The Sun.
London, England, 1863-06-05 00:00:00

WAYS AND MEANS.

The report was brought up and agreed to.
INLAND REVENUE BILL.
This bill was recommitted to insert clauses.
AFRICAN SLAVE TRADE TREATY BILL.
This bill passed through committee.
REMOVAL OF IRISH POOR BILL.

This bill was read a second time.
The bill as amended was agreed to, and it was ordered
for a third reading.
The Vaccination (Scotland) Bill was read a second time.
COURT OF SESSION ( • COTLAND) BILL.

,
This bill was also read a second time.
STOCK CERTIFICATES TO BEARERS BILL.

On the motion of the CHANCELLOR of the EX-
CHEQUER, the Lords' amendments on this bill were con-
sidered and agreed to.

WATCHMEN IN TOWNS (IRELAND) BILL.

This bill passed through committee.
COURTS OF THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND BILL,
This bill was withdrawn.
The District Parochial Churches (Ireland) Bill as
amended was considered.

Execution of Decrees Bill was committed pro forma.
THE JESSIE MACLACHLAN CASE.

Further papers relating to this case were ordered.
The house adjourned at 20 minutes to two.

SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALS.

HERALD.—it would probably be unjust to attri-
bute to any wilful intention of confusing and mis-
leading public opinion the confusion manifest it.
most of the arguments put forward by those who,
in the interest either of the Northern States, or of
their allies in the English Cabinet, declare that this
country is not entitled to recognise the independence
of the Confederate States. But, nevertheless, there
is a constant confusion apparent in their reasonings,
and its effect undoubtedly is to give the semblance
of justice and impartiality to a course which is really,
as it appears at first sight, unjust and extreme y
partial. As we have shown already, the refusal by
Europe to recognise the Government at Richmond
not merely encourages the prolongation of the war,
but enables its promoters in America to justify it
by an argument which appeals with great force to
the patriotic pride of their countrymen. " We can-
not be the first to blazon the news of our own defeat;
we cannot take the initiative in acknowledging the
hopelessness of an enterprise which Europe admits
to be hopeful; we cannot recognise the independence
of a State broken off from our own empire while
Europe still tacitly confesses that it still forms a
part of that empire." As the refusal of Europe is
the work of our Government, it follows that those
who direct the policy of that Government have—
involuntarily and unconsciously, as we hope and
believe—rendered themselves not merely the allies
of the North, but the accomplices of the war party
at the North ; that neutrality without recognition
is a virtual state of antagonism to Southern inte-
rests, and to the interests of the North also, as re-
garded by a large and growing party among its
own citizens. This is obvious to ad ; and the answer
of the Cabinet—the only answer which they could
make—is an appeal to the principles of international
law and to the traditions of English policy. They
hardly deny the tendency of their conduct ; but
while regretting its effects, they declare that no other
course was honestly open to them. " We have
no right to recognise a State, formed by revolt
from a friendly Government, which has not yet
established its independence." The whole value
of this argument turns upon a misconception of
'he nature and meaning of recognition ; as is
forcibly shown by the fact that those who use it,
when hard pressed, bring in the "frontier question"
as relevant to the matter in band. Now we would
remind our readers that, although an ousted Sove
reign may be called upon by a formal act of renun-
ciation to declare that his revolted subjects are free
and independent, and thereby to release them from
all claims of his and all fealty on their part, nothing
of this kind is required or is usual when foreign
Powers recognise a newly-erected Goiernment. In
the present case what is it that we are asked to do
Not to declare that the States of Virginia, North
Carolina, South Carolina, and so forth, are free, in-
dependent, and sovereign States, as did King George
111. ; not to declare that we acknowledge Mr. Jef-
ferson Davis as President of a Confederacy consist-
ing of 11 or 13 such States; but simply to receive
Mr. Mason as the ambassador accredited to her
Majesty by the Confederate Gevernment, and to
Bead to Richmond an ambassador, with credentials
addressed to the Presidentof the Confederate States
of North America. We recognise, not the territory,
but the Government. We do not define the fren-
,iers, but acknowledge the national existence of the
South. We do not mark the limits of the Confede
rate jurisdiction ; we simply admit that such a juris-
diction is possessed by it in such a manner that it
can properly hold relation with foreign Powers. It
concerns us not whether that jurisdiction does or
does not extend to the Ohio and the Colorado. It
may or may not, for aught we care, be bounded
by the Mississippi and the Cumberland. It is suffi-
cient for us that it exists, and unless we undertook
the office of mediators we could have no possible
concern with its extent de jure. Therefore the oc-
cupation of portions of territory belonging to States
included in the Confederacy by the public enemy
has no bearing at all on the questior of recognition
if it be indisputably clear that the subjugation of
the Confederacy, as a whole, is beyond the bounds
of practical probability; and of this few sane poli-
ticians entertain any doubt whatever. The ques-
tion is simply whether there be, or not, an inde-
pendent power ruling over a great country under
the title of the Confederate States. Now, no
one who knows anything at all about the South
can ausstion the independence of the Con-
federate Government within certain and very ex-
tensive boundaries. And, therefore, the assertion
that the South bas not established her independence,
is either untrue or irrelevant—untrue, if it be meant
to imply that there is no independent Government
in the South; irrelevant, if it be meant simply to
Call attention to the presence of an enemy's troops
on certain portions of Confederate territory. What
we are asked to recognise is not the undisturbed
possession of an extensive empire, but the indepen-
dence of an established Government. And from
this point of view it is important to remember the
fact that the status quo of the several States is and
always has been that of independence.
POST.—The contradictory accounts which have
reached us from the Mississippi render it impossible
to say with certainty whether the late operations
of the Federal forces have been crowned with suc-
cess. Vicksburg has been so often reported to be
in the possession of the Northern army that we
should not be surprised at finding that the report
that General Grant had at length succeeded in at-
taining the object for which he has laboured so long
should prove as groundless as those which have pre-
ceded it. It is certainly true that the Federal gene-
ral has succeeded in taking Jackson, the capital of
the State of Mississippi, and has thus placed him-
self in the rear of Vicksburg and in the direct line
of its communications. But although by the ma-
noeuvre General Grant has placed his opponents at
a disadvantage, he has been obliged himself to in-
cur considerable risk. By advancing so far inland
he has abandoned the aid which he has hitherto de-
rived from the gunboats, and has endangered his
own communications. If his force be sufficiently
strong to overwhelm the Confederate army under
General Johnston, and take Vicksburg by a coup de
mom, this consideration may be of little importance ;
but, if otherwise, he may find that he has placed his
army in considerable jeopardy. According to
the latest intelligence he had suspended com-
munications with the Grand Gulf, which
had previously been the base of his opera-
tions, and, with provisions sufficient to last his
army for eight days, and pushed on in the direction
of Vicksburg. The experiment is doubtless a bold
one, and will need for its justification the most
complete success. It is supposed that the
°
armies of General Pemberton, the Confedereatlnebciolin?- ,
mindant at Vicksburg, and of General Johnston,
in will give battle to the Federal General
the neigh-
bourhood of that town. If the Confederates should
prove victorious, General Grant may find it difficult
even to emulate the Fame of Bn *de and Hooker
by effecting a masterly
retreat. Except on the
banks of the Mississippi, the war now lauguishes,
and in all probability will continue to languish :or

