The Sun.
London, England, 1863-04-25 00:00:00

'ho would equip their sons for battle, and, giving
them their shields, bid them return either with
them or upon them. But for an invader of kindred
soil to consider the ruin and desolation of countless
homes preferable to his own temporary humiliation,
to refuse to listen to negotiation, to tolerate
no suggestions of peace, to accept as an insult every
offer of friendly mediation, is to outrage
the common feelings of humanity and to
range justice, patriotism, and common sense
at once on the side of the enemy. We have, there-
fore, in England long ceased to applaud the determi-
nation with which the North carries on the
war, and have been glad to mark in its en-
tangled finances and failing credit signs of
approaching peace ; not suspecting that the
last effort of Federal ingenuity would be
the attempt to provoke a war with ourselves,
with the hope of combining all Americans under
one common flag 'against a national foe, or, if that
design should fail, with the anticipation of securing
a plausible pretext for suspending hostilities with
their invincible neighbours. In this attempt Pre-
sident LINCOLN and Mr. SEWARD are likely to be
disappointed, owing to the courteous subserviency
of the English Government. They are ready to do
all and more than all that can be asked. Does
Mr. Adams, thanks to Federal spies, obtain informa-
tion that a ship is building for the Confederates, Earl
RUSSELL will seize it at once without explanation.
Does Admiral WILKES think proper to stop an
English ship on what was once part of the English
empire—the open ocean ? Civil expostulation is
all that is likely to follow. Do our merchants ap-
peal to their Government for the protection they
are forbidden to procure elsewhere ? Earl Rus-
SELL can only express his unbounded confidence
in the virtuous intentions of the Federal authori-
ties. But above all and beyond all is the fact
brought forward in the Upper House last
might, reluctantly confessed by Lord RUSSELL,
and met with expressions of indignant surprise by
the noble lords assembled—expressions which, how-
ever just and forcible, fall far short of the tumult
of popular feeling that will be awakened outside
the walls of Parliament when the English public
learns the indignity to which English Ministers
have submitted. It is scarcely to be credited, even on
the written evidence of Mr.SEWARD'S letter supported
by the confused admissions of Earl RUSSELL, that
an American Minister should have had the effrontery
to demand that the English mail bags should be
opened, in order to search them for letters which a
foreign Government should feel inclined to read.
It is still more surprising that such an insulting
proposition should have been listened to and tem_
porised with, instead of meeting at the outset an
unhesitating and uncompromising denial. Accord-
ing to this new reading of international law, an
Englishman is not at liberty to address a letter to
an official in the Southern States, or having written
such a letter and transmitted it by the ordinary chan-
nel, he has no security that, with the sanction of the
British Government, it will not fall into the hands
of Northern spies. Englishmen are very averse to
having their correspondence tampered with. The
delay of a post may occasion heavy losses in a com-
mercial community. The interference with private
letters brought down upon the late Sir S. GRAHAM
a storm of indignation, that even he shrunk under.
The system of epistolary espionage was found in-
tolerable when our own Government declared it
to be desirable for their interests, how much less
then should we tolerate such unwarrantable assump-
tion on the part of a foreign power. Lord RUSSELL
having said that the letters of Mr. SEWARD came
within the terms of Lord STOWELL'S decisions, the
Marquis of CLANRICARDE very justly observed
Ithat the matter was one which must be
considered in its bearing upon the present
day and not upon the circumstances of former
times. It is not a case to be measured by anti-
quated dogmas or the regulations of punctilious
etiquette. The question whether Englishmen are
able to protect their own property, whether it
be merchandise sailing to a neutral port or mail
bags under the Government seal. No legal quibble,
no recondite authority will reconcile the British
public to such an affront. If it is to be submitted
to for the sake of universal peace, why then let us
close our arsenals and let us forbid the
sinews of war to leave our shores for the
Northern ports. If it is to be endured
for fear of offending the Americans, be they Federal
or Confederate, North or South, let our English
Foreign Minister come down to his place in Parlia-
ment and tell his peers so if he dare. It is begin-
ning to be felt that the course we are pursuing is
leading to no end, is exposing us to insult without
conciliation, is irritating all parties without vindi-
cating our honour. We heartily coincide in the
views expressed by Lord HARDWICKE when he
said, " that the best way to avoid a collision
was to show that we were most resolutely deter-
mined to support the honour of the country. It
we deviated from that position, the Americans
would be too ready to attribute our vacillation to
fear. He should like to see the Foreign Secretary
rise in his place and say at once that such a pro-
ceeding as that referred to was contrary to all law,
and upon no pretence whatever should any of our
consuls be placed in such a position." Such a bolo
and straightforward answer Earl RUSSELL was ill
prepared to give, though the noble Earl at the head
of the Opposition expressed his surprise that
he should appear to acquiesce in such pre-
tensions. The Foreign Secretary was glad to
postpone the awkward discussion till Monday,
when he will have obtained the opinion of the lass
officers of the Crown. There is another opinion he
will also have to take upon the subject unless he
assumes an attitude at variance with his present
hesitation. He will have to learn from an out-
raged people and an indignant Parlia-
ment that, while Englishmen are willing to
sacrifice more than can be required of them in the
interests of justice and humanity, they will not
concede a fraction of their independence in favour
of arrogant assumption, however insolent its threats
or grandiloquent its boasting.

Among the many advisers how to settle the Polish
Question, one has just appeared under the title of
"J. D.," a thirty years' resident in Russia. He
was, in fact, 35 years in that country, and he heads
his little pamphlet, "A Constitution for Poland and
Russia, considered Politically and Commercially,"*
but he propounds no constitution 'whatever. He
merely recommends a moderate one, leaving the
details to be framed by others. The pamphlet is
rather crude both in idea and language, and the
author apologises for this latter defect by saying
that he has been so thoroughly immersed in the
acquisition of foreign languages that he nearly for-
got his own English tongue. Still, he is so anxious
to publish his thoughts, that, for the sake of hu-
manity, he has done so without waiting for correc.
tion, trusting that their value will not suffer b 3
abruptness or incongruity. The present combina-
tion of circumstances may never occur again, and if
taken advantage of,
un
srt s
accomplished—the -
for both the Polish procuring
a glorious work may be
Russian gnpeople,a
or connusmtibteurtiinog
73,551,942 individuals,n
an
nearly treble the popula•
tion of the United States of
America,
and occupy-
ing more than three times the territory of that