Ontonagon Railroad, in Michigan, for which the
public lands were at that period appropriated.—The House, resuming the
consideration of the Kentucky contested election case cf M'Henry against Yeaman,
by a vote of 96 yeas against 26 nays, adopted the resolution declaring Mr.
Yeaman entitled to retain his seat.—The Committee on Military Affairs was
instructed to inquire by what authority and under whose direction the rebels are
interspersed with the National soldiers throughout the various hospitals of
Washington, and as to the comparative treatment of the rebel and Union soldiers
in the hospitals.—Mr. Lazear offered a long preamble, concluding with a
resolution that the President be required to adopt measures for the suspension
of hostilities between the North and South and an armistice, in order that in
the mean time a Convention may be called of all the States, with a view to the
restoration of the Union with their Constitutional rights. Objection was made,
when Mr. Lazear moved a suspension of the rules, pending which the House
adjourned.—May 31. A bill to carry into effect consular conventions with France,
England, and other nations was passed. It provides that consul-generals,
consuls, and commercial agents shall have jurisdiction over the officers and
crews of the vessels of their respective countries in foreign waters, in cases
of controversy respecting wages and other subjects.—The bill authorizing the
President to construct a military railroad from the Ohio Valley to East
Tennessee was passed, after a brief discussion, by a vote of 64 against 56.—The
bill incorporating the People's Pacific Railroad and
Telegraph Company, and
giving alternate sections of laud toward the construction of the line, which is
to extend from Lake Superior to Puget's Sound, was also passed by a vote of 74
against 50.
GENERAL GRANT'S CAMPAIGN.
The week has developed some
important events in
General Grant's campaign. Our record closed with the retreat
of
Lee beyond the North Anna River, our forces vigorously pursuing. On Monday,
23d, the Second and Fifth corps, having crossed that river, pushed steadily
forward, closely followed by the Sixth and Ninth, driving the enemy before them,
until Lee took up a strong position some two miles beyond the river. In crossing
the river, on the extreme left of our position, the Second corps assaulted and
carried, without any considerable opposition, several formidable lines of works.
Birney's Division, which, on the night previous, carried the rebel rifle-pits on
the north side of the river, led the crossing, capturing about fifty of the
enemy's riflemen. On the right, opposite Duck's Mills Ford, Warren advanced in
the morning, cutting the Virginia Central Railroad, and establishing himself in
position at Noel's Station. Our total loss on Tuesday, in all the engagements,
did not exceed 150. On Monday we lost between 500 and 600. About 1200 prisoners
were taken from the enemy. Our troops, during Tuesday and Wednesday, tore up and
destroyed nearly six miles of track on the Virginia Central Railroad west of
Sexton's Junction, on the Richmond and
Fredericksburg road, and our cavalry
seriously damaged the rebel communications in other directions.
During Thursday night General
Grant suddenly with drew his army to the north side of the North Anna River, and
moved rapidly in a southeasterly direction to Hanovertown on the Pamunkey River.
Hanovertown is some
twenty-five miles from the point
at which Grant crossed the North Anna, and is only sixteen miles from Richmond.
In the forward movement the
cavalry led the advance, the First and Second
divisions taking possession of Hanover Ferry and Hanovertown at nine o'clock on
Friday morning, and capturing seventy-five men who were stationed at that point.
The Sixth Corps came up soon after, and by Saturday noon the entire army had
crossed the Pamunkey, having thus, in thirty-six hours, marched nearly thirty
miles, crossed two rivers, and reached a position far on the flank of the enemy.
General Grant, having crossed his
army, at once advanced and took up a position three miles south of the Pamunkey,
awaiting the development of the strength and position of the enemy. During the
same day (Saturday) two divisions of our cavalry engaged the enemy, driving him
about a mile. Our loss was 54 killed and 300 wounded. Most of the killed of the
enemy and many of his wounded fell into our hands.
On Monday dispositions for an
attack were made by General Grant, Wilson's cavalry being ordered meanwhile to
destroy the railroad bridges over the Little River and South Anna, and break up
both roads from these rivers to two miles southwest of Hawes's Shop, where the
head quarters of our army were established. On Monday evening the enemy attacked
our position, but were repulsed. General Grant, in a dispatch dated Tuesday
morning, says: " The enemy came over on our left last evening and attacked. They
were easily repulsed, and with very considerable slaughter. To relieve General
Warren, who was on the left, speedily, General Meade ordered an attack by the
rest of our lines. General Hancock was the only one who received the order in
time to make the attack before dark. He drove the enemy from his intrenched
skirmish line, and still holds it. I have no report of our losses, but suppose
them to be light."