a considerable time. There are no more reports
shout " forward movements" by the army of the
Potomac. Faithful to the principle which it repre
cents, and true to its traditions, that mighty host
will for the present rest from its labours, satisfied
for some months to come with tee laurels which it
gained by its recent exploits. It certainly would
seem, though a fortnight had scarcely elapsed since
the return of General Hooker to the north side of
the Rappahannock, that the circumstances attend-
ant on his recent disaster ha,: entirely passed from
the pub'ic mind. the Grand Army of the North
is at present safe, and the public are content. There
was, indeed, some speculation on a possible change
of generals, but either Mr. Lincoln has got tired of
experimentalising in a vain search for a skilful or
successful general, or else he has exhausted the list
of his commanding officers. It has been said that
although Hooker nominally conducted the late
operations in Virginia, they were in reality devised
by General Halleck, who is the acting Minister of
War at Washington. If this be so, it would seem
that the Federal Government have not yet opened
their eyes to the folly of attempting to conduct a
campaign by means of an Aulic Council. When
General Burnside failed, six months since, at Frede-
ricksburg, it was said, and with some appearance
of truth, that he acted in compliance with the
pressure put upon him by his superiors, and con-
trary to his own convictions. However that may
have been, he was, immediately after his disastrous
defeat at Fredericksburg, displaced, and since then
has had no more arduous duties to fulfil than these
of trying civilians by courts-martial for expressing
their distrust in the policy of the meat paternal of
Governments. It was rumoured that the " Young
Napoleon" was once more to be placed at the head
of the " Grand Army of the North." It is not pro-
bable, however, that George M'Clellan will again
resume his command in Virginia. Nor, indeed, does
much depend upon the particular choice of the
Federal Government in respect to its generals at the
present crisis. The capture of Richmond has been
so frequently attempted, and invariably with such
ill success that we doubt much if the Confederate
capital will fall before the close of the present war.
Fs fate would not, however, in the slightest degree
Tcc the ultimate issue of the struggle,. The fa,l
at Washington would not compel the North to
acknowledge the independence of the South ; and still
less would the capture of Richmond convince the six
millions of the Southern populution that their efforts
to secure their political independence were altoge-
ther futile. It is not in Virginia, nor, for that mat-
ter, in any other State of the Confederacy, that the
great contest is to be decided. If the American
Union is to be again re-established in its original
integrity, its supporters must not only subjugate
Virginia, but every other State which lies south of
the Potomac. They must not only overrun the entire
area of the Southern States, but they must reduce
their population to complete subjection. Whilst,
however, the people of the Northern States are thus
busily engaged in an attempt to trample upon the
independence of their quondam fellow- citizens in the
South, they appear to be entirely oblivious of the
jeopardy in which their own political privileges are
placed. It is strange, but it is nevertheless true, that
the great majority of the population of the Northern
States live at the present moment under a regime
which would not be tolerated by thepeopleof any State
in Europe. Liberty, in the sense in which that word
is understood at this side of the Atlantic, has ceased
ro exist. Martial law has superseded civil jurisdic-
tion, and no one is exempt from liability to arraign
ment before a court composed of half-a-dozen sol-
diers, which can impose any penalty that to it
seems fit. The Government, though the weakest
and most contemptible the world has ever seen, is
all-powerful, and no one appears endowed either
with the spirit or the power to question its decrees.
In Cincinnati, the General of the District has car-
ried his point, and by the aid of an obstluious judge
has justified the deportation of an obnoxious though
unoffending citizen. To do them justice, the citi-
zens of New York have protested against the ille-
gality of this proceeding, but the Executive have
not found it necessary to yield to the protests of
the people. The political philosopher may well
doubt the efficiency of the checks imposed by what
is termed official responsibility, when he finds that
an elected magistrate, whose term of office must ex-
pire in a very brief period, can with impunity pro-
ceed to such extravagant lengths. It is perfectly
conceivable that a nation might pardon much in a
chief magistrate who, by his ability or his prowess,
gratified its ambition, or materially increased its
prosperity. But even the most ardent supporters
of the American Union admit that Mr. Lincoln and
his advisers are far below mediocrity. During the
miserable two years which came to a close a few
months since, neither he nor they have advanced
either the credit or glory of the nation ; nay, so far
from that, they have brought it into the greatest
disrepute. The American Republic never held so
low a position either at home or abroad as it does at
the present time. And to whom is the blame to be
attributed ? Is it to the people themselves or to
their chiefs ? Their can be no doubt that it is ex-
clusively to the latter. The people of the North
may have demanded what in Europe is regarded as
au impossibility, the subjugation of the South ; but
those who should have counselled and directed
them pandered to their passions, instead of en-
deavouring to restrain them. From the Cabinet at
Washington there has not at any time emanated a
single word of wholesome advice. We do not sup-
pose, and indeed it is not suggested that the Federal
Government commands the respect of the Northern
population ; it is therefore the more surprising
that it can enforce obedience to its preposterous
decrees.

