The Sun.
London, England, 1855-01-03 00:00:00

of negotiations, that would necessarily be, so
protracted, that the urgency would have long
passed away before they could be brought to a
conclusion. If they gave a tacit assent, or even
connived at the proceeding, Russia would 3iatu-
rally, and, we must add, justly, refuse to consi-
der them as neutral. She would say, you must
not indirectly do that which you refuse 1;o do
openly and above board. Although Ido mot re-
quire your assistance in the quarrel in which I
am engaged, yet I must class you with my- ene-
mies, and deal with you as such, if you suffer
your subjects to enter the lists against me, (tither
as sympathisers, or, still worse, as mercenaries.
Such arguments will unquestionably prove effec-
tual with those who, like Prussia, still hang back,
and refused to elect the standard under which
they were prepared to serve.

We cannot, then, obtain the State sanoti on to
the step ; and what can we do without it ? The
above Proclamation shows that every attempt to
obtain recruits without the requisite permission
must prove fruitless and abortive. And why
should we expect it to be otherwise ? Would we
permit Prussia to send its recruiting officers into
England to find men willing to take up arms
against Austria, or France, or Sweden ? Cer-
tainly not ! The attempt would at once be met
with all the rigour of the law ; and every man
who came within the salutary provision of the
Foreign (not the " foreigners") Enlistment Act,
would, if an Englishman, be severely punished by
fine or imprisonment, or both ; or if a foreigner, by
exclusion from the territory, the hospitality whereof
he had abused. Why should we expect different
treatment from others than we would ourselves
accord to them if the situations were reversed,. It
is one of the strongest objections to the very ob-
noxious measure that it reduces the United
Kingdom to that of a suppliant or a wrong-doer,
while at the same time it establishes a very dan-
gerous precedent, that may at any moment be
flan" in our teeth with fearful effect.
In the commencement of the War the

practice of " privateering" was most powerfully,
and we may acid almost unanimously, denounced.
The evils of warfare would be seriously aggra-
' vated, if all the bold and dissolute—every luau,
who, like the conspirator of the olden time, was
" alieni appeteus sui profusus "—should feel
hims;:lf at liberty to seek plunder in
any direction—without reference to the justice of
a quarrel, in which he himself, or his own
country, had no interest whatsoever. If we
have Swiss or German mercenaries, what
should hinder the CZAR from liceasing
American privateers ? And if we treat the
latter as pirates, what is to forbid the use of the
rope or the fusillade to our "Halbert Buc-
caneers?" These are serious question; which
should have been answered before the mea-
sure received the sanction of Parliament.
We cannot reasonably complain of the refusal of
the FREDERICK WILLIAM to be implicated, but
rather of our own improvident Legislature that
exposed the United Kingdom to such deep
humiliation at the hands of such a
Power. The affliction of the dying lion
was most insupportable when he received a kick
from a passing donkey ; and we must endure the
contumely from Prussia, and place it to the pro-
per account, that of the Ministers who introduced
a measure so unconstitutional and impolitic.