ce and England toward this
country since the beginning of the secession war. Both those countries
have great interest not only in the preservation of peace _with_ the
United States, but in the preservation of peace _in_ the United States;
and yet they have done all that it lies in their power to do to
encourage our rebels, and have been on the verge of war with us: and war
with them, and with Spain, is exported by many Americans, who judge of
the future by the present and the past. England had a vast trade with
the American Union, buying at the South, and selling to the North, and
hence any disturbances here were sure to operate adversely to her
interests; but no sooner had it become apparent that our troubles were
to be of a serious character, than her weight was thrown on to the side
of the rebels, who never would have been able to do much but for the
encouragement they have received from abroad. The trade of France was
not so great with America as that of England; yet it was valuable, and
the French have suffered much from its suspension, perhaps we should say
its loss. The North has purchased but little from Europe for a year, and
the South has sold less to Europe in that time. There has been a trade
in food between the North and some European countries, in which grain
has been exchanged for gold, though it would have been better for both
parties could anything else than gold have been brought to America, true
commerce consisting in the interchange of commodities. For all the
sufferings that have been experienced by Englishmen and Frenchmen, they
have none but themselves and their governments to censure. That peace
has not been preserved is not our fault; and the war that has been blown
into so fierce a flame has been fed from Europe; it has been fanned by
breezes from France and England. When it was first seen that there was
danger of civil war, the governments of those countries, if they had
really had any regard for the true interests of their countries, would
have discouraged the rebels in the most public and pointed manner
imaginable, not because they cared for us, but for the simple reason
that they were bound so to act as should best promote the welfare of
their own peoples. War in America meant suffering to the artisans and
laborers of Europe, who, thus far, have suffered more from the war than
have any portion of the American people, except the residents of
Southern cities. Napoleon III. and Lord Palmerston s