The Sun.
London, England, 1846-04-17 00:00:00

hater of I I arley, the sceptical pbilosopberfromtb e bigoted
Tory. The fact was thar, in continental phratif ,ology, lie
was not a man but a system—not a monad but.. a dualinn
Mr. Polk is the same. The planter of Tennessee is • one thing
the President of the Unit. d States another. Greaser
than Brutus, who merge d the fatter in the in agistrate,
he can effect an isolation of his own presidentia. ' self. So
doing, be is the greatest public character of • modern
times—Sheridan's Governor of the Tower only e xcepted.
The realities of the question in its present s tate are
peaceful. Mr. Webster is committed to the 49;i,1 t degree,
but allows himself a large margin. An Islay, dor inlet
more or less, and the permanent or temporary nt,-;eigation
of the Columbia, he thinks of 1. ss importance t ban the
preservation of peace. And that rightly. Up, m the
great sine gm:2 non, the absolute abandonment of all parts
north of 49, he insists. N vertheless, his policy is ra ether
the sine die policy of Mr. Calhoun than aught defini
The message of the Presid lit, in answer to the Se nate
upon the extent to which the defences of the Repu bile
should be increased, is general and indefinite —ruc b a
one as Polonius woald have given in I)enma tk.
Mr. Sevier's speech is a good no asore of the re-acti of
from the patriotism of the whole Oregon men.
POST.—Our libellers used to say that the way t,y
Briton's heart was through his breaches p ekct. If
are to believe Atneticans, the readiest way of corrupt ing
an American is by the gratification of his palate. W hat
a notion ! Here is Lord Pnlmerston eating and drinkirz
with every public man in Paris, in order to prevent OA,
accesdon of a Whig Ministry to office being the sigi al
of an European war ! And 'here is Mr. Pakenbaun try— ;

ing to gulf the United States out of the Oregon territory-
by feasting Senators at the British Embassy in Wash—
ington. Esau sold his heritage for a mess of potage,
but your senators of Congrtss, we are told by your
United States " patriots," expect something better as
the price of their perfidy. Just mark the Message of
the President, intelligence of which was brought us by
the newly arrived mail from Boston V. hat is his Ex-
cellency's answer? Simply that the United States must
arm because Britain is aiming, and because he, the Pre-
sident, in his wisdom, chooses to fancy that possibly the
arming of Great Britain may have reletence to a source
of difference now op,n between her and the United
States I Now this we should call admirable fooling, if
we did not beliese it to be something wi)rse. The tacts,
as Far as our own country is concerned, are
__.

torious. First, we are not making, as the Presi;ieni says,
unusual and ordinary armaments and warlike prepara—
tions.' We are certainly in some degrte increasing the
strength of our army, at present insufficient to furnish
proper relief to such of our troops as are engaged in co-
lonial duty. We have large colonies, too long neglected,
to attend to, and we are now beginning to attend to
them. We have a prospect of prolonged hostilites in
our Asiatic dominions, or at the very least a necessity
for the presence for some time of a powerful force in

those countries. We are not willing that the improve-
ment of the marine strength of other European countries
should enable them to wrest from us the maritime supre-
macy we have fur two hundred years possessed; and
therefore warily are we looking after our navy. The
defences of our coast, reared at great cost, have by cul-
pable negligence been stiff, red to sink into shameful
decay, and these we are now restoring. The doing of
such things alarms the President of the United States,
and he consid, rs that the doing of such things authce
rises his assuring the Senate that " the foreign relations"
of the United States require at this time an increase of
" the naval" and " military force." " Truth," says the
Jewish proverb, " walks on two feet—a lie limps whir
one." We never met with a lamer assertion than this of
King Polk. Of course the convention was intended °pi),
as a temporary expedient, and, of course, a permanent
arrangement ought, ere now, to have hen effected. It
is, how.:,ver, a fact that this has not been effected; and
we say it is "to be regarded as a warlike measure,"
this proposed termination of the convention, anterior to
arrangements available to the same end. Are we to be
bullied into an abandonment of the country? We think
this is the English of it, and the American too.

