The Sun.
London, England, 1864-03-17 00:00:00

SPIRIT OP THE PUBLIC JOURNALS,

TIMES.—We rejoice to find the House of Lords
returning again to what we must consider to be its
true and legitimate vocation—the promotion of the
sacred interests of peace. Nothing has jarred more
on the public mind than the language which was
recently held by this great Assembly—language
which sounded as if they really considered it their
vocation to appeal to the passions of the multitude,
and place every obstacle in their power to those
who labour in the good work of preventing war,
carnage, and desolation. Our pleasure is increased
by reflecting on the quarter from which this salu-
tary change has come. Among the many admirable
qualities which distinguish Lord Ellenborough
nobody that we know of has ever enumerated any
marked aversion from war. A civilian with the
tastes of a military man, Lord Ellenborough has
generally been inclined to go to war with the first
nation which happened to offend our sense of jus-
tice or of propriety. Even the other day we were
sorry to see him lending his powerful voice to per-
suade his brother Peers that we have no choice but
to rush headlong into the Schleswig Holstein strug-
gle. Now, however, he speaks in a manner worthy
of his own great talents and the Assembly of which
he is an ornament. He asks whether the proposal
of Austria and Prussia for an armistice which was
published two or three days ago is authentic, and
makes that question the opportunity for expressing
a hope, in which we heartily agree with him, that
Denmark will not reject the opportunity offered her,
perhaps for the last time, extricating herself from
the tremendous difficulty with which she is contend-
ing. " I must express," says Lord Ellenborough,
"my earnest hope that the Danes will accept an
armistice on the basis of uti possidetis. I trust we
shall have the happiness to see the great Powers of
Europe assembled in conference with the armistice
first established, and I do hope at the same time
that Austria and Prussia will instruct Marshal
Wrangel not to commit the army to any further
military operations, for it will be a most criminal
act if, while these Powers hold out the hope of a
pacific settlement, they do anything to endanger
the lives of more men than have already fallen in
this unrighteous war." The counsel is wise and
weighty, and whatever Lord Ellenborough may
have to say to-morrow, he can hardly utter any-
thing better deserving the attention of Denmark
or more beneficial to his own party. It is quite
time that some one stepped forward to emancipate
the Conservative party from the stigma, which
they have been so anxious to fix upon themselves,
of wishing to drive the Government and the nation
into the horrors of a European conflict. The con-
stant taunts levelled at the Government for the
poorness of their spirit in submitting to see their
counsel rejected, their mediation repudiated, and
their good offices slighted, have sunk deep into the
minds of the reflecting part or the nation, and they
have come to think that the differences which once
divided Whigs and Tories in this country have
almost all merged into the single division of advo-
eates of peace and promoters of war. Sydney
Smith calculated that we had been at war 35 mi-
nutes out of every hour since the Peace of Utrecht;
and if we are to accept the present Tories as fair
representatives of the old English spirit of other
days it could not well be otherwise. It is quite
possible certainly for Lord Ellenborough, if he be
so minded, to unite his exhortation to peace with a
condemnation of the conduct of the nation in not
immediately going to war. He may say, " I advise
Denmark to make peace because England is too
mean and too pool...spirited to assist her in waging;
war.'' But we are at present inclined to hope bet-
ter things, and to believe that the effect of really
wise and moderate counsel will not be neutralized
by any such addition. Denmark has now her des-
tiny in her own hands. She can, if she will, emerge
with honour and without irreparable loss from the
conflict; and if, carried away by democratic or re-
volutionary passion, she refuses to avail herself of
the opportunity afforded her, on her own folly, and
not on our prudence and moderation, must rest the
blame for such results as may ensue. We have given
her all the moral support in our power, and have
brought matters to such a point that Denmark has
still the opportunity of rescuing herself from the
hands of her enemies. Whether she will avail her-
self of that opportunity we cannot yet tell, nor ought
we to be judged by the result, which it is not in our
power to control. Let any one who has felt disposed
to find fault with us for not being more prompt in
enforcing by the sword the opinions which we enter-
tain consider for a moment whether we should have
been nearer our only object—the maintenance of the
peace of Europe and the restraint of violent and law-
less aggression—if we had yielded to the solicita-
tions and taunts of the leaders of the Conservative
party, had threatened instead of expostulated, and
prepared war instead of recommending conferences
and mediations. Is it at all sure that, after all the
expenditure, all the disturbance, and ell the panic,
we should be the least nearer the end we have in
view ? France has hitherto remained quiet, and if
she has done little to promote the cause of peace,
she is, as far as we know, entirely free from the guilt
of inflaming warlike passions. Are we quite sure
that this would have been the case if Engiand had
listened to unwise and interested counsellors and
thrust herself prematueely into a conflict with the
whole united power of CT many ? Is it in human
nature that France would have contented herself with
looking on, or merely assisting Denmark by landing
troops on her territory ? Is it not rather certain that
she would have seized the opportunity to extend her
frontier to the Rhine, and repossess herself of what
she believes to be her natural boundary ? If this bad
been the result of our interference, does any one
think that we should have interference to a good
purpose, or that things would be in a better state
then than they Rre now, when we have brought
about a proposal for an armistice without removing
any one of tt o great European landmarks, or so far as
we know, laying the foundation of any future war ?
We have not yet a right to speak as persons re-
moved from the possibility of very serious peril; but
if we escape that peril it will mainly be because
Parliament and the country have had wisdom and
courage enough to disregard the taunts of the war
party and to persevere in the just path in which,
if we have found little to gratify the spirit of na-
tional vanity, we have obtained advantages more
durable and honour less likely to be tarnished. It
is something that, with a whole country delivered
over to the wildest passions, England has retained
her reason clear and her perception just, and that
by perseverance in good offices she has fairly worn
out the angry and unjust spirits with which she
had to deal. It is something that those Powers
who but a little while ago refused to listen to our
warnings, or, indeed, to accept oar guarantee that
the Danish Monarchy would repeal the Constitution
of November, should now of their own accord,
without having been able to possess themselves of
the island of Alsen, or, indeed, of the whole main-
land of Schleswig, offer to enter into a Conference;
and something, also, that the tide of revolution,
which at one moment seemed rising so high in Ger-
many, has been stopped. There are many symp-
toms of a reaction from the exalted and exaggerated
sentiments which alone could gain audience a few
weeks ago; the lesser Powers of Germany are awak-
ing to a sense of their own impotence when occupy•
ing a position of antagonism to the two greater
States, and the two greater States are beginning
to appreciate the perilous nature of the task they
have undertaken, and the impossibility of much
longer circumscribing the war within. the narrow
limits within which for six weeks of winter it has
been found barely possible to confine it.
Post —lt is scarcely possible to exaggerate the
importance of the questions of international law
which have sprung from the present unhappy Ame-
rican contest. Amidst the difficulties and complica-
tions which have arisen the policy of the Government
of this country has been one of strict and impartial
neutrality, and that policy, being in accordance with
the duty and the interests of this country, can well
afford to stand the test of such angry but conflicting
critics as Mr. Roebuck, and Mr. Bright. It appears
that the continued emigration from Ireland to the
Federal States has been associated in many minds
with a systematic plan on the part of the American
Government to enlist British subjects in a foreign
service, in violation not only of our territorial
sovereignty, but of that famous statute of the 59th
of George 111., the real effect of which, in the cases
of the Alexandra and the steam-rams, is still a matter
sub judice. On the one hand, it is said by Mr.
Roebuck that it is most unfair to remonstrate with
the Confederate Government for employing agents
in this country to purchase ships and machinery
whilst Federal agents are permitted with impunity
to forward to the scene of war, not hundreds, but
thousands of Irish fighting men. On the other
hand, Mr. Bright, who sees everything through a
Northern medium, maintains that the exodus is
merely the result of an economic law which must
make every man prefer high wages and prosperity
abroad to poverty and misery at home. Now, in all
probability both these representations are partially
correct. We do not suppose that Federal agents in
Ireland are foolish enough to enlist men with the
express purpose of serving in the American army.
They are far too discreet. Mr. Caird mentioned a
case in which one of these agents publicly adver
tised for a thousand young men to be employed on
an American railroad at 7s. a day, the directors
guaranteeing that, as payment would be made
iu greenbacks, the cost of living to these men should
not exceed 12s. a week. Of course everybody knows
what the meaning of such an announcement is—an
attempt, by the promise of high pay, to induce a
thousand of her Majesty's subjects to become food
for powder in a quarrel with which they have no
concern. But Governments and Courts cannot act
upon bare suspicion. There must be prima facie
evidence of au infringement of the Foreign Enlist-

