The Atlantic Monthly, Volume 12, No. 71, September, 1863: A Magazine of Literature, Art, and PoliticsVarious
Religion
The Atlantic Monthly, Volume 12, No. 71, September, 1863: A Magazine of Literature, Art, and Politics
Various
American periodicals
chastity of the slave-masters whose work they are put to do. But it is
passing strange that a gentleman so fair and reasonable as Mr. Dicey,
one so appreciative of the moral tone which Northern society demands of
its representatives, should join in an accusation whose absurdity is
only lost in its infinite offence.
There are small inaccuracies, as well as occasional instances of
carelessness or repetition, in these volumes, which, had circumstances
allowed time for revision, might have been avoided. It would require the
"Pathfinder" himself to discover "Fremont Street" in the city where we
write; the "Courier" is _not_ "the most largely circulated of any Boston
paper"; and our Ex-Mayor "Whiteman" requires no fanciful orthography to
free his name from the obloquy of an over-devotion to the interests of
colored citizens. These are local illustrations of mistakes which are
excusable in view of the commendable expedition with which the work was
issued,--for, in the late crisis of our affairs, an Englishman who had
any good words to give us fulfilled the proverb by giving twice in
giving quickly. But, whatever trifling details might be subjected to
criticism, the total impression of what Mr. Dicey has written bears
honorable testimony to the accuracy of his observation, as well as to
his powers of comparison and judgment.
As has been already remarked, we cannot be blind to the fact that our
only supporters in England are those men who recognize at the heart of
our contest that genuine principle of Liberty which is not to be limited
to caste or to race. And it is only by hastening to justify their
confidence that we can win to our cause the great people they address.
If we cannot gain the national sympathy of England, we must do without
the true sympathy of any nation. It was, indeed, remarked by De
Tocqueville, that, "in the eyes of the English, the cause which is most
useful to England is always the cause of justice." But the rare insight
of the philosopher assigns the phenomenon, not to a political
Machiavelism, but to a "laudable desire to connect the actions of one's
country with something more stable than interest." The English have a
peculiar gift of fixing their whole attention upon certain traits or
single circumstances which they desire to see. We doubt not that a
portion of their sympathy with the energy and endurance of those in arms
against their country is estimable according to its light. But as the
dignity of our mission in this struggle becomes more and more apparent,
the moral intelligence of England will be forced to unite itself with
the Government of the United States. Let that day come when it will,
posterity will remember its obligations to those Englishmen who did so
much to avert the hideous calamity of a war between the two liberal
powers of the world. And to us of this present generation it is grateful
to know that our brave and generous young men have not died wholly
unrecognized in the land of their ancestors.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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