The Sun.
London, England, 1864-02-18 00:00:00

two out of the Five Greatest, Powers in Europe,
may lawlessly band together their fighting men,
horse, foot, and artillery, and may then in open
violation of treaty rights, in defiance of the law
of nations, advance beyond the frontiers of a
lesser Power like Denmark for the purpose of carry-
ing out by brutal violence a most flagrant scheme of
territorial spoliation. No matter—" leave it alone."
The heir apparent may have taken to wife
but one brief year since the eldest daughter of the
lesser Power thus infamously outraged. dais
n'impo7te—it is no affair of ours—" leave it
alone." That eldest daughter of Denmark, now
the adopted daughter of England, may but
one brief month since have brought an heir to the
heir of the most constitutional and beloved of the
long line of our sovereigns—no matter—we will
show our loyalty, we will show our jealous
regard for our own honour (implicated in
this shameless invasion of Danish soil by the banded
armies of Prussia and Austria) we will show our
patriotic devotion for the maintenance of Eng-
land's fair fame, of her influence, of her re-
putation before the whole world, by letting
things run their course just as they may. We
will "leave it alone." Denmark may be the victim
of a most criminal adventure on the part of two
Powers, either one of which single-handed would
be a cruel overmatch to the invaded kingdom as
an assailant. It is our impression, it is our
con.scientious conviction, that the invasion
of the Danish soil is a proceeding
precisely of this most execrable character—
no matter—we will " leave it alone." Prussia
is one of the Great Powers—Austria is one
of the Great Powers—together those two out of
the Five Great Powers of Europe are surely very
formidable—" leave it alone !" So is it, as a
plain, bald matter of fact with regard to the
Foreign Policy of England in the War Depart-
ment. If only the same exceedingly safe—rather
contemptible perhaps, but perfeetly safe—policy
(safest least so far as immediate consequences go)
could be recognizable in any way, could be adopted,
could be acted upon, in the Diplomatic as
rigidly as it is thus being acted upon in the War
Department ! There—in the Foreign Department
par excellence—the presiding genius, having as
strong as ever upon him the cacoethes scribendi, will
on no account whatever " leave it alone." He is for
ever interposing, interfering, meddling, and
muddling, ad infinitum : certainly, judged by JOHN
BULL'S palate, usque ad nauseam. Nothing will
induce him to " leave it alone." He interfered
between the People and the last real chance of a
Reform Bill, four years ago, with his dog-hi-the
manger Resolutions—and we know well enough
what has come of it. Nl' e know well enough
that, precisely because of his Resolutions, ever
since then we have had Reform quietly cushioned
and shelved. Just exactly in the same way
this inimitable Statesman, and diplomatist, and
administrator, this upsetter of coaches, and
malapropos propounder of Finality as a political
principle, this inventor of a Foreign Policy that
is next to no Policy at all, this great Ministerial
MARPLOT who, after winning his Garter and his
Earldom, can simper out to the nation " Rest
and be thankful"—Earl RUSSELL to-day, in regard
to Foreign Affairs, as yesterday in regard to Reform,
just exactly with the self-same pertinacity and per-
versity, interferes only by a dead certainty to make
bad worse. He meddles only to muddle. The
results of his happy diplomatic interference are
painfully visible, indeed, at this moment alike in
Poland, in Americo, in Schleswig-Holstein. To-
day, as we have said, the MARPLOT of the
Ministry—to-morrow he may be regarded as the
JONAH, and may then be treated accordingly.

On Tuesday evening Lord CARNARYON called at-
tention to a very important subject—the Baitisn
claims upon the United States Government. The
noble lord entered into the question at some length,
and did ample justice to the case of those who were
concerned in the affair. He said that his efforts
were chiefly directed to inquiries concerning those
who, on "vague suspicion," had been arrested, or
subjected to great losses of property, and he ex-
pressed his opinion that the Government were
bound on behalf of those persons to demand " ample
compensation and redress." This is strictly true,
and contains a principle in which all must concur
who appreciate what ought to be the first thought
of public men, and is always considered to be of
primary importance to the Statesman and the
patriot—the protection of our countrymen abroad.
