The Sun.
London, England, 1864-06-16 00:00:00

711 HE THIRD EDITION OF " THE SUN,"
L .containing the Latest SPORTLNG INTELLIGEN ,
an be had Every Evening of

G. It GLENIE, NEWS AGENT,
No. 4, Connawilit-terrace, Hyde-park.

The Weather--Sun Office, June 16, 1864.

THERMOMETER.
This day at Two o'clock 62

Barometer-29.77.
WIND —S. W. ; moderate breeze, and fino.

HIGH. WATER AT LONDON BRIDGE.
rßis Dir.—Morning, ICh. 58m.—Afternoon, 11h. 30m.
ro..nonnow.-Morning,: 11h. 570:I.—Afternoon. h. m.

?r,„.1
4,4,1 •`,.A.. 4411
ht. •
#44
rilto.. ;MIK it 4+
**•-• 11„, doNS 4,L.Vb

LONDON, THURSDAY, JUNE 16, 1864.

Thanks entirely to her MAJESTY'S Government
War is beginning to look inevitable. We say
thanks entirely to the Government—not to Earl
RUSg LL'S but to the. foreign policy of the
:::
entire Government. For, it is simply absurd to lay
the whole OEII3 and responsibility upon
the
shoulders of the Foreign Secretary. His be the
brunt, it you will, richly deserving it, as, from his
cfficial position, he unquestionably and quite neces-
sarily does. But a relative proportion of the blame
and responsibility devolves upon each of his
Ministerill colleagues in the Cabinet. Their's is
the responsibility of complicity and connivance.
Bat, especially does a huge share of that solemn
and heavy responsibility appertain by still
greater right and by still more urgent necessity
upon the First Minister of the Crown in his mere
capacity as such, as head of the Government. It is

On Sunday week next (the 26th inst.) the addi-
tional fortnight's armistice will expire. Any
extension of the present breathing time beyond
that supplementary fortnight, Denmark peremp-
torily declines. If nothing be accomplished
during the interval between this and the 26th
instant, the Conference will be more com-
pletely than the ruck at the close of a great race,
just Nowhere. At the first gun again fired in
anger between the belligerents, the silence hitherto
observed with such extraordinary patience both in
the Lords and in Commons will be;at length and at
once, we may be certain of that, broken completely.
Whatever may then come of it, the Opposition
can never in this matter, with any show of reason
at least, be called factious—as Oppositions generally
are at these crisee. Such at least must be acknow-
ledged in regard to the Conservatives. What-
ever else may be said of them, that at any
rate must in justice be acknowledged in their
regard. They have during all this anxious,
tedious, troublous do-nothing, and not only
do-nothing, but say-nothing session--not been fac-
tioue. They have placed no impediment in the way
of the Government. They have been asked to wait
again, and yet again—and they have waited. That
1050 waiting they have grumbled was what was only
human nature to be expected from any Opposition, in
Whig or Tory, Radical or Conservative. They have
grumbled,bat they have waited ! Recognising to the
full the Ministerial responsibility at this juncture of
supreme emergency for the Crown and Country—an
emergency so supreme for cnce, that it involves the
imminent alternative of Peace or War in Europe—
the Opposition, with the cards in their hands
[who shall deny it ? Count the Government
losses ! Count the Opposition gains I and
than answer !]—the Opposition with the
cards in their hands have abstained from

playing them. Again, we say it, as independent
Liberals of no party, as unprejudiced and dispas-
sionate lookers-un, again and again we say it--
Whatever may now ba adventured upon by them,
the Opposition cannot, in this matter, be pronounced
factions.

Between the Opposition and the Govern-
ment what has to be decided is far more than any
question as to a change of 'Ministry I It is the
question of questions politically for England—
whether she is to have war or peace in Europe!
Whether she is to have war or peace with German 3!
It is—in itself—a fearful alternative. Woe to any
Government that rashly embarks the fortunes of
England in such a war !

