The Sun.
London, England, 1863-01-07 00:00:00

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to this country by the abandonment of our positithe- le-
in the Septinsular Republic will be but little, if' at S
all, short of £200,000 a year, an item which he wcl!
no doubt exceedingly rejoice to place to the err- eve ~
of his budget. In a financial point of view we shal,.
be considerable gainers, whilst we shall still rut
largely benefit if the contemplated arrangemeut, be
found to conduce to the welfare of the Hellenic
kingdom and the permanent tranquillity of Eastern
Europe.
HERALD.—In former days it was the ambition of
great men to make their ee,int,.-- ,t; to extend
her dominions by e -,,,,c,..y, u, colonisation, or by
conquest ; to increase her influence, her authority,
her power, by judicious alliances, by prudent action
by a vigorous assertion of her rights and dignity,
and by a careful management of her material re-
sources. To widen the British Empire and spread
the glory of the British name was the hope and the
pride of English sailors, soldiers, and statesmen.
All these antiquated notions are now dissipated,
Abroad, indeed, the old traditions still retain their
sway.
Russia has not one whit relaxed her aggres-
sive efforts ; France is still labouring to increase
her sstrengthif not her territorial possessions ;
desperately to every shred of her
Austriaempire ; clings
Prussia
hankers after new recruits for her
arms;
a new capital and a better
frontier ; even in enlightened America, President
Lincolnr
Italy i s
frantic efforts to escape the
a
honour of being remembered in history as the
last President of the United States, and has
sacrificed nearly half a million of lives in the
vain hope to keep together a country too wide
to be ruled by one Congress and a people toe,
deeply divided by character and institutions to live
in harmony under one Government and one law.
Only in England, thanks to the wisdom of Mr.
Cobden and the eloquence of Mr. Bright, we have
learned to be much better than our fathers, and are
doing our best to get rid of the heritage which they
toiled so hard and fought so nobly to secure for us,
The government under which it is our happiness to
live has contrived with admirable skill to disen-
cumber our Sovereign from all the alliances which
might entrammel her in relations of friendship or
common action with any foreign Power—to alienate
Russia, to insult the Scandinavian kingdoms, to
disgust Austria, to substitute a marked coldness for
the former cordiality of our understanding with
France, and, in a word, to secure for us the deep
dislike of one half the world and thorough distrust
of the other half. The Ministers have thoughtfully
taken care, each in his respective department, to
deprive the country of every element of strength
which might provoke the jealousy of other States
or induce us to give vent to our sympathies by any
interference in foreign quarrels, or to maintain our
pride by any violent resentment of foreign aggres-
sion. Mr. Gladstone has with infinite pains deli-
vered us from the temptation of an easy and expan-
sible revenue. The Admiralty has diligently avoided
creating for us a really effective navy, The Colonial-
office has given our colonies to understand that the
sooner we can find an opportunity to cut them adrift
the better it will be for them and us. Lord Russell
has allowed the Americans to understand that they
are at perfect liberty to burn our ships, blockade
our harbours, and imprison our fellow-subjects, and
that so long as he remains in power they need not
fear that he shall indulge in the unholy and unpro-
fitable practiee of retaliation. He has informed
France that England abnegates her place as one of
the Great Powers, and will not under any circum-
stances attempt to adjust the quarrels which dis-
turb the peace of the world, or enforce the laws
which regulate the intercourse of nations. Al
these things have been done, and yet Mr. Bright is
not satisfied. All is as nothing until the anti-
quated absurdity of empire is renounced. Even
for this sacrifice the enthusiastic conviction of his
ministerial converts suffices. The Gazette of last
night announces that the first step to the dismem-
berment of the British empire has been taken. Her
Majesty's Government has intimated to the Provi-
sional Government of Greece that if the Greeks will
behave well, choose a King who will keep the peace,
and for a short time prove themselves fiCto be trusted
