The Sun.
London, England, 1846-10-16 00:00:00

Month t Am

LONDON, FRIDAY, OCTOBER 16, 1846.

A decisive alteration has taken place in the beha-
viour of the belligerent powers in the southern por-
tion of North America. All the inuendos which
were recently promulgated respecting the likelihood
of a shameful compromise on the part of the Santa
Anna Administration, have, as we were throughout
fully convinced, and as we definitely intimated in our
last observations upon the Mexican warfare, proved
altogether fallacious. Those who were incapable of
recognising anything like magnanimity in the dis-
position of the new President, have been latterly most
officious in misrepresenting all the intentions of that
illustrious General. Some, indeed, so far indulged
their scepticism, as to insinuate that his military
future would be little better than sheer poltroonery ;
that his official proceedings would inevitably
be those of a time-serving hypocrite and
a profligate statesman ; and that altogether he
would fulfil their most malign anticipations by
evincing himself an ambitious and unprincipled ad-
venturer. We would by no means arrogate to our-
selves any especial gift of divination, or any super-
natural powers of prophecy ; we are not particularly
desirous of being regarded either as the panegyrist
or the apologist of the Mexican President, but we
are most solicitous that no precipitate deductions
should be drawn from the preliminary actions of a
popular champion at the very moment when he ad-
vances to rescue his countrymen from foreign domi-
nation, and especially at the very moment when
himself, his councils, and his native land,
are encompassed by an accumulation of diffi-
. culties. There is a candour and a simplicity
about the recent proclmations of SANTA ANNA which
are most propitious ; and we acknowledge ourselves
' to be the more disposed to regard his present conduct
with confidence, for two very particular considera-
tions—Firstly, because in SANTA ANNA, and in SANTA
ANNA alone, can the nationality of the Mexicans be
concentrated, and their physical energies so organised
as to afford any hope of their unconscientious in-
vaders being repelled beyond the frontier; and,
secondly, because we have so full a reliance upon the
political character of his race that we are assured he
would be hurled from authority, supposing he
attempted to perpetuate the dictatorship in his own
grasp after the present calamities of Mexico had been
nullified. The Mexicans are infinitely too fickle to
permit any individual to continue in the possession of
the supreme command longer than circumstances
would render such a continuance agreeable to them-
selves—no matter how magnificent might have been
the public services of that individual, or how systema-
tically he might have fabricated his Government.
It is the evil characteristics of the population of
Mexico, their partiality for indolence, the volatility
of their friendship, and their proverbial ingratitude
which form their surest preservative against any pro.
tracted despotism. It is the very possession of
those
disgraceful propensities which would impel the
citizens of the Mexican Republic to thrust any
individual from office immediately he had rescued
them from any dangerous predicament and
--we indications of unduly protracting his
domination. In the event of his then proving
an enemy to the freedom and regeneration of his
countrymen, SANTA ANNA will assuredly be rendered
II compulsory WASH/NGTON, or an unwilling CIN-
CINNATITS, by being compelled to retire to his estate
atMango de Clava ; or, presuming that his defection to

the national cause were of a remarkably flagrant cha-
racter, he would unquestionably be driven forth igno •
miniously to a second sojourn of a much longer con-
tinuance at Havanna. We are, consequently, satis-
fied that there is no extraordinary peril to the
integrity of the Mexican Republic in the recent ele-
vation of SANTA ANNA to the Presidency. On the
contrary, it is that very elevation, which some are now
regarding with such unmerited jealousy, which has
preserved the Republic from the perilous guardian-
ship of PAREDES, and promises to afford her citizens
both the opportunity and the capability of re-asserting
their independence.

From the intelligence which has just arrived by
the Royal Mail steamer the Cambria, and which in-
telligence wass detailed in our columns yesterday, we
might augur a most critical juncture for the invading
and repellent forces. The refusal of the mediation
tendered by the British Government, and the petulant
garbling of an unfortunate verb in the future tense,
accidentally uttered by Lord PALMERSTON, are suf-
ficient indications of the intense relish of the United
States for this aggressive war. Their behaviour to-
wards England in this particular is tantamount to an
expression of anxiety to " fight it out " quietly by
themselves. As to the proposition of a negotia-
tion with the plenipotentiaries of Mexico, it is a
species of impossible and inadmissible courtesy.
The conclusion of a peace with the United States at
this moment, when California is in the possession of
the Americans, and the frontiers are, to a consider-
able extent, violated, would be the virtual resignation
of Mexico to the rapacious and dictatorial policy of
Mr. President POLK. One gigantic slice of the
Mexican territories would be submissively ceded to
the assailants ; other fragments would inevitably
follow. The monster system of lawless annexation
would devour an independent principality piecemeal,
and nourish the cupidity of the American citizens.
SANTA ANNA has recognised the certainty of these
baneful consequences. The offer of a negotiation
has therefore been answered by a promise to submit
it to the consideration of the National Congress. Con-
sidering that Congress will not assemble until the
approaching December, this response is a decided
evasion of the proposal, and the result of that evasion
will be the prosecution of hostilities. In addition,
moreover, to all these significant evidences of the
disposition of the new administration, President SANTA.
ANNA has himself addressed the nation in language
of a most warlike and encouraging character. " Mexi-
cans," says he—
" My functions will cease when I have re-established
the nation in its rights ; when I see its destinies con •
trotted by its legitimate representatives, and when I may
be able, by the blessings of heaven, to lay at the fet t of the
national representation laurels plucked on the banks of the
Sabine."

