The Sun.
London, England, 1865-05-22 00:00:00

LONDON, MONDAY, MAY 22, 1865.

The American news does not tend to allay the
anxiety which has been recently excited both in
France and England by the intemperate and reck-
less conduct of the new holders of power. Mexico,
at present, is the point at which the interest of the
intelligence centres, and it would seem as if the
Northern States, not contented with the bloodshed
and expenditure of the last years, are eager to em-
broil themselves with the European Powers, and,
intoxicated with their recent successes over the
Confederates, fancy they can as easily dispose of
a more powerful foe. The population of the Federal
States have suffered so little from the actual
horrors of war that they are still reckless
and indifferent as to the consequences of
their political conduct. It is true that
their finances have reached a condition rivalling,
if not eclipsing, that of the European exchequers,
which were formerly their ridicule. The domestic
happiness of families must have been terribly
affected by the four years' struggle, and the division
of interests—always one of the worst features of
civil war—and the physical suffering entailed by
the tremendous conflicts which have taken place,
must amount in the aggregate to something
frightful to contemplate. Also, though contractors,
speculators, and the manufacturers of any sort of
war material have made large fortunes by the war,
there must be thousands whom the war has involved
in pecuniary distress, many whom it has actually
ruined. Still the North has not, like the South,
seen its cities devastated, its fertile fields de-
stroyed, its homesteads burnt, its farms pillaged,
and its commerce virtually destroyed. It has been
felt all along that, should the war come to an abrupt
conclusion, there would be great danger to neutral
powers, the fact of a large and disciplined army
being suddenly thrown, as it were, out of work.
It would be a great relief to the Government to
be able to divert their superfluous energies into a
new channel, instead of disbanding them by
the thousand, with the arrears of pay to
make up, and the clamour for pensions
and prize-money to satisfy. North and
South lie two tempting fields for action, and
England and France are watching with some
anxiety the direction in which the belligerent
spirit of the Northern States will turn. But if
the irritation against England, and the desire to
establish their superiority over the Britishers, form
a strong incentive to an invasion of Canada, there
are other circumstances which render a movement
towards Mexico more immediately tempting. The
elements of war are already there, and the MoN-
ROE doctrine, which is brought up whenever it is
wanted, and has no actual foundation in recog-
nised right, is always at hand to afford a plea
for interfering. The last mail told us of the re-
cruiting offices being opened in New York, and
the advertisements which had been suffered to
appear in the New York papers, in reference to
the army of JUAREZ ; but this time we have fuller
intelligence. It seems that nearly 1,200 recruits
for the Republican Mexican army were received
at the New York office in two days ; and it is
said, though we must allow for habitual exagge-
ration, that 100,000 officers and men of the Fede-
ral armies will join JUAREZ as soon as they re-
ceive their discharge. An emigration company
has also been formed at New York, with agencies
throughout all the United States, which adver-
tises for naval and military
emigrants. According
to the report, which is not, however, authenti-
cated, the emigrants are
specially invited by
.lu.k eEz to settle in Sonora,
andwill be sup-
plied with the means of defending themselves.
Common emigrants are to receive a thousand
dollars each and a hundred acres of land, while
offices in the military service will have an addition
proportion to their rank. ORTEGA is to be the ma-
nager of this design,
which he has said to have ar-
authorities. The Herald,
ranged with the Federal
which publishes this account with several additional
particulars, asserts that it is believed MA ximiLIAN
will abandon Mexico on hearing of the emigration
scheme. The Republican press discountenances
the movement as likely to involve the States in a
European the Democratic
war, and declares that
journal which BuPPOrt it are anxious for that result

