The Sun.
London, England, 1863-10-15 00:00:00

SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALS.

TlMES.—Whoever recommended the Russian
Emperor to send a squadron of frigates to New
York may congratulate himself on a great success.
Now that it is done we see that it was exactly the
thing to do, and almost wonder that it never oc-
curred before to the astute politicians of St. Peters-
bum The resemblances between the United States
and the Russian empire have not only been re-
marked by every one who has thought on the pre-
sent and the probable future state of the world, but
they have created a sympathy between the two
Powers which is becoming stronger under the in-
fluence of calamity, disappointed ambition, and the
rebukes of the civilised world. Both in their ar-
rogance and petulance of a few years since and
in their present tone of more limited pretensions,
the Americans and Russians have shown an
accord which indicates the gravitation of the
two Powers to a permanent alliance. In
the palmy days when Nicholas affected to be
the arbiter of the Old World, and the American
Prebidents were conquering provinces in the New,
the constant theme of congratulation between the
Republic and the Despotism was the decadence of
all Powers but themselves, and the certainty that
they would subject all the countries about them,

one after the other, to their dominion. They both
had enormous territory, and regions still more im-
mense which they could make their own when they
would. They were both new Powers, unencum-
bered with the debts, the traditions, and the in-
ferior social organisation of their older rivals. They
had a manifest destiny, and were to fulfil the
designs of Providence by plundering and subjuga-
ting all who were not strong enough to resist. And
who should resist fifty years hence, when the popu-
lations of the two aggressive empires should have
doubled and tripled in a fashion impossible to the
crowded inhabitants of Western Europe ? From
these dreams Russia was roused by a war which
showed how unable she was to face the Western
Powers, which forced her to dismantle a fortress and
cede a portion of her territory, and which, if it had
continued another year, would certainly have de-
prived her of valuable provinces. The pride of the
United States has still more lately met its fall. The
disruption of the Republic, the proof that a large
part of the people had ceased to care for the Union—
nay, had imbibed a strong hatred against the rest of
their countrymen—the gloomy prospect of lingering
warfare, to be ended at the very best only by the
extirpation of the Southerners and the ruin of their
country —these things are weighing on the spirits of
the Federal patriots, whose Fourth of July orations
used once to paint such a transcendent future. In
the hour of common trial the Ozer gives his officers
the opportunity of showing his Republican allies
how much they sympathise with each other, and
resent the of England and France. Not that
the discreet and guarded Muscovites would ever
hint that their visit had a political object, or that
they had anything but esteem for Englishmen,
Frenchmen, and all mankind. The coarser part of
the speechmaking is left to the New York orators,
just as the interpretation of the squadron's visit,
as the sign of a speedy alliance between the two
countries, for the punishment of European perfidy,
is allowed to be given to the world by the American
press. But there can be little doubt that what has
taken place is just what the Emperor foresaw and
desired. At a time when both he and his brother
potentate at Washington are carrying on a relent-
less war against eo-called " rebels," and each is in
some trepidation as to the policy of France, the Czar
calls forth an exhibition of the mutual sympathy be-
tween their respective nations. The time could not
have been better chosen, the success could not have
been more complete. The Russian officers are the
lions of the hour. They are invited everywherej;
the British and French officers remain unnoticed
on board their ships. It is entirely understood that
by the unusual honours paid to the Czar's frigates
is testified the goodwill of the Federal Government
and people towards him and the work which his
troops are doing in Europe. Republican ayrr patby
rises freely for one who is engaged in putting down
rebels. When almost every nation in Europe pro-
tested against the Russian atrocities in the spring,
Mr. Seward declined to condemn them. This was but
the due return for the Emperor's refusal to interfere
in American affairs. The good understanding still
prevails. No American can see anything wrong in
a Polish war, to which that carried on in Virginia
and Tennessee bears so strong a resemblance. No
Russian can desire anything but the success of a
Government which he hopes will make a diversion
in favour of the Czar, whenever that Sovereign's
method of dealing with his Polish subjects is ques-
tioned by Western Europe. To what length the
enthusiasm of the new alliance can lead a Federal
audience is amusingly shown by the reported speech
of Admiral Lisovski at a banquet given to himself
and his officers. The health of the Emperor had
been drunk with great applause, and the Admiral
