The Sun.
London, England, 1864-10-12 00:00:00

oa them a ruler and a constitution obnoxious to
them, and when these attempts are resisted they
endeavour to support them at the point of the sword.
They lay waste their lands, they pillage their citizens,
they paralyse their trade, They carry fire and sword
through their fertile places, they make war on old
men, women, and children, they treat the peaceable
inhabitants of the refractory States with a harsh-
ness and severity that has called forth the indigna-
tion of the Old World ; and yet the advocates of
the North would have us believe that they are ac-
tuated in all this by their disinterested love for
Republican principles. Why, their whole conduct
is in direct opposition to those principles. If Re-
putlicanism means any thing it certainly means the
right of a miss of people to govern themselves, to
refuse an obnoxious Government, and it means
also that the civil rights of each private citizen
are to be as much respected as those of the
Governor of the State himself. Is this the
line of action which the Federals have followed
while the power was in their hands ? But the
friends of the Union in Europe maintain that
emancipation is the true object of the war. In this
country we hear less of that plea, but we are sorry
to find the German leader taking it up most strenu-
ously. He admits it is true that LINCOLN has been
fainthearted and hesitating as regards the policy of
emancipation, but he still classes the principles of
anion and anti-slavery together. As if half the
Unionists were not really in favour of slavery, and
as if we should hear any more of abolition if the
South consented to re-enter the Union to-morrow
on consideration of retaining their "domestic in-
stitution." D:d not Mr SEWARD himself, who is
surely no mean exponent of the principles of the
Government, expressly declare in his recent speech
that slavery had nothing to do with the present
issue of the war. The Federal authorities know too
well how many Northern interests are involved in
its maintenance to make its abolition a sine qua
non. It is singular to note under the professed
humanity of these Union Abolitionists the vin.
dietive cruelty with which they speak of , the
Southerners, who, as men and women, have some
claim to their humanity. Extermination and
exile, " Greek fire for the people, and hell fire for
their leaders" are the terms advocated by the
Northern press and pulpit, in the Cabinet and
in the Congress. The German Reformer
is no exception to the rule. The first
duty, he says, in the approaching con-
test is "to keep off the common enemy," and
adds that " we have here the cause of Union and
Emancipation—and, let me add, Colonisation of the
South after it will have been purged of its slave-
ocracy—much at heart." Such would not have
been the sentiments of a CLARKSON or a WILDER.
FORCE. Bat if the mitigation of human sufferings
were really the object in view, why should there
Unionists look with such horror on the prospect of
peace and compromise. KARL BLIND looks upon
M'CLELLAN as " an enemy to the Union," and, as
such, a mean to be avoided, lest he might, after all,
,ffect a reconciliation with the South, The true
haters of slavery, who have yet some regard
for the lives and property of their fellow
whites,,have long since concluded that slavery to be
really abolished must be gradually done away with
as much for the sake of the negroes as of their
owners; that the influence of public opinion, more
especially of European public opinion, will surely
effect a change in the minds of the slaveholders, and
that at any rate to enforce emancipation by fire and
sword is very much akin to the med'eaval principle
of effecting conversion by the rack and the stake.

Sil LAWRENCE PALK and Mr. KEKEWICH have
been entertaining their constituents in South
Devonshire with some interesting speeches, which
were chit fly distinguishable for the absence of
political discussion. It is rather refreshing occa-
sionally to peruse the details of a meeting thus
characterised by an absence of party spirit, and it
may be questioned if the real object of these agri-
cultural gatherings are not better answered by
such reticence than when we hear of vehement
denunciations against the powers that be, or of
undue flattery and palliation of errors which excite
the wrath and arouse the controversy of those
holding different opinions. All parties can meet
on the neutral ground of agriculture and calmly
discuss the questions which bear relation to the
internal welfare of their common country. Sir
LAWRENCE PALK took a hopeful view of things,
and observed that whether we regard it from an
agricultural or commercial point of view, England
is progressing in wealth " more rapidly than any
other nation on the face of the globe." It is antis..
factory thus to hear of our position thus cheeringly
regarded, for doubtless, with the best intentions,
the public speakers of the day are too apt to take
a desponding views of events, and to regard under
the most lugubrious aspect all that takes place of
a decided character, whether at home or abroad.
Sir LAWRENCE PALK took a most compren.
sive view of the topics he discussed, and
very wisely endeavoured to draw the
attention of his hearers to the importance
of the dangers that were taking place around them,
and the necessity of their conforming to them with
a good grace and a hearty will to benefit by their
advantages. It is very desirable that such a doc-
trine should be preached ad libitum among agricul-
turists of all classes and denominations, for they are
proverbially slow in understanding the benefits of
the alterations that art and science introduce into
their vocations, and are apt to cling with prejudi-
cial and sometimes fatal tenacity to the old tested
notions and antiquated ideas of times past. There
is a counter-balancing advantage in this, because
their dislike to change operates as a check upon the
hasty and often ill regulated endeavours of the more
go ahead portion of the community, and it is a safe•
guard that some should hold back too much, if
others persist in pressing forward too recklessly.
The wisest course is to adopt a just medium, and to
prove the excellence of changes of system before
adopting them. Sir L. PALK descanted upon the
present low price of wheat, and gave it as his opi•
nion that this grievance among agriculturists is not
likely to be remeiied. The reasons that he adduced
for such an idea seem forcible enough to carry con-
viction with them. He said that we must expect
a great increase of railways on the Continent in a
few years, and that these will "bring into cultiva-
tion vast alluvial plains and soils admirably
adapted both by climate and by virgin
soil to grow wheat, and where wheat can be
cultivated at very much lees expense than can ever
be done in this country." Surely it is tue most
sensible and the most profitable course to look
ahead and foresee what may probably ensue from
the chances and changes of life, now so much more
clearly defined and strikingly foreshadowed than of
old, rather than to envelop oneself in old world no-
tions, and believe that all will return to its former
state and condition. Sir LAWRENCE pointed out
to his hearers that they might hope eventually to
derive advantages from the cheapening of food, for
it became the source of wealth to the bodies of ope•
ratives, and thus caused their greater demand for
the better articles of consumption. Now, said
the hon. baronet, other countries may grow better
wheat than you do, but " there is no country in the
world can produce mutton and beef such as you ca❑
produce ; and depend upon it, the 1 est thing that