The Sun.
London, England, 1865-12-16 00:00:00

SPIRIT OP THE PUBLIC JOURNALS,

-

TIMES.—The passage in President Johnson's Mes-
sage which especially concerns this country ought,
we think, to be accepted in a friendly spirit. He
could not do less than review the history of the
Alabama claims; and in reviewing them he could
hardly say less, at least to an American Congress,
than he has said. There are, however, some things
which the President did not say, and which are,
nevertheless, very material. No one can deny, for
instance, that " the accordance of belligerent rights
to the insurgents was unprecedented." Lord Russell
admitted as much in his correspondence with Mr.
Adams ; but the question is whether the civil war
was not unprecedented too ; whether the United
States did not assert belligerent rights, without con-
sulting precedents, by dclaring a blockade ; and
whether a neutral State could do otherwise than
follow their example. Further, it is perfectly true,
as a matter of fact, that England furnished more
efficient aid to the Confederation than any other
the world
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Power. It could not be otherwise, considering that
England, of all maritime countries, lies nearest to
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ports " drove American commerce from the seas
and transferred it" to neutral bottoms ; nor can
we be surprised that some confusion should have
existed, in the minds of the merchants who suffered
thereby, between this consequence and the motives
of our Government. It should have been remem-
bered, however, even by those who were least dis-
posed to rely on our good faith, that in this respect
the interests of our shipowners were opposed to
those .of every other class iu the community.
Liverpool does not dictate our national policy to
the exclusion of Manchester and the, great manu-
facturing districts, which lost far more by the con-
tinuance of the war than was ever gained by our
mercantile marine. We ought not, therefore, to be
suspected of favouring the creation of a Confede-
rate navy on selfish grounds, and the failure of our
Government to prevent evasions of our law in one
or two cases ought not to be recorded without some
recognition of its successful intervention.on other
occasions. The advocates of the Confederate States
have never ceased to protest against the oppressive
construction, as they allege, which the law officers
of the Crown fastened upon the Foreign Enlistment
Act, and the embargo laid upon the two iron-clad
rams was certainly an arbitrary exercise of Execu-
tive authority. These considerations should not be
forgotten, even in America, and the conduct of
Great Britain during a period of unparalleled
difficulty should be measured, not by the losses
inflicted on American trade, but by the duties of
neutrality.

