The Sun.
London, England, 1865-05-29 00:00:00

LONDON, MONDAY, MAY 29, 1865.

The Emperor NAPOLEON 111. has, during the
course of his career, written—as the world knows
full well—many remarkable historical documents.
But, beyond any comparison, the most remarkable
amongst them all is the one in which his Imperial
MAJESTY has but just now pronounced words of
crushing condemnation upon the extraordinary
course pursued by his cousin the Prince NAPOLEON
during the period of his MAJESTY'S absence from
France in the province of Algeria. In addressing
the Vice-President of the Council of State as the
EMPEROR has done in this startling language,
his MAJESTY has followed, as it appears to us, at
one and the same time the simple dictates of calm
common sense, of sound good judgment, of rational
self-respect, and yet (in the same breath as it were)
of manly and chivalrous indignation. The mere
arrangement or construction of the letter has about
it all the force of logic, all the cogency of a syllogism.
His Majesty begins by saying to his cousin, " I
cannot help apprising you of the painful impression
I have experienced in reading your speech delivered
at Ajaccio"—adding immediately thereuponl—" In
leaving you, during my absence, near the Empress
and my son, as Vice-President of the Privy Council,
I meant to give you a proof of my friendship and
my confidence, and I hoped that your presence,
your conduct, and your language would testify to
the union which reigns in our family." It is pre-
cisely the very fact here alluded to—the suspi-
cious circumstance, namely, of the time thus
selected by the Prince NAPOLEON for the putting
forth these sinister and insensate, not to say in-
sidious and revolutionary, opinions of his in regard
to the whole complex problem of European polity
—that imparts to that most anomalous speech
at Ajaccio a gravamen so disastrous and threat-
ening in its aspect as in a manner to necessitate
its immediate and emphatic repudiation by the
French Sovereign. The EMPEROR, in point of
fact, had before him no alternative. Under the
circumstances he had but one thing to do—to
repudiate it ! and never, certainly, was repudia-
tion pronounced more decisively, more over-
whelmingly ! The EMPEROR tells his cousin in so
many words " The political programme which you
place under the aegis of the Emperor can only serve
the enemies of my Government." He says further,
and in a tone of quiet scorn, that is nothing less than
withering—" To judgments which I cannot admit,
you add sentiments of hatred which are not of our
day." The two concluding paragraphs of the Im-
perial letter, however, comprise within them the
whole force, might, and weight of the EMPEROR'S
explicit and conclusive repudiation. Speak-
ing from the height of his own experi-
ences—so many of the magnificent pomps won
through which have been lavished by him with
an open hand upon the ungrateful Prince he is
addressing—the EMPEROR thus writes to his revo-
lutionary Imperial Highness—" In order to know
hoW to apply the ideas of the EMPEROR [the Em-
PERoa, observe! NAPOLEON LE GRAND, that is]—
in order to know how to apply the ideas of the
FauPEßon to the present time, it is necessary to have
Passed through the stern trials of responsibility and
power. And, besides," asks NAPOLEON 111., with
a noble self depreciation that will elevate instead of
degrading him in the estimation of those who read
his words, " and, besides," he asks, " are we really
capable, pigmies as we are, of appreciating at its
just value the grand historical figure of NAPOLEON ?
As if standing before a colossal statue, we are un-
able to view the whole at once. We only see the
side which strikes our sight ; hence the in-
completeness of the reproduction and the
divergences of opinions." Thereupon it is, in
effect, that comes the final gist, the ultimate
result, the distinct and resolute conclusion of the
whole of this necessitated and most memorable
document—the Emperor closing it thus unmistake_
ably :—" But what is clear to the eyes of every one
is, that to prevent anarchy in men's minds--that
redoubtable enemy of true liberty—the Emperor
had established, first in his family, and afterwards
in Es government, that severe discipline which ad-
mitted but one will and one action : I cannot hence-
forth deviate from the same rule of conduct."
France has now, therefore, reason to thank the
Prince NAPoLEON—not the Emperor NAPOLEON
W., but the Prince NAPOLEON—for the compulsory
continuance yet awhile of whatever there may be

still rendered necessary for her—in the interests of
her own prosperity, and in the interests, also, of
European peace—in the way of dictatorship.

