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

capacities of the North—in the capabilities for yet
running up again into a flood of victory, still thought
by some to be latent in the hitherto ebbing, and
ebbing, and ebbing out of the good fortunes of the
Federal Government.

Last night Mr. PEACOCKE moved for the papers
touching the proceedings of the American navy in
reference to the seizure of British vessels. The
motion was negatived. It is most unsatisfactory
that these obstacles and hindrances are constantly
thrown in the way of information being afforded to
the public. If all is straightforward and strictly
in accordance with the principles of national law,
why should there be this constant hesitation
regarding explanations, this backwardness in
revealing all peat transactions. Mr. PEACOCKE
truly stated that if affairs went on like they were
at present conducted the trade as ith Matamoras
would be transferred to the ships of another nation.
Mr. FITZGERALD made an able speech on the ques-
tion. He said that the legitimate trade with Ma-
tamoras had been interfered with in a most unjusti-
fiable manner. He showed that the condemnations
were opposed to the opinion of some learned judges,
and he drew attention to the striking difference that
had characterised the conduct of the Government
in the two cases of the Brazils and the Federal
Government. This was bringing home the charge
in a direct style, and indeed it must be apparent to
the most superficial and careless observer of foreign
affairs how strangely inconsistent is the course that
our Ministers persist in pursuing. Lord R. CECIL
very forcibly declared that the decisions of the United
States Prize Courts under the present circumstances
were not worthy of the same consideration that they
once possessed, and correctly deduced from the
foregoing events the conclusion that our interests
were being sacrificed to suit the partiality of the
Foreign Office for the United States Government.
Although no decided result has attended this dis-
cussion it is as well that it should have taken place.
for it is some satisfaction that the Ministers should
be told publicly of their derelictions even if they
will not heed the warning. It is really disgrace-
ful that British commerce should be tampered with
to such a considerable extent, and for what ? To
please the fancy of those who are incapable of guard-
ing their own interests. No one now living will wit-
ness America free from the effects of this devastat-
ing and disastrous war, why then should our Go-
vernment use every means and strain every nerve
that our interests should be identical with those of
the Federals. From the outset of the contest this
has invariably been the case. Protests have been
unavailing, complaints unheeded, and advice disre-
garded. The Ministers are determined that we
shall have full cause to rue the day when the great
model Republic went to war, but they should
take heed lest a disappointed people and
injured interests do not also lament that
more efficient hands did not steer the
vessel of our State during the momentous epoch,
and that our welfare was not entrusted to safer
keeping. Patience may be tried too far, and it is too
late in the day to attempt to silence complaints,
by stating what, at the best, are embroidered
facts. The Solicitor-General stated that the Go-
vernment applied to the United States the same
principles that had actuated former wars. In for-
mer wars England was considered the Queen of
the Sea, and her flag was not dishonoured as it
has been repeatedly since this Government has
undertaken to guard the interests of the Ameri-
cans at every turn. Unless some change for the
better is made in our foreign policy, a re-
action will take place in the sentiments of the
people of this country, and they will declare
their opinions in a manner that Ministers will
not like. It is insulting the common sense of the
nation to say that they are acting impartially, and
it would be more consistent to explain why they
are adopting this extraordinary course than to per-
sist in denying that they are proceeding in the
direction which, it is patent to the world, that they
took long ago, and have ever since unflinchingly
persevered in, through good and evil report.

