The Sun.
London, England, 1864-04-21 00:00:00

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LONDON, THURSDAY, APRIL 21, 1864.

" Why can't you leave it alone ?" Lord MEL
BOURNE'S famous nonchalant expostulation with-
his over-busy colleagues! Pas de zele ! Prince
TALLEYRAND'S advice to the young diplomatist!
What a pity it is that one or another of her
MAJESTY'S Ministers won't, apparently can't for
the life of them, lay those homely little scraps of
.N7l6dhai well to heart Lay them to heart, and act
11111011 them! Why can't they leave it alone?
Vhy will they have so much superfluous zeal ?
Earl RUSSELL, for example, over his everlasting
despatch-writing ! Why can't he leave it alone ?
Mr. LOWE, again, perpetually, or, as ANASTASIA
PIPER would have it, " repeatually" worritting
those unfortunate School Inspectors! Mr. STANS-
FELD continually busying himself, not only with M.
MAzzrNl's friendship, but even with his extremely
Private Corre pmidenee! And now--to say nothing
at all about other Members of the Administration—
here is Mr. GLADSTONE, not, this time, a mere Juuiur
Lordof the Admiralty, but, recollEct, really and truly
a Minister of the Crown, one of the Clbinet Mini-
sters—here is the Right lion, the Chancellor of
the Exchequer over-zealously busying Limself
about the Health of GARIBALDI; carrying all sorts
of confusion into the arrangements of GARIBALDI
by his obtrusive interference about GARIBALDI'S
health ; becoming a very Marplot, the truest type
of your political busybody, between General
GARIBALDI and the great mass of the English
people, great and small, metropolitan and provincial,
old and young, rich and poor, men and women, who
are going out of their mind 3 with exci.ement about
GARIBALDI ! Why, in the name of fortune, could
not Mr. GLADSTONE just leave it alone ? By his
ridiculous interference, what has he not done—
ivhat has he not already elicited? Among other

things he has indirectly elicited a formal contradic•
tiou from the French EMPEROR'S Government
through the columns of the Monileur, A formal
contradiction, that is, of the rumours (originated
solely by Mr. GLADSTONE'S interference) about
the EMPEROR having required the virtual
extradition of GARIBALDI from England,
as a preliminary to the participation by France
in this Dano-German Conference here in
London ! And not only that contradiction of
the statements put forth in this idle rumour, that
explicit contradiction of these statements in behalf
of his Majesty NAPOLEON 111. in the columns
of the itloniteur, but other contradictions here
among ourselves i❑ both Houses of Parliament by
divers of Mr. GLADSTONE'S own Ministerial col-
leagues in the Government ! The Prime Minister's
denial of the truth of these reports in the House of Com-
mons! Denials of them equally emphatic in the House
of Lords by that new member of the Cabinet, the
Earl of CLARENDON, ostensibly mere Chancellor of
the Duchy of Lancaster, but in reality travelling
Envoy Extraordinary ! A statesman who is prepared
at any moment to open negotiations of the utmost
delicacy, at any crisis in our foreign policy that
may arise, now with this Sovereign, now with
that, just as the occasion of the moment may seem
the most urgently to require ! Not only has Mr.
GLADSTONE'S vexatious over zeal in the matter of
GARIBALDI'S health, moreover, carried this confu-
sion into the councils of the Allied Governments,
compelling the Moniteur to speak out plainly in
the name of the EMPEROR'S Government, obliging
the Prime Minister of England to do the like in
the House of Commons, and constraining the Earl of
CLARENDON, similarly, in the House of Lords, but—
outside these higher circles in France and England,
there imperial, here ministerial—what confusion
has he not caused, is he not still causing, for
that matter, this Marplot-Right Honourable,
this Busybody-Chancellor of the Exchequer !
Setting the very surgeons by the ears in direct
contradiction of each other Professor FER-
GUSSON and Dr. BASILE telling tales the most
different that well could be about GARIBALDI'S
health. It is all nonsense, we believe, as to the
precarious state of that health being the one sole
reason for GARIBALDI'S departure being thus sud-
denly precipitated, We are as certain, in our own
minds, that it is just as preposterous to regard that
as the one sole reason, as it is, as it ever has been,
to look upon this abrupt change in the plans laid
down for GARIBALDI as attributable in any way
to a❑ underhand arrangement between the French
and English Governments. The latter proposition
was, indeed, altogether too ridiculous from the very
first mention of it to be seriously argued for one
singie moment. And so, with the utmost possible
respect for the highest professional opinion i❑ the
land, we are firmly convinced that the reported
ill-health of GARIBALDI offers no sufficient
explanation for his hasty departure. In
order to recognise the fallacy of which rumours,
it is only necessary, indeed, to glance at the
man himself. Crippled he is by the after effects
of that bullet-wound in his foot the wound
caused not by a French, but by an Italian, bullet.
But as to his health—well, look at him ! Within
the last day or two he is stated to have de-
clared himself up to any exertion of the
kind supposed to be before him, until Mr.
GLADSTONE thus officiously interposed between
the Hero and the Hero-Worshippers! Read
what GARIBALDI'S own surgeon, Dr. BASILE,
says of his patient's capabilities for whatever ex-
ertion in.this way might have been required. How-
ever—the over-zaalous Minister of the Crown,
here referred to, the one who must needs
interfere in the matter (as if it concerned him in
the least !) has thought otherwise. And so it
has suddenly fallen out that Mr. SEELY and the
Duke of SUTHERLAND, and the rest of the morepro-
nainent among the band of Hero Worshippers, have
had their pet plans interfered with all of a sudden
most vexatiously. The transformation of things in
this way being so sudden and so strange upon the
face of it all—seeing that the mover in the whole
matter (the mover in it, moreover, thus, on the sly), is
no other than a Cabinet Minister, and a Cabinet Mi-
nister too, as important as the Right Hon. the Chan-
cellor of the Exchequer the transformation of
things has been so sudden, we repeat,
and so strange—that constructions the most
sinister, open out of it all, on both sides of
the Channel, and, for a moment, fairly overshadow
the two Governments! Why can't they leave it alone?
—these public man, eaten up with over zeal—men
like Mr. STANSFELD, Mr. LOWE, and Mr. GLAD-
STONE, Ministers of the Crown, big and little,
good, bad, and indifferent.

