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From The Spectator.

THE PROSPECTS OF PEACE AND THE WISH FOR WAR.

THE President's Message has by no means settled the moot question on which so many lives, and probably so many liberties, depend. The issue between the United States and Great Britain is, to use Lord Russell's invaluable and really needful idiom, "conspicuous by its absence," from which, as the bias may happen to lead them, men argue almost what they will. That there are those who wilfully shut their eyes to all chances of peace in the hope of rousing the English nation to the red-hot temper in which war is inevitable, we are but too sorry to perceive. Yet no one who considers the present phase of the matter can ignore three very plain results: 1. That the President is at least anxious not to appeal to popular passions, but to retain the ultimate decision within the grasp of the Cabinet; 2. That his Cabinet is in earnest in the civil war, and is not, as has been suggested here, bent on finding in a rupture with England an excuse for hushing up the dispute with the South; and, 3. That the slavery question the touchstone of Northern sincerity in this conflict-is making rapid progress in the North, as we have shown at length in another column. Now, all these elements, in the most recent news from America, are, so far as they go, pacific. Mr. Lincoln's silence leaves it in his power to yield, and renders it more than probable that he will reply temperately and in a conciliatory spirit, even if he does not immediately yield. The energy with which the Southern contest is being carried on supplies the strongest presumption that he will not rashly paralyze all his efforts by bringing the English navy to sweep his fleet from the seas, and to raise the blockade of the Southern ports. The ripening of the slavery question ought to enlist the sympathies of England so far at least on the side of the North as to render us exceedingly unwilling to become, if we can honorably help it, the allies of the slaveowning oligarchy. The only items of news that are unfavorable to these hopes are the resolution of thanks to Captain Wilkes in the Lower House of Congress, and the Admiralty order approving of his conduct. But, on the other hand, the Senate, which is the really important body on such mat

ters, had not taken any action in the question, and was vaguely believed to be unfa vorable to that rash act, while there is every reason to hope that the Admiralty order was one of those isolated departmental impulses, unapproved by the Cabinet as a whole, of which we have recently had so many instances. Certainly, if Mr. Lincoln had wished to mark his approval of what had been done, he would also have wished to elicit popular support for his policy, in which case a paragraph in the Message might have roused the whole Union to enthusiastic defiance of England. As this is not so-as the Northern press, especially the Republican organs, are in a very marked degree more friendly and pacific than they were-and as we have every reason to hope that the bankers and the whole money interest of the North, who are absolutely essential to the Government, would be horror-struck by a rupture with England, we must conclude on the whole that, so far as the tenor of the recent news from America bears upon the matter, we have, at least, a shade more hope of peace than we were able to entertain last week.

But while the American news is, at all events, slightly more favorable to the hope of peace, it is perhaps at first sight less easy to decide whether the attitude of the English people is so or not. If we could fairly judge by the Times of the purpose of the nation, we should be forced to the conclusion, not only that we are determined to go to war if the American answer is a refusal of our demand, but that we wish it to be unfavorable, and are anxious to leave no loop-hole for peace. It is curious that exactly as the signs of a Northern crusade against slavery have grown in number and importance, has the eagerness of the leading journal for a war increased. But we greatly mistake the symptoms of the popular temper if the Times does in this respect represent the people. That any sign of a disposition to hector England into the relinquishment of an important right, or to deter her from the discharge of a national duty, would oblige us to declare war, we are all assured. But that the nation desires any opportunity, -at all events, that it desires to avail itself of this most unfortunate opportunity,-for thrashing the North, is, we are certain, wholly false. Mr. Cobden may be mistaken

It is strange that the only paper which now refuses to hear of temperate discussion was the very one which at first led the public to believe that the Americans had law on their side. The rapid change in the prospects of the slave question has, we fear, much to do with this change of tone. Nothing can be forgiven from the Government which contemplates emancipation.