with the liberty they have invariably abused, Eng-
land w:11 be disposed to hand over to them the
valuable possession of the lonian Islands, including
the fortress of Corfu, the key of the Adriatic. The
country is thus fairly committed to the final sacri-
fice which is demanded of her by modern enlighten-
ment, and which, of course, is to be in due time its
own reward. Of influence, strength, and friends she
has been already shorn ; she is now to be delivered
from the incubus of empire. We congratulate Lord
Palmerston and his colleagues on a feat hitherto
unparalleled in history, and on the further achieve-
ments which will, of course, follow in due succes-
sion. Already Spain stretches out her hands to re-
ceive the long-coveted gift of Gibraltar ; and one of
her senators actually expresses a hope that the Go-
vernment will not pay its debts to England unti
that fortress is surrendered—to which the Govern-
ment replies that it does not intend to do so. It
cannot be long before Italy will receive Malta, and
France the many possessions we have reft from her
before Canada will be annexed to the United States
if anything be left to which to annex her—and India
abandoned to its legitimate possessors, or to the first
power which, not having imbibed the new doctrines,
may think proper to seize it. And then at last
England, 'without colonies, without an army or a
navy, with no monument remaining of her past
folli(s or glories but her national debt, will he
happy, rich, and safe.
It may seem captious to take exception to the
manner of an act so excellent in itself and f o
glorious as the inauguration of a new policy—
new not only to England, but to the world ;
unprecedented, save in the annals of the
decline of Rome, 'when province after pro-
vince was abandoned, much as we now
propose to abandon the lonian Islands, until at last
even the capital itself gave up the vain and expen-
sive luxury of independence. The lonian dema-
gogues found it profitable to clamour themselves
into the Legislative Assembly and a salary of £lOO
a year by railing against the protectorate; but it
is by no means so certain that the respectable in-
habitants of the Seven Islands would be willing to
see the protectorate abolished and cast in their lot
with Greece, ill-governed, over-taxed, and overrun
by bandits, as she has been ever since she obtained
the name of independence and the shadow of liberty.
And though we do not think that France and
Russia will have any objection to witness the abdi-
cation -
by Great Britain of her Oriental and maxi
time dominion, can we be quite sure that Austria,
would willingly see the key of the Adriatic trans-
ferred into weaker hands than ours, or that Turkey
would not feel herself entitled to remonstrate warmly
arrangement
against an which would condemn
her to a state of chronic anxiety and periodical
border wars ! Before binding himself
irrevocably
to a line of policy which maydisplease our depen-
dents, which •
must displease some of those to whom
we are bound by treaties not yet abrogated, and
which may not find favour with all Englishmen,
would it not have been as well if the Foreign
Secretary had sought the counsel and support of
Parliament? And has he not some reason to fear
that his neglect to do so will not be easily cone
doned ; that support may be refused and counsel
administered in the form of censure ; and that the
prompt interference of the House of Commons may
at once terminate his official career, and prevent the
realisation of his glorious dreams of a reuounced
empire, an example set to the world, and u _future
of peaceful wealth and prosperous isolation achivvtd
for England.

children THE CALAMITOUS FIRE IN SOHO.—The incrAst
ojnamtehsosbpoenricieers, oafpotrhie
er, x you
their byes in the fire
which took place at 6, Portland-street, Soho, on the 26th
Dec. last, was
reopened yesterday by Mr. Bedford, the
coroner, at the i vestry Hall n Piccadilly. Nearly all the
jurymen who were
.sworn on the first occasion answered to
s,i who lostu ng of Samuel
their names. The jury, after a short consultation, stated
they were of opinion that the children lost their lives in
consequence of the fire which Lad taken place ; but there
was no evidence to show the cause of the fire. They
strongly censured thp conduct of the turncock, Denyer,
"for not rendering that aid, when called on by the police,
which we consider the duty of every man in all oinailar
c?rk Q 4 e" Tho inquiry thou ttnaliaittod.