The Sun.
London, England, 1862-01-09 00:00:00

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THE SUN.
LONDON, THURSDAY, JAN. 9, 1862.

On the TWENTY SEVENTH of December—three
days before Lord LYONS was otherwise to have left
Washington—the Federal Government pieced the
prisoners in the Lands of our Ambassador. We
have long hardly doubted any other result of the
firm yet conciliatory demands of our Government,
the preparations made to back them, and the moral
support accorded to them, first in such an emphatic
way by France, then by the other Powers of
Europe. Nevertheless, we all feel as if suddenly
relieved from the pressure of a load. There
was no absolute certainty that the American
mob would not be mad enough to force its
madness on the Government ; we knew that
in Mr. SEWARD, if his own words belie
not his opinions, they had a willing tool in
any "insult" to England; and, therefore, till we
received last night's telegrams, we could have no
absolute assurance that even the clearest expediency
would weigh with the Washington Government,
and dispose them to do right, War is so horrible
as well as costly an alternative, that we can but
feel thankful to escape it for the present. But we
have evidently only narrowly escaped it—escaped
it with a feeling left behind in the North which
will require us henceforth to be on our guard against
the irresponsible folly and spite of the American
mob for long years to come.
In deferring till the last hour the surrender of
the captives, the Federal Government has marked
more emphatically than any words can do, and in
a manner no words can explain away, if that were
wished, which is not likely—that it winces to the
last under the consciousness of wrong, under the
strongest wish to enjoy the fruits of its wrong, and
under the necessity of doing what is right, while its
heart is yet wrong. We have little doubt that in a
grandis et verbosa epistola Mr. SEWARD will attempt
to show that England and all Europe are wrong
in their moral judgment. He will attempt to prove,
in case remarkably simple as one of interna-
tional morality, that the moral sentiments of im-
pattial bystanders are not so correct as those of
one of the parties, of one obviously blinded by in-
terest and passion. 'We can, however, say thus
much for ourselves, that we believe that England,
had all Europe been of the opinion opposite to her
own, would have attributed the greatest weight to
the sentiments of every Power in a position to be
impartial. We should have suspected that
our interests, or temper, had blinded our judg•
ment. We might even have withdrawn
our demands. We should certainly have shown no
signs of angry fretting, nor have retained ill will
against the Northerns for a case in which they had
so many impartial judgments in their favour. We
are not to expect the same from the North. We
arc told that the affair is to become the ground of
a lasting enmity against England, to be appeased
only by plunging into the earliest possible war with
her. America seems to have no sense of the
dignity and honour of preferring the judgment of
a cool and disinterested neighbour to her own, in
a case in which her own feelings are too liable to
bias.

The telegrams tell us that the seaboard of the
North will be much more likely to approve the
action of the Government than the eastern and
inland parts, which seems as much as to say, that
politics, in America, are not only extremely selfish
as regards foreign countries, 134 t as regards their
own States. We are disposed, however, to think
this is a mistake. If the Atlantic towns feared
direct attacks, or loss of trade, the inland and agri-
cultural parts of the country must fear

to lose the grand market for their produce,
They send nothing now to the South, If
they could send no corn to France and
England, their crops must rot on the ground this
year, and it would not be worth while to sow for
the next. We should rather think that the shrewd
agriculturists of the north and west will be but too
thankful to know that they will have an open mar-
ket for next autumn's produce. England and
France could have got abundance of corn elsewhere;
America could not have found another purchaser.
It is rather singular that just at this moment
another commander should have imitated the con-
duct of Capt. WILKES, in taking two passengers sus-
pected of being Southern agents out of the Eugenia
Smith, a vessel supposed to be a New York one,
sailing under English colours. The case is reported
to us in too obscure a shape to form any opinion of
its merits. It shows, however, that the example of
Captain Wilms was a very infectious one, and that
it was not rebuked one moment too soon. It will
now make Federalist commanders very chary of
taking contraband and persons out of British vessels
unless they can first have confidence in bringing
the vessels before a prize court, and obtaining their
condemnation.

