The Sun.
London, England, 1864-04-25 00:00:00

LONDON, MONDAY, APRIL 25, 1864.

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The Governments of France and England appear
to have been vying with each other on Saturday !
How accurately to define the general character of
their emulation with anything like courtly circum-
locution we find it difficult even to conjecture. And
this for the simp'e reason, that it would hardly be
other than the literal truth to say that they, the
two Governments, the Government of France and
the Government of England, simultaneously, but
quite independently, contrived to earry (shall we
not venture at least to hint the word ?)—absurdity
to the height of extravagance.

Here in Eng:and—as a fitting climax to the
extraordinary jumble of =fusion resulting from
the very ultra-enthusiasm of the late Garibaldi
demonstrations—a Public Meeting was actually put
down and dispersed by the police, on Saturday
evening, upon Primrose Hill: or rather as we
ought now, we believe, to call it—Shaksperee
Hill. We are not very much in the habit, in Lon-
don, or for that matter in any part of the country, of
having Public Meetings of any kind dispersed. But,
at any rate a public meeting of the working men
of the Metropolis was on Saturday " put down"—
as signally and unmistakeably " put down" as
if the Moral Baton of the Police (an innocent sort
of a cousin German to the Moral Dagger of M.
MAZZINI), had, for one delightful interval (and of
all appropriate days that could have been selected,
upon SHAKSPERE'S Tercentenary !)—a.t if, we say,
the Moral Baton of the Police had, just for once
again, as in the good old times, not firmly into the
grasp of the very incarnation of Rampant Beadle-
, dom ! Poor old Sir PETER LAURIE'S manes must
have been soothed and comforted, one might almost
fancy with this " putting down " by the Police of a
Public Meeting—of all fine days in the year, nay,
in the century—upon the tercentenary annivereary
of the Birth of SHAKSPERE! S) much for Govern-
mental doings here in London. Now, for the
companion doings over yonder in Paris—and
there, too, though occurring quite irrespectively of
our own—doings having reference directly with
the proposed celebration of SHAKSPEB.E'S Tercen-
tenary. Don't we all know what precisely was
the nature of those proceedings ? Can we possibly
relate them with anything like gravity ? They
amounted, literally, to the attempted suppression of
" Hamlet"—nay, of SHAKSPERE himself, meaning
his memory, or the commemoration of it. Some-
thing really and truly about equivalent to CANUTE'S
mandate to the sea-tide—a sort of an imperial ukase
against the Common Air we breathe, or against the
gleam of the Daylight. It is true the prohibition
of an intended Shaksperian Demonstration at Paris
was withdrawn by one of those second thoughts
proverbially said to be " the best"—meaning (more
grammatically to express it) " the better." Too late,
however, came the withdrawal, it would seem, for
the intending celebrators of SeeeKsPene's memory
were too bitterly huff.,d by the previous prohibition
of their festivities I For, at any rate, one way or
another, they appear to have come to nothing,
or, as the popular idiom has it, they appear to
have come to grief. Nevertheless, if it is
asked what sort of thing it was the Imperial
authorities were dreading—the answer comes
petly enough, and, be it said also, absurdly
enough, through the columns of the Journal des
Debuts, wherein appears a letter about SHAK-
SPERE, addressed to the prohibited French
meeting by M. VICTOR HUGO. A document
that for its ultra-hyperbolical extravagance has
hardly ever, we should fancy, been surpassed,
even in the land sacred to pretty tall talk-
ing, the favoured land, that is to say, of Stump
Oratory, Soft Sawder, and Bunkum I VICTOR
HuGo's preposterous letter we give, as translated
from the original in the Dallas, in another part
of our impression of this evening. And it is this
sort of thing that the Imperial authorities, over at
Paris; were actually for a while bent upon sup-
pressing I Remembering that prohibition—at any
rate for the time being—there in Paris : and re-
membering, on the part of our own Government—
the putting down by the Moral Baton of the Police
on Saturday evening of a Public Meeting of the
Working Classes upon Shakepere Hill, late
Primrose Hili—were we not justified in
hinting, at the outset of these remarks, that
the Two Governments were vieing with each other ?
And that they were doing so at the close of last
week in a manner that, "not to put too fine a point
upon it," was very much, indeed, like—absurdity
carried to the height of extravagance ?
As to the public meeting put down by the police,
here in London, on Saturday—it had reference,
as we a'l know, not to SHAKSPERE, but to the
spiriting away of GARIBALDI all of a sudden !
The spiriting away of GARIBALDI thus all
of a sudden—at the instance of several of his
more officious friends, conspicuous among them
one of the principal members of her MAJESTY'S
Government ! Occurring as this abrupt modifica-
tion of all GARIBALDI'S plans had done, quite un-
expectedly, just when the Dino-German Conference
was trying to begin its sittings—trying to, strange I
to say, quite ineffectually, until GARIBALDI had
been summarily hustled out of the way—the
working' men of London could not for the life
of them manage to swallow very readily the
assertion that GARIBALDI was constrained to go
away solely by reason of the precarious state
of his health. The working men of London being
all the mare reluctant to accept that plea as one suffi-
ciently accounting for so very sudden and startling
a transformation of all previously existing arrange-
ments—seeing GARIBALDI, as they did, in the midst
of them—lame to be sure by reason of his bullet
wound, but otherwise—the very picture of health,
looking in fact in every line of his bronzed, hand
some face just es well as posaiblc. However—the
working men of London must at length abandon all
doubts or this kind upo❑ the subject. 'They must
receguise al together thefellacy cf mere appearances.
They must understand, however reluctantly, that
there could have been no help for it---that GARI-
BALDI'S hurried withdrawal from London, and as
soon after as possible from England, was just a
matter of life and death for him, admitting of no
alternative, of no hesitation whatever. The most
eminent professional authority in England has
at length given the Reason Why—GARIBALDI had
A BOIL ON HIS ARM ! That—as a reason—surely
is perfectly conclusive! No wonder—knowing
that GARIBALDI HAD A BOIL ON HIS ARM—
no wonder, we say, that so much alarm for his
health should have been excited ! No wonder Mr.
GLADSTONE and others urgently advised his imme-
diate departure No wonder the Police drew forth

