The Sun.
London, England, 1869-04-13 00:00:00

THE SPANISH CROWN.

Not only has Dom Fernando decisively rejected the
crown of Spain, but he seems to have taken special
pleasure in making his refusal as brusque as possible. It
is not pleasant for a nation to have the offer of its crown
thrown in its face, and the Spaniards are naturally very
wroth with the Portuguese prince. Amongst the people
the excitement is intense. For the Government, the
blunder threatens to end seriously. The Etendard con-
fidently asserted, in fact, that a Bourbon restoration was
talked of. Queen Isabella's son was to become king,witha
regency. The Liberte, however, denies all this. More than
everisarestorationofthefallendynastyimpossible. But the
situation is not the less grave. There is a general outcry
against offering the crown to any foreign prince after this
humiliating rejection. There are no signs that it is likely
to be offered to the Duke of Montpensier, who would
certainly accept it, and the Liberte thinks a republic
looms in the distance.

CLOSE OF THE AMERICAN CONGRESS.
The session of Congress terminated on Saturday. The
House of Representatives, by the large majority of 98 to
25, has declared the sympathy of the nation with the
Cuban insurgents, and has promised its support to the
President whenever he shall think it right to recognise
their independence. The House of Representatives inay
congratulate itself upon having deliberately done an act
of incomparable political impudence. It is, indeed, by no
means uncommon for nations to sympathise with rebellion
in other countries, and yet resent all sympathy
with rebellion in their own. The English are
by no means guiltless of this inconsistency. But to
complain of our recognitiOn of Confederate belligerency as
a wrong for which atonement is all but impossible, to
refuse liberal concessions on our part because they are
not sufficiently servile, and yet to express sympathy with
Cuba whilst declaring that our implied sympathy with
the South is irreparable. is without parallel. The Alabama
treaty has not been considered.

THE INSURRECTION IN CUBA.
The Moniteur states that the news from llavann% is
decidedly bad. The Spanish troops occupy the cities, and
the sea-coast ; but the insurrection prevails throughout
the interior. General Dulce wants more cavalry and
artillery. It is believed that he will be replaced, and
that a third general, Caballero do itodas, will try his
fortune. Some doubt has been recently expressed touch-
ing the real magnitude of this revolt in Cuba ; but it is
clear that the rising, even if not so successful as the
onitiur alleges, is yet of a very serious character.

THE BELGIAN RAILWAY DIFFICULTY.
The official journals of Paris announce the speedy return
of M. Frbre-Orban to Brussels. Unfortunately, however,
he is not about to leave Paris because his business is
finished. He has been unable to come to terms with the
French Government, and be is about to return to Brussels,
says the Temps, to consult with his sovereign respecting
this yet unsolved problem. The position remains unal-
tered. The French Government desires the ratification
of the conventions with the East of France Company ;
the Belgian Government still declines to concede so

THE" SATURDAY REVIEW" ON AMERICA

(From the Anglo-American Times.)

The Saturday Review is remarkable for the bit-
terness with which it writes on America. The cause-
less hatred of America towards England is gene-
rally dwelt on in any article on the United States.
Of course, those who rely on what it writes believe
that all Americans hate England, and desire that na-

tion's humiliation, for which no effortof the Republic
would be wanting if the opportunity offered. Per-
haps no one in England reads the American press
more than the editor of this paper ; it is his busi-
ness to do so; and it is not for mere pleasure that
he wades through journals falling thickly around
him as snow flakes in a winter's storm. This read-
ing is certainly in a measure confined to leading
American papers as it is to leading English papers,
and he has no hesitation is asserting that, with the
exception perhaps of the New York Herald, the
bitterness of dislike expressed by the Saturday Re-
view and the Pall Mall Gazette for America has but
few parallels, on the other side of the Atlantic, to-
wards England. Both these London papers are
said to represent the same class, and the only con-
clusion at which Americans can arrive is that this
class is most inimical to their country. The untruth of
the statement, however, so constantly repeated by
the Saturday Review, would be at once seen if its
readers had the opportunity of looking through
files of American papers, or if they paid a visit to
the country, That there is a good deal of national
jealousy we admit ; that there is considerable sore-
ness about England's conduct during the war is
true ; but that Americans so hate England and ear-
nestly desire her humiliation, as represented by the
Saturday Review, is false. We wish we could be-
lieve the statement was equally false that that sec-
tion of English society which supports the Saturday
heview hates the Republic, but we fear it is unde-
niably true that this dislike exists. The Saturday
Review is not unlike the drunken man who asserts
that his companion is intoxicated. Hating the
Republic itself, and writing for those who hate it,
it never ceases to declare the hatred of America
towards England. What is the motive ?—for
although its readers may not know, the Review can
scarcely fail to know the falseness of these assertions.
Americans oppose to the death oligarchies, and the
Government of England was once that of an oli-
garchy, a form it has been but slowly losing ; hence
it was natural for a Government of the people
to oppose the Government of a class. Bath the
Revolutionary war, and that which followed in 1812,
were the work of this oligarchy. The people control
now ; and, worse still, the Republic has been steadily
" Americanizing" England, a word which makes the
hair of an old Tory curl with horror, though a
propagandism connected rather with love than with
hatred ; but the ideas of the Republic are even more
difficult to combat than its arms, and it is not sur-
prising that those who see their class privileges invaded
should hate the country whenc3 emanate these re-
volutionarydoctrines, not in a merely political way,
but socially. We can then perceive why the Saturday
Review and its readers should bitterly dislike Ame-
rica, should jeer at it, misrepresent it, and endea-
vour to sow the se•As of dissension. It may dis-
cuss it as unfashionable ; something vulgar, illite-
rate ; gross in manner, in taste ; grotesque, when it
apes gentility, and endeavours to spend the money
it has accumulated in " shoddy contracts, and in
striking 'ile." But it must be gall and worm-
wood to perceive how ineffectual such efforts are.
The Republic is walking out of the rank of
first-class powers with a swiftness that appals
them ; and they scarcely know whether to com-
bine against it, or to fall down on their knees
to ask its forgiveness, and alliance. With the spite
is mixed this dread in the Saturday Review class,
which make a strange combination. We desire em-
phatlcally to deny that the Republic hates Eng-
land ; the aversion of native Americans is much
more towards Ireland. Politically, they may sup-
port the Irish in their demand for redress of griev-
ances, and may talk in a strain of highfaluten,
about " our Irish fellow-citizens ;" but socially
England is regarded with respect, in the hearts of
many, even with love and veneration ; and to old
New England families it must be painful to. read
the untruthful assertions of the Saturday Review.