Other official dispatches, not
from General Grant, give more details. They are as follows, the first being
dated Monday, May 30, at eight o'clock P.M:
'"In the course of the afternoon
Warren had pushed down on our left, until his flank division, under Crawford,
reached a point abreast of Shady Grove Church. Crawford having got detached from
the rest of the corps, was attacked and crowded back a little. The enemy then
threw a force, which appears to have consisted of Ewell's corps, upon Warren's
left, attempting to turn it, but were repulsed. The engagement was short, sharp,
and decisive.
"Warren holds his ground at a
distance of seven miles from Richmond. He reports that he has taken a
considerable number of prisoners, and that there are many rebel dead on the
field. Of his own losses he has not yet made report. His latest dispatch says
the enemy are moving troops to his left, apparently to cover the approach to
Richmond in that direction. On our right an active conflict has been raging ever
since dark, but has just closed. As soon as the enemy attacked the left of
Warren, Wright and
Hancock were ordered to pitch in, but do not seem to have got
ready until after nightfall."
The other dispatch above referred
to is dated at six o'clock Tuesday morning, and states that, on Hancock's attack
last night, Colonel Brooks drove the enemy out of a strongly-intrenched skirmish
line, and holds it. The losses are not reported.
Burnside's whole corps got
across the Tolopatomoy Creek last evening, and is in full connection with
Warren's. The left of Hancock's rests upon this side of the Creek. The Sixth
Corps is upon Hancock's right, and threatens the left flank of the enemy.
Sheridan, with Gregg's and Torbert's divisions of cavalry, is on our left flank.
Wilson is on the right and rear, for purposes named above. The country
thereabout is thickly wooded with pines, with few good openings. The latest
indications are that the enemy has fallen back south of the Chickahominy.
INCIDENTAL MOVEMENTS IN GRANT'S
CAMPAIGN.
Upon the advance of General
Grant's army, preparations were at once made for the evacuation of
Fredericksburg and Aquia Creek, and by the close of last week all our sick and
wounded, together with our army material and supplies, had been removed, and the
country was abandoned to guerrillas. Our outpost troops, guarding the railroads
and stations in front of Washington, were also drawn in for service elsewhere ;
this gave the
Mosby rough-riders a fine opportunity to exhibit their destructive
proclivities, and they accordingly set to work to destroy all the buildings from
Union Mills down to the Rapidan, consisting of block-houses, warehouses, etc.,
which they accomplished most effectually by firing them. As General Grant now
has his base on York River he is not at all incommoded by the raids. For a few
days supplies were sent by way of Port Royal, on the Rappahannock, but Grant's
passage of the Pumunkey made that river and the York the natural channels of
communication with his army.
On the 30th
General Hunter, who
is moving down the Shenandoah Valley, had reached Edinburg, where he found the
enemy, 4000 strong, in his front. Edinburg is about fifty miles northwest of
Gordonsville, which is probably his objective point. His first office, however,
is to guard the Shenandoah Valley.
MOVEMENTS ON THE PENINSULA.
On Tuesday, May 24, General
Fitzhugh Lee, with about 2000 cavalry, and some infantry and artillery, attacked
our garrison at Wilson's Landing, on the north side of the dames River, below
Powhatan. The garrison consisted of two negro regiments under General Wild.
Before the attack Lee sent a flag, stating that he had force enough to take the
place, demanded its surrender, and in that case the garrison should be turned
over to the authorities at Richmond as prisoners of war; but if this proposition
was rejected he would not be answerable for the consequences when he took the
place. General Wild replied, " We will try that." The enemy, after desperate
fighting, were repulsed and driven back in disorder, leaving between 200 and 300
in killed and wounded on the field. Our loss was 40 wounded and 7 killed. One
rebel Major was killed, a rebel Colonel was made prisoner, and 10 privates were
also captured. On the same day General Gillmore went on a reconnoissance from
our intrenched position, met the enemy, and after a fight of an hour and a half
defeated them, with very slight loss on our side.