It is a sad state of things and a lamentable position
of affairs if the Englishman, who boasted in the last
generation that his " Flag had braved a thousand
years the battle and the breeze," and was mighty to
protect those who sought refuge beneath it, and
that "on his empire the sun never set ;" yet he
could visit any part of it secure from injury and
shielded with an invincible panoply, must now be
browbeat and insulted at every turn, and the flag of
his country be powerless to save even himself from
assault, or even at times to preserve his life.
The cases recorded by Lord CARNARYON are enough
to excite the strongest indignation, and to awaken
the fears of all, if they are only studied with due
attention. Who can deny that, according to the
transatlantic reading of the ease, ratified by our
Government, " neutral rights are on the verge of
extinction." The notable instances of infringement
upon this principle, so strikingly manifested in the
affair of the Saxon, and the capture of the Tusca-
looza, received due mention, and great stress was
laid upon the suspicious circumstance of the instruc-
tions sent out by her MAJESTY'S Government, with
an intimation that they must be strictly adhered to,
being allowed by the arrest of the vessel, which the
Governor of the Cape had previously refused to de-
tain, acting with proper spirit and a discretion
which did him infinite credit. Surely it is not
often that such transactions are brought under the
notice of Parliament, as the details which bear re-
ference to these American affairs. The second part
of Lord CARNARVON'S speech trea►ed of the claims
which the " United States Government made upon
her MAJESTY'S] Government for damages alleged
to be done to American ships by the Ala-
bama and other Confederate cruisers." Here
he animadverts upon Earl RUSSELL'S nest
unfortunate observation in his despatch eon-
corning the Alabama, that he waited until
the question could be candidly considered. This
was certainly as maladroit an admission as any
that could have been made, and entirely did away
with the impression of the noble Earl's previous
declarations that his Government were not respon-
sible for the nets of the Alabama. The noble Earl
found it convenient when the charge was brought
home to him in the House to express his dissent
from the reading of his remarks by the speaker,
bat what other interpretation could possibly be put
upon theme Lord Cansiauvosi" enunciated some
very important principles in respect to our inter-
course with America, and it would be well for the
reputation of the Foreign Secretary and the wel-
fare of the country if they were more heeded than
they are likely to be :—" In the history of our in-
tercourse with America, I think our experience
amounts to this, that the whole object of English
statesmen should be to limit these debateable pies.
tions, and never allow them to be kept open." There
can be no more fatal error than the one into which

Earl RUSSELL has fallen of " tiding over difficul-
ties," as Lord CARNARVON has forcibly expressed
his mode of procedure. This is not the way to
manage matters, or to gain the desired ob-
ject even, for it is well known, that people
always prefer to hear the worst at once, if
only fairly stated and openly argued, than
to be put off by the specious promises of
fair seeming professions, which ultimately turn
out to be groundless and illusory. Earl RUSSELL'S
reply was about as unsatisfactory as it could be in
every way, and as unworthy of the tone in which
the Foreign Minister of this country should treat
such subjects, as the subjects themselves were cha-
racterised by violence and disrespect for the recog-
nised rights of belligerents, the claims of neutrals,
and the honour and good faith which should exist
between nations, whether in peace or war. In
the first place the House was informed that the
captain of the Vanderbilt could do no more thin
express his regret. Was there ever such a mon-
strous assertion. Lord CARNARVON very properly
inquired whether he had placed the guilty party
under arrest. To this query the noble lord was
compelled to say that he had no information. Ac-
cording to this new version of justice, if Lord
RUSSELL saw a man commit a murder, and the
miscreant expressed regret, he would suffer him
to escape. Circumstances may differ in detail, but
the fundamental principles of justice are the same
whether an offence is committed on English ground
or on the high seas, in the purlieus of St. James's,
or on the coast of Africa. With respect to the
Tuscalooza the law officers of the Crown, as usual'
are to take the blame. What would the noble lord
do without these convenient scapegoats. They are
to be responsible for all the sins of omission and
commission with which the Foreign-office stands
charged before the Parliament. If the Foreign
Secretary sought to be a little less legal and a great
deal more just, how much better affairs would look
for himself and others. The noble lord, however,
doubtless irritated by the constant atteeks made
upon his conduct during the halcyon period of the
recess, became aggressive in his turn, and after
taunting Lord CARNARVON with urging him to
make war upon America, he wound up by declaring
that all laws which allowed warlike vessels to be
fitted up for the• Confederates were a scandal and
a " reproach," and that they ought to be made more
intelligible. This is doubtless the fulfilment If the
threat or promise made in Scotland some months
back; but Earl RUSSELL had better take heed
before he attempts such a change as that con-
templated in the latter part of his speech. There
is a limit to all things, and the day that sees him
lay such a proposition before the House as that to
to alter and restrict our laws to suit the Federal
Government will seal the doom of the Cabinet of
which he is a member. If he would escape an igno-
minious close to a long political career, let him avoid
an act which would thus sully his famo as a states-
man, a Minister, and a patriot in the annals of his
country's history, where his ancestors have held so
honourable a position, and shone forth so conspi-
cuously in the cause of civil rights and the sacred
claims of liberty.