their Moral Barons on Saturday evening, for the
purpose of putting down, as they did in fact put
down, a public meeting convened by the working
men of London to protest against GARIBALDI'S de-
parture !

Perhaps in no part of our foreign policy is it
more difficult to F. ct wisely and well than in our
dealings with uncivilised nations. Certainly the
present occupants of the Treasury benches have not
found it very easy to steer safely through the com-
plications of European politics, while the experience
of a past generation proves that it is often a dan-
gerous and delicate task to legislate for our colonies.
Our conduct in both these quarters, too, may pro-
duce effects of more immediate importance by
forming the plans of European war, or by provoke
ing the colonies to independent action, but in regard
to barbaric or semi-civilised countries we have less
of assured principle to guide our actions,we have to
deal with men whose habits of life, whose tone of
thought, and whose sense of justice and propriety
are so different from our own that it is frequently a
question how far community in their proceedings is
justifiable, how far inaction and indifference are
prudent. The much talked of policy of non-inter-
vention is difficult of application when English lives
are jeopardised, and English property endangered,
although for the honour of our nation and the duty
we owe to our own position, we are bound scrupu-
lously to avoid any participation in those acts which
are only teo common in Eastern warfare, and which
accord better with the Chinese code of morals than
with our own. The English Government are placed
in a somewhat awkward position by the recent
events in China. The unsatisfactory termination of
the affair of the Anglo-Chinese fleet under the
command of Captain SHERARD OSBORN was fol-
lowed so quickly by the disgraceful conduct of the
Futai at Soochow, that the public feelieg was
strongly excited against the Imperialists and their
Government. It was felt that English aid was not
being treated with proper respect s hen it was notori-
ous that the recent successes of the Imperial cause
were entirely owing to the efforts of the foreign
contingent. Under these circumstances, Mr. LID-
DELL, onFriday evening, called the attention of the
House of Commons to the state of our relations
with China, and moved a resolution deprecating any
further interference on our part in the civil war now
raging in that country as impolitic and unneces-
sary. the hon. member, in support of his motion,
entered into a history of the last few years, object-
ing to the assistance, material and otherwise,
afforded by this country to the Imperialists, declar-
ing that we were in a great measure answerable
for the continuation of the war, and predicting
future perplexities of a very serious nature if the
present course were pursued. On the other hand
Mr. LAYARD contended that the result of the policy
hitherto followed had been an enormous increase of
our trade with China; that the accounts of tortures
and massacres had. been greatly overdrawn; that
arms had been taken up to protect British inte-
rests; and that Major GORDON had done perfectly
right in returning to the service of the Fetal, and
thereby preventing the capture of Shanghae. Ths
truth of the case seems to be somewhere between
these two opposing extremes, and we cannot but
regret that Mr. LAYARD should thus have given
official sanction to Major GORDON'S retention of his
post. The protection of the English trading com-
munity and commercial interests, the maintenance
of the treaty, and the opening of the ports, are very
different things from the energetic participation in
the Imperialist close which has been hitherto our
share. Mr. LAYARD'S reply to Mr. LIDDELL'S
accusations, although containing much sound sense
and plain fact, certainly contrived to mix up