On the 25th a slight skirmish
took place about three miles from City Point, up the Appomattox River, between
pickets. The enemy were routed. The advance of General Grant has an important
bearing on
General Butler's position, and none but defensive operations have
taken place since the 25th. The Eighteenth Army Corps and some regiments of the
Tenth Corps were on the 29th brought down the James River from Butler's Army and
sent up the York. Of this movement, Secretary Stanton, in a bulletin of the
30th, says: "A portion of General Butter's forces at Bermuda Hundred, not
required for defensive operations there, has been transferred, under command of
General Smith, to the Army of the Potomac, and is supposed by this time to have
formed a junction. No change in the command of the Department of Virginia has
been made. General Butler remains in full command of the Department of Virginia
and North Carolina, and continues at the head of his force in the field."
On Monday, the 80th, the rebels
attacked Butler's position, but every assault was repulsed. On Tuesday morning
the rebels again began to make demonstrations against our position at Bermuda,
but up to the date of the last dispatch nothing had been effected. It is quite
likely that these demonstrations are for the purpose of covering the withdrawal
of a large portion of Beauregard's force.
In reference to the rebel losses
in the Peninsula campaign, a letter to the New York Herald, dated 26th ult.,
says : "Late Petersburg papers acknowledge a loss in
Beauregard's army, in
wounded, so far as they have been admitted to two or three general hospitals, of
three thousand and forty. To these must be added the killed, the wounded not
sent to hospital, and those who fell into our hands. Adding the number of
prisoners in our hands, the enemy's loss up to the 16th inst. was not less than
six thou-sand. In the fight of Friday last they acknowledge a loss of over six
hundred and fifty. Our losses at the battle of Palmer's Creek and other smaller
engagements amount to about three thousand, including both killed and wounded.
About three thousand four hundred wounded have been sent to Fortress Monroe; but
this number includes all the wounded of General Kautz's and Sheridan's commands,
and also the rebel wounded brought in by General Sheridan. These figures may be
relied on as correct in every respect."
THE CAMPAIGN IN GEORGIA.
General Sherman's march is still
onward. Our record last week closed with the occupation of Kingston and the line
of the Etowah River by our forces on the 19th ult. From that point, on the 24th,
having brought up his supplies, General Sherman resumed his march, pushing in a
southwesterly direction for Altoona, situated some twenty miles distant, on the
Western and Atlantic Railroad. Flanking this position, which is said to be even
stronger than Atlanta, the army pressed forward toward Dallas, lying some twenty
miles almost directly south of Altoona. Here we came up with the enemy, and on
Saturday, the 28th, an engagement took place between them and M'Pherson's corps,
in which the rebels were driven back, with a loss to them of 2500 killed and
wounded left in our hands, and about 300 prisoners. General M'Pherson's loss was
not over 300 in all.
General Sherman's head-quarters
were still at Dallas at the latest accounts. Dallas is about thirty-two miles
from Atlanta.
GENERAL BANKS'S CAMPAIGN.
General Banks, with a part of his
army, arrived at
New Orleans on the 21st of May. In moving across the country
during his retreat from Alexandria General Banks left the Red River at Fort De Russy, and struck for Semmesport, where he crossed the Atchafalaya, and then
marched to Morganza, on the Mississippi. A. J. Smith's command also marched to
Semmesport, and there embarked in transports. General Smith had a spirited
engagement with Polignac's rebel division on the 8th ult., defeating it, driving
it several miles, and capturing 300 prisoners. The loss of the enemy in killed
and wounded is stated at 500. General Smith's command arrived at
Vicksburg in
transports on the 24th ult. Late dispatches from
General Canby state that he is
actively engaged in resupplying the troops brought back by General Steele and
General Banks, and organizing the forces of the West Mississippi Division, which
now comprehends the Departments of Missouri, Arkansas, and Louisiana.
Generals
Rosecrans, Steele, and Banks remain in command of their respective departments,
under the order of General Canby, as Division Commander, his military relations
being the same as that formerly exercised by General Grant, and now exercised by
General Sherman, over the Departments of the Ohio, the Cumberland, and the
Tennessee.
NAVAL AND MILITARY ITEMS.
Brigadier-Generals Gibbon and
Dodge have been nominated Major-Generals of Volunteers. General Oglesby has
resigned, and
General Buell has been mustered out. General Oglesby has tendered
his resignation three times, and it is accepted now for the purpose of making a
vacancy for General Dodge. General Oglesby has been nominated as the Union
candidate for Governor of Illinois. General Buell was mustered out for refusing
to accept a command under General Canby.
