The Sun.
London, England, 1865-06-15 00:00:00

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LONDON, TIIURSDAY, JUNE 15, 1865.

The correspondence between Earl RUSSELL, Sir
F. BRUCE, and Mr. ADAMS respecting the assassina-
tion of President LINCOLN is now before the public,
and although it is very brief, and merely contains
the expression of the general regret and indignation
couched in the stately terms of diplomatic courtesy,
it is not unimportant. The American people must
have received with gratification the prompt expres-
sion of the unanimous feeling of England, and the
sympathy simultaneously shown by the Crown,
the Parliament, the press, and the people. Ameri-
cans of the Northern States have been well aware
during the progress of the war that the majority
in this country regarded the secession of the
South as perfectly justifiable, and that the
reckless severity with which the North prosecuted
the lvflr was generally condemned by the calmer
and more merciful English. Impatient of anything
like censure or opposition, they chose to believe that
England was jealous of their success, and looked
with pleasure on their misfortunes ; and the timid
subservienCe of her Ministers only seemed to pro-
voke them to further arrogance. But on the occa-
sion of Mr. LINCOLN'S sudden and terrible end all
difference and disputes between the two countries
were forgotten, and the English
people of every
rank, and of every shade of part,,•
united in express-
ing their abhorrence of the crime and their sympathy
perplexities which it occasioned.
with the political
The Americans could not regard the sentiment
shown at that time as other than profound and
genuine, and it is to be hoped that the cordial sym-
pathy felt for their grief will induce them to lend
a more attentive ear to the remonstrances which are
now addressed to them across the Atlantic. The
fortune of war, by one of those suddens turns which
history sometimes records, has given to the North
• sudden and complete success. Without doubt the
representatives of Federal policy occupy a most
trying position. With the feelings of the people
incensed and irritated by the murder of their Pre-
sident, and the attempted assassination of their
,
principal statesman, they have to deal with a con-

quered and prostrated foe. Had the South thought
it advisable to make terms while yet the power of
resistance remained to them, the case might have
been different : but, unhappily, the surrender of
the Southern armies, and the evacuation of the
Southern capital, were almost identical with the
1 cruel murder of Mr. LINCOLN, and under the double
excitement much allowance ought naturally to
be made for the first expressions of feeling on the
part of the North. The Americans are not a mag-
nanimous people. Moderation and forbearance are
by no means their primary virtues as a nation,
though, of course, many of their more thinking
and reflective men possess those qualities in a
high degree. The crisis through which the States
are now passing is one which especially needs the
exercise of those very qualities in which the Ameri-
cans, as a race, are deficient; and the difficulties
attending the pacification of the South and the
reconstruction of the Union are certainly great and
complicated enough to appal the most adventurous.
But the unfortunate good fortune of the North has
culminated all their perplexities in the chance which
gave into the hands of Northern rulers the life of
the Southern President. A wiser Government, more
experienced in the changes of nations, and valuing
more accurately the moral position and character of
a nation -would have avoided any such dilemma, by
stopping the pursuit after DAVIS instead of stimu-
lating it by offers of reward. Having been un-
lucky enough to capture him, they would at once
have despatched him from the country with a sen-
tence of exile or confiscation, if they thought it
necessary to make a show of severity. The Federal
Government, on the other hand, seem to be making
every effort to increase their own dangers and diffi-
culties. They must needs take up the absurd charge
of treason, and treat a ruler of equal rank and pre-
tensions with their own President, elected, like him,
by the will of his fellow-countrymen to the
supreme direction of affairs, as a felon guilty
of some great offence. The hardships to which
Mr. DAVIS has been condemned are such as no
criminal in this country is called upon to endure,
even when convicted ; and they would have been
out of place even had JEFFERSON DAVIS been only
the ringleader of a local riot instead of the undis-
puted ruler of several millions of people. The right
of the Confederates to the position of recognised
belligerents is ably discussed by HISTORICUS in a
letter on " Rebellion and Civil War." He shows
very clearly the limits of a rebellion, whose pro-
moters cannot claim the protection of the laws of
war, and points out the impossibility of a struggle
of the extent and character of the American
contest being classed as mere temporary rebel-
lion. He strengthens his arguments by copi-
ous quotations from VATTEL, an admitted
authority on all matters of international law and
justice, and the great jurist's dictum on the point
at issue is clear and unmistakable. " When a
nation," he says, " becomes divided into two parties,
absolutely independent, and no longer acknow-
ledging a common superior, the State is dissolved,
and the war between the two parties stands on the
same ground in every respect as a public war be-
tween two different nations. . . . There exist in
the State two separate bodies who pretend to abso-
lute independence, and between whom there is no
judge. They decide their quarrel by arms as two
different nations would do. The obligation to ob-
serve the common laws of war towards each other
is therefore absolute, indispensably binding on both
parties, and the same which the law of nature im-
poses on all nations in transactions between State
and State." VATTEL certainly never admitted that
one party had a right to treat the recognised head
of the other as a common felon, or to condemn him
to death for the political offence of rebelling against
the Government. The execution of JEFFERSON
DAVIS cannot possibly be defended on any grounds
of political right, and, as a matter of expediency, it
would be. the most fatal mistake that the Federal
authorities could commit. So cruel and unjust an
exercise of arbitrary power would not fail to alienate
the sympathies of the better class of their
own partizans, while the whole people of the
South would naturally be deeply incensed at the
outrage and the insult. The sentiments of Europe
on this subject have been expressed with so much
force and unanimity that we hope they will not be
altogether without effect, now that the first madness
of passion has subsided. As " Historicus" ably
puts it, " The American Government and the
American people are standing on the brink of a great
offence against the conscience of mankind. It is
one of those occasions which determine the charac-
ter of nations, and with their character determine
their destiny." Let us hope then that our kinsmen
may awake to the nature of their responsibilities,
and of the great political crime to the commission of
which a vindictive and selfish Government is leading
them. The Americans, in the course of their brief
history, have won many victories, but they never
suffered so damaging areverse as they will inflict on
their own fortunes and character by the exercise of
unwarrantable severity.