as a diversion in favour of their party. The Courier
des Etats Unis call A upon the Federal Government
to fulfil its neutrality obligations by forbidding any
organised emigration. There is no doubt that the
scheme possesses dangerous elements, and that it is
probably only a pretext for getting large bodies of
men, with arms and ammunition in their hands, into
Mexico, and it is quite manifest that the Federal
Government looks favourably on the attempt to
subvert the authority of MAXIMILIAN, or it would
not allow such open proceedings. The recruiting-
offices, however, present a more open and immediate
danger, and if once the stream is turned that way
the army of JUAREZ may be swelled to a size that
will make it really formidable even to French troops,
supplied as it will be with men who have been
trained and disciplined in active service.
With Canada the difficulty at present most likely
to arise is in reference to the surrender or extra-
dition of the Confederates, said by the Northern
authorities to be implicated in the BOOTH plot.
Washington despatches, whose information is, as
experience has shown, not always to be trusted,
state that the evidence implicating Mr. DAVIS and
the Confederates in Canada is so conclusive that no
Government can hesitate to surrender them. The
New York Times, however, declares that it is not
supposed that direct personal action can be traced
to DAVIS himself ; but that JOHNSON'S procla-
mation was based upon evidence that the con-
spiracy was formed with his knowledge and assent.
Europeans and Canadians will, however, receive this
news with the more suspicion that the military com-
mission which has been appointed to try the persons
charged with complicity in the assassination plot
conducts its proceedings with closed doors, only
such portions of the evidence as the Attorney-
General may think fit finding its way to the news-
papers. Why a case which is purely civil should be
tried by a military tribunal instead of in the ordi-
nary form and with the ordinary safeguards against
injustice, partiality, and oppression is not stated,
and possibly the answer which might be furnished
would be more true than palatable to the Wash-
ington authorities. DAVIS himself is said
to have been at Powellton, Georgia, on the
sth. It is said the troops and vessels along
the coast from Charleston to Key West are on the
alert to prevent his escape, but that the Govern-
ment itself and the officers of the army do not an-
ticipate his capture. It is to be hoped, for the sake
of the Federals themselves, that their Government
may not have the chance of disgracing them by the
fulfilment of their threats.

The news from Texas is very important. It is
said that on the receipt of the news of LEE'S sur-
render mass meetings were held at Springfield and
Houston, at which it was decided that the Trans-
Mississippi Department was sufficiently vast and full
of resources to maintain the struggle ; and that the
people of Texas would therefore support President
DAVIS and continue the war. The immense extent
and natural wealth of Texas renders such aresolution
not unimportant, and if the scattered Confederates
reassemble there, the war may yet break out in an
unexpected quarter. The troubles and perplexities
of the North are as yet only beginning, and the con-
duct of the Washington Government in provoking
the French reminds one of the old proverb,
" Quern Deus volt perdue Arius denzentat." They
seem to forget that the Confederacy,
though apparently destroyed, has never been
formally disorganised ; and that if the French raise
the standard of secession again, the flames of war
may yet break out afresh. Many who are not suffi-
ciently vigorous patriots to make personal sacrifices
for a failing cause would flock to the standard with
European help. Altogether the prospects of Ame-
rican affairs are not such as to encourage the hopes
of the well-wishers of that country, or of the lovers
of peace in Europe.

Election manifestoes will soon be the order of the
day, and Mr. DISRAELI has lost no time in issuing
his. He reminds the electors of Buckinghamshire
that on six previous occasions they have conferred
upon him the high trust of being their representa-
tive in the House of Commons. The period which
has elapsed since Mr. DISRAELI came forward as
county member has been most eventful in his career
and important in the history of the country. He
has twice held office, and been leader of the House
of Commons, thus attaining some of the highest
points of political ambition, and succeeding in these
against great odds, and in the face of apparently
insuperable difficulties. The last time the
right hon. gentleman solicited the suffrages
of the electors of Buckinghamshire he was a mem-
ber of the Government, which had dissolved the
Parliament in order to allow the nation to divide
upon the " vexed questions" of the day. It cannot
be said that on looking back to that time, and com-
paring the present with the past, Mr. DISRAELI has
any reason to agree in the opinion of those who re-
garded the results of that election as a certain and
unqualified defeat to the Conservatives. Six years
ago the present Government assumed office upon
the understanding that they were to carry out those
liberal measures which were said to be necessary ;
and now, after the lapse of so much time, and the
passing of so many opportunities, how much
forwarder is the country, and what have the
constituencies to congratulate themselves upon
in having given the majority to the present
possessors of power? Had Lord DERBY remained
in power long before this the question of Reform
would have been settled for the present at all
events, and even the much-disputed matter of
Church-rates would have been satisfactorily ad-
justed in some degree. As it is now, however, this
dissolution that is approaching finds everything in
the same delightful state of confusion, and the elec-
tors have to go over the old ground again, but if
they entertain the old hopes they must be very
sanguine and not over-discerning. The Ministers,
assisted by a majority in the House, have intro-
duced no measure of their own with the spirit
which proved them to be in earnest in the
cause, and thus the people find themselves
in statu quo in respect to changes and reforms that
were pronounced to be so necessary. What we
did with yesterday we'll e'en do with to-day, has
been the motto of those who came in with the
avowed purpose of working great changes, and
showing the country how much better they were
than their predecessors. The struggles that have
taken place on various questions have not been party
ones, and the Ministers could either support or
oppose the measures proposed with impunity ; often,
indeed, has it been noticed that they have not been
unanimous in their opinions, and the leading mem-
bers of the Cabinet have taken different views of
questions on which they should have been
unanimous.