different things ; and it is imposeib'e to say to what
lengths the Imperialists will go when English
influence has lost its power in checking their
treachery and barbarity. Granted that the massa
sacre at Sooehow has been greatly overrated—Mr.
LAYARD cannot deny the facts of the case, and the
sword of an English officer should have been no
longer drawn under a commander who had been
guiity of a direct breach of faith, and had made his
plighted word a snare to entrap the too credulous
enemy. It is highly improbable that the Taepings
would have attacked the British residents in
Shanghae, they would have feared the cense•
quences of such a rash proceeding ; but if they
had they have not hitherto proved so invincible
as to be regarded with abject terror. Captain
OSBORN, by a resolute adherence to the stipule,
tions of his original engagement which Mr. LIDDELL
altogether misconstrued, saved himself from a posi-
tion so awkward and unsatisfactory that we appre-
hend Major GORDON will, before long, deplore his
retention of it. If the protection of existing British ,
interests in China be the real and only aim of
our Government, let it be kept to in all straight-
forwardness and simplicity. It is idle to say
that such has hitherto,been the solitary aim, since
the safety of Shanghae did not necessitate the cap-
ture of Soochow. It will not be difficult to draw
a line between guarding British life and property
from assault of any kind, and supply the Im-
perialist forces with material and leaders. The
opportunity for making such a change has certainly
been afforded by the conduct of the Futai towards
Major GORDON, and by the breaking off of the
engagement with Captain OSBORN. Much must,
of course, be left to the discretion of our officials
in those distant quarters, but if the rule be laid
down for their guidance that we are to preserve
our own from injury of any kind, and to keep aloof
from any local struggle, the results would probably
be better and more satisfactory than in the present
entangled and perplexing condition of affairs.

It is very satisfactory to find that the proposal of
Lord DERBY, as to the introduction of " Working
Class Trains," has been agreed to. While according
due credit to the Government for their discernment
and willingness to forward this scheme, the chief
merit cf the proposal must rest with the noble earl
who has devoted so much time and taken so much
pains with the scheme. It is one which it is in
every sense of the word desirable to essay, and even
if it should not be found so effective in practice as
it is sometimes hoped, still a partial or moderate
success will be a great achievement, and an inesti-
mable boon. Lord DEEBY explained the reasons
for propounding the plan, and stated the weighty
reasons which called for the remedy he suggested.
Certainly they are urgent ones, end though some
may deem it wise to decry them, it does not follow
that the fallacies they preLend to discover are at all
apparent, because there is a ci3rtain class of persons
who must always put sotne impediment in the way
of all improvements. The very notion of a change
is enough to put them on the alert, and anything
like a fundamental alteration in the arrangements
which concern the lower orders sets them quite in
a state of commotion. But these lovers of the stand-
still policy should reflect that in the ceaseless
changes which Occur around us great inconvenience
is necessarily experienced by the working classes,
and evils, the extent and magnitude of which the
wealthy can scarcely contemplate, are borne by
those least qualified to endure the burden, or to
sustain the losses. To remedy the deficiencies thus,
occasioned in the comforts and conveniences of the
working classes by the immense increase of metro-
politan railways, it was absolutely necessary that