The Sun.
London, England, 1863-01-16 00:00:00

slaves legally. But though we rejoice that President
LINCOLN has at last resolved to do it, we must
blame him that he did not do it at the be-
ginning. We have repeatedly blamed him, even
as constitutional ruler, that he did not meet rebel-
lion for slavery, by declaring the cause of the rebel-

lion abolished. We believe it would have saved
hundreds of thousands of lives; for the negroes
would have then been his best help. He now in-
vokes " the considerate judgment of mankind." That
judgment may be favourable, when the mists of
present passion and feeling shall have cleared away.
Posterity will only wonder, as we ourselves do, that
the proclamation was not issued sooner. Christendom
is every year increasing in its detestation of slavery.
In the Roman Catholic countries, where it still
exists, as in Cuba and Brazil, the slave code is
mildness and Christianity itself, compared with
what it is in Protestant America ; and before long
it will be universally acknowledged that slavery
and Christianity are incompatible.
We hope the PRESIDENT'S injunction to the
slaves, to abstain from violence, will be carefully
observed wherever the Proclamation itself is known,
but we have our doubts. It will be difficult to rea-
son with men wild with joy in the tumultuous
delirium of freedom so suddenly and so unex-
pectedly acquired ; while their masters, on the other
hand, will be savage at the change which deprives
them of power and property at onee.
By this act Mr. LINCOLN has now taken a
step from which there is no retrogression. For the
remaining two years of his power he must act in
its spirit. The vulgar Democrats (whom some here,
slandering our own Conservatives, call the Conser-
vatives of America) may find that their majority
avails them but little. The die is cast.

The Federal armies wil have become
emancipation armies, and the Federal fleets
along all the rivers, on which the great plantations
generally abut, will become emancipation fleets.
The link between the vulgar, rowdy Democracy of
the North and the slaveholders, by whom they have
hitherto ruled, will be completely severed, and
the triumph of Democracy itself will be greatly
maimed of slavery. We may hope too much from
the LINCOLN Proclamation, but why was it deferred
till it loses the grace of gift ? It is a boon wrung
from necessity, which would have been still with-
held if its retention could have saved the Union.
The pride of empire has hitherto overshadowed his
virtue. He would be free himself, but would not
confer freedom on others if it militated against his
idol—Union. More temper and conciliation might
have freed the slave gradually, and long before the
year 1900, which he at one time proposed himself ;
bat now it is too late. Mr. LINCOLN is a man of
half-measures—he is afraid to do right, yet loth to
do wrong ; and is only generous at the expense of
others. He does good by accident, and glorifies
himself before hie good intentions can bear fruit.
Still let us hope for the best. His act will render
the year 1863 one of the most remarkable in the
world's history—certainly in that of America.

Last night the members for Birmingham were
present at the annual dinner of the Chamber of
Commerce. Mr. BRIGHT, as usual, favoured his
hearers with some severe strictures on several

subjects, and indulged in diatribes against various
individuals. Even his new allies, the Ministers,

do not escape this time, for we find the Foreign
Secretary and the Chancellor of the Exchequer
arraigned on the charge of making unwise state-
ments, and causing general confusion in the public
mind thereby. First Lord RI7SSELL comes under
censure for his speech in the House of Lords on
the motion against the blockade, and here Mr.
BRIOHT evidences a want of common courtesy that
must strike the most ignorant reader, these are his
words, " Lord RUSSELL concluded his re-