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THE SUN.

LONDON, THURSDAY, APRIL 17, 1862.

At last we may congratulate America on the
actual commencement of emancipation by law—by
an act of the Federal Government. Our readers
must be all aware that the little district of Colum-
bia, in which Washington stands, is under the
direct government of Congress. The Federal Go-
vernment is, we may say, its State Government. It
was originally but ten miles square, and was equally
divided by the Potomac, the southern part in Vir-
ginia, the northern in Maryland. The southern,
or smaller part, was, however, ceded back again to
Virginia in 1846; the remainder, on the Maryland
side of the river, is the State in which Congress has
now resolved to emancipate its slaves, and the bill
for that purpose having passed the Senate, only
awaits the PRESIDENT'S signature to become the
law of the United States and of Columbia.
We are but too well aware of all the deductions
and qualifications and exceptions which will be
made or taken by the pro-slavery party, a small one,
happily, in this country, and by their organ, in re-
gard to the significance of this act ; but it has great
significance after all. It would not have been ac-
cepted even a year ago ; had the South not seceded
it could not have passed through either house, and

under BUCHANAN no one would have dreamed of

Nue' a thing. It has long been the strenuous de-
toand of the abolitionists as a point of national
honour, and it has been as long resisted and resented
by the alaveholders as a public stigma on their
heaven-bestowed institution of slavery. The free-
iI
dam of Columbia was, therefore, the outwork battle
ground of the two great parties. The slave- I
holders were in possession. The Abolitionists are ,
YaOw in their place; and they have a right to hoist
and salute their flag, as the omen of future successes.
The telegrams to-day vary a little from those of
yesterday in respect to the amount of compensa-
ten to be given. The last information we may
assume to be the latest amendment. Three hun-
dred dollars, or about £6O, is to be the average
price paid by the Government for converting
human cattle into free men; and twenty thou-
sand Priunds seems to be voted for their depor-
atin'Q to Liberia or to Hayti.
/low the slavery party regard the Act in Ame-
aim itself, is apparent from the fact of all the Bor-
der States representatives voting against it, just as
they did against
the resolutions, offering, on the part
of the Federal Government, to co-operate with the
States in emancipating their slaves by pecuniary
compensation. The als.veholders well comprehend
the damaging effect on slave institutions, of votes
and acts of the Federal Government which revert
to the old view of the times of WASHINGTON and
J'EFFERso>r,---that slavery is n sse.a.
i t evil to be got
rd of as soon as possible, and even at a
On the other hand, the Anti-Negro feeling
cost.
inag vof the
North is painfully manifest, in the effort
to get rid of the negroes by colonization
6r expatriation. It is doubless the old story,
t 5; at the too great parties in America
equally contemn the poor negro ; but, the South
would despise and use—the North despise and
;be.nish. The difficulty of accomplishing the latter
is, perhaps, the rpwit difficulty with the North,
Were it possible to svrezp America of riegroesi the
rcirth would preiliabLt not hesitate !o do it. Iniat
it dislikes is, being cumbered with Free Negroes.
There is not, forsooth, room for them, any more than
for Indians, in the midst of white flat n. They must
b 0 improved away.
The great desire in the North, even by the very
latest accounts, is to secure a restoration of the
Lnion lvith"g emancipation. It is not concealed
that elen Mr. LINCOLN would .
gladly matte any

of the negroes' rights, and altogether satisfactory
to their masters, if the latter would but return to
the Union. Union without emancipation would be
more acceptable to the majority in the North
than emancipation as the means to force back
the Secessionists. What the Washington Go-
vernment fears, is being compelled, in the last
resort, to proclaim emancipation in the slave
States proper, as a military necessity. There
seems, at present, every prospect that the Southern
resistance will be so protracted and efficient that
the North in desperation may be driven to the
measure it abhors ; and, it does seem likely
that the North has severe work in prospect
yet. We described the military position yes-
terday; and the news this morning of three
or four days later looks rather better than other-
wise for the Confederates; since they appear to be
strengthening themselves against M'CLELLAN at
Fort Monroe, as well as against GRANT and HAL-
LECK in Tennessee and on the Mississippi. It is a
sad fact, but we fear there can be little doubt of it,
that hope for the negro rests, not on Northern
success, but rather the contrary. It is not, there-
fore, as a proof of awakening benevolence and sense
of justice that we feel so much gratified with the
Columbia Emancipation Act. It is because we
see in it proof that, despite all their prejudices,
the Northerns are increasingly compelled to act
on Emancipation principles. With the deputa-
tion which addressed Mr. ADAMS yesterday we,
for these reasons, regard the recent acts on slavery
as " full 'of promise for the future, and as steps
approximating to the absolute requirements of
justice and humanity."

