The Sun.
London, England, 1865-12-29 00:00:00

HIGH WATER AT LONDON BRIDGE.

THIS DAY.—Merning, 11h. 18m.—Afternoon, 11h. 50m.
TO-Mognow.-Morning, h. m.—Afternoon, 12h. 22m.

• 4. ,

LONDON, FRIDAY, DEC. 29, 1865.

Lord WILTON has done himself great credit by
coming forward to expose the fallacious course
pursued by the Government, and to denounce their
unworthy conduct. It is time, indeed, that the
other side should be heard in this affair, for we have
had enough, and more than enough, of the diatribes
of Exeter Hall. In the letter which the noble lord
has written on the subject, we find the case put
before us in an impressive manner, and so em-
phatically discussed, that no one can fail to see the
great injustice that has been done, and the
blameable manner in which the Premier has acted.
How true is the passage which declares that it
suits a " faction" to " make assumptions,
and then demand action upon them."
This is precisely what has taken place,
and yet so ingenious have been the contrivances,
and so positive the statements made by these agi-
tators, that many really moderate persons have
been mystified, and begin to think that something
very wrong has been done by the authorities in
Jamaica. For the benefit of such people who are
content to take the most important news at second-
hand, this communication of Lord WILTON's is very
appropriate, and we cannot too strongly recommend
it to their attention. here they will realise at a
glance the unfairness with which a zealous and
valuable servant has been treated, and they
may judge if this is the policy which they
wish their public men to adopt. That the
Prime Minister, in his cool and guarded
moments, should have lent himself to the ravings of
a faction seems scarcely credible," is remarked in
allusion to Lord RUSSELL'S mean pandering to the
views of the alarmist clique.

Strict impartiality would certainly have induced
a man in his responsible. position to have waited
until all the evidence was before him ; but how
contrary to this has been the course pursued by the
Premier. "As it is," observes the able expositor of
recent eventa, " Governor EYRE has been given up
as a victim—for suspicion is virtually condemnation
_in order that the Ministry may gain sup-
port from this faction' during the coming,

and probably eventful, session of Parliament."
We can imagine what indignation this plain speak-
ing will excite among those to whom the world
especially points, but we defy the members of the
Government to face the Parliament and the country
and declare that they have acted fairly ; and we
assure those members of the Home who have made
themselves so officious in blackening the characters
of absent men, who have not had an opportunity of
speaking in their own defence, that they have done
themselves no harm, and will have to answer
to their constituents for their adoption
of this un-English proceeding. The igno-
rance displayed by the " faction " is only
equalled by its unwarrantable .assumption. They
deny that there was any outbreak, they declare that
the Volunteers must have fired first, in the face of
fact that for months past Governor EYRE has been
signifying to the Home Government that great
disaffection prevailed, and although it is
known that, previous to the confusion referred to,
the mutinous party had broken in and rescued the
prisoner then upon his trial.
Well may LordliVivroN ask why the agitators at
home do not censure the Government for their delay
and supineness, instead of selecting for censure the
man who was placed in most difficult circumstances,
and had to bear the brunt of the blow which " of-
ficial incapacity" would have prevented him from
averting by timely measures of precaution. The
truth is that the faction cares little for consistency,
and only seeks to carry its point. Neither
truth nor justice is suffered to obtain influ-
ence over them, and " every act done under
circumstances of fearful difficulty has been noted
down, falsified, and then denounced with all the
vindictiveness of revenge." We find here mentioned
some of the most glaring misrepresentations made
by the infatuated party in their vehement denuncia-
tions. Mr. JACOB BRIGHT said at Manchester that
the lives of many of their fellow-subjects had been
sacrificed in an " alleged insurrection," thus throw-
ing doubt upon the assertion that there had been
an insurrection at all. Again, the Peace Society
deliberately stated that " no doubt the outbreak
was immediately provoked by the volunteer force
firing on the crowd." Can anything be more ab-
surd in argument and more unfair in insinuation
than this. Had the matter ended here, however,
we could content ourselves by deploring the infatu-
ation of a large class of our fellow-citizens, but the
worst of all is that the Prime Minister, " cowering
before this faction, has shrunk and given way."
This it is that lends force and significance
to the plots and criticisms of the Peace Society,
and makes it incumbent on all who value fair play
to denounce the course of the Ministry. As it is
stated here, the faction " has so far succeeded in
its object," and " Governor EYRE, before any offi-
cial reports have reached this country of all the
facts, has been suspended, the act of suspension, as
I have said, under all the circumstances, being vir-
tually one of condemnation." The English public
must have changed very much from their well-
known character, and lost their most distinguishing
traits, if they approve and sanction such a policy in
those who are in the high places of their own
community.