Wise Governments are usually careful to heep
out of political dilemmas, but the Administration
of the United States seems to have voluntarily
placed itself in a most awkward and perplexing
position. If there ever was a case in which it was
desirable to build a bridge for a flying enemy, it
was certainly the moment after the evacuation of
Richmond and the capitulation of LEE. The war
was, temporarily at least, concluded ; all opposition
was at an end ; the South had few armies left, and
those were rapidly coming to terms ; there was
nothing that the most distrustful or the most
apprehensive could fear from the ex-rulers of the
Southern States. The great difficulty which lay
before the North was to conciliate the Southern
people to the change, to induce them to abandon
their four years' vision of independence, and to
regard the much-talked-of Union as the object of
their patriotic attachment. It was very well for
demagogues and infuriated preachers, only seeking
to inflame the passions of the unthinking multitude,
and to fan the excitement of the hour, to talk of
wholesale expatriation and confiscation, but the real
statesmen and politicians of the North must know
very well that any such endeavour would
be as preposterous as it would be wicked.
For the Northern States to attempt to hold
the Southern States in military subjection
would be simply ridiculous. The vast extent of
the country to be held would alone make the task
a hopeless one to a despot with unlimited hordes,
but the busy commercial population of the Northern
cities has certainly something else to do than to
garrison ports and patrol cities. The Federal
finances, moreover, are hardly in a condition to
maintain a huge standing army, an institution al-
ways justly unpopular in a free country. On every
account, therefore, the object of Northern states-
men should have been to conciliate the population
of the South as far as possible, to avoid all unneces-
sary collision, all semblance of severity or oppres-
sion, and to endeavour, as much as was practicable,
to obliterate the bitter memories of the strife. This
policy there is good reason to believe would have
been followed by ABRAHAM LINCOLN had he lived,
(a belief which effectually disposes of the accusa-
tions against the Confederates), but unhappily it
does not not appear to be the policy now approved
of in Washington. The Southern people are justly
proud of their leaders both civil and military, and
the reputations of LEE and DAVIS are not Amexican
simply, but European. The tide of fortune has
turned against them, but we may easily imagine
had events been different how they would have
been praised and courted, and how the fugitive and
the prisoner would have been transformed into the
heroes of the age, the " representative men" of their
country. The fair and honourable terms offered
by General GRANT to his heroic antagonist were an
important element in the termination of the war,
and the Federal cause gained as much by the mode-
ration of its General as by the triumph of his arms.
Had GRANT driven his enemy to desperation ; had
he routed and destroyed the shattered remains of
the noble Virginian army, killing, wounding, and
capturing ; and had he then succeeded in dragging
LEE to a military prison, there is no question that
the lingering fire in the Southern hearts would have
been freshly kindled ; that the bitterness and indig-
nation of the people would have been more
dangerous to the Union- than thousands of well-
trained soldiers. Why have not the civil rulers
shown the same magnanimity towards their civil
opponents? Of the two, LEE was unquestionably
more dangerous than DAVIS. His name alone was
a tower of strength ; he was the idol of the army,
and his abilities as a military commander were
but too well known to the Federal armies.
Davis, on the contrary, had lost all. However
great his capacity for government, it was very un-
likely he would have the opportunity of showing it.
His people had shown themselves rather inclined to
underrate than to over estimate his services. His
calm, temperate, and enlightened Government had
only been too little inclined to adopt vigorous mea-
sures. There could not be any grounds for ap-
prehending that after the evacuation of Richmond,
the surrender of LEE, the capitulation of all the
minor forces, and the virtual overthrow of the Con-
federacy, JEFFFERSON DAVIS would personally
prove dangerous to the Union. Captured, the
Government would be compelled to decide upon his
treatment, but it is undoubtedly an occasion on
which a prudent Cabinet would have refused to see
him, would have ordered so faint a pursuit as to
leave him every chance of reaching the coast, and
would, above all things, have avoided the awkward
task of deciding upon the fate of so distinguished
and unfortunate a Mall. But with a blindness and
folly that seemed to court embarassment, the
Washington Cabinet urged on the pursuit and
stimulated it by the offer of a large reward for the
capture of the very man whom they should have
most dreaded to see in their power, while, as if still
further to complicate their own position, they
indulged in the most reckless accusations of murder
and the most high-flown denunciations of treason.
JEFFERSON DAVIS may be tried for treason, but
every one knows that he was in fact the recognised
leader of a belligerent state, and, disguise it as they
may in words, the execution of the Southern Pre-
sident will be looked upon as the cruel and
cowardly murder of a political antagonist, not as
the just punishment of a ringleader of sedition.
But it is not too late to hope that this fatal error
may be avoided. It has unquestionably been a
great mistake to arrest the fugitive, but there re-
mains a means of escape. Happily President
JOHNSON has withdrawn the rash and reckless accu-
sation of connivance at a crime most foreign to
JEFFERSON DAVIS'S feelings and sympathies, and
therefore there is nothing but the open question of
political opposition to deal with. The sentence of
exile from the States will amply meet the exigencies
of the moment; and if it were promptly carried out,
and Mr. DAVIS escorted to the coast without delay,
however much some fanatics may complain,
the Federal Government will gain substantial
strength, and win the approbation of all
honourable and enlightened men not only in Europe,
but in the Northern States themselves. The whole
of that vast population cannot be swayed by the
passions of an extreme party. We have seen how
the unanimous feeling of the better classes of New
York compelled the Government to change the
secret trial of the so-called conspirators to open day,
and the indignation expressed in all quarters at the
famous Proclamation probably had a considerable
share in undeceiving the PRESIDENT as to
the nature of the evidence. In the same man-
ner the execution of the Southern ruler will disgust
all those whose support President JOHNSON
should be most anxious to obtain, while in
England and France it will be received with un-
mitigited
indignation. It is certainly an occasion
on which the two foremost Governments of the Old
World might justly enter an emphatic protest, and
in face of their reminder of the light in which JEF-
FERSON DAVIS is held by Europe, the Washington
Cabinet can hardly treat him as a common felon.
But Governments, whether in the Old or the New
World, sometimes mistake the temper of the people

