The Sun.
London, England, 1863-02-18 00:00:00

att

LONDON, WEDNESDAY, FEB. 18, 1863.

In the House of Lords yesterday, Earl RUSSELL
replied to some questions addressed to him by Lord
Derby on the preceeding evening. He defended
the policy of the Government in reference to the
Brazilian affairs. He contended that it was impos-
sible for them to have adopted a different line of
conduct, and they had waited until diplomacy had
failed before resorting to extremities. Lord DERBY
said that be had founded his remarks upon what the
Brazilian Government had stated. He considered
that the English Government had adopted rather
strong measures, even after taking into account
the explainations of the noble earl. The LORD
CHANCELLOR read a message from the Queen,
concerning the approaching marriage of the
Prince of Wales, and requesting their lordships to
concur in measures that might be necessary for the
establishment suitable to the Prince and Princess.
Earl GRANVILLE moved the adoption of an address
to the Queen, assuring her Majesty that their lord-
ships would be ready to accede to her request. The
Earl of DERBY seconded the address, remarking
thereupon that in his opinion the reasonableness of
the proposition was su3h that in neither House, on
financial or other grounds, could the slightest ob-
jection be made to it. The Marquis of NORMANBY
referred to the despatches relating to Rome, and
charged the Government with having encouraged th•
occupation of Rome by Franch troops. Earl RUSSELL
said he found it difficult to understand the exact
purport of his noble friend's address. He justified
the course adopted by Government in regard to
Italy, Lord NORMANBY replied, and their lordships
adjourned at half-past seven.

In the House of Commons Mr. "W. B. FERRAND
took the oaths and his seat for Devonport. The
hon. member was received with. loud cheers from the
Opposition benches. Lord PALMERSTON replied to
Mr. Bentinck on the Charleston question that the
Government had no other information than what
the telegraphs had afforded, and as regarded the
law of nations they could give no opinion until the
occurrences were more definitively explained. Lord
Palmerston moved en address to her Majesty about
the provision to be made for the Prince of Wales
and his household, assuring her Majesty that
the House would consider the provision
with due reference to the royal dignity,
Mr, DISRAELI seconded the address, and said that
he was sure that the House would agree with unan-
mity, not only of voice, but of heart. The country
took a deep interest in the happiness of the Prince
of Wales, and would support every reasonable pro-
position brought forward by Her Majesty's Minis-
ters which would realise that result. Mr. FITS-
GERALD called the attention of the House to the
subject of commercial treaties, and especially to
that between this country and the kingdom of Italy.
The hon. member attacked the conduct of the Sec-
retary for Foreign Affairs.
Mr. DISRAELI remarked that commercial treaties
to be of any value must be produced by political
influence by England, and not by commercial con-
siderations, and it was to be regretted that hon.
gentlemen opposite should come forward and
agitate the country with the absolute necessity of
making arrangements for stimulating the commerce
of the country.
Mr. GmsoN thought that there was every reason
to be satisfied with the commercial policy pursued
by this country, and he thought it would have the
effect of diffusing free trade generally among
foreign nations.

Sir G. GREY obtained leave to bring in a bill to
allow Catholic pritionera to receive religious instruc-
tion from the clergy of their own denominations.
Mr. GIBSON nominated a select committee to
inquiry into the present system of private bill
legislation.
The House adjourned at half-past twelve.

The Prussians have fresh cause to oppose the
proceedings of their King and his Ministers, and
we shall be surprised and disappointed if there is
not some manifestation of popular feeling with re.
gird to the treatment of the unhappy Poles. It has
been rumoured for some time that the constitutional
monarch of Prussia has entered into a league to
support the tyrannical acts of the Russian Autocrat.
The substance of the convention, according to the
latest news, is that Russian troops when driven
across the frontier are to retain their arms and to be
at full liberty to pursue any insurgents who might
also enter Prussian territory, and farther, that
Prussian forces are to be ready to act, either con-

