The Sun.
London, England, 1864-02-13 00:00:00

than to say that it is inexpedient to furnish the cor-
respondence because the case of the steam rams in
the Mersey was about to undergo judicial investi-
gation. Now, as Lord DERBY very justly remarks,
what foundation can there be for this assertion,
when these rams were seized in October, and
from that time till now no steps have
been taken to bring the case before the
Court. It was only last Saturday that they
filed information which might have been done in
November and December. Also it was now said
that it would be necessary to send a commission
abroad for the purpose of taking evidence in the
proceedings. It is very clear that by this means no
information will ever be given to Parliament on a
subject which it is especially important they should
possess accurate knowledge, and form a candid and
impartial opinion. Extreme slowness seems to
be the present ruling policy of the Government.
The other day we were told of the lengthened
period that must elapse before the papers relating
to Denmark could possibly be laid on the table.
Now we find that all these months have gone by
since the seizure of the rams, and yet nothing
definite has been done. Apart from the question of
the correspondence, this is a most unfair proce-
dure. The Ministers are in the double capacity of
plaintiffs and judges at present, and it is a mean
and pitiful advantage to take of their power to
subject the owners of these vessels to losses and
inconvenience which they could not incur at the
hands of minor prosecutors. In their affected zeal
to do a service to the Federal Government they are
overlooking the necessity of rendering justice to
their own people. Lord DERBY laid great stress
upon the despatch which contains a suspicious
paragraph to the effect that it is announced as the
policy of the American Government to " pursue
vessels into British ports, and there carry on hos-
tilities notwithstanding they are lying under the
protection of the British flag, and in British
waters." Earl RUSSELL'S remarks were as tame
as Lord DERBY'S were energetic, and his argu-
ments were as shallow as his opponent's were con-
clusive. All the impertinence of Mr. ADAMS is
treated as indiscretion, and the noble lord falls
back upon the wretched expedient of saying that
Lord DERBY must not complain of delays
which are proverbial in law. All this shuffling is
quite unworthy of a Minister of a great country,
who is put forward to represent the majesty of
England in the presence of the natives of the world.
If his case is good, he spoils it by such subterfuge ;
and if it is bad, it does not avail him in the straits
into which bad management has brought him. The
conclusion to which Lord RUSSELL arrives is, that
he would be doing an injustice to the law officers of
the Crown in allowing those papers to be produced
at this stage of the proceeding. One is reminded
of the saying, that the " wish is father to the
thought," in perusing Earl RUSSELL'S speech, in
which he admits that law is proverbial for delays,
and then goes on to say that his proceedings will
be regulated in accordance with the forms of the
law. The law officers of the Crown have a respon-
sible duty to perform, and a recognised position to
occupy ; but it is not for them to settle our relations
with Foreign Fowers according to the forms and
customs of a court of law. It was not so that our
forefathers acted, and even in the last generation
such a thing was unheard of. Had the ships of
England been unjustly seized, the honour of Eng-
land assailed, or the flag disregarded, PITT, or
Fox, or CANNING would not have come down to
the house and said, I have consulted the law officers
of the Crown, and they will make inquiries ; mean-
vv}ille it is not expedient to interfere at present,
Such a course would be virtually ignoring the
question, and allowing the judgment to go by de-
fault. It remains to be seen what will be the
issue of these discussions in the house, bat so far
as it appears at present, it cannot be said that the
conduct of our Government is anything like sati-
factory. There is a tone of hesiti.tion and uncer-
tainty which is entirely at 'variance with the
prevailing characteristics of English spirit.

Irish Emigration—Whig and Conservative
Policy.

(From the Realm.)

A Ministerialist contemporary dismisses the opening
objection made by the leader of the Opposition in the House
of Commons to her Majesty's Speech with a curt observa-
tion to the effect that Mr. Disraeli made a strong bid for
the sympathy of the Irish members, and then proceeds to
0, her subjects as if the Irish question was one of no inte-
rest to the British nation.