they govern. It is but too probable that the Wash-
ington Cabinet will outrage the feelings of all
honourable Americans, as there is too good reason
to apprehend that Lords PAL➢IERSTON and RUSSELL
will fail in this crisis to represent the character and
the sympathies of the English nation.

The Hon. CHARLES GAVAN DUFFY'S speech the
other night at the St. James's Hall is well worthy
of perusal, and will be found to contain some home
truths for those parties who have been pluming
themselves upon knowing a good deal of matters of
which they are profoundly ignorant. The hon.
gentleman has lately returned from the colony of
Victoria, and thus additional interest was imparted
to the proceedings. Sir GEORGE BOWYER, who pre-
sided on the occasion in a very efficient manner,
paid a high compliment to the guest of the evening,
and regretted his intention of returning to Australia,
because he said that such men could ill be spared
from this country. Mr. DUFFY declared that
" all the fascinations of Europe would not
have drawn him across the Atlantic and
Pacific Oceans if there had not been also on the
other side the friends of his early manhood." The
hon. gentleman took a brief retrospect of his career,
and was able to point out among the assembly
many who had in former years been associated with
him in various undertakings. He wisely refrained
from saying much of Ireland, truly observing that
after his ten years absence at a distance of thirteen
thousand miles, it rather became him to learn than
to teach. He preferred, he said, to speak of the
country in which he had so long sojourned, and of
which he possessed an intimate knowledge. It is
satisfactory to find that Mr. DUFFY entertains the
highest opinion of his adopted land, and speaks in
the warmest terms of acknowledgment and gratitude
of his sojourn there. He, therefore, deprecated the
tone of criticism which prevailed in this country on
the subject of Australian Colonies both in the press
and in Parliament. It will be well if the warnings of
one so well calculated to give an opinion are attended
to, and if the captious critics, ever ready to depre-
ciate and detract, will abstain for the future from
making unwarrantable assertions, which do an im-
mense deal of damage, and never answer any pur-
pose but the selfish ones of gaining a momentary
advantage to an argument.
Mr. DUFFY declared that there was " a generous
and cordial feeling towards their native country
among the mixed population of Australia, but they had
thesensitiveness to tmjust criticismwhich distinguishes
every new people." What can be more impolitic than
this tending to misrepresent a colony among those
whose position gives us cause to suppose that they
know the mischievous effects that may thereby be
created, and which time cannot wholly efface nor
care prevent from spreading fast and far. A notable
instance was mentioned by Mr. DUFFY. In the
Reform debate, Mr. GREGORY read an extract from
an Australian paper to show that the Legislative
Assembly in Victoria had refused, under " demo-
cratic influence," to grant fifty thousand a year to
aid female immigration. Mr. GREGORY did not
state that the newspaper which furnished the ex-
tract was nearly five years old, and that every year
since that date fifty thousand has been spent on
" assisted immigration ;" and the London papers
of the very week in which his speech was made con-
tained advertisements offering free passages to the
colony of Victoria to " suitable female immigrants."
Nothing is more pernicious than the practice which
has lately prevailed to a great extent of quoting
certain passages which suit a particular purpose,
and leaving the remainder of the contents untouched,
so that ignorant and misinformed persons draw a
totally different conclusion to that which is the
correct version of the affair. The chief part of the
mischief thus occasioned is, that many of those who
hear the wrong story never hear the right one, and
thus an erroneous impression prevails upon important
