The Sun.
London, England, 1863-10-21 00:00:00

SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALS.

PosT.—The negotiations for an amicable settle-
mena of our differences with the Government of
Japan having, as we anticipated, ended in failure,
steps have been taken to enforce the reparation
which was refused. We learn, from a telegram re-
ceived yesterday at the Foreign-office, and which
we publish elsewhere, that the seaport town of
Kayosima has been bombarded by our fleet, three
of the batteries defending it silenced, and the town
reduced to ruins. Three Japanese steamers are
also reported to have been destroyed. The suc-
cess, however, appears to have been dearly pur-
chased on our part, two naval captains having
been returned amongst the killed; and, as the
batteries are said to nave been well served, the
damage sustained by the fleet was doubtless not
inconsiderable. With the particulars of the en-
gagement we are not yet made acquainted; but as
on the second day of the attack the fleet is stated to
have " stood out, engaging the whole of the batte-
ries," we may conclude that so far as their destruc-
tion was concerned the victory was not complete.
It is certainly not pleasant to reflect that we are
engaged in another of those petty wars which are
from time to time forced upon us in the most dis-
tant regions of the globe. They are always unsatis•
factory, and nearly always profitless. But they
are not the less inevitabie. In the present instance
we are making war less against the Japanese Sove-
reign than against one of his princes, and there is
every reason to believe that the Tycoon would
gladly have obtained for us the redress which we
demanded had it been in his power. It is un-
doubtedly a great hardship that we should be ob-
liged, so to say, to regulate the internal affairs of
an Eastern empire with which we are unconnected,
and, in order to vindicate the rights of those British
subjects who have settled in Japan, to mete
out to offending Daimios that punishment which the
native Government is too feeble to inflict. It is
really with the Prince Satsuma that we are at war,
and the town which has been destroyed is one in
which he exercised undisputed sway. It was in his
territory, and at his instigation, that the murder of
Mr. Richardson took place some months since, and
it was from him through the Imperial Government
that reparation was demanded. For many weeks
the English Envoy was led to believe that redress
would be given, tut the time which was by us lost
in negotiation was turned to account by the Japa-
nese. Prince Satsuma knew that it was on his ter-
ritory that the threatened blow would fall, and
made his preparations accordingly. The batteries,
which are said to have been so well served, and
which were still able t 3 respond to the fire of the
fleet when the latter withdrew, were most probably
constructed, or at least placed in their late effective
state, whilst diplomatic messages were being inter-
changed between our representative and theGovern-
meat of the Tycoon. It would be incorrect, however,
to suppose that the powerful Daimio, whose town
we have destroyed, stood alone. The traditional
policy of excluding strangers from Japan is still
respected by a numerous. portion of the native
princes, and Prince Satsuma is merely the represen-
tative of a class which we must either subdue or
appease before we can hope to prosecute peaceably
our commercial relations with Japan. The first
thought which will occur to the minds of our
readers will doubtless be, where will all this end ?
In a naval war with the Japanese, or with such
of the Daimios as thought proper to espouse
the cause of Prince Satsuma, we should be able
to inflict endless damage on shipping and seaport
towns. But there our exploits would end.
No place within reach of an Armstrong shell dis-
charged from the deck of a man-of-war would be
safe, but beyond cannon range of the coast line the
Japanese and their towns would remain secure from
molestation. The general principle that a central
Government is responsible for the acts of every in-
dividual living within its territory, and nominally
submissive to its authority, might possibly be en-
forced, and the town of Yeddo consigned to the fate
of laayosime if full redress wore not given by the
Tycoon. But it is doubtful whether even the threats
of destroying their capital would influence the
Daimios, and certainly even if carried into effect
would not conduce to the establiatiment of peaceful
relations at a future time. But except with our fleet
it is not easy to discover how we can inflict punish-
ment on the Japanese. If it should be deemed
expedient to carry war into the interior of
the Japanese islands, an expedition would be re-
quired of whose magnitude it is not easy to form an
adequate notion. From the skill which the retainers
of Prince Satsuma evinced in serving batteries, it is
not improbable thattthe same skill would be mani-
fested in conducting operations against land forces.
It is incontestable that the Daimios can, by co-ope-
ration, bring into the field most numerous and well
appointed armies, and to subdue those armies it
would be necessary for us to prosecute the war on a
very extensive scale. Cui bone? the public will natu-
rally inquire. Thoreply is, the necessity of protecting
British interests in Japan. The Japanese for several
centuries totally excluded foreigners from their em-
pire, and refused to trade with the rest of the world.