TIMES.—The spectacle presented by Paris at this
momeut is one for which we should vainly seek a
political parallel in this country. For the like of
it we are driven out of statecraft into priestcraft, or
rather what should be priestcraft, and is not. Here
is a magnificent new church, or an an ancient fabric
restored, with every possible decoration and every
requisite for the old worship. Nothing can be more
complete and unexceptional than the sculptures and
paintings. The angels adore, the cherubs beam
with love, and the saints in the windows are most
holy. The seats are all adorned as chureh seats
should be. But where is the congregation ? They
have all gone off where there is little to please the
sense, but where the soul is free, and feels itself a
spiritual existence. The people are ail gone to those
who have the secret of their thoughts and their
affections. They have left the solemn pile w',ere
matter is made so splendid and so significant, and
they find a home where every word revives a memory
and every tone thrills through the soul. The Em-
peror is just completing the second foundation of
Paris. He is finishing the great work of the Bour-
bons and their Italian Queens. He has washed
out of the map the old city and the old University,
and drawn miles upon miles of splendid Boulevards
through the vacant ground. He found Paris brick.
and he has left it better than marble; he found the
Seine a mudbank, and he has left it a sculptured
canal; he found the Bois de Boulogne a tangled
copse, and he has left it something between
Hyde-park and Richmond. But Paris and the
Parisians are not the same thing. The Parisians do
not even thank him for Paris. He has given them
what they never asked for, and what they accept
with unthankful admiration. They asked for poli-
tical life, and he has given them sculptured images.
So when the time is come to receive a million
acknowledgments, his candidates received but
82,607 out of 235,250 votes given las: Sunday and
Monday, or little more than a third. This is the
old proverbial ingratiude ever rendered to benefac
tors—to the imperious obtruders of benefits con-
ceived after their own model. The saw and the
chisel have regenerated the city, but not touched
the people. They are what they were, and always
have been. They love their own likeness, and they
find it in anything that rebels against dictation.
They find it in everything that, is proscribed and
Free ; in the older Bourbon and the younger ; in
the Republican and the Communist ; in theeloquent
speaker and graceful writer; in anything that see]
can commune with. The benefits, the bribes, the
arguments, the menaces of the Empire can reach
but few ; and for every man who worships the
marble image in the city of Paris there are found
two others who turn their faces another way.
The Minister of the Interior wes the man who
had undertaken to get up the free homage of a
grateful people. For several weeks he has been
drilling them, and teaching them to discriminate
with instinctive piety between the true father of
his country and the many counterfeits. ° This
is not the man, nor yet this, nor yet this, that you
are to rush and fall down before and embrace." No
stage manager laboured so hard to make a peasan-
try do its duty on the appearance of its lord and
master. But though the boards of the Theatre
Francais afford spacefor hundreds Paris and France
are wider still, and the inhabitants more numerous
and more untexchable. We cannot understand how
the great functionaries who have now for 14 years
been in the c,osest contact with the people of Paris,
and employed in their conquest or their govern-
ment, should so completely have lost the true mea-
sure of the men they deal with. When commands
and menaces take the place of sound reason and
gentle persuasion it is commonly ascribed to the in-
perience or unfit education of those who make the
blunder. It is either some soldier bred in camps or
some scholar or philosopher, or a devotee from the
cloisters, or the heir of a seraglio. Such governors
expect to mould their subjects as they would the
plastic clay, for they can only give the word of
command, or dream, or play with toys. They have
not had to do with men, and know not how to ad-
drk as them. But in this case, whatever the imperial
officers were 15 years ago they have had time to
learn and unlearn ; yet they have done nothing for
weeks past but ring an incessant alarum, with ever

