The Sun.
London, England, 1862-03-18 00:00:00

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THE WEATHER.—SUN OFFICE, MARCH 18, 180.
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THE SUN.

LONDON, TUESDAY, MARCH 18, 1862.

The adjourned debate upon the subject of Interna-
tional Maritime Law, having been resumed yester-
day evening, according to last week's arrangement,
was eventually brought to a conclusion early this
morning. The small hours had commenced when the
hon. gentleman, Mr. BERRY HORSFALL, the mem-
ber for Liverpool—all having been said that could
very well have been said in support of his motion—
modestly consented to withdraw it. Results like
these transpiring at the close of a grave, elaborate,
and, in many respects, a profoundly interesting
discussion, always come upon the House itself, and
upon the country at large afterwards, with the
effect of an anti-climax. The nectar of logical argu-
ment that—previously to the abrupt withdrawal of
the very source of the whole sustained discussion—
we appear to have been quaffing night after night,
hour after hour, with a relish, turns out in the end
to have been all as illusory in its way as the liba-
-1:18,of all imaginable colours and flavours, supplied
t whole theatre full of gaping spectators from
the Inexhaustible flask of your skilled Conjuror or
Master of Legerdemain. Quot homines, tot
sententice as
i
oris
different as rum-punch and
mint-julep, sherbet,
cocktail, and champagne,
have been the opinions poured forth last week,
and again also lasta•
Oat, from Mr. HORSFALL'S
new example of the Inexhaustible Bottle Trick,
when-10 ! and behold, with the relish of each po-
tent beverage yet fresh upon our palate—it all torus
out to be, as we have said, the merest of illusion,
the vapidist waste of time, the sheerest waste of
o
energies, the Wonderful Bottle
proves to be,o motion afteri
till, the veriest Bottle of Smoke. The m
s
Nvithdrawn by the hon. gentleman who introduced
it. It is quietly withdrawn by Mr. HORSFALL, 80
fliat nothing comes of it. This, although it has
received the earnest advocacy, as the Prime Minis-
ter last night reminded the house, of two kinds ne
supporters, namely—those who wished to extend
yet further the mernoroble declaration of Paris in
the treaty of 1866—and, surprising though it may
appear to say so, in the same breath, of tose who
desire on the contrary to see that declar those who
desire on the contrary to see that declaratiofl r -
-pealed altogether. As Lord PALMERSTON very
reasonably argued, the Government, supposing it,
were called upon to accept, and of course afterwards
to act upon this specious and ostensibly most
humane resolution, could, with a view to that

end, only conjecture at all the course it was
urged upon them to pursue, from the arguments
brought forward in support of the motion then be-
fore the House, the motion introduced by the mem-
ber for Liverpool. But—the Premier argued with
a whimsical affectation of bewilderment—the argu-
ments adduced by different speakers in support of
this motion were so discordant in their character,
were so diametrically opposite in their tendency,
that he and his colleagues, supposing even they
had been originally disposed to listen to them,
would have been utterly bewildered as to which set
of guides ought, in the supposed contingency, to
have been followed. As it happened, however,
Ministers from first to last—wisely, we cannot but
think—had not the smallest intention whatever of
accepting the guidance of either. Her MAJESTY'S
responsible advisers in a matter of imperial import
like this (eventually, if not immediately)—appear
judiciously never to have had from the outset
the faintest notion in the world of acceding
to Mr. HORSFALL'S proposition ! And thus while
good humouredly enough assuming for a
moment an air of puzzled hesitation be-
tween his conflicting advisers (and of course
all of them his earnest well wishers) the First
Lord of the Treasury avowed, at last, quite frankly,
late last night, or rather very early this morning,
that while the motion may have originated in the
most philanthropic sentiments imaginable, her
MAJESTY'S Government could not, at any rate,
support it. Lord PALMERSTON went indeed a good
deal further than that. He repudiated the human-
tarian principles involved in the motion as mistaken
—as worse than mistaken, as insidious—as worse
than insidious, as destructive.

