The Sun.
London, England, 1864-11-23 00:00:00

a little closely. Inthe first place, it is evident that
Mr WEBB put pen to paper not to lose the chance of
givingus a turn, and in all his asseverations we may
be sure that he is addressing one word to the Bra-
zilians and two to us. It is very difficult to trace the
course of Mr WEBB's remarks and to comprehend
by what logic he brings Great Britain into the
matter at all. What have we to do with the affair ?
Whsther the Florida was lawfully seized by belli•
gerents or unfairly captured by a piratical crew,
it cannot really appertain to us to decide upon,
except as it concerns any honest people to discuss
wrong doings and deplore its consequences ; but
Mr WEBB insists upon our being dragged in to re-
ceive our share of the blame. Perhaps it will
astonish some to learn that it is all owing to the
mistaken and the mischievous course puraued by
our Government that this matter has occurred at
all, and that Brazil and other neutral Governments
have followed our example and are thus not so much
to blame, aithough deleterious consequences have
ensued therefrom. It would puzzle any calm ob.
server of events to follow Mr WEBB in his complie
(sated category of wrongs, bat he, as a representative
of the "smartest nation in all creation," doubtless,
knows full wall what he is about, and we had
better hide our diminished heads, and listen
to his explanation of affairs. Ho drops the
consideration of the topic immediately before him
to inform his hearers what were the motives of
Great Britain in recognising the South as a belli-
gerent Power, and in this manifestation we may
learn much of which we -were ignorant, and truly
we realised the old adage of the folly of wisdom,
since the learning was so unsatisfactory. We are
told that the object of Great Britain in
recognising as belligerents those in rebel-,
lion against the Government of the United
States was "to accomplish by indirect means
what she did not deem prudent to attempt by a
more manly course." Can anything be more im-
pertinent or absurd than such arguments as these,
and is it not difficult to understand why a man in
Mr. WEBB'S position should stoop to use them. It
is beneath notice to attempt to confute such state.
ments, or it might with justice be retorted that it
is the writer himself, who is wanting in manli-
ness and straightforwardness to deal a blow
at one party under cover of a reply
to another. But Mr. WEBBs not satisfied with
his retrospective attacks on our policy; he goes
further and openly insults us, at presentby dew
Glaring that it is to his Government and himself
a " source of very sincere regret that if such an
event of necessity have occurred, it did not take
place in the waters of that Power which, 15 days
after hearing of the rebellion in the United States,
joyfully and hopefully proclaimed our rebels
a belligerent' Power.' " Really when we hear
and see so much of this impertinence, it is
almost a matter of regret that the seizure of the
Florida, or some such event, did not occur within
the sphere of oar authority, and then perhaps there
might have been an opportunity of settling once
and for ever the insolence of such conceited arro.
gance as that exhibited by the writer of this letter.
It must be evident to all lookerreon by this time
that our present Government has not displayed
foresight or firmness in their dealings with the
Government at Washington, or such emanations
would not constantly appear to insult us. It is
scandalous to think that Mr WEBB's reply and
other remarkable documents of that kind are en-
couraged, perhaps prompted, by the Government of
the United States. It is all very well to say that
neither this nor that shall provoke us to war,
but it would be wiser to drop that oft
repeated saying, and to intimate decidedly
that there is a limit to endurance, and
that if marry more such unprovoked insults are
given, and many more slanders circulated, they who
propagate them must retract them or take the con-
sequences. The end of all this peace-policy is that
we are duped in Europe and bullied in America.
It is time for the people of this country to see
whither they are tending, and not to allow them-
selves to be led too far on a mistaken and mis-
chievous course.

A striking contrast to the desolation which reigns
in Calcutta and on the banks of the Hooghly, is
shown to us in the picture of the doings in the
Punjaub, which is brought by the late Bombay
Mail. At a time when the chief city in Bengal
was strewed with wrecks and tokens of disaster, and
famine and pestilence were busy gathering in their
victims, the capital of the Punjaub was the scene of
a grand assembly, which, for dignity and import-
ance, has rarely had its parallel even in the splen.
dour-loving east. The great Durbar which the
Viceroy held at Lahore last month was remarkable
for the number and consequence of the chiefs who
assembled to do honour to their old ruler. Sir
JOHN LAWRENCE carries with him not only the
state attaching to his official position as re-
presentative of the Britannic Sovereign, but
the special individuality by which, when ruler
of tire Punjaub, he made the wild chief-
tains of the hills so readily acknowledge his
influence. He exacts respect from them in a double
capacity, and those outward observances which they
might have been reluctant to show to a stranger,
whatever his rank or style, they pressed forward to
exhibit to the ox-Governor of the Punjaub. It is
said that not even RUNTEET SING or any of the
famous old warriors of the hill tribes ever presided
at so large and powerful an array of chiefs and
nobles as appeared to answer the summons of
simple, resolute Sir JOHN LAWRENCE. His sim-
plicity, however, was temporarily laid aside, and
he whom ignorant idlers had censured in Calcutta
for the plainness and moderation of his habits and
manners, showed that he knew how, on occasion, to
assume all those outward trappings of state and cir-
cumstance so ostentatious and unnecessary in daily
life. The Eastern races love splendour and ceremony as
much as we Northern folks disregard it, and it would
have been highly impolitic to have carried the sim-
plicity of his Calcutta life into the Viceroy's Grand
Durbar. Accordingly there was no lack of state
and pomp, and retinue, and the gorgeous costumes
of the varied tribes and races of the north-west
frontier, rendered the scene a very brilliant and
imposing one. When the whole company were
assembled, Sir JOHN LAWRENCE, wearing all his
honours, entered the tent and took his seat on a
kind of throne, to the sound of a royal salute from
the guns outside. Beside him sat the Maharajah
of CASHMERE and his son, who filled a prominent
place in the proceedings, and whose princely de-
meanour excited general admiration. The Viceroy
showed him special and courteous attention, and
the Maharej-th was evidently impressed by the
power and resources of our Government. The
Durbar will thus have been useful not only
in strengthening the allegiance of our sub-
jects in the Punjaub, but in cementing the
ties of union with a near and friendly
state. The more we succeed in attaching the
native princes of India to our dynasty, the more
we shall diminish the chances of another insurrec-
tion, and the friendly association with Euroneans
must of necessity modify by degrees the fanaticism
and intolerance of the Hindoo and tie Mussulman.
Man; other chiefs who occupy an important posi-
tion among their own Ultra were present, and
more remarkable than the attendan . of the more