New York Herald, “Views on Secession in England,” December 19, 1860

VIEWS ON SECESSION IN ENGLAND. – As the news of the condition of this country reaches England the people there are becoming astonished at the turn affairs are taking. They do not comprehend the reason why such disastrous results should follow from such causes, and when further intelligence of the progress of secession and the imminent peril in which the republic stands shall have arrived, they will be astounded. But most of all they be surprised at the littleness of our statesmen, who cannot settle this difficulty amicably. And what will they think of Mr. Lincoln, who at this moment has within his grasp an opportunity to make himself the greatest man of his time, by stilling this fearful storm and saving his country, and yet does not use it – who has the means, more than any other living man, to win immortality for himself, by reconciling the inharmonious elements which are tearing to pieces the most prosperous nation on the face of the earth, and yet obstinately refuses to exercise them – who can become at this moment a greater than Garibaldi is to Italy, and almost as great as Washington was in the perils of the struggling colonies, if he has any capacity or intellect for the work, and still persists in maintaining an inglorious ease and stubborn silence at his country home while the country is going to ruin.

We opine that the English people will find it very hard to comprehend such a course in a man who, from his position, is presumed to be a statesman, and who ought, at least, to be a patriot.