The Sun.
London, England, 1862-07-04 00:00:00

THE 'SUN, LONDON, FRIDAY EVENING, JULY
_4, 1862.

all this kind of thing, are the legitimate fruit
of this annual extolling of the Federal Union, as a
veritable young omnipotent among the nations of
the earth. " America, that means the United
States, and the United States mean the Sovereign
Empire of the World "—this is the sum and sub-
stance of this day's oratory; and it is not too much
to say, that it has thoroughly eradicated from
American public character every sentiment of pro-
priety, modesty, and fairness.
Surely too, there must be many men in the
Northern States who will feel their own false
position—who will see that their own declaration
of Independence, which they celebrate, will as much
condemn their wish to govern the South against its
consent, as it did GEORGE 111. and his advisers, for
wishing to govern the original thirteen colonies
against theirs. Whatever the North may say of
the other slave States having been made what they
are by the Union, which can be ill maintained,
there can be no question that Virginia, Georgia,
and the two Carolinas, were independent States,
joining in the rebellion against England on the
avowed, and formally and solemnly recorded prin-
ciple that "the consent of the governed" was essen-
tial to good government ; and that without that
consent government was but tyranny. The
other nine States which now attempt to
coerce the four, all solemnly agreed to this. Can
the nine fail on the fourth of July to be struck with
their own inconsistency ? While it was thought, as
it was at this time last year, that there was a ma-
I jority of the respectability and intellect of the
South in favour of Federal Government, the incon-
sistency might hardly be observed : now when even
the PRESIDENT himself will not deny that the
South to a man rejects him, the declaration is as
condemnatory of Northern usurpation as it is of
Southern slavery. As the South se flagrantly
violates the Declaration of Independence by negro
slavery, they are, however, rightly chastised by the
determination of the North to reduce them to
political slavery.

There need no longer be any anxiety about the
Thames Embankment. Lord PALMERSTON has
fairly taken it in hand. Knowing which, the
public may feel tolerably certain that the Duke of
BUCCLEUCE{ will find very considerable difficulty
in holding his own. Even though his grace should
still continue to have his case sustained by the dis-
interested advocacy of the right hon. gentleman
the member for Stroud ! The amendment which
will be proposed by the Noble Viscount at the head
of her MAJESTY'S Government will do no more than
save the House of Commons from committing itself
to the revised proposition submitted to it by the
extraordinary perversity, or rather by the very
palpable subserviency, to certain ducal influences
evidenced by the obsequious majority of the Thames
Embankment Committee. Without precisely some
such amendment as the one now announced by
Lord PALMERSTON as in readiness for the emer-
gency, there would be a risk of some blundering
precipitation in this matter on the part of the
Legislature. Let the House accept the Premier's
amendment, and every hazard of that kind will at
once be dissipated. The public interests, otherwise
very seriously jeopardised, will be imme-
diately secured. At the same time, no in-
justice whatever will be done to his Grace of
BUCCLEUCE{ and QUEENSBERRY. The insidious
and really preposterous modification of the origi-
nal plan, now very recently suggested by the com-
placent friends of the noble Duke upon the
Committee, will not, at any rate, be en-
dorsed by the House itself in Committee. It
will not be forwarded on its way even by a hair's-
breadth. Extricated from the dilemma—rather
cunningly prepared for it—by means of the inge-
nious, and yet, it should be said, perfectly frank 1
and manly agency of Lord PALMERSTON'S amend-
ment, the House will set aside the responsibility of
any final arrangement of the difficulty now before
it until the next session, or possibly, as the Premier
intimates, until the session afterwards. For our-
selves, we sincerely trust that, in regard to the
adjustment of this vexatious matter, there may be
no unnecessary procrastination, either within or
without the walls of Parliament. After the House
of Commons has availed itself of the opportunity
held out to it now, by the skilled hand of the First
Lord of the Treasury—that hand so cunning of
fence, so dexterous either at a parry or a thrust—
it may, it is true, follow the dictates of its own
judgment in the matter, and act, according to its
discretion, as summarily or as slowly as it pleases.
At any rate, there, to begin with, is Lord PALMER-
STON'S amendment ready prepared for its immediate
acceptance! And we cannot but regard the prompt
and unconditional adoption of that amendment as the
very simplest and the very surest means that could
be suggested for warding off the danger now immi-
nently threatening the whole scheme of the Thames
Embankment. There must be no misapprehension
whatever, therefore—above all things, we feel im-
pressed with the necessity of this conviction being
carried home at once to the judgment and even, we
would say, to the conscience of the House—there
must be no misapprehension whatever, therefore,
on the part of the House, as to what would be the
consequence of its now promptly availing itself of
the Prime Minister's amendment. Lord PALMER-

