Still the war has in many quarters extorted as it were an unwilling grudging admiration, and the leaven of Northern detraction is very perceptible. No one denies the barbarity, imposture, and falsehood of the North, but, on the other hand, many hesitate to give their full and frank sympathy to the South, because the utter groundlessness of Northern slander is not understood. Indeed, it is almost incredible to those who have not studied the question, that, amongst others, Northern ministers of the Gospel, who have been foremost in traducing the South, should so atrociously transgress the divine command, ‘Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour;' though it must be confessed that the incredulity is somewhat diminished, when we find these same ministers using the same pulpits to incite the people of the United States to commence a war with England, upon pretexts the most false and frivolous. Under these circumstances I doubt not the publication of Mr. Williams's book on this side the Atlantic will be eminently useful. Sooner or later, Europe will have to acknowledge the independence of the South; and the character of a new nation, of one that cannot fail to be intimately associated with foreign nations, is a matter of grave importance. Besides, civilised and Christian communities are bound to do the South justice. It is unrighteous to condemn her, even in thought, upon the

testimony of an enemy whom we know to be unscrupulous and malignant. Let us seek the truth, and endeavour to form a calm, dispassionate judgement; and when we find, as all such enquirers must do, that the South is worthy of profound esteem and cordial amity, we shall be ready to proffer the right hand of fellowship to a people upon whose prosperity, to some extent, depend the prosperity and happiness of the industrial communities of Europe. Justice, like charity, is twice blessed; and in the case we are discussing, the nation that does justice will be as much blessed by the act as the nation to which the tardy tribute is rendered.

Mr. Williams's book is the first entered according to the Copyright Act of the Congress of the Confederate States of America. With the exception of the concluding part, it was published during the canvass for the last presidential election in the late United States, and so before secession became inevitable. In this respect it is a remarkable and conclusive reply to those who assert that secession was a surprise, whereas the North was loudly warned that, if the political independence of the South was overthrown, the South would unhesitatingly secede. It is worthy of notice how earnestly Mr. Williams, who is an uncompromising Southern patriot, strove to preserve the Union. Unfortunately for the South, she did not think

that the North would be mad enough to drive her out of the Union; and when that was accomplished by the election of Mr. Lincoln, there was no thought that secession would lead to hostilities, and therefore the South was unprepared for war, and by her unpreparedness encouraged the Northern attack. Mr. Williams addressed himself to Americans, not to Europeans, for the purpose, if possible, of averting the threatened catastrophe by showing the North the true position and condition of the South. The effort was in vain, for Northerners had so long and habitually belied their neighbours that at length, despite the most conclusive evidence, they half believed their monstrous inventions.

For the title of the English edition, 'The South Vindicated,' I alone am responsible. No Southerner could, without a forfeiture of self-respect, condescend to answer the absurd charges brought against his country. If Englishmen were accused of using the skulls of their dead for drinking cups, and the bones of their dead for children's toys and ornaments, or if Frenchmen were accused of torturing and ill-using their dependents from inherent malice and savage ferocity, such charges would pass unanswered; yet the calumnies uttered against the South are not less extravagant and diabolical. Even now the European press is issuing books about the South in which the

truth is perverted in an extraordinary manner, and the most infamous and unfounded slanders coolly stated. But though the South will not stoop to enter the lists with such unworthy antagonists, Europe may with the utmost propriety join issue with the North and vindicate the South; or rather Europe is bound to do so, and the more because she has believed the evil report.

Mr. Williams mainly confines himself to the question of slavery, though some of his letters are historically valuable for the light they throw on the causes that produced the separation of the North and South. From a long residence in Europe, it is but natural that the author should discuss slavery in the Southern States as though he had been replying to European and not American adversaries. With the abstract right or wrong he does not in this volume concern himself. He treats slavery as it is, refers to its origin, compares it with other systems of labour, and reminds us, that the Anti-slavery party is of recent date, and that until within the last sixty years. slavery was encouraged and used by Christian men, and Christian nations, without a thought of its being opposed to the spirit of Christianity. Whether or not the European reader adopts the author's conclusions as to the question of morality and philanthropy involved in the issue, he cannot peruse

bound to Europe by the adamantine chains of

mutual interests.

If the late United States had been

one in theory as well as in fact, if there had not been a severance of races and interests, the peace of the world would have been in jeopardy; but in America as in Europe there is happily a providential disunity which generates an international balance of power, the only guarantee of national independence. Yet though a divided America is undoubtedly good for England, for Europe, and for the people of America, we must not conclude that any advantage is derivable from a weakened America. A weak nation is a bad customer, her productiveness and consumption being small. The division of America is a subject of congratulation, not because it diminishes her aggregate strength, but that it makes it less menacing.

France has the strong motive of the welfare of her manufacturing industry and her commerce to urge her to welcome the Confederate States into the family of nations; and certainly she has nothing to fear from the hostility of the North, for none of her territory is vulnerable to Northern vengeance or ambition. France, moreover, has fought for the right of a nation to choose its own form of government, and has gained so complete a victory that when the monarchy of July was replaced by a republic and the republic by the empire, Europe on each occasion.