The Sun.
London, England, 1869-05-25 00:00:00

SPIRIT OP

a JOURNALS,

The Times, in remarking on the presence of the Heir-
Apparent among the leading members of the Royal Geo•
graphical Society, says that the Prince of Wales has but
followed a true English instinct in taking his share in the
travels of the race, and joining the fellowship of explorers.
It is not an inappropriate concidence that a Danish
princess should be the companion of the first English
prince who for several hundred years has gone beyond the
prescribed routine of travel. Indeed, as Sir Roderick
Murchison said, he is the most widely-travelled heir.
apparent of whom we have any record in British history.
An English king has been a Crusader, but a voyage
of exploration up the Nile has probably never entered
the mind of any former prince or sovereign. The
Prince attributes to the late Prince Consort the happy
idea that he should take advantage of these modern facili-
ties ; but the lesson must have fallen in a congenial mind,
and the Prince will win not a little applause from English-
men by this evidence of his sympathy with one of their
great national pursuits. It was stated on Monday that the
appointment of Sir Samuel Baker to his present important
undertaking is in a great degree due to the personal repre-
sentations of the Prince of Wales. This is the kind of
service which a prince can render to his country and to
civilisation, and towards which no other influence can be
equally effectual. A great deal depends upon the issue of
this first experiment. Should it fail, our hopes of the
development of Africa would be checked for years. It will
be long before we can hope for equally propitious cir-
cumstances. On the other hand, should it succeed at
the outset, we see no reason, with the advantages now
secured by science, why a permanent outpost of civilisa-
tion should not be maintained in the heart of Africa, from
which the country may gradually he brought within the
realm of civilised life. When communications are once
opened and fixed posts established, it will probably not be
difficult to protect or to supply them, and it may be hoped
that the trade would in time be worth the cost. At all
events, the Viceroy of Egypt will deserve the credit of
having initiated an expedition of geographical discovery
on a princely scale, and with the most honourable objects.
The Prince of Wales will share the honour, and the Geo-
graphical Society may justly be proud of having furnished
the chief impulse to such an enterprise.
The Standard says that the latest word of the Americans
is peace, but it may be described as peace with avengear ce.
With a rare consideration for the interests of humanity
and of civilisation they declare that, though they have a
just complaint against us, and ought to be ♦ery angry,
they intend to dissemble. Their ambassador is to come,
if not actually with a healing message, at least with no
unkind proposals. They have suffered grievous wrong at
our hands. They charge us with the whole cost of their
civil war. They insist that we ought to pay their bill of
expenses incurred in creating an empire out of a collection
of States. They lay their damages at a sum which,
if it bas been rightly assessed, presumes that we
have inflicted upon them an injury greater than
any nation ever yet committed upon a neigh-
bour. Still, they are disposed to renew their friend-
ship with us. They will "let the matter drop" for
the present season. They declare that they can afford
to wait—that it is to their interest to wait for some future
opportunity of pressing their claims. In the meantime,
if we may believe their chief organs of opinion, Mr.
Motley will be instructed to "do nothing, and to say as
little as possible." But to suppose that England will
consent to postpone the matter until it is convenient for
the Americans to press it is an insult to the national intel-
ligence, which is in itself a very bad preparative to
friendship. Mr. Sumner's claim, if good in equity, in
international law, even by that indefinite and somewhat
vague rule of conduct called the " comity of nations," is
as good now as it will be twenty years hence. If it is
seriously made, we cannot permit it to remain in suspense,
at the pleasure of thee nation which assumes to be our
creditor. It is indispensable, before any further steps are
taken in the renewal of friendly relations between the two
countries, that we should be informed precisely whether

this is a claim which the Americans intend to press or
not ; and it is premature to talk of peace before we have
come to a clear understanding on this point.
The Daily News points out that the magistrates of the
county of Westmeath have been sitting as a Committee of
Public Safety, not so much for the purpose of acting them-
selves as of recommending a course of action to the
Government. They suggest that the law which authorises
public compensation for injury to property should be
extended to injuries to the person ; that such com-
pensation should be levied by a house tax ; that
a detective police should be formed and paid by a
similar levy on the disturbed district ; sand that the
Habeas Corpus Act should be permanently suspended,
and power given to the Executive to search suspected
houses, and arrest and imprison suspected parties
in any district where an outrage has occurred. These
are, at any rate, strong measures, and it is not
impossible to trace in them the influence of panic.
The question for us, however, is whether the measures
proposed are the wisest for the purpose. No doubt the
great powers the magistrates ask for the Irish Executive
would be wisely used, and great benefit might result from
their use. But are such powers needful ? It is
quite natural that the alarmed classes should ask

them, for disorder always provokes a reaction towards
repressive order. But the permanent suspension of the

Habeas Corpus Act is despotism, and we are not prepared
. _ _ _

_ .
on this side of the water to abolish Irish freedom in order
to cure the lccal disorders of Irish society. Nor is the

kindred suggestion, to allow the Executive to authorise

search and arrest, on requisition from the magistrates of a

district, much more admissible. It is exactly. the kind of

engine panic asks for, and is the kind with which panic
does its worst mischiefs. The other suggestions are more

feasible.

The Telegraph declares that the " levelling down" which
the Turf is now undergoing looks as if it would know
neither pause nor abatement, and in some respects it has

no hesitation in saying that the prospects of the Turf are

bhp rev ova. a TinDeful. These and many other similar
reflections lead it to the conclusion tnat nvAt,
meeting at the Jockey Club, coinciding as it will with the