The difficulty of the position just now oc-
cnpied by the Government in regard to this
supreme alternative may perhaps be ex-
pressed the most plainly by our saying, that
from the manner in which it hes, not drifted, but
muddled the country towards war—it has deprived
itself of the capability of maintaining peace without
disgrace I Otherwise to express it—the Govern-
ment have contrived to get themselves into such
a dilemma that their only means of vindicating the
honour of the Crown is by plunging the nation
into war. Therein lies the strength in truth of
the Opposition. Peace, with honour to England,
seems impossible now—with the present Govern-
ment. War, in tardy and disastrous vindication of
the national honour, seems to be the only extrication
from ;the diplomatic difficulties they have been
BO elaborately blundering into, yet left to the
existing Government. The consideration therefore
forces itself both upon the country at large and
upon Parliament—in this lamentable dilemma, in
this alarming alternative—May not a purGr
and a nobler alternative be within reach of the
Opposition ? May not the Conservatives secure
cur honour, without dragging us into a
war ? Whoever can effect this—and we believe
it can yet be effected—is the Statesman of the
Hour. Whatever party can secure this to Eng-
land, that is the avoidance of an European War, is
worthy of superseding, is entitled in the
interests of the Crown and of the country to super-
sede the present occupants of place—what though
the name of the party so supplanting the Govern-
ment should happen to be Conservative,

The Effairs of one of our least regarded colonies
have lately risen into considerable prominence. It
is many years since the first discovery of the gold
Elia rapid increase of her
diggings raised Australia into an important coup.
the plentiful supply of the precious population and
metal, which
try, and
she can boast of, have long since made her national
as it is, graty
progress, ifieg• Canada and the other
North American provinces have been objects of
especial interest during the course of the great civil
war, while India, which, though not exactly among
the colonies, forms a valuable part of our outlying
possessions, has, ever since the great catastrophe of
1857, been anxiously watched by this country. Of
New Zealand, however, little has been hitherto said
or thought. The chronic disputes between the
settlers and the natives were little regarded, and it
was considered a thriving colony, though compare_
tively small and thinly populated. Thanks to the
recent outbreaks, New Zealand politics have grown
suddenly important. The arrival of the mail is
eagerly watched for, the chances of euccess and dis-
aster are closely weighed and scanned, while the
proposed New Zealand loan has engaged the serious
attention of the House of Commons. It was fortu-
nate so far that the question of the loan was brought
up for discussion just at this time. The publication
of the news received by the mail had occasioned
some natural uneasiness, which Mr. CARDWELL
was happily able considerably to modify. Accord.
ing to the details given by the colonial press, it
seems that two severe engagements took place dur-
ing the month of April—the first of which resulted
in the defeat of the enemy, while the second inflicted
upon us " the first noticeable reverse of the cam-
paign." Fortunately this reverse is tzazsformed
in
General CAMERON'S official despatch into "the

simply preposterous, acting as the under-graduates
of Cambridge did the other day, when they groaned,
with a heart and half " in each of their groans,
at the every mention of Earl RUSSELL'S name, and
yet cheered to the echo Earl RUSSELL'S colleague,
and now also his political chieftain, Lord PALMER-
STON. No—the responsibility devolves not by any
means exclusively upon the Foreign Secretary—
it is one the shame and the blame of which
belong collectively to the entire Cabinet—indi-
vidually to each member of the Cabinet. The
Earl RUSSELL, as Foreign Secretary, stands forth
conspicuously, of course, foremost for that matter
among all his colleagues, to receive whatever
shame or blame may be regarded by the people
as due to the foreign Folicy of the Goverrnt„nt.
But—above him as Chief of the Government itself,
as Prime Minister of England, the responsibilities
of the situation, the shame and the blame now
pouring forth abundantly as the miserable fruits of
this foreign policy, are—Lord PALMERSTON'S !

Ths Aberdeen Cabinet enjoys in the national his-
tory the credit of having " drifted" as into the war
with Russia. This second Palnierston Cabinet
appears to be earning quite as securely for itself
the credit of "muddling" us into another war, into
a still more terrible war—into a war not upon the
eastern confines of Europe, but in the very centre
or heart of the European Continent—into a war
►with Germany.