THE " ANGLO-AMERICAN TIMES" ON PRESIDENT
JOHNSON'S MESSAGE.—We give a synopsis of Presi-
dent Johnson's Message, which was telegraphed from
Queenstown, yesterday, to the London press. In
the course of to-day doubtless the text of the
Message will be in the hands of our readers, but
meanwhile we have a summary sufficiently copious
and complete to enable us to form an intelligent
opinion regarding the most remarkable and impor-
tant State paper which has ever issued from an
American President. That paper has already been
read and discussed by millions of Americans on the
other side of the Atlantic, and, within the next
week, it will be read and re-read, and discussed by
Monarchs and by Cabinet Ministers in every capital
in Europe. If the American people had not
already, by their brilliant achievements in war, by
their no less splendid progress in the arts of peace,
so astonished the world that the world can never more
be astonished at anything the American people
may do, we should say that this Message of Presi-
dent Johnson would be read in Europe with as
much•surprise as admiration. It is the first public
and official utterance of a man who, less than nine
months ago, was stigmatised by the English
press in trms that we will not sully these
columns by repeating here. He was called by a
sudden and stupendous calamity a calamity
which shook America and the world like some
great convulsion of nature—to assume the highest
and most responsible position ever reached by
mortal man. This whilom tailor of Tennessee,
who was first ridiculed, and then abused—who
was hunted down like a wild beast by the rebels
in his native State—now sits in the highest place
in the Restored Republic, and his words go forth
like inspiration to the farthest corners of the earth.
This Message of President Johnson is just
what those expected who knew him best. Ile
has been regarded for more than a quarter of a
century by all intelligent Americans as one of
the most sagacious statesmen and purest patriots
of which the Republic could boast. He has al-
ways been a moderate man—a Conservative, in
the true and proper meaning of the word—and
he brings to his great task as President the re-
sults of a lifetime of mental discipline, study, and
self-reliance. Among the representative men of
the South Andrew Johnson has always been
considered the best and the noblest. Brecken-
ridge was brilliant, but treacherous ; Johnson
had no greater merit than sterling integrity and
sound common sense. Breckenridge is to-day
an exile from his country, and a convicted
'traitor • Johnson is the foremost man in all the land.
Regarding reconstruction, the President is out-
spoken and firm, but conciliatory and moderate.
Neither the Radicals of the North nor the fire-
eaters of the South have dismayed him. He is
willing to " cast the disorder of the past into
oblivion ;"—to extend the broad shield of forgive-
ness over all repentant rebels—but he insists that
evidence of sincerity shall be given by the ratifica-
tion by all the lately insurgent States of the con-
stitutional amendment abolishing slavery. This is
not only eminently just and expedient, but it is
absolutely indispensable to the restoration of the
Union, and Mr. Johnson, himself a Southerner
and formerly a slay eholder, recognises the fact.
He has no vindictive feeling to gratify, but he
reiterates his former declaration, that treason is a
crime, that traitors should be punished, and crime
made infamous. But while he has no respect for
treason, he declares that those charged with it
should have a fair trial before a civil tribunal.
Mr. Johnson enters at considerable length into
the question of the conduct of Great Britain in
granting belligerent rights to the rebels, and in
permitting vessels to sail from her ports to prey
upon American commerce. But in discussing this
most difficult subject he never for a moment loses
his temper, nor forgets that courtesy and considera-,
tion due to a Power with which the United States
holds relations of peace and amity. He declares that
" the accordance of belligerent rights to the insur-
gents was unprecedented, and had not been justified
by the issue." He complains that England declines
to submit the questions arising between the two
countries to arbitration, but he does not present
this subject as an impeachment of good faith on the
part of a Power professing friendship to the United
States. He is willing to believe, and he does be-
lieve, that Great Britain is actuated by no un-
friendly feeling towards the United States,
but he holds that the misunderstandings
which have arisen between the two coun-
tries involve questions of public law, of which
the settlement is essential to the peace of nations.
That the " Republic is peace" is evident from the
fact that, since the commencement of the year, the
Navy has been reduced from 530 vessels, armed
with 3,000 guns, to 117 vessels with 830
guns ; and that the war estimate is reduced
from 516 millions to 33 millions. The Pre-
sident's remarks on the Mexican question are
extremely moderate, so far as we can gather
from the reports which have reached us by
telegraph :—" The United States would regard it
" as a great .calamity to themselves, to the cause
" of good government, and to the peace of the
" world, should any European Power challenge the
" American people, as it were, to defend Republi-
" canism against foreign interference. The United
" States cannot foresee, nor are they unwilling to
" consider, what opportunities might present them-
" selves or what combinations might offer to pro-
" tect them against designs inimical to their form
"of government. They desire to act in future as
" they have acted heretofore, and they will never be
" driven from that course but by foreign aggression,
" and they rely on the justice and wisdom of foreign
" Powers to respect the system of non-interfer-
" ence." This is directly to the point, and cannot
be misunderstood. It is a re-affirmation of the
Monroe doctrine, and declares, in the most courte-
ous manner possible, the determination of the. United
States to defend Republican institutions, whenever
they are assailed on the American Continent.
On the whole, we are more than pleased with the
tone of the President's Message. There is not one
word of defiant boastfulness in it from beginning to
end. In his recoramendations to Congress he is
singularly
.moderate and conservative ; in dealing
with foreign questions lie is always courteous
in his language and just in his conclusions.
In his policy of reconstruction, he is fair to
all parties And just to all.. He is hopeful of