What, in effect, is the real and general
purport of Mr. HORSFALL'S Resolution ? It is
said to be a logical sequence, in 1862, of the
Declaration of Paris in 1856. When, lite-
rally, it is just nothing whatever of the kind.
The Declaration, it will be remembered, related
simply and exclusively to the position of Neutrals
at sea in time of war The proposition involved in
Mr. HORSFALL'S motion—a mere " abstract reso-

lution," it was argued deprecatingly in its
favour by its supporters, 0, those "ab-
stract resolutions ! " don't we know that,
if once accepted by a Government, they may
lead it afterwards just anywhere P—The proposi-
tion, we say, involved in Mr. HORSFALL'S motion
relating, on the contrary, to the position of Belli-
gerents in regard to each other ! According to the
Declaration of Paris in 1856, all that was there and
then humanely decreed as a novelty was this, that
an enemy's property should be free from capture on
the high seas in neutral vessels. Surely, a moderate'
a wise, a just, and an equitable declaration ! But
then comes, under the assumed guise of a pendant
to this, Mr. HORSFALL'S proposition that all private
property should be protected from seizure even on
board the vessels of Neutral Belligerents. The sug-
gestion here springing out of flit, dread felt by
some lest, in the event of a war, the chief part, if
not even the whole, of the carrying trade might
pass out of our own hands into those of Neu-
trals—the Neutrals, as we have seen, being
sheltered under the beneficent aegis of the Declara-
tion of Paris. But—surely, surely, the mere dread
of the possible diminution of the carrying trade
under the influence of that paragraph in the Treaty
of Paris in 1856 is but a paltry and sordid reason
for advancing by a distinct non sequitur to the
" consequent" acceptance (the consequent acceptance,
forsooth !) of Mr. HORSFALL'S proposition ! A pro-
position the palsying effects of which upon our
strong right arm it would be really difficult to esti-
mate. Developing the abstract resolution con-
tained in the motion of the hon. member for Liver-
pool to its natural dimensions, by the resolute ap-
plication of it—we should be necessarily giving
up a power (wilfully, voluntarily, egregiously) that
we have heretofore in common with others pos-
sessed without dispute—the power hitherto secured
by every maritime nation of seizing the enemy's
ships on the high seas—an unconditional abandon-
ment of power that, as Lord PALMERSTON indig-
nantly objects (and with reason) would cripple our
main arm of strength, would inflict a fatal blow
upon our naval supremacy, would be nothing less in
fact than the deliberate commission of an act of
political suicide !

The humane principles actuating the hon. mem-
ber for Liverpool and his supporters, we recognise
with all imaginable cordiality, we bow to respect-
fully, we sympathise with to the very utter-
most. But we shrink with dismay from
the application of these principles to In-
ternational Law in such a manner as must in-
evitably prove, sooner or later, destructive (to in-
sist upon the Premier's apt phrase, suicidally de-
structive) of the maritime supremacy of England.
While, therefore, we cannot but regret the diffi-
culty of applying these principles to the yet further
and further amelioration of the horrors of war by
sea as well as by land—we cannot, in the present
instance, affect in any way to regret the fruitless
issue of these discussions upon Mr, vcr
—ORSFALL'S
motion, and its quiet withdrawal in the end
by the hon. member without his compelling
his supporters to pass under the caudine forks of a
Division.
Oar one only regret, in regard to the
debate last evening, had reference to the renewed,
and always deeply regretted indisposition of Mr,
COBDEN, whose illness now, unfortunately for the
House and for the country, precluded him from
fulfilling his design of speaking (as he only could
have spoken) in reference to the motion : a design,
first of all implied, of course, when he in so many
words briefly "begged leave to second it" im-
mediately the member for Liverpool had closed his
speech on introducing the resolution, and yet more
plainly and distinctly avowed by the hon. mem-
ber for Rochdale when he last week, at the termi-
nation of the first night's debate, formally moved
the adjournment. If Mr. COBDEN was silent, how-
ever, Mr. BRIGHT spoke yesterday, and spoke,
moreover, admirably to the purpose. It was
from no lack of genius, of logic, of eloquence, in
support of his motion, in truth, that Mr. HORS-
FALL'S " abstract resolution" failed in catching the
ear of the House, or in winning for itself its accept-
ance
by the Government. It failed simply because
what might be applicable in Utopia or in the Mil-
lenium, is inapplicable in England and in the Nine-
teenth Century.

