FEDERAL RECOGNITION OF THE SOUTHERN CONFEDERACY.

Otago Witness, Issue 659, 16 July 1864, Page 1

FEDERAL RECOGNITION OF THE SOUTHERN CONFEDERACY.

(From ttie Times )

\ Our correspondence from America) contains two pieces of very important! intelligence. In the Federal House of Representatives a proposal had actually been ma.le for the recognition of the Southern Confederacy, ani though it was of course not approved it received so much support that a motion directed against one of its advocates could not be carried. Li the Senate, the Committee on Foreign Affairs had deliberately refused to maintain the late resolution of the House of Representatives condemnatory- of monarchical Government in Mexico. These proceedings tend to show that the Americans are at length receding from those views ol universal empire for the sake of which more than for any other cause the war is maintained. The House of Representatives, in resolving that the United States would never recognize or tolerate a Monarchy in Mexico did but assert the famous Monroe Doctrine in its purest simplicity. The occupation of Mexico by European forces, and the substitution of an Imperial for a Republican form of government in that couutry, do really constitute exactly su^h a case as that against which the Monroe Doctrine was originally directed-, while, as if to

divest the question of all obscurity, it hart 1 been opsnly declare 1 in the manifesto byj which the expedition was justified, that if ' had become necessary to arrest the agressive career of the United States, and confirm ' the Litin race in a position on the American contiuent. A protest, therefore, j agiinst this now successful enterprise was naturally to bs expected, but this protest the Federal Senate has refused to support. Iv other word*, that branch of the Federal Congress on which the cognizance of Foreign Affairs especially devolves declines to say that the Monroe Doctrine shall be maintained, and we are expressly tol J that in this forbearanse it is supported by the President and his Cabinet. A few years ago it would have been almost as easy to obtain a vote for the dissolution of the Union as for this surrender, though it be but temporary, of a principle so dear to American pride. The discussion in the House of Representatives may b^ taken probably as indicating rather the growth of political courage and the change o( political sentiment. Perhaps there were always as many members in the Houso who believed the war hopeless, and peace, on the terms of separation, inevitable ; but there was not always as much readiness to put such sentiments on record. The actual incidents of the debate are curious. Mr. Long, of

Ohio, simply made a speech in favor of peace, and advocated the recognition of the S mth aa an independent State. He might, therefore, have based his arguments, not on the merits of the case, but its necessities; though it is clear that his speech gave great offence, since the Speaker on the day following, moved his expulsion from the House on a charge of treason In the debate, however, which then ensued, Mr. Har.is, of Maryland, not only defended Mr. Long and supported his proposal, but proceeded to express bis own earnest hopes that the conquest of the South might never be accomplished — a sentiment far in advance of any a?cribed to Mr. Long. Nevertheless, when the expulsion of Mr Harris was moved in consequent of this^ speech, 38 members out of 139 voted against the motion, and, as a majority of two-thirds was required to carry it, it was lost. This occurred on the 9th instant, while no resolution had been taken up to the 13th instant in the case of Mr Long. These events are certainly remarkable, and other symptom* are. perhaps, discernible of a change in the spirit of "the Federal States. The democratic party, however, rivals even the republicans in its open and popular declarations in favor of the L T nion. i The Federals, we are told, cling to this' vision of the old Union not outy because they ardently love it, but becausa they cannot tell what tojdo without it. They,

think Secession means not only division, but subdivision up to the last forms of dismemberment. They imagine, or profess to imagine, that it will open a door to foreign invasion and conquest, and persuade themselves that in fighting for Union they are fighting -not merely for American Empire but for national life. It does not seem to occur to them that the conflict of interests to be infallibly generated by protracted war and oppressive taxation would be far more likely to produce division than the spectacle of a Secession which had been contemplated as a possibility from the first origin of the nation. As far as public demonstrations and party passwords can prove anything, they are bent, it seems, on ' struggling to the end for the. restoration of the Union, though one party advocates ' force, and the other professes to rely upon i persuasion. There appears as yet to be no party out of doors bold enough to say i plainly what has at last been said in Congress. It is probable that there are many Federals who agree with Mr Long, though they have not yet ventured on the open , expression of their opinions. At present ; the Federals have only been tried by the j want of success. T u ey have waged for i three years, without any material effect, a s war which they thought they were going r to finish in a campaign. They have seen - , General after General defeated, and army

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after array destroyed They find them-; selves actually in want of men, and dis- 1 cover that they have almost exhausted ! their immense resources without bringing! the end any nearer than it was at first. I By this prolonged disippointment they have certainly been tried, but by nothing else. A real conscription has never been | enforced, nor have real war taxes ever been imposed. They have felt none oi those hardships of war which have fallen on the South, and which only the deepest convictions could enable a people to sustain. Nothing, in short, could hitherto have induced the North to desire peace but weariness of war, and that weariness has not arrived, or, at any rate, is not so strongly felt as to be publicly acknowledged. There are signs, however, that before long the pressure will be greater. It is not only felt by ali thinking persons in the North, but is loudly proclaimed by the Press, that taxes must be laid on in earnest and without delay. The inflation of the currency consequent on Mr Chase's paper issues has produced such an, effect

on prices that the working di3se3 are in I commotion, and are deprecating the interference of the law with the proceedings by which they hope to sot themselves right. They have organised " strikes," in order to procure an advance of wages proportionate to the depreciation of the currency, and the law directed against these combinations has been re-affirmed. The premium on gold, however, had just touched a higher point than had ever been reached before, and there were rumors of fresh successes of the Confederates. It is but reasonable to suppose that if events should continue in this course the war may really decline in popularity and the advocates of peace be emboldened to appear in great numbers. At the same time, such is the tenacity with which the people of the Northern Sta'cshave clung to their idea of Union and Empire, and such is the elasticity of the public mind at the first turn of fortune, that another month may, perhaps, leave the Peace party with even more slender chances of ascendancy than they ssem to possess at present. A victory

does more to encourage the Federals than half-a-dozen defeats to dishearten them, and it General Grant's operations against Richmond should be attended with even a partial success this exhausting war may acquire a new impetus aud run its course as ruinously as btfore.