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

.

spoken. For precisely si Leh 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 no't sufficient to allay
Mr. ADAMS'S restless uneasinees, or to satisfy Lord
RUSSELL'S assiduous friendsh:.p. The officer, who,
according to the respect clamed 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, wits not thought formidable
enough, rind 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
avow 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 eeceived 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.
BRETEY. 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
la:ready their property. If Messrs. BREVEY 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 ho 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. LA.IIID, a member of the Eng-
lish Parliament, to ser.d a body of marines to de-
tain a vessel which he bad 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-
vee-nment 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 thinke
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
eaertion occasioned by the supposed departure of
these unfinished vessels reminds us of the nursery
rhyme which tells us how
eou
Earlx r-and-twenty tailors went to kill a snail."
It
—nssELL and Mr. ADAMS, and the Washing
ton Cabinet tu.
boot, had better look to themselves,
for the Eugni, , '
public will not tolerate much more
of these procssdi
ngg,--proceedings as absurd and
us extravagant as
,"347 are unconstitutional and

unjust

It is quite time p
rud
that so
n------7t !thing was done about
the safety of the streets, l is
of those in authority to
cautions and to ado lit topnealtl often the practice
use timely pre-
the evil has assumed a magnitude that is really measures, until
terrifying, and the murmurs rise ~
"1) far and nea
concerning the faulty and ill-arranged rneahni r
of the laws. Very recently two very sad easaessm
curred, which, beginning in street outrages, tenni_
uated in death. In one instance a woman
Was
asked to see after a neighbour's house during her
absence, and, on going there, she heard a noise, and
very imprudently knocked. The door was opened
suddenly, and Mrs. Iv AVON received a blow on the
head from one of the men who rushed out. So
fatal were its eff:cts 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 anvone can be so cruel ;
for of course two men could easily have passed one
female
kept
itma le
is
evidentwi without o
thatu having
aa vg
Bi n recourse u
frl oen t watch
to such
could
notviolence.
have
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