The Sun.
London, England, 1863-11-10 00:00:00

spoken. For precisely such plain speaking on
the part of England—now is the very time, this is
the precise occasion.

It would seem that the Go vernment are deter-
mined not to remain long idle with respect to the
redoubtable steam rams now lying at Birkenhead.
In the first place, when active. proceedings were
determined on, the Broad Arrow- was marked on the
vessels, and a Customhouse officer put on board.
This bold step, however, was no't sufficient to allay
Mr. ADAMS'S restless uneasinesE,, or to satisfy Lord
RUSSELL'S assiduous friendship. The officer, who,
according to the respect claimed by English law,
should have been a host in himself as the represen-
tative of the law, ought to/have been sufficient to
guard a dozen vessels, was not thought formidable
enough, and accordingly a body of marines super.
seded the civil officer. Whether the general indig-
nation excited both in London and Liverpool by
this manoeuvre had any effect on our Cabinet, or
whether they began to anticipate awkward ques-
tions on the meeting of Parliament, is not known ;
but they have suddenly changed their tactics, and
show signs of a willingness to emerge from the
awkward predicament in which they have placed
themselves, although by so doing they are only
trying to cover one illegality by another. It seems
that, owing to instructions received from the Go-
vernment, the two unfinished steam rams have been
valued. El Toussin, the most advanced, is esti-
mated at over £lOO,OOO, and its fellow at £BO,OOO.
It is said that the Government would like to pur-
chase them from the French owners, Messrs.
BREVET. This shows the striking illegality of
their acts. If the vessels have really been
unlawfully constructed and have been justly
seized, the Government has surely no need
to expend any money in paying for what is
already their property. If Messrs. BREVET have a
right to sell vessels to the British Government, it
is evident that they must have had an equal right
to receive them from Messrs. LAIRD. The Govern-
ment can in no case claim to dispose of the rams by
a forced sale, seeing that if they are not "contra-
band of war" the Cabinet has no business to inter-
fere between Mr. LAIRD and his contract. The case
must be tried, and until there has been a little
sounder and more constitutional law brought to bear
upon it than the opinions of her MAJESTY'S advisers,
the pwblic will not feel very well satisfied. Fortu-
nately, the matte: rests in the hands of a man of
spirit and capital. Mr. LAIRD has refused to dis-
close the contract price, and will, no doubt, hold his
own valiantly to the end. Were he unable to do
so, he would find a hundred offers of aid pour in,
for the feeling of the country is now thoroughly
roused upon this matter. The vacillation and timor-
ous temporising which has so disgusted the Eng-
lish in our American policy have, in the case of
these rams, reached a point previously unheard of,
and the claims of law, custom, courtesy, and busi.
ness seem to be alike set at defiance. It was a very
questionable compliment to a man of character
and standing like Mr. LAIRD, a member of the Eng-
lish Parliament, to send a body of marines to de-
tain a vessel which he had pledged his word should
not depart without notice. The law officers of the
Crown, if they have been consulted on the mats
ter, will find it difficult to produce their
precedents, while if, as is more likely, their opi-
nions have not been taken, they will be puzzled to
defend the acts of their colleagues. The valuing of
the vessels is the most extraordinary and inconsis-
tent of all the remarkable proceedings of the Go-
vernment with respect to these rams. Earl Rus-
SELL might have restrained his anxiety until a
court of law had decided to whom they really be-
longed, when, as we have before said, if confiscated
there need be no payment, if left free there need
be no interference with the contract. Perhaps
Earl RUSSELL wants to make a useful Christmas
present to his friends at Washington, and thinks
these rams would get over to New York in nice time
for the holiday festivities. In his impatience to
secure the prize for his Federal friends Earl RUS-
SELL has nearly made the country pay pretty dear
The Prince Consort, sent through the gale to assist
in the mighty business of keeping these unfinished
rams at home, very nearly paid the penalty for the
rash meddling of our Foreign Secretary. Our
Admiralty officials had better go to Birkenhead
and take a few lessons in shipbuilding, for Mr.
LAIRD'S vessels seem to give only too much satisfac-
tion to his customers instead of too little, as is very
generally the case with Admiralty jobs, whether of
design, construction, adaptation, or improvement.
That is an old story, but this affair at Birkenhead
is a very new one; and we should like to
know on what possible pretext a Frenchman
is refused the right of giving an order
to an English shipbuilder. Law has no business
to trouble itself about the purposes to which an
article may hereafter be turned ; it does not deal
with men's intentions or wishes, but with their

acts. The facts of the case are simply that a
French firm gives an eminent English firm an
order for some steam rams, and our Government
has not the shadow of a right to interfere in the
transaction. But the nerves of the North are ap-
parently so shaken by the Alabama, that at the first
rumour of the possible destination of these rams,
Mr. ADAMS invoked the aid of his trusty friend

and ally at the Foreign-office, who valiantly came
to the rescue, and flung right, reason, and constitu-
tional law entirely on one side. There is a limit,
however, to all things, and we suspect the general
feeling will be rather with Mr. LAIRD, in his re-
fusal to disclose the contract price, than with the
formidable array, naval and military, sent against
these luckless vessels, whose storms have begun be-
fore they have left port. The excitement and
exertion occasioned by the supposed departure of
these unfinished vessels reminds us of the nursery
rhyme which tells us how
" Four-and-twenty tailors went to kill a snail."
E%ll. RUSSELL and Mr. ADAMS, and the
11 Washing-
for the
to boot, had better look to themselves,
ror the
of these English public will not tolerate much more
as e proceedings—proceedings as absurd and
unjust vaXtlut as they are unconstitutional and
. xt,a..

