xxxrv.] ON THE POLISH INSUBREOTION. 869g

The American War.

“July 11, 1862. (To Mr. Sumner.)—It is a long time since
I wrote to you. Indeed, to confess the truth, it is a painful
bask for me to keep up my correspondence with my American
friends. But I have not been a less anxious observer of
the events which have passed on your side. I shall now
best serve the interests of humanity by telling you frankly
the state and progress of opinion here. There is an all but
unanimous belief that you cannot subject the South to the
Union. Even they who are your partisans and advocates
cannot see their way to any such issue. It is necessary that
you should understand that this opinion is so widely and
honestly entertained, because it is the key to the expression
of views which might otherwise not be quite intelligible.
Among some of the governing class in Burope the wish is
father to this thought. But it is not so with the mass of the
people. Nor is it so with our own Government entirely.
I know that Gladstone would restore your Union to-morrow
if he could; yet he has steadily maintained from the first
that unless there was a strong Union sentiment, it is impossible
 that the South can be subdued. Now the belief is all
but universal that there is no Union feeling in the South ;
and this is founded latterly upon the fact that no cotton
comes from New Orleans. It is said that if the instinct of
gain, with cotton at double its usual price, do not induce the
People to sell, it is a proof beyond dispute that the political
 resentment is overwhelming and unconquerable.”
“ Feb. 13, 1863. (To Mr. Sumner.)~If I have not written to
you before, it is not because I have been indifferent to what is
passing in your midst. I may say sincerely that my thoughts
have been almost as much on American as on English politics,
 But I could do yon no service, and shrank from
occupying your over-taxed attention, even for a moment.

1668,
Ar, BD.