The Sun.
London, England, 1853-10-14 00:00:00

~.....
fer Mammon to both. Idolatry, like statuary, is an
affair of taste, but Milton, who seems to know as much
about devils as you do, tells us that Mammon was the
basest and meanest of all.
" You quote the opinion of Lord John Russell, that
the last war was unnecessary. It was not undertaken
until the French Government had proclaimed war upon
every crowned head in Europe ; and they who were
loyal urged their Sovereigns to reply to these manifestoes
with grape shot—the only arguments with which revo-
lutionists should be treated. The Whigs said it was not
necessary, merely as every faction not in power takes
the opposite side of every question from the one that is;
but when they came into office, although they had co-
quetted with treason and palliated sedition (as they have
ever since continued to do, whenever by so doing they
could strengthen themselves), they were not one whit
less alive to the true safety and honour of the country
under Mr. Fox and Lord Grey than their predecesors
bad been under Mr. Pitt.
"It requires matchless impudence to speak of the de-
fenceless state of this country, and the sense of its dan-
ger, to which the people were with difficulty awakened,
as ' absurd and fabulous tales, for which there was not
even a shadow of foundation.' The President of the
French Republic had reiterated assertions, with oaths,
that he would preserve the Republic entire ; it has
been since manifested that at the very moment he
was making those a s 3ertioni he was plotting to seize upon
the Government and make himself Emperor. Yet on
this man's truth and professions of peace, you advise us
to rely in lamblike security ! He made no secret of say-
ing that he would, at a proper time, invade this country.
A plan for its invasion was given in to him while he was
President of the Republic, which he would not look at
then, because he had other business in hand. After he
was Emperor he referred that plan of invasion to his
Ministers, who replied that the plan was good, if it had
been carried into effect at the time, but now that the
English were roused, and their military spirit awakened,
as had been proved by the calling out of their militia,
the time had gone by. He himself proposed a plan for
the repartition of Europe, which was put an end to
solely by the Emperor of Russia. Louis Napoleon has
raised the largest number of screw war-ships that France
ever possessed, which cannot be to protect its colonies
and commerce, because it has none. He has been long
practising his troops in embarking and disembarking by
night, which cannot be for going to Vienna, Rome, or
St. Petersburgh, and which can be solely for a descent
on our shores. The French people prefer glory to gain,
hate the English with a perfect hatred, and long to re-
venge their defeat at Waterloo. ' While such facts as
these stare us in the face, who shall say there is no need'
of common sense to hold up to scorn and derision that
party in this country which ' excites public opinion' to
meet such dangers by a conference for peace ?
" You state that ' the flower and strength of Euro-
pean manhood is living in coerced idleness at the ex-
pense of the rest of the community, in order that they
(
may be ready to fight :' it would be more true if you
had said, in order that the rest of the community may
be able to spin cotton and grow corn in quiet.
" Agreeably to the cant of the age, you try to mix
up some fragments of Holy Writ to sanctify your folly ;
and, imagining that you are to be the means of intro-
ducing the millennium, you ask 'if there is nothing
which Christian men can do' towards that end ? You
want a universal peace without the Prince of Peace ;
you want the world more quiet, that men may be left
more undisturbed in the enjoyment of selfish gratifica-
tion ; and you think that no one can penetrate the dark-
ness in which you have enveloped history, both sacred
and profane. Yes ; you can do something to bring
about universal peace. Join together to beseech the
Prince of Peace to come again, as He has promised to
do, in the same way as that in which he was seen to go,
and He will come and bring Peace with him ; but with-
out him ye shall do nothing.
" At this moment every Sovereign in Continental
Europe has usurped over the rights of their nobles and
of their people ; the Emperors of Russia and Austria,
the Pope and his priests, the King of Naples, and all
the minor absolute German Princes. For this usurpa-
tion the people are vowing vengeance ; and from Eng-
land their leaders have issued proclamations calling on
all subjects not to war with each other, but to unite in
warring on all the reigning families, and put them to
death. If you have any honesty and sincerity among
you, transfer your conference to Moscow, Vienna, or
Constantinople, in all of which I can venture, though
unauthorised, to promise you a reception much more
consonant with your deserts than the urbanity of the
Scotch is likely to give you in Edinburgh ; and when
the inhabitants of that city, and of Manchester, have
been brought to dismiss their magistrates and police,
and to rely upon the pacific disposition of the rabble in
those towns, it will be time enough to begin to think
about what may be done with the rest of Europe.—l
am, Sir, your obedient servant,
" HENRY DRUMMOND.
" Rev. H. Richard, 19, New Broad-street."