duly returned thanks. The praise which the Ameri-
can speaker lavished on his Majesty was, according
to the Admiral, really deserved. "He is certainly
not only the benefactor of his subjects," exclaimed
the eloquent seaman," he is the friend of mankind.
From what he has already done, from what he is
doing every day, he is certainly entitled to the same
surname which once a Roman Emperor claimed,
The Delight of Mankind.'" When we recollect
that these words were spoken to and cheered voci-
ferously by a people who have for 80 years been
preaching to the world self-government and the
right of mankind to be free, we may see how little
strength political principles possess compared with
the impulses or fancied interests of the hour. The
support of Russia is valuable, and therefore all the
national traditions concerning nationality and
popular rights are forgotten in a moment, and the
servant of a despotic monarchy is applauded for
saying that the Prince who is now ordering the
massacres and confiscations is Warsaw, and whose
rule has been officially denounced as a tyranny by
the most conservative Powers in Europe, is the
"Delight of Mankind." That the sympathies of the
audience were completely with the Russian Govern-
ment is made more evident by their reception of
Gen. Wallbridge's eloquence. This gentleman, who
made the speech of the evening, after telling his
hearers that England bad in the early part of the
century been " driven from the ocean" by the Ame-
ricans, said what is true, but what has seldom been
so openly avowed by American society—" In the
struggle which Russia had in 1854 with France and
England, the sympathies of our people were with
Russia." This assertion was received with cheers,
and cries of "That's so." His vision of the future
was, that "Providence has decreed that there shall
be two great hemispheres, one the Eastern and the
other the Western. The one shall be represented
by Russia, and the other by the United States."
Equally magniloquent was the Hon. Hendricks B.
Wright, member of Congress, who said that " there
were but two first-class Powers in the world—Rus-
sia and the United States—because they were the
only two that could from their own resources and
within themselves either put down insurrection or
resist a combination of all the other Powers of the
world." (Applause.) Indeed, the community of the
two great empires, made more sensible by the circum-
stance that both are engaged in "putting down the
rebels," seems to have been the idea pre-
sent to every one's mind. It wanted but this
bond to make perfect the union between
the two nations. Each will bid defiance to
the world, relying upon its just right to destroy
every population and devastate every province
which dares to disarrange its plans of empire by
any such words as " liberty" and " independence."
HERALD.—Possibly there are cogent reasons why
every year the assemblage of the Social Science Con-
greas should be denounced as an explosion of wind-
bags. Possibly, too, there is a cause in Nature for
the aggravated derision with which, from particular
quarters the association is assailed when it meets at
Edinburgh. We might, perhaps, be following the
example of exaggeration were we to prefer the
amiable debates in the Scottish capital before the
tilting of orowned heads at Frankfort-on-the
Maine. But there is, after,all, a peculiar fitness in
the choice of Edinburgh for this year's summing-up
of results deduced from the quiet meditations of ear-
nest men upon the questions which touch the inte-
rests of every man, woman, and child upon the earth.
No doubt, as the cavillers urge, there is superfluous
small talk, there are worthless papers, there is infi-
nitely more than would suffice of mutual eulogy ;
but let these weaknesses, and the amenities arising
from them, pass. It is something to get the more
prosperous and better educated classes to thilik of
the social strata beneath them, and Edinburgh has
invariably been hospitabie and congenial with
science of every colour. It is amusing,at this com-
paratively sight distance of time, to remember the
year 1835, when the British Scientific Association,
presided over by Sir Thomas Brisbane, Sir David
Brewster, and Dr. Romney Robinson, held its
fourth congress in that city. "It is too remote,"
exclaimed a number of timid philosophers,
from the scientific population of the island. The
meeting cannot succeed." However, twelve hundred
and sixty-eight members were present, with Arag'me:
AgassiZ, and Brougham. They saw then, and co
Arnott
mented upon, abet Mr. Chadwick and
saw afterwards; abominations which calledpr for not
a little Social Science to remove
Populous
burn, the scandal of Auld Reekie, them— the foul
Holy-
and foetid banks, the noisome marshweinsthaarnoguendel
rood. How much has eince been changed
and,
some
sit the
bidding of a social science lessth
than that of our times!
might say, less ostentatioue
and have done good, in
But the ostentation, or ratheruseful,
the formality, publi-
city, and eclat, are
their degree, in the„
w ds of Edinburgh, "mine
own romantic town, Marmion sang, but not in
means too savoury, in spite of
his generation by any red," the c 6 sable turrets,"
the " gloomy splendour

