The Sun.
London, England, 1855-11-12 00:00:00

records of history, that as the thrice-elected ruler
of France—thrice elected, strangely enough, as
his Imperial successor was to be some fifty years
afterwards—NaroLeeN strove, more than once,
personally, by certain memorable efforts at con-
ciliation, to effect in his time that very alli-
ance which in ours has, thanks be to GOD, at
length been happily accomplished. Recollect !
—immediately the suffrages of the French people
had consecrated the daring act of the 18th-
19th, BRUMAIRE, nominating NAPOLEON BONA-
PARTE the Chief of the Consulate, he, as
First Consul, wrote with his own hand to King
GEORGE 111. that famous letter dated the 26th of
December, 1799, in which he urged upon the
Monarch the advantage as well as the glory of
an instant and permanent pacification. Recollect,
too—how five years afterwards, when he had just
been raised to the supreme dignity as Emperor,
elevated on the shield of the popular suffrage,
' anointed by the hands of the Pontiff, and
crowned with the crown of CHARLEMAGNE, NA-
POLEON, again with his own hand, addressed a
second and more urgent letter to King GEORGE
lll.—the celebrated letter dated the 27th of Ja-
nuary, 1805—in which, while "conjuring" the
English Sovereign not to refuse " the happiness
of giving peace to the world," the Imperial Hero
wrote with so much grandeur and dignity,
" Though Peace is the wish of my heart, yet
War has never been adverse to my glory." Re-
member, moreover for these things should
not be altogether forgotten—that to neither of
these memorable letters of NAPOLEON was any
answer ever vouchsafed by the Sovereign to
whom they were addressed : any more than was
there an answer of any kind returned to the other
historic epistle, penned by the same hand, on
the 14th of July, 1815, and addressed to the
Prince Regent, from on board the Bellerophon.
Howbeit, all these things are, nowadays, essen-
tially of the Past, as we can at length afford to
remember, without only poignant regrets, regard-
ing them as calamities altogether irreparable—
rather let us say, in these wiser and happier
times, with sentiments of gratitude to the dispen-
sations of an overruling PROVIDENCE.
For already, as we have remarked—Waterloo
has been most nobly and magnanimously
avenged by France—the so-called Holy Alli-
ance has been most nobly and magnanimously
expiated by England. The two great peo-
ples are united at last in a solemn, sacred,
and solid alliance. The day-dream of the Great NA
POLEON is a day-dream now no longer. It is a
reality—an actual event, which, thanks be to
GOD, has in our own times been accomplished. It
is no longer—" What great things we could do "
—but " What great things we are doing to-
gether 1" The Exile of St. Helena, even in his
ashes, is an exile no longer—reposing as his heroic
dust has done, for these fifteen years past, upon
the banks of the Seine, in the midst of the French
' people, whom he loved so well : the ancient ani-
mosities of France and England buried with
him, as our present Prime Minister nobly
desired they might be, as far back as the
May of 1840, upon the occasion of the Em-
peror NAPOLEON'S second and more memorable
sepulture. England and France becoming more
recently,
,in the fullness of time, Allies so true
and intimate that, as the French Ambassador ob-
served on Friday evening, in the Guildhall of
London, "No human power can any more sepa-
rate them !" His Excellency adding, in conclu-
sion, " And when we bear in mind that the union
of our two countries, the one supreme in mari-
time affairs, the other in military, constitutes the
greatest power that has ever existed, we may await
in complete security the issue of this War." The
issue of this gigantic and memorable War, which
the despicable peacemongers of today are
vilifying as so deplorably iniquitous and so no-
toriously unpopular. Iniquitous ? Its origin
and its object are at once its noblest vin-
dication ! Unpopular ? Let Lord PALMERSTON
appeal directly to the popular feeling of England
as the Emperor NAPOLEON 111. has already done
to that of the French multitude—and a decisive
answer may be given forthwith to the babbling of
these undiscerning or unpatriotic demagogues.
The appeal made by our ally to France was finan-
cial. Let ours be Parliamentary. It will be
equally cogent. The touchstone with our neigh-
bours, the test, the criterion, call it what you
will, was the Loan. Let ours be the immediate
dissolution of the present Parliament. The result
of such an appeal cannot be questioned for a single
instant. It is already apparent, indeed, through
the willingness evinced by the nation at large to
submit to any burthen, so that the just and popu-
lar War upon which it has deliberately adven-
tured be only carried out henceforth vigorously,
energetically, thoroughly. England is spending
upon this War, just now, upon an average,
1,000,000/. sterling every week. France is said
to be disbursing each week yet more enormously :
above 1,500,0001. it is calculated. Neither of
the two countries complains under the infliction.
The commerce of both flourishes uninterruptedly.
France indeed has twice asserted her ardour for
the prosecution of the struggle in a way altogether
unmistakeable, namely, by the unexampled
promptitude and prodigality with which her citi-
zens accepted the terms of the two last Loans prof-
ferred to popular competition by the Imperial
Government. Let England be afforded at last
in her turn some kindred opportunity. Let this
opportunity be afforded us, we repeat, by the
instant dissolution of the Imperial Parliament.
The craven Peacemongers say that the War with
Russia is unpopular. Let them be answered.
We want Mr. ConDEN to learn whether the War
is popular or not from the lips of his consti-
tuents of the West Riding of Yorkshire. We
the huckstering demagogues of
want the electors of Manchester to decide to the
heart's content of Mr. BRIGHT whether their
sympathies are with the heroes of the Crimea or
with our--
mon who would change the throne into a cotton
these They epsrceespentrte
Star
atoybared
of England. Let the
tdbreaacl
del anareneedrtsht the
appealed to for a decision. They
country be
of tke fair fame
want an answer. Let them have it. Never
would a British Statesman go to the country with
an election-cry so potent as that indicative of the
twin cause of—the Russian War and the French
Alliance. HEAVEN send Lord PALMERSTON may
not disappoint those excellent gentlemen, the
Peacemongers, by allowing Christmas to pass by
without his having first of all seized this to him,
to England, to Europe,
inestimable and golden
opportunity.

We earnestly hope that the mismanagement of
the War since the capture of Sebastopol and
during the winter may not form the subject of a
protracted inquiry in the approaching session. In
some respects we have certainly profited by our
dearly bought experience. It •18 very improbable
that our soldiers should have to encounter such
extraordinary privations and hardships as thoso
which operated so injuriously to the health and
comforts of the parties last year engaged. Thanks
to the indefatigable and judicious exertions of Co-
lonel A/Pit/Luang and
.the Land Transport Corps,
the men will no longer be enduring the tortures of