streets.
It is quit,u,,',e that something was done about
-------
/
the safety of
of those in the
authorit It is too often the practice
cautions and to
aZytto neglect to use timely pre-
the evil has assumed
terrifying, and the :irudential measures, until
nvarrat:guitude that is really
concerning the faulty and risrs
e up far and near
of the laws. Very recently
two
ranged mechanism
curred, which, beginning in street ay
sad cases oc-
nated in death. In one instanceut
ttra6es^,
terrni-
asked to see after a neighbour's house duringnoise her
very imprudently kuocked. The door was opcanndd
suddenly, and Mrs. llisTsoN received a blow 0, thf,
head from one of the men who rushed out, so

--- --
fatal were its effects that she speedily sank under

t, and the most grievous thing that could occur is,
hat no trace of the murderers is discovered. It is

difficult to conceive how anyone can be so cruel ;
for of course two men could easily have passed one

Female without having recourse to such violence.

It is evident that a sufficent watch could
not have
been kept over the house and its vicinity, or the
ruffians could not have obtained ingress to it. The
other case is, if possible, still more outrageous, for

determination. In con-
ethe desperate deed w
evidently
ythe
result
toa done
of predetermination.
prdeliberately, and was
e
sequence of the deceased having given some opinion
in a gambling transaction, which offended certain
parties, they swore revenge, and were unfortunately
enabled to carry out their cruel desire. It is cer-
tainly a very lamentable state of things when law-
less and ungovernable characters are to have it
in their power to plan and execute these revolting
crimes. It seems reprehensible not to have taken
down the deposition of the dying man, for be died
on the fifth of the month, and the blow .was
inflicted on the seventh of the last one, so that
ample time must have elapsed for the necessary
formulas to be gone through, The daughter of the
deceased stated that she did not remember the name
of the party her father mentioned a 6 having sworn
to take away his life. This is a most unwise pro-
ceeding, for, doubtless owing to the laxity of one
side and the confusion of the other, the chief
delinquent will escape the detection he so richly
deserves, and hence future offenders will be induced
to proceed on their coarse with more recklessness,
from previous non•convictions establishing a pre-
cedent as it were. It would appear from all these
fearful incidents, either that there are not sufficient
police about these lonely environs, or else that they
are not vigilant enough. It comes to this that the
lives of her MAJESTY'S subjects are not efficiently
protected under the present system, and hence it is
worth while, at the risk of offending auy pre-
judices, or militating against any special arrange-
raents, to protest against a mode of procedure which
aims at so much, but whose results are so unsatis-
factory. The coroner in the case of the man named
HOMERTON, most emphatically declared that
" outrages in the streets were becoming dreadfully
prevalent." This is surely a reply to those framers
and executors of the law who plume themselves on
their skill and sagacity. There can be no valid
reason why, just at this time, these outrages
should be so frequent in their occurrence and
fatal in their results. At all events, since un-
happily the fact is patent to all that the wrong is
BO prevalent, let some means be adopted at once
to check the further spread of the ruffianly conduct
and cruel outrages that must now be considered as
a part of our daily records of street proceedings.
Only the other day there was a considerable trouble
experienced in prosecuting some reckless individuals
who employed their time in persecuting and insult-
ing female passers-by. The difficulty that arose
on these cases being tried, doubtless induced others
to make similar attempts, and thus in many parts
of London it was almost impossible for respectable
persons to walk in the evening for fear of an
unpleasant interruption. The laws that regulate
the conviction of these criminals are not as they
should be, or we should not find so many perti-
naciously following the bad example, and hear of
such numerous cases of oppressive cruelty and bar-
barous insults. The garotters, too, are by no
means an extinct race, and already they have tried
their hands in the early part of this autumn on
unwary foot passengers. There could be no harm
done in making the experiment of a new
system
of espionage, and adopting some more decisive
measures when the culprits are captured. The
very faulty arrangements of the prisons are against
any terrorism of confinement being held up as a
warning to the reckless and the daring. If men
are not mortified by a prison life, it does more harm
than good to themselves and others. There is no
doubt that to the mistaken mildness and absurd
indulgencies of prisons, a great part of our garot
ting bands of last year were to be attributed. Le

not the short days and dark nights of the ensuing
winter offer more opportunities for the perpetration
of these villainies, and let no efforts be relaxed
until their gangs are broken up and their occupa-
tion gone. Extensive vigilance will, no doubt, be
required, and, perhaps, the means adopted may be
very expensive, but how can the public money be
better spent, or the time and strength of the
officials be more worthily employed, than in pro-
tecting life, and bringing malefactors to justice.
It is always meet to look our dangers in the
face at times, to discover the remedy, and not
to shirk the responailsility or the difficulty of its
application. Taken in time, many things are kept
under which else might assume a hydra-like form,

and, perhaps,
circumvent the efforts and baffle the

zeal of those tuo late roused to the contemplation

of the clangor, and too little prepared to act with
decision and promptness.

THE PROPOSED EUROPEAN CONGRESS.

(From the Times.)
Her Majesty the Queen received yesterday morn-
ing an autograph letter from the Emperor of the
French, in which his Imperial Majesty requested
the Queen to send representatives to a Congress of
the chief European States, whose duty it shall be
to take note of and recognise the points in which
the Treaty of Vienna had baen infringed, and to
adopt such measures with respect to present com-
plications as may best secure the general peace.
We believe that her Majesty's Ministers will meet
in Cabinet to•day, to consider of the answer to be
returned by her Majesty to the Emperor of the
French,