and the ridges of "purple amethyst," whence could
be viewed Ochil, Preston Bay, and Berwick Law.
Our "gentle dulness" on this side of the border
" dearly loves a joke," and Seotchmen have occa-
sionally enjoyed one, even at the expense of Edin-
burgh; for was it not in that metropolis that, re-
ferring to the cry of " Gardez l'eau," once so rife in
her streets—a cry silenced by social science—the
audacious critic affected to doubt, " Edinburgh has
been called the Modern Athens, but we trust that no
one will suppose this to be the strongest point of
similitude.' Nothing is more obvious than the point
of view whence these and similar gatherings may
be triumphantly disparaged. They are convened,
it may be said, for purposes of talk. But talk is a
great thing in the life of a nation. Parliament is an
institution of talk. Literature is talk in a particu-
lar form. Constitutionalism itself depends upon
talk. There never was anything great or good done
without being prefaced by a struggle of talk. It may
be granted that, in all associations, a certain amount
of freedom is permitted to gentlemen—and ladies, of
whom the president might ask, " Why waste your
time and me P "—but that is unavoidable. And, as
Lord Brougham observed in his inaugural speech
to the congress, if the social reforms for which the
association labours are not all in course of being
carried out we are guilty of an unjustifiable impa•
tience, upon the one hand, in despairing because
humanity does not expand as quickly as vapour,
and of inconsistency, upon the other, in deprecia-
ting those voluntary organisations of thinking and
energetic individuals which prevent mankind from
forgetting its own claims in its artificial form, that
of an aggregated and mutually dependent society.
We are glad that the Social Science Congress at
Edinburgh does not restrict its survey to the topics
suggested by Lord Brougham, eloquent and lumi-
nous though his exposition of them was. An inte-
rest is felt, of course, in this country in the eman-
cipation of the Russian serfs, in the civic liberties of
the Poles, in the half-budded constitutionalism of
Germany, in the relations of Austria and France, in
Austria as she stands in Venice, and in France as she
stands at Rome. We are all concerned, moreover,
with the efforts of those who would complete the
work of Wilberforce, and everywhere set free the
slave. But we may take a hint from a medical
orator who spoke on the first day of this month to
the students of one of our London colleges. " I
respect the inferior creation," be said, " but I will
not sacrifice to them and the mercy they claim the
sacred lives of my fellow-creatures. We may have
sympathies for the negro and sympathies for Poland,
but we have our harvests of social progress to sow,
and cultivate, and reap at home. There is crime to
be checked and the criminal to be reclaimed; there
is justice to be made more certain without being
more rigorous; there are the poor to be educated
and guaranteed against the extremes of moral,
spiritual, and physical destitution. We have a
large class of friendless, unprotected, and innocent
young women and girls to be protected ; there is
that monster of night and day, the supreme evil
of our great cities, to be grappled with and con-
quered; there is its bloody handmaiden, the
child murderess, to be disciplined out of her great,
awful, and dark temptation. These are the grand
sanitary and social questions with which some fear-
less minds, represented at the Edinburgh Congress,
will have yet to cope. We commend them to the
advocates and friends of this beneficent and compre-
hensive movement. No fair-spirited discussion can
leave out of sight the subjects even now brought
before the congress—the system of registering
deaths, the state of domestic servants, the drainage,
lighting, and ventilation of towns, the prosperity or
failure of co-operative societies and savings banks;
but with all their singleness and honesty of pur-
pose, the members of the Social Science Congress,
now congregated at Edinburgh, appear to flinch
from their highest duties, and from wrestling with
those mighty, mysterious, and complicated problems
before which even the liberty of the press, in a
social sense, recoils. The debate must be carried on
in the upper regions, or the final vote will be indeci-
sive. This Social Science is a science of more vast
proportions than is imagined by the authors of the
essays it provokes; recognising all the merit, all
the sincerity, all the talent now in the zenith of
Scotland, we are bound to look beyond them, and
discern immense social paradoxes with which Social
Science to this day has had nothing to do.
POST.—Since the reception given by the Arch-
duke Maximilian to the deputation of the Mexican
" notables," some ten days since, the public mind
has become less anxious in respect to the ultimate
results of French intervention in Mexico. When at
the time commenting on the nature of the reply
given by the Archduke to the address of the depu-
tation, we spoke of it as satisfactory, no one, except
perhaps sanguine speculators on the Stock Ex-
change, supposed that the acceptance of the prof-
fered throne would be absolutely unconditional. In
fact, there can be no reason to doubt that the tenths
of the Archduke's acceptance were settled on long
