Entered, according to an Act of Congress, in the year 1864, by

C. B. BOYNTON.

In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States, in and for the
Southern District of Ohio.

PREFACE.

"You have not come to the bottom of the conduct of "Great Britain, until you have touched that delicate and "real foundation cause, we are too large and strong a

"nation.

6

"This is in my judgment the right of the whole matter. “A distinguished clergymen of London, personally kind, "and friendly to me, said to me in these very words, Mr. "Beecher, you may just as well have it said to you, you "have been growing so strong that we had got to take you "down, and we were very glad when the job was taken out "of our hands by your own people.' When Mr. Roebuck "declared the same fact in Parliament, it was cheered “immensely.”—Mr. Beecher's Speech in Brooklyn,

In the same speech, Mr. Beecher analyses English society, and states what he believes to be the spirit of the different classes in regard to this country. His conclusions, in substance, are as follows:

"The great commercial class is against us. The influen"tial clergymen and laymen of both the Established Church " and the Dissenters are, as a body, against us. The nobility, “as a class, are against us.

"Parliament, in sympathy and wishes, is five to one "against us.

"The conservative intelligence of Great Britain is "against us, and all there is on the surface of society repre

"senting its dignities, its power, its intelligence, is anti"American."

The force of these statements, as fully sustaining the tone and purpose of this book, will be felt, when we consider that they are made by one, who, more than any other of our public men, seems anxious to place England in the most favorable light before his countrymen, and would lead us to expect, that in the future, Great Britain may become our friend.

He relies, as others do, upon the assumed fact, that the nonvoting, and in a sense, uninfluential laboring classes are in favor of the North. That a majority of them are thus friendly may be admitted, but few probably are ready to believe, that in spite of all the great forces arrayed against us, these nonvoting laborers of England have power to shape her policy.

There is no such enthusiastic love of America or Americans even among the people of England, as would lead them to band themselves together as our champions, against the Government and the Church, the army and navy, the nobility, the literary power, and the commercial interests of the kingdom.

The people have, it is hoped, exerted some influence in the change which has been lately wrought in British policy, but the main causes are to be sought in the sudden exhibition which we have made of military power, in the strength of our army, the formidable character of our navy, the superiority of our new cannon, and the waning of the power of the rebellion.

The central purpose in the American policy of France is declared by the Emperor himself to be, to restore the ascendancy of the Latin race in the New World, and this necessarily involves the supremacy of the Papal power, and

the repressing, if possible, the growth of free Protestant institutions. This, with its consequences, is the settled design of France.

The purpose of Napoleon in proposing a Congress of nations is not yet fully revealed, but nothing is hazarded in believing that his intention is to make France more completely than ever the mistress of Europe, to strengthen himself by new alliances with the Latin Powers, so as to compel England to follow his lead, or expose herself to a formidable attack-in short, to render France so powerful that she can dictate terms and policy to England, Russia, and America. That these are the intentions of the French Emperor, no one who has studied his past course, will be likely to doubt, and for these new European combinations, it would be well to prepare in season.

It is then evident, that the Great Rebellion will introduce a new era, not only for our own country, but for Europe and the world.

It will change the political relations of European States to each other, and to us, and will improve the condition and prospects of the people in all lands.

The late movements here and in Russia, by which the proper rights of millions of laboring men have been acknowledged and secured, form a new starting point in human history.

Under the pressure of this war "The United States" have become an American Nation, and this new-born nation has been brought, by a combined home and foreign conspiracy, within the circle of European relations, has been compelled to take its place a Power among the Powers, and henceforth its policy and its ability to attack or defend, will form an important element in the councils of the nations.

A new-born Russia has also presented itself to the world.

The old military despotism is gone, and in its stead there comes a Constitutional Monarchy, proposing to use its vast powers only for the protection and elevation of humanity.

Hand in hand, Russia and America are crossing the threshold of the new era, the Great Powers of the future, while Western Europe is plotting against both, and threatens and fears them. This book has been written, in the hope that it may help to explain the policy of France and England, and what we have to hope or fear from them, to set forth the resources and mission of that great nation, which alone has remained our friend, and to show the probable future of this New, Free, Christian American Nation.