Punch's Epigram

Great Britain and France seemed to be equally anxious for the overthrow of the Union, and they entered into a secret agreement to act in concert. They even went so far as to apprise other European governments of this understanding, with the expectation that the latter would concur with them. So, at the very beginning of our difficulties, these two professedly friendly powers had clandestinely entered into a combination for arraying all Europe on the side of the insurgents, and giving them moral and material aid. Our loyal people could not, at first, comprehend the unfriendly acts and tone of the British government and the chief representatives of the British people, until the touchstone of Montesquieu's assertion was applied: "Other nations have made the interests of commerce yield to those of politics; the English, on the contrary, have ever made political interests give way to those of commerce." And the traditional philanthropy of the English in behalf of the slave, made the following notable epigram of the London Punch, appear to us, at first, like a good-natured slander:

This epigram gave the key to the secret motives of the English government. The astute Frenchman, Count Gasparin, clearly perceived them. He knew the seductive influence of the bribe of free cotton on a manufacturing people like those of Great Britain; and nearly two months before her public acts in favor of the insurgents were manifested, he gave this warning: "Let England beware! It were better for her to lose Malta, Corfu and Gibraltar, than the glorious position which her struggle against Slavery and the Slave-trade has secured her in the esteem of the nations. Even in an age of armored frigates and rifled-cannon, the chief of all powers, thank God! is moral power. Woe to the nation that disregards it, and consents to immolate its principles to its interests! From the beginning of the present conflict the enemies of England, and they are numerous, have predicted that the cause of cotton will weigh heavier in her scales than the cause of justice and liberty. They are preparing to judge her by her conduct in the American crisis. Once more, let her beware!"

The British ministry did not heed the warning. So early as the 9th of May (1861), Lord John Russell, the Minster for Foreign Affairs, said in Parliament, in reply to the question, What position has the government intended to take? "The Attorney and Solicitor-General and the Queen's Advocate and the Government have come to the opinion that the Southern Confederacy of America, according to those principles which seem to them to be just principles, must be treated as a belligerent." This was preparatory to an open recognition of the independence of the Confederacy, a motion for which was then pending in Parliament. The Queen and her beloved husband, the Prince Consort, felt a real friendship for the Americans, who had treated their son, the Prince of Wales, so kindly only a few months before, but she yielded to ministerial pressure, and on the 13th of May, issued a proclamation of neutrality, in which belligerent rights were accorded to the insurgents, and a virtual acknowledgment of the Confederation as a national power. It was followed in the British Parliament, and among the Tory classes and in the Tory newspapers of the realm, by the most dogmatic assertions that the Republic of the West was hopelessly crumbling into ruins, and was unworthy of respectful consideration.

All this was done with unseemly haste, before Mr. Charles Francis Adams, chosen by the new Administration to represent the United States at the Court of St. James, had presented his credentials. When that event occurred, and the tone of Mr. Adams's instructions was known, the British ministry paused, and took counsel of prudence and expediency. Mr. Adams had been instructed by the American Secretary of State (Mr. Seward) especially to counteract the influence of Confederate agents at court. "You will in no case," said the instructions, "listen to any suggestions of compromise by this Government under foreign auspices, with its discontented citizens. If, as the President does not at all apprehend, you shall unhappily find her Majesty's government tolerating the applications of the so-called Confederate States, or wavering about it, you will not leave them to suppose, for a moment, that they can grant that application and remain the friends of the United States. You may even assure them promptly, in that case, that if they determine to recognize, they may at the same time prepare to enter into an alliance with the enemies of this Republic. You, alone, will represent your country at London, and you will represent the whole of it there. When you are asked to divide that duty with others, diplomatic relations between the government of Great Britain and this Government will be suspended, and will remain so until it shall be seen which of the two is most strongly intrenched in the confidence of their respective nations and of mankind."