The Sun.
London, England, 1863-06-30 00:00:00

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SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALS.

TIMES..-,—" If it should appear that from jealousy
of trade, or unjust suspicion of contraband, or any
other motive, the British trade were deliberately
and systematically made subject to vexatious cap-
ture and arbitrary interference, it is obvious that
Great Britain must interfere to protect her flag."
Such are the words of a despatch from Lord Rus-
sell to Lord Lyons, written to be communicated
to the American Government. "It cannot be con-

ceded by the American Government, nor claimed
by Great Britain, that some British vessels may
not be fraudulently engaged in an ostensible
. .

rade between British ports and Matamoras in con:

veying supplies to the insurgents of the United
States." Such is the important portion of the counter
_ _

despatch which has been received from Mr. Stewart.
This is a very important issue. We are promised
that the nest steamer will bring us a report of the

arguments and judgment in the case of the Peter-
hoff ; and the fate of the Dolphin is already decided
The American Courts appear to be fully equal to
the occasion, and to be ready to make an interna-
tional law to meet the exigencies of their own special
and temporary convenience. According to the doc-
trines now laid down by Mr. Seward, a belligerent
cruiser may blockade not only his enemies' ports,
but also the ports of neutral powers which have any
possible communication with his enemy's port. If
he can board neutral vessels passing from one neutral
port to another, and can make prize of them, and
if the Admiralty Judges condemn them upon the
ground that the cargo was intended ultimately to
reach the enemy, then it clearly comes in effect to
what we have said, that a belligerent power has a
right to blockade neutral ports, to prevent anything
entering_therein which mAy ultimately reach the
eneniy. It is evident that Seward's words mean
this It is a very strong doCtrine, and 'it carries' the
rights of belligerents beyond anything tuat has ever
been claimed in their behalf since modetn.views and.
armed neutrality protests ;have set a limit to the
old pretensions. There is nothing to 'be' said in
favour of such's pretension, exoept that if the-Ameri-
cans are determined to rivet this :patch lipon ,t 139
hard old international law, we of
-all the
,people in
the world are the least interested in opposing'the
innovation; The natiire'of ,",bontratand of veer 1 is
also receiving a,very extemled;interpretation,at the
hands of the traditional champions of the'rights:Of
neutrals. 'Although we haVe riot Yetiliejtidginent
in. the case of the-Peterhoff,. we know that -special,
commission,-441., heen ,issue 4 to inquire into the,
quality cat ter cargo, and the report of that apeCial
coinmisato had hden'read in 'cOuie. These
mission r& say that they Iliav'e opened tip !boXeSf:
cases, mod,' bales, font*, iii this, steamer and: have,
made a-!tcue and peifect inventory. of the content's.lt seeing' however',' that there-were tatuion;.Or.
muskets; lints of- any deseription4
powder' qr shotil ehellsi nothing which, even if
the PeterhOff had'l3Cen going enimy'tl port
not actially .Mdekadett, would ,h9Arek StibieCteCt the
ship tolettnhseatism, as carrying contraband
,of .war,
Bnt the; CoMmissioners remark that there; were
articles' n board capbble-of beitlg trpplied toLaithy
uses. ` l'here,waa in assorted parcel of drugs, cob-
tainingsqUipjpe, cailomel,l mornhinet
form, addtessed "Turchard and2,Co., Matamoras,
Mexibe; Ilierd•weie'alsd cases .of Bitichei boots,
which:We must in candour itiltnit, might •be,worn
by soldiers, ,well as. by any; othe,r,. xnfeathered
biped&- :MereOVei, theie were bales of gray"bran-
kets, which 'be gindh as are
" usedln- the United; §totes' army :Bubas.these
undoubtedly came from England: it seems, hard to
conclude that,heeatise theYankeesliTie bought some
of our.woollens for army purpose's, 'we ean'therefore
make blankeis for army : purposes: There ..were
also harnescand,Tiding saddles and horseshoes, and
13 pidces of bacon and a bag 'of Peas, all of which
might, ioUbtless, have found anise either in or . out
of a camp..l4astly,tbere were tivphydraulic presses,
capable of prassuAg cotton, and one basket of rusty
cotton hooks: Such is the cargo Which; from its con-
traband nature, is held to justify thadetentiow of an
Englishfiteamer passing between neutral pprts,: and
such is , the " Contraband of war which the
AmeriCan' Courts. 'tie notv: being a'sked • to
hold auffieient •to insure the> .condemna-
tion of , a neutral vessel upon the high seas.
Of course we do not pretend to doubt that the quinine
and the boots might have been intended-ultimately
to reach. the Confederate ,storehonses, • It may be
just possible that they might have been bought up for
Mexican use, but the probabilities undoubtedly are,
that if they had reached Matamoras, they
would have been pushed into the Confederate terri-
tory. The question, however, remains whether
medicine and boots are contraband of war because
they can be used by soldiers; and secondly, whether
anything thus capable of being used by an army can
be seized anywhere by the strong hand. The Ame-
ricans say they have the authority of Sir William
Grant and Lord Stowell for what they are doing,
and we are happy to see that they now entertain a
reverence for the decisions of those two great inter-
national lawyers which they certainly did not pro-
fess in other days. Lord Russell is careful not to
commit himself to any opinion as to whether Sir
William Grant and Lord Stowell's doctrines will
justify such strong measures as are now being taken ;
but if they should, we think he is quite right, as
an English Minister, not to do anything to weaken
those doctrines which have been found so necessary
to our own island interests. On the other hand, if
these pretensions should turn out to be far beyond
anything ever heard of in our Courts, and quite im-
possible ever to be put forward by ourselves in case
of war, then Lord Russell can scarcely consider
himself acting as a neutral if he submit to them
from one of two belligerents and to the disadvantage
of the other. If we allow boots and blankets to be

