LATEST AMERICAN INTELLNCE CALIFORNIA.

Otago Witness, Issue 537, 15 March 1862, Page 5

LATEST AMERICAN INTELLNCE CALIFORNIA.

We (Herald) have California papers to the 15th of January. They bring dates from New York to the 6th of January, and acknowledge dates from Liverpool to the 26th of December. The Governor of California delivered his message to the State on the &th of December. It is pacific in its tone towards England, but firm for the preservation of the Union. The floods at Sacramento were subsiding, and things generally assuming a better aspect. This is the substance of the news.

TUB SITUATION. Mason and Slidell have railed for Europe. Their triumph individually is complete. A Bnti»l\ gunboftt, Itirwldo, conveyed them from their priwn. It now remains to be seen what reception awaits them hi England. They will probably be tho lions'of the JHjur, wot so much from sympathy with them, as be. oaufl? in their persona the dignity of England La been asserted.

The hot haste in which they wore given up ia well calculated to excite the astonishment of the community. It is only a few weeks since Secretary' Welles, a member of the Cabinet, issued an order sustaining the act of Commodore Wilkes, and Congress busied itself in devising some way of honoring that officer; and now Mason and Slidell are on their way to England in a British man-of-war.

We recognise the fact, in the fullest sense, that it is a case which loudly calk for the suspension of public opinion. All we know ia, that France and the other \3reat Powers have come to the conclusion that Commodore Wilkes had committed a breach of international law, and that Mason and Slidell were at once surrendered; but what France and the other Great Power had to do with the matter, it is impossible, from the lights before us, to determine. One thing is certain, that tho nations of Europe have been com-

mitting all sorts of outrages fiince we became a nation, and we never uttered a single remonstrance. It may be all frie-.Jship, and a desire to help us out., but we confess our inability to view tho r> va b1 - b' , at nj. V If thei-o, was dauber of an iiar >pean c .intonation against ».-,, the Government did right in receding, for, just at this time, we are not in a condition i> face the world Ln arms ; but was there no chaucj for a p.uley ? It would look much belter if some time was expended in thu discussion of the matter, as our Government wa-> tj a very great extent coumwtte I to a policy diametrically the opposite of the one it Jus pur veil ; and we tan .ot imagine how any denwnd c >,ild be uvide by Lord Palmerston which diJ not admit of argument at least ; but this is a point, too, upon which opinions must be reserved till ;i full statement of the whole affair reaches uu.

If it be a coiio'oLition, we may say that there may be more in all these foreign movements than appears on the surface. We are loth to believe that our ancient ally and friend should turn against us in the hour of need. It will not contribute in any way to her glory and powor_ to aid in humbling the Unite! State?. We are not, in auy manner, shape, or form the rival of Frai.ce— but England is. The Opinion Afilionnh; according to our advices .says that " Frauce has no enemy but England, and Prance should not weaken the United States," and in th&>e tfw words volumes are embraced. There is a talk of French mediation. In thi3 after all, may be found the explanation of all that hiis taken place. General Scott lias returned suddenly from Europe. It must be business of more than ordinary importance which induced the old hero to give up the repose which his age and his infirmities so much require, and which he proceeded to Europe to .had. But can anything be gained by mediation ' Ihe tone of the Southern press has, of late undergone a very great change. It is not now the old ton" of aggression upon .slavery, and all that sort of thin/ Tho grievance is that the Government has invaded the South. The New Orleans Picayune, of the 17th of hoveuiber, comments upon the project for the opening of the cotton ports, as follows :— Our special telegraphic despatches this evening iurmsh us with another illustration of the abaind fatuity or the gross hypocrisy, of the Government fit \\ a&lnnginton in the conduct of this war. We can hardly imagine the possibility of its being anything else than the most arrant and criminal hypocrisy, on the p:irt of William 11. Seward, to pretend that there js any such a thing as a thread ot " Unionism " existing in all these Confederate States, and yet we read that he has undertaken to raise a mei chant fleet in Aew England^ to accompany his invading lleet, for the purpose of obtaining cotton in our ports, in exchange for supplies for the relief of the friends of the Union" here.

We can hardly contrive that there is any member of the Cabinet of Abraham Lincoln, who seriously entertains the belief that there is any portion of the population of these States who occupy such a position, who are in 7ieed of any such relief, or who would accept it on any terms. It is but a ilh-isy cover for the nefarious designs of the insolent invader of our soil, a shallow pretPxt with winch to excuse himself to the credulous fools of the North, and the hasty judging world, fur the buccaneering raid he is making upon onr coasts.