we think he is-in recommending politi- But if they justify the act by the law of cal arbitration as the true solution of the contraband, and express their sincere regret quarrel. The question at issue between us for the irregularity of the way in which it is a legal one, and it would be a very bad was enforced, we join issue on a legal differprecedent for the future to refer the inter-ence, and the violence is entirely disavowed. pretation of international law to the judgment of any ordinary umpire, however impartial and honest. By the law we must be judged, for it is the law to which we appeal; and if the law has not been violated, there is no case to discuss. But while thus far differing from Mr. Cobden, we must express our hearty conviction that the drift of public opinion is sincerely favorable to any bond fide reference of the legal question, so long as the United States Government evince a sincere desire to conform entirely to the spirit of the law. Should they say, for instance, that they do not justify the informality of the seizure, and are heartily willing to refer the point at issue to any legal tribunal with which England will be satisfied, we do not doubt for a moment that the English people would wish to close with such an offer, nor that the English Government would accept it. As regards the informality of the seizure by Captain Wilkes, an apology is really all that is needful. The injury to us is far less serious than it would have been had the vessel been carried into a prize court, and though it is most important to establish the principle that questions of law shall not be prejudged by nautical common sense or nonsense, that point would be established by the apology, and the subsequent reference of the question at issue; while we should gain by having the matter judged by a better tribunal than that of the American prize court.

In the event we have supposed, the whole temper of the country-in this case very unsuccessfully indexed by the Times-would sanction the solution referred to; and the more so, that the anti-slavery drift, which the politics of the Federal Government are now slowly but surely taking, makes all but a very small knot of Englishmen more keenly conscious than ever of their unconquerable reluctance to fight in effect for the Southern cause. It is simply absurd to say with the Times that violent acts can only be met by violence. The whole question arises as to the violence or the legality of the act. If the Federal Government avow the violence, cadet quæstio, and the Times is right.

On the whole, then, we are disposed to be more hopeful, we will not say much, but definitely more hopeful, than we were last week, The causes for fear are still the same-the ignorant insolence of the lower democracy in America, and the craving for a war with the vulgar North among the Tories, real and virtual, in England. The former may render the President's answer one which we cannot even consider; the latter may make it very difficult for us to get over any shade of unpleasant significance, real or fanciful even in such an answer as we could consider. But, on the whole, we feel no doubt that the contingencies of peace are considerable: that it is, if strictly consistent with law and honor, the wish both of our Government and our people; and that the chances are better than they were that a peaceful solution, consistent with law and honor, will not be rendered impossible by the arrogance of the North.

From The Economist.

THE English nation is most anxious to do what is right, and to do no more, and the English Government is not less anxious. We mean to uphold the honor of England quietly and firmly, at whatever cost, and through whatever peril. But we would not even appear to force a quarrel upon the United States at a time of weakness and rebellion. We would combine tenacity of resolve with suavity of manner. Even now it is said that Lord Lyons is directed to impart the decisive and unfaltering instructions which have been sent him as mildly and peacefully as possible. He is to tell them at first to Mr. Seward informally, and to allow an interval, though of course only a

brief one, to elapse before their final and official public communication. We shall demand our rights very firmly, but we shall demand them also very quietly.

From The Press.

the obstructions before their removal becomes impossible. Our naval squadron is said to be lying off Charleston. An admiral who did not shrink from responsibilityand we have had many such,-and they have been our best men-would not have hesitated to interpose to prevent such an ONE of the criminal phases of Northern unrighteous and illegitimate measure of hosbelligerence which was commented upon tility. War or no war, it does not become with indignation in our columns a week ago us to permit a savage and barbarous work has since then, we are glad to see, been of this kind to be carried on under the prominently noticed and condemned in the "leading journal." We allude to the sav-issue of the question now pending at Washvery eyes of our fleet. And whatever be the age and malignant object with which two ington, we trust that orders will be immesuccessive expeditions of " stone-ships" have been directed against the coast and harbors diately transmitted to the British admiral on of the South. It is not an act of legitimate broadsides if necessary, to stay the work, the station to interpose at once, with our war-it is not to assist the temporary block-and to assert alike the interests of the ade by checking sorties of ships of war. world's commerce and the rights of our These stone-laden hulks are to be sunk in common humanity. the narrow channels leading in to Charleston and the various commercial ports of the South, with the avowed object of ruining SOMETHING LIKE MANNERS. those cities forever by closing their outlets AN Irishman, in the old days of Protesto the sea. The hulks with their cargoes of tant Ascendency, was run over by a bishop's stones are to be sunk,-apparently have carriage, and merely inquired, in an humble already been sunk,—and it is calculated that manner, as he sat rubbing himself, "What's the alluvial deposit brought down by the that for?" We feared that his docile race rivers will gather around them, forming an had become extinct, but the following adimpassable bar, and destroying forever the vertisement, which Mr. Punch cuts from a commerce of those "doomed cities; "and provincial newspaper, shows that there are the Federal vessels of war are instructed to still persons who know how to behave keep watch over these obstructions, cease-respectfully under aggravating circumlessly sailing from one to another, to pre- stances:— vent the Southerners from removing them, till the accumulating sands have rendered the task impracticable. We lack words adequately to express our horror and indignation at so diabolical a design. To secure for New York a monopoly of the commerce of the American continent, and to vent the rancorous malignity of the Federal Government, these Southern cities by the sea are to be reduced to desert places, and the journalists of New York proclaim their fiendish exultation in the success of the project. This is not the hostility of men-it is the savagery of demons. We do not hesitate to say that every naval power is called upon, in the interests alike of commerce, humanity, and civilization, to interpose. Duty and interest alike demand that so savage and ruthless a project should be stopped, and that, where the initial mischief has already been done, immediate steps should be taken to remove

