The Sun.
London, England, 1862-03-08 00:00:00

EXECUTION OF C tPTAILV G ORZON.

Our American telegram yesterday contained the
short and simple statement that " Captain Gordon:
has been hanged." It would not be strange if, in
the absence of all explanation, some who read this
said to themselves that that was the captain's
F affair, and passed on. Yet Captain Gordon's exe-
cution was by no means an event of personal in%e.
rest. On the contrary, throughout America it is
understood to be full of significance. It is an index:
of the quality of Mr. Lincoln's Government, of its
strength of principle, and the consistency of its
policy, and it marks the end of a system. Gordon
was tried and convicted as the captain of a slaver,
and was sentenced to death. Under Pierce,
Buchanan, and Presidents of their stamp, his con-
demnation would not have caused his friends any
serious alarm. It was well understood on all sides
that there were legal forms, decent, proper in a
Christian and civilised nation ; and solemn sen-
tences passed on persons proved' to have partici-
pated in the African slave trade were not at ail
objected to as long as they were not carried out.
The prospect changed, however, when Mr. Lincoln
was made President. People felt that it would be
thenceforth , more dangerous to dabble in this
traffic. Still, when a slave captain was actually
convicted and sentenced to death, it was very ge-
nerally doubted whether the Government would
hold firm. Practical men, quite prepared to con-
demn the African slave trade in the abstract, re-
coiled from the thought of strangling a white man
because he had removed some black men from a
state of barbarism to a Christian country. Mr.
Lincoln, they said, although a free-soiler, was not
a fanatical abolitionist, and would think twice be--
fore he sacrifices the life of a man of Anglo-Saxon
blood to a sentiment in favour of the negro. These
people, however, forgot the difference between
principle and sentiment. Mr. Lincoln and his
party have no particular affection for the negro
race, but they know that the best interests of the
white community require that injustice should
not be perpetrated upon the blacks. In this re-
pect their positionis very much like that of the
Pro estant liberals here who were demandin
Catholic emancipation forty years ago ; they care
more for the cause than for the parties most obvi-
ously affected by it. As time wore on the friends
of Gordon became anxious, and they took measures
to move public opinion on his behalf. A petition
was drawn up, which in a few days was signed by
several thousand merchants of New York, and pre-
sented to the Government. There is not a kinder
man in the world than President Lincoln ; but
neither is there a man who better understands how
cruel may be the indulgence of fond sentiment at
the expense of duty. Captain Gordon would have
had a better chance had his life depended on the
decision of some impulsive negro-phile, instead of
being at the disposal of the severe, deliberative,
but inflexible tenant of the White House, a man
who, amidst the severest trials, has never swerved
a hair's breadth from the policy which he professed
when he was a candidate for office. Those who
knew President Lincoln well said that he would not
lose the precious opportunity to strike a blow at a
system which costs hundreds of lives yearly, and
dooms the brave men of the two African squadrons
to ruin their health on a pestilential coast, They
said Gordon would certainly be hanged. They were
right, and from the Bight of Benin to the coast o
Cuba the man-stealer will tremble.