The Sun.
London, England, 1863-10-31 00:00:00

The Weather—Sun Office, Oct. 31, 1863.

THERMOMETER.
This day at Two o'clock 5l
Barometer-29.48.
Wind—S.-South-West; strong breeze, and fine weather.

tit 7L-Xir ,*llll-,

LONDON, SATURDAY, °Cf. 31, 1863.

Non-intervention—admirable though it is under
the majority of circumstances as a guiding principle
of international law—becomes almost a crime on
the part of great Powers like France and England
when carried out obdurately to the very last ex-
tremity. "A clear stage and no favour" in the meaning
of lion-intervention. But when—as in the instance
of the United States of North America, a wealthy
and populous nation becomes split asunder, rent
suddenly in twain, divided upon the right hand and
upon the left by a line of demarcation as distinct
as that destined to be drawn between the goats and
the sheep in the symbolic language of the Apoca-
lypse—when a vast country is abandoned thus to a
brutal carnage, giving no augury whatever of
its termination, until either side shall have
been utterly destroyed and swept from
the face of the earth—the dogged main-
tenance of the principle of non-intervention,
coute qui coute, by great nations looking on, becomes
worse than Quixotic, becomes, as we have said,
little less than a Crime. It is all idle, to talk per-
petually about the sacred duty of neutrality. The
relations of states, n
intimate,
commercially, politically, even, be it said,
socially, that no country can suffer from the devas-
tations caused by a
sanguinary and protracted civil
war, without surrouee-
gicto.untries suffering more
or less in consequence,
there-
fore, to say that an internalo ws preposterous,
ar like this one in
North America, though n
other side of the Ocean,
conducted on the
no affair of
ours. It is an affair of ours, It effects us
intimately, painfully, disastrously in
an
It affects our pecuniary interests. It affectsmy ways.
our com-
merce. It affects our manufactureas.r maintain
otherwise would be simply an
bsu
England ttY; The
Cotton Famine in the north of
every syllable of what we have here been asserting,
emphases
We owe to the insensate folly, and to the brutal
arrogance, out of which this deplorable civil war has
grown, the lamentable sufferings endured by our
own inoffensive manufacturing population, or
rather, just Low, our would-be-manufacturing
population, in Lancashire. Between the bel-
ligerents in America, when regarded by us
in the abstract—that is in reference to the
origin of this war still raging there to their
mutual destruction there is for us but
little indeed to choose. They are to U 3 but
as six and half-a-dozen. For inasmuch as Slavery
is upheld as an institution by the Southern Govern-
ment, we have no sympathy whatever, upon that
0.00 vital point, with the Southern Government. It
theis
North.--not
circumstance that the war was begun by
orth—not for the purpose of putting an end to
Slavery (though even then we cannot think for ono
instant that the triumph of the Abolition Cause is
one to be brought about by the brutal egency of main
force, at the point
of
at the m
the sword and of the beyonet,
muzzle of the rifle and of the cannon, at the
explosion of shells,andat the hellish raging of Greek
Fire)—it is because this execrable war was begun
by the North, by the Fed
rsi
not for the emanci-
pation of the Negro, but for the subjugation of the
white freemen in the South, for
hebringing
of them
back to the Union they had with
perfect right aban-
doned and repndiated—it is for that
the feelings and sympathies ofEngland
ason that
became,
at the very outset of the struggle,
alienated
from the Government at Washington. ,rh
e extra-
ordinary contrast presented to view subsequently
by the belligerents, in their very opposite moths of
carrying on the war--into which, remember, the
South had been dragged by the North—alienated

