23 SEPTEMBER 1865, Page 2

A letter has been published by the late Mr. Cobden

to a French friend, estimating with characteristic sagacity the issue of the American war just a year before its conclusion, before the taking of Atlanta, and therefore while all the principal English autho- rities spoke of ultimate success as the wildest of dreams. He pre- dicted also the sudden collapse of the Confederacy in the end. He goes on, however, to speak rather more strongly than the re- stilt seems likely to warrant of the American jealousy of the Mexican empire. "The resentment against you," he says, "for the Mexican intervention is ready to burst forth the moment the rebellion is in a sure way of defeat," and he anticipates "a peremptory demand from Washington for explanations from the Tuileries which will lead to war or humiliation." The irritation no doubt is there, but we doubt the disposition for a fresh enterprise of this magnitude. Had Mr. Cobden ever estimated aright the immense conservatism of the Northern population?