The Sun.
London, England, 1865-12-14 00:00:00

SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALS.

TlMES.—There is nothing of which our daily
experience more positively and more peremptorily
informs us than our inability to foresee future
events, and yet the mass of mankind find no em-
ployment more agreeable than that of predicting
them. The misfortunes of some hundreds of
weather prophets have not deterred Lord Port-
arlington from coming forward in the same cha-
racter, and it somehow is still worth while for the
publishers of almanacks to insert in them hazy pre-
dictions of wars and revolutions. This general
propensity to prophesy can only be explained by the
existence of a corresponding tendency in the human
mind to seek for and believe in such predictions,
and to give a favourable hearing to any one who
foretells the future, on the simple ground that he
would not be so positive in asserting his knowledge
of what nobody else knows if he had not also some
means of knowledge which nobody else possesses. It
would seem that in matters of prophecy at least the
maxim of Hudibras holds good, and that " the
pleasure is as great in being cheated as to cheat."
While, then, we find people delighting in predic-
tions on subjects entirely past the limits of human
knowledge, we cannot wonder at the prevalence
of certain political superstitions which seem to have
become ingrained in the mind of the present gene-
ration, more especially as we are at this very moment
under the influence of one of them. It has long
been a settled conviction in the minds of a large
number of people in every country of Europe that
the duration of the Belgian Monarchy would be
measured by the life of its late Sovereign, and that
as soon as death had removed King Leopold from
the throne he had filled so ably and so honourably,
the Government of Imperial France would revive
the claim so often repeated since the death of
Charles the Bold, and claim once more for itself the
Sovereignty of Belgium. We are not aware that
this theory ever rested on any authentic evidence
capable of production. It was a guess founded on
vague and general views of antecedent probability.
—a position which could neither be verified nor dis-
proved till the event on which it had fixed itself
should actually take place. There are not wanting
those who argue that the Emperor of the French
regards with no very strong dissatisfaction the in-
roads of large States upon the independence and
liberty of their smaller neighbours, and that he
treasures up each successive violation of the rights
of nations as useful elements of the precedent which
it is his ambition to establish. The second Empire,
it is said, could establish no more solid claim on the
gratitude of France than the annexation to herself
of those wealthy provinces on the north-east whose
history she has illustrated by so many feats of des-
perate valour, and whose soil she has fertilized by
such torrents of her best and noblest blood. The
councils of Germany are divided, the power of
England does not penetrate very far beyond high-
water mark, and Belgium herself might tolerate
and even approve a gentle violence which would
unite her to the most powerful Empire in the world,
which should give to her citizens and commerce the
protection of French influence, and open to her
talent and energy the vast and brilliant career of
French literary, industrial, military, and political
life. It is true that Louis Philippe, while his throne
was new and his power not yet established, shrunk
from an acquisition so brilliant and so perilous.
But that which he did not dare to do in the first
days of a reign which, after all, was not destined to
found a permanent dynasty, might well be risked
by the inheritor of the name and title of the Great
Napoleon, strong in fourteen years of successful
and vigorous administration, and confident in his
power to keep down the revolutionary elements
that underlie French society. 1V ell, the time has at
last come when this prediction is to be submitted
to the only test by which it can be finally disposed
of—the test of actual events. King Leopold is
dead, and the world looks curiously rather than
anxiously for any symptom that can justify the
apprehension of a coming change. We shall
probably be told that it is as yet too early for any
such indication to show itself. But, at any rate, we
may say, with some confidence, that nothing can
look less like the symptoms of approaching revolu-
tion than all that has happened in the days which
have followed the demise of the late King. In Bel-
gium herself the announcement of the death of Leo-
pold has been coupled with expressions of the most
devoted loyalty to his son and successor, and the
feeling of Belgium, so far as we can read it, seems
to be, very naturally and reasonably, that the best
way to show the true regret of the nation for the
loss of the father is to rally with loyalty and -con-
cord around the throne of his successor. The Bel-
gians know that in 1848 they had nothing to do but
to express their wish, and the King, who had tried
either fortune, was ready to leave their throne
vneant to he swept away or filled by another Sove-
reign, as the wishes of the nation might declare
themselves. But Belgium knew in 1848, and she