"GENTLEMAN RUN OVER IN CLAYTON SQUARE.-If the Ladies who were in the Carriage when it was driven over an old Gentleman in Clayton Square, on Monday last, between the hours of Twelve and One, desire to know how he is, they are invited to send to No. 34 Seymour Street."

Nothing can be more polite than this old gentleman, and his delicate way of informing the ladies of his address savors of the manners of the old school. We do not-no, we will not-do such wrong to human nature as to suppose that he inserts the advertisement under the advice of some fiendlike attorney, who has failed to find out the address of the ladies, and hopes to catch them this way with a view to legal damages. No, we repudiate the thought. The affair is a bit of the manners of the high-bred school of other days. There was to be a splendid masked ball, at the court of the excellent

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5. Several Platforms, forming a further portion of the Stump machinery.

6. The White House-name of "Lincoln " on the brass plate.

7. The coat in which Mr. James Gordon Bennett, editor of the New York Herald, was whipped by Eleazar P. Growky.

Louis XIV., and all the world worth men- | patriotic oratory has been delivered for some tioning was wrapped up in the costumes, years, with the happy consequences now beand dying for the splendid fête. A young fore the world. count, from Provence, was to be one of the most brilliant of the maskers. Three hours before the fête, comes to him, dustily, a servant from the provincial château, and informs him that his lordship's father is deceased. "You are a vulgar fellow, Francois," blandly replies the young nobleman, "and you judge the nobility by the standard of the canaille. My father is too much of a gentleman to die at such a moment. Come to me in the morning." The old gentleman of Clayton Square must surely be a descendant of the high-bred young count. We hope he wasn't much hurt.-Punch.

8. The coat in which Mr. James Gordon Bennett, editor of the New York Herald was cowhided by Phineas X. Blazer.

9. The coat in which Mr. James Gordon Bennett, editor of the New York Herald was thrashed by Ebenezer V. Whopple.

10. A collection of nineteen whips with which Mr. James Gordon Bennett, editor of the New York Herald, was at various times flogged by nineteen slandered citizens.

11. The boots with which Mr. James Gordon Bennett, editor of the New York Herald, was kicked by Epaminondas J. Buffer.

12. Six pairs of highlows, and five pairs or shoes, with which eleven other slandered citizens have at various times annotated the editorial labors of Mr. James Gordon Bennett, editor of the New York Herald.

13. Remains of the brandy-smash in which Mr. Seward pledged himself to insult England on the earliest opportunity, and the glasses from which his sixteen previous brandy-smashes had been imbibed by that

THE AMERICAN EXHIBITION. MR. PUNCH has great pleasure in announcing, in the most officious manner, that the directors of the International Exhibition have not forgotten the possibility of the absence of Voluntary Contributions from the Northern States of America. The subject has been taken into grave consideration, and negotiations have been entered into with the Lords of the Admiralty and the Commanderin-Chief, in order to the adoption of means for supplying this deficiency, should it unfortunately occur. Without entering into details, as the whole arrangement may be rendered unnecessary by the arrival of Messrs. Mason and Slidell about the 28th December,-Mr. Punch begs to say, that in the event of the Federals declining to send contributions to the Exhibition, the space now appropriated to such articles will be sup15. The Declaration of Independence.-To plied through the exertions of gentlemen be reverently preserved, and returned to the connected with our naval and military ser- North when a statesman, worthy to fill the vice, and that among the Involuntary Con- place of George Washington, shall demand tributions from the North will be the follow-it.

ing articles :

statesman.