increasing violence of language, against a few men
whom it was their true policy to leave unnoticed,
described, uncommitted, and disunited. These men
were not collectively Orleanists, or Legitimists, or
even an Opposition, in any whole sense of the word.
They have been driven, compelled, aggregated into
an Opposition by being made the objects of a com-
mon denunciation. They are now one party, .
self-defence, and by the instinct of this joint success.
When the Chamber meets there will at least be 30
men who have entered in spite of the Emperor, who
have burst in through bolts and bars, through a
crowd of satellites, and forced themselves into the
very presence of power. There will be 30 meet
whose admission was announced to be the signal of
the last agony that precedes revolution. The
course pursued by the French Government has
ministered unwittingly to one of the best known
and most dangerous tastes of the Parisian public.
They like a conflict ; they want a distinct issue ;
they desire to see the sides called and sorted--
the one on the right, the other on the left. The
Minister of the Interior has opened the lists, and
marshalled the opposing and defending forces with
all the skill of old or modern knighthood. It
is seldom one can get a distinct issue upon any
question, for mankind do not of themselves readily
divide as one might wish them. It has taken near
a century to ripen the Northerners and the South-
erners into implacable foes and make their hatred
internecine. But one busy gentleman has managed
in a few weeks to blow a heap of stray materials
into one hot glowing mass, which will find, perhaps,
a better man than he to forge it. The word has gone
through all France, to every episcopal see, to every
frontier fortress, to every naval depot, to every
seat of commerce that the Empire is in danger, an
that a few men, once let in, will open the gates to
a besieging army. There is the same struggle from
Calais to Marseilles, and the same result. France,
waaried with a monotony which is not interrupted
by even a speech or a paragraph without the official
visa, desires to see potitics once more a question.
There is now a fair prospect of her being at liberty
to do right meritoriously or wrong if she prefers.
In this country we should not attach much import-
ance to the election of thirty free thinkers and free
talkers to an assembly of ten times their number;
but there are occasions in which a hundred may flee
before ten, and this we are told on the best official
authority is one of them. M, Persigny forecasts
with certainty a confl ct between the feeble many
and the strong few, and, if we are to judge from his
demeanour and tone, he expects another Thermo-
py lea, in which, however, the defenders are the
many, and the invaders the few,

COUNTRY MARKETS.

...... .4'

MANCHESTER—JuxE 4.
At our market this morning there was an average at-
tendance, with a very dull demand. For both English and
foreign wheat the rates of last week were commanded. In
flour no material change was observable. Oats and oat-
weal dull. Indian corn and beans slightly in favour of
buyers, but also dull.