The Navy Estimates for the current year will be
scanned with some curiosity after the promises of
retrenchment. The lavish expenditure of the
Admiralty, expenditure as profitless as uncalled-for,
has long been a favourite subject of attack for mal-
contents and financial reformers. Even Admiralty
officiais find it difficult to defend the enormous de-
mands which are made upon the public for work
often inefficiently and awkwardly performed. There
is, perhaps, no department of the public service to
which the British public would be so little likely to
grudge a liberal supply as the Navy, and it really
seems sometimes as if the whole Admiraltyestablisb-
ment reckoned upon this feeling. It is one thing,
however, to pay money cheerfully for work
done, and another to pay for unfinietied experi-
ments, for continual alterations., for building and
rebuilding, for cutting down, and other vagaries
constantly being gone through in our dockyards.
In the estimates now published there is certainly a
decrease, though but a slight one. The net expen-
diture of 1863.4 was £10,462,322; the net expen-
diture of 1864-5 is calculated at £10,169,022 ; thus
leaving a net estimated decrease of £300,000. The
principal items in which it is intended this reduc-
tion shall be made are the estimates for seamen's
wages, victuals, and clothing, and for naval stores.
On the other hand, there is a proposed increase for
wages to men employed in naval works at home.
The recent innovations on the old-established
theories of shipbuilding have naturally made a
great difference in the sums required for timber,
masts, hemp, canvas, &c., and although there
is also a reduction in the amount set down for
armour plates, iron beams, and other similar items,
this is due to the number of iron ships and gun-
boats now building by contract. We have no wish
to find fault with this plan, which very probably
will secure to the country better built ships at a
less cost and in quicker time; but it would be quite
as well if our Admiralty, while thinking of eco-
nomy, turned over its old stores, and considered
whether they might not be put to Betio profitable
account. The removal of a few guns would lighten
many of the old wooden vessels sufficiently to en-
able them to bear the weight of an iron belt just
above and below the water line, which is the
quarter where the protection is really worth having.
The missiles of the present aay will penetrate any
ordinary armour plating, and if a shot is to go
through a vessel, it may as well do so without the
additional mischief occasioned by splintering
through the iron. No vessel can bear the weight
of an armour plating solid enough to defy the
monster guns of the day ; but a belt round the vici-
nity of the water-line might be made sufficiently
thick to be of real service. There is no reason why
our old wooden walls should be east aside as unfit
for further service, when a little management would
convert them into a ready-made fleet, at hand in
any emergency. In the present threatening aspect
of foreign affairs, we can hardly tell how
soon we may be Called upon to put
forth our naval power, and it is surely folly
while preaching economy and efficiency to neglect
such an important means of saving, since by its use
we should not only avoid expense but delay, and
be able quickly to equip a formidable fleet ready at
any matnent for the purposes of attack or defence.
The retrenchment which is to take place in the
seamen's wages, victuals, and clothing, owes its
existence to proposed economy, which we heartily
trust will never be suffered to be put into practice,
At a time of perplexity and anxiety, like the pre-
sent, when the arrogant pretensions of the Federal
Government threaten every day to involve na in a
naval warfare, when the shadows of a coming war
that shall convulse the greater part of Europe are
darkening over us, it is surely most unwise, most
impolitic, most preposterous, to take steps which
must tend to weaken our navy prospectively and
permanently. The saving effected by the reduc-
tion of 500 seamen, 1,500 men and boys of the coast
guard service, and 2,000 boys of the number serving
afloat, will make a very inconsiderable difference at
the end of the financial year; but it will produce
very marked and disastrous effects on the British
navy. Unless the country has grown much more
parsimonious, the Cloyernment much more careful