But some years since this rule was broken through in
favour of the Americans, and subsequently in our
own. Then followed the treaty which was concluded
by Lord Elgin, and which, as was supposed at the
time, established our commercial connection with
Japan on a satisfactory basis. But that treaty,
though entered into by the Tycoon, and approved
of by many of the influential Daimios, excited the
bitter resentment of the remainder. Then suc-
ceeded the long series of outrages on English resi-
dents in Japan which culminated in the attack on
the British Embassy. No alternative was left to
us but to demand reparation or discontinue pro-
tecting our interests in Japan, and therefore neces-
sitate the withdrawal of every British merchant.
As the latter course obviously could not be adopted,
the alternative was only nominal, and we were
obliged to have recourse to force to secure com-
pliance with our demands. The punishment in-
flicted upon Prince Satsuma has been so signal and
severe that when he and his brother Daimios see
how little is to be gained and how much is to be
lost by provoking our enmity, they will doubtless
acknowledge the expediency of permitting English
merchants to pursue their avocations in the cities
of Japan unmolested by their savage retainers. If
they will not now admit themselves convinced, we
must only continue in our present course until we
have carried conviction to their minds.
HERALD.—The Conservative candidate have been
defeated at Barnstaple by the slender majority of 16.
The ups and downs of electioneering are such that
we must be content to pelt up with an occasional
disappointment of this sort. The election of Mr.
Lloyd, if indeed that gentleman is to be left un-
molested in the enjoyment of his newly earned
honours, will be a small gain to the Government,
end, as far as the Conservatives are concerned, is
but a poor set off to the great triumph at Coventry,
and the election at Tamworth and Reading of
independent members, who are more likely to
give trouble to Lord Palmerston's Government than
even its avowed opponents. In three electioneering
speeches of the past week, at Richmond. Plymouth,
and Reading, we are struck oy the attempts which
are made by Government candidates to affect an in-
dependent tone. They are all Palmerstonian as
voters, but as talkers they belong to the people.
Even Sir Roundell Palmer, on Saturday, made a
show of criticism with regard to the admitted home
policy of the Whigs. It was necessary. It was even
indispensable after that preposterous Pindaric in
which he had just before extolled his leader and
patron as the Michael Angelo, the Napoleon, the
Seven Champions and the Nine Wonders combined,
of European politics. Tint is it not pitiful at such
a time as this to heat an English bar=
rister, elevsted to the raatir of Attorney
General, assuring the country that tt needs to be
governed by honest and experienced ntotn ?" Who
doubted it ? More than that—who ever doubted
the "experience" of the Whig party ? What, ti*.!ovit-
ever, from Sir Roundel! Palmer's point of view, as
" honesty ?" The electors of Richmond, in York-
shire, were told to believe that it meant Whig
patronage. Yet we learn, at any rate, cheering
news. "A body of men of purer integrity and
patriotism was never at the head of affairs." Every-
body must rejoice to hear it, although Mr. Beres-
ford Hope, in one or two recent addresses, has com-
mented with damaging force upon the purity and
patriotism by which Great Britain, within the last
few weeks, has been scandalised and disgraced. As
to experience, men may have had too much of that;
so that it was possibly rather mischievous on the
part of the new Attorney-General to remind his
constituents that Lord Palmerston had become a
mature statesman of the old Whig school before
some of his colleagues in the Administration were
born. Upon the whole, nevertheless, the law officer
of the Crown just restored to Parliament by the
Yorkshire borough of Richmond appeared very
grateful for the favour he had received—and de-
served—and disembosomed himself of much that
might have been difficult for men of a weaker con-
stitution to declare. There never was, he said, a
statesman who loved England as Lord Palmerston
has loved her. We presume that, in raying this,
he does not hold the Premier irresponsible for the
policy of his Foreign Secretary—so splendidly, and,
in a Roman spirit, illustrated by the sinking of two
junks, and the blowing in of a calico battery on
the coast of Japan. Of course he does. He had
his word of flattery for Lord Russell, his paren-
thesis of patronage for Lord Lyons, his culmina-
tions of applause for Mr. Gladatoue, and his not
overdone postscript of approval for himself. So far
the Attorney-General, next to the Lord Chancel-
lor the highest law officer of the British Crown.
He has approved of his patrons, his colleagues,
uttered no tangible
and himself, and he has