Spanish affairs have during the last few months
attracted an unusual degree of notice. The states-
men and politicians of more active and energetic
nations have been accustomed to look on the changes
of Castilian Cabinets and the progress of Castilian
policy with something akin to indifference. There
was not much reason to apprehend that Spain would
ever set Europe on fire ; and what with the un-
scrupulous aggression of the great German Powers,
the clamour of the minor states, with the inscrut-
able policy of France, and the doubtful position of
Russia and Poland, with the dismemberment of
Denmark, and the convulsions in America, the
affairs of the Peninsula have been left very much to
take care of themselves. The news of a ministerial
crisis at Madrid excites about the same degree of
surprise and interest as the intelligence of a fresh
development of the chronic rebellion of China ; and
the general impression of that once powerful king-
dom was that it was neither likely to do much harm
nor good in the world. Of late, however, Spanish
politics have been increasing in interest. First, we
had the accession of the O'Donnell party to power,
the abandonment of the struggle with San Domingo,
and various indications of a more enlightened and
liberal policy. We had just begun to hope that
Spanish politicians were awakening to the necessi-
ties of the time, and were about to inaugu-
rate a more hopeful state of things, when the
affair in the Pacific discouraged all these cheerful
prospects. The conduct of the Spanish Admiral,
so arbitrary and unwarrantable as to excite univer-
sal indignation throughout diplomatic circles, has
received the approval of his Government, who have
shown no intention of abating the extravagant
pretensions put forward by their representatives.
Remonstrances and arguments fall entirely power-
less before such predetermined obstinacy, and the
only logic which will convince the stately Spaniard
that he is in the wrong must come from ships of
war. The relations of the Spanish QUEEN with
her people have not of late been very cordial, and
considerable doubts were entertained as to whether
she would really present herself to the Cortes.
However, the long-delayed entry into the capital
having been safely accomplished, the opening of
the Cortes by her MAJESTY in person was only
natural. In the speech which the QUEEN delivered
on Wednesday she gave little hope of a reconcilia-
tion with Chili—of course in accordance with the
popular Spanish theory of the injuries inflicted by
the little South American Republic on the dignity
of the Castilian. " The desire for peace," said the
QUEEN, "has notbeen able to preventthe commence-
ment of hostilities between this country and Chili,
which had obstinately refused to make amends for
wrongs done to the Spanish nation during the Peru-
vian difficulty., The Peruvian difficulty being one
entirely of Spanish manufacture for the sake of the
pecuniary compensation to be extorted from the
reluctant Peruvians! " The Government," con-
tinued the QUEEN, will give an account to the
Cortes of the progress of the war, and of any nego-
tiations that may take place in connection there-
with." Such information will be eagerly looked for
by the commercial circles in Spain, since we learn
that great, and not unreasonable, apprehension
exists at Cadiz respecting the Chilian privateers,
and considerable anxiety is felt to know how many
vesssls of what class will be sent out by the Govern-
ment to protect Spanish commerce. The Cadiz
authorities have notified to the shippers and ship-
owners of that port that the Government will adopt
all necessary measures for their protection. But very
possibly those interested in the matter do not feel
much confidence in these promises, when they re-
member that American vessels and American crews
are most likely lying in wait, and that in spite of
the dignified pretensions of the royal naval autho-
rities of Spain.

On the 16th Vesuvius was powdered over with
snow, and the mountains all round the bay are still
thickly covered—a remarkable phenomenon, and promis-
ing a severe Winter.

It is stated that the% Royal Academicians have in-
timated to Lady Eastlake their desire that their late Pre-
sident should be buried! in one of our i.ublic mausolea,
with ttll the honours dui. o his distinguki ed position.