Protection and relief to the Unionists of the South mean, simply, the burning of our seaports, the shelling of our cities, the stealing of our slaves, and the seizuro of our cotton. Pelf and revenge are the twin impulses which actuate tho invaders. They starve for what we withhold from them, and what we will utterly destroy before they skill have it, and they come, under hypocritical pretences, to steal it from us. They affect to believe tint we are starving here for the necessaries of life, which they offer to give us, if we will but return to an allegiance we have thrown off for ever. They will find ouUheir mistake, in both of these insolent assumptions, before they have proceeded much farther in the work of supporting them."

The New York Post, of & recent, date, gives a report of an interview with some rebel officers confined in the old Capital building, from which we gh c an extract : —

"The warmth and kindness of their greeting somewhat surprised and disarmed us. ' Why, gentlemen, said we, ' for what possible cause are you and we talking the same language, sprung from the same ancestors, promising the same faith, glorying iv the same history — this day clutching at one another's throats, striking at one another's hearts 1"

" Why,' snid one of them, 'you have come down upon us with a great army, invading our soil, threatening our homes with fire and our fields with desolation. What could we do less than meet war with war ?"

" You struck the first blow," we replied. " AYe were all living in profound peace a few months ago. That peace it was the w fan and the interest of the North to perpetuate- Perhaps we were willing to make even too large a sacrifice to avoid collision. All of a sudden, without the shadow of provocation from the North, except the quietly putting their votes into the ballot box, and electing Abraham Lincoln, you severed the federal bond, and saized on every ship, fort, mint, and arsenal, belonging equally to us both, within your reach. Even that— io inert and averse to hostilities was the North— was passively endured. The world becan to think us poltroons-1 and we half suspected it ourselves. At that hour there was undoubtedly a great party at the Northperhaps a majority— who were willing to say 'Go in pence ; we will wait till you come to a better mini!, or do without you. But a few scores of brave men were loft in one fort who still held fast to their allegiance to the old an 1 whole Republic. They bought their daily food in your market till you denied them the privilege. The Government, then sent an unarmed vessel -v\itli supplies to them. You fired on that unarmed vessel, and on the national ilag that waved over it. Even yet the North trembled and shrunk back as it looked down into' the fiery abyss of civil war. But you went further. You girded that fortress with, batteries. With >nt the discharge of a gun to provoke an attack, you assailed that handful of brave men with odds of a hundred to one, and poured in shot and shell upon them till the glorious flag of our country went down on a mass of blackened ruins. Then the nation awoke. Tiiefall of Suuipter, like the shock of an earthquake, shcok the Republic to its centre. Every feeling of reluctance, every partisan division, vanished like a dream. A stern determination to put the old fla? back on every fort, ship, and arsenal whence it had been taken down, to reconstruct the old Union just as, it was, took possession of the American people with a unanimity which there is nothing like ir. the history of nations. And rely upon it, gentlemen, the sword that was drawn then will never be eheathed till the old Sag in restored to all its honours, and the old Union counts again its thirty-three State 3." " Well," was the answer, "you may rest assured that you can never conquer the Souti^ "You may shut up our ports, you may cut off our trade, you may compel us to wear plain clothes, but subdue us— " never ?-"

The maker of thia last remark was Colonel Boone, a veritable descendant of the explorer of Kentucky, — a tall, slender, but lithe and muscular specimen of Southwestern humanity, having the frank and cordial manners, too, which characterise the Kentut;ki:i.n.s. He hails from Mississippi, however, and was taken prisoner in the battle of Bull Run, in command of a Mississippi regiment. It is undoubtedly the fact, that if invasion be all that the rebels have to complain of, the war can be vary speedily ended. It is only for them, to haul down the rebel flag, avnd return to their allegianae, to secure withdrawal of the Federa.l troops. Matters, too, it muct be admitted, are in a favorable condition for compromise, for while neither side has achieved any decisive victories, both are tolerably well prepared for the struggle. The lebe^ States must know that it is absurd to cherish the idea of carrying outtho programme which they originally inarktxl out for themselves. Any army, vast in its proportions, and also well equipped, bars their progress to Washington. Missouri, Kentucky, and Maryland are lost to them, and fleet*, threaten their sea coast, auda flotilla the Mississippi. But it may be nothing but a waste of space to discuss the matter. We liaye no faith in compromise or mediation at present. Big Battles have to be fought, aud the _ rebels have to lie taught that they cannot cope with the Government before anything can be done in that direction. France, we are persuaded, will fail in its proffered mediation. We have not yet reached a position w here such a movement could meet with success. Meanwhile, Mason and Slidell enjoy their triumph over us.