The Sun.
London, England, 1864-09-23 00:00:00

trigues of France, after the revolution, had a like
evil infleunce ; but the restoration of European in-
dependence after the fall ot Napoleon brought back
the sense of national rights, and it was little to be
expected that there should follow such an outrage
upon them, such a violation of all public principle
as we have just witnessed, and by those who had
been most humiliated in the late wars. Once more
Prussia has been the aggressor. Seized with the
desire for military distinction, as if to obliterate the
memory of her prostration under France, she joined
the German mobs in their war frenzy, and sought
renown in trampling on the weak, and truckling to
the strong, made herself the tool of the Muscovite
in a course unprecedented even by Russian oppres-
sion and Polish suffering, and was backed by Aus-
tria on no conceivable principle, and on any calcu-
lation of interest unintelligible, if it be not some
dream of gaining German influence to counterpoise
her difficulties in Italy and her worse embarrass.
meats in Hungary. But from all her profligate
aggression Prussia has gained not the shadow
of glory, though she has grasped the substance
of plunder ; and for England to stand by and wit-
ness unmoved the massacre and pillage of the gal-
lant Danes would have been shameful, She must
feel the indignation which all Europe felt, and had
she not given vent to the feeling she was disgraced.
The indignation felt and expressed was against the
rulers of Prussia, not certainly against the people,
who have almost as much reason to complain of
those rulers as the Danes themselves. That England
should have been unable to interfere for their pro-
tection, and for punishing the wrongdoer, was a
misfortune not a fault, The outcry that she was
humbled is as groundless as it would be to say that
any one who saw a murder committed by a gang of
armed ruffians was humbled if he did not stay their
hands. Onr Government would have been much to
blame had it either encouraged the Danes to resist
by the promise of help which it knew could not be
given, or withheld its testimony to their valour and
to the injustice they had suffered, But no such blame
was ever incurred. The expression of national sen-
timent was distinct and strong ; promise of help
there was nons given. The only expression that
could be so construed was the declaration that Den-
mark would not stand alone ; a declaration coupled
with the statement that France and Russia viewed
the aggression of Germany in the same light with
ourselves. The declaration was thus the mere state-
ment of a fact, and no one could for an instant
imagine that we should single-handed rush into war
with twoethirds of Europe. There have certainly
been times when England would have made efforts
to induce those who thought with her to act with
her in resisting wrong ; would by subsidies or by
offering to join in warfare have engaged in offensive
alliances. But at no time would she make war alone
and unsupported ; and the only difference between
our present position and that of former periods is,
the greater determination to avoid the evils of war
and to calculate the risks of being involved in it.
It iie another matter to regard the abstinence of
our neighbours from a timely interposition.
France owes much to the wisdom of her present
Government and its determination against what-
ever may interrupt her rapid progress in the arts of
peace. But there seems little reason to doubt that
her interference at the early part of the late pro-
ceedings would have been effectual to prevent the
acts of violence which are universally condemned,
and effectual without the least risk of hostilities.
The measures which this country has taken for ob-
taining the concurrence of foreign powers in the
great act of abolishing the slave trade form no ex-
ception to the general principle, as besides the para-
mount claims of humanity and justice, we had not
a very remote interest in the concurrence of other
states ; and happily our efforts proved successful in
all but one instance, that of the Spanish share in
this execrable traffic, as it is called, but properly
this great crime. Spain received a large sum for the
supposed expenses of her joining us, and for many
years postponed performing her contract. At length
she made a law professing to abolish, but which only
protected her governors and other persons employed
in Cuba, and these, with one or two honourable ex-
ceptions, took bribes from the slave-traders in the
most open manner, inasmuch that one governor re-
ceived no less than £lOO,OOO for permitting them to
import negroes. Brazil has, since the Portuguese
party ceased to rule, pursued a very different course ;
and a.though we were under the necessity of pass-
ing an act in 1845, somewhat violently interfering
with the Brazil commerce, at a time when the Por-
tuguese protected the trtlffio—an act so strong that
its author, Lerd Aberdeen, pledged himself to the
government at Rio to have it repealed as sJon as
the traffic ceased—that event has now been for above
ten years completely an accomplished fact, the guilty
commerce having entirely ceased through the efforts
of the Government, with the hearty concurrence of
the legislature and of the community. The Aber-
deen Act ought, therefore, to be at once repealed,
and our amicable relations with Brazil, which that
act alone interrupts, would be restored, to the great
benefit of our trade, which is of great value, with
that country. In the present state of easy com-
munication between different countries, some
of which are only separated from others
by a river or a line of boundary, the laws
of one state are easily evaded by individuals re.