The last intelligence from America leaves us in a
state of exciting suspense. It seemed then as if
two great battles were on the verge of being
fought Vaich must exercise more influence
on the war than any previously fought—one in
Tennesse and one on the Potomac. Every day may
be expected to bring some information respecting
oinsenootr
aayblowth,
sthough we must not of course forget
that in military movements what seems imminent
when we last hear
ea al
really so. Still, both BUELL and
NITLELLAN seemed almost pledged to fight speedily
d of them.
BUELL in Tennessee, co-operating with GRANT,
the hero of Fort b
onnelson, must have been close
non the main body of the rebels in the centre of
Tennessee, while GRANT'S
yarhksavduaiedvaanndced
Nash-
ville, suc-
cessively from the Fort to7l
and hardly met with opposition. The rumour
that the rebels weresurrounded atMurfreesborough,

a little further south-east than Nashville, seems to
have arisen from the known position of the armies
rather than from actual information ; for, from all
we have heard, the main rebel army in Tennessee
ought to be far too large to be surrounded. Still,
deducting this as exaggeration, either the entire
army qf the Confederates must have been with-
drawn eastward, or a serious battle has almost cer-
tainly been fought. If the Federals were again
successful, as is certainly most probable, the
Western B order States will be entirely in their hands.
Columbus, in Kentucky must have been evacuated,
and the Mississippi will be at the mercy of Federal
gunboats.

On the Potomac the movements were equally
critical ; so much so, indeed, that the press and
the telegraph were forbidden to promulge military
news, and the public were taking the interference
with its liberty patiently, because expecting tidings
of some grand exploits as their early reward. Gen.
BANKS had crossed the Potomac again at Harper's
Ferry, about 40 miles on the west flank of the
Confederates at Manassas, and General M'CLELLAN
was so rapidly hastening to his support that a
rumour of BANKS' defeat had arisen. The move-
ment, unless it be one to mislead the enemy, seems
like an intended advance with the body of the army
on his left flank, to cut him off from Richmond, or
to compel him rapidly to fall back. With the ordi-
nary allowance, therefore, for the uncertainty of
military movements, there yet seems every proba-
bility of important occurrences shortly after the
last mails left.

