MR. GODKIN AND "A YANKEE."
[TO THE EDITOR OF THE "SPECTATOR."] SIR,—Your correspondent "A Yankee," writing in the Spectator of June 5, reproves Mr. Goldwin Smith for his letter to the Bee-
hive, anticipating an early outbreak of hostilities, and accuses him of "having done harm by writing on a subject which he did not understand." He then shows that Mr. Smith's apprehensions were groundless, and goes on to say that "the presentation of the case by the correspondent of the Daily News, which is a misrepre- sentation, is much more surprising than that of Mr. Goldwin Smith," and continues the discussion in a strain which proves that he imagines that I also have somewhere predicted war, as likely to result from or follow closely on Mr. Sumner's speech.
Will you allow me to say that this is a total mistake? I have never entertained for one moment the idea that there was any danger of war, and have said all I could in the Daily News to show its groundlessness. The only way I can account for "A Yankee's" error,—as he does not reproduce what he considers my "misrepresentation,"—is by attributing it to a quotation you were pleased to make from one of my letters some weeks ago, in which I said that Grant thought England ought to pay the expense of one year of war, over and above the Alabama damages, and that this would probably be insisted on. Not having the paper by me, I am unable to repeat my exact words. This you cited in support of your own impression as to the minatory character of Mr. Sumner's speech. Now, what I said of Grant's opinion I have excellent reason for believing to be correct. In pronouncing the payment of the cost of one year of war as likely to be " insisted " on, I was apparently mistaken, but not inexcusably mistaken, as I could readily show. But in using the phrase "in- sisted on," or some equivalent of it, I meant simply diplomatic pressure, and I can only account for your thinking I meant war by the excited state of the public mind in England when my letter arrived ; and I may fairly point to the general tenor of may recent correspondence in the Doily News, to show how wildly im- probable I have all along considered war to be. Therefore, to put my "presentation of the case" in the same category with Mr. Goldwin Smith's is to create a very false impression, both as to what I really said, and what I plainly meant to say.
"A Yankee" compliments me so highly on my general accu- rach—so much more highly, indeed, than I deserve, in calling the mistake which he thinks he has discovered in this case my first, and probably my last,—and he is so good an authority as to what is or is not accuracy in dealing with American affairs,—that it may seem ungracious as well as presumptuous in me to question his judgment as to the proper qualifications of an American prophet. Nevertheless, I. feel obliged to express my doubts whether the connection between my foreign birth and my real or supposed mistake be as close as he seems to think it. If it be true, as he assumes, that when I blunder as to the probable course of events here, it is because I have not been born in the country, it must also be true that native Americans writing on American affairs make no false predictions,—a proposition which "A Yankee" would hardly care to face. I find, as the result of several years' experience as an observer, that the political judg- ment of native Americans varies in different persons, as their other faculties vary. If all natives were competent to say exactly what was going to happen at every great crisis, I certainly should never make any mistakes, inasmuch as I should never trouble the English public with any opinions of my own.—I am, Sir, &e.,
THE NEW YORK CORRESPONDENT OF THE "DAILY NEWS."
New York, Jane 17.
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