moving to another, and thus the criminal law especially is
rendered ineffectual by the escape of offenders, Hence the
necessity of extradition treaties is apparent, and it would be
of great importance that they should be entered into by all
nations. The difficulty, and the only difficulty, exists in
the different proof required in different countries to give the
magistrate the power of arresting ; and for some time this
occasioned great discontent in France, because it was said
that escaped culprits were surrendered to the English offs •
c ers, but the English magistrates hardly gave up any to the
French. A treaty with Prussia gave ris_, to a bill in the
late session, but it was withdrawn on finding that persons
tried in their absence were required by the treaty to be sur-
rendered in this country when sentence had been passed upon
them for not appearing to take their trial. Now, by universal
consent, no extradition of persons charged with political
offences can ever be thought of, and yet such offences might
be the ground of sentence in absence. Nothing could have
been easier than to frame the law for carrying the treaty
into effect, so as to free it from this objection. Mention has
been made of the views now entertained upon colonial policy.
Men alarmed at the expense of colonies, and especially at the
cost of their defence,and assuming that their commerce would
remain secured in all circumstances, have broached the opi.
nion that we ought to get rid of all such establishments as only
a burden, and rely upon a continuaney of their trade, and
ot the beneficial intercourse subsisting through colonial pro-
prietors residing in the mother-country. It is unnecessary
here to point out the errors of these opinions, but one prin-
ciple may be laid down without any hesitation, that as all
colonies have a tendency by their growth to reach a state
in which they may assert their independence, we ought so
to regulate our intercourse with them as to maintain a
friendly feeling on both sides, and make the amicable inter-
course lasting in the event of a separation, The excessive
national vanity of the Americans, breaking out in jealousy
and hostile feelings towards this country, may seem to make
continued amity hardly possible after independence has be-
come established ; but it is to be hoped that sentiments so
unamiable, and so utterly groundless, may die out if they
should not be cured by reflection. There are few subjects
more interesting to the promoters of social science than the
course of legislation upon the rights of private property
what is called private bills in Parliament. The great, the
transcendental powers bestowed by these bills require that
their discussion and enactment should be guarded with the
utmost care. This becomes the more necessary that the
parties to a bill—those who promote and those who oppose—
may,by collusion,obtain powers affecting third parties not re-
presented, and especially the public. There are instances
without number of provisions inserted, setting at defiance all
established principles of the law, and only discovered when
some party sought to take advantage of them. But the
amount of private business is a serious grievance to the mem-
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before committees are not the best calculated to attain the end
of all such quasi judicial investigation—'ho ascertainment
of truth. A very important committee has lately examined
the subject, and on the reports presented by its chairman,
Colonel Wilson Patten, certain improvements have been
adopted, which it is hoped on trial may prove beneficial.
But to the great evil of all, both in delay and in
expense, no remedy has been applied—the double inquiry
rendered necessary by each house having to go through the
whole provisions of each bill. Now, it is manifest that t his
could easily and safely be avoided, and the whole inquiry
be improved without the least infraction of the privileges of
Parliament. With the aid and powertul support of the
great man whose irreparable loss we daily and hourly de-
plore, whether in peace or in war, on all subjects of policy,
foreign and domestic—the Duke of Wellington—l brought
forward this plan, which we had worked out in concert 30
years ago ; and in the committee of 1844 on the standing
orders, where I proposed those which were afterwards una-
nimously adopted, w. hich are the orders now in farce, and
were soon after reluctantly passed by the Commons, he said
it would be butter to propose our great plan, and on my