seized on their way to Mexico because they are the
same sort of goods we are sending to New York,
that can scarcely be called neutrality. Public
opinion will support Lordßussell in the maintenance
of an absolute neutrality during this war, but it will
not support him beyond this. The English people
desire to hold a real bona fide neutrality between
the two combatants. This cannot be to the extent
we could wish it to be, because the possession of the
sea enables the Northerners to draw from us all the
materials of war, and to engage all the scum of
Europe as mercenaries in their service. Without
this aid the North would long since have been ex-
hausted and the fighting at an end. Bat if the South
have some privileges conferred by the rules of inter-
national law, it would be mean in us to go out of
our way to deprive her of them because she is weak
and cannot complain. Lord John Russell stated the
case truly in his despatch when he said "the trade
to Matamoras is a perfectly legitimate trade. It
is carried on from New York as it is from London
to Liverpool. To pretend that some goods carried
to Matamoras may be afterwards transported across
the frontier to Texas does not vitiate the legitimate
character of that trade." If this be so, to surrender
our commercial rights to the Northern States would
be a breach of neutrality towards the Northern
States. Although, however, Mr. Seward puts for-
ward these preposterous claims, there is reason to
believe that the Americans themselves are seeing
that these strange decisions against the rights of
neutrals are establishing precedents which may
hereafter be used against them. A smuggling trade
to Matamoras can be of no* great importance to
us, and can never have any substantive effect upon
the issue of the war between North and South ;
but the principles now in course of recognition and
extension in the American prize courts may be
very precious to England at some future crisis
We should therefore be very patient and cautious
in these matters, up to that boundary line where
acts cease to be defensible upon any possible doc-
trine of international law. We observe that the
American papers begin to suspect that they are
going too far for their own interests; that they are
adopting and strengthening all our old precedents,
and forging chains for themselves in future wars.
Some of them are already recommending that ships
going from a neutral port to another should not be
interfered with, whatever may be the suspicions
against them. W hen this mist clears away, they
will discover that the course they have taken in
this war has established all our pretensions as to
the right of blockade and of search also.
POST.—The verbose document with which Presi-
dent Lincoln has replied to the resolutions passed
at a recent public meeting censuring his conduct in
respect to the arrest of Mr. Vallandigham reads
strangely at the present juncture.
peeularities of the American Cunstitlt is oneionth of the
that both
theoretically and practically the Chief Magistrate
of the Republic continues the equal of his fellow-
citizens. He may possess by virtue of his high
office great authority, or he may, through
ehxtehre ci apathy
athyor sufferance of the American peop
ex-
traordinary power, but he does not for all that cease
to be a citizen whom the humblest can at any'
moment approach and shake by the hand, or whom
a knot of platform orators can compel at a
moment's notice to publish an elaborate exposition
of his political views. Still, however, notwith-
standing the relations known to subsist between
the American people and their President, one
cannot read such a letter as that which we pub-
lished yesterday without some feelings of surprise.