knows still better in the 17 years that have suc-
ceeded, the mighty debt she owed to the Sovereign
she has just lost. IVO believe that Leopold I. has
not only endeared himself to his people, but has in-
spired them with a predilection for a form of govern-
ment which has been in his hands the instrument of
conferring upon them ()Teat and continually increas-
ingprosperity, They have, not -orily enjoyed since
'lB3O a limited monarchy but a limited monarchy
on the most favourable terms—a monarchy under a
King too wise to be ambitious, and who, without
seeking to be his own Minister, was able to establish
for himself a character which made it the highest
aim of every succeeding Minister to deserve and to
obtain his approbation. Such a Government has
tended to keep alive and develope in Belgium a
national spirit of the best kind, consisting, not in
narrow and hostile prejudices against her neighbours,
but in a due and just appreciation of the inestimable
benefits she has received under the government of
her own statesmen, responsible to her own Legis-
lature, and acting in harmony with the feel-
ings and wishes of the majority of the Bel-
gian people. Belgium has so much to lose in
all ways by any alteration from her present
happy state that she is likely to look with great
dissatisfaction on any change in her destiny, how-
ever brilliant might be its accompaniments, and
when union with France is spoken of she can hardly
fail to compare the present state of her finances
with those of her great but heavily-taxed and
deeply-indebted neighbour. On the other hand, it
is only just to say that no conduct could be more
calculated to remove the apprehension of any change
in the relations between France and Belgium than
that which has been pursued by the French Em-
peror. His tone with regard to the loss that Bel-
gium has sustained by the death of its late King has
been that of the deepest regret, and the language in
which he has welcomed his son and successor to the
throne has been full of cordiality and kindness, in
which the most prejudiced mind would fail to de-
tect the slightest leaven of insincerity. Of course
the Emperor of the French, like the rest of the
world, is well aware of the predictions which have
been so frequently made with regard to the pros-
pects of Belgium after the death of King Leopold,
and he has done everything that lay in his power to
tranquillise the public mind of Europe on the sub-
ject. For ourselves, we are disposed to believe that
the Emperor of the French is perfectly sincere in
these declarations. We believe that a practical ex-
perience of peace and war has greatly strengthened
in the mind of this remarkable Sovereign the specu-
lative preference which every reasonable man must
have for the former. We believe that five years of
free trade have made an impression on the mind of
the Emperor which no mere abstract argument could
produce. As a man of the present age, we feel sure
that he estimates at their due relative value the
advantages of the extension of dominion as com-
pared with the extension of wealth, commerce, and
industry. Every year makes it more manifest that
States are prosperous and respectable not in pro-
portion to their area or their population, but to the
facilities of their external and internal communica-
tion, the means of association between their citizens,
the soundness of their finances, and the rapidity of
their accumulation of wealth. Whatever the Napo-
leon of 1853 might have thought, we believe that
the Napoleon of 1865 estimates all these things at
their due worth, and that he will not be turned aside
. from the internal development of the prosperity of
France by prospects even more brilliant than are
afforded by the demise of the Belgian Crown.
HERALD.—In suspending Governor Eyre the Go-
vernment has condemned him. It has passed the
severest censure in its power to pass, while confess-
edly without the requisite materials upon which to
form a judgment. It has passed that censure, more-
over, in direct defiance of its own conviction that he
has only done his duty, and in cowardly deference
to the outcries of a small clique of its own party. Sir
Henry Storks is sent out to Jamaica, not to ascer-
tain whether there is any justification for the alle-
gations brotlght against Governor Eyre, but to find
a justification for them. His commission is not that
of a judge but of a prosecutor. The work required
of him is to rake up a case which will justify the
sentence pronounced before inquiry was commenced.
It is absurd to draw fine distinctions between sus-
pension and recall. The suspension of a governor
of a colony implies in any case a thorough want of
confidence in him on the part of the Government.
In a case in which the suspension is admittedly made
in deference to the clamour of a party which charges
him with murder, it implies a belief on the part of
the Government that there is at least a prima facie
case of murder against him. Does anybody suppose

that Governor Eyre, let the wisdom and real mode-
ration of his conduct be ever so signally vindicated,
can resume the post from which he is removed, to
await, like any:criminal committed for trial by 5
police magistrate, an investigation which, by cora:
mencing with his removal, presumes his guilt?
