AMERICA.

Nelson Examiner and New Zealand Chronicle, Volume XXI, Issue 30, 9 April 1862, Page 2

AMERICA.

[From the Liverpool Albion.'] The Trent affair has been settled without bloodshed j but, judging from public sentiment in Europe and in the United States, it has not removed the angry feeling which obtains on both sides of the Atlantic, and well-grounded apprehensions exist that there are other contingencies which may ultimately lead to war. It would have been unnatural had the Americans failed to express their rage at having to succumb to a power which they had hitherto abused and bragged over ; therefore, we are not surprised at the exhibitions of temper by members of Congress. Never in the history of the American nation, wa» the conceit so completely taken out of them, and with a courtesy and a forbearance which ought to have elicited feelings of gratitude, not vindictivene-s. As time rolls on, and the hopeless nature of their contest with the South becomes more and more apparent, the feeling engendered by baffled rage will increase, until it culminates in hostile relations with England and France. Over and over again have we expressed our opinion that the South, suffering though it does from an exhausting war, never will succumb to the North, which is • in an equally exhausted condition. Period after period has been lixed for the complete subjugation of the Confederate States. They were to have been thoroughly subdued by the present winter, which we were given to understand was a favourable season for the purpoaj. Now the event is postponed to midsummer. In the meanwhile the opposing forces are suffering frightfully from sickness and privation. It is true that the " young hero," General M'Clellan, in a flighty address (which we charitably suppose to be a forgery) to the army, indulges in high flown language, and promises much ; but deeds not words, are what we look for just now, especially when every day increases the magnitude of the national bankruptcy, " shin plasters " taking the place of specie. It is painfully evident that the prolongation of the war increases the liability of disagreement with foreign nations. The blockade is not effectual, vessels frequently running out of Southern ports and reaching the Bahamas. One of the most striking instances is that of the Eliza Warley, alias Isabel, steamer, which ran through a numerous fleet of Federal vessels off Charleston, and though pursued by one of them, escaped, only to return a few days afterwards and run in through a fire of shot and shell, with a cargo of arms. Even sailing vessels occasionally perform the same exploit. Is this an " effectual blockade ?" Then, again, we have the blocking up of Charleston with sunken vessels laden with stones, a proceeding which has met with universal indignation. Last week we stated that the Liverpool Shipowners' Association had protested against such a barbarous act. Lord Russell, in reply, says, and he will be supported by public opinion here and on the Continent :—: — " Lord Lyons was told that such a cruel plan would seem to imply despair of the restoration of the Union, the professed object of the war. For it never could be the wish of the United States Government to destroy cities from which their own country was to derive a portion of its riches and prosperity. Such a plan could only be adopted as a measure of revenge and of irremediable injury against an enemy. Lord Lyons was further told that, even as a scheme of embittered and sanguinary war, such a measure would not be justifiable. It would be a plot against the commerce of all maritime nations, and against the free intercourse of the Southern States of America with the civilized world. Lord Lyons was desired to speak in this sense to Mr. Seward, who, it was hoped, would disavow the illegal project. Now, however, that the project seems to have been carried into effect at Charleston, Lord Ljons will be instructed to make a further representation to Mr. Bew»rd, with a view to prevent similar acts of destruction in other ports." What doea all this tend to but war ?' It is bard to believe that the Federal Government will again eat humble pie. The Trent affair was only avoided by the unusually discreet policy of the Federal Cabinet, in keeping the demand secret from the public. But when England and France begin to press them on the question of the " effective blockade," as is evidently the intention, and that soon, may not the excitable minds of the Americans become frenzied, and occasion them, reckless of all consequences, to plunge into further acts of violenre, which cannot be overlooked by us ? The Governors of the States on the seaboard evidently apprehended hostilities, or they would not be earnestly pointing out the necessity of defensive operations.

Tom Thumb Out-done. — The Yankees have got a new dwarf, George Washington Nutt, of Manchester, £Ti£T., eighteen years of age. In otaturo lie is incooceivably small. All other dwarfs tower as giants by his side. General Tom Thumb, with whom Mr. Barnum created created a furore in Europe some years ago, stands thirteen inches higher than Commodore Nutt, " boots and all." The Duke of Cambbidgf.— There is a rumour, which, however, wants confirmation, that the Duke of Cambridge ia not unlikely to give up the command of the army, on account of his health. The Duke will, no doubt, be appointed to some of the high offices held by the Prince Consort, and in a money point of view this would go far towards compensating him for tho loss of his preßPnt office. Plasticity of Bessemer's Steel. — .At a recent meeting ol the Manchester Philosophical Society, Mr. ' Brockbank exhibited some samples of steel, manufactured by Mr. Bessemer's process. These specimens had been bent and twisted cold, and showed a remarkable degree of ductility. The Bessemer steel can be bent, flanged, or twisted, either hot or cold, which is not the case with ordinary steel, nor with copper, than which it is even more plastic and manageable. A plate, 18 inches in diameter, had been forced through a series of dies until it formed a tube, 13 feet long and lj inches diameter, without either crack or flaw. A ring of metal had been at one heat hammered into a die, to form a locomotive engine's cbimney-top j and in drilling circular holes into a plate, continuous shavings are formed ; while in copper or other metal the shavings break into pieces of about a sixteenth 6f an inch in length. Thin sheets of Bessemer' 6 soft steel can be bent backwards and forwards hundreds of times without a fracture, and are almost as flexible as paper. The Globe announces that all the grievances under which the medical officers of the army and navy considered that they laboured are in ft fair way of being removed.