The Sun.
London, England, 1862-05-24 00:00:00

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THE S UN.
LONDON, SATURDAY, MAY 24, 1862.

The short but explicit telegram received by
a firm which a contemporary justly indeed terms
an " eminent" one, will, we have little doubt, turn
out to be true. The New York correspondents of
such a house are not likely either to be deceived, or
to deceive. Canards are not for warded between
such correspondents, and we shall therefore expect
to
learn that M4CLELLAN and the other two
Generals—perhaps FREMONT also co-operated—
have closed in upon the retreating Confederates.
BANKS and M'DowELL were advancing, as we all
know, from the North upon Richmond ; but
whether the Confederate army - had reached
that city is, of course, as yet uncertain ; we
should rather expect they have been overtaken by
APCLELLAN, and by FRANKLIN, whom he had
sent up the York River to West Point. It is to
be remembered that the Confederates, at last, really

fled. At Williamsburg and at West Point they
were beaten after fighting well. But the last
authentic accounts left them crossing the St.
James River, on which Richmond stands, to its
southern side. The Confederate gun-boats were
ascending this river, and the whole peninsula being
abandoned, the road to the capital was quite open
to the Federals. If, however, as the telegram re-
ports, the "Confederate army is defeated and sur-
rounded," M'CLELLAN must also have crossed to
the southern side of the St. James River in pur-
suit, or both armies must have met near Richmond.

Assuming the full truth of the news, the war
would be really over. No second army could be
gathered in Virginia. Norfolk navy-yard, and all
the little naval hopes of the South, must fall with
the capital, indeed they are threatened already by
BURNSIDE. BEAUREGARD'S army isolated at Mem-
phis, and faeed by one quite its equal, could have rio
chance of any ultimate advantage, even should the
bravery of despair drive back RALLECY for a time.
With the fall of Virginia and an utter defeat of its
army, Confederation itself will have fallen. It will
bee4me but a business of winding up. A complex
business, indeed as the Federals now begin to see.
The forms of the constitution, and the hostile tem-
per of the conquered, will make it a task of more
than one generation to bring all into harmonious
working action; it is even possible that a kind of
brigand, or guerilla local defiance of the Union may
last for many a year, even if the North completely
triumphs. It is, however, early to speculate on
news which awaits confirmation, although we are
inclined to regard it, looking at the quarter whence
it comes, as substantially true:

The only possible—at any rate the only probable
Tug of War this session, is likely to follow just
upon the close of the Whitsuntide holidays. Mean-
ing, of course, in reference to Mr. STANSYELD'S
motion relating to the national expenditure. When-
ever that motion comes on both the Ministers and
Opposition will have their opportunity. Already
the apparent simplicity of the question thereby
brought under the consideration of the House has
received, however, the promise of a very agreeable
complication, by the announcement betimes of more
than one important amendment. There is the
amendment of which the Hon. Member for Stroud
gave notice last evening, viz. :—" That the House
while deeply impressed with the necessity of
economy in every department of the State, and
especially mindful of that necessity in the present
condition of the country and its finances, is of
opinion that the sums voted under the present and
late Administrations for the military and naval
services of the country have not been greater than
are required for its security at home, and the pro-
tection of interests abroad." And there is the
amendment again, in which, not Mr. HORSMAN
this time but Lord ROBERT MONTAGU, proposes
that the Commons should formally declare, " That
her MAJESTY'S
Government alone are responsible to
the House for the supplies which her MAJESTY
asks the House to grant, and that this House
alone is responsible for the sums which have
been voted." Explicit though each of these
amendments affects to be, it is impossible not to
recognise the tendency it has at the same time
to involve in a maze of confusion theoretically—a
practical matter in it of the simplest possible descrip-
tion. The gist of the whole problem that in this
matter is thus to be brought under the considera-
tion of the House of Commons, signifies, as we all
of us very well know at heart, the reconciliation, so
far as may in any way be at all practicable, of two
things which are intrinsically of an apparentlywholly
antagonistic and utterly irreconcileable character.
To secure the efficiency of the public service and
the security of the national defences : and yet—
at the same time—to appreciably moderate our
expenditure ! The exceptional character of the
last two or three years, Mr. GLADSTONE has very
fully and very recently explained. That the last
three years especially have been exceptional, is a
truth absolutely notorious and undeniable. Added to
which fact—a fact in itself almost sufficient, one
might say, to explain the otherwise bewildering
magnitude of our late yearly disbursements—there
is the equally notorious fact, that our warlike arma-
ments, both by sea. and by land, are in a transition
state, the like of which has never before been wit-
nessed in the history of the world. The science
hitherto regulating our Artillery and Engineering
Departments, in connection with the great central
War Department at the Horse Guards—the science,
the totally distinct science, hitherto regulating all
the notions in respect to naval architecture hereto-
fore in vogue at the Dockyards and countenanced
by the Admiralty—we all know have both within a
very recent period,been altogether set aside. The old
smooth-bore pieces of ordnance are, in point of fact,
as obsolete in their way by this time as the cross-bow
or the catapult. The old heart-of-oak three-decker
men-of-war are in their way too as much things of
the past,are as completely given the go-by in all our
calculations as to any future maritime war as the
lumbering old battle-ships of HENRY time,
or as the triremes of the ancients with their banks
of rowers. At an epoch so extraordinary in regard
to the warlike armaments of the world—not ours
alone, but those more or less of all the civilised
races—it cannot surely be in any way matter of sur-
prise that the sum required for our sea and land
forces should have a scope of such unusual magnitude.
Until the ordnance department is thoroughly trans-
formed and entirely reorganised, until the navy of
England is completely reconstructed, it were
idle to dream of anything like economy in regard
to either the one or the other. The ambition to
secure the efficiency of our maritime defences and
the hope of moderating our annual expenditure, in
truth, have during the last year or two clashed so
diametrically that up to the present moment
even a Master of Finance as consummate
as Mr. GLADSTONE has failed to discover any means
of reconciling them, or of knitting them together
harmoniously in a single Budget. As the song has
44
it, the good time is of course coming—not, perhaps,
those
piping times of peace" the song-writers gene-
rally are
so fond of dreaming about; but, on the
contrary, those
seemingly—(only, however, seem-
ingly)—more bellicose times when we shall have
our Iron Fleet fully equipped, and when England
long
shall have both ashore and afloat, her full and
efficient supply of Atg
not, after all, take so lorn on
orrsogras. Then—(it
uchtomay
accomplish
all these gigantic and costly labours in the way of
transformation and reconstruction)—then, but not
till then, can England seriously and
securely, with
an eye to her Army, with an eye to her Navy,
begin in those departments her deliberate and
philosophic efforts at economising.