General MOURAVIEFF'S orders for the establish-
ment of a military and civil administrative tribunal
in the Governments of Wilna, and other places, do
not appear very hopeful to the cause of peace. The
most arbitrary rules are laid down, and there seems
no quarter to be expected on any side. "A war police
council, from whose decision there is to be no appeal,
shall be nominated in every circle." This state-
ment aptly prefigures those that govern in the long
race of hand-and-hand measures. Every one of
every rank is to be under the dominion of these
officials. The occupation of each person is to be
put down, and the degree of confidence reposed in
him likewise marked out. On the roads there are
to be mounted patrols, who are to exercise the most
vigilant watch, they are to supervise all persons
going to and fro, and to allow no one to pass with-
out a permit signed by the captain of the circle.
All weapons that ere found in the towns and the
country are to be immediately confiscated to whom-
soever they may belong, and they are to be at once
handed over to the military authorities, who will
then equip the militia. Nor are these orders con-
sidered sufficiently stringent, but additions are in-
troduced to render assurance doubly sure. Those
districts where disarmament has already taken
place are to be examined again, and all permits to
keep arms that may hitherto have been given, are
from henceforth to be considered as cancelled. The
shortest time is to be allowed for the inhabi-
tants of any place to deliver up their arms,
and whoever fails to comply within the
prescribed period is to be arrested and
delivered up to the tribunals. Members of
the nobility and of the clergy who are supposed to
be disaffected to the Government are to be ex-
pelled. Those persons who are guilty of breach of
their oath are to be handed over to the authorities
to be dealt with according to martial law, and the
circle-chiefs will be considered responsible for any
leniency that is shown to any one in this respect.
General MOURAVIEFF does not consider these
harsh laws sufficient, he goes on to enumerate an
endless set of rules, various in degree, but uniform
in kind. Any stranger to the state of things might
well exclaim and be bewildered at the great extent
to which he has gone in devising the means for
crushing down the rebellious and headstrong nation
he is determined to subdue. These rules have one
paragraph especially set aside for the priests, in
which the most vehement denunciations are made
against all of their order who participate in any
way in the rebellion. It is expressly stated that no
quarter will be given to them, and that nu excuses
\
will be listened to of having been compelled to join
the ranks of the insurgents. To explain this it is
'this
allowing
said, " that priests who serve the altar are least of
all justified in
themselves to be terrified
by threats.”
threatening
very curiously from one
who has just been
them to the utmost
of his power. Whey
he goes on to say that those
priests who fail to obey his
Orders shall be consi-
dered as doubly culpable, and
subjected to the
severest punishment as examples to the rest
and also that the superiors of the Catholic councils'
if they offend will fall under the jurisdiction of the
military tribunals, it is evident that the last bafhs..
ences which generally retain any hold noon men
heir wnrfara are put
who are savage or severe in t

aside in this struggle. The ties of humanity, the
claims of suffering, the laws of civilisation, and the
respect for religion are all broken and trampled
upon in this sanguinary strife and this vindictive
struggle. No excuse is to be accepted from any
cause whatsoever ; in short, it seems that the aim
and object of these emissaries of the paternal Em-
peror is to rival the reign of terror in France, and
to renew in Warsaw and its environs the scenes
and sights that made Paris the wonder and terror
of the world. It is too much to hope that any
good will result from the communications that have
been forwarded by the three Powers ; the most de-
cisive answer is the code recently published, where
arbitrary rules and crushing measures seem de-
signed to last till the crack of doom. It is no use
for Ministers to pen courtly phrases, and for diplo-
matists to use elegant expressions, when Generals
are compiling such scrolls of terror, traced in the
blood of thousands. No age, no sex, no profession
is to be a shield or defence for those who offend ; and
woe to those who fall under the ban of such judges
as those who rule over Poland in unrighteousness
and wrath. It is scarcely credible that nowadays
such a proclamation could come from any country
calling itself Christian or civilised. It would havebeen
a disgrace to the dark ages of tyranny, and it will
remain a foul blot on the fame of Russia for many
generations. If from mistaken motives of prudence,
and the inconvenient position of affairs, there is no
nation that is able at present to take up arms to
succour the Poles, still the sentiments that will pre-
vail upon the perusal of this document will be
synonymous. From one end of Europe to the other
there will be heard the voice of scorn and reproach
against the cruelty, the treachery, and the inhu-
manity of the conduct that now profanes the soil of
Poland, and brands the memory of Russia with
lasting infamy.