ment Act before the alleged agent or his victims can
be indicted for a misa'emeanour. The difficulty 01
obtaining this evidence was clearly pointed eta., by
Lord Palmerston, who stared that the Government
had done all that it could do by having directed the
attention of the American Minister in this country
to the subject. Those persons who remember the
unfriendly spirit which the United States exhibited,
towards this country during the Crimean war will
not have forgotten that in 1855 the British Minis'
ter, Sir John Crampton, cited one or two British
consuls were ordered out of the United States be'
cause a German, resident in Philadelphia, had, upon
his own authority and for his own profit, pretended
to enlist some few wretethed Germans for the Bri-
tish service. The Cabin et of Washington, without
waiting for a particle of legal evidence, broke Off
diplomatic relations witt't this country, and thus
showed its perfect neutrality by an act of gratuit-
ous insult to one belligeren t. If, at the dictation
of Mr. Bright and Mr. Roebuck, the British Go'
vernment were to imitate the precedent set by Mr'
Filmore, Mr. Marcy, and General Cass in 1855 t
Federal and Confederate agents would forthwith
be ordered to depart the rt ,alm, the former on sue'
picion of enlisting Trisha ten, and the latter for
equipping and fitting out ships of war to cruise
against a State with which tL is country is at peocp
Discussions of this kind in the ijonse of Commons do
little good ; they not only to nd to irritate both
gra
ve
impediments in America, but they freq uently throw ar
impediments in the way of the Coaernment and o.
our tribunals. It is obvious that the provisions of
the Foreign Enlistment Act are amp:l- sufficient to
meet the case of recruiting in thi; 3 country by
American agents, however deficient they may be
with respect to the Alexandra and the steam rams'
The one thing necessary, however, is legal proof,
and we have no doubt that when this is obtained the
Government will set the law in mot, .on against all
offenders, without regard to the sympathies or pre'
dilections of either Mr. Roebuck or Mr. Bright'
The case of the men supposed to have b een enlisted
at Cork by the officers of the Federal ct wiser
sage will no doubt throw some light upot the sub'
ject ; but still there may be no evidence to connect
the American Government, or any of its a gents, with
transactions of this kind. It may turn out that the
captain of a foreign ship, wanting men, thought
there was no harm in engaging a few needy Irish"
men as stokers and firemen, and it may ;also turn
out that the individuals who for the last two year;
have regulated the tide of emigration from. Ireland
to New York have reaped enormous profits by $
simple percentage on the passage money paid by the
American Government, or by the emigrants them'
selves. It is quite clear that, so long as the PO'
Irishman has £lOO bounty awaiting him in Americo,
he will find his way to that favoured land without
considering the chances and hazards of a fierce war'
which will be protracted just so long as foreign mgr'
cenaries choose to sell their lives and services to the
highest bidder. We might leave the maeter here'
but het American mail brings intelligence of the fact
that a e.easure has been introduced into Congress
for the appointment of United States emigration
agents in the prircipal ports of Ireland and GI;
many. These persons, it is understood, are to assist
emigrants either by advances of money or by P 10;
viding tor them a free passage. Should the Acd
become law, these agents would be the avowed
officers of the United Stites Government, and, a"
such, could not presume to exercise any functions;
diplomatic or commercial, without the sanction 0`
her Majesty's Government. They must be either
consuls or consular agents, and if, holding
.01
office, they should infringe any of our munaniPt.;
laws, the American precedent of 1855 might be a/
vantageously followed by their instant dismisee
from this country. If the Government of Mr. Lie:
coin is so rich end so benevolent as to desire to VI
vide happy and prosperous homes for the Irish an
German peasantry, we could not object to the Pre'
sence among us of the agents of such good work'
but if we find that the Irish peasant must be e
young and hearty man, and that Mr. Lincoln'e
benevolence does not extend to the aged, or te
females and children, suspicion will not unnatural if
be excited, and then it will not be difficult to obtaill,
evidence which, upon legal as well as moral grounder
will make the Federal Government responsible ft)
the acts of its agents.