the popular sympathies still further and further from
the Federals, and drew those sympathies more and
more closely towards the Confederates- And it was
so far natural, to begin with, that it should 'nave been
thus—the conflict when it commence I biJing ore in
which the combatants were so disp rorJortioned to
each other. " Hit one of your own size" seemed
to be the instinctive remonstrance floating across
the Atlantic from Europe, certain%y from Ragland,
towards Washington. It was (so far as appearances
went) an attack made by the Bt7:ong upon the weak,
by the armed upon the un armed, by the great
(in size) upon the small, by the score upon
the unit. Subsequent events have 'if nded only to
enhance our admiration of the assai:te d, by reason of
the astonishing manner in which they have con-
trived to hold their own, and m or e than merely to
holdtheir
armed,
w
against their numerous,- gigantic,
fully antd in many w rye (certainly in wealth
and in numbers), formidable assailants. Neverthe-
less, for all that—marvel ious as the stand taken b 3
the South has been and.still is—the war into which
they have
from n ee
idtsratnilaa dragged by
the North seems now as
faraway urination as ever it did. The
b
bloodshed still ciintinues, there, at a fearful rate.
The squandering of countless lives and of incalcul-
able treasure still stretches out before us in
a perspective that has its vanishing point
in the vague future. Non-intervention, as a
• rtzle, we still regard as a principle very admirable
and very beneficent. But it is a rule, like all other
rules, having exceptions—to prove it. Insomuch
are we beginning
to realise this truth in regard
to the principle or rule of non-intervention that we
are every day beginning to recognise more and more
clearly the possibility of the time coming in the pro-
gress of this miserable war in America when the
duty for England and France will be—intervention.

There seems to be some infatuation in the minds
of Ministers with regard to the steam rams in the
Mersey. It was quite against the popular feeling
that any interposition was made at all in regard to
these vessels, but to proceed to such extremities as
have lately been adopted is really quite uncalled for.
It would appear as if our Government were trying
to copy the manners of continental despots in their
harsh and hard proceedings in this unfortunate
affair. After Mr. LAIRD had given his word that
no steps should be taken in the matter of these
vessels in dispute until the affair had been properly
adjudicated, it is an unwarrantable insult to take
them out of Messrs. LAIRD'S hands, and still more
to put in armed men. We have come to something
certainly when to suit the fancies of fatuists for
peace at home, and answer the ends of bullying
tyrants abroad, the premises of our merchants are
to be taken by storm. "The officers and marines
entered Messrs. LAIRD'S yard fully armed." No
wonder that a protest has been made against these
uncalled-for measures, and that the general feeling
about the place is extreme indignation. It seems
such extraordinary conduct that it is hardly to be
credited. It often occurs that when a party or a
Government feel particularly safe, and their tenure
seems well established, that by a sudden caprice or
ill-judged act all strength and stability vanish,
and the immaculate and, impregnable ministry be-
come like the baseless fabric of a vision. Lord
PALMERSTON some time back was in the position of
one of these invincibles, but he so mismanaged things
that, in the House, which he led with a majority of a
hundred at his beck and call, he could not obtain a
hearing. Let Earl RUSSELL look to his position,
it has become insecure, for he is presuming upon it.
He is old in experience, and skilled in politics, but
he has yet to learn the temper, and study the spirit
of Englishmen if he imagines that they will tamely
submit to these insults, and brook this impertinent
interference which, at the bidding of ill-advisers,
he is putting upon us. The general sentiment of
the people will be against him, and no Minister can
stand such opposition. Because the Americans
cannot manage their own affairs, and regulate the
principles of the Constitution of their own country,
is that a reason why their wishes are to reign para-
mount here, and their influence to be insinuated
into the Council Chambers of our Ministers, and
rule the decrees and regulations of our statesmen.
If he is to become the exponent of such principles
our Foreign Secretary has degenerated from the
spirit of his race, but at any rate he had better take
heed to his ways, for when the Parliament reas-
sembles it will not eanction his present proceedings.
It is one of those extravagant notions that from
time to time gain the ascendant among politicians,
but while statesmen who represent the spirit of
their country with accuracy and intelligence, will
always decline to take up, believing them to be
" inimical to the independence of a community,
and interfering unduly with the liberties of the
subject."