Again the bombardment of Sonderborg has been
thrust upon the attention of the noble earl the
Secretary for Foreign Affairs. Again has Lord
RUSSELL returned a most unsatisfactory reply to
the very natural and pertinent inquiry addressed to
him by the Earl of MALMESBURY. He admits, it is
true, now that the affair has become the common
talk of the day, that the Prussians have acted with
unwarrantable barbarity, he even goes so far as to
declare that the conduct of his revered and cherished
allies " must remain under the reprobation of
civilised nations," but along with this more decided
and straightforward denunciation comes the morti-
fying admission that the English Government has
taken no official steps in the matter ! Such a con-
fession comes with a very bad grace from the mini-
ster who, a short time since, when pressed for in-
formation on the subject, declared he would not
trust to the accuracy of casual reports, but would
wait for regular official intelligence. It now ap-
pears that such official intelligence is not to be
granted to an ally held so cheap as England. Prus-
sia, the spoiled favourite of our Foreign Office, is
not in a humour to submit to remonstrances, and
lectures especially when the glory of the heroic
slaughter of women, children, and wounded is fresh
upon her. Lord MALMESBURY, in his brief resume
of the matter, reminded the House that the German
papers pretended that there were an arsenal and
manufactories, or stores of arms in the unfortunate
little town. It is extremely improbable that they
were not better informed. Thanks to that admix-
ture of the German element in the Danish popula-
tion which has given rise to all these complications,
the invaders are, without doubt, pretty accurately
acquainted with the military arrangements of the
other side. But even admitting this pretext as an
excuse for the bombardment, it offers no miti-
gation whatever to the cruelty of withholding
the customary notice. According to all the
ace nints received from private sources,as well as the
more public channels of intelligence, the twenty-
four hours' warning to non-combatants, which it is
the recognised practice of all civilised nations to
give, was entirely omitted, and a more general
❑otice of the possibility of such an event was given
some time before. The Prussians apparently are
not ambitious of being reckoned among civilised
nations, since one important sign of civilisation has
always been that it softens the horrors of war, that
it shrinks from the brutality, the cruelty, the mean
advantage over an enemy which darken the hostili-
ties of savage nations, and bids brave men and
sagacious generals hold honour above success. Our
friends of Berlin, however, are troubl, by no such
scruples. They have not changed f.ir the better
since the days when, as the Earl o' DERBY the
other night reminded us, the ink vanity And