COUNTRY DIARRETS.

- •f•-

LYNN—TUESDAY.
At to-day's market there was a fair attendance, with ill
average show of wheat, which brought about the prices'
last week.
White wheat 44s to 46s /
It.cd 4os to 42s 1
Leans
Small 34s to 36s 1

Barley. e
Grinding g
Peas • •
—23 094ss toss
ttto
Oats..

• HULL—TVESDAY.
At to-day's market there was a fair supply of Englisl;
wheat, which farmers held firmly at last week's rates ;.1g
foreign there was still a slow trade doing. Both nisli iistl
and grinding barley neglected. Beans and peas sold
retail, but no lower in price. Oats more in request) all
better sold.

---- --- O
Wheat.... Old white.... per qr .. 42s Od to 44s fl Oa
Old red
41s Od to 450 Od
.
a e 66 ; , 4.1 P,
oi
Barley.... English malting • 27s Od to 34s 0
Grinding
Saal and Oderbruck ...",i 32s Od to 355 0,1
Holstein and Danish 3os Od to 315 oa
Grinding
Oats English, old
Archangel and Riga, per at osl2ld to ,113
Friesland and Dutch osl3d to 031'9
Swedish and Danish
°sl
Beans ....English, old, per qr. 4Oso2aci to 1°
t 0403,5303
Ncw, pigeon 42s Od to 00 3
New tick 4os Od to 425 63
Egyptian
Peas .. Foreign boilers „. 32s Od to a*,,6 Od
Grinding
Tares ....Spring. —s Od to --3 oil
Indian Corn
Linseed, feeding
crushing . 4os Od to 5''..34 0
Linseed cakes 1-lull) £9 10 0 to £9 ir 0
Eoreign. Bl5 oto 9 'll 0
Rape cakes 5lO oto 0 ," 0
Bones .. 5 5 oto 5 "

'MELTON IVIOWBRAY—TUESDAY.
,e3t
The following were the currencies :—New white viwnel
408'.0c1 to Os Od ; new red, 40s Od to 42s per 36 st°,o
beans, 37s to 40s for old ; new sorts, 34s to 37s per 30 "fot
barley, 33s to 36s for malting, and 298 to 31s per 4r'grinding; new oats, 198 to sOd per 24 stone; old)
to 28s.

DUBLIN—TUESDAY. 04
A large attendance. Very few transactions in I°-I•De
Indian corn, flour, or oa.meal, but decidedly more la'
am to purchase than for a few weeks past.