The Sun.
London, England, 1870-12-28 00:00:00

AMERICA AND ENGLAND.

There is a talk of war with England. The very sug-
gestion is a crime. God forbid that we should do such
wickedness ! The two nations are friends ; they have no
such disagreement as needs to be settled in blood ; let
them forbear to quarrel ; one hemisphere at war is;
enough at a time. What are the pretexts for this;
hostility? They are twofold : first, the settlement of the.
Alabama claims • second, the reanimation of the Re-
publican party. 'Now, to go to war to settle the Ala-
bama claims would be to spend on the war a thousand
times more than the losses which we compute in those
claims ; and even then there would be no certainty of our
success, but an equal chance of our failure. What would
you say of a merchant who, losing a dollar in the sea,
should spend a thousand in trying to get it back again?
This is exactly what would come of our going to war with
Great Britain to settle the Alabama claims. Each nation
would suffer a great loss, and neither get any gain. But,
wicked as would be a war for such a purpose, yet still
more wicked would be a war incited merely in the
interest of a political party. Undoubtedly if President
Grant could embroil the country in a foreign war,
he would consolidate the great mass of the American
people into an Administration party to see it fought
through. We are a warlike race. There is a great deal
of human nature in the American blood. " I never hear
a drum beat," says Uncle Toby, but my heart beats
with it." And so says young America. An infant
among nations, he is nevertheless a giant among heroes.
Nothing can daunt him. He is ready to shoulder a
musket at any time. General Butler knows that our
national military spirit is a popular nerve to play on,
and he touches it to the quick. We all run to a
fire. There is a fascination about it which is irresistible.
General Butler wants to kindle a fire which shall bring all
his fellow-countrymen, pell-mell in a flock, to the support
of the Administration. Once get a war fairly on foot, and
it subdues all opposing party opinions. The Mexican war
was unpopular until the guns began to fire ; and then.
everybody said, " Our country, right or wrong." The'
Crimean war was unpopular ; but even John Bright,
yielded to the necessity which made all Englishmen,
whether statesmen or peasants, help forward a war which
in their hearts they opposed. The French war against
Prussia was against the wish of the Legislative Chamber
until the army was in the field, on its way to defeat ; and
then the whole heart of the nation beat with pas-
sionate zeal for the victory which Providence
still withholds. An American war with England
is a measure odious and dreadful to contem-
plate ; but once let hostilities begin, and let the party
in power appepl to the country for support and the great
body of the people, both Republican and Democratic,
would unite in sustaining the Government with money
and votes. But what shall we say of the moral quality of
a proposition to involve a nation in war in order that a
political party may win a victory ? The peace of nations
is too sacred a thing to be set aflame for the sake of light-
ing the torch of a political campaign. We cannot consent
thus to give up to party what was meant for mankind. Better
let the Republican party be defeated for lack of an issuer
rather than it should kindle the fire of war in order for
Oise itself together. But we do not think the danger is
imminent. It will be a war only of words, not blows.
Certainly it would be a strange commentary on the insta-
bility of human affairs if a President who at the begin-
nincr of his term said, "Let us have peace," should at the
end it say, " Let us have war." No. We should be
happy to oblige our friend, General Butler, in anything:
reasonable, but we cannot vote him a war. Besides, we
know that a war with England has for many years been
one of his weaknesses. He talked of it very freely when
he was military justice of the peace here in New York
City. Long ago he would have liked to sail an army over
to Ireland, to burn his ships behind him, and to raise the
American flag in the eyes of the people who hate the
banner of England. General Butler will never die con-
tent till he has lived long enough to see a war with Great
Britain. But we hope that, like the good prophets of old
(and this is the only respect in which he has any hope to
resemble them) ho will " die without the sight! "—New
York Independent.

The insurgent natives in New Zealand are now
giving but comparatively little trouble.
The Duke of Devonshire has been entertainiqg at
Chatsworth, during the past week, the following party :
—The Marquis of Hartington, M.P., the Marchioness of
Bath and the Hon. Miss Vesey, the Earl and Countess A
Dalkeith, the Earl and Countess Brownlow, the Earl and
Countess of Listowel, the Earl of Clanwilliam, Lord
Ronald Gower, Captain the Hon. E. Primrose, Mr. Cal-
craft, Mr. Lascelles, &c.

