The Sun.
London, England, 1863-05-02 00:00:00

strength will wreak upon a monarchy which has
been long since sinking in o the decrepitude of old
age. The thunder rolls as it was wont to roll, but
we will look, as we have hitherto looked, in vain
for the bolt. The American nation has entered upon
another of its bloodless campaigns, and Great
Britain, as usual, is the victim selected for annihila-
tion. In the state of uncertainty at present existing
in the public mind it seems to many about equally
probable that war should be declared against us in
consequence of our alleged breaches of neutrality,
or that we should be compelled to throw down the
gage in vindication of our right of holding unre-
stricted commercial relations with neutral States,
Perhaps in one sense either contingency is equally
likely, because if a nation is bent upon picking a
quarrel with another, the pretext is for the most
part immaterial. Up to the present, however, no
casus belli has been given on either side. The New
York press may vanour about British outrages and
compelling England to make good, by reprisals or
otherwise, the damage inflicted upon the Federal
cernmerce by the Confederate privateers; but ;ye
know, and the Cabinet at Washington know, that
the Government of this country have done all that
could be expected of them consistently with their
international obligations and their duty to the
British public. A rumour has gained credence
in New York that Mr. Seward has sent a
note to the English Government protesting
against the encouragement given to the Confede-
rates by permitting them to fit out privateers in
British ports. If he has done so, the reply of the
Cabinet will consist in a simple denial that any en-
couragement has been so given. In the debate which
lately took place in Parliament upon this subject it

was not suggested that the Government had not ful-
-1 filled their duty ; and the speakers who advocated
; the interests of the Federal Government went no
further than to urge the authorities to increased
vigilance. It ir, however, we are willing to believe,
only in the resolutions of American Chambers of
Commerce, and in editorial articles, that expressions
condemnatory of her Majesty's Government, for their
conduct in this respect, are to be found. The Fe-
deral Administration cannot with truth allege that
they have just cause for complaint. But neither
have the British Government any ground for quar-
relling with that of the United States. It is cer-
tainly true that one or two captures have been re-
cently made of vessels which we have reason to be-
lieve were bound to a neutral State ; but of the
truth of this fact we possesse no evidence on which
we could rely. Even admitting that the seizure of
the Peterhoff was illegal, such seizure does not per-
s. afford ground for complaint. In time of war
illegal seizures are constantly made, but it is for the
express purpose of determining their illegality that
prize courts are instituted. If a prize court declares
a capture to have been wrongfully made, it decrees
compensation to the injured parties, the compensa-
tion is made, and the matter is thus equitably ad-
justed. Until the decision of the prize court ap-
pointed to adjudicate upon the Peterhoff is pro-
nounced the British Government would not be jus-
tified in interposing. If the judgment condemning
the vessel was irreconconcilable with the evidence,
or if compensation for a wrongful capture was de-
creed, and the compensation was not granted, then
it wou'd be the duty of the Government of this
country to make reprisals. We cannot, how-
ever, presume that a prize court will not fulfil its
functions with impartiality, or that the Federal
Government will not abide by its decision. We
have consequently no grounds for apprehending
that we shall ourselves be obliged to declare war
against the Federal States in vindication of our
commercial rights. We do not believe in the pro-
bability of a war with America, and for this simple
reason—that we give the American people credit for
more sense than to suppose they would embark in
a contest in which they must infallibly be worsted.
It may suit the purpose of the Republican party in
the North to utter empty threats against Great
Britain, but it would not suit those out of whose
pockets the expenses of a war should be paid, nor
those whose commerce would be annihilated by a
blockade, to enter on a struggle with the first mari-
time Power in the world. It is, however, much to
be regretted that the organs of public opinion in
America should indulge in language which, if it
does not interrupt, certainly tends to weaken the
friendly relations which we have always been de-
sirous of maintaining with our American kinsmen.
Americans ought to know by this time that Great
Britain is not to be frightened by empty bravado.
If American citizens are not entirely dead to all
sense of shame, they must feel bitterly conscious of
the conten pt into which they are brought by those
who profess to be exponents of the national senti-
ments. Whenever the American nation intends to
go to war with us, let it do so by all means ; but so
long as we remain onliterms of amity, it is to be
hoped that it will use the tone and language, as we
as the attitude, of a friendly State.