The Sun.
London, England, 1865-10-17 00:00:00

SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALS.

TlM—The invasion of Mexico by a European
army, the overthrow of the republic and the esta-
blishment of a monarchy in its place, the hunting of
a President from province to province while an Em-
peror of the liberty-hating line of Hapsburg displays
old-world pomp in the capital, are events which
naturally have caused no little soreness throughout
the United States. One of the influences which
mainly impelled the Northern people to persevere in
the late war was the belief that in the invasion of
Mexico they saw the natural consequence of dis-
union, and that there was before them the alterna-
tive of restoring the republic to its old dimensions
and power, or submitting again to the interference
and tutelage of Europe. These feelings have, it
seems, already found expression in the communica-
tions of the Washington government to France.
Whatever may be the precise form which the re-
monstrances of Mr. Seward have taken or will take,
whatever may be the declarations of the President
to Congress or his demeanour towards the new em-
pire, it is certain that a coolness, to use no stronger
term, has arisen between the United States and
France, and that the occupation of Mexico by Euro-
pean troops may possibly lead to some troublesome
differences. Such a prospect is much to be regretted.
Although the settled policy of England forbad us to
join the French Emperor in his enterprise, although
there is much in the principle of these armed inter-
ferences which we look upon with suspicion and dis-
like, yet, taking the foundation of the Mexican
Empire as a work now completed, it is impossible
to deny that it has been beneficial to Mexico and to
the world. It is the merest abuse of terms to speak
of the Mexican Republic and of Mexican freedom
as if they presented a political condition similar to
that of the United States and other orderly popular
Governments. Mexico was in a state of perfect
anarchy. The war with the United States seems
to have destroyed the little political vigour that re-
mained in the country. At last it was a disgrace
to itself and the world. There was no security for
life or property. As one adventurer rose to power
after another, everybody who possessed anything
was plundered over and over again, and the robbers
did not even respect the rights of foreign residents.
Indeed, there was hardly a mercantile country in
the world to which Mexico had not given cause of
offence through the outrages committed on its citi-
zens by successive de facto Governments. According
to received principles of public law, these wrongs,
for which no redress could ever be obtained, jus-
tified foreign nations in resorting to hostile measures.
The Emperor of the French, however, whether
rightly or wrongly, did not content himself with
demanding indemnification, but set about to cure
the ills of the unfortunate country by putting ah
end to its revolutions and giving it a stable Govern-
ment. This he has accomplished. The present
Government may have begun in usurpation, but it
has turned out to be practically a benefit. The
readiness with which it has been received by the
Mexican people, their acceptance of Maximilian as
their Sovereign, their abandonment of the cause of
Juarez, and the assistance they have almost every-
where given to the French troops in their operations
against him show that the Imperial system is suited
to the people, and that they feel no indignation at
the presence f a foreign Prince and a foreign army.
Nor is this at all wonderful. The Mexicans are not a
great people, and they know it. The whites recol-
lect that the large majority of their countrymen are
simply Indians and half-castes, and they doubt the
competence of such a community to carry on Re-
publican government, at least in their present stage
of civilisation. Out of seven millions and a half of
people which the country contained some years
ago it was estimated that only one million were
whites, where there were four millions of full-blooded
Indians, the remainder of the population being half-
castes and mulattoes of various shades. As for
these native races we believe that, on the whole,
they prefer the monarchy to their former Govern-
ment. They are simply an unintelligent, unlettered,
priest-led population, and it is vain to talk of them
as if they were the population of Massachusetts.
They want a Government which will allow them to
keep a few dollars in their houses, or to buy a little
stock of goods for their shops, without threatening
them with forced contributions. It is not a ques-
tion of better or worse institutions, but of order or
anarchy, and Napoleon's battalions having given
them the former they are perfectly satisfied, and ac-
cept the gift with thankfulness. With regard to
foreign traders and settlers the advantages of the
new state of things are equally decided. There is
the undeniable fact that a European or American
merchant can now conduct his business in perfect
security, whereas three years ago he could not. This,
it seems to us, is a better argument than any that
can be based on the abstract merit of republican or
monarchical rule. There can be no doubt that, if

