The Sun.
London, England, 1862-06-16 00:00:00

THE MEXICAN INTERVENTION.

(From the Money _Market _Review.)
As matters stand now, the most probable upshot
of all these complications is the placing of the
Archduke Maximilian on the throne of Mexico, with
some kind of a constitution and a stronger Govern-
ment than Mexico has known for years, sup-
ported by foreign troops. For such an arrange-
ment to be permanent, there ought to be a
large disbandmentofjhe Mexican standing army,
the number of which ought not to be allowed
to exceed the present number of Mexican generals,
which is said to be about 15,000 ! If only a tithe of
this allegation be true, it would abundantly account
far the country being always in a state of war.
The report transmitted from America during the
last few days, that the French army has sustained
a defeat at the hands of the Mexican troops on its
way to the capital, confirms our recent remarks as
to the difficulty of the task which the Emperor Na-
poleon has taken in hand, without, as it would
seem, adequately reckoning the amount of force he
would have to employ, or its cost. But he is now
fully committed to the expedition, and, as France
can never sit
down quietly under a reverse of this
kind,
the
defeat reported, if it be true, will infalli-
bly be attended with the result of placing the French
in possession of the capital. It is only a question of
time. The cost of this effort, however, and of the
subsequent occupation, will be so large that we—
with
me thec China
war fresh in our memory, which
ed with an estimate of £500,000, and has
commenced
closed at a charge of at least £7,soo,ooo—have
reason to rejoice that France has thought proper to
drop us out of the arrangement, and to take the
whole of the burthen upon herself. If France
chooses to leap and dance, and perform extravagan-
cies, with a £40,000,000 deficit on her back, and
with the annual charge of her national debt closely
ap?roximating to our own why we can have nothing
to say against the performance, though we may
wonder at her thoughtlessness. Perhaps it will do
her good hereafter, by cooling her blood. Mean-
while, we have borne the task of providing
£28,000,000 a year, as the mere interest on the
national debt, sufficiently long to feel its sobering
influence ; and the fact that, notwithstanding a
heavy income tax, we have yet, under Mr. Glad-
stone's management, an annually recurring deficit,
is surely sufficient to make us view with pleasure
the prospect of being relieved from a war and a
military occupation of indefinite cost and duration.
It is really very kind of France, for, after all, she
is going jauntily to do in Mexico very much the
same sort of thing which we ourselves had girded
up our loins to accomplish, but with a degree of
reluctance proportionate to our sense of the sacrifice
it would impose on us. France goes to war as
lightly as though it were a ball or a merry-making.
She seems to have not the slightest 'sense of pecu-
niary responsibilities. We can all point to indivi-
duals amongst our acquaintance who possess exactly
this sort of temperament, hut who, somehow,
always contrive, in the long run, to become familiar
with pecuniary tribulation.

ARRIVAL OF THE PRINCE OF WALES.—His
Royal Highness the Prince of Wales has arrived in Lon•
don, on his return from his tour in the Holy Land.
The Queen, with the Royal family, will leave
Windsor Castle for Osborne upon Wednesday next. Her
Majesty still applies herself indefatigably to the discharge
of the duties of her high position ; but it was not to be ex-
pected that her Majesty's overwhelming grief could admit
of any mitigation. Her Majesty has daily driven in the
neighbourhood of the Castle, but is not equal to much
walking exercise, onto any exertion beyond the transaction
of necessary business.

When her Majesty proceeds to Balmoral in
August next, the Princess Alice and her consort will take
their departure for Switzerland. The Queen will not return
from Balmoral to Windsor Castle till late in the season ;
October is the month at present stated. In November the
Queen will visit Germany.—Court Journal.
Eight vessels have recently left Queenstown with
supplies of arms and ammunition for the Confederate
States, and it is said that there are now three large steamers
in that harbour bound for blockaded ports, nominally with
"general" cargoes, but in reality contraband.
NEITHER ONE NOR THE OTHER.—A very dimi-
nutive specimen of a man lately solicited the hand of a fine
buxom girl. "Oh no," said the fair but insulting lady,
" I can't think of it fora moment. The fact is, John, you
aro a little too big for a cradle, and a little too small to go
to church with."