The Sun.
London, England, 1864-04-05 00:00:00

Commence at 7.

ROYAL STRAND THEATRE.
Manager, Mr. W. H. Swanborough.
THIS EVENING, a new Comedletta, A. HUNT FOR A
BUSBAND.
After which, the Grand Christmas Burlesque, ORPHEUS
AND EITRYOICE : Messrs. Honey, Wood, James Fenton,
Mesdames Swanborough, Marie Wilton, Hughes, &c.
Concluding with MARGATE SAND 3.
Commence at 7.

-------
rri E THIRD EDITION OF " THE SUN,"
_a_ Containing the Latest SPORTING INTELLIGENCE,
San be had Every Evening of
G. R. GLENIE, NEWS AGENT,
No. 4, Connaught-terrace, Hyde-park.

COALS.—The LILLESHALL COMPANY'S
COALS.
Direct from their own Collieries.
Marquis'.......26s. per ton. I Double.. 21s. per ton.
Top 255. „ Nut 5........ 199. „
Deep •229 11
Well screened and delivered within five miles of their De-
pots, Westbourne Park-road, W., and 17, South Wharf,
Faddinf,rton, W.
Best Cote
Terms cash.
JOHN SCOTT, Sole Agent.

The Weather—Sun Office, April 5, 1864.

-

THERMOMETER.

This day at Two o'clock 44

Barometer-36.15.
Wind—East; fresh breeze, with rain.

HIGH WATER AT LONDON BRIDGE.
THIS DST.—Mcmng, 12h. 59m.—Aftonahon, lh. 16m.
l'o-moaßow.-Morning, ra. 39m.—Afternoon, lh. 69m.

•
.4- 4.
;
SUM
zit*
•

LONDON, TUESDAY, APRIL 5, 1864.

Mr. STANSFELD has done at the very last, what
he ought certainly to have done at the very &st—
ile has resigned. On Saturday we intimated, as
plainly as words could express anything, that he
had no other alternative, than either to resign (as
he has now resigned)—or to offer a complete and
satisfactory explanation. So delicate is Mr. STANS-
FELD'S sense of honour, upon, we wont say second
thoughts, but upon fourth or fifth thoughts,
that he resigns first, and offers his explana-
tion afterwards ! Referring- to this explanation
thus—(shall we say, tardily given ? Well, we will
even go so far as to say, thus)—tardily given by his
ex-colleague, Lord PALMEP.3TON spoke of it as
ono " which," said the noble Premier, " I
am persuaded the House will think per-
fectly and entirely satisfactory." The House,
by the way, thereupon, having not even one poor
little feeble cry of " Hear, he:r " to utter by
way of assent ! Lord PALMERSTON, however,
thinks so, though the House, as a body,
doesn't by any means—Lord PALMERSTON
thinks Mr. STANSFELD'S explanation " per-
fectly and entirely satisfactory." Well, but,
SO did Lord PALMERSTON think in regard to Mr.
STANSFELD'S previous—" explanations," save the
mark Lord PALMERSTON thought so then, and
of course he thinks BO now—as do all those thick
and thin MiTaisterialiats, whe would apply to any
" Minister of the Crown" (even one as insignificant,
comparatively speaking, as a Junior Lord of the
_Admiralty), that saving axiom which the Constitu-
tion of the realm teaches them to apply to
the
King, maintaining, namely, that he " can do
And so, because he is a " Minister of
no wrong."
the Crown," hecause ho is a colleague of Lord PAL-
31ERsTON's—those thick and thin Ministeriaiists,
who would walk into the lobby, obedient to the lash
of the Government whipper •in, or, march through
just anything you please
Coventry, or would do
rather than out the occupants of place and the
dispensers of patronage in a minority, think as
Lord PALMERSTON thinks of Mr. STANFELD'S
explanation, that it is " perectlY and entirely
satisfactory." But, come—let us look at this
" perfectly and entirely satisfactory' ezpland-
tion—the new and final explanation offered last
night in the House of Commons, by the member