Generals Beauregard and Forest,
and Lieutenant Governor L. G. Harris, have paid the direct tax upon their real
estate in Tennessee, through agents or attorneys. This appears from an official
letter from the Tax Commissioner of Tennessee.
It appears from the rolls of the
Medical Director that 28,000 men have been sent to hospitals from battle fields
in the present campaign. About 2000 of the number are not wounded, but sick. A
considerable number are rebel wounded. As there was but little artillery used in
the engagement between Grant and Lee the proportion of serious cases is
unusually small, and a large number of the wounded will be able to return to the
field in a few weeks.
The rebel privateer Florida
landed at Martinique, May 4, the crew of a bark from Sombrero, guano laden,
which she had captured and burned. The bark is supposed to have been the David
Lapsley, of and for Philadelphia.
It appears that General J. E. B.
Stuart was shot by a private of the Fifth Michigan Cavalry, named Dunn. The
bullet entered the right side of the rebel officer, and came out at the left. As
the General fell, Dunn exclaimed, " Colonel, there is a spread eagle for you!"
It was not suspected who the General was.
MISCELLANEOUS.
The Cleveland Radical Convention,
which assembled on the 30th ult., on the following day nominated for President
General
John C. Fremont; and for Vice-President, General John Cochrane. The
platform declared for the Union, the Constitution and the laws, the suppression
of the rebellion without compromise, the rights of free speech, free press, and
habeas corpus, the Constitutional prohibition of Slavery—for integrity and
economy, for confiscation, the right of asylum, the Monroe doctrine, the one
term policy, etc. A committee of five was appointed to report a plan of party
organization, and a name for the party.
The cash receipts of the
Mississippi Valley Sanitary Fair at St. Louis have already reached $325,000.
Joshua R. Giddings died suddenly
at Montreal on the 27th ult.
The New Hampshire Union State
Convention has declared in favor of the renomination of President Lincoln. An
interesting debate took place in the rebel Congress on the 23d, upon a series of
resolutions from North Carolina, asking for the appointment of commissioners to
obtain an armistice of ninety days from the Union Government, with a view to
obtain peace. The resolutions were tabled.
Over 1000
contrabands arrived at
Washington on Monday from the region covered by General Grant's operations. The OId-School Presbyterian General Assembly, in session at Newark, New Jersey, has
adopted strong antislavery resolutions.
The draft in New Jersey has been
nearly completed. In Kentucky it is still in progress. Hundreds of negroes in
that State are enlisting.
FOREIGN NEWS.
EUROPE.
THE SCHLESWIG-HOLSTEIN AFFAIR.
THE Dano-German Conference had
another session in London on the 17th of May, but there is no report of progress
toward a peace settlement. On the contrary, it seemed as if the
Schleswig-Holstein affair was becoming more complicated, owing to the wily
diplomacy of Russia, the peculiar policy of Napoleon, the obstinacy of Prussia,
and the very feeble position assumed and maintained by England. It was thought
probable that England would on this very subject be dragged into a naval war.—It
is said that France urges in the Conference the prolongation of the suspension
of hostilities beyond the stipulated period. The Prince of Augustenburg had
entered Altona, in Holstein, amidst much enthusiasm, and a manifesto in his
favor had been issued, bearing the signatures of more than 1300 members of the
representative bodies of the German States.
BRITISH SHIP-OWNERS AND
PRIVATEERING.
The Liverpool ship-owners are
beginning to exhibit great alarm at the prospect of retaliation for the rebel
fleet by means of American privateers preying on English commerce should Great
Britain be engaged in a war with any considerable Power. A number of shipping
firms in that town united in a memorial to the House of Commons setting forth
the danger to which British shipping may be exposed under a state of affairs
which permits a belligerent to construct and send to sea vessels of war from
neutral ports, as the Alabama and Georgia, and praying that measures be adopted
by the Government, in conjunction with that of the United States. and other
Powers, to prevent such a state of things.
FRANCE AND THE UNITED STATES.
The French Minister of State, in
a recent debate in the Legislative Chambers, declared that the Government, ten
days ago, had given orders not to allow certain ships, which were suspected of
building in French ports for the rebel service, to leave France till their
destination was clearly established. At the same time the Minister gave his
reasons for believing that the American Government would not interfere in the
settlement of the Mexican question. He thought that the establishment of a
monarchy in Mexico would prove of great advantage to the United States.
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