SIR G. C. LEWIS ON THE AMERICAN WAR.

Southland Times, Volume I, Issue 19, 13 January 1863, Page 3

SIR G. C. LEWIS ON THE AMERICAN WAR.

Sir George Cornewall Lewis, the Secretary at War, was one of the speakers at ' the meeting of the Hereford Agricultural Societv ; and in the course of his remarks referred as follows to the distress in the manufacturing districts, and to the American war : — They hoped that, as the causp that had led to this distress was extraordinary, so thai distress might prove of short duration, and the war which was now goinjr on in the United States, and the blockade of the Son I hern States, which prevented the co! ton from coining lo this country, would before long come to na end. That was a subject on which many different opinions were and had heen entertained. The Go jveinmentof this country were placed in I the position of having to choose between two opposite courses, — viz., recognition of the Southern Stales on the one hand, and sympathy or alliance with the States of me r ederr.i section of the Union oil the other. Well, the Government avoided botli these extremes. They had consistently and strenuously pursued a middle course of strict neutrality, and had abstained from giving direct or indirect countenance or assistance to either of the belligerent parties. It had been said that great complaints had been made by the Government at Washington, that ihe Government of England hail not maintained this strict neutrality because it had recognised the South as a belligerent Power ; and it had been said, that by recognising the t;outh as a belligerent Power, we had. departed from a strict line of neutrality. N"w he (SirG. Lewis) could not but think tha', if any impartial person reflected on the course of this unhappy contest, he would come to the conclusion that no woid in the English language would apply with greater aptitude to the Southern States than the word 'belligerents." There parties had combined for the purpose of carrying on a war ; and when they looked to the number of armed men they had raised — when they look to the large armies they had brought into the field, lo the ability of the generals by whom these armies were commanded, and to the pertinacity with which the contest on their part had been waged — it could not surely be denied tbat they deserved the name of " belligerent" in reference to the manner in which they had carried on the war against #ie United States. Under these circumstances, it seemed to h : m (Sir G. Lewis) that a more unfounded charge could not have been made against the Government of this country than that of having departed from the principle of strict neutialify by recognising the Southern States as belligerents. (Hear, hear.) But when the Government was asked to go a step further, and to say that the Southern States have constituted ihemselvesan independent power, then it seemed to him that international law would not be on our side. Everybody who read the accounts in the newspapers of what was doing in America could see that, although there was a war there between these two contending powers, it was a war which was as yet undecided — a war which was waged on the part of the Northeren States ror the purpose of restoring the States to the condition of union they were in before the war began ; and on the part of the Southern Slates it was a war to eatablish their independence. But the war must be admitted to be undecided. The battlefields are still reeking with the blood of thousands «f soldiers, killed on both sides ; and jintil the war had been decided on one

or other, or until it had been derided so far in favor of the Southern States us to induce the Norheren States to recognise their independence, or to prove to foreign states that the rontest was exhausted, and thAt the Norinern States were incapable of continuing the contest— until that moment arrived it could not be said, in accordance with the established doctrines of international ifivv, ifiat Ihe independence of the Southern Slates had been established. (Hear, hear.) He believed it was the genet al opinion of the people ot this country that the contest would issue in the independence of the South. He himself did not expres-* that opinion; but. that wastlißfieneral opinion in this country. Let them look to the state of things established between the panics. It could not be said that the Southern Slales of the Union had de facto established their independence. That being a ""Utter of noto riety, he could not think they were guilty of any neglect in not. iceognising the independence of the Southern States. His noble friend Loid W. (irahani had expressed a .wish that he should qiv'e lhem some information as to the possibility of our making n reduction in the national expenditure on account of the army and navy. lie. was afraid no great tJimiuu ion could be expected in the public expenditure on that accout, without sensibly diminishing the power and efficiency of those forces (Hear, hear.) It mi*ht be that the allowance.to the army and navy was greater 'ban was required and that some reduction might be made next year ; but the recen! discoveries iv science, and the consequent change in the arming of both army and navy, had necessarily entailed great extra expenditure. — Edinburgh Witness.