The Sun.
London, England, 1864-03-02 00:00:00

IE4 E.
FLOP EVENT EXTRAORDINARY
IS6I.

ROYAL ENGLISH OPERA,
COVENT-GARDEN.
Under the Management of Miss Louisa Pyne and
Mr. W. Harrison.
THIS EVENING (17th times a new Opera, founded on
Goldsmith's Comedy, and to be called Ms: STOOPS TO
tIONQUER. Miss Louisa Pyne and Air. W. Harrison.
After which, FANCHETTE : Miss Susan Pyne, Thirlwall,
Mr. Corric, Mr. Rouse.
Doors open at half-past Six—Commence at Seven.

COALS.—The LILLESHALL COMPANY'S
COALS.
Direct from their own Collieries.
Marquis'. Ms. per ton. I Double ols. per ton.
Top 255. „ Nuts. . • iUs lt
Deep .228. ,•
Well screened and delivered within five miles of their De-
pots, Westbournc Park-road, W., and 17, South Wharf,
!'adding ton, W.
Best C0re.......... lss. per chaldron.
Terms cash.
JOIIN SCOTT, Sole Agent.

HIGH WATER AT LONDON BRIDGE.
Tuis; DAM—Morning, 7h. 21m.—Afternoon, 7h. 58m,
ro-moanow.-Morning, Bh. 32m.—Afternoon, 9h. 18m,

The Weather—Sun Office, March 2, 1864.

THERMOMETER.
This day at Two o'clock 45
Barometer-29.75.
Wind—S.E.; moderate breeze, and hazy.

•40,4.
• p0i...,
-4-.417
Jit

LONDON, WEDNESDAY, 11IARCII 2, 1864.

If Mr. DISRAELI'S speech, on Monday evening,
in the House of Commons, was, as we took occasion

to remark, incidentally, in our impression of yes-
terday, one of the most remarkable to which the
Leader of the Opposition has for some time given
utterance, the speech delivered immediately after-
wards—we can hardly say in reply—by Lord

PALMERSTON was one of the very feeblest we ever
remember to have been made by that eminent and
veteran master of debate. Contrasted with the
close reasoning applied by the member for Bucks to
the consideration, not only of the whole Foreign
Policy of the present Government, but to
the whole of the career of the Foreign
Secretary as a diplomatist, the remarks of the Prime
Minister were as little to the purpose in the way of

anything like reply as so much idle small-talk. The
coolnees of Lord PALMERSTON'S objection to Mr.

DISRAELI'S predilection for attacking by prefer.
ence men who are absent (as illustrated in the
instance then immediately under the con-

sideration of the House) amounted almost, one
might say, to the ridiculous. The device of Lord
PALMERSTON in relegating so many of the
chief members of his Cabinet to the House of

Peers, Would, in truth, be one of consummate inge-
nuity if, by its continuance, the responsible Minis-
ters of the Crown were to obtain immunity from
all criticism, whether upon their acts or upon their
policy, within the walls of the Commons House of

Parliament. The exception taken, in this captious
and fretful manner to the remarks uttered in the
House of Commons upon the English Foreign Secre-
tary, now unfortunately removed to the Upper House
of the Legislature, was nothing less, we repeat (even
though it is an exception taken by Lord PALMERSTON
himself), than simply ridiculous. Then, again, as to
any advantage having been taken of the Prime
Minister's absence from the house the oth ereven ing—
the like opportunities have been so abundant during
the present session, whenever it happened that a wk-

ward questions had to be put to the occupants of the
Treasury Bench, that the objection then made in the
one isolated instance adduced by the Prime Minister
was in no way whatever either valid or admissible.
Could anything again be more entirely unworthy
of Lord PALMERSTON than the inept to quogue re-

:ort in reference to Mr. DISRAELI'S allusion to

"diplomatic rubbish" (of the which, surely, we have
evidence in past years by cartloads)—" Why, sir,
there is such a thing as Parliamentary rubbish"—

meaning obviously the speech just delivered by the
Leader of the Opposition. The Parliamentary
rubbish, making up that speech of Mr. DISRAELI'S
being, in effect, as we have said, one of the most
closely reasoned analyses of Lord RUSSELL'S foreign
policy as Secretary of State and of his career in
byegone years as an Ambassador Extraordinary
—it may be said, even, Very Extraordinary—

every comment contained in that speech being I
strictly pertinent to the occasion, the present mo-
mentous occasion, that is when War and Peace are
trembling in the balance. Later on, the Prime Minis-
ter showed in the jauntliest way imaginable that,
after all, there is really and truly nothing like
making the best of it. " What," he asks with
delightful confidence, "What are the cir-
cumstances in which we (that is her Ma-
jesty's Ministers) have placed the country ?"
Precisely. "That is the question." What are
those circumstances ? Lord PALMERSTON answers
his own inquiry. "We are at peace"—he says.
Nothing whatever about its being a peace
noble or ignoble, honourable or dishonourable,
—while Poland :is being ground to the dust under
the brute force of the Russian Autocracy, while the
soil of Denmark is being overrun by the troops of
Austria and Prussia. "We are at peace,"
he says----" We are prosperous [" with a
war expenditure, daring this very peace over
the continuance of which we are called upon
to exult so loudly]--" we are prosperous," and, to
crown all, (this piece of information, how-
ever, being rather superfluous, as it appears
to us, it being known already only too well)
—" we have been occupied in communications
with all the Powers of Europe in endeavouring to
settle differences without war !" And—as th'
French EMPEROR is said the other day to have
hinted sarcastically to Lord COWLEY when the
latter was observing that our Government had done
everything to preserve peace'. And— admirably we
have succeeded 'Why, that is precisely what we
are wanting, to learn all we possibly care about.
And when a very natural eagerness to know all
about it is expressed by the head of the Opposition,
or by any one else, all the Prime Minister has to
say in answer to this eagerness, Wait, Wait—and
I you will soon enough know all about it I

impolitic partiality which,
Our Government is already reaping the fruits
of their unjust and
professions of neutrality,
under the cover of loud
they have shown
regular to the Federal Stater. They
have been entrapped into a dilemma, from
which they have extricated themselves, after a
fashion, by taking what was perhaps an un-
avoidable, but will be
unpopular
course. It seems a steamer
that on Wednesday last
a decidedly
of 3,000 tone, and 500 horsy power, plated from
stem to stern, was launched in the Clyde from the
yard of the builders of Lat very ship Pampero,
the circumstances of whose detention have been
so recently discussed. It was natural to infer
that this new course was intended for purposes
of war, and rumour did tot fail to assign her to
the little Power now 53 gallantly strugglingfor
its independence in the North of Europe. Some
curiosity has been consequently felt by the un-
initiated respected the course to be followed by her
MAJESTY'S Ministers. If they detained this vessel
they would be doubtless injuring, still more, that
Danish cause to which their lukewarm and vacil-
lating friendship has done so much mischief. On