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Tomahawk (1867-1870), 8th May 1869, Edition 1 of 1, Page unpag

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    • COLUMBIA IN A TIER
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      The Tomahawk: A Saturday Journal Of Sati...

      THE TOMAHAWK : A SATURDAY JOURNAL OF SATIRE . € Y \ M ha ^ xt ^ nt K" § ttkttL ^^ HHMMt ^ MHHBMH 9 w ^^ ~^^ £ B &^^^ 3 S ^^ mS ^ S ^ T J 1 , 1 " INVITAT CULPAM QUI PECCATUM PRETERIT . "

      No. 105.] London, Ma Y 8, 1869. [Price T...

      No . 105 . ] LONDON , MA Y 8 , 1869 . [ Price Twopence .

      Columbia In A Tier

      COLUMBIA IN A TIER

      It Has Often Puzzled Us Why Nations Are ...

      It has often puzzled us why nations are generally spoken of in the female gender . Not because there are more women than men , or as a consolation to them for the deprivation of political power . No ; it must be because Nations are so fickle . Certainly , in the case of America , a pretty skittish girl , rather fast , and with a bit of a temper , is the best image of the national disposition . Except in a capricious woman , it would be difficult to find a parallel for the very unreasonable quarrel which America is trying to fix on England . It would be tedious and unnecessary to enter into the history of the Alabama . It is doubtful whether any vessel that ever was built , altered , rebuilt , converted , reconverted , and finally condemned as useless , under the intelligent supervision of the Lords of the Admiralty , ever cost England so dear as the trim little cruiser which managed to slip through the meshes of the law , as easily as , during her brief but brilliant career , she slipped through the guns of the enemy's vessels sent against her . Had she been built for a Power at war with ourselves , it is very doubtful whether we should have been able to stop her . All moderate men in this country , of whatever political opinions , have never ceased to deplore the danger of the Alabama succeeding in establishing a precedent , which must have injured the influence and nower of no cmmtrv so nrmnli n « this . What

      our boasted naval supremacy may be worth now that , in envessels counters armour at sea , and , more the strength depends of on their the guns construction , than on the of skill the or courage of her men , it is difficult to say ; but this is certain , that in the event of our being at war , the issuing of privateers from the ports of a neutral country to prey upon our commerce , would , if countenanced by International law , render our total defeat a matter of certainty . We should suffer where we feel most , in our pockets , to such an extent as to force us into peace . Therefore , it must be the interest of England to settle the dispute about the Alabama , that is , to pay for the depredations committed by that vessel , if it be decided by an impartial tribunal that we ought to pay ; and this she has offered to do in the most sincere and conciliatory spirit . But when America demands that we should submit to a Commission the question as to whether we were justified in recognising the Southern States as belligerents , she behaves with an unreasoning petulancy only to be expected from a spoilt girl . If the South were not entitled to be treated as belligerents by neutral nations , than civil war must be ignored altogether . If a separate government , recognised by the other section of the nation so far as to

      be distinctly treated with just like a foreign power ; if the in maintenance pitched battles of large with armies their opponent , and the s , gaining did not justif many y Eng victories land in recognising something more than a state of rebellion in the United States—then it is impossible to conceive any circumthan prol stances onged as , which the confl police would ict with of justify any any Imperial portion a neutral of Government power its subjects in acting . engage Ta otherwise ke d , in not a the case of England and the North American Colonies , because we all know that then , directly a few hundred discontented people had armed themselves , France was justified in recogwar nizing with them Austria as belli . The gerents Italian —but provinces take the would case of have Ital thoug y in the ht it rather hard if we had refused to them the rights of belligerents because they were fighting against Austria , their Sovereign against chief ; and such Americ a breach a would of International have been the law first . We to hav Government forbore e cried from out how recognising thoug we h we could mi the g have ht S have outhern acted found otherwise States a precedent as than a we separat for . did such e in a the step face ; but of , such a momentous struggle as the American Civil , War , would puzzle all the cuteness of a Yankee to say . The fact is that the Americans are a very sensitive irritable makes people . them Dyspepsia take distorted , which is views almost of a personal national questions characteristic , and ,

      the entirely remembrance destroys their of their nerve internecine and judgment strugg . le They , and do they not want like to insist that there never was a war at all . It is like the case of the husband who took back his erring wife before the whole worldanti yet quarrelled with any friend who maintained that there , had ever been any difference between them . Why could mot we believe blindly in the superiority of the North ? Why could we not sit down , and in the face of facts , say , " Jonathan is snake all - rig peelings ht , he can if you lick only creation give him , and time he'll . " whip Perhaps these rebels he would into ! have done it all the sooner if we had helped him by seizing all his men enemy we could ' s vessels catch as as pirates rebels , . and But handing how could over we any do so of when their Jonathan himself was treating them most handsomely , as he would have treated any foreign foe ? And if Fortune had tipped the balance over on the other side , what would the victorious South have said to us then ? Let us hope that as the people of America are really anxious to settle all differences with this country , and " put themselves outside something " in honour of eternal friendship and good-• will , that no political fanatics , or captious diplomatists will

  • Citation
    • Tomahawk (1867-1870), May 8, 1869, page unpag, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/t/issues/ttw_08051869/page/3/