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 Government 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 not sufficienta eistfoy allay
a
Mr. ADAMS'S restless uneasiness, or to ,
RUSSELL'S assiduous friendship. The officer, who,
according to the respect claimed by
the
law,glish
should have been a host in himself as h
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 man ceuvre 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.
BREVEY. 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 public will not feel very well satisfied. Fortu-
nately, the matter 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 mate
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“wouhr.iactihdt.etwilesuutytls howta
ors went to kill a snail."
Ear
1 RUSSELL and Mr. ADAMS, and the Washing-
toll
Cabinet to boot, had better look to themselves,
f for the vai
glisle public will not tolerate much`more
t of there
''''eeedinge—proceedings as absurd and
,1 as extraeagEt„t -
unjust. all they are unconstitutional and

ttme
theTtsaisfecityliotfethe .4 Something was done about
of those in author.
4i.re,att
• It is too often the practice
d ill-arranged a
magnitude
measures, until
authority to neglect
cautions and to adopt
prudential
to use timely pre-
cautions
that is really
the evil has assumed
far and near
and the
concerningterrifyi n g:
the faulty an
termi-
of the laws. Very recently two
very sad cases oc-
curred, which, beginning in street nutarawgoem9,
noted in acath. In one instance
asked to see after a neighbour's house dori:l,lvhas
er
absence, and, on going there, she heard a noise, and
very imprudently knocked. The door was
opened
suddenly, and Mrs. WATSON received a blow on the
head from one of the men who rushed out. so
fatal were its effects that she speedily sank under
it, and the most grievous thing that could occur is,
that no trace of the murderers is discovered. It is
difficult to conceive how anyone can bo 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