The Nevada Journal

THE NEVADA JOURNAL

FRIDAY MORNING, APRIL 13, 1861

WM. H. SEWARD.—The greatest living statesman of America is Wm. H. Seward. He so stands in the estimation of European nations. A majority of the educated and unbiased of our country so regard him.—Occupying this proud position it is natural that the eyes of the world should be turned towards him in the present distracted state of American affairs. He is the first adviser of the Administration, and on him devolves the duty of furnishing good counsel for the guidance of his country.

Thus far we know what his counsel, and what his policy has been. He talks like a pacificator. But, when the emergencies likely to arise are come, there is an intense anxiety manifested to know what course he will deem best to pursue. Will he favor concession? Will he decide for coercion? Or will he counsel the independence of the South? We have his past history, his character and his speeches, from which to judge of the probable course of the man. His late speeches inculcate the doctrine that party is subordinate to the Union. He, however, does not appear to favor compromise measures gotten up under the pressure of the present excitement, and in all his votes he has shown not a whit of a temporizing policy which looks to an immediate settlement of difficulties. He is willing to allow the people to act on matters of estrangement when the cool, sober second thought has returned, but not sooner.—Doubtless the man will be consistent. He has always been so—more so than any statesman now on the stage of action. He has all his life long been consistent to the principles he professed, and will prove true to the last, we may be well assured. He will therefore, concede nothing to the slave interest more than the Constitution guarantees. But, so great is his devotion to freedom, regarding it as superior to all human institutions, as he does, we are not so well assured that he might not regard the separation of the Slave States from the Union as a step fatal to slavery. Should such be his view of affairs, the question is open for discussion, whether he may not favor the independence of the Slave States rather than the use of coercion.

Daniel O'Connell, than whom Ireland never produced a more fervent patriot, declared the independence of his native island was not worth the shedding of a single drop of blood. William H. Seward, his laudator, extols the sentiment as Christian and in accordance with the advancing spirit of the age. Acknowledging the oppression and burthens of the Irish people as intolerable under the British domination, and proclaiming the wrongs thus endured by Ireland for ages, he yet indorses the sentiment that independence and freedom are not worth the loss of a single life. Such opinions would certainly make the Premier of America a valuable man for the Union if he lived in the South, but is he not liable to the kindred opinion that the retention of the Southern States in the Union is not worth hazarding a single life?

An inscrutable uncertainty hangs over the future we know, but particularly as to the course of Lincoln's Administration while Seward is at the head of the Cabinet.

The New York dispatch of this morning says a Paris letter in the Times states that the English and French Governments are fitting out a powerful fleet of war steamers for the United States. The suggestion came from England. France will furnish three first class frigates and the English will perhaps be larger. The fleet will sail with sealed orders. Spain is also preparing to send a formidable force in the Gulf of Mexico, though not working in concert with France and England.

The above comes by the last pony. What is in the wind is yet to be learned. If the report has foundation, doubtless the step to be taken by England and France has reference to the troubles in the United States. If these great powers are about to take a hand in the controversy, which side will they espouse? or are they merely going to protect their commerce in the Gulf? The latter is most likely, but the influence of the British Government, if thrown at all into American politics, is liable to be against slavery. It is more than probable, however, that the above item had its origin in the fertile brain of some letter writer.