The Sun.
London, England, 1863-09-29 00:00:00

SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALS,

POST.—When Earl Russell, in acknow]edging
the hospitality with which he has been entertained
at Blairgowrie, favoured the hosts with a review of
the foreign policy of the English Cabinet during
the period he has held his present office, he might
congratulate himself on having pitched on a fruit-
ful theme. When Lord Palmereton'a Administra-
tion was formed the war in Italy had not come to a
close, and since then a revolution in the American
Republic, an armed intervention in Mexico, and a
widespread insurrection, extending over a con.
siderable portion of central Europe, have thrown
more than an ordinary share of business into the
office of the Secretary of State for Foreign Aff-irs.
With so many topics to which to refer, Earl
Russell accordingly experienced little difficulty
in making a long and interesting speech; and if
he did not remind his hearers of the negotiations
which he so happily conducted with the Govern-
ments of Brazil and Denmark, we can only attribute
the omission to a natural unwillingness to refer to
transactions in which his personal skill in diplo •
macy was so singularly displayed. Poland and
America of necessity constituted the staple of his
discourse; and as the great issues raised in those
countries still remain unsolved, the Foreign
Secretary specially endeavoured to justify the
policy hitherto pursued by her Majesty's Govern-
ment. Results not unfrequently supply the best
justification for proceedings whose expediency at
the time of their inception is problematical ;
but as neither in the case of the American civil
war, nor of the Polish insurrection, matters have
reached that stage when the consequences can be
accurately foreseen, it is not possible to employ
the most conclusive of all arguments, that of jus•
tification by events. In both these quarrels Eng-
land has observed the strictest neutrality ; and,
however either of them may terminate, it is not diffi-
cult to show that the Government of this country
deserve credit for having so far saved it from being
embroiled in foreign disputes. If ultimately, how-
over, this kingdom should find itself engaged in
active hostilities, the question would of course arise
whether so unfortunate a result might not have been
averted by the prosecution, on the part of the
Government, of a different policy. Events have
fortunately as yet not flowed into this channel, and
in the meanwhile it is neither unreasonable to
congratulate ourselves on our present good fortune,
nor unjustifiable to hope that we may henceforth
steer clear of the many difficulties by which we
are surrounded, and through which, under the
guidance of the present Government, the vessel of
the State has hitherto been so successfully steered.
We have so frequently of late found it necessary
to discuss the policy pursued by this country as
well as be France and Austria in respect to the
Polish question, that Lord Russell's allusions to
recent negotiations may be dismissed with but tittle
. .

comment. But one observation which he thought
proper to make is so just and forcible that we cannot
pass it by without remark. Having reminded his
hearers that in his place in Parliament he stated
that in his opinion neither the obligations nor the
interest of England required that we should go to
war for Poland, he went on to say—" Holding that
opinion, I think it unbecoming of us to rail at
Russia when we are not prepared forcibly to resist
her aggression." Nothing can be more conclu-
sive. But, ou the other hand, may not one in-
quire, as in fact the French Cabinet is to day
inquiring, why, holding this opinion, England
took upon herself with other Powers to dictate to
Russia the proper way of governing her domi-
nions ? Was it " becoming" to accept voluntarily
the office of censor, and in the same breath to declare
everything wanting which could give weight to the
reproof? These are questions not put by us, but
put by Poland, in whose breast false hopes have been
excited, and by France, who not unnaturally re-
sents the affront which has been passed on her, in
conjunction with the other two Powers, by the Rus-
sian Government. No one doubts that it is not for
the interest of England to go to war for Poland ; but
may it not well be impolitic to declare such event out
of the bounds of possibility ? England derived no
material benefit from going to war for Turkey nine
years since ; but for all that she found herself obliged
to invade the Crimea. We have never questioned the
soundness of a policy directed with the view of pre-
serving England from being entangled in a European
war, but we have feared lest such a result would
be hastened instead of averted by frequent and posi-
tive assurances that such a contingency was utterly