14. Flags of the Southern Confederacy, captured by the Armies of the North. (Promised conditionally only in the event of such flags being discoverable.)

16. Specimens of Jerusalem Snakes, Ring1. The Falls of Niagara (American por-tailed Roarers, Regular Opossums, and other tion) by the kind permission of the Cana- curiosities of American natural history. dian authorities, and to be returned when done with.

2. The American Eagle.-The interesting animal will be provided with a large supply | of its natural food; namely, Bunkum, to be obtained from the offices of the New York newspapers.

3. Several bottles of Hail of Columbia.

17. A B'hoy. It will be interesting to compare this animal with his superior, but a member of the same genus, the Gorilla.

18. Specimens of American Editorial Writings. (Disinfecting fluid will be found in the same case, and labelled "Common Sense.")

19. Secret Treaty for the Partition of Eng

4. Curious assortment of Stumps, on which land between the Emperor of Russia, Mr.

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Seward, and the King of the Cannibal Isl- howling and peals of convulsive laughter, ands.

20. Mr. Brigham Young, the latest ally of the North, and model of his Seraglio.

like that of a multitude of violent idiots.

Orations in a similar tone and spirit, full of sound and fury, were delivered by Mr. O'Rangoutang, Mr. G. O'Rilia, Mr. Fitzcaliban, and other eminent Yahoos, who gloated on the calamities which they antici

21. The original Book of Mormon, as about the only original work which America has produced since Knickerbocker's History. 22. Specimens of American Apes, and Nat-pated for England, and expressed, as far as uralized Irishmen, stuffed.-Punch, 21 Dec.

A SAFE DELIVERY AND A WISE DELIV-
ERANCE FROM WAR.

WITHIN the last few weeks there has been a General Gaol Delivery in England. We should like to see the same thing take place in America. For instance, if the Washington Government would only open the door of the prison in which Messrs. Mason and Slidell are confined, and set them free, what a fearful difficulty would be overcome! War may be said to hinge on the portal of that very prison-door. It is a kind of modern Temple of Janus, expressing Peace or War, either as it is opened, or closed. Let us hope that the friendship of two such great nations as England and America will never be buried in those odious "Tombs!"-Punch, 21 Dec.

THE IRISH YAHOOS.

A GRAND meeting of Yahoos was held yesterday at the Pope's Head, for the purpose of expressing joy and exultation at the prospect of the war which England is thought likely to be involved in with America. The Chair was taken by the O'Donoghyahoo, one of the principal representatives of the Yahoos in Parliament.

The O'Donoghyahoo, on rising, was received with much grinning, gibbering, chattering, and other demonstrations of applause. When the noise had subsided, he began raving, and continued for nearly an hour, pouring forth torrents of foul but almost inarticulate abuse of the Saxon, as he was understood, as well as his sputtering and slavering enabled him to be, to style the object of his malignant invective, meaning England and the English. His discourse. terminated with a succession of shrieks and yells resembling those of a hyæna impatient for his carrion, and he sat down foaming at the mouth. The conclusion of the honorable Yahoo's address was hailed with frantic

they were intelligible, the most truculent animosity to the British Sovereign and people. Mr. O'Rangoutang created an immense sensation by brandishing a dagger, to indicate how he would like to serve the alien oppressor, in which performance he nearly cut his own throat, to the great diversion of the assembly.

After giving several rounds of hurroos for the Pope and Captain Wilkes, and of shouts and yells for Lord Palmerston and John Bull, the concourse of Yahoos separated gnashing their teeth, and retired to their dens, whooping, shrieking, and uttering the most bloodthirsty execrations. Going home, many of them, in the frenzy of their malice, threw themselves down in the dirt and rolled in it like dogs, yelping, whining, and howling, after the manner of the lower orders of the canine species, to which the Yahoo is nearly allied, being a creature between the mongrel and the baboon.-Funch, 21 Dec.

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