The state of affairs in Prussia affords constant
opportunity for observation and reflection. On
Tuesday, in the Chamber of Deputies, the bill re-
ferring to the expenses of the war with Denmark
was discussed. llerr WAGENER proposed, as an
amendment, that the Government be requested to
endeavour to . bring about the annexation of the
Duchies to Prussia, even by indemnifying if neces-
sary any claimant to their possession. The Govern-
ment bill was rejected,' and the proposals of the
committee were agreed to by a large majority. The
amendment was also rejected. It is a decided rebuff
to the Ministers thus to find themselves opposed on
such an essential point as this war with Den-
mark ; and they must be mortified in the
extreme that the world should thus see dis-
union and strife among them and the represen-
tatives of the people upon a topic on which
they professed such unanimity to exist. Herr Bis-
MARK'S speech on this occasion is very peculiar,
and exhibits something more of his real intentions
than he ordinarily suffers to appear in his discourses
to the Senate. His remarks concerning the Duke of
AUGUSTENBURG are very significant, and would be
ludicrous if the consequences of this matter were not

so serious.

Herr BISMARK states that they have
now carried out their programme for the solution
of the qttestion of the Duchies, except as regards
the Duke of AUGUSTENBURG being installed as the
Duke of Schleswig-Holstein. The delay is occa-
sioned by the Prime Minister not having yet
proved his hereditary rights to the Duchies. If he
were to succeed in doing so, he could be put in
posze3sion any day. Now, does it not seem strange
and inconsistent that the Berlin Government should

go to war proclaiming it their express intention to
instal the Duke as sovereign of the disputed
Duchies, and then, when the time comes for their
fulfilment of that design, for them to turn round
and declare that he has not yet proved his claim in a
satisfactory manner. Common sense and justice alike
proclaim that this should have been ascertained before
so many arrangements were made, and such con-
fusion caused in his name.

It appears also that the Duke himself is geiting
tired of all this humbug and shuffling, and, according
to Herr VON BISMARK, has spoken out pretty plainly
on the §ubject. There is great truth in the