It is quite time that some inquiry should be
made about the very arbitrary and tyrannical
conduct pursued by the Duke of SOMERSET at the
recent election for Totnes. It is true that the
Ministers who came in on purpose to pass a Reform
Bill found it very convenient not to do so, but still
did not think it worth while to go out and make a
disturbance again. The great pioneer of progress, 1
the \Vhig champion woo had resolved to remain in
the House of Commons until he had reformed its
abuses and changed its mechanism, thought fit to
retire from the sphere and to proceed to the " prim
benches of the upper school." Still there must have
been some infatuated individuals who thought we
were much safer with the present Administration
in power, and all that sort of thing. Let these
learn that the darkest days of Toryism cannot
show more strange devices to terrify and to in-
timidate. When a man is literally turned out of
his house it seems as if things had, indeed, pro-
ceeded to extremities. The coolness which dictates
such a course is most unaccountable, and yet there
arc not wanting many proofs of this harshness. It
would have been bad enough in any man holding
large estates to use his power like that, but in the
case of a Minister it is quite distressing. Ho can
entertain no
idea of his responsibilities ; all he
thinks of is the political influence to be obtained.
Oee poor man asked for time, but was told that it
Hispatthheetriectoarpt_pe,a,liteoxppaesett syeoru-.
vwiaesesimonploysseibalelled forth
to clear out to-morrow;'whothintkhaetvery-
hthis
is sec v
o ndi
ca rt
iym toi
sp
mayfor
tcallh . it
buta j
tohkeey when
the in g
unhappyfitly
o
rid tiy
estimate personal influence and public
influence
tmorality will tell theoh‘eulios hvraghthtye landlord
is a question of grave consequence.
It is a sad
thing to be driven from one's home to suit the fan-
cies of a prejudiced politician ; and ;he vc,ice of Mr.
'TURF'S, as he utters his pathetic appeals, may find
an echo when and where it is least expected.
It is a matter of notoriety that the once great
Liberal majority is on the decline. Sometimes, at
elections, one candidate after the other is returned
who is adverse to this Administration. Only the
other day the possessor of a largo estate, and one in
some way connected with the Ministry, used im-
mense influence to return a candidate of the right
sort. He failed utterly, and sad were the disasters
he encountered in the fray. Is this to be wondered
at when, among the actual membeis of the Cabi-
net, there is found such a disregard for fair play,
and such an attempt to browbeat and intimidate
the very men who are called at el,tions free-born

Englishmen, and the men whose birthright is in-
dependence. If a Conservative peer or a wealthy
commoner had comported themselves with the
vehemence and violence of the two here cited, what
would have been said ? There is a great virtue in
consistency, and let some of the rhetoric that would
have been showered plentifully upon these sup-
posed delinquents, be employed against the present
innovators of the system, as at present constituted.
It is .bad enough to employ stringent measures to
induce "votes" to be registered, but to act in a bitter
and revengeful frame of mind is a solecism in good
feeling, and perfectly inimical to the tastes and
temper of the nation at large. It is to be hoped
that some zealous and honest reformer will turn
aside from the attack upon the lawful enemies, and
direct their energies to the best purpose, of expos-
ing the process by whica free and independent Eng.
lishmen are not allowed to possess the right to vote
as it suits their wishes. lithe management of Tot-
nes is a matter for officials to plume themselves
upon, no wonder Earl RUSSELL so readily with-
drew his Reform Bill, for he could hardly have
put in a clause about the "regulation" of such
convenient little boroughs, for fear of exciting the
ridicule of unreasonable and impertinent opponents.

