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

SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALS.

TIMES.—For the next few weeks public attention
in America will probably be concentrated on the
proceedings to be taken against the captive leaders
of the Confederate secession. The murder of Pre-
sident Lincoln has roused in .the Northern breast
a feeling more akin to implacability than has existed
at any period of the war. It is strange that in the
crisis of the struggle, at a time when the most
sanguine were inclined to despair of conquering the
South, there was comparatively little animosity
towards the men who had apparently overthrown
the Union. Not only were the military genius of
Gen. Lee and the heroism of Jackson the subjects
of Northern admiration, but the political capacity of
Mr. Davis, his firmness and courage, and the mas-
tery he had gained over the section of the American
people which followed him, were duly acknowledged.
But the spirit of revenge which could not be excited
by disaster has now followed indignation produced
by an odious deed. The declaration of President
Johnson that treason should be punished has been
received with general approbation throughout the
North ; and there are not wanting those who inter-
pret the President's words to mean that the Confe-
derate leaders shall expiate their offence by death,
and who maintain that it is just and expedient that
this should be the end. We cling, however, to the
belief that when the horror excited by the act of
Booth has been somewhat mitigated by time, wiser
and more generous counsels will prevail. There are,
indeed, already signs that the ominous threats of
the President and the savage clamours of some of
the Republican politicians excite apprehension in a
respectable section of the community. Most of the
leading anti-slavery men, though they do not scruple
to pour out their scorn and hatred on the fallen head
of Jefferson Davis, yet demand that no blood shall
be shed in political executions. Such is the language
of Mr. W. Phillips, such is also the language of the
chief Abolitionist organ in the New York press.
These sentiments willprobably gain ground every day,
and as some time must elapse before Mr. Davis and
his late colleagues can be brought to trial and con-
victed, we may trust that before that event takes
place public opinion may have recovered its usual
placability and good-nature. The arguments of
those who say that the Southern leaders have
caused the deaths of thousands, and that as the man
who murders one victim suffers death, so the man
who murders a multitude ought not to escape, are
as fallacious as they are cruel. There can be no
comparison between private crime committed for
gain or revenge, and a political act which has the
sanction of several millions of people and is sup-
ported by their lives and fortunes. Mr. Davis and
the other Confederate politicians were merely the
representatives of a great community, which for-
merly believed that it had a right to dissolve a poli-
tical league, and to defend the South by force of
arms against those who would compel it to return
to a Federal affiance which was no longer suited to
its interests. From their position in the Union as
it existed before secession, they were called upon to
bear office, and were, in fact, elected to it by uni-
versal suffrage. Such an act differs very far even
from the treasons which have been common in
Europe, when some ill-disposed persons have excited
a partial and hopeless rising. A community which
has carried on war for four years, and has been
treated as a belligerent, not only by its own ad-
versary, but by all civilised countries, is entitled to
be placed in a position different from that of a riot-
ous county, and may well cover the acts of those who
administered its affairs. We may hope, then, that
the United States' Government will deal in a gene-
rous spirit with those fallen politicians. The chief
men of the Confederacy are now in its power. Jef-
ferson Davis, Vice-President Stephens, and several
of the Governors of the Southern States are in the
prisons of the North. The military leaders are on
parol, and are, we presume, protected by the terms
of their capitulations, though it seems there is a re-
port that General Lee is to be arrested and brought
to trial. But if the Government prosecute the Con-
federate President and one or two of his chief col-
leagues, it will probably be enough to satisfy whatever
of vindictive feeling exists in the minds of Americans.
The grand jury in Washington has found a true bill
for treason against Mr. Davis, and the arrests still
continue. But we may trust that these measures will
not be followed by acts of vengeance, which can add
nothing to the strength of the Government, and
must envenom still further the animosities which
the war has produced. Next to the trials of the
Confederate leaders the greatest interest attaches to
the threatened pro•ecution of the war on the west
of the Mississippi. The vast region which com-
prises Texas, Arkansas, and a part of Louisiana has,
as yet, felt nothing of the-hardships of the contest.
A Federal force has been able to hold Little Rock,
in Arkansas, but, otherwise, the state is almost en-
tirely in the hands of its inhabitants, who have been
staunch Confederates. Texas has been quite un-
touched. The people of these trans-Mississippian
districts, to the number of about a million, have
now determined, it is said, to continue the war, a
course in which they are encouraged by their leaders,
Generals Kirby Smith and Magruder. The re-
sources of the region are certainly not to be despised.
It is capable of supporting any armies that may be
raised, for its extent is vast and its soil is fertile.
It is inhabited by a bold and hardy population,
I used to arms, priding themselves on their martial
habits and their impatience of control. It is in part
difficult to be harassed by an enemy, because there
are few rivers, and these incapable of bearing . the
gunboats which have so often given the victory
to the Federal cause. Then the geographical
position of Texas gives it certain advantages. It
adjoins a territory which is not under the control
of the United States' Government, and through
which munitions of war may be brought in to a
certain extent. To crown all, it has been resolved,
it is said, to use the negroes in the war, and to
oppose the North by means from which President
Davis and the Richmond Congress shrank even in
the last hour of trial. When we have said this we
have said everything that can be supposed to favour
prolonged resistance. Yet, taken altogether, there
is nothing in it which can give the slightest expecta-
tion of a successful issue. It may be that these
Texans may be . able to keep a great extent of
country in a state of disorder for a year, or even two
lor three years. They may succeed in reproducing
on a much larger scale the anarchy which has so
long prevailed in Southern Italy ; but unless they
have some reasonable hope of conducting the war
with such eminent success as will force the Wash-
ington Government to recognise their independence,
they have no right to continue the shedding of
blood. It must be evident to every man who looks
at the matter dispassionately that they have no such
hope. In such circumstances there will be but one
wish on the part of this country, and that is that a
capitulation of the trans-Mississippian Generals may
take place on the same terms as those obtained by
Generals Lee and Johnston. The total cessation of
the war will then allow the shattered social and
commercial system of the South to be in some way
restored, and will probably remove in a great degree
that desire for vengeance which recent events have
produced.