The consequence of all this dilly-dallying and
shuffling has been most prejudicial to the
came which was made such a stalking-
horse at the last general election, and
the great champion of reform, the hereditary advo-
cate of civil and religious liberty, has retired to the
firm benches of the upper school, his work incom-
plete, the victory uncertain, and left the arena
where the contests for national questions take plape-,-
having put it in the power of his political opponent
to declare in his manifesto that, thin Parliament, he

decided against the abolition of church rates and
the lowering of the franchise in boroughs. Mr.
DISRAELI may well remind his constituents of these
facts. They show two things most distinctly and
decidedly. In the first place, the Conservatives
were not so weak as was made out ; and, in the
next, the Liberals were not sincere in their
vehement opposition to Lord DERBY'S Go-
vernment. From the highest to the lowest,
the real crime of the Conservatives was
being in office, and when they retired to the cold
shade of opposition they were allowed to obstruct
the measures of the radicals, and oppose the
doctrines of the Nonconformists as much as they
liked. No trial of strength was made on debates
which offered every opportunity for doing so, and
the might of the ministerial forces was never fully
tested upon any home question. On the eve of a
general election, when the most will be made of
everything, it is not out of place to protest against
these topics of Church and State being kept con-
tinually in abeyance during the sessions of
Parliament, and then put forward to make a
figure at the elections. If they figure again
prominently this summer they will be
in the opinion of those who take a comprehensive
view of political affairs but galvanised corpses.
Either it was necessary or it was not to have these
matters settled six years ago finally. If it was not,
why were the Conservatives hurried out of office
when they had proposed a temporising policy for the
Church-rates, and a measure of Reform which could
have been modified in committee to suit the require-
ments of the day. If the more violent and startling
changes which some advocate were requisite, why
have six years joined the lapse of ages gone without
anything being done ? These are problems
which the wise among electors will seek to
solve for themselves, without listening to
the claptrap of Ministerial whippers-in, end the
cajollery of the aspirants for place and power. The
concluding passage in Mr. DISRAELI'S, address is
strictly in conformity with facts, and the most
sceptical of political opponents cannot gainsay its
veracity or question its validity. When he declares
that the leaders of the Conservative party are not
"obtrusive candidates for office," he states what is
entirely borne out by the evidence of the years that
have elapsed since they respectively assumed their
positions. It would be well for all concerned
in the fitful fever of parliamentary and poli-
tical strife if the sentiments enunciated by
Mr. DISRAELI were more acted upon, and if
the aspirants for the high places among the
community looked beyond their acquisition of the
fleeting grandeurs of the hour to the more ultimate
effects of the rendering of their stewardships.
" Who may be the Ministers of the QUEEN are the
accidents of history ; what will remain on that en-
during page is the policy pursued, and its conse-
quences on the realm." Every year that passes
unheeded away takes some from their place in Par-
liament and their position in public life for ever, and
those of elevated views and comprehensive notions
will study to conform their actions, so that their
works may live after them, and lead others to study
the interests of their country and to serve the inte-
rests of their generation. Rightly regarded, such
abstract questions would far outweigh the imme-
diate topics of the day, and the general effect of our
system of legislation should be more studied than
the particular questions of the hour, which the pas-
sions of unthinking politicians may exaggerate into
undue importance. Mr. DISRAELI'S manifesto can-
not be called extreme in its views or sectarian
in its notions, and the leader of the Opposition
in the House of Commons may be said to have
flung, down his gauntlet and challenged the com-
batants of the other side to a fair and open conflict
before the country, in a spirit worthy of the repre-
sentative of a great party.