STOWS explanation apon this point is so very clear
and so very explicit, that we cannot do better than
transcribe here the ipsissima verba, the exact word-
ing of the Premier's own anticipative comment upon
what must arise out of the adoption of his own

amendment.
Let it be borne in mind, however, first
of all, what the amended proposition of the

Thames Embankment Committee really has re-
sulted in. It has led to the introduction of a clause
into the Bill now before Parliament—a clause so
paltry in its subservency to the whims and fancies
of the Duke of Bucci.Euen, and of one or two of
his grace's immediate neighbours there in White-
hall-gardens (one of those near neighbours being
the conspicuously public-spirited and perfectly dis-
interested member for the borough of Stroud)—a
clause that would, if passed by the Commons in
committee distinctly pledge the House to enact that
no roadway shall be made between Whitehall 1
and Westminster Bridge! Remember that! And, as
Lord PALMERSTON himself goes on then to remark:
—" The effect of that, if passed, would be to give
the persons interested—and who avow themselves
to be interested—a Parliamentry title to be exempt
from having a carriage-way along that portion of
the embankment. lam sure that would not be the
intention of this House," the Prime Minister
then adds, " And therefore I have given notice of
an amendment providing that that shall only be
till Parliament shall otherwise determine. If the
clause should be adopted with that amendment, it
would still leave the matter open for further inves-
tigation ; and the persons concerned could not say,
if Parliament should next session determine that
the roadway should be free for carriages, that they
would thus be
ment had this
object with whi
'
G with regard to theit,
clause itself. If the clause
stands with that amendment, the matter will re-
ouse to reconsider it
main perfectly oephenl

next year. The House will have full liberty, with-
out giving any pretence of complaint to the parties
interested, to open the whole extent of the roadway
to Westminster bridge." It would follow, there-
fore, precisely as we ourselves have previously re-
marked. The amendment of Lord PALMERSTON
is all that anyone could poEsibly have desired as
an immediate security of the public interests, now
so seriously and imminently threatened by the
Duke of BUCCLEUCH and his Grace's advocates.
Altogether, thanks to the Premier's well-tempered
interposition, as much good as could, in any re-
spect, have been reasonably looked for, has already
resulted from the discussion of the whole of this
melancholy transaction, in the House of Commons,
yesterday. If for no other reason, we should cer-
tainly have cause to look back with satisfaction to
the debate of last night, for inasmuch as it led to the
noble Premier's utterance of these emphatic words,
"Now, one thing is certain: let the House deter-
mine, as they may, upon the Bill as it now
stands, let them restrict it as they choose, that
restriction will not, cannot be maintained." Words
that were at once welcomed by the House with
a burst of " Loud and Prolonged Cheering."
A declaration so uttered by Lord PALMERSTON,
and so received by the House of Commons, dissi-
pates for once and for all the last vestige of any
momentary fear that might for an instant have
remained in any one's mind as to the possibility of
there being any serious risk now of the public in-
terests, in this matter of the Thames Embankment,
bein g sacrificed for the Duke of BUCCLETICH'S, or
for Mr. HoRsMAN'S, or for anybody else's private
convenience. There is not the smallest danger of
this—we may all of us, henceforth, rest assured.
The Chief Commissioner of Parks and Palaces
(our English Minister of Public Works), Mr.
COWPER, has been dead against any such dis-
graceful sacrifice of public to private inte-
rests all along. It is but due to the right hon.
gentleman that that should be borne especially
in remembrance, in reference to his general career as
an administrator, entrusted with the guidance of
the affairs of that one important department. Well,
but in addition to Mr. COWPER, the public has now
that still further security that its interests will,
above all other interests, be cared for in the matter
of the Thames Embankment—that additional and,
indeed, as we may regard it, conclusive guarantee
that the affair will so fall out—recognisable in the
fact that the Prime Minister, amid the resounding
cheers of the House of Commons, pronounces
altogether impracticable this attempt to obstruct
the broad and right onward course of this Northern
Thames Embankment.

We very recently, after surveying the state of
the American campaign, and pointing out the

[LATEST NEWS.

TURIN, JULY 4.

The Portuguese Envoy has remitted a letter to
King Victor Emmanuel from the King of Portugal,
requesting the hand of the Princess Pia in marriage.

THE BRAZIL AND RIVER PLATE MAILS.

SOUTHAMPTON, JULY 4.

The Royal Mail Company's steamship Parana
has arrived here, with the above mails, 149 passen-
gers, £45,046 in specie, 14 packages of diamonds,
and 2,826 packages of cargo.
The elections in the Brazilian provinces had re-
sulted in favour of Buenos Ayres.
The cßlebration of the Anniversary of Indepen-
dence and the Instalment of the National Assembly
took place on the 25th May. Don Marcos Paz was
named President of the Senators, and Dr. Obligado
of the Deputies.

General Mitre, who is regarded as President of
the Republic, having read his Message, formally
inaugurated the Assembly. All the State officers
and foreign agents were present.