The Sun.
London, England, 1864-07-14 00:00:00

The Weather—Sun Office, .Tuly 14, 1864.

T HERMON ETER.
This day at Two o'clock 64

Barometer-30.04.
WIND—S.E. ; moderate breeze and cloudy.

HIGH WATER AT LONDON BRIDGE.
THIS DAY.—Morning, Bh. 59m.—Afternoon, 9b. 36m.
ro-mosalow.-Morning, 10h. 10m.—Afternoon, 10h. 4.431.

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LONDON, THURSDAY, JULY 14, 1864.

Ministers have evidently, after all, hit upon the
right policy to secure to themselves the retention of
office by means of the approbation pronounced
certainly by the members upon their conduct—not
of the House of Commons in Debate, but by the
majority of the votes of those members upon a
Division. It is true, no doubt, that the Ministerial
policy. has been sternly reprobated by all except
Mai 3 n zmporte !--The ver-
Ministers themselves.
diet pronounced, after all that has been said and done
in
that way, was unmistakably in their favour.
" The Rouse," as Mr, BRIGIIT has now so very
caustically and emphatically remarked, " did not
come to a vote of censure, bat it did unani-
mously, or at least with a general consent,"
adds the hon. mem'oer for Birmingham,
g, it did with a general consent that I have
never seen approached in a similar case, condemn
tho irritating and offensive policy of the Foreign-
office !" Not one instant's doubt about that, we
take it! But—even when Ministers have granted
e 3 much (as they can Nei.; well afford to do with an
air of delightful self-possession)—what then ? There
is tho triumphant result of the divinioo ! The 313
Ga °lapsed to the 295 ! The clear majority of
Eighteen—under the circumstances really and
truly a swinging majority I Approved upoa
so large a division, by so really consider-
ably a majority as that same clear ma-
na lame (counting the
jority of Eighteen, i
tour tellers and the Speaker) of 613—Ministers can,
just as jauntily as they please, sweep out of conside-
ration, not merely the disapprobation expressed in
their regard by the Opposition !—for that came to
them, Ire may be sure, as a mere matter of course
—hut the firm and uncompromising disapproval
of the iginisterial policy expressed during the late

debate by stern patriots like the right hon. mem-
ber for Stroud, like the hon, gentleman the
member for Stockport, like the hon. and learned
gentleman the member for Sheffield, and other out-
speaking, bat in-voting chiefs among the Liberal
Independents. What matters it to Ministers how
adverse the "opinions" expressed in regard ta their
foreign policy, so long as the persons so condemning
that policy support it vigorously and energetically
by their "votes"? No—upon second thoughts, upon
calm consideration, upon deliberate reflection—
Ministers are clearly enough proved, by the result,
to have been " wise in their generation"—in carry-
ing on the business of the nation precisely in the
very way in which they have been carrying it on.
And that chcsen path way—that selected policy ?
Don't we all know it by heart by this time ?
This foreign policy that the House of Commons
pronounces to be eo odious and so intolerable, and
yet accepts and endorses, so to speak, upon the
division list! What does it not include as among
its distinctive characteristics? No one can find it
very mach of a difficulty to enumerate at least
a few among the more salient and more con-
spicuous of those characteristics. For it is
wholly undeniable, it is universally admitted, it
is perfectly legible, in fact, upon the blue books
—that it includes, among other charming peculi-
arities, the following :—The repeated encourage •
ment of the hopes of Denmark that England would
afford her material assistance, under certain dire
contingencies, and then, when those contingencies
actually did arise, the leaving Denmark in the
lurch after all ! The throwing out again and again
ot the most alarming threats against Germany
as to what England would feel constrained to do
under such and such circumstances, and then, when
those circumstances actually did come to pass,
poeketting the threats, eating the big words, and
meekly backing out of it ! Those were the two
principal horns of the .dilemma upon which
the Ministerial policy may be said to have
been impaled and held up to the scornful
gaze of Christendom which," as Mrs. GAMP
might say, in the words of the convivial chorus,
"nobody can deny 1" But—beside these, beyond
these peculiarities, glaringly conspicuous upon "the
head and front" cf the ministerial "offending" in
the matter of its Foreign Policy, there were others
quite as readily distinguishable, and in a great
measure what we might designate " all of a piece !"
[here was the elaborate preparation—with the
brand of inevitable failure upon it from the very
commencement—the elaborate and ostentatious
preparation ,by England, at the instance of Minis-
ters, here in London, of the abortive Conference !
As there had previously been the unnecessarily
discourteous rejection, by England, or at least in
the name of England, on behalf of Ministers, by
Earl RUSSELL as Foreign Secretary—the unpro•
vokedly discourteous, not to say wantonly im-
pertinent rejection (by Earl Russell as the
mouthpiece of our Government) of the French
EMPEROR'S proposition of an European Congress.
Sweeping aside all other peculiarities, there were
at least those four very unpleasantly conspicuous
peculiarities indelibly stamped upon the Foreign
Policy of her MAJESTY'S Ministers! Yet—
looking at the decision of the House of Commons
—who shall say that it was not a wise policy for
Ministers to have selected, or rather to have
fabricated? It may be a notorious failure in itself.
It is admitted by Ministers, indeed, to be a noto-
torions failure. But—what matters that ?—seeing
that the Huuse of Commons is ready to accept it, is
eager to approve it, is prepared deliberately to
support Ministers, in spite of this their Failure
ot a Foreign Policy by a victorious majority of
Eighteen!

