The Sun.
London, England, 1862-06-07 00:00:00

passage westward being thought evanescent. But
tbey quite take it for granted that we shall soon
perceive their real object—to provide, namely, for
their defence only in the cheapest manner, and in
the way best adapted to the habits of the colony.

On the other hand, we cannot think with others
of our contemporaries, that no danger menaces
Canadian independence from the side of America.
It is true that, if this war lasts as long as it quite
probably may, the States, whether United or divided,
must come out of it much exhausted both in men
and money. But the danger of war from a nation
depends quite as much on its temper as on its means.
The revolutionary w.i.rs of France were carried on
without money, and by a conscription which drained
every village of its young men. And if America
leave off the war exhausted, she will long retain
the excitement, unsettlement, and belligerent tem-
per generated by it. Her bitterness against Eng-
land seems to have been increased rather than
diminished ; indeed, in proportion to the gratitude
the North owes us for not insisting on our moral
right to our cotton supply, seems to be its annoy-
ance at having anything to thank us for. The one
solitary act of good will we have to thank her for
in return—the passage of troops through Maine, a
state filched from English territory—was ill-
received by the people ; and as to the slave-trade
treaty we must thank their military and party
necessities, not their good-will to us, for that.
For ourselves, though no mortal can foresee
how the war will end, and in what condition it
will leave the States, we must think that Canada
has quite as much to fear as to hope from its ces-
sation. Every thoughtful man can easily conceive
two or three possible and not unlikely terminations,
which might render the North alone, or North and
South united, willing to apply the Monroe doctrine
northwards, and to complete the re-united Federa-
tion, or to compensate the maimed Northern one, by
attempting to stretch the United States to the North
Pole. We are told, and we must say we believe it,
that the dream of these Northern States, in which
the South, before its secession, joined, is, that
the Grand Republic is to include the whole of
North America, from the Isthmus to the Pole.
That it is to be the great military and naval re-
public of the world, that it is to give law to Europe
itself, and indeed, in the Yankee phrase "to whip
all creation." The swaggering joke, like many
another joke, being but the laughing representation
of a grave sentiment or purpose.
Does Canada, even French Canada, wish to be
one of the States which sends representatives to
Washington ? We never knew the respectable
Canadian yet who did. Independence, either with
or without England, Canada is as little disposed to
to part with as New England itself. Of inde-
pendence, the essential condition is to be pre-
pared to resist all who would invade it.
Hitherto we have nurtured in Canada the idea of
military dependence on us, and if she has not has-
tened the arrangement which would enable her to
sustain the first shock of an American attack, we
must thank ourselves for such being the case.
Canada, however, by this time understands that
now she must be her own chief defender. We can-
not again provide her chief military strength. We
can be a most efficient ally—we can co-operate with
our fleet—we can furnish a quota of troops, but
there must be an available Canadian army ready,
on fair warning, to defend Canadian territory.
This is the price of the independence she
actually enjoys. We are sure she will be
willing to pay it. She shows us no favours
now, commercially or otherwise. Her revenue is
largely and unwisely, we think, derived from taxes
on the productions of our industry ; she has, in
fact, set up for herself, though she makes good use
of her connection with the old firm ; and, as the
management and profits are wholly hers, she must
see to their insurance against ordinary dangers.
It is an attractive speculation—the future of
America. An obvious possibility is a virtual
French conquest of Mexico, and real rule of that
fine but now wretched country from Paris. A
Southern Confederacy, larger or smaller, according
to the results of the war; a Northern Federation,
and, of course, a kind of British Federal kingdom
more northern still.
We do not believe that such a result is at all to be
deprecated. We have none of Mr. BRIGHT'S and
Mr. COBDEN'S faith in the political virtues of either
North or South, or of both together. We think a
monster republic on the old model would be a mon-
ster nuisance on the earth ; indeed, what we may
call the late Republic was fast becoming so. A
great military republic would be as proud and as
half crazy with the notion of its great strength as
the builder of " great Babylon," and quite as mueh
disposed to annex, or to fight with, "nations
not a few." If the Mexicans should bring
themselves really to welcome a French protectorate
we will not say they could do much better. On
account of the distance it must be always, probably,
a mild and popular one, the country would be saved
from anarchy ; its natural riches would then quickly
develope themselves, and what we think politically
even desirable, the all-grasping republicans would
have a neighbour whom they dare not attempt to
swallow. At present—though the scene might
change in a month—all looks like Mexico occupied
for an indefinite time by a French army ; a Southern
Confederation not to be reunited, though perhaps
vanquished in the field; a Northern Federation
angry as a hyaena in a cage; and a Canada for-
bidding it to burst its northern bars.

A Cabinet Council was held yesterday at the
official residence of the First Lord of the Treasury in
Downing•street. The Ministers present were :—Viscount
Palmerston, the Lord Chancellor, Earl Granville, the Duke
of Argyll, Earl Russell, the Duke of Newcastle, Sir G. C.
Lewis, Sir Charles Wood, the Duke of Somerset, the Right
Hon. T. Milner Gibson, the Right Hon. Edward Card-
well, Lord Stanley of Alderley, and the Right Hon. C. P.
Villiers.

A new society has just been organised at Paris
under the honorary presidentship of the Minister of State.
It is called the National Society of Fine Arts, and its object
is to sell on the most advantageous terms the pictures, sta-
tues, drawings, &c., exhibited in its galleries, and to divide
amongst the existing members of the society the profits, if
any, derived from those works. The president of the so-
ciety is M. Theophile Gautier, and the director M. Marti-
net, the printseller. The first exhibition commenced last
Monday, and contains several pictures by Hebert, Gudin,
Barrias, Baudry, &c.

A letter from Rome of the 30th ult. says :-
4g mgr. de Merode presented himself at an early hour yes-
terday morning to the Pope. He is not only Minister of
Arms, but the most witty visitor at the Vatican, and the
author of innumerable bon mots. ' I have the honour,' he
said on entering, ' of announcing to your holiness that the
Spanish fleet has arrived at Rome by the railway.' It was
in that manner that he ushered into the Pope's presence 25
Spanish bishops wearing enormous hats, larger and longer
than the classical one of Basile on the stage, lined with
green, and having exactly the form of a boat. The expres•
sion of Mgr. de Merode was too exact to suit the taste of
the Spanish bishops, who sulked, and did not attempt to
conceal their ill-hur39ur."

THE VOLUNTEER ENCAMPMENT nAs
tl S°
is
t
three p.m. a body of volunteers, supplied with ill
1 eEct y N
by
their own.
—The object of this muster on the 14th
triarteiloyn
unders and ttehnetsc,omabml eaannddofwilling t
no
era place l
his Royalse les
High-
nessn the Commander-in. Chief may appoint, for 48 hours,
or longer if necessary ; but those to whom it may be more
themselves
convenient to return to their own homes the same evening
will do so. The London, Tilbury, and Southend Railway
Company will convey such volunteers who may form a part
of this force, there and back for is Gd, the tickets to be
available from the 14th to the 17th June; but these tickets
are only to be obtained through their own commanding
officers. There is, we find, to be a regatta on the 16th, and
the duties of the camp are to be followed by a publio din-
ner and a ball.—Chelmsford aircnide.