Lord PALMERSTON'S Government is especially
strong in this position, however—because, out of
the very fullness and depth of its patriotic determi_
nation, it subordinates its hope of economising—to
its ambition to ensure, as iapidly and as reso-
lutely as may be, the strength and efficiency of
the National Defences. " A strong man armed
keepeth his house"—saith Eternal Wisdom Himself.
Not "a strong man," observe! But " a strong man
armed." It is in accordance with that simple truth,
in obedience to it, in recognition of it, that the
Government of England is now acting. Coute qui
•oute--even though it be £70,000,000 a year—Eng-

land, if she :is to maintain her supremacy, if, like
the strong mt in guarding his house, she is resolutely
to hold her own against all comers, she must be
armed in proportion to her strength. And this is
precisely what she is doing—she is arming not ag-
gressively, but defensively. She is manufacturing her
formidable store of Armstrong guns. She is watch-
ing and encouraging
and developing every improve-
ment in the shape of iron war vessels, steel clad
men-of-war, and cupola ships cased in plated mail
like metallic armadillos. And, in so doing, who
shall have the temerity to aver that she is not in
very truth and deed wise in her generation ?
Lord PALMERSTON, as Chief of the present Govern-
ment, is, no doubt of it, in principle, avowedly an
Economist—and yet his Chancellor of the Exchequer
spends within this year of peace upwards of
£70,000,000 ! Yes—but besides being in principle
an Economist (wherever and whenever Economy is
in any way practicable), Lord PALMERSTON is
far beyond that—heart and soul an Englishman !
Secure the honour of England, ensure the safety
of England—so far, at least, as by human agency
honour can be secured, so far as safety can be en-
sured—and THEN, when you have really done that,
economise—THEN, if you will, moderate the ampli-
tude of your annual expenditure !

Such is the obvious meaning of Mr. HOESMAN'S
bold and outspoken amendment. That every syllable
of that amendment ought not be carried by acclama-
tion in the House of Commons, is inconceivable. It
appeals to the patriotism of all alike—both on the
Ministerial side of the House and on the side of
Oppnaili.n Tha little nh.b.ant anion (1-
ment of Lord ROBERT MONTAGU may, as it
doubtless will, bewilder a great many—even if it
seriously be brought on, as a pendant to the pro-
mised motion of Mr. STANSFELD. But the amend-
ment by the right hon. member for Stroud is so
tranquilising, we cannot but think in its influence,
that it cannot but surely take the wind altogether
out of the sails of the Opposition Fleet now moving
down so very majestically against the Treasury—
every man at his post, the Great Guns double-
shotted, the bran new banner of Economy fluttering
from each mainmast !