subjects. Too much cannot be said against this
habit, and the sooner it is put a stop to by the
strictures of the community the better, for a false
colouring is put upon things that is discreditable to
all concerned. Mr. DUFFY mentioned that Mr.
GREGORY also read an extract from an anonymous
correspondent, which denounced the local Parlia-
ment in unmeasured terms. Now, the hon. gentle -
man said, he would put his experience of ten years
against the statement of this writer, who withheld
his name, and declare that, taking everything into
consideration, the Parliament of Victoria represented
the community as adequately and effectually as the
British Parliament represented these kingdoms.
" It contained some men who would be distin-
guished in any deliberative assembly which he had
ever seen." This mysterious unknown spoke of
railway porters and ex-ploughmen as members of
the Legislature, but, as Mr. DUFFY said, in a coun-
try where so many of the people live by cultivating
the land, it was not singular that some farmers
should be elected, and the complaint was that there
were so few. Mr. DUFFY ingeniously turned the
tables upon the correspondent by stating that an
exporter whom he had sat with in the Parliament
of Victoria for several sessions was more useful
and less discreditable than a much more
important railway functionary who had sat
in " European legislative assemblies." The
remark altogether was a very absurd one, be-
cause in a young colony it is natural that men of all
classes should rise into eminence, and those who
undertake really rough tasks may do so with im-
punity in comparison with the inhabitants of this
country. If the members of the Legislative Assem-
bly truly represent the interests of the colony and
protect its privileges, they are the fitting and proper
persons to hold their trust, and should meet with
respect instead of serving as butts for captious
politicians to make game of. Mr. CAVE was also
very free in his dissertations on Australian affairs, and
Mr. DUFFY spoke with great force against the exagge-
ration and mistakes made by the right, hon. gentle-
man, and finally extinguished his arguments by saying
that if the Colonial Parliament sympathised with
the colonial communities, he would bring against
the opinion of a political philosopher like Mr. CAVE
that of a greater, EDMUND BURKE, who said it was
better for a Parliament to be inflicted with popular
epidemics than for it not to care for the feelings and
opinions out of doors. Mr. DUFFY concluded his
eloquent discourse by saying that the people of
this country should think that the people of Aus-
tralia were their own countrymen, " who had passed
through the tropics to their new home," and were
the better rather than the worse for the adventure.

THE CONSECRATION OF DR. MANNING, the Arch-
bishop of Westminster, is fixed to take place at Moorfields
on Thursday, the Bth of June. Bishops Ullathorne and
Grant will officiate. Dr. Manning will afterwards proceed
to Rome.

ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY.—The Rhodo-
dendron tent now open at South Kensington Gardens
proved a great attraction to the fashionable world on Satur-
day last. The weather was lovely, and the performance of
the band of the Royal Horse Guards (Blue), under the di-
rection of Mr. Boosey, admirable. Among the visitors were
the Earl of Roseberry, Sir C. W. Trevelyan, Major Gran-
mell, Rev. Mr. Brock, Sir A. Cumming, Sir C. Lennox,
Lord Ormond, General Cole, General Adam, Mr. Paxton,
Mr. Fitzroy, Mr. and Mrs. Delane, Colonel and Miss Leslie,
Marchioness of Waterford, Lady Egerton of Tatton, Capt.
Cameron, Lady Howland, Mr. Chapman, Mr. Dent, Sir J.
and Lady Johnson, Mrs. Witter; Mr. and Mrs. H. Lewis,
Earl of Wicklow, Colonel and Mrs. Reeves, Lord Boston,
Lady Rolt, Hon. Mrs. Lyons, Baron Brunnow, Lady Scott,
General Hamilton, Earl of Westmeath, &c. The exhibition
will continue all this week, and the band of the Royal
Horse Guards will play daily.