On the 3d of March, 1862, terminated the career
of Lord CANNING as Governor-General of India.
And while the noble Viscount, during the period of
his viceroyalty, has had to pass undoubtedlythrough
very many storms of blighting and sometimes ma-
lignant vituperation, it will be recorded of him that,
at the close of his possession of power, he received,
from the representatives of the native population,
an Ovation, by way of Farewell, such as has sel-
dom, if ever before, been accorded to a Governor-
General. The demonstration, to begin with, was
spontaneous. It was no display of a factitious en-
thusiasm, ingeniously got up by the partisans and
dependants of the outgoing Administration. It
sprang forth of itself, in answer to the first sugges-
tion. It was, from beginning to end, the natural
ebullition of the feelings with which the vast majo-
rity, whether natives or Europeans, now regard
Lord CANNING'S tenure of the rod of Empire over
our vast Asiatic dominions. The Natives, however,
not merely took the initiative in getting up the meet-
ing which took place on the 3d of March, and in
preparing the Address which was then presented--
they filled the whole scene, so to speak, of them-
selves, and to the entire exclusion of their Euro-
pean fellow-subjects. This it was, in point of
fact, which lent an especial importance to the mani-
festation of public feeling evidemed in this parti-
cular instance. It was the exceptional, the almost
unprecedented, circumstance of the native character
of the demonstration,which imparted a peculiar value
and interest to it as a demonstration. As was very
justly remarked by one of the principal native
speakers upon the day of this great assemblage at
Calcutta, it could not by any means be regarded
as a solitary instance for the citizens of that great
metropolis to meet and do honour to a departing
Governor-General :

" Dozens of times," said BABOO RAMPERSAUD ROY,
"if not more, have we met on similar commissions.
But, gentlemen, you will recollect that all those
meetings were mainly organised by Europeans,
brought about by Europeans, and carried out by Euro..
peans. This day we behold a monster meeting of
the sons of India. Not a party or a class meeting, or a
meeting induced by the action of the governing classes, but
we see whole India, as it were, consisting of representatives
of innumerable classes and creeds, turning out of their free
will and accord this fair evening to pay a parting tribute to
one who has so richly deserved India's homage and grati-
tude."

IThat a native of India should be able to rise in a
great gathering of Hindoos in the city of Calcutta,
and speak thus in their presence and hearing (at the
close of his rule) of a Governor-General like Viscount
CANNING, is in itself something. As a mere fact, it
is something that a spectacle such as that should
have been witnessed by Viscount CANNING prior to
his departure homewards. Remembering the ill
favour with which he was at one time regarded
both in India and in England, the mere incident of
his having been thus addressed in the language of
affectionate and respectful, of earnest and even
grateful regard, is something very impressive in its
significance. It was a token at least that his ex.
Excellency had lived down a host of prejudices and
antipathies, before the hour at length arrived for
his bidding farewell to the arena of his Viceregal '
Government. "Gentlemen," continued the same
oriental speaker, " Gentlemen," said BABOO RAM-
PERSAIJD ROY, still addressing his brother natives,
who ardently echoed his enthusiasm by their
1 cheers --
" I do not propose In the 'course of a shot address,
even if I had the talent, to review the eminent ser-
vices rendered to India by Lord Canning. In recounting
those services perhaps you will not find things to dazzle
1 your eye or captivate your fancy; perhaps will not hear of
great and glorious battles fought and won or some great
extraordinary annexation made; but, gentlemen, there
is in Lord Canning's serViCes something so very substan-
tial, something so 'very intimately connected with you
and everything dear to you, something so very materially
congenial to the best and greatest interests of India, that
I have no doubt, when you come to consider them, both
you and those who come after you will find abundant rea-
sons to cherish the name of Lord Canning as the greatest
benefactor of India."