vandalism of the Prussians occasioned so much
trouble to our own Duke of WELLINGTON: The
Iron Duke took part in a good many sieges, not
without success, as the history of the Peninsular
War will testify ; but it remains to be discovered
that he made war on women and children, or that
he considered that the shelling of hospitals, or the
slaughter of wounded men, added much to his
laurels. "We should not have envied the ally or
coadjutor who performed such a feat by his side;
but if Prussians are made of the same stern stuff in
these degenerate days, Englishmen, it seems, are
not. Lord MALMESBURY, while deprecatieg un-
necessary despatches, only expressed the feelings of
the country, when he declared it to be the duty of
her MAJESTY'S Government to state, in most posi-
tive terms, their sentiments with regard to the
conduct of the Prussian army at Sonderborg, and
therefore he asked Earl RUSSELL whether he had
received any answer to the despatch which he said
he had sent to Berlin on this subject, and what was
Earl RUSSELL'S reply ? The despatch shrunk into
a request to the English Ambassador at Berlin to
ascertain, if possible, the facts of the case. The
Ambassador communicated privately—not officially
or personally—with the Prussian Minister. The
Prussian Minister said he was not aware of the cir-
cumstances, and objected to the inquiry on the ground
that it was not usual for neatrals to examine into
the proceedings of belligerents. He promised,
however, that if an official inquiry were made he
would give an ans wer. Lord RUSSELL, however,
supposed that the answer would merely be a denial
of the right of inquiry on the part of England, and
"he had not directed any official communication to
be made ire the matter." So this is the end of his
virtuous indignation and lofty incredulity in the
matter. He is forced to admit the full atrocity of
the affair, and admits that it must remain under the
reprobation of civilised nations, and yet he allows
it to pass by virtually without protest. No record
of English indignation will hereafter be found in
the Blue-book—no straightforward and manly re-
monstrance has made itself heard by the Cabinet of
Berlin. A mere roundabout, hesitating, timorous
hint is all that has been done, and the first frown of
the Prussian Minister has scattered the heroic re-
solves of the British Foreign-office in a moment. A
single rough word or curt answer from Berlin puts
a stop at once to the flow of English eloquence.
Let the matter be quickly hushed up—let us say no
more about it. The Prussians are displeased at our
interference already. It will not do to receive a
public rebuff; let the dead rest; we can do no more.
This is the language of our Foreign Secretary—
this is the proud part which England is made to
play—this is the result of the exercise of that
" moral influence" of which we hear so much. Is
such a state of things in accordance with the feel-
ings and wishes of the people ? Does Earl RUSSELL
fitly represent the honour and interest of the Eng.
lish nation ? If he did, the objection of neutrality
would soon be silenced, for the popular indignation
would have spoken through the cannon's mouth,
and the shells that fired the hospitals of Sonderborg
would not have been the only implements of war.
Bat in truth no war was needed. Lord RUSSELL'S
despatches would have been less carelessly tossed
aside had their remonstrances been pointed by an
English fleet in the Baltic. A few plain words
would have sufficed had they told the same story
abroad and at home, in the English Parliament
and in the communications of the Ambassador at
Berlin. Ent inconsistency is always weak, and it
is well if it is nothing woree. As it is, it will be well
if hereafter " the reprobation of civilised nations"
does not extend itself to the Power which with
every opportunity for beneficent interference, stood
hesitating by, afraid to act, afraid even heartily
to remonstrate while the feelings of our common
humanity were outraged, and cruelty was added to
injustice.

