The Sun.
London, England, 1865-06-01 00:00:00

rUE SUN, LONDON, THURSDAY EVENING, JUNE 1,186 a,

dent of th e ultimate success of the Confederation
scheme, which, at the present crisis, is especially to
be cleared. There is no doubt that if the provinces
could present a united front to their powerful
neighbour, they would offer a less tempting prize
to Northern aggression. We have no actual reason
to anticipate an attack upon Canada, but the
present unsettled condition of American affairs is
enough, at any rate, to inspire us with considerable
uneasiness, and under any circumstances it would
be wise for a country like Canada to put herself in
an attitude of defence. There are, moreover, cir-
cumstances which tend just now to increase our
natural anxiety, and the news of the delay in the
consolidation of the provinces under one Govern-
ment become doubly a :matter of regret from the
troublous aspect of affairs. It is to be hoped
that among the subjects of consultation and
discussion between the Home Government and the
Canadian delegates the importance of haste has not
been overlooked. If the fortifications are to be
spread over ten or fifteen years, like some of our
own public works, they will be practically useless
for the present ; and it should be remembered that
this is not merely a case affecting the comfort or
convenience of the people, benefiting their trade or
injuring their commerce, but a matter in which their
very existence may possibly depend. In the course
of the debate on the Canadian defences in the House
of Commons several members took exception
to the smallness of the vote, and to the unnecessary
delay which was contemplated in the prosecution of
the works. There is still time to amend that error,
and by doubling the number of men which was ori-
ginally proposed, and by urging on all the parties
concerned the most that can be made of the summer
months, and the works carried briskly forward.
Bis dal qui cito dat is certainly the motto in this
case, for, though Canada may be in no immediate
danger, her unprotected condition is, to say the least
of it, unsatisfactory. ,The recent correspondence be-
tween the English and American Governments has
not tended to reassure the public mind, despite Lord
PAL3IERSTON'S assertion that the language on both
sides has been throughout courteous and friendly.
The noble lord's reply was, however, so evasive and
doubtful in its character that it failed to reassure
the public mind. In fact, the antecedents of the
Government are such that the anxiety felt is not so
much as to the remit of the dispute as to the
manner in which Lords PALMERSTON and RUSSELL
may reply to the preposterous claim. They are
bound of course to show all courtesy, to treat the
new PRESIDENT and his compeers with the respect
due to the rulers ofa great State and a kindred na-
tion with the honour claimed by their position, if not
extorted by their conduct ; but nevertheless they
are bound in the interests of their own country to
return a firm and conclusive answer to this extrava-
gant appeal. We have too often seen how the ap-
parent weakness of our foreign policy has led to the
very evils which it was most desired to avoid to
feel at all secure that the business is in safe hands.
Any sign of doubt or of hesitation, any temporising
or concession, however well meant, may lead to the
most disastrous consequences. It would be most
disastrous to the American statesmen and the Ame-
rican people, as well as to ourselves, for it would
certainly mislead them as to the actual con-
dition of English feeling. Nothing would induce

the people of this country to submit to such a claim.
Preposterous in itself, it would be a confession of
wrong-doing which would be entirely misplaced,
and it would furnish likewise a most dangerous
precedent. English coffers will soon be emptied if
every loss in every war which can be remotely
traced home to the agency of some article made in
England or shipped from English ports is forth-
with to be compensated for out of the pockets
of our taxpayers. Had the English Govern-
ment shown a straightforward determina-
tion to uphold their own dignity in their
dealings with the Government of the United
States, we should have heard less of these absurd
pretensions. There is far less likelihood of any
unpleasant collision between the two Governments
if our Ministry can return a firm and resolute re-
sponse. The American people will of course not be
slow to press an advantage that is conceded to them,
and the prospect of some reimbursement of the ex-
penses of the war is sufficiently attractive to their
harassed financiers to make them not very scru-
pulous as to the rights on which their claim is
founded. To a strong and self-reliant 'Govern-
ment such a claim would never have been made,
or, if made, it would not have been reiterated.
But the Washington Cabinet need not be very
keensighted to detect the timidity and indecision of
its London correspondents. For instance, why
could not Lord PALMERSTON, the other evening,
have added to his assurances of the courtesy of the
Americans a few brief words declaring that the
Government would never listen to such demands.
If the question of the money did not happily have
to come under the consideration of Parliament, we
should have some very good reason to fear some
disgraceful compromise. As it is the Government
must be urged to fulfil their duty boldly, or they
will enable the Americans to bring the same charge
against them that the Danes did on a different
ground, while Englishmen will have very good
cause for complaint unless a prompt and decisive
negative is immediately returned to Washington.

The Plight of Dhoondoo Punth, better
known as Nana Sahib.

"At nightfall Dhoondoo Punth entered Cawnpore upon
a chestnut horse drenched in perspiration, and with bleed-
, ing flanks. A fresh access of terror soon dismissed him
I again on his way towards Bithoor, sore and weary, his head
swimming and his chest heaving. He was not in condition
for such a gallop, the first earnest of that hardship and de-
gradation which was thenceforward to be his portion. Far
otherwise had he been wont to return to his palace after a
visit of state in the English quarter, lolling, vinaigrette in
hand, beneath the breath of fans, amidst the cushions of a
luxurious carriage, surrounded by a moving hedge of out-
riders and running footmen. Once again in the home of his
fathers he slept as the wicked sleep, whose sin has found
them out; and when the morrow's sun had set he departed
in craven trepidation, and was afterwards seen among the
haunts of peaceful men. But he was true to himself, even
in the crash of his falling dynasty ; for, as he stepped on
board the barge that was to transport him to the confines
of Oude, ho bethought him of the young mother who was
recovering from the pains of childbirth in the recesses of
the female apartments. For the first time he had practised
economy in his enjoyments, and was now well repaid, for
his savings had borne high interest. There were two Eng-
lish lives to take where a fortnight ago there had been but
one. And then, having filled to overflowing the measure of
his guilt, he passed away like a thief in the night, and left
his wealth to the spoiler, and his halls to the owl and the
snake. A curse was on those glittering saloons and echoing
colonnades, on those dungeons conscious of crime, and
frescoed chambers blazoned with ineffable vice. That house
was full of silver and gold, neither was there any end of his
treasures. It was full of horses, neither was there any end
of his chariots. There he was given to pleasures. There he
dwelt carelessly. There he said in his heart, I am, and
none else beside me.' There ho said, None seeth me.'
There he trusted in his idols and in the multitude of his
sorceries, and in the great abundance of his enchantments
Therefore had evil come upon him, and he knew not
whence it had arisen. Therefore had mischief fallen upon
him, and he was not able to put it off. Now was it for him
to stand with his enchantments and his sorceries ; if so be
he might be able to profit; if so be he might prevail. Now
was it for the astrologers, the stargazers, the monthly
prognosticators, to stand up and save him from those things
which had come upon him. But they were as stubble, and
the fire did burn them ; and ho was wearied in the multi-
tude of their counsels. For the clay of the Lord was upon
him that was proud and lofty, and upon his high tower,
and his fenced wall, and upon all his pictures of desire. In
that day he cast his idols of silver and his idols of gold,
which he had made to himself to worship, to the moles
and to the bats ; and went into the clefts of the rocks, and
the tops of the ragged rocks. And they with whom ho had
laboured wandered every one to his quarter, and there was
none to Gave hina.—Trcrelyan's Cawnpore.