1 High praise, truly—but, to what does it refer P Does
it not have instant reference—in the mind of every
one who reads it here in England, as it must have
had in those of all who first read it throughout
Hindostan, and as it must previously have had in
the thoughts of those who actually listened to
it in Calcutta—to the two grand and ever me-
morable events in Indian History with which
the name of Lord CANNING must, henceforth, and
for ever, be most honourably associated ? Two
events, as vast in their importance and in their
magnitude, as they are widely contrasted with each
other when placed side by side. With the sup-
pression of the Great Revolt in Bengal ! And
with the absorption of India bodily among the
stupendous and world scattered possessions of the
British Crown !

Lord CANNING'S Viceroyalty will always, in the
annals of our Indian Empire, and in the larger and
nobler annals of that mighty empire of Great Bri-
tain—of which India, gigantic as it is, is after all
but one among its sixty dependencies—Lord CAN-
NING'S Viceroyalty will always be distinguished in
those twin histories, in the History of England,
and in the History of India, as the one during
Which the Great Company, as a ruling power, was
destroyed, and as the one also during which the
Whole of revolted Bengal was reconquered. " Nsed
ott
I recount to
- "
y , said the Hindoo orator already
mentioned, mai
continuing his harangue upon
th©
nierits of the
'6 How
(
he
say:opal tin; Governor-Ueneral :
histYoou and India is paralleled in the pha
of nations nations ? At aer time when
passions had been raised
rat,godoedtheir highest
.pitch, when
countrymen had excited a spirit of the foul deeds of a
out of millions of our
it
was
Owing
to
tihnediscriminating revenge
unswerving courage,
rapromising justice, moderation
and retribution,
,baZio.humanity of that
nobleman, that myriads of innocent
Ftili7lrii. saved from
a premature and ignominious death, that the lives and pro -
party of millions of her Majesty's loyal subj
a d.fed to them, aye, that we are enabled to appear today ai

this great meeting as free citizens, men of substance and
intelligence, to be listened to and cared for."

So much for the darker and stormier part of Lord
CANNING'S administration.

As to the calmer and happier portion of the noble
Viscount's career as Governor-General, thus—
" with a lengthened sweetness long drawn out"—
spoke the same Oriental panegyrist :

"Whether," he said, "you look to the restoration of
the confiscated estates in Oudh, to the ancient settlement
of that province, the suppression of that most infamous
practice of infanticide, or the abolition of the ban which
was laid upon the princes and magnates of this land, in
the exercise of their right of adoption, according to their
own religious views—whether you look to the administra-
tion of justice, the two universal codes—civil and criminal—
giving a security of life and property to the rich and poor
alike ; the encouragement given to the cause of educa-
tion, or the impetus given to the development of the re-
sources of this country by the influx of European capi-
tal and enterprise on sound and just principles ; or
whether yo•u look to measures adopted for equalising
the expenditure and income of this vast empire N% ith
those for the redemption of the revenue and the sale of
waste lands, you only see and invariably find that the ad-
vancement of India's interest has been foremost in the
thoughts of his lordship,"

So thinks India. And England should re-
member it. She should accord a welcome
to Lord CANNING upon his arrival here in
London consonant in its enthusiasm and
spontaneity to the Farewell with which he was
greeted by the natives of India upon his taking his
departure from among them at Calcutta. Viscount
CANNING, we hesitate not to assert—if only in me-
mory of the suppression of the Sepoy Rebellion and
of the annexation of India to the Crown, has earned
not only his pension but, with it, an Earldom.

