The Sun.
London, England, 1865-04-25 00:00:00

equality. The fundamental dogma of the America
constitution is, that the right to govern consists in
the consent of the governed. How can the Southern
States be received back without allowing
same status as the ,Northern States ? t'How, eve°,
after their failure in the field, can any government
be imposed upon them without their consent? Either
the North must hold them down in perpetuity by;
force of arms, or it must withdraw its garrisons an
t
leave them their freedom of action. In the first case,
it will be impoverished by the necessity of keeping 1113
an army of half a million of men, while the peace,
which it seeks for will be a, chronic state of
war ; in the other case the act of re-union will bo
speedily stultified by new resolutions of secessio_p.
The reunion of the several states is still practical*"
as utter an impossibility as it has been at any tirs,,'
since the commencement of the war. If the Net
should take advantage of the weak condition of t
South to offer terms which should combine the
prospect of an immediate and practical benefit to
the States north of the Potomac with such an
amount of acceptability as that the 'South would be
likely to accede to them without arriere pende, thou
indeed there might be peace, and every soldier on
each side of the boundary might return to his hers
An absolute cession of the great Border States °
Virginia, Kentucky, Tennessee, and Missouri--s°
alliance, offensive and defensive between the see"
tions of the Union, which, for most practical pa'
poses, would be again one people--a scheme of coin:
mon action in regard to foreign affairs, and 01!
ambitious policy which incites Americans of hots:
sections to territorial aggrandisement at the expense
of the great Powers of Europe ; the maintenance of
,1
a restrictive tariff on European manufactures, and
absolute freedom of trade between North and South;
the abolition of slavery, and the substitution of some
regulated system of negro labour on plantations;
these are terms which the South might accePtt
although with reluctance. The result would be the
actual, if not the literal, restoration of the Union,
and the opening of a grand future to the America
Powers. The mistake which the North is too likely
to commit is, that in stretching after the shadow I
will lose the substance ; in seeking to humiliate_uits
enemy it will mar its own prospects and accomplish
the ruin of both. A peace between the North and
South, an affiance, federation, reunion, or recoil"
struction of any sort, however much to be desired en
philanthropic grounds, would certainly be the was',
thing that could happen to England. Our Go-
vernment has done everything that it can t°
discourage the Confederates. It cannot blame
them now if they should seek to bury the past is
making common cause with their late enemies
against us. The proclamation of Mr. Lincoln,
closing all the conquered ports of the South against
European trade, is a proof of the unamiable temp
in which he regards us, of the scanty gratitude
which our Ministers may expect for their neutrality
The recognition of the South at the time when 1115
star was in the ascendant would in all probabila
have put an end to the war, and have made tivii°
American unions instead of one—two nations sale'
by their rivalry, would have held each other in
check, of which one at least would have offered IL:
a lucrative commerce, and which would never have
combined against Canada or Mexico. The bluni
committed by our rulers may have been though
excusable when its possible results seemed too remote
to be discussed. These results are now imminen"
and threaten to be of the utmost gravity. It may
tax all the wisdom of our rulers, all the resources
„f
our country ; it may cost us hundreds of millions
money and thousands of lives to avert—if we °at;
indeed avert it—the danger which the supineness °,
timidity of Lord Palmerston's Government has
brought down upon our heads or bequeathed as °,
incubus to our posterity. •