"So far as it is concerned, the once United States are a mere heap of loose materials, a caldron of molten stuff, ready to receive whatever form fortune may determine. In that vast mêlée are two centres, which severally strive to give law and order to the whole. At Washington a body of men, not without courage, ability, and enterprise, are laboring, not to restore the Union,—they might as well try to restore the Heptarchy,—but to reconquer what has been lost, and, let the worst come to worst, to establish a military power."
On the 27th another leader was given to American affairs. Said the editor:—
"As to the final issue of the war, all the world, except some politicians, soldiers, and contractors at Washington and New York, have made up their minds, ... excepting a few disappointed gentlemen of Republican tendencies, we all expect, we nearly all wish, success to the Confederate cause."
And again, on the 28th:—
"There was room enough for two states on one continent, could the Americans but have believed it. We do not affect to be surprised at the course they have taken. It was natural that a blow should be struck for the Union; but all Europe has long seen that the Union could never be restored."
That men act from motives is a fundamental truth of moral philosophy. Why the Times gave such earnest advocacy to the slaveholders may be inferred from what follows. Opening now the correspondence of D'Erlanger with the Rebel Secretary of the Treasury, we read, under date of June 6, 1863:—
"A great margin had to be given to interest the newspapers, pay commissions, and captivate the opinions of those who treated the loan and its support as a question of profit and loss."
And further on, in the same letter:—
"Thanks to great pecuniary sacrifices made, AND THE SUPPORT OF ALL THE NEWSPAPERS, the subscriptions for the loan surpassed our own expectations. It reached five times the amount of the loan, and success made everybody friends."
At a later date, J. Henry Schroeder & Co., in a note marked "private," writes to D'Erlanger:—