Mr. COBDEN was unable, through the indisposi-
tion to which he is liable, and which we all regret,
to make his speech on a subject so eminently one
of his own, as that of Mr. HORSFALL'S motion. He
is a reasoner and adviser on commercial questions,
to whom, whether we agree with him or differ from
him, we always listen with pleasure. We may re-
gard him :as counsel for commerce, and be pretty
sure that when he has spoken we have heard the
best which can be said on its behalf. Failing to
deliver his speech, he has favoured us with a letter,
which we doubt not many of our readers perused
with interest yesterday. It is addressed appro-
priately to the President of the Manchester Cham-
ber of Commerce. He has had, of course, the ad-
vantage of having the debate before him.
Mr. COBDEN goes the whole length in the inte-
rest of commerce, with little concern for the inte-
rests of war. After sketching the course of negotia-
tions since the Treaty of Paris with America, he
mentions the exemption of commercial property at
sea from seizure in time of war, as now a subordi-
nate question. He regards the arguments or. that
point as so conclusive that it is scarcely necessary
to recal them. The fact that as in time of war our
property afloat exceeds £100,000,000, and that this
is more than double the amount possessed by any
other Power, makes, he thinks, our interest quite
clear. One argument, on which a Cabinet Minis-
ter laid some stress, that the danger of their pro-
perty would make merchants clamorous for peace,
and so tend to prevent war, he regards as a joke.
He cleverly retorts, that if shipowners were a ma-
jority in the Cabinet, and in both Houses of Par-
liament, the argument might hold. But if direct
danger to property be a means of preserving peace,
he suggests that the possessors of another kind of
property should rather be liable to the risks of war.
As our landlords have the decision of peace and
war in their hands, he hints that it would be fair
that they, rather than commercial men, should give
security for peace.
But commercial blockades are what Mr. COBDEN
now proposes to abolish. He would restrict
blockades 1p naval arsenals, and to towns besieged
by land with which a fleet was co-operating.
Purely commercial ports he would leave open in
time of war as much as in time of peace, with the
single exception of arms and munitions of war.
Here he and Lord RUSSELL join issue. His
Lordship hol3s -that the power of blockading
commercial ports is essential to our naval supre-
macy. Mr. COBDEN holds that the power is one,
the exercise of which would inflict more injury
on ourselves than on the nation against which
we employed it.
His argument is, to say the least, ingenious.
We, he observes, import more food and raw ma-
terials of manufacture than any nation upon
earth. A populous and manufacturing island
must doubtless always do this. Other nations
import what are, comparatively or really, but
luxuries, with which they can better dispense
a while. Blockading American ports would de-
prive us either of food, or of cotton, or of both,
according to the state of our harvests and those
of other nations. We now submit to see Lanca-
shire half starved, because we refused, when Ame-
rica pressed it on us, to abolish .commercial
blockades. We are thus answerable directly for
the blockade of the Southern commercial ports,
and the question arises, whether we are not pay-
ing too much for this mode' of maintaining naval
supremacy. So truly is the question a practical
one that our rulers have themselves been often
compelled to answer it in the negative. We
long refrained from blockading Russian ports in
the Crimean war. We admitted Russian pro-
duce, declining to notice its origin, to an im-
mense extent through Prussia; and in 1813 we
found ourselves obliged to admit American cotton,
in spite of our being at war with her.

It cannot, then, be denied that our theory and
practice have been remarkably in conflict. And the
worst is, that had we given up the theory as well as
the practice, we should not at this moment find our
commerce with America so completely crippled,
and our manufacturing operatives almost starved,
because two parts of a foreign nation see fit to
quarrel. Nor should we generally, as a neutral, be
debarred from commerce with nations at war,
because the one was able to blockade the ports of
the other, As to the question—of what use would
would a navy be if it could not be used for block-
ades P he replies—for an island with a commerce
like ours, the chief use of a navy should be, not to
close our communications but to keep them open.
We must confess that Mr. COBDEN'S proposals
seem to have a touch of commercial waggery about
them. There seems something so ineffably ludi-
crous in the idea of two Governments going to
war—say those of England and America—but
their subjects all jolly, good commercial friends
with each other, that he might well have enlisted
CRUIKSHANK or PuNcit to furnish pictorial illus-
trations of his argument. We might have
in one cartoon England bombarding Fort
Monroe, or Norfolk Navy-yard ; with Ame-
rica returning the compliment at Portsmouth,
and in an opposite one, the merchants of Liverpool
and New York meeting each other in their respec-
tive Exchanges—or even enjoying their champagne
together at, a public dinner, with the flags and
music of each countries as accompaniments. If to
make war ridiculous be the first step to its abolition,
Mr. COBDEN'S plan would certainly be perfect. A
duel between two Governments, while their sub-
jects were all trafficking at pleasure with each
other, would, as he well knows, be too great an
absurdity to endure long. Perhaps, this is his
secret thought.

We do not see what means be would adopt to
prevent neutrals from supplying both belligerents
With the unitions of wur. If the ports of each