for Halifax—not, happily, this time, from the front
Treasury Bench, not from the very elbow of Lord
PALMERSTON, but, as common decency would at last
have it, from the top of the second bench below
the gangway. Here is a bit of it-s-a-bit, that is, of
this "perfectly and entirely satisfactory" explana-
tion of Mr. STANSFELD'S! We all recollect what
the Avocat-General over in Paris, in one of the
great imperial courts of law, said the other day,
about certain pieces of documentary evidence,
quoting indeed, as that high functionary did, when
referring to those documents, divers passages in
letters signed with a female Christian name,
passages speaking of Mr. STANSFELD by his Chris-
tian name—passages, remember, occurring in letters
having direct association with M. Minim ! What
says Mr. STANSFELD last evening in this " perfectly
and entirely satisfactory" explanation—in regard to
that documentary evidence, in regard to those ex-
tracts from certain letters ? Well, he says this—
" Two extracts of letters have been published,of which
the house will understand that, if they be genuine,
[he abstains carefully from denying that they are
genuine], I am prepared to take the whole respon-
sibility that may be attached to them. [Lord
PALMERSTON, just in the same grandiose spirit,
took the whole responsibility of retaining
Mr. STANSFELD in his Government—irom which
Government Mr. STANSFELD has, nevertheless since
been compelled to withdraw. The whole of the re-
sponsibility !—as if a mere verbal flourish of that
kind settled the matter in any way Ido not
know that it is possible for me, or for anyone con-
nected with me, to say whether they ars genuine or
not," Mr. STANSFELD, with gingerly caution,
goes on to ackuewledge—" But I say that
there is nothing in them which I have
the slightest desire to deny. As far as I
can judge they may be genuine extracts of letters
which have come into possession of the French
police. What does the first extract prove? The
extract from the first letter proves nothing except
the relationship of personal friendship, which I have
acklowledged, and which it is well known has long
existed between me and Signor MAzzINI. What
is the second extract ? The second extract states
that a remittance has been received, and will be
applied according to instructions. The house must
understand that this is said not to be a court of
justice, but it is at least a court of honour. [Pity
he did not recollect this before !] We speak here
upon our honour. Will the house believe me
then when I say that I am utterly unable, and
all those who are connected with me by family
ties are equally unable to imagine or to
recollect to what this passage refers ? But
this I am able to say, that it did not refer,
because it could not refer—for that would imply
knowledge—to anything which would not bear the
test of the closest examination ; and that, so far as
I can judge, upon my honour and conscience I be-
lieve it mast have referred either to some mere
private transaction or to the distribution of some
moderate and poor sum of money for a charitable
purpose." All which is, of coarse—as Lord PAL-
MERSTON says —" perfectly and entirely satisfac-
tort'"—in the way of "explanation."
Certain ugly customers, to use a homily phrase,
or "not to put too fine a point upon
it," according to Mr. SNAUSBY'S favourite
idiom--certain extremely ugly customers
do somehow, at an interval of a few years apart,
flounder into the custody of the Parisian police,
—persons, at any rate (to put it in the mildest way),
suspected of having to do with plots for the assassi-
nation of the French EMPEROR! And, by an odd
sort of a coincidence, letters talking about money as
procurable at Mr. STANSFELD'S address, lAttere
giving that address very accurately, letters directly
associated with the sinister name or the arch-con-
spirator MAZZINI—that Mantra who himself con-
fessed to having given 1,000 francs and a lapis lazuli
dagger to an intending murderer of the late King of
SARDlNlA.—letters giving Mr. STANSFELD'S address
and talking about money as there procurable, letters
such as these are found unfortunately in the pockets
of these extreme ugly customers. Nevertheless—
as Lord PALMERSTON Says—Mr. STANSFELD'S
"explanation" is—there can't surely be a moment's
doubt about it—" perfectly and entirely satisfac-