impossible. The course taken by the Government of
this country in respect to the American belligerents
has, except at W astiingtou and Richmond, met with
universal approval_ In recognising the South as
belligerents we committed, as Earl Russell forcibly
pointed out, no breach of neutrality. It was impos-
sible to treat the uprising of six millions of people
as that petty rebellion and domestic disturbance
which in the first instance the Government of the
Northern States would have had us believe it to be.
But independently of this consideration, our exten-
sive maritime relations rendered it necessary that
the character of Confederate cruisers should be
especially determined. If we did not re-
cognise the belligerent character of the Con-
federate States, we would have been obliged
to treat their privateers as pirates, and by
so doing would have most glaringly violated that
_neutrality we are so anxious to preserve. Nor does
the oft repeated assertion that the Confederates were
rebels against the Union, even admitting its truth,
furnish any ground for impugning the conduct of
the English Government in acknowledging their
belligerent character. It assuredly is not for the
descendants of those who nearly a century ago
shook off allegiance to the English Crown to cry
down rebellion as of necessity unlawful. The peo-
ple of this country, as Earl Russell reminded his
hearers, rebelled against Charles I. and James 11. ;
and it was their descendants who, by rebelling
against George 111., laid the foundation of the Ame-
rican Republic. It is not therefore withoat surprise
that we hear from American orators and statesmen
angry and oft-repeated denunciations of rebellion
as the greatest of social crimes; and we may well
wonder at the singular aspect of a Government—
the offspring of successful revolution, and theo-
retically absolutely dependent on popular suffrage—
assuming the tone and adopting the language of
Oriental despotism. It is the constant complaint of
the Northern States that they are misunderstood.
On this side of the Atlantic the true objects with
which the war is protracted are not acknowledged,
and the genuine philanthropy which counsels the
extermination of a kindred race does not meet with

•
the appreciation which it deserves. In extenuation
we can only Bay that we employ to the best of our
ability the judgment with which we are endowed.
Battles have been fought extending over several
days, and the slain have been counted by thousands,
but when the accounts have reached us we have
sought in vain for the evidences of that Christian
.
spirit—that motive principle of this mighty war,
which we have been so frequently called upon to
admire, if not to emulate. We have been charged
with taking pleasure in the continuance of hostili-
ties, and throwing obstructions in the way of an
amicable settlement. We may well, to quote the
words of Lord Russell, lose patience when charges
of this kind are brought against us, not by an ill-
regulated press, but by men whose talents and edu-
cation have placed them in the foremost rank of
American statesmen. We can well afford to disre-
gard misrepresentations so palpable as these; but
we cannot, without misgiving, look forward to a
time when those representations may still obtain
credence with the American people. How long the
judicial blindness with which they are now afflicted
may last no one can tell. We can only hope that
when a war which has so completely distorted the
judgment of an intelligent people shall come to an
end, the American nation will acknowledge that
they possess no oloser friends or more sincere well-
wishers than that people from whom, and by no
distant interval, they trace their descent.
HERALD.—The long inaction of the great armies
of the belligerents in America is at end. From
Virginia and Tennessee we have intelligence of an
approaching conflict. By this time in all proba-
bility two great battles have been fought decisive
of the respective campaigns in those states. The
news is not unexpected. For some time past it has
been rumoured that the Confederate troops were
gathering in Eastern Tennessee, and when the
abandonment of Chattanooga and Knoxville with-
out a blow was announced, it was very generally
surmised in well-informed quarters that the evacua-
tion of those important positions was not effected
without a distinct strategical object, that an en-
counter between the two armies would sooner or
later take place, and that a position so easily defen-
sible would not be finally surrendered without a
tremendous conflict. It would now appear that the
retrogade movement from Chattanooga was made
with the two-fold purpose of drawing Rosecranz
further from the base of operations, and of effecting
a junction with reinforcements from the army of
Virginia. The accounts, it is true, are somewhat
obscure and perplexing. An action is said to have
taken place at Lafayette, Tennessee, in which the
Federals sustained a defeat. But a glance at the
map shows that Lafayette, Tennessee, is far in the