OCR Text |
Show NOT TO BE. Y Major Scheibert of the Prussian army was an H unofficial attache to General Robert E. Lee and ' ' H saw, personally, the campaigns of 1862-3 in Vir- ' J ',H ginia and Pennsylvania. In his recollections he H records a conversation with Jefferson Davis, in " I ' H which the President of the Confederacy declared J4f jH that if Napoleon the Third would break the block- f t ,'fl ade the South would give him a free hand in UJIM Mexico and provide troops for the conquest. f B The stars were not shining auspiciously on o, .fl either Louis Napoleon or Jefferson Davis in those ' jfl days. Had Louis Napoleon broken the blockade, ' H he would have been licked, and the South would , , ' I jl never had had soldiers to help on his conquest. k ,jjH The Fates were directing events in those days; the j ' H purpose was to have human slavery done away fa V';fl with in this country, and it was not to be inter- i ! H fered with. j'l iH 'ihe will of Louis Napoleon was good enough, H but that was a stubborn Queen across the channel V,C ifl who said "No!" and that settled it. But wo may fni'-wfl speculate on what would have followed could the H f M dreams of both Napoleon and Davis have been L H realized. Could the Confederacy have gained its V H independence and could Mexico have been taken t J ,- jS by conquest by the French and Austrians; it ! jV'-fl ould not have been long before there would have i ; fl been a clash between those two powers. It was i t, fl the dieam of Davis to build up a great slave em- S if i H pire and he would have needed Mexico and Cen- ''if" H tral America in his business. Had 'his soldiers H conquered that country, it would not have been for ij'!' H France, but for the Confederacy. $ fH Then the Monroe Doctrine would have been l!B invoked, and the great North power of this conti- fA 'jfl nent would have insisted that no foreign sceptre y'l'lfM could be permitted to wave in Mexico, and there li'if ijH would have been long years of war. ft 1 i'iB But that was not the plan. The purpose was to jh 4 jB do away with slavery and to exact from the people I . H North and South the penalty due because of iH slavery. i'f ijjjl It was a fearful assessment that should em- Irwl phasize the solemn fact that Justice must be done if lHI lor every wrong; that if it Ib postponed then i" ffM on final settlement full interest will be exacted ' if jH with the principal. f jB We still have the race problem in the South; y 1H we have the age of gold upon us, with its exac- lii1 'JH tions, and still the rule holds good that every I J'twH wrong must be righted, and if delayed then full i '' H interest must be added to the sinister principal. jjL H |