But very diverse are the opinions respecting the
probable temper of the South should the expected
defeats become facts. So far as the opinions of the
press go, there appear to
.be two opinions in the
North ; one in the South. Some of the Northern
papers counsel amnesty, compromise, and modera-
tion ; others complete crushing out of the rebellion
before any terms are offered. But all parties in the
North appear to assume, that either with a high
hand, or with all kinds of brotherly concessions on
slavery, the Union is in any case to be restored. The
South gives no indication of such an opinion—it
proposes to hold out to the last. It acknowledges
its reverses ; it does not conceal the hardships it
suffers ; but it declares itself ready to suffer far
greater hardships rather than submit to the numeri-
cal power of the North. It confesses that it has
undertaken too long a line of defence, and that
it must retreat into " Secessia" proper ; but there
it determines to fight to the last—to fight a
guerilla warfare if necessary.
A well-informed and candid writer in a contem-
porary argues that the war will yet be a protracted
one. The North knows nothing, he says, of
moderation, and the last thing it would think of,
would be, contentment with the Border States,
which, as it must include Virginia, would yet be a
territory requiring a large army to hold it in sub-
mission. On the other hand, the South will never
unite with the North to be in a perpetual minority.
It has though a minority, been the governing
power hitherto, and men cannot brook submission
to those whom they have been accustomed to lead.
Hence two parties with such irreconcileable objects,
and animated by such old antipathies, will, he be-
lieves, fight one in pride and vengeance, the other
in despair, to the last.
Now, no doubt much will depend, in the event of
Northern successes, on the temper of the South. If
it be as repugnant to submission, as is alleged, the
work of subduing the proper South, may remain
incomplete through another winter. We presume
that the complete occupation of the Border States,
including possibly North and South Carolina, is the
utmost that can be accomplished this summer,
besides gaining the complete control of the Missis-
sippi. But if this be accomplished—and if the
coast and river towns be as a necessary consequence
all of them seized, or at least occupied by the Fe-
derals; the distress of the whites scattered amongst
the slaves in the Gulf States must become unen-
durable. They could neither sell nor buy. They
produce none of the necessaries of even such civilisa-
tion as their's is, and they must be reduced
to an almost barbarian mode of life. The few
towns marked in capitals in their maps, are little
better than wretched villages—destitute of all
manufacturing industry, and built even, for the
most part, of the most combustible of materials.
The plantations are generally widely separated—
the roads are but tracks—traffic, excepting the car-
riage of their raw produce, once or twice a-year to
the coast, there is little or none, The North might,
therefore, be well content to inclose them by its
coast and river occupation, and leave them to come
to their senses through the operation of time and
hardship.
With the interest we have always felt in obtain-
ing a fair chance for India, we cannot,
except on grounds of humanity, regret the
possible prolongation of the quarrel. It is only to
be regretted that the assurance which seems to be
felt both by the Federals, and • by Earl RUSSELL in
this country, of an early termination of the war,
paralyses the operations of Manchester in India.
Here the hope of peace rests chiefly on amicable
separation ; in the North on the opposite belief—
that of a complete and speedy conquest, while all
secession is rejected. Yet, between the two, Man-
chester hopes for peace and Southern cotton again.
The consequence may be, what she little thinks of
—the establishment on a large scale of cotton mills
• in India. There will certainly be a large supply of
cotton in India; and, if Manchester does not take it
away, Anglo-Indians seem likely to use it on the
spot, and so to destroy the Indian market for
manufactures to those who would not take her raw
material.

So that Mr. GLADSTONE'S Budget for 1862-3 is
at length definitively fixed to come on upon the
evening of the 3d proximo! Before the first week
of April has commenced, the country will know the
worst of it, or the best of it, accordingly as we look
forward to the chances of the remission or the increase
of taxation. Can it be—sigh, for example, the hop-
growers—that the bines may be at length less
burdened with that dreadful impost that leaves
them, that is the growers, more out of pocket
the more the hops themselves are in " pocket ?"
Can it be—those with a sweet tooth, particularly the
younger part of the population, if they could give
any thought at all to matters political or financial—
that sugar and the rest of our multifarious saccha-
rine imports may be at last (because of its being still
happily a time of peace) somewhat cheapened ? Or,
can it be—the old women of both sexes, particularly
those proverbial lovers of the cup " that cheers but
not inebriates," the poor, humble laundresses, for
whom no less than for others the House of Commons
has to legislate—can it be that tea, the people's
luxury, may at length in 1862 be brought
more within reach of the generality ? There are
reasons enow, and to spare, that might be readily
enough adduced in support of each of these three
old familiar propositions. The settlement of the
long vexed question of the hop duties has so
often, usque ad nauseam, been postponed! The
continuance of the Civil War in Anaeriea between
North and South, diminishes so manifestly our
chances of an abundant, or even an ordinary,
supply of sugar here for home consumption ! The
expansion of that other internecine struggle at
the furthest empire of the Asiatic continent'