The Sun.
London, England, 1862-12-29 00:00:00

Commence at 7.

ROYAL PRINCESS'S THEATRE.
Less€ and Manager, Mr Lindul.
THIS EVENING, TIME TRIES ALL: Mr. H. Vezin
And Miss Constance Aylmer.
After which. the New Grand CHRISTMAS PANTOMIME,
" RIQUET WITH T FIE TUFT ;, or, Harlequin and Mothe-
Shipton." Mr. G. B C eimore, Mr. C. Scyton, Misses Gray and
Budgpeth, Mr. Milano, Mr. R. Power, Miss A. Collinson, and
,Ir.

The WEATHER.---Sun Office, Dec. 28, 1862

Highest since Noon yesterday .. 48
• Lowest during the night
This day at Noon
Barometer-30.12.
Wind—Westerly; light, with fine weather.
DECEMBER 29.
High2st 4L'lce Noon yesterday .. 49
Lowest during' the night
This day at Noon~
Barometer--29.49 ; falling fast.
Wind—S.W. ; light, with rain during the night and
morning.

HIGH WATER AT LONDON BRIDGE.
THIS DAY.—Morning, 7h. 58m.—kfternoon, Bh. 30m.
To-moßaow.-Morning, 9h. 2m.—Afternoon, 9h. 38m.

b 1;,

Z:llei

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§mt

LONDON, MONDAY, DEC. 29, 1862.

It still continues a matter of absolute uncertainty
as to what Prince may be eventually recognised as
E
the new Greek Sovereign. England, in spite of the
enthusiastic unanimity of feeling manifested by the
people of that revolutionised country, has decided
already upon throwing her cause in completely
with the two other contracting Powers : with
France, that is to say, and with Russia. A Collec-
tive Note, dated on the 12th inst. at Athens, and
signed conjointly by the three ambassadors, i.e.,
the ambassadors respectively of St. James's,
St. Petersburg, and the Tuileries—SCAßLETT, BLOU-
DOFF, and BUNSEN—has already intimated to the
Provisional Government the accordant recognition
by the contracting powers, that they are each
and all bound, nay that they are solemnly pledged,
to one another that no member of the Imperial
and Royal Families actually reigning over
those States can accept or wear the Crown
of Greece. Consequently upon which under-
standing, the Greeks would have to look in vain
for any acceptance of the throne vacated by the de-
parture of OTHO, for any acceptance of that throne
by Prince ALFRED of England, by Prince NAPO-
LEON of France, or by the Russian Grand Duke
LEUCHTENBERG. The first and third of these
great personages, in point of fact, are specified by
name in the Collective Nate r eferred to as
prohibited by the agreement formally en-
tered into by the Contracting Powers
from yielding to the solicitations of fortune,
if proffered (as it has certainly been proffered of
late to the younger) in the guise of the volunteered
allegiance of the Greek population.
In becoming a party to this distinct and
positive arrangement England has been mani-
festly guided by considerations less of ambi-
tion than of prudence. Her consent to the
nomination of H. R. H. the Prince ALFRED as
the successor of King OTHO to the throne of Greece
would have involved, it was at once clearly mani-
fest to the more sagacious of our diplomatists, either
an estrangement from or an open rupture, sooner or
later, with the other two contracting Powers : the
two dominant empires, situated, the one to the east,
the other to the west, of the European Continent.
Recognising this as the all but inevitable result
of any re-union by England to the loudly expressed
wishes of the Greeks, it would be difficult to assert
that the decision arrived at by Her Britannic
MAJESTY'S Ministers, as the responsible advisers of
Her MAJESTY, was dictated by other than the
wisest and the most sagacious and rational consi-
derations. This we would have understood
however simply, in reference to their hav-
ing resolved upon declaring in the name
of England and upon behalf of the English
people and of the English SOVEREIGN, the
distinct and, as we believe, the absolutely un-
paralleled tribute of homage and admiration for
our political institutions visible in the spontaneous
offer by all Greece of the throne of Greece, of the
Crown of Greece, of the loyal devotion
of the people of Greece to the second son of our
beloved SCVERT:IGN.

Insomuch, however, as the declining of this
honour has been accompanied, or, at any rate
.s
distinctly asserted to have been mom-
Paniea
by the bold intimation of the cession
of the lonian W ands by England to Greece—
that, wa
of a differenttr
en i character, is a matter altogether
and one requiring to be
scanned and
nized in an entirely different
spirit. It absolutelytneeaPPears upon the face of it, at
the very first glance,
doubtful whether England
has, morally speaking,
to resign a Protectorate confided to
her by the deli-
Power and the right
berate agreement of all the greatoPowers of Europe
in 1815 upon the
eignin
Vienna. Toe very wording
solemn trust
may be accepted and recognised at once
a
of its 8 cre d and binding character. It:"idenee
4
Protectorate—not a Sover: a Pro;
tectortee—ir zs
The trust is cne constquently that cannot
be resigned. It is one that. cannot in any way be
resigned by any independent decision arrived at by
the English Government. The resignation of the
Protectorate hitherto e:.; rcised by that Government
ever since the general European Treaty of
1815 cannot be resolved upon by the Cabinet Minis-
ters of the Crown, even if empowered so to do by
the Imperial Parliament. The validity of the act
could only be completely recognised upon a collec-
tive agreement among the Five Great Powers.
Then, and then only, could England, in honour, be
rid of her responsibility. It appears,iconsequently,
to say the very least of it, premature to talk as the I
telegrams are doing now, so very confidently
and explie'tly about the secession of the