The Sun.
London, England, 1865-12-25 00:00:00

SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALS.

TIMES,—It was not, perhaps, to be expected that
the moderate language in which President Johnson's
Message referred to the affairs of Mexico should be
exactly echoed by the Federal Congress. The Chief
Magistrate of a great nation cannot but be influ-
enced in speaking of such a subject by a sense
of direct responsibility, which is more lightly felt
when distributed over the votes of a popular As-
sembly. The language of Congress during the
war was always more pronounced upon foreign
affairs than that of President Lincoln or his
Minister, and we must be cautious in re-
garding the temper displayed by the Federal
Assembly as any sufficient indication of the settled
purpose of the American people. More especially
is this the case with the Congress now sitting
at Washington, in which the most violent of
American parties possesses a temporary majority,
which is obviously au inadequate representation of
the general feeling of the country. At the moment
when we are assured that the violent policy of the
Radical party in regard to the South is in opposi-
tion to the more temperate wishes of the Northern
people in general, and that the more prudent course
pursued by President Johnson does but express the
real wishes of the nation, we shall hesitate before
we attribute a:very serious importance to the display
of a similar spirit by Congress in reference to other
subjects, so long as it is not supported by the acts
or words of the Executive Government. Moreover,
even when there is no reason to suspect this partial
divergence between the settled disposition of the
American people and the momentary excitement of
their representatives, it is generally necessary to
receive American language with a certain allowance
for constitutional exaggeration. The Federal Con-
gress is not accustomed to practise the subdued tone
of diplomacy, and we should be greatly mistaken if
we interpreted their proceedings by the same rules
which we apply to the significant reserve which is
customary in the correspondence of European na-
tions. It would be premature, therefore, to attach
any definite importance to the Resolutions relating
to Mexico which have been introduced into both
Houses of the Federal Congress. They have not,
indeed, as yet been passed, but neither have they,
in American phrase, been " laid over," or post-
poned. They have only been referred to the Com-
mittees of the two Houses upon Foreign Affairs,
and it is to be feared, therefore, that they are but
too much in accordance with the feeling of Con-
gress. They are, it must be confessed, very far
from being satisfactory. They commence by citing
the letter addressed in 1862 to Marshal Forey,
in which the Emperor unfolded the idea with
which he attempted to give a dignity and, as it
now appears, a somewhat dangerous pretension to
his very justifiable interference in Mexican affairs.
His object, say these resolutions, was to subject one
of the Republican Governments of the American
continent to a foreign Power, and to establish upon
its ruin a monarchical constitution. They recall,
moreover, two recent acts of the Emperor Maximi-
lian's domestic policy which are obnoxious to
Northern principles. These principles are denounced
in no measured language as " as opposed to the de-
clared policy of the Federal Government, offensive
to the people, and contrary to the spirit of their
institutions," and the President is finally requested
" to take such steps concerning this grave matter as
will vindicate the recognised policy and protect the
honour and interests of the Federal Government."
If these resolutions should be passed, they will cer-
tainly be the most outspoken expressions of Ameri-
can feeling on this subject which have yet been ut-
terred by any public authority.
HERALD.—The resignation of the Italian Ministry,
which looked so much like a piece of girlish pettish-
ness, was determined by very substantial considera-
_ _

tions. There was need of course for La Marmora
and his colleagues to retirebefore a vote which would
have been entirely without significance but for the
manner in which they met it ; but it had long been
evident that their position was extremely precari-
ous, and the reception given to Signor Sella's bud-
get must have convinced them that whenever that
most important measure came to a vote they would
sustain a most decisive defeat. They deemed it
better not to wait for an overthrow from which they
could not recover, and chose to resign because the
Chamber of Deputies asked that the operation of
a Royal decree giving the service of the Treasury
to the National Bank recently formed by the fusion
of the Sardinian and Tuscan Banks should be
suspended until it should reeeive the sanction of
the Chamber ; in other words, that effect should
not be given to an arrangement until it obtained
the legislative assent, which alone could give it
validity. The demand was legitimate and reason-
able enough, but the Ministers met it with an out-
burst of real or affected ill-temper. Both La Mar-
mora and Sella assumed a most dictatorial and
offensive tone, and seemed to be anxious to pro-
voke a defeat which would give them the pretext
for a sham resignation, or the penal dissolution of a
Chamber which has only just met, and is not yet
complete. That the resignation was not intended
to be a real one is apparent from the fact that the
King, in accepting it, charged La Marmora with
the task of forming a new Cabinet. If the vote
which led to the resignation is to be taken as a
vote of no confidence on the part of the Chamber
(and that is the manner in which the Ministers
themselves profess to regard it), the King should
have called—and had he been unwilling to do
so La Marmora should have insisted upon it—
some other statesman, and ascertained if the
Opposition were strong enough to under-
take the Government ; in the event of their
failure returning to La Marmora and giving him
the powers he demanded. The whole affair seems
to have been arranged beforehand. La Marmora
hands in his own resignation, and that of his col-
leagues, and the King directs La Marmora to form
a new Ministry, and La Marmora at once accepts
the task. He must have accepted it with the pur-
pose, previously understood, of throwing over Sig-
nor Sella and hls unpopular budget, and thus break-
ing an opposition which he found himself unable to
meet, or of composing his Ministry of the same
elements, and of forcing the Parliament to accept
its measures under the threat of a dissolution. In
neither case will he act as a constitutional states-
man. He is as responsible for Sella's budget as
Sella, and probably even more responsible for its
shortcomings than that unfortunate Minister, and
the dissolution of a Parliament so recently elected,
and elected under his own management, would be a
most unjustifiable proceeding. Its object must be
to obtain a Ministerial majority by the employment
of most improper influences.

RACING FIXTURES FOR 18GG.

JAN

GARY.

Manchester
_ FEBR
Lincoln

1

,UARY.

Nottingham Spring 27
CH.

Derby Spring 1
Liverpool Spring
Warwick Spring
Doncaster
Lewes Spring

Croxton Park l6
Northampton
Windsor Spring
28 Newcastle Spring

AP:
Newmarket Craven 2
Durham
Catterick Bridge 4 5
Abergavenny 5
Chelmsford Spring
M.
Ascot Spring 1
Salisbury
Bath 8
Harpenden lO
York Spring
JU.
Windsor Summer 5
Newton
Hampton 7
Odiham
Bibury l3
Stockbridge
Chelmsford l9
JU
Carlisle
Newmarket July
Pontefract
Abingdon
12
Reading

Thirsk lO
Epsom Spring
Newmarket Ist Spring l6
Chester
Curragh 24

.Y.
Epsom Summer l5
Uxbridge 2l
Manchester
Ascot Summer 29

.........
I
Liverpool
Beverley 2O
Ipswich
Hungerford
Newcastle on-Tyne 26
Curragh
1 Worcester
SLY.

I
Down Royal Corp lB
Stamford l9
Winchester 24
I Southampton 25
Huntingdon
UST.

Brighton
Brighton Club
Loves lO
Egham l4
Wolverhampton l4
Stockton l5
Oxford l6
Hastings 2l
____.

York August 2l
Plymouth
Lichfield
Devon and Exeter . ......
Tunbridge 2B
Derby Summer 28
Weymouth 3O

BEPTI
Warwick September 4
Curmgh
Leicester 6
Doncaster
Canterbury lB

OCTI
Northampton 2
Newmarket 2d October 8
Curragh

NOVE
Lincoln
Liverpool