before the deputation set out for Trieste, and that
they were such as met with the approval of the
Power most interested in seeing its operations in
Mexico brought to a successful issue. When we
call to mind the great difficulties which the Euro-
pean Powers experienced in finding a Prince to fill
the vacant Throne of Greece, we cannot but feel
surprise at the comparative facility with which an
occupant has been found for the Mexican Throne.
In Greece, a people partly dissatisfied with their
form of government, overturned the existing dy-
nasty, and with a unanimity of whose genuineness
there could be no doubt, invited in succession several
princes to accept their empty Throne. Whatever
may be the doubts, if any, which harass the mind of
King George, none can arise respecting the loyalty
of the people whom he is about to govern. Of the
adherents of the previous Sovereign who are still
to be found in Greece there are none who would
seriously contemplate a counter-revolution in favour
of the exiled 0 tho. But in Mexico affairs stand on
a very different footing. The unanimity of the po-
pulation in substituting an Empire for a Republic
is a fact which is still to be proved. When con-
versing with the members of the deputation, the
Archduke Maximilian directed especial attention to
the fact that at least threeefourths of the population
had not as yet had an opportunity of confirming
with their votes the decision of the Provisional Go-
vernment which invited him to accept the high office
of Emperor of Mexico. It has of late years become
the fashion to conduct the election of Kings and
Emperors after the same manner which determines
the choice of an American President ; and, if Mexico
is to substitute an Empire for a Republic, it is by
universal suffrage alone that the change is to be
effected. The people are to speak for themselves,
and, when they have spoken, their decision is to be
received as if it were a decree of Providence, What-
ever objections some might be inclined to offer to
the proposed mode of procedure, such objections
possess but little weight so long as the parties im-
mediately interested profess themselves content. In
the foundation of the new Empire, the approval of
the majority of the Mexican people is declared to be
a condition precedent, and the Archduke, under
such circumstances, is compelled to postpone his un-
qualified acceptance of the throne until that condi-
tion is fulfilled. The plebiscite which will pronounce
him the elected Sovereign of the Mexican people is
not, however, the only condition on which the Aus-
trian Prince has based his acceptance of the proffered
Crown. In that ambiguous language which seems to
be peculiar both to Sovereigns and Minister. 3 of State
on occasions when of all others the multitude are
desirous that they should speak intelligibly and
without reserve, the Archduke Maximilian referred
to the guarantees which he would require to secure,
at least for a term, the independence of the infant
monarchy. It is indeed much to be regretted that
he did not more explicitly define what it was he re-
quired before consenting to link his fortunes with
that of the Mexican empire, because, had he done so,
much needless misapprehension would have been
obviated. One of the many suppositions to which
the use of the word "guarantees" gave rise was
that he entertained expectations of receiving an en-
gagement from Great Britain to protect the new
Government from foreign and domestic aggression.
Accepting such a construction, it is needless to say
that the imposition of such a condition would be
tantamount to refusing the Crown. England with-
drew from the intervention in Mexico as soon as she
sired to invest it, and now that m
saw the peculiar character with which Fhraavnecebedeen-
antilioeny,
tent
would be utterly foreign to
brought to an apparently suhcceer
s is ni uv
r i ti
ea
rbml elnp
experimentalise in the creation of anofs
novel fonromof
ex-
traordinary personal interest. England doubtless
mission,
government in a country in which she
has, like other nations, a
but the field of her
labours lies for the most part at home. It would be
absurd to suppose that the Archduke Maximilian is
not perfectly aware of all this ; and therefore, as
there is no reason for believing that he intended
wilfully to mislead the Mexican deputation by ap-
pearing to comply with their wishes, whilst in
reality definitively refusing the Throne offered for
his acceptance, it must be presumed that a British
protectorate did not occur to his thoughts when he
referred to guarantees. Of the extent to which the
French Government and the French people will be
prepared to go. in order to secure for the new Go-
vernment a fair start, it is not easy to form an
opinion. One thing at least seems certain, namely,
that the French Emperor has not incurred the heavy
expenses incidental to the Mexican expedition, and
encountered the risk of an ignominious failure,
merely to withdraw at the moment when his moat
sanguine hopes have
been realised. He has not
defeated the army of Juarez, taken possession of the
co•pital of Mexico, and seen a Provisional Govern-
ment established ready to carry his wishes into effect
only at the last moment to withdraw his army and
allow the partizans of the subverted Government
once more to re-establish that state of anarchy

