The Sun.
London, England, 1863-02-27 00:00:00

rim SUN, LONDON, FRIDAY EVBNING, FEBRUARY 27, 1861

SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALS.

TIMES.—The whole English nation may be said
to have gone into committee upon the reception of
the Princess Alexandra. How to give the utmost
eclat to the pageant of the 7th, and how to signalise
the general holiday on the 10th, are now the ques-
tions of the day. Let none, whatever be their age
and whichever their sex, affect to be ashamed of feel-
ing a keen interest in them. The enjoyment derived
from sights of this kind is made up of a great many
elements, some of which defy analysis. The imme-
diate gratification of curiosity may be slight and
momentary, but it is enhanced indefinitely by the
pleasure of looking forward to it and the pleasure
of being in kindly sympathy with all our fellow-
countrymen, the pleasure reflected from the very
thought of what it must be to be the objects of all
this loyal enthusiasm, and a variety of other plea-
sures equally unselfish in their motive, yet equally
agreeable in their result. In order, however, that
these sensations of pleasure, whether more or less
refined, should be experienced at all, it is indispen-
sably necessary that the spectacle itself should be a
success, and not a failure. The sense of disappoint-
ment must be excluded at all hazards. The waste of
pleasure and the amount of pain which this sense,
oppressing the minds of miliions, would directly
produce, is too serious a thing to be treated lightly.
It is thus that every circumstance of the Prince and
Princess's passage through London becomes a matter
for public consideration. The vast sum of money
which will been spent by public bodies and private
individuals in mere decorations and the line of seats
is some measure of the importance attached to it. The
Corporation of London alone " will probably expend
£30,000 or £40,000, and the temporary balconies
which will be erected at every available point on the
route will represent many thousands of pounds. As
for the illuminations, many of which will be seen by
very few, their total cost cannot be estimated with
any degree of certainty, but we believe that the gas
companies have declared themselves unable to meet
the demand unless the consumption of gas in private
houses be reduced for the night. All this shows that
the inhabitants of London are determined, on their
part, to spare nothing in doing honour to the Royal
pair. It is the more incumbent on those who have
the arrangement of the procession and the subse-
quent festivities to consult their wishes and inte-
rests as far as possible. We are sorry to observe that
a very inadequate appreciation of this responsibility
seems to prevail at the Home-office. We had always
fancied that it was the privilege of the Lord Mayor
to receive royal visitors at the gates of the city, and
to lead the van of the cortege until they reached the
verge of his jurisdiction. This etiquette was recog-
nised in the Queen's first entry into the city, and is
recommended by good taste as well as by precedent.
The proposed reversal of this order on Saturday
week is by no means a trifling matter. Nothing can
be trifling which in the slightest degree mars the
harmony of the proceedings on an occasion of such
importance. This-is no ordinary visit of a foreign
Princess to the capital of Queen Victoria. It is the
formal introduction of a Princess of Wales to those
who will one day be the subjects of her husband,
and who are already her devoted wellwishers. The
whole population of the greatest city in the world
will have forsaken their ordinary avocations, and at
a great sacrifice of time and earnings will have
arrayed themselves by ranks and tiers, far as eye
can reach, along a line of several miles, on purpose
to pay the highest compliment in their power to
their future Sovereign and his bride. This is a
homage of which thegreatest potentates might well
be proud, and which deserves every encouragement
which the Government can give it. There is a
famous warning of Burke's about " the misch:ef of
not having large and liberal ideas in the manage-
ment of great affairs." This sentiment is not less
applicable to the conduct of a national ceremony
than to the administration of a colonial empire, and
we trust that it will not be forgotten by the Home-
office. It is no secret that the purpose of placing the
carriage of the Prince and Princess in the vanguard
of the procession is to get it over as quickly as pos-
sible, and enable them to traverse the streets at a
trot. There could not be a greater mistake. If a rapid
transit to Windsor were the great object, it would
possible to avoid the metropolis altogether. It was
thought, however, and wisely thought, that, as the
wedding itself was not to be celebrated in London,
the Londoners should be gratified with the first
sight of the Princess whom we are beginning to
call our own. It would be a sad pity to spoil the
grace of this concession for the sake of saving half
an hour. What is half an hour compared with the
opportunity of winning the hearts of thousands on
thousands ? " Let my people see me," was the
kind and truly Royal saying of our own Queen,
then scarcely older than the Princess Alexandra, as
she passed through the crowded and echoing streets
in the year of her accession. When she entered
