The Sun.
London, England, 1865-02-18 00:00:00

THE FOITRTH OF MARCH.

The approaching inauguration of a new Govern-
ment to conduct the affairs of 20,000,000 of men—
and which in the days of our children's childen may
rule over '100,000,000 of men—is, one would sup-
pose, an event that must command the attention of
the world. And the supposition is correct. On the
continent of America the 4th of March next is looked
forward to as one of the few days in a century preg-
nant with mighty changes which in all time to come
will be a greatlandmark in history. In Europe states-
men, and all those who have any political intelli-
gence, are discussing and thinking about the cere-
mony that will be performed in Washington on the
4th March next. On that day Abraham Lincoln will
be inaugurated as the first President of the section
of the old United States which still retains the old
name. In vain do some Federal partisans in this
country try to deny this position. Sophistry
can weave no web that will conceal the fact. The
people of the Federal States, if not by words, ac-
knowledge it by their acts. They may not be quite
sure that Europe will, on and after the 4th of
March, recognise the Confederate States, but they
know that on and after that day there will be no
pretence for saying that the Government of Wash-
ington has any legal or constitutional right to claim
dominion over the States of the South. Hence the
haste to secure if possible an immediate peace, and
hence the rumours of recognition that are rife both
in Europe and America. At such a juncture it may
be desirable to set forth the position of Europe with
respect to the two great Confederations of America.
It is utterly impossible for any one to invent any
pretext to justify the assumption that after the 4th
of March next Mr. Lincoln will be President of the
Southern as wel las of the Northern States. Mr.
Lincoln is an elected magistrate, and has no here-
ditary right to rule the States of the South. He
has not been elected President by the Southern
States—or to put it more forcibly, the Southern
States have taken no part in his election. What
other claim then can Mr. Lincoln urge? Not that of
conquest, for the South is not conquered. There are
only three titles to sovereignty known amongst men
—hereditary descent, conquest, and election. No in-
genuity can devise a fourth title. Will any one pre-
tend that Mr. Lincoln is the hereditary ruler over
the South? Will any one pretend that Mr. Lincoln
is the ruler over the South by virtue of conquest ?
Will any pretend that Mr. Lincoln is ruler over the
South by the title of election ?

In despair some Federal partisans in Europe have
cried out that the South might have taken part in
the election if she would. The Federal Congress has
in a most formal and solemn manner refuted this

feeble suggestion. The constitution of the United
States decrees as follows respecting the election for
President, the only action in which the several sove-
reign States of the Federation participate simultane-
ously, and which is indeed the only national act:—
" Each State shall appoint, in such manner as the legisla-

ture thereof may direct, a number of electors equal to the
whole number of senators and representatives to which the
State may be entitled in Congress.. . The person having
the greatest number of votes shall be the President, if such
number be a majority of the whole number of electors ap-
pointed. . . •If no person have a majority, then, from the
five highest in the list, the said house (of Representatives)
shall in like manner (by ballot) choose the President. But
in choosing the President the votes shall be taken by States,
the representative from each State having one vote. A
quorum for this purpose shall consist of a member or mem-
bers from two-thirds of the States, and a majority of all the
States shall be necessary to a choice."

In January last the United States Congress de-
creed that only 24 States should take part in the
November election, and as the 24 included the
bogus State of Western Virginia, the congressional
decree forbade 11 of the 34 States from taking part
in the election. Nor is that all. The Federal

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House of— Representatives has lately adopted a reso-
lution that the States of Virginia, Tennessee, Georgia,
Alabama, Floirda, South Carolina, North Carolina,
Mississippi, Louisiana, Texas, and Arkansas shall be
excluded from the electoral count of the votes for
President and Vice President of the United States.
Does not this in a most emphatic and legal manner
bar the South from taking part in the Presidential
election ? Does it not prove that Mr. Lincoln, who
is not the hereditary sovereign of the South, nor the
sovereign of the South by right of conquest, is not
sovereign of the South by virtue of election ? And
since there is not a fourth title to sovereignty, is not
the action of the United States Congress a de facto
recognition of the separation of the South from the
North ? There is not a statesman in Europe who
does not give an affirmative reply to these questions.
We have maintained, and history will maintain,
that the South had a legal right to recognition as an
independent Confederacy as soon as the act of seces-
sion was accomplished ; but we do not deny that
there was a flimsy argument against recognition, or
rather in favour of recognising the title of Mr. Lin-
coln as supreme magistrate of the 34 States,because
the 34 States took part in his election. But after
the 4th of March next the recognition of Mr. Lin-
coln as the President of the United States cannot
and will not involve his recognition as the chief ma:
gistrate of the Southern States. What then is to be
done respecting the South ? In each of the Confe-
derate States there is a regular government in full
operation, and there is as much order and law as
there is in England or France. There are large Conth-
federate armies in the field, and between the North
and South there is a cartel of exchange. The