which he boasted he had brought to an end. The
Mexican question may still possess its difficulties,
and, notwithstanding the laurels which have been
culled by French troops between Vera Cruz and
the town of Mexico, members may be found in the
Legislative Chambers to express doubts whether
the glory achieved by the French legions has not
been too dearly purchased. But the question will
still remain whether, having done so much, the
work ought now to be abandoned. Ultimate success
is the only justification which can be offered for
the French expedition to Mexico ; it is the only
reply which a Minister could give in the Chambers
to the murmurs of the Opposition. Despondency is
not a trait in the Napoleonic character; and, even
if matters did not wear a favourable aspect, Louis
Napoleon is scarcely the man to relinquish an un-
finished work. But in truth everything has hap-
pened as the Emperor wished and intended. The
late Government of Mexico is completely and to all
appearance finally overthrown. So far as the
opportunity has presented itself of learning the
sentiments of the people, they have hailed its fall
with satisfaction, and anticipate with pleasure the
monarchy which under French auspices, is to be
raised in its stead. Already the several European
Powers have manifested their intention of recog-
nising the new Government; and a Prince of the
highest lineage, and brother of an Emperor, has con-
sented to become its head. Even were we to glance
into the future, circumstances conspire to aid the pro-
ject on whose accomplishment the French Emperor
has evidently set his heart. The severance between
the Northern and Southern sections of the American
Republic has prevented either or both from orga-
nising that opposition to the establishment of the
Mexican Empire which would otherwise undoubt-
edly have been set up. But as the Southern Con-
federacy must before long establish its indepen-
dence, it would be open to the French Emperor,
if he so pleased, and should circumstances render it
necessary, to recognise that independence, and, by
an alliance with the South, secure Mexico from all
danger of a Federal invasion. But tge division
between the North and South will of itself suffice to
secure for the new monarchy an immunity from
aggression. Whatever, therefore, may be the delays
which may intervene before the complete establish-
ment of the proposed empire, we believe that even-
tually, and at ro distant interval, both Azneriria and
Europe will have the satisfaction of seeieg Mexico
ruled by a responsible and a respectable Govern-
ment.

COUNTRY MARKETS.

I,

NEWARK-WEDNESDAY.

Scarcely so much wheat on offer at our market to-day,
and the demand was quiet at the prices of last week. Best
samples of barley sold at late rates—other sorts easier. A
slow sale for oats. .Beans rather lower.

White wheat new, 43s to 46s ' Barley, grinding.. 29s to 31s
Red do. 39s to 41s Oats, old, .. 27s to 30s
Old white 4ls to 47s New do 20s to 238
Red do 4os to 44s Beans.. 39s to 41s
Barley, malting 36s to 40s j Beans, new 37s to 30s