Paris, as the guest of the Emperor, in 1855, the
disappointment of the French was extreme because,
owing to a miscalculation of the tide, the carriages
containing the august party did not make their ap-
pearance till dusk, and then drove past too rapidly
for her features to be identified. We-heartily trust
that no such contretemps will occur on this great
occasion, and, above all, that no official crotchets
will be suffered to spoil its popularity. Where
illustrious personages are to be greeted with a
public welcome the procession should be arranged
on very simple principles—the escort first, the
heroes and heroines of the day in the centre, and
the retinue last. It should pass at a foot's pace,
without hurry and without interruption, and we
may add that at this rate two hours would amply
suffice for the whole passage from the Bricklayers'
Arms to Paddington.
POST.—Regarded as a manifesto addressed by
the Government of the United States to the Euro-
pean Powers, the American Foreign Secretary's
despatch must be regarded as a most remarkable
document. It professes fairly and dispassionately
to state to the world the true position of affairs on
the American continent. Hitherto Europe has been
obliged to trust to information derived from un-
official sources, and, as might have been expected,
has been seriously misled. Finding by the mails
which almost daily reach us that during the past
two years a bloody war has been waged between
the North and South, we ventured to conclude that
the conflict was of a protracted nature. This has
been a grievous error. Judging by newspaper ac-
counts, we fancied on striking a balance of the in-
variable vicissitudes of war that the North suffered
more severely than its opponents. Seeing that the
largest and best appointed army that the North
has been enabled to bring into the field has been
unable to force its way one hundred miles from the
Federal capital, we not unreasonably accept that
fact as a proof of Northern weakness and Southern
prowess. Judging from the premium at which gold
is quoted in the American money markets, and the
difficulties experienced by the Federal Government
in their attempts to contract loans, we were led to
conjecture that the Federal credit was at a very low
ebb. But it now appears that in all these respects
we have been egregiously mistaken, and that,
arguing from false premises we have been neces-
sarily led to erroneous conclusions. The true state
of affairs in America is now made known on au-
thority which cannot be questioned, and Europe is
told to view with admiration the results of one of
the most successful wars of modern times, and to
congratulate one of the strongest, the most pa-
triotic, and best organised of Governments on the
success with which it has trampled down sedition
in its dominions. When the French Minister, by
way of saying particularly civil things, assured the
Federal Government that he was aware "they did
not despair of giving more active impulse to hos-
tilities," and that "the protraction of the struggle
had not shaken the confidence of the Federal Go•
vernmant in the definitive success of their efforts,"
he little thought that he gave cause for offence.
Mr. Seward, however, hastens to point out "the
unintentional injustice " of such language. "So
far from admitting any laxity of effort or betray-
ing any despondency the Government has, on
the contrary, borne itself cheerfully in all vicissi-
tudes with unvarying confidence in an, early
and complete triumph of the national cause. ' Lest
such a statement might fall on incredulous ears,Mr.
Seward tells the Ambassador at Paris how "the
land and naval forces of the United States have
in
surgents
the advanced, reclaiming from the
the ports, forts, and posts which they had
ertreacher-
ouslyh seized before the strife actually began. en
follows an enumeration of the States, orportionsof
States, which constitute " the small territory,, still
left to the rebels, but which is hold by the Federal
troops " in close blockade and siege.',The Federal
Government, in a word, does not hesitate to submit
its achievements to the test of comparison, and is
ready' to maintain that, " in no part of the world,
and in no times, ancient or modern, has a nation
put forth energies so vigorous, and achieved suc-
cesses so signal and effective, as those which have
marked the progress of the contest on the part of
the Union." Having thus succinctly stated for the
information of the French Secretary for Foreign
Affairs, the authentic history of the American war,
Mr. Se ward expresses a natural apprehension lest
the French Minister had taken other light than the
correspondence of the American Government for his
guidance in ascertaining its temper and finances.
We think it extremely probable that he did. Under
a e peaceful democracy," such as exists in America,
where the utmost freedom of debate and the most
extreme license to the press are permitted, much
diversity of opinion must be expected to prevail.
But if a stranger would desire to acquaint himself
with the real sentiments of the people, he would
hear them expressed in the council chambers of
those whom the people had chosen to represent
them, and to administer their laws. If M. Dronyn
de Lhuys, instead of trusting to newspapers,would
only take the trouble of consulting the statute-book 4