The English people generally pride themselves
on their power of self-discipline. We are not ac.
customed in this metropolis to see public order
maintained by the bayonet, or to entrust the guar-
dianship of our streets in times of peace to armed
men. Foreigners unfamiliar with our ways express
extreme astonishment when they first mingle among
an English crowd, on the day of some grand festival,
at the immense bodies of people who are kept in
order by a limited number of quiet blue.coated offi-
cials. We have always been proud of a liberty
which few continental nations would know how
to use if they had it, and our authorities know they
may generally trust with perfect safety to the good
sense, good temper, and fair play of an English
mob. Very recently, however, there has been en
unhappy exception to this order of things, which is
the more to be regretted, as an enterprising and
talented gentleman, whose exertions have long been
known to the public, underwent great risk and
annoyance, as well as heavy personal loss, and his
valuable property was entirely destroyed, It ap-
pears from his own account of the disaster, which
is corroborated by an eye-witness, that Mr. Cox-
WELL, the well-known balloonist, was engaged to
attend with his balloon at a grand fete of the Fores.
ters, held at Leicester on Monday last. The
gathering was a very large one, the num•
bers present being estimated at 511,000,
and great preparations had been made for it,
fifteen acres of ground having been temporarily
enclosed on the racecourse. The principle of leav-
ing the mob to control themselves was, however,
carried on this occasion to a most imprudent ex-
; tent, if it be true, as Mr. COXWELL heard it stated
that only eight policemen were engaged to main-
; tain order and protect property in a mob of 5,000
persons. This number was quite insufficient to
defeat the machinations of pickpockets, and, as the
event unhappily proved, it was totally inadequate
to the necessities of the occasion. Mr. COXWELL,
whose name has been so often associated with Mr.
GLAISIIER in his recent scientific explorations,
and who is among the foremost of our aeronauts,
prepared for the ascent of his balloon, which was
unfortunately his newest and largest, together with
the car used by himself and Mr. GLAISHER in the
scientific ascents. The beginning of the confusion
was, that some person, from what motive it is diffie
cult to say, gave it out that it was not Mr. Cox-
WELL'S best ballot) whose ascent they were about
to witness, but a small one. Of course the crowd
could not ascertain the fact from inspection, but an
angry feeling manifested itself, and very soon a
body of persons broke into the enclosure made for
the protection and inflation of the balloon. It was
in vain for Mr. COXWELL to entreat the crowd to
give him more space, and for several persons to
second his efforts and endeavour to clear the
ground, the hoarding having been broken down.
The mob pressed on, and wir.n at last the balloon
was taken out, being necessarily removed into an
open space before the ascent was possible, " a sea
of clamouringspectators" pressed around it, all
angrily vociferating for an immediate ascent, and
refusing to hear or to believe that their pressure was
the obstacle. A certain number of tickets for the
ascent had been sold, and the holders of these
tickets soon made matters worse by getting into the
elr in so unceremonious a fashion that all opera-
tions were Stopped. One man, who thus himself
was hindering the ascent, excited the mob, and
made them believe that the aeronaut was unwilling
to make the ascent. Thin offers no excuse to the
people, since they had no reason to suppose a gen-
tleman of Mr.CoxwELL's proved experience and