The accounts received from Japan are not with-
out importance. Against our will almost we have
been drawn into a war which is certainly not of
our seeking, but which we could not possibly have
avoided, unless we meant to leave every European
resident or visitor in Japan to the mercy of a gene-
ral massacre. It will be remembered that subse-
quently to the signing of the treaty matters ap-
peared to go on smoothly for a time, but it was not
long before the hostility and treachery of the na-
tive feelings towards us began to show themselves
unmistakably. The murder of the sentries, the
attack on the Consul's house—above all, the unpro-
voked and wanton assassination of Mr. RICIIARDSON
by the retainers of one of the great Daimios, all
tended to convince the unprejudiced observer that
English life would not be worth much in the
Japanese Empire, unless some means were found of
overawing the treacherous and inhospitable inha-
bitants. Formal complaint, accompanied by a
demand for compensation and the punishment of
the murderers, was at once laid before the ruling
power. Less could scarcely have been done, whether
from regard to the injured relatives, or from the
desire to extort the respect due to the representa-
tives of the -Western Powers. Still, moderate as
the demand must have appeared to the Eastern
imagination', it was not granted. The Tycoon got
out of the difficulty by assuring the English repre-
sentative that he would have been most, willing and
eager to redress his wrongs and to obtain compen-
sation had one of his meaner subjects been involved
in the tragedy; but the fact was, that over the
great Daimios or powerful nobles he had no
power, and however ready he might be to pay the
fine demanded, he could not undertake to surrender
the assassins. Upon this it was determined, very
wisely and justly, to take the punishment of Prince
SATSUMA into our own hands; and accordingly the
fleet under the command of Admiral KUPER sailed
for Kagosima, his stronghold. The Bay of Ka-
gosima is represented as a most beautiful spot,
being from seven to eight miles broad at the en-
trance, with a deep channel. The vessels anchored
off the town in 21 fathoms of water. There was
a long line of forts visible, which were full of
men, SATSUMA'S flag was flying over them,
and behind them lay several large junks.
It was not long before inquiries Legan, ano
several communications passed between the Ad-
miral and the shore, but no satisfactory terms could
be come to. There was consequently no choice left
to the Admiral but the literal fulfilment of his
orders, and accordingly three screw steamers lying
in the bay were seized and brought out. As a
further proof of the natural quickness and adroit-
ness of the Japanese, we may mention that they are
no contemptible gunners, and that during the short
but sharp passage of arms between us their firing
was rapid, and made with excellent precision. The
Japanese English papers give, as might be expected,
very full accounts of the expedition, which must
have produced a forcible effect on the Daimio and
his retainers, having resulted in the total destruc-
tion of Kagosima and the firing of the shipping.
It was expected that the seizure of the vessels, which
were new and valuable ones, having lately been pur-
chased from ourselves, would have intimidated the
enemy ; but no sooner did they see the screw
steamers towed off than their batteries opened fire
upon the fleet. Upon this the Admiral signalled to
the vessels in charge of the prizes to burn them
and come into action, which was accordingly done.
The value of these steamers, without their cargoes,
was 300,000 dollars—a loss which cannot be very
agreeable to Prince SATSUMA. Having formed
into line of battle at about 400 yards' range, the
English ships opened fire, and in three-quarters of
an hour the Japanese deserted their guns. In the
course of the engagement the town took fire, and
five large junks were also fired by one of our
vessels. They were moored off some factories,
which took fire also. Towards night, when the
high wind had fanned the flames, they are described
as extending over a mile in length, and being of
considerable breadth also. On Sunday :morning the
scene was one of desolation and ruin. The town and
factories were still burning. The steamers and
junks had sunk, and all around were traces of the
work of destruction. It is unfortunate that in all
such cases the innocent must suffer with the guilty,
and that the inhabitants of Kagosima should have
had to bear the consequences of their master's
wrongdoing. If he and his retainers could have
been bombarded in their retreat, if the loss of life
and property could have been restricted to his ports
and vessels, it would have been more just as well
as more humane. Still the attack was not under..
taken without reason, nor was it commenced with-
out giving fair time for compromise and surrender.
When the fleet anchored off Kagosima, two days
were given to the Daimio to come to an agreement.
Secure behind his forts, as he thought, he would
not assent to the English terms, and the conse-
quences must therefore rest with him. On our side
we have to deplore the loss of many brave officers
and men, two of the former—Captain JOSLING
and Commander WlLMOT—being killed on the
bridge of the Euryalus as they stood beside the
Admiral, who narrowly escaped. The flag-ship
suffered most severely during the engagement, but
her greatest disaster was the loss of these two able
and respected officers. 'We must hope that this
severe lesson will bring the Daimios to reason, and
secure foreign residents from attack and murder.
There is always much to regret and contend against
in the just dealings of civilised nations with such
peoples as the Japanese, whose semi-civilisation
renders them more insolent and more utterly re-
gardless of the faith of treaties and the laws of
nations than absolute barbarians. The Prince SAT-
place, and his presumption
tyfor
r 1
any
stuete must now bitterly repent his cruelty in the
good an effect as to obviate the
and we trust this encounter may have so
sercsotnd
andobstinacynecess
further bloodshed.

EFFECTS OF THE GoLI) DIScovERIES.—The total
produce amounts already to nearly i30U,000,000, and of this
our trade with the East alone has already carried off about
£1.20,000,000.