France is now distinctly committed to Mexican
intervention in an undisguised form. We have
the EMPEROR'S own account of it in the lffoniteur,
and at pretty full length. There is first, a recital
of the convention, then the EMPEROR'S interpre-
tation of it ; and, finally, his General's proclama-
tion to the Mexicans. What diplomacy, coupled
with action, may teach us we therefore know.
The convention furnishes, indeed, but slender
ground for the new action taken by the French.
It is very express in renouncing all intention to
intermeddle with the internal affairs of the coun-
try; and the EMPEROR explicitly acknowledges
this. But, he is a very old hand at giving
liberty to countries—hls own included—to do
what he wishes. Her MAJESTY does not, with
greater certainty of the result, give any cathedral
Chapter in England "leave to elect" the Bishop
she nominates, than Louie NAPOLEON gives liberty
through universal suffrage and the ballot them-
selves, to chose an Emperor, or to assent to a
transfer of allegiance from a King to an Em-
peror.

The EMPEROR wills, therefore, that the Mexi-
cans be free ; but it is much in the same way as
the Romans enjoy freedom, that is in the pre-
sence of the French troops. His instructions to
his Admirals were, therefore, explicit on the point
that the Mexicans were freely to act for them-
selves. But he proceeds to show them that the
presence of the allied armies might encourage the
" right-minded men "—the party of " order," as
it was called in December, 1852—t0 arouse them-
selves to put an end to anarchy. This would, of
course, be a blessing to Mexicans, the allies, and
to the world. It would save trouble of fitting
out future costly expeditions to compel justice
towards foreigners. " Ephemeral and senseless
Governments" would be succeeded by a stable one
with whom other Governments could safely treat.
Should such an opening present itself, of course,
France is too generous not to become so great a
benefactress to Mexico.

The Generals appear quite to understand their
instructions. They declare war not against the
Mexican people, but against the Mexican Govern-
ment, which has insulted them by its unworthy
propositions. The Mexican people are not con-
founded with a violent and factious minority. The
free Government created by free France is, they tell
the Mexicans, the guarantee of the sincerity of their
intentions—that is, the Government originated by
the coup d'etat, and its consequences, cannot be sup-
posed for a moment to cherish designs hostile to
popular liberty, "We want," say the French com-
manders in Mexico, in the name of their master,
"equal justice for all, and we wish that it should
not be imposed by our arms. The Mexican people
must be the instruments of their own deliverance.
Our sole object is to inspire the honest and pacific
portion of the country, that is to say nine-tenths of
the population, with the courage of manifesting
their own will." The conclusion to such magnani-
mous manifestoes of this kind is appropriately " the
flag of France has been planted on Mexican soil,—
that flag will never flinch—let all honourable men
receive it as a friendly flag—let madmen dare to
fight it."
So here beginneth French intervention in
Mexico. Where it will end, Heaven only knows.
Englishmen and Spaniards are quitting it as fast as
they can. In whose behalf ? the inquiry is still.
The old story is repeated, that a platonic admira-
tion of the Archduke MAXIMILIAN of Austria still
influences the mind of the EMPEROR. He declared
himself to a distinguished Mexican as willing to
accept any candidate Mexico might choose ; a prince
from neither Spain, France, nor England could be
thought of, but an Austrian one, and of such merit
too, was unexceptionable. A bargain about Venetia,
of course, never crossed his mind, which we fear is
too likely. Some Mexicans wished for MAXIMI-
LIAN, they were doubtless the " party of order"—the
" honourable men"—so the watch-word, we suppose,
is really to bo, " France for MAXIMILIAN and
Mexico !" The watch-word; what the thing
watched for is to be, it is not for us to canjecture.
We have already said that we have not the slightest
jealousy of France recolonising Mexico, if she likes.
Better that she should have it than the Federals or
Confederates or both should seize the soil and cover it
with the curse of slavery ; and, better, if the
MONROE doctrine is to be practically scouted, that
it should be done by France than by England.

It will be seen that Mr. ESTcoURT has laid be-
fore the House his resolution, which he felt himself
pledged to bring forward by his majority of one.
His resolution proposes to follow Mr. BRIGHT SO
far as to abolish the present means of enforcing
Church-rates, also to give facilities for pay-
ment of expenses through pew-rents, where that
practice exists or may exist in churches.
So far no party will object. But the
remaining part of the proposal will cause, we ap-
prehend, a fierce battle. If voluntary contributions
do not prove sufficient to maintain the parish
church in a fit condition for divine service, accord-
ing to certain specified particulars—then a parish
yefitry of owners, as well as occupiers, are to be