That is neither language of pusillaminity or
braggadocio ; it is the voice of a patriotic leader
calling upon his people to arise and repulse their
antagonists !

Much of public comment has been already offered
upon the recent hostile correspondence between Mr.
JOHN O'CONNELL, M.P., and Mr. JOHN SHEA
LAWLOR, and which ended in the former having the
latter brought before a magistrate, who bound him
over to preserve the peace. This affair has not been
treated of with the gravity it deserves. A humorous
vein of ridicule is oftentimes the pleasantest and best
way of handling a subject, but then the matter should
be suitable for such a method of treatment. In the
present instance a most important public principle
was involved, and we deem Mr. J. O'CONNELL en-
titled to eulogy for the prompt, peaceable, and dig-
nified way in which he protected it. Mr. LAWLOR,
one of the seceders from the Repeal Association,
tenders his formal resignation in a letter fraught with
terms of the strongest reprobation towards those who
have zealously advocated moral force as the sole
lever upon which they would rely for the fulfilment
of their political wishes. This letter was designated
as having been " couched in terms of most unbecom-
ing discourtesy"—language, to our view, exceedingly
mild, when weighed in the balance with that which
evoked it. For this gentle rebuke Mr. Law Lou
plainly enough sought to make Mr. O'CONNELL per-
sonally responsible. The mischievous intent was at
once thwarted by an appeal to the protection of the
law. Of Mr. J. O'CONNELL'S personal prowess we
know nothing, but we certainly are not inclined to
underrate it because he has evinced a becoming moral
courage, and, fearless of pitiful taunts, has secured to
himself and others, under the sacred sanction of the
law, a due freedom of speech in the discharge of what
he considers to be momentous national duties, and in
which he is taking a conspicuous part. Suppose that
Mr. O'CoNNELL had played the game of his political
opponents, and, merging his public in his individual
feelings, had met Mr. LAWLOR in the field, what would
have been the immediate retort ? Why, that the leaders
at Conciliation Hall were not sincere in their advo-
cacy of moral force, inasmuch as where their per-
sonal prejudices, as opposed to their national ones,
were concerned, they readily enough addressed them-
selves to physical force for their vindication. Had
Mr. O'CONNELL acted otherwise, he would infallibly
have fallen into the very pit his enemies had dug for
him, and the consequences to Ireland at this particular
juncture, from the vice of so flagrant an example,
might have been disastrously great. It requires the
utmost vigilance, and the most fervent and incessant
appeals from all quarters, public and private, and
especially from Conciliation Hall, to which, from
the untoward condition of Ireland, the people of that
country have felt inclined, in a remarkable manner,
to yield the 'greatest measure of their confidence—
it requires absolute devotion on the part of the lovers
of peace, to restrain that excitable and suffering
population from bursting the bonds of social order.
Would it not then have been seriously to
jeopardize the almost miraculous success which has
hitherto attended the exertions of public men, if one,
who had taken an energetic part in enforcing the pro•
priety of preserving the public tranquillity in every
way, had proved himself such a hypocrite as to defy
the law for the gratification of another's private
animosity, after having solemnly adjured his country-
men to respect the law, how great soever might
be their public wrongs or privations ? We feel, there-
fore, that Mr. O'CONNELL has adopted a praiseworthy
course, and acted with far-seeing judgment. He
has opportunely in his own person combined example
with precept, and defeated the ungenerous and in-
sidious designs of his opponents. He has acted also
in unison with the enlightened spirit of the age.
Happily the crime of duelling is rapidly declining.
The most gallant heroes of the present day, naval and
mili'ary, as well as the most accomplished civilians
have alike joined in dem uncing such a barbarous
custom, so degrading a relic of bygone times. To
those men who practically repudiate the abhorrent
practice society at large has reason to feel grateful.
In no country so much as in Ireland has the perni-
cious habit of duelling prevailed ; in none, therefore,
will a wholesome example prove of greater service.
Above all, the public are interested in every pro-
tection against hostile proceedings being afforded
to those who are only threatened with them
because they honestly and freely express their opi-
nions upon a public document addressA to a body of
considerable political influence. The efficiency of all
our public institutions—the Parliament, the Bar, the
Church, the Press--depends upon the privilege of
freedom of speech. Their very vitality is identical
with its enjoyment, Least of any one, is Mr. Suns
LAWLOR justified in placing this requisite freedom
under unreasonable restraint, seeing that his own
letter bears ample testimony to its value, and we are
not aware that he has taken out a patent for the
exclusive use of strong and objurgatory language.
We think Mr. SHEA LAWLOR has been righteously
dealt with.

Letters from Trieste announce that the harvest on
the banks of the Danube aad on the shores of the
Black Sea has been excellent. "We have not," says
the writer of one of these letters, "to join the rest of
the world in deploring the scarcity of corn ; for a
letter of the 19th ult. from Galatz, states that 700
vessels have left the Bosphorus with a favourable
wind from the south, bound for the ports of the Black
Sea and the Danube. The quantity of corn in store
is so great that a sufficient number of transports can-
not be found, although they have everywhere been
sought for."

_„
Thi Provisional Go
_____
Government of Geneva has entered
on the execution of its duties, and everything con-
tinues tranquil in the canton. On the 11th the Pro.
visional Government declared that the Grand Council