The Sun.
London, England, 1862-01-03 00:00:00

We often hear the character of the commissioners
and the nature of the Southern cause still spoken of
as if it were almost or quite reason enough for for-
bearance with the North in the San Jacinto case, and
for espousing its cause generally. We do not deny
that both are bad enough ; we early pointed out that
Mr. MASON was the author, or at least the prime
mover in the enactment of the ever Infamous Fugi-
tive Slave Law. But, who accepted and carried that
law ?—the North. And what were the thirty pieces
which purchased the concession to the South A
tariff to exclude English manufactures. The North,
for commercial protection against England, sold
the freedom of their soil and the rights of the
negro ! Surely the receiver was as bad as the
thief. Indeed, we think the Fugitive Slave Law
a greater disgrace to the North than to the South.
And when we saw Mr. LINCOLN and Mr. SEWARD
come forward and propose, instead of abolishing,
to make it more effective, we confess we lost at once
all respect for them. One or two States had passed
"Personal Liberty" Acts—these acts simply pro-
vided that the coloured man resident among them
should not be deprived of his liberty until his
Southern claimant had proved to the satisfaction of
a jury, that he had been the claimant's slave. Their
design was to prevent a judge, who received a
double fee if he sent a negro into slavery, from
enabling a Southern planter's agent to kidnap free
blacks on his affidavit—probably a perjured one—
alone. Yet to these safeguards Mr. LINCOLN ob-
jects ! Mr. MASON and Mr. SLIDELL may be
traitors against ABRAHAM LINCOLN, but verily
Mr. LINCOLN is as odious a traitor against the
negro, or very nearly so, as the Commissioners
themselves.
And then, with regard to negro emancipation,
we are told that we ought to sympathise with the
North, because it will be driven by the war to
emancipate them ! Small praise to the North,
then, for that ! Precious motive to sympathy that,
out of revenge and despair, when it sees the
hopes of a restored empire over the South gone, it
will proclaim emancipation ! For a weary twelve-
month Mr. LINCOLN and his Cabinet have endea-
voured to woo back the South with promises of not
meddling with slavery, and of helping them to
catch fugitives, at the risk of many free-
men being caught also. Now, the lover of
the Slave States and their slavery—finding
all his advances rejected—finding that they will
not have him and his tariffs at any price, turns
round and says, "Then, I'll do you all the harm I
can in parting from you. I'll proclaim freedom for
your slaves." This is nothing but the unvar-
nished truth of the case. Mr. LINCOLN and his

friends, perhaps, blinded even their own eyes to the
real character of their twelvemonths' speeches and
acts, but they have all come to this--" The Union
and Slavery." We cannot sympathise with this.
But, again—will the South be such fools as to
let Mr. LINCOLN play this last game ? Mr. TOOMBS,
of Georgia, significantly observed, when adverting
to Northern threats of emancipation—" We, too,
hold emancipation in our hands." And, indeed,
the South does. If it comes to the question,
—shall we emancipate our own slaves, or let
the North do it for us,—the Southerners will
not show the skill they have done hitherto, if they
hesitate longer. Were they freemen, the slaves,
there is every reason to think, would prefer their
old masters to Northern ones. They hear of the
North only as people who make the lives of their
coloured brethren there as miserable as they can ;

who loathe them far more than Southern masters
do, and heap every social indignity upon them. But
should the South itself adopt the ultima ratan which
the North talks of using, it will be all up for ever
with the North, and most righteously so. Nor
do we think such an issue improbable. The South,
it is now evident, so revolts from tho thought of
submission to the North, that it would far sooner
liberate every slave than bow again to the Northern
yoke.

What a pity that it is not given to democrats
more than to monarchs to see their true interest.
Slaveholders have but one thing to overcome—
reluctance to part with ownership of men, and con-
sequent absolute power—and their independence
would be secured. The free labour of their blacks
would pay them better than that of slaves; they
would lose nothing but the mischievous privilege,
the moral injury to themselves, of uncon-
trolled power over fellow - men. England

and France must, if they emancipated their

slaves, recognise their Government, and their poli-

tical status would then be safe. And not only that,
European emigration and capital would soon
visit their ports, and aid to people and to reclaim
their wildernesses, and they would in a short time

become a powarful and greatly elevated people. It

would, however, be certainly in no way surprising

should the Northern Congress overcome its deep

aversion to abolition, if the South took emanci-

pation into its own hands.

NEW YEAR FEASTS.—On Thursday, the 2d inst.,
Miss Burdett Coutts entertained at a New Year's dinner
more than 300 poor people in the schoolrooms of St. Ste-
phen's, 'Westminster. The Bishop of llonolulu was pre-
sent, with several clergymen connected with the Abbey and
neighbouring parishes of Westminster.

HER MAJESTY'S STAGHOUNDS.—The Royal pck
has again appeared in the field, the meet on "Wednesday
being at Farnham-common, when the deer Glenridge was
selected for the occasion. The noble master was absent,
and Mr. Davis and his whips were in mourning for the late
Prince Consort. There was a very good field, but the run
altogether may be considered indifferent, owing to the re-
luctance of the stag to leave the woods. The hunt finished,
after 21 hours ringing, by Stoke, close to the Beeches at
Burnham, the stag being taken at Fulmer.

PEMBROKE GARRIS ON.—A battery of the 4th
brigade Royal Artillery arrived at Pembroke on the 31st
ult. from Plymouth, and took possession of the fortified
barraehs. They were accompanied from the landing place
—Hot bs'-point pier—by the drums of the depot battalion.
They came by the Great Western and South Wales Rail-
ways. The other fortresses en the haven still remain with-
out troops, notwithstanding the critical aspect of political
affairs.

With reference to the public meeting which bad
been announced to be held at the Mansion-house on the
subject of a proposed memorial to his late Royal Highness
the Prince Consort, the Lord, Mayor, finding that many
influential persons who would desire to take part in the
measure aro unavoidably absent from town at this sea-
son, has been advised to p ostpone the meeting for tho
present.

DA GLORIA, the late amiable young King DOM
PEDRO V.—three of these Five Princes, namely
King PEDRO V., the Infante Dom FERNANDO, and
the Infante DOM JoAo, have been carried off by
their unlooked-for dissolution. The elder of the
two survivors, the youthful reigning Sove-
reign of Portugal, King Luis, though
as yet unscathed by the fatal malady
that has thus destroyed three of his young brother,
has the grief of knowing that his only remaining
brother, the Infante Dom ALTGUSTO, lies still pro-
strated by it upon a bed of sickness. His Majesty
being, meanwhile, compelled by the loyal solicitude
in his behalf of his dismayed" subjects, to
quit, at any rate for the time being, the
fatal palace in which those lamentable incidents
having occurred with such appalling rapidity.
With reason, therefore, might the Emperor NAPO-
LEON utter on New Year's Day in his Palace of the
Tuileries the aspiration for brighter times both for
Princes and Peoples : remembering the sorrows
brought to both in 1861 by Death alone—among
other places—in England, Turkey, China, Ger-
many, and Portugal.