The Sun.
London, England, 1864-03-02 00:00:00

The Weather—sun Office, March 2, 1864.

THERMOMETER.
This day at Two o'clock
Barometer-29.75.
Wind—S.E.; moderate breeze, and hazy.

)

LONDON, WEDNESDAY, MARCH 2, 1861.

If Mr. DISRAELI'S speech, on Monday evening,
in the House of Commons, was, as we took occasion
to remark, iueideutally, in our impression of yes-
terday, one of the most remarkable to which the

Leader of the Opposition has for some time given
utterance, the speech delivered immediately after-
wards—we can hardly say in reply—by Lord
PALMERSTON was one of the very feeblest we ever
remember to have been made by that eminent and
veteran master of debate. Contrasted with the
close reasoning'applied by the member for Bucks to
the consideration, not only of the whole Foreign
Policy of the present Government, but to
the whole of the career of the Foreign
Secretary as a diplomatist, the remarks of the Prime
Minister were as little to the purpose in the way of

anything like reply as so much idle small-talk. The
coolness of Lord PALMERSTON'S objection to Mr.

DISR.kELI'S predilection for attacking by prefer.
ence men who are absent (as illustrated in the
instance then immediately under the con-

sideration of the House) amounted almost, one
might say, to the ridiculous. 'lna device of Lord
PALMERSTON in relegating so many of the
chief members of his Cabinet to the House of

Peers, would, in truth, be one of consummate inge-
nuity if, by its continuance, the responsible Minis-
ters of the Crown were to obtain immunity from
all criticism, whether upon their acts or upon their
policy, within the walls of the Commons House of

Parliament. The exception taken, in this captious
and fretful manner to the remarks uttered in the
House of Commons upon the English Foreign Secre-
tary, now unfortunately removed to the Upper House
of the Legislature, was nothing less, we repeat (even
though it is an exception taken by Lord PALMERSTON
himself), than simply ridiculous. Then, again, as to
any advantage having been taken of the Prime
Minister's absence from the house theother evening—
the like opportunities have been so abundant during
the present session, whenever it happened that awk-

ward questions had to be put to the occupants of the
Treasury Bench, that the objection then made in the
one isolated instance adduced by the Prime Minister
was in no way whatever either valid or admissible.
Could anything again be more entirely unworthy
of Lord PALMERSTON than the inept to pope re-

:ort in reference to Mr. DISRAELI'S allusion to

"diplomatic rubbish" (of the which, surely, we have
evidence in past years by cartloads)—" Why, sir,
there is such a thing as Parliamentary rubbish"—

meaning obviously the speech just delivered by the
Leader of the Opposition. The Etrliamentary
rubbish, making up that speech of Mr. DIsRAELT's
being, in effect, as we have said, one of the most
closely reasoned analyses of Lord RUSSELL'S foreign
policy as Secretary of State and of his career in
byegcne years as an Ambassador Extraordinary
—it may be said, even, Very Extraordinary—

every comment contained in that speech being
strictly pertinent to th© occasion, the present mo-

mentous occasion, that is when War and Peace are
trembling in the balance. Later on, the Prime Minis-
ter showed in the jauntliest way imaginable that,
after all, there is really and truly nothing like
making the best of it. " What," ho asks with

.i,he other hand, if they suffered this new: war

steamer to depart, what was to be said of the
Pampero, the Alexandra, and the steams rams at

Birkenhead ? Lord RUSSELL has decided upon
following the more consistent course, although he
is still open to the inquiry whether, if the vessel
in question had been building for Prussian use,
he would have thought it necessary to detain her.
According to the explanation given by Mr.

LAYARD, in reply to a question from Mr. DAL-
GUSH, on Monday night, the Danish Minister in
this country himself informed the Foreign Secre-
tary that a vessel intended for purposes of war

was being built in the dockyard spoken of, and
further offered, if the Government objected to the

proceeding, to stop the fitting up of the vessel.
Of course, as we might have easily conjectured,
Earl RUSSELL, whose dreams appear to be
haunted by visions of war vessels sur-
reptitiously steaming out of British dock-
yards, thought it would be better to avoid the

possibility of such a catastrophe in this case by
stopping the fitting up. However, the builders
were not much inclined to adopt Lord RUSSELL'S
direction of their dockyard, and very naturally re-
presented that it would be very inconvenient to
have an unfinished vessel lying on the stocks. Upon
this objection being made known to the great auto-
crat of our private dockyards, he gave his gracious
permission that the vessel should be completed on
condition of her remaining in the Clyde. The
Danish Minister having pledged himself that she
should go no further, in the words of Mr. LAYAItD
" the vessel was completed and left the stocks, but

