The Sun.
London, England, 1864-10-24 00:00:00

journal, remarking upon this object observes, "It
can be and it has been grown in every climate,
ranging from that which is rainless to tracts where
the annual rainfall is from 120 to 140 inches; and
it thrives, not only in that rich black earth which
has become identified with its name, cotton soil,'
but also in the adjoining red clay which principally
constitutes the rest of the agricultural soil of
India." But those best qualified to judge complain
that the Government will not lend a fostering
hand. In Turkey the Administration, immediately
after the outbreak of the American war, abolished
all taxes upon cotton-growing lands for five
years and busied itself in the construc-
tion of roads, and in giving other en-
couragement. In India no such assistance
was given to the new and struggling trade. Mr
BROWN, a gentleman well acquainted with the sub-
ject, has for some time past strenuously advocated
the suspension of all tax on land cultivated with
cotton for five years, leaving all other land-tax
untouched. The benefit of this measure is intended
to reach the grower, who, under existing circum•
stances, is obliged to take the Bunniah's price for
his cotton, in order to obtain the necessary cash for
the payment of his land-tax, The authorities, how-
ever, maintain that such a system would be opposed
to sound policy, and the Home Government has
expressly forbidden the experiment to be made.
Sir CHARLES WOOD has, as we know, a great ob-
jection to the slightest diminution or alteration of
the charges on land ; his one idea of making
money seems to be the receipts of the land
tax collector, and every decrease of those receipts
he looks upon as a loss to the national exchequer
without inquiring how far other departments of
revenue may have benefited by the change. One
would think that the present moment, when Sir
JOHN LAWRENCE is just extending the perpetual
settlement to the Northwest Provinces, and thus
interfering with the established routine in such
matters, would be especially suitable for the change.
But we fear there is little hope. Much precious
time has already been lost, and what has been
done for the trade has been done almost in spite of
the Government, We fear that the war•tossed
States of America will have leisure to recover from
their convulsions and to remodel their constitutions
before Sir CHARLES WOOD is convinced of the ben
nefits of an enlarged and enlightened policy.

The Solicitor-General has been distinguishing
himself in dilating upon public affairs, and it ie
only to be regretted that his ability had not a
better field for its display than he found in several
passages of his speech. He laboured under official
responsibilities as well as Parliamentary ones in
addressing his constituents this time, and perhaps
those circumstances impelled him to try him too
much and defend all that had been done or left
undone by his colleagues, whether right or wrong ,
in omission or commission. First of all he alluded
to American affttirs, which certainly have not con.
duced much to the credit of the law officers of the
Crown. No one can deny, however, that they
have been the cause of great annoyance ane anxiety
to them, and thus there are some allowances to
be made, since they were put to an unusual test,
and had to decide weighty matters unexpectedly.
So far, then, all must concur in the remark of the
Solicitor-General that a great many new questions
have arisen of late years in these affairs, and
that this war has given rise to questions
" for which lawyers will search precedents and
books in vain." It is also strictly true that

" in endeavouring to steer a neutral course, yon
have to navigate between rocks and quicksands ;"
but, unfortunately for Sir R. COLLIER and his
friends, they have more than once got into those
dangerous quarters in their efforts to settle compli-
cated matters with more ingenuity than ingenuous-
ness. After all that has occurred, it is really too
much to say that we have nothing to complain of
in the decisions of the American prize courts.
is notorious that these derniers resorts, as they un-
fortunately are, have been characterised by the
grossest injustice, and at times decided in a most
unprecedented manner, and it requires the acute-
ness of legal vision to discern the respect which the
American judges have paid to the decisions of our
courts. It is really idle for such remarks to be made
at 011, for they cannot convince those who are able
to form their own opinions, and those who are will.
ing to take the other side do not need such inflated
assertions. Sir R. COLLIER went at his work
with a will, and shirked nothing that bore
upon the matter in hand ; indeed, it almost
seemed as if he fancied himself in the House,

discussing some great question at issue on an occa-
sion of party warfare or trial of strength. His en-
deavours to prove that the enforcement of the
Foreign Enlistment Act was very beneficial to the
trading classes were most futile, and really proved
the weakness of his case most completely. It is too
late in the day for any one to defend or cpprove of
the seizure of the Alexandra ; the voice of public
opinion for once coincided with the decisions of the
courts of law, and as the Solicitor-General was not
in any way connected with the affair at its outset,
it is quite absurd for him to come to the rescue of
those who incurred such odium in the extraordinary
measures relating to that vessel. An amusing inci-
dent occurred in this ill-timed defence, however, for
the zeal of the politician got the better of the pre-
judiee of the profession, and rather than own the
Ministers in the wrong the learned speaker declared
that the law was at fault. Another discrepancy
followed this fatal avowal, and the Foreign Enlist-
ment Act just lauded as so wonderful in its working,
was admitted to be surrounded with so many difficula
ties that it was deemed most expedient to compromise
the affair of the rams at Birkenhead. Sir E. COLLIER
attempted to show that the Government had adopted
the golden rule, " Do as you would be done by," in
their dealing with America. This is a very unfor-
tunate illustration, because it only applies to their
actions with one of the belligerent parties, and cer-
tainly can claim no affinity in our dealings with
the other. No State, large or small, would be cone
tented to be treated as Eogland under her present
advisers has treated the Confederate States of North
America, and lawyers may exert themselves in
their forensic arguments, and Parliamentary
speakers may declaim with matchless logic and
skilled rhetoric, but it will not do; the fact is patent
to the world, and impartial and unprejudiced judges
on both sides of the Atlantic will concur in the
validity:of the statement that fair play has not been
the characteristic of cur course of action in the
struggles which have rent in twain the great Re-
public of the Western World. The Solicitor-Gene-
ral next addressed himself to the Schleswig-Holstein
question, and thus rushed from Scylla to Caarybdis
in good earmst, lie made a good advocate if a bad
politician, for he went out of his way to take up
awkward subjects so as to defend and explain away
what it would have been more prudent to let alone.
It is quite out of date now to declare that Earl
RUSSELL'S reply to the French Emperor's invitation
to a eingress was polite, although some persons
had declared it was not so. Also, the triumphant
assertions that it was quite right to have declined
the Congress came too late now, when every one
knows that the affairs of Denmark might have been
getter managed, and could not have been worse
conducted, if the projected nieetiog hod taken place
as originally proposed. The Solicit° •General cons