That this treatment of so grave a subject is in accordance
with the policy of the present Government may be further
gathered from the speeches of Lord Carlisle at the recent
Lord Mayor's dinner in Dublin, and from Sir R, Peel's
answer to Mr. Whiteside's speech on Friday, while the
sympathy and right feeling among the Opposition are well
shown by the strong arguments used by the member for the
Dublin University, and by the early and prominent notice
that Mr. Disraeli takes of the absence from tho Royal Speech
of any allusion to the great distress now prevalent in Ireland.

The Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, while commencing with
a generous regret that the flower of Ireland's population
should leave their native shores to crimson with their blood
the reeking plains of Virginia and Tennessee, consoles him-
self with the weak argument that it would be cruel forcibly
to repress the current of emigration and to put into execu
tion the law against Foreign ELlis,mcnt, and so pre-
vent an ignorant people from being kidnapped to fight in
an alien cause.

His Excellency, surrounded by a clique whose object is
to stifle public outcry or investigation in regard to Irish
distress, suggests no alleviation of the misery of the coun-
try, beyond a vague remark that the general want of Ireland
is the adoption of a better style of farming. In contradis-
tinction to this let us take the speech of the late Attorney-
General for Ireland.

Mr. Whiteside urged that the welfare of Ireland is no
provincial question, and shows by statistics that not only
has the agricultural wealth of the country diminished of
late years, but that, under the present Government, the
manufacturing resources of Ireland have suffered au enor-
mous decrease.

He cites the Chancellor of the Exchequer, to show ns
that the agricultural produce between the year 1859 and
that of 1862.3 fell off by no less a sum than £12,110,000
sterling, nearly one half of the estimated value of the agri-
cultural products of the country.
This might be accounted for by the bad weather and
consequent bad harvests of late years on the other side of
the channel; but when Mr. Whiteside touches upon the
manufacturing interests of Ireland, he brings a far graver
proof of the mismanagement of that unfortunate country.
In the item of spirits the Chancellor of the Exchequer im-
posed an extra duty on Irish produce, in order to increase
the revenue; and the result was a diminution of the re-
ceipts. The extent of this deficit, however, is not well
known, and Englishmen will be startled by the irrefragable
statement, that the spirit trade of Ireland has decreased by
nearly five millions sterling,

The paper trade has Also suffered a severe blow from
Government measures. In one mill alone the receipts have
fallen off from £3,426 in 1860 to L 1,235 in 1863 ; and a large
manufacturer in the South proves that the price of rags has
increased from 50 to 100 per cent, since the Customs duty
on paper has been remitted, while the export duty on rags
has been retained. It is, therefore, impossible for the Irish
manufacturer to compete with foreigners in the London
market, and the result is that the manufacturer is now
obliged to work half time, and to dismiss a considerable
portion of his workpeople.
Hence the great and continued emigration.

LITERARY AND ::CIENTIFIC MEETINGS FOR THE
ENSUING WEEK.—Monday—Asiatic, at 3; Archi-
tects, at 8 ; Royal Academy, at 8, " Sculpture," Professor
Westmacott. Tuesday—Statistical, at 8, " The Registrar-
General's Repot ts," Mr, Sargant ; Royal Institution, at 3,
"Experimental Optics," Professor Tyndall ; Anthropolo-
gical, at 8, "Pictish Remains," Rev. W. Joass ; " Weight
of the Brain in Negroes," Dr. Peacock; "Neanderthal
Skull," Mr. Blake; Engineers, at 8, " Works on the Mont
Cenis Tunnel," Mr. Sopwith, jun. Wednesday—Society of
Literature, at 0 ; Meteorological, at 7 ; Society of Arts, at
8, "Public and Private Dietaries," Ur. Smith. T/ursday
Zoological, at 4 ; Numismatic, at 7; Antiquaries, at 8 ;
Linnean, at 8, " Ithizopodal Fauna of the Shetlands," Mr.
Brady ; Royal, at 8i ; Royal Institution, at 3, " Experi-
mental Optics," Professor Tyndal. Friday—Royal Insti-
tution, at 8, "Dreaming and Sonnatobulisin in Relation to
Nerve-Centres," Mr. Savory. iS'aturday—Geological Anni-
versary, at 1; Royal Institution, at 3, " Metallic Ele-
ments," Professor Frankland,—.4thencftim.