The question as to who shall undertake the re-
sponsibility of defending our colonies cannot yet be
considered as settled. From time to time some
event brings it up, and the old difference of opinion
is shown. Last night the petition of the New
Zealanders presented by Lord LYTTELTON was dis-
cussed in the Upper House, and the noble lord, in
calling attention to it, remarked that the two ex-
tremes of colonisation had been tried without abso-
lute success. The old Greeks, when they left their
native country, took with them their goods, their
constitution, and their laws. They departed in
organised bodies,separating themselves for ever from
their country by that act of voluntary exile. The
modern position has been exactly contrary to this.
England, the chief coloniser, has retained her
colonies beneath her own control, restricting their
trade, imposing heavy imposts, and holding them
back from the path of progress by every means in
her power. It is wise, no doubt, to guide the inex-
perience of youthful ambition, bat if you curb the
high-mettled steed too closely, you may provoke
him beyond control. The stormy parting be-
tween England and her mighty Western colonies
taught our legislators and statesmen a wise lesson.
There is little fear now that any minister would
gravely propose to the House of Commons to levy a
tax on the Australian settlers for the benefit of
England, and there is still less likelihood that the
House would stittport such a proposition if made.
Still, while we have wisely come to the conclusion
of exercising but a very partial control over the
inhabitants of our colonies, there are some points
which demand the attention of the mother country,
and cannot be decided by local instead of imperial
authority. The first of these is the question of self-
defence. The American contest has lately reminded
us of the danger to which our Canadian frontier
would be exposed in case of a war with the Northern
States, and the troubles of the New Zealanders have
also renewed the question. There is no doubt much
to be said on both sides. It is asked by the one,
why this country should be called upon to support
the expense of wars incurred with no view to her
benefit, and concluded, most likely, with no advan-
tage to her. On the other hand, it is said, with
equal reason, that colonies are likely to be dragged
into any war which the mother country may engage
in, that their trade may be ruined, their coasts in-
vaded, and all the horrors of war come upon them
unsought and unsuspected. Their weakness, it is
argued, would prevent them from quarrelling with
great Powers on their own account ; but if England
still preserves her nominal dominion -while re-
fusing her assistance, she is rendering them liable
to be greater sufferers than herself from any war she
may engage in. The just course in this, as in most
other cases, appears to be the medium one. The
colonies should unquestionably contribute, and con-
tribute largely to their own defence, in fact such a
course must approve itself to their English inde-
pendence of feeling and the pride which all pros-
perous settlers must take in their new country.
The Home Government, however, readily came for-
ward to assist the young and struggling state. The
difficulties to be contended against, the scattered
settlements, the dangerous neighbours, and the large
tracts of ground thinly populated and undefended
from aggression, are all to be weighed in the bal-
ance. However ready the colonists may be to de-
fend themselves, there are cases when they could
scarcely do it successfully, if unaided. Our North
American provinces, for instance, could hardly, be-
fare this miserable war commenced, have resisted
the whole power of the United States, while it was
a duty that England owed to herself, as well as to
them, to protect the integrity of their possessions.
There is, too, a vast difference between the inhabi-
tants of Canada and Nova Scotia, and the settlers in
New Zealand. The comparatively scanty number of
the latter, notwithstanding the progress of the colony,
render them by no means independent of the
natives. Whatever the origin of the present dis-
putes with the Maoris, there is no doubt that the
natives have become exacting and tyrannical. It
is to be hoped that peace will be speedily placed on
a lasting basis, and the Maori taught to believe
that they will best consult their own interests by
keeping on terms with the colonists. But they
must also be made to understand that Englishmen
seek justice and peace from principle, and not from
fear. They must not suppose that the abandon.
ment of unfair claims, the renunciation of extreme
demands, are due to the dread of their anger or
interference. It is no doubt a difficult matter to
adjust wisely and well; but we trust our Govern-
ment, both home and colonial, will not forget
justice to the colonists in indulgence to the
natives.

Sir John Hay's bill on Naval Agency is to
morrow (as we are reminded by the Army arid
Navy Gazette), to be committed, and, from all we hear, the
Admiralty are resolved to givo it opposition. The service
will regret this, and it would be desirable if it could be
otherwise arranged.

COUNT D'ORSAY AND MR. RAIKES' NOSE.—The
well-known Tom Raikes, whose letters and me-
moirs have been lately published, and who was a tall, large
man, very much marked with the smallpox, having one
day written an anonymous letter to D'Orsay, containing
some piece of impertinence or other, had closed it with a
wafer and stamped it with something resembling the top of
a thimble. The Count soon discovered who was the writer,
and in a room full of company thus addressed him--" Ha I
ha my good Raikes, the next time you write an anony-
mous letter you must not seal it with your nose :"—Gro-
it '-; Aneedotei.

:SIUSEUIkr OF PATENTS, SOUTH KENSINGTON.—
Number of visitors for the week ending June 27, 1,654.
low number since the opening of the museum free daily
(12th, 1858), 731,915,