P P., IP

,r-e. 5.,, , _ ersereee.
i • --7-:- i'elie" c'ee
' ICP4ta •--- 'et. eeele4r
The President governs by responsible
and it seems to be just as unseemly for leritifie et. „-e-es—Aee„.A g
scend into the political arena to justify acr a,, -' !I-0., ;1044)
tztx,e..v
as it would be for the Queen of En: .9 47 ' ___.-...* xz,:v
write an autograph letter to the chairm: a 4i-ki pk.,. ~,is,j
....-a.,,--k0p,.../-
public meeting which passed resolutions con. - 'aim.
tory of the policy pursued by her Government. aift 11 S
the present moment, however, when the Con-
federates are literally thundering
.at the gates of
Washington, and when a militia is being rapidly
organised to do the work of armies which have dis-
appeared, there is something positively ludicrous in
the tone in which the Chief Magistrate of the United
States speaks of the rebellion, and gravely contests
the various grounds on which secession could be.
justified. It is true that when the letter was written
Lee's army still occupied the line of the Rappa-
hannock, and the public received daily Assurances
that the backbone of the rebellion was within an inch
of being broken, but still the contingency which .has
since occurred was not then completely absent irotei
the minds of Mr. Lincoln or his advisers. We will
not follow the President through his lengthy epistle..
If it satisfied its recipients, and if the population of
the North( rn States are content to accept his expo-
sition of constitutional law, and consider disquisi-
tions on the legality of secession instinctive reading,
we have no objections to offer. Assumirg, as Mr.
Lincoln seems to assume, that the provision of the
Constitution authorising the suspension of the writ
of habeas corpus in cases of rebellion and invasion
confers the power of suspension on the Executive,
and not on the Legislature, of course he can justify
his recent arrest of Mr,Vallandigham. But as the
majority of persons will be inclined to think that it
wasnever intended that the President and his Minis-
ters should be the sole judges of the propriety of
making arbitrary arrests, it is not probable that Mr.
Lincoln's justification of a gross violation of the
rights of citizenship in the person of Mr. Vallane
digham, will carry conviction into the minds of
many.
HERALD,—The propositions which the Allied
Powers have addressed to the Russian Government
have this radical vice, that they are unacceptable
alike to the Russians and the Poles. They ask from
Russia much more than she can give, and offer the
Poles far less than they will be satisfied with. If
the Russian Government were reduced to the last
extremities it might submit to the summons to put
down its UAW and recognise the PAles.as a bellige-
rent powei, with Whotn :to ivantriipantitlettalareetstlee- , (Tr 'l,J,,*, A,.,
ing. If the Poles were convinced Oat Europe will .
do no more for them, they would*bandon a strug-
gle
which they only sustain by enernious sacrifices;
and although theywould'not acceptz-4f their accept,-
ance ahead 'be dematided—guarantees of liberty,
'for which they:do -not care, they would take the
"concessions given withouLthanks, as o many steps . . i.
:upon which, at. a ..fatnisi: day, to attempt again to
.... _
rise into independence.. To.pleasie neither party in
a quarrel ,/ heldnonclusive evi- ' i
failuire -of Earle'Russell.
deuce that i'a;l 'judgmentbvs°metrit.Tartial and sionnd ; and
the isiipporters of-. the' Government may. cite the
sateps deeisive-testemeoy
tGartisehakeffeer the-National Government of Ware-..
to conciliate eitheießrinc
to the fairness a hie ro- , .
posed arrangement: —We'd° not questioni ,p t; -- Earl `
•R well has, no doubt, been actuated • by a very ein-.
dere desire -to see Paland. prosperous and free 3inaer--
I:tusiian rile;
''' ITiki. irrarigenient ' would have been e
4
..
defensible, perhaps admirable, if he had - been
called upon as arbitrator to settle the question.
But his_ interference is perfectly gratuitous. The
Poles, on whose behalf it is made, repudiate alto-
"gether the terms which are demended for them;
the Rnseiad Government h -as felt itself con I
strained 'to declare that it Will listen to his sag-- ie t'
gestionS, lent it has die; said .plaiiiry enough • that ere ....1
it thinks the tender of them -a piepe of imperti-
nence with which it eonld very well have dispensed-..
The Minister of a- great country who undertakes , '
to intervene in the quarrels of another Government e '
With its subjects, and puts himself before the world
as' the mediator between them, must look not to the
absolutely juet,,bet the practicable, and suggest an,
accommodation which has a chance of being accepted.
The fact is, that in interfering, with the Russian
Governnient on 'behalf of Poland,- and in framing an '
arrangement, the allies undertook a task impossible ,
Of fulfilment—a task which one -of them, at least,
knew to be impossible, whilst both theothers should
have known it too:• The roles have- never con-
cealed
their objects. ,They. have declared loudly
enough that they, will be content, with nothing
short of the 'expulsion of the-Ruisians from every-
inch of territory-w,hich at any time .formed a par-
tion of the Polish republic. They recorded -in a
hundred different ways their contempt for liberal
-institutions' and" administrative reforms and the '
Governments of England and France ought to have
known thoroughly that administrative autonomy
or any other of their six points, would never induce