HERALD.--V4e published yester, ay, and repeat to-
day. the most important peas that has yet reached this
country from America since the date of the notorious
Message. Sir R. Peel's cloud in the west, despite of the
advantages which the ruin of our North American colo-
nies must offer, is beginning to assume a darker and
more angry character. We do not deny that there are
symptoms of wavering exhibited by Mr. Polk's late
Message, warlike though it be in terms ; but, owing in
part to the vacillating policy of the British Government,
partly to the extravagant pretensions of the American
war faction, the affair has become so entangled as to
leave !deader hopes ef a peaceful adjustment of the dis-
pute, except, indeed, by an unqualified retractation of
Mr. Polk's claim, an event which can hardly be ex-
pected. Mr. Polk and his party, by their bluster and
absurd pretensions, have, we lear,*conaruitted America to
adopting a certain course ; and though the bullies them-
selves may be rendered manageable enough, the honest
and patriotic portion of the people will be disinclined to
allow any compromise of the national honour. We would
fain hope, however, that the American people, as dis-
tinguished from tkie Government, wilt not fel them-
selves bound to support the extravagance of the
President ; and we are glad to find from the debate
in the Senate, that a sense of justice is seemingly
beginning to resume its sway over th., public
America. A very short time since the more moderate
of the Ministerialists fixed the line of partition at the
parallel 54 40 ; but Mr. Haywood, Mr. Archer, and Mr.
Sevier are now content to limit the American title to
all south of parallel 49. This is, doubtless, a good be-
ginning, but it remains to be seen whether the President,
before war actually thunders at his doors, will have the
sense to follow the wholesome example that has been
set. We must not omit to mention the proposal of Mr.
Welsster (ever the friend of peace, when it can be ho-
nourably maintained) to constitute parallel 49 the divi-
sional line, leaving the navigation of the Columbia laver
open t ► both countries for a limited period, in order to
give time for the final adjustment of the adverse claims.
Should this plan be adopted, it would probably avert
hostilities for the present. Meanwhile we cannot dis •
guise from ourselves that the main guarantee which we
null fur the peaceful disposition of America is her in-
ability, or at least her present unfitness, to go to war.
The President has recommended an addition to the na-
val and military strength of the country, and the esti.
mates for making the addilioa to the navy contemplated
are very considerable. Au outlay of 30,000,000 of del-

lars will be required for putting- the navy alone in a
condition to meet the contingency of war. This esti-
mate, we think, affords c.igent reasons, and such as are
appreciable by the American people, for avoiding, or at
least deferring war until Sir R. Peel shall have supplied
them with British gold in exchange for their super-
fluous corn. Upon the whole, however, war seems less
likely than heretofore.
DAILY NEWS.—Last week we were all at peace.
_ _ _ _ _