There seems to be a Nemesis watching over the
Ministry. Shaky as was their position and critical
their fortunes at the commencement of the Session,
the most direful prophet of evil could hardly have
foretold more complete failures, and more humiliat.
ing defeats than have been sustained by the occu-
pants of the Treasury benches since the opening of
the Parliamentary campaign. Defeat after defeat
has appeared in the lists of the divisions, and one
after another most awkward disclosures are made,
and very inconvenient revelations take place. It
seems as if it were destined that Ministers should
run the gauntlet of all the disagreeable tests to
which their most bitter opponents may have wished
to subject their course of action and mode of pro-
cedure. About as awkward a mischance as any
that have occurred is that which has lately been
made public concerning the true nature of the
charge against the Confederate Government last
year, to which so much importance was attached at
the time, and out of which so much political capita I
was made by ruthless and unsorupulous adversaries.
It is seldom that so glaring an instance of deceit is
made manifest ; and it is most degrading to the re-
putation of our Statesmen and the honour of our
country that the Foreign Secretary should have
suffered himself to be so taken in. Perhaps the
wish was father to the thought ; perhaps the news
was welcomo to him, and the tidings congenial to
his spirit, that bade him as a wise Minister and
prudent diplomatist redouble his efforts and renew
his energies in the cause of suppression to the feel-
ings of interest everywhere displayed in this
country with respect to the Confederates. Be this
as it may, nothing can excuse or extenuate his false
security and fatal delusion. He ought to have
been more oa the alert, to have employed
more fitting agents to inquire into particulars, to
have interposed more delays in the execution of his
plans dependent on the decision formed respecting
the validity of the alleged communication. Earl
RUSSELL may be acquitted of all but over-credulity
and yielding to the impressions of prejudice, but
so lenient a judgment cannot be awarded to those
authorities on the other side of the Atlantic who
have so committed and compromised themselves in the
matter. Their work has recoiled on themselves.
Instead of fixing a stigma on their enemies, they
have covered themselves with disgrace, and
alienated from their aids many who believed in
the purity of their motives and the uprightness of
their cause. To circulate a forgery is about as
suicidal an act as can well be perpetrated by those
who affects the great and glorious qualities that
send heroes to the field and crowd the council-
board with patriots. In all times such an act has
been considered the ne plus ultra of cowardly
concoction and malignant artifice. In one of his
descriptive pieces that paint character with such
matchless skill and marvellous precision, Sir
WALTER SCOTT has made the bold representative
of the noble and chivalrous house of DOUGLAS ex-
claina—

" A letter forged St, Jude to speed
Did ever knight so foul a deed ?"

This is just the estimate that must be formed of
such a transaction by any who reverence truth or
esteem justice ; and it needs not the fire of olden
days, nor the martial ardour of the stirring times
of yore, to wake up indignation for such ano act.
The more plain and prosaic times of the present can
fully acknowledge and adequately repudiate the
paltry and cowardly conduct that permits the base
iguobie deed. It is a pity that our Goverment

Lave not the foresigeit to ecknowiedge when they
are in the wrong, nor the grace to admit that they
have been grossly deceived, It is rot enough to
admit tacitly that the wrong has been done; we
want something more explicit, more downright,
and more hearty and honest in its tone. The reply
of the Attorney-General to Lord R. CECIL was car-
tainly about as strange a thing in its way as any-
thing that we can remember. Tag noble lord has
taken up this question with the zeal end assiduity
which have greatly distinguished him thiS session
in all matters of moment. He made his inquiries
in a decided and straightforward style, and he
certainly was not met in a kindred spirit. The
Attorney-General made a most confused and ram-
bling statement, which did not appear to have any
coherency or consistency in it at all, He began by
informing the House that when he used the word
" unquestionable" regarding the said document, he
only meant that as he had never heard anything to
contravene its accuracy, he concluded it to be
a genuine document. It cannot be surprising to
anyone who reads the debate to notice that some
laughter was excited by the avowal of the Attorney-
General that, "in his simplicity," ho came to the
foregoing conclusion. To arrive at this opinion,
however, some very remarkable phases had to be
gone through. In the first place he did not hear
any suggestion touching the authenticity of the
document, then he was ignorant of the form in
which such documents are presented to Congress,
and, lastly he was not aware that an opinion had
been expressed against its validity. Such ignorance
and such credulity continued come very strangely
from one of the legal profession, to any the least of
it. It must appear also that it is not the way to be
successful in discriminating facts to take ail assere
tions for granted on one side, and not to heed any
adverse opinions on the other. After so unpropi-
tious an experiment the Attorney-General had
better change his tactics on the next occasion. It
is not very creditable to the character of our Go-
vernment that they have not discernment enough
to detect an imposition forced upon them by the
instrumentality of the most unworthy motivc3, and
it says little for their public spirit that they cannot
resent such an injury when it is inflicted on them.
If they really were imposed upon it seems eztrae
ordinary that they cannot denounce those who
palmed the fraudulent emanation upon them ; it
car. scarcely be that their infatuation has reached to
such a point that they prefer to be the willing vie-
tims of falsehood rather than the independent states-
men who cast aside all political predilections, and
party prejudices, in order that the majesty of truth
may be vindicated, and right and reason reign
supreme.