jointly with the Russians or separately, against the
insurgents. Surely the Prussians, so tenacious of
their own constitutional rights, will not submit
to being thus made the tools of despots.
They will hardly be the willing assistants of tyran-
nical oppression in its endeavour to rivet the chains
on a suffering people, or they must be prepared
to forfeit the sympathy and approval of Europe in
their own resistance to the undue encroachments
of the Crown. Arbitrary and unjust as the con-
duct of the Prussian King has too often been, it is
almost with surprise that we see WILLIAM I. tak-
ing so despicable a part, and one so directly op-
posed to the general feelings of Europe. It was
certainly not to be expected that Prussia should
relax her hold on the Polish provinces unjustly
added to her:dominions. It would prove a dangerous
precedent as well as a heavy loss, for the surrender
of the States not justly belonging to her would
reduce the haughty monarchy to its limits in the
days when ALBERT of Brandenburg held the
Dukedom of Prussia as a fief of Poland. Austria
herself would in that case regain the fair province
of Silesia, which, as MACAULAY has it, all Europe
in arms could not wrest from the iron grasp of
FREDERICK the Great. But without anticipating
such Quixotic generosity on the part of the very
matter-of-fact people of Prussia, as the accordance
of independence to Posen, it is surely not too much
to expect that they will regard the inhabi-
tants of those districts as fellow-countrymen,
and not as enemies to be kept down with the strong
hand of military law. Yet this will infallibly be the
result of the line of conduct adopted by King
WILLIAM, unless all national spirit and memory has
died out of the dwellers in Prussian-Poland. We
cannot suppose that they will look calmly on, while
Russians and Prussians combine to hunt down
Polish fugitives. Even Austria, by no means a
model of lenient administration, has set a better
example, by refusing to enter into any compact
with the Government of the CZAR, while the open
expression of the sentiments of England and France,
however supine the acts of their Cabinets, might
have some influence in Germany, if not in Russia.
French sympathy has been warmly expressed
both in the Chambers and in the Press, and it would
appear from a recent article in the organ which
is supposed to represent the opinions of Prince
NAPOLEON, that some influential parties in the
State attribute the particular meaning of a phrase
in the Imperial reply to the address from the Cham-
bers to the condition of affairs in Poland. We
trust it may be so, and that the Cz to may not be left
to pursue his reckless and cruel course unopposed.
We should be glad to feel certain that at least he
would receive au energetic and indignant protest
from the English Government, but it is reported
with regard to the arrangement between Russsia
and Prussia, that our Foreign Secretary has ex-
pressed himself with such caution as to commit
himself to neither side. On some occasions it would
have been well if Earl RUSSELL had followed this di-
plomatic course, but in the present instance no reason s
of statecraft would outweigh in the minds of
Englishmen the desire of flinging the vast moral
influence exercised by their country into the scale
of humanity and justice. Surely the least that our
Foreign Secretary could do, would be to try the
weight of words with bath the despotic sovereigns,
and to protest as strongly as might be against such
an alliance. The doctrine of non-intervention is
always applauded when it bids us stand by and see
nations torn to pieces by superior numbers or
internal factions, why then should it not
interfere to restrict the compacts of despots? The
next step will be that a Prussian force
will probably be despatched accross the frontier
to aid the noble warfare, from which some of the
Russians are said themselves to shrink, and it is
very possible that all these proceedings are taken
with a view of not only keeping Posen in subjec-
tion, but of invoking Russian aid in case of matters
coming to extremities between King and Parlia-
ment. As yet the Prussian people have no
share of the blame attached to this disgrace-
ful compact, but the deputies, who, so boldly
and so forcibly defended their own rights
can surely find words to redeem their
nation in the eyes of Europe from the charge
of having sanctioned it, If they do not do this, they
will be unworthy of their task as the champions
of the constitution which is (happily for their coun-
try) still preserved to her, while the very nationality
and language of the Poles has been sought to be
wrested from them. Meanwhile, the duty of the Cabi-
nets of Western Europe is clear,and let our Parliament
sec that, on the part of England, it is fulfilled. Let
it not be said that in the hour of their desperate need
a brave and noble people, looking round Europe
for help, found only freemen too timorous to say a
a word of reproach or warning to tyranny, and
constitutional Governments, whose resources were
freely placed at the service of the oppressor.

Last Monday, at a meeting held of the Royal
United Service Institution, Captain J. W. SELWYN,
R.N., read an interesting paper on the question of

" Future Naval Attack and Defence." This was
followed by a general discussion on the subject by
the various members of the Institution present.
Opinions varied on most points, but upon two
all seemed to agree—viz., that speed was the
first and most important requisite, and, after that,
invulnerability, if that by any means could be ob-
tained. As regards the thickness of iron necessary
to protect a ship from the fire of heavy ordnance
who shall deeide when engineers disagree—for, if
possible, these gentlemen differ in opinion even
more than doctors. Experience alone can decide
the question, and our friends on the other I
side of the Atlantic are obligingly carrying
out some interesting experiments. Already
the Merrimac has shown us what can be
done with railway iron in the defence
of a wooden ship, and how formidable the appli-
cation made her, the destruction of two fine fri-
gates proved. It is not to be expected that,
pressed for time as the Americans are—and, as
regards the Confederates, ill provided with the
proper means of plating vessels—that they turn
out their iron plated gunboats in the finished
manner, or of equal strength, to vessels like the
Warrior or Black Prince, but they nevertheless
seem to resist the impact of heavy shot pretty
well. Bat setting these matters on one side, it
is perfectly obvious the future of naval attack or
defence must be entirely of a different character
from that of fifty years ago. Never again will be
seen two hostile fleets meeting in close column,
each admiral endeavouring, by seamanship and
manoeuvring, to get the weather guage of his
adversary. Never will a future NELSON, HOWE, or
COLLINGWOOD glory in having broken the enemy's
lme. Steam has settled the question, and VULCAN
has superseded
covered from the shock
2EOLUS N
ofa vtahl m
overthrowe n had har d
ol yf re -
all
their old theories, when the Emperor of the FRENCH
steps in, and paves the way for new difficulties, by
the introduction of floating shot-proof batteries.
These machines, it is true, were no great shakes,
and required to be towed into and out of ac-
tion, like so many blind men ; but the
man who fights for an idea gave one
to our engineers which they have carried out to an
:
extent little expected :n 1854. If SCOTT Rus-