Mr. Polk's dear friend, Mr. 1 leywood was denouncing
the frenzied fools who would have 54.40., and who d& -
d the President tied to it, This week we hear Mr.
Polk himself dispatching a very warlike message to the
Senate ; at least, a message insistieg on the nec, ssity of
very warlike preparations. And we hear of greater
fluctuation and more depressed prices in the money
market, and of anxiety on both sides of the Channel.
We do not, however, find anything very menacing or
formidable in Mr. Polk's note of war. On the contrary,
we see much in ii that is calculated to contribute to
peace. As a preparation for actual and immediate war,
the idea of edopting the plan of the American Secre •
tary of the Navy for building future fleets is quite
burlesque ; and whether the frigates are to be increased
from ten to forty, and the war steamers from two
to the tame witching number of forty, is a matter of
consideration for 1849, nst for the present summer of
1846. We cannot but do Mr. Polk the justice to say,
that however he may have attempted to intimidate us
by big words in this dispute, he nas not had recourse
to any more serious or more material species of inti-
midation. His policy seems to have been to wring
the most from us at the least possible expense. He an-
nexed Texas, scarcely fitting out a ship. And he has
conquered the better half of the Oregon without raising
a regiment. He has relied on our horror of war to
make us retreat to the utmost limits which honour ano
unambitious interests permit; and he has not failed; f,r
the opinions of the English public have been driven to
approve of concessions, which a year ago opinion wool,•
not have s.,nctioned. The 49th cl,gree is now the er)
on both sides of the Atlantic, and if we insist that it
should continue throuzli the straits, not through Van-
couver's Island, the Americans cannot make mulch ditli•
culty. The Columbia river remains, as we always de-
clared it to be, the true stumbling-block. If we give up
both banks of the Columbia, we must give up the final
right to trade. It would be preposterous making such
stipulation with such a people its the Americans. On
the whole, we see nothing in the President's late Mes
sage to warrant the conclusion that he is disinclined to a
compromise and to negotiate on the terms of the 49th
degree of latitude. His warlike estimates we therefore
cannot consider as directed against the people or the
Government of this country. They are rather drawn up
ilnnatriem
array against
ainst political foes on his own side of the At-
a of whom seem indifferent to war or peace.
excipt as they can be made subservient to party intrigues
and personal ambition.

The Duke of 1) vonshire, and a family circle, are on
a visit to the Earl and Countess Granville, at Aldenham-park.
'FRE LATE F
ATAL ACCIDENT AT HUNGE:IFORD PIER.
—Wednesday afternoon an inquest was held at the Griffin,
Villiers-greet, Strand, before Mr. Bedford, Coroner for West-
minster, and sixteen jurors, on view of the body of John
Fowell, aged 41, late cook at Simpson's Tavern, Curnhill, one
of the unfortunate persons drowned by the falling of the
platform at Hungerford Pier on Saturday last. Mr. Fled-
gate, solicitor to the Hungerford-market Company; Mr.
Shaw, from the office of Mr. Curi is, solicitor to the Charing--
cross Bridge Company ; and a gentleman from the office of
Mr. Gasgrove, solicitor to the widow of deceased, were pre-
sent to watch the proceedings. The jury, having been
sworn, repaired to view the body, which lay at St. Martin's
workhouse, and afterwards to inspect the floating barges or
pier at Hungerford, and also the flat or platform from which
the staple was drawn and chain disconnecter!, which caused
the flat which connected the two barges to shill, and throw
deceased and others into the river. The jury having made a
close inspection, after the absence of nearly an hour returned
and heard the evidence. The Coroner summed up at eight
o'clock, and the jury. after upwards of one hour's delibera-
tion, returned the *following verdict:—" We find that the
deceased John Fowell met his death accidentally, owing to
the imperfect construction of the connecting platform of
the
two floating barges forming part of the Ilungerford Pier, with
a deodand of 501. on the said conneding platform.
action
Court, a case of mistaken identity
i
MISTAKEN IDENTITY.—W, s Tay, in theSn'e"cardaries
bill of costs.
brought by an attorney against a ha for kes
Two witnesses, called for the P
lie defendant on seve-
countaot ), stated that they had
seersnon in court whom the
ral occasions, and pointed out
,a
hePewrson so pointed out stated
lallialkittirf (a clerk and an ac-
stated to be the defendant.
tine defendant The defendant
id both the witnesses 10T the
ouiliefurismoaadtehhtilsmatppheeaiwaanscie:ot
plaiutitfackoowledged tiheatt,a,:,tehne)•
;ihreadparnitiiest4LkoennThere was no simil:.rtt} e the party.baia.
headed and the oi it, r had plenty if hair. One of the wit-
nesses stated that he bad seen the defendant twice, and the
other four times. The jury found for the plaintiff.