...'
"These strange remarks conclude with words of encouragement to the
robust-shouldered, iron-fronted, firm-lipped Lincoln, and prayers for
the welfare of the American brethren.
"You will not easily credit it, but this article--a very masterpiece of
delirium and absurdity--bears the signature of one of the most eminent
writers of the day, M. Henri Martin, the celebrated historian of France.
(_Index_, Oct. 20, 1864, p. 667.)
A week later _The Index_ was vicious in comment upon the "men and money"
pouring out of _Germany_ in aid of the North. German financiers, under
the guise of aiding emigration, were engaged in the prosperous business
of "selling white-skinned Germans to cut Southern throats for the
benefit, as they say, of the poor blacks." (Oct. 27, 1864, p. 685.) This
bitter tone was indulged in even by the Confederate Secretary of State.
Benjamin wrote to Slidell, September 20, 1864, that France was wilfully
deceiving the South by professions of friendship. The President, he
stated, "could not escape the painful conviction that the Emperor of the
French, knowing that the utmost efforts of this people are engrossed in
the defence of their homes against an atrocious warfare waged by greatly
superior numbers, has thought the occasion opportune for promoting his
own purposes, at no greater cost than a violation of his faith and duty
toward us.
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