We can but regard the conduct of the business
by our own Government with the highest satisfac-
tion. Its firmness, yet carefulness, to leave nothing
possible in the way of conciliation undone, have
placed us in the best possible position. After a
short time, even the Americans themselves must
surely see that we have avoided everything in man-
ner that could look like arrogance, or needlessly
wound their susceptibility. We provided indeed
immediately for our naval and military de-
fence, but it was for our defence only.
It was their own conduct which compelled this.
We are sorry for them that they should lose the
vast advantage they enjlyed of repudiating the
illegal act at once, and gaining the applause of
both England and all Europe. We are sorry
they should have been so wanting in political
acuteness as not to see the advantage of thus
securing our good-will, instead of throwing
us almost perforce on the side of the slave-
holding South. They were, however, so foolish
as to delay and even resist surrender, and we
could but arm for a very probable war, seeing that
they were armed already. The cost to us has been
great ; but it has been good economy. It is much
to be doubted whether three European States could
have induced the Americans to do us justice, if they
had not seen that we should certainly do ourselves
justice. Even now we feel that it is farbetter to be
perfectly secure on the frontier of our American
colonies. We may do our work more leisurely and
cheaply, but still it will be wise to do it.

Another most impressive speech has been very
recently delivered, this time at Bristol, by the Hon.
JOSEPH HOWE, the Prime Minister of Nova Scotia.
Like its predecessor, upon which we commented in
these columns at the time, it consisted chiefly
of an argument, a most persuasive and, as
it appears to us, a wholly unanswerable
argument, in favour of emigration from these
shores to the British North American possessions.
Mr. HOWE, it should be remembered, is not only
a Nova Scotian—the first of Nova Scotians, being
at this moment the Prime Minister of the Nova
Scotian Government —but he is also heart and
soul—may we not say it in the literal meaning
of the words ? an Englishman. He is an
Englishman not merely by his origin—his fore-
fathers having been Englishmen—but he is himself
thoroughly an Englishman by his loyal and patrio-
tic sympathies. So completely does he identify
himself with us in all his thoughts and feel-
ings that—(it is a significant little incident,
this, to note at the very commencement
of his speech on Tuesday evening down at Bristol)
—if he has occasion to quote a couplet from OLIVER
GOLDSMITH, he does so as a distich from " one of our
British Poets." No man—naturally and cre-
dibly enough, be it said, knows better
than Mr. HOWE knows them, the capabilities
of our North American territories. And it is in
consideration of those immense capabilities that
he earnestly reasons in favour of the diversion of at
any rate a considerable part of the flood of emi-
gration
.from these islands henceforth towards our
own transatlantic dominions, instead of towards
the great transatlantic Republic, until lately the
United States, now split into North and South,
peopled respectively by Federals and Con-
federates. " What," asked the Hon. JOSEPH
HOWE, " What had taken place within the
last ten years ?" Why, said he, " A million and a
half of people had gone out of these three
islands." And later in the same speech the Nova
Scotia Premier asked, " Where were these million
and a half men gone ? Where were they now whose
labour had been abstracted from England P They
were behind the MORRILL tariff, which was
directed against the manufactures of England.
They were howling republicans in animosity and
hatred of England. And where ought they to have
been ? One-half of them, at least, in the British
provinces—building up our own country—
developing our own resources—calling out the
latent wealth of that land over which the flag of
England floated." The argument, it will be ob- I
served, is very plainly and very directly put. Any
one can, upon the instant, comprehend it. The
validity and the solidity of the premises are
beyond the possibility of contradiction. And the
force of the logical inference deduced from the
facts thus brought under our consideration is
perfectly obvious, and we must take leave to add,
also, wholly irresistible.
Mr. HowE,it should be observed, had, previously
to this, given a rapid but comprehensive general de-
scription of the provinces of British North America.
And he had said, in plain and homely words, after
doing so—and, remember, it is the Prime
Minister and Provincial Secretary of one of
those provinces who utters these words, and
who gives us this assurance the honour-
able gentleman had, therefore, remarked, in
reference to our North American possessions, in
reference to New Brunswick and to Nova Scotia,
and more particularly, of course, to the two
Canadas, that "if we had any poor in Eng-
land, there was a home for them let
them come to that country." 'lt is for the
enjoyment of no merely holiday tour that the
Premier of Nova Scotia is paying this visit to his
old mother country—we may rest assured of that.
His masterly arguments in different parts of the
country since he has been here arguments
impressively demonstrating the twofold advantages
certain to acrue, here to the British Islands, there
to the British colonies, from the more general
adoption of the Canada route by our English,
Irish, and Scotch emigrants—we cannot but
regard as the sowing of seeds scattered broadcast
over the land, seeds of good thoughts that will
inevitably in due time yield fruition a hundred-
fold. Several months since we took occa-
sion to illustrate through a series of articles pub-
lished in these columns of The Sun the wonderful
inducements there are to Canadian immigration.
The Nova Scotian Premier's arguments to the
same effect, arguments enforced by him viva voce
'Mien of a natural gift of do.
with all the verouasi