THE WEATHER IN S C TLAND. —A. snowstorm
which began on Wednesday still continues. The frost
has been very keen, and for the hale and strong, who
enjoy out-door exercise, the weather of the past few days
has been bracing and agreeable. On Friday, in the out-
skirts of Glasgow, the thermometer stood at 30 degrees in
the sun, the mean temperature being 21 degrees, and the
minimum 12. On Saturday the maximum reading was
23 degrees, the mean 16, and the minimum only 11 degrees.
Sunday was still colder, and there was a slight addition
to the snowfall of the previous days. The various lochs
and ponds in the neighbourhood of Glasgow are now
frozen over, and on Saturday curlers and skaters enjoyed
some excellent sport.

THE IRISH CHURCH.—The' Diocesan Synod of
Ardagh have determined to raise a fund for the separate
endowment of Elphin and Ardagh as a bishopric, the
duty of the three united dioceses being too heavy for one
bishop. The Dean of Ardagh and the Archdeacon have
each given £l,OOO, and Mr. Johnston, of Rathcline,
£2OO. Other subscriptions are promised. It will re-
quire £6,000 to endow the bishopric. In the Synod of
Clogher, Mr. Dane proposed a resolution declaring that
it is the duty of the General Synod to take prompt
measures to " stump out" every tendency to Ritualism.
It provoked some animated discussion, and the Lord
Primate, who presided, considered it dangerous. It was
shelved for a short time by a count out, but on the house
re-assembling Mr. Dane brought it forward again. Even-
tually a resolution generally condemning all Ritualistic
practices was adopted.

ACCIDENT ON THE ICE.—On Sunday, a few
minutes before mid-day, a most melancholy accident
occurred to a man named Thomas Young, while he was
skating on the river Wear at Durham. On Sunday morn-
ing the bosom of the river presented a continuous sheet
of ice, in some places about four inches thick, from the
Baths-bridge down to the place where a small stream
which flows through the flat country near Old Durham
Colliery, enters the river on the east side near the
end of Pelaw Wood. A few persons, principally lads,
were on the ice during the forenoon, among them
being Thomas Young, residing in Gilesgate, and
employed at the foundry of Mr. J. Chisman, Elvet-bridge.
Young had got on to the ice near the Baths bridge, and
had skated along the racecourse side, round the bend
below the Ash Tree. On coming near the mouth of the
stream referred to he was seen by some lads on
the north side to cross towards the southern
shore, avoiding the mouth of the burn. When
a short way across he was seen to flounder as if the ice
was giving way with him, and while struggling he was
seen to snatch at his hat, which had fallen on to the
ice, and the next moment he fell over the edge of the
sheet into the water a little above the mouth of the
stream, and then sank to rise no more, being apparently
sucked in beneath the main sheet of ice. The lads, on
seeing the unfortunate man disappear, shouted for help.
The necessary assistance having been procured, every
effort was made for the recovery of the body, but up
to last night not the slightest trace of it had been ob-
tained. The unfortunate man Young was about 30 years
of age, and leaves a wife and two young children. —New.
castle Chronicle.

THE "SkTUItDAY REVIEW" AND THE "NEW YORK
lIERALD.—The New York Herald says of its " interview "
with the Emperor Napoleon—ln another place in this
day's Herald will be found a not unreadable article from
the London Saturday Review. As will be seen, the reviewer
is in trouble about our astounding enterprise. A corres-
pondent of ours some days ago had the good fortune to
obtain an interview with the fallen Emperor at Wilhelm-
shohe. On a subsequent day he interviewed Marshal
Bazaine. The leading London papers are not unwilling
to make use of the results of our enterprise. It is a
novelty, the writer thinks, " for news from France or Ger-
many to reach us by way of New York." It is not the
first time the Saturday Review has been astonished by our
enterprise, nor is it the first time we have said that if the
lleviewers only had patience they should behold greater
wonders than even these. This other surprise has come.
Others will follow. We are not at all without the hope
that we shall yet be able to review an English Prime
Minister in London, and transmit the interview from New
York to London for the benefit of the British people. If the
British newspapers do not perform their work more satis-
factorily it may be our duty to perform it for them.

BREAKFAST'.—EPPS'I3 COCOA.- -GRATEFUL AND COM-
FODTING.—The very agreeable character of this preparation has
rendered it a general favourite. The Civil Service Gazette re
;narks :—" By a thorough knowledge of the natural laws which
govern the operations of digestion and nutrition, and by a
crreful application of the fine properties of well-selected cocoa.
Mr. Epps has provided our breakfast tables with a delicately
flavoured beverage which quay save us many heavy doctors'
bills." Each packet is labelled—JAMES Epps & Co., Homoeo-
pathic Chemists. London. Also, makers of Epps's Caeaoine, a
very thin evening beverage.—Advt.