Could Governor Eyre, with any degree of self re-
spect—with any hope of exercising power benefi-
cially—return to the high office from which he has
been ejected as. unworthy to hold it? The notion is
absurd. For his conduct in the suppression of the
outbreak in Jamaica he has been removed from
office by the Home Government, which has further
directed an inquiry, the object of which is to
obtain evidence to justify the removal and to
warrant further proceedings against him. 113 a
,
its purpose been merely to inquire in°
the circumstances and to obtain the infer
mation necessary to enable it to form a judgment
it would not have suspended Governor Eyre. That
information could have been obtained quite as well
had he continued to act as governor. His suspen"
6.011 will excite a general alarm throughout the
island. All persons concerned in any way in the
suppression of the rebellion will regard themselves
as threatened, and, with the usual sauce qui Pent
rush, every man will seek, to extenuate his own
conduct by seeking to throw odium upon the Gr°,-
vernor. The enemies of Governor Eyre shove"
their animus in pressing for his recall. They knee
that it would put him to an enormous disadvantage.,
and help them to destroy his reputation with 11,,15
countrymen after destroying his career as a pall
servant. That Governor Eyre has been condemned
by the Government, although not in the possession
of a particle of evidence to warrant a condemnation,
we have the evidence of both Earl Russell and Idl
Cardwell. That the suspension was extorted from
the Government against its own convictions we
have the evidence of the same Ministers. Mr. Card-
well " hoped" that the deputation of the Anti-
Slavery Society " would not press for Mr. Byre
recall"—he must, of course, have felt the recall t°,
be unjust, or he would not have deprecated it—an"
Earl Russell, in announcing the suspension t°
another deputation, could not check a lingering
honourable impulse, and demonstrated to them the
justice of Mr. Eyre's proceedings. It is beyond all
doubt that when the inquiry was first resolved upon/
the maintenance of Mr. Eyre in his position was
resolved upon too; but upon this point the Govern-
ment has yielded to the pressure which has been
brought to bear upon it. One of the organs of the
black faction, expressing its dissatisfaction with Mr.
Cardwell's answer, consoled itself with the belief
that the language of the deputation would not fail
to have an influence upon the Ministry. It was right.
The Government has been simply bullied into the
suspension of Governor Eyre. Even on TuesdaY
newspapers known to enjoy its confidence stoutly
protested against the suspension as a gross injustice
to Mr. Eyre, and a measure quite unnecessary t°
the purpose of a fair inquiry. They did not 101°w
their patrons well enough. Lord Russell takes inn'Y
public meetings for an expression of public opinion'
When the old machinery of agitation is put wn
motion, and half a dozen enthusiastic meetings el'
held which do not represent public opinion enono",
to return half-a-dozen members of Parliament, an,'
he is bored by deputations in which all the old Wes-
names of men whose opinions count for nothing
bristles, he fancies that the country is moved. When'
moreover, he receives a distinct intimation from
i
Mr. Bright that the disgrace of Governor Eyre must
be the price of his support, the noble lord loses all
his wits, and is only too impatient to earn the con. "
pliments which the agitators have prepared for We
beforehand. The power of England has been rudelY,
shaken by this most unjust and most unwise act.
warning has been given to the public servants te,
whose vigour the maintenance of so large a part 01.
her dominion and the safety of the lives of so mall
of her sons is committed, that they must expect ne
support from the Government if they bravely meet
a great emergency and avert a terrible peril by sharp
and determined measures. We shall never more
hear—unless it be in the case of some rare man wile
prefers his ungrateful country's interest to his own
fortunes—that an insurrection has been nipped in
the bud, and that the lives and the honour of Eng'
lish men and women have been saved by summon'
measures against the scoundrels who plotted to take
from them both. Who will dare to redress the
inequalities of numbers by sharp and sudden punish;
ment if his vigour is to be treated by his Government"
as a crime, and he is to be flung defenceless amongsi
a crowd of ravening sectaries who have constitute
7
themselves the standing counsel for the crimes ea
the black race. Weakness, irresolution, an
cowardice are the qualities, it is now officially e,111:
nounced, by which the governor of an English
colony can alone obtain the approbation of the
English Government.