Maximilian's Empire be firmly established, the en-
terprise of the world will be largely directed to
Mexico, that capital will flow into the country, that
its immense resources will be developed, and its
miserable people civilised and enriched. If, on the
other hand, the present settlement be overthrown
and militaryviolence letloose again under the abused
name of a republic, the country must go on from
bad to worse, until every trace of civilisation vanishes
and the land await conquest and occupation by a
stronger race. For these reasons we should regret
to learn that the United States were using their in-
fluence to weaken the present Mexican Government

by depriving it of what is for a time necessary,the
support of France. The Cabinet of Washington seem,
indeed, to exaggerate the designs of the French Em-
peror. On the information of a consul they have
concluded that France was about to despatch a large
force of Egyptian troops, called by the consul "an
army of negroes," and have been correspondingly in-
dignant. Whether or not Mr. Seward has mentioned
this matter in a despatch to the Minister at Paris, it is
beyond a doubt that information of this kind was
received at Washington. But we cannot imagine
that any such purpose was ever formed by the French
Emperor. To send Mussulman Africans to keep order
in the dominions of a Catholic Sovereign is a design
so extraordinary that we may at once dismiss the
rumour as false. All that the French Emperor can
desire is to keep his French regiments in Mexico
some time longer, until the new Government has
taken firm root, and it will be possible to withdraw
them without throwing the country back into anarchy.
In this moderate purpose we cannot see why the
United States should not assist rather than thwart
him. The Monroe doctrine has nothing whatever to
do with the present matter. Though European States
have never accepted this principle, yet it is, perhaps,
not an unreasonable one for the Americans to main-
tain. It is for the benefit of both the Old and New
Worlds that the European Powers should not create
new dependencies on the American Continent, nor,
in the words of Monroe, " extend their system to
any portion of this hemisphere." But France has in
the most positive manner disavowed any intention
to acquire any part of the Mexican territory, or even
to make a prolonged military occupation. All that
the Emperor desires, all that his people would sup-
port him in undertaking, is to stay the frightful an-
archy of Mexico, and restore one of the finest coun-
tries of the globe to civilisation and commerce. In
this work the United States may well acquiesce, for
they will be among the chief gainers. The President
has himself laid down the principles which will guide
his Government in dealing with other American
States, and in their moderation and good sense they
certainly do not correspond with the design of driving
the French from Mexico. He told theßrazilian Mini-
ster the other day that the policy of the United States
was simple and easy to understand ; that it was the
desire to aid the progress of civilisation in the Western
hemisphere by aiding the development of internal
resources and commerce and the introduction of free
and intelligent labour into the virgin fields of the
' continent. In place of weakening the new American
States, his country sought to give them strength by
placing a generous confidence in them, and not by
indulging jealousies of their prosperity. These prin-
ciples apply equally to Mexico and Brazil. If the
President's Government will merely leave Mexico
alone, it will confer the greatest service upon that
State. If, on the other hand, it sets itself resolutely
to work to undo what has been effected, then, even
in case of success, it can only expect to earn the
bDast of having checked a great European Empire
at the cost of a neighbour's
prosperity.
POST.—The admirable report on the sanitary con-
dition of the City issued by Dr. Letheby, the medi-
cal officer of the City of London,
.on Friday last,
and which we published yesterday, is calculated
mightate d to
allay whatever remnant of apprehensionl
linger in the public mind relative to the advent and
the metropolis, the spread of Asiatic cholera in or
in these isles generally, this season. It is a circum-
stance not a little unfavourable to a temperate esti-
mate of the chances of cholera prevalence, that the
disease has hitherto come, and may henceforth be
expected, at a season when, the dominant topics of
newspaper comment being scarce, mere rumours are
expatiated upon to an extent more am
amplified than
usual : therefore, when the public mind is more
than ordinarily
isposed to take alarm. The re-
mark is one that pertinently applies to the autumn
just ended ; for notwithstanding the rumours of
cholera present, and the alarming vaticination of
more deadly accessions of cholera on its way, it
would now appear, from an investigation of Dr.
Letheby's
quarterly report, that there has never
happened a season subsequent to 1831—when
Asiatic cholera first came amongst us—in which the
premonitions of this disease have been in number so
few, or in character, so unmenacing. Reviewing the
British history of Asiatic cholera—as gathered from
the consideration of its two accessions in 1831-2,