The course pursued by our Government seems to us to present a favorable contrast to that pursued by Great Britain.  The United States has always manifested an anxiety to preserve amity.  But the effort to preserve amity has been dignified.  We have claimed to be treated as a friendly sovereign State.  We have urged that the war should be regarded by foreign powers as the rightful exercise of a complete nationality to suppress insurrection.  That the insurgents should be put upon a par with the Government, that they should enjoy the benefits of an established system, that they should have every right and every immunity as if the quarrel were between equal powers, has seemed to us a fallacy tinctured with deep prejudice.  That feeling has been courteously, but firmly represented by our ministers.  Since it pleased the European courts to proclaim their neutrality, we have borne the injustice temperately, and have confined our demands to our rights under that status.  When the conduct of Great Britain has been of so irritating a nature as to produce universal indignation throughout the community, our statesmen have moderated the popular anger, and have remonstrated patiently as well as firmly.  They have discerned more accurately than the multitude could do the evils of a twofold war, and yet have not avoided the danger, when to avoid it would have been disgraceful.  Whatever may be the opinion of any as to Mr. Seward’s political career, it is generally admitted that as Secretary of State he has accomplished the better thought of the nation.  In his hands our foreign relations have been administered with prudence, with minute attention, and with great dignity.  He has constantly maintained the idea of our national integrity, the full expectation of our final success, the continued efficacy of the Federal system, and our right to be considered none the less a compact nationality because the insurrection has taken the form of State secession.  Our diplomatic intercourse has been confined to strictly diplomatic etiquette.  No attempt has been made to justify, for the satisfaction of foreign courts, either the origin of the war, or the modes which have been adopted in its prosecution.  It has not been deemed necessary to retaliate upon the Confederate agents who fill Europe with their tale of woe, by retorting upon them a reference to the unchristian practices of their soldiery.  There has been no appeal to the moral sympathies of the Old World, by harping upon the enormities of slavery, and by announcing a crusade against it.  Foreign communities have been left to the ordinary modes of information, to the press and the accounts of American and European orators, for the events which have been passing.  It has contented us to let the record speak for itself, to attach infamy where it is due, to extort praise where praise is merited.  We have not shown an ungenerous exultation at the embroilments of European politics, as diverting the hostile attention of enemies from our own affairs.  “We are content,” says Mr. Seward, in a despatch to Mr. Adams, “to rely upon the justice of our cause, and our own resources and ability to maintain it.”  We have not sought the aid of any power; we have only desired to sustain out admitted rights, and to be free from external interference.