is detained in this country until hostilities shall
have ceased," by which time, we may suppose, her
owners will find' her very useful ! It is not sur-
prising to find the Under Secretary passing a high
eulogium upon " the great loyalty and honourable
character of the Danish Minister." Doubtless he
is a model of diplomatists in the eyes of the Foreign-
office. Let us only imagine what difficulties, what
lawsuits, what angry discussions in Parliament,
what awkward questions about despatches would
have been spared the Ministry if Messrs. SLIDELL
and MASON had only been as sensible of their dip-
lomatic obligations, though certainly it would
scarcely have been possible for the fact of Southern
war vessels being built to have been communicated
to Earl RUSSELL before the breaking out of hosti-
lities, as was done in this case. This fact, indeed,
gives rise to the question whether ambassador and
Foreign Secretary were not alike somewhat over-
anxious in the matter, seeing that as the war had
not begun there could be no actual infraction of
the law, even as Earl RUSSELL reads it. The
Danish Minister probably thought that when the
day of trial came English ships would be ready
to play their part—an English fleet would
appear again in the memorable Baltic,
whose powerful aid should efface the bitter
recollections of the past. With such auxi-
liaries in view, a vessel more or less mattered
little. But the English Minister, what of him ? He
knew that notwithstanding his estimates and his
experiments, notwithstanding Aldershott and
Woolwich, notwithstanding Warriors and WHIT-
WORTH guns, nothing short of the actual invasion
of the British coasts would set any portion of his
offensive force in motion. That is to say, with the
exception that always attends our Foreign policy
under the new regime, provided that the offending
power be somewhat on a footing with ourselves.
If a small state like Brazil, if an uncivilised
country like Japan, it ignorant aborigines like the
Maories, trench upon our dignity or our interests,
woe be to them ! But it must be immediately per-
ceptible to any one who hem etudica the RUSSELL
code, that things are altogether different with re-
gard to the larger Powers. The new reasoning
runs somewhat thus. If the offender be weak and
of no influence or consequence, then it is well to
take active measures and settle the matter at once ;
but if he be strong and powerful he is likely to in-
indulge in inconvenient reprisals,`and may lead us
into a European war which must on no account be
risked. So discretion is the better part of valour
where the strong are concerned, and justice the bet-
ter part of mercy in the case of the weak. Earl
RUSSELL must have known the terrible odds which
Denmark had to encounter without even the moral
influence of England on her side. He knew that
by his o wn advice she was entering on the encounter
denuded of her strength, stripped of her fairest
provinces, weakened by concession, to be rewarded
for her docility by being told that nothing should
induce her Mentor to strike a blow on her behalf
If the case had been reversed, and Denmark
picked a quarrel with Prussia, we can
all tell what would have been the re-
sult. Words would not have sufficed then, bat
words and fleets and men alike would have been
at the service of the ill used great Power, It
used to be a tradition in our playgrounds that it
was cowardly to fight a boy of greatly inferior size,
but that part of Earl RUSSELL'S scholastic educa-
tion appears to have been omitted. He has no
objection to looking on at such sport, but we are
inclined to think the Danish ambassador might
have withheld his information had he foreseen the
subsequent coolness of his " cordial ally," But no
matter. There are French dockyards and French
shipbuilders who are less restricted if not more
skilful. Belligerents must look to them for the
future. That is to say, if they want their vessels
for actual use, and not to adorn their harbours in
time of peace. There is a new Inspector and Con-
troller-General of Private Dockyards added to our
list of Admiralty officials, and we may yet live to
see Earl RUSSELL realising SYDNEY SMITH'S
famous anticipation, and assuming the command
of the Channel fleet, on which occasion we may be
sure we shall see a flag of truce permanently float-
'rig at the mast-head of the flag-ship.

Mr. DISRAELI'S remarks the other night were very
;Tropes, and it is to be trusted that these reiterated
attacks will have some effect on her MAJESTY'S
Ministers, and induce them, however tardily,
to disclose to our view some glimpse of their tortu-
ous policy, and some knowledge of their strange
mauceuvres. The right hon. gentleman was espea
cially brilliant on Monday evening, and indeed it
is not to be wondered at that the energies of a
speaker should be excited to the uttermost, and his
abilities of sarcasm display themselves to full ad-
vantage when the subject chosen for discourse is
one so irritating as that of the present foreign policy
of our Government. The fact is Ministers are play-
ing a very dangerous game, and rather outwitting
themselves, for tired of waiting for the tardy arrival
of these despatches, people aro beginning to say
that it is all their fault that so much confusion and
imbroglio have arisen. Mr. DisitaEnt made one strong
point in his speech when he said that he could not
say how far it was incumbent upon the Government
to go to war to preserve Denmark until ho knew
what engagements they had entered upon, but he
forcibly added, " Irrespective of that point, I assert
that if our affairs had been managed with due firm-
ness and conciliation, with straightforwardness end
with common sense, the integrity and the independ-
ence of Denmark would never have been endangered.'
This is the real issue of the case, and ably illustrates
the root of the evil. When with a grandiloquent
air the Premier exhort members to wait for the