POST.--There are many versions of the parable
of the Two Fathers, which M. Thiers has related
for the purpose of imparting financial instruction to
the Corps Legislatif. It may be true that the
father who, as M. Thiers supposes, regulates his
expenditure according to his income, experiences
no difficulty in settling with his creditors,. and, by
living within his income, he can increase his estate.
On the other hand, the father who exceeds his
income, and is obliged to encroach upon his capital,
is of course travelling through annually-increasing
embarrassments on the high road to ruin. He is
going to the bad, and if he does not pull up and
retrench his expenditure, will, sooner or later,
reach his destination. The story is as old as
the hills, and any mistress of an infant - school
can points its moral. But how that moral
applies to nations is, we conceive, quite another
matter. Even with regard to individuals the theory
may be carried too far. Good as the principle is,
it can be abused and perverted. Strictly enforced,
it would be a drag upon the wheels of progress. It
is by the judicious investment of their capital that
men become wealthy, and this is also the case with
nations. There is a distinction between speculation
and enterprise which M. Thiers does not appear to
have sufficiently considered, and, if it were worth
while, we could take up the parable he has adapted
to his argument, and make it fit to a converse pro-
position. M. Thiers wished to describe, or rather,
as he habitually does, to personify two systems of
administration, but he omitted to account for the
historical failure of his favourite system, and the
political bankruptcy of the father whose memory he
holds in reverence. Public works, fairly distributed,
present, M. Thiers admits, an excellent investment
for the savings of the country in time of peace. He
is, however, of opinion that, inthe improvement and
embellishment of the cities and towns of France, all
reasonable limits have been exceeded. In effect, he
contends that, as the father would not be justified
in drawing upon his capital for the expenditure ne-
cessary to the improvement of his family or estate,
so the cost of the public works of a country should
be defrayed from the savings of its income; and
the theorem is indisputable. It is just one of those
hard inflexible statements which are logically in-
vincible. The only way to test these exalted ideas
is to put them bodily into the crucible of common
sense. Therefore, and still looking at the question
from the exact point of view M. Thiers has thought
proper to place it in, what, we will ask, would be
the consequence of carrying out the principle he
propounds in the case of an individual—a father or
a landlord ? Do fathers, as the rule, pay for the
education of their children out of the surplus of
their incomes, or do landlords improve their estates

from the same source ? and if the education of
children or the improvement of estates were to be
limited in subjection to this condition, what would
result ? To say nothing of the great operations of
commerce, which could not possibly be executed
without a considerable investment of capital,
M. Thiers has, we submit, by his own parental
and patrimonial illustration, shown that nations
must make provision for the requirements of
progress. Of course people, whether as indivi-
duals or communities, would not advance money
for the benefit of posterity without security,
but in France public works have followed and
been motived by the establishment of public order.
There is, M. Thiers says, a torrent of expenditure
to be arrested ; the country is running upon a rock,
standing on the brink of a financial gulf. But the
passionate adjurations of an irresponsible orator,
who argues with reference to ideas which the French
people have banished, will fail to shake the confidence
that is founded on the increasing prosperity and the
tangible advantages of good government. M. Thiers
also proposes to effect a reduction in the national
expenditure by the evacuation of Mexico. This
measure is, he thinks, further recommended by its
political expediency. The abandonment of the
Mexican expedition would, M. Thiers conceives,
wound the susceptibilities of the French Government,
but it does not seem to have occurred to him that
the French people might be averse from the retro-
grade policy he suggests. It is, however, by no
means clear that the French can consistently retire
from the work she undertook, and has all but com-
pleted. There can be no doubt that the resistance
of Juarez is encouraged by Americah sympathy, and
if the French troops were withdrawn that sympathy
would most probably be actively expressed. The
Government of Washington have excellent reasons
for declining a war with France, but if the French
flag were furled in Mexico, there could at all events
be no longer any difficulty or dissimulation about
an " emigration " which is not more patriotic than
convenient. We can quite understand that the dis-
solution of the Confederate Government has contri-
buted to retard the consolidation of the Mexicali
Empire ; but, having gone so far, it will, we appre-
hend, be difficult to persuade France to draw back,
and especially under the existing circumstances. It
would appear reasonable to desire that the Govern-
ment of the Emperor Maximilian should be recog-
nised by the United States before recalling the pro-
tecting army. France will not, we know, be terri-
fied by declamation. She is now strong in her own
strength. If her expenditure is heavy her resources
are more than adequate to meet it. There is nothing
appalling even in M. Thiers' statement, and he can.
scarcely be regarded as a financial authority, thougaL
he did sit at the feet of an eminent financier. nti;
that which is above all evident is that he has ceased
to think or speak in unison with the public opinion
of his country. M. Thiers draws his inspiration
from an irrevocable past, and, though his faculties
are unimpaired and his mind is as active as ever, he
• is no longer a power in France.