The Sun.
London, England, 1864-02-26 00:00:00

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tatives have no right to any such inforuotiohu•
per ,
other words, that the grossest wrong might million
ptrated, ship, w-,r'h a quarter ce aro..
sterling could be detained on su,piei°n' (113,7ntati Of
wards seized, at a loss of some £2,000 a r°- dings
snore to toe owners, and that no legal roue telst
o3ht to be commenced to le,,alise this abc°itiand
till nearly six months after the first detelltrio°pnessrtg
full
four months after the capture of the p
and that all this is to take place on EogliBll,grrsctett
and against Englishmen of position and 0a3,1" soli
with perfect impunity to the perpetrators, nd
on the fiction called Ministerial responsibility; ;iv,
that the House of Commons is not cotorten„to-
intlu?re into the grounds of so monstrous en by'
eeec!,ug. We regret that this assembly'
the very narrow rnajority of 25, should have %titu-
the Government in course so clearly toct)t-i.eri'
tienal. The question to bo considered WBB.s is.
properly narrowed by Sir Hugh Cairns, in to tte
urinous series of incontrovertible argu 60.
one great point at issue—the conduct of rtrosssoo
verntnent anterior to the seizure of the Eol .flifirotB
and El Monassir. Surely, the House of L'„°,—,,jeldi
w-ll entirely denude itself of its functions iin",,iferti.
its prerogative and right to &emend frail
went the fuLest attainable information 0° as oa
erpet,,rakte,ge
decidedly illegal and avowedly p
British soil against a British subject. l'ef,aird
lion, of course, does not refer to the :‘festrrs,(lorl3.
alone,ih but to every shipbuilder in the 810de,
.e Government have proclaimed their right ofer•
haoin vessels on suspicion. They fling 1001'
ard. Their mouthpiece, the Atterner';,9pou'
s declaresh that they have done so on their own
the
and, of course, are willing to abide 41; into
sequences—that is, that they have a right I°,g,osels
every shipyard in the country and keep hic,..to he
o n the mere suspicion that they are bui`ti tee
me "
equipped and armed afterwards at so.gc,
place, for the Confederate American service. lie V
th e determination of this matter, so far 8,8 the
vets
T ous son and Ell Monassir are concerned, is
; ;Dory
nice question of fact as well as of law; it'd Set
over,
is still under judicial investigatioecide
our absolute Government have presumed t° oust'
both... law and fact on their own individual tesettisat
They not only detained the vessels svios
ta
hem,
shadow of legal right or authority, but theYfor
em and may actually withhold the tribal
havetwelvemonth
gone into a law court at the expirati° °•ner
four months or six from the date of the detanit thsti
rnore the result of their dread of Paliame%erti
throughChet'
any regard for English right °I. 11'008
do not pay the costs; the public Pay horde
andeYthe injured owners have to sustain the,i rne°
foru the time, depending on a favourable Plusartal
ut then there is, by way of set-0i
atonement of ministerial responsibility. "„:11 S,°
comes to let the vote of Tuesday night 011):011;cto,
long as we have laws they ought to he T",,¢ai°B"
andii observed. Above all, let us guar u :their
a ewing the Government to wrest them :vrevii`o
not •8 for
ow❑. crooked views and purposes. Let
again the odious practice of general warrallo'aud
to this we are approaching. If our laws tareb
inadequate on calm consideration they
to he foreign
be amended, but not at the dictation of all °-
Government.