a Pole to lay down arms so long as he felt the
slightest confidence in his ability to resist Russia.
They should not have interfered at all beyond the
expression of an opinion and a hope ; or they should
have put to Russia the demand for the relinquish-
' men t-of -Pelaildi-and-have -backed it -up- by -force-el-
arms. The course they have taken has inflicted the
most serious calamities on Poland, has estranged
Russia, and has placed them in a very unsatisfac-
tory and discreditable position. The struggle in
Poland has been kept up for the last three or
four months solely in the hope of the assistance of
England and France. The Poles have been well
aware that unaided they must succumb to the im-
mense armies which Russia could bring against
them. But long after all attempts to enlist the pea-
santry on their side had signally failed, long after
the attempt to raise an insurrection in the Polish
provinces of Russia had proved a complete disap-
pointment, the contest has been kept up at a most
tremendous sacrifice of all that can be dearest to the
Polish heart. The language of the English
Ministers has induced the belief that England
would eventually, on the failure of her own
schemes of mediation, give the Polish cause her
active aid, and for that reason, whilst diplomacy
has been at work the semblance of an insurrec-
tion has been kept up by some devoted men.
Long since the insurrection has burned itself out.
At the very first call the chivalry of Poland proper
threw itself into the struggle. As the ranks of the
insurgents were thinned no recruits were forthcom-
ing. The peasantry refused to follow their masters,
and gloated over their massacre. Posen and Galicia
furnished large contingents. Adventurers of every
nation flocked like vultures to the carnage, but the
number of these professional cat-throats who can
command the means for a long journey is but
limited, and long since the insurrection has ceased
to make any head against the Russian forces. Small
bands have performed wonders, and have had
miracles performed for them by telegraphic agen-
cies, just to keep Western Europe interested in the
Polish question and confident in the Polish power.
Men have devoted themselves readily to death—
have devoted their country to a contest which will
reduce it to little better than a desert, in the con-
viction generated by the language and acts of the
French and English Ministers that France and
England would ultimately go to war for Poland.
The dream is still cherished. The National Go-
vernment of Warsaw has declared, as a contem-
porary who acts at the same time as its organ in
this country and the exponent of the Premier's
policy, assures us, that the Poles will fight to the
last unless Russia accedes to certain conditions
which are equivalent to the abandonment of Po-
land. It is the last effort. The journals which
have championed the Polish cause still try to make
out that the Polish patriots are victorious. The
truth is, as we have said, the insurrection is almost
at an end, and the announcement by England and
France of their intention to pursue a pacific policy
would be the signal for the dispersal and flight of
the bands still carrying on the contest. It is due
to the Poles and to ourselves that the announce-
ment should be made at once. England has
assuredly no intention of engaging in a great cru-
sade for the re-establishment of an independent
Poland. She will not undertake to reverse all the
pa rebolaotoekdadte than
desired. decrees of history, and commit Europe to a contest
which must cause enormous misery, and, if success-
ful,desi producered.
I t
isa riedsluelt rathertrifling
tototalk o
be der
the Russian fleet in the Baltic
ignorance or want of principle of atsben og
cha-
racter to talk as the Morning Post doesaboutrwosasr:st
capacity of the Poles to win their ' It
the
capacity
dnce
if
independence
they are only allowed to get Galicia.e
The Poles are already crushed barms Russia,rom and if we
want to raise them we must engage in the task
with all our energies.
The country has made up its
mind that it will do no such thing; it ought to
make up its
,mind, too, to withdraw from an atti-
tude which compromises its dignity, and unfortu-
nately has encouraged delusions in the Poles which
have prompted them to bring unexampled desola-
tion upon their nubs y land.
PP

LONG LEGS AND SHORT LEGS.—The standard
height of the sexes has been fixed by the Venus
and Apollo ; from whence it may be generally observed
that those who exceed the height of the statue will have the
extra length in the legs, and those who fall below it will
deficiency in the shortness of them. As a ridicu-
lous haveinstancethe
e of this, Mr. Barrymore, the tragedian, was
greatly upwards of six feet high, and his friend Mr. Smith
was very much under five feet; when meeting at the same
convivial board, they were accustomed to sit side by side,
and appeared while thus sitting like two gentlemen of equal
size and consequence ; when it was necessary to rise in
respect, as in drinking the King's health, which they would
both spontaneously do, little Mr. Smith, contrary to all
order, would appear to keep his seat, while Barrymore
would spring up like a spectre from the trap-door of the
stage;; this circumstance placed the two gentlemen in a
serious predicament, as it was said of each of them that
the one ought never to get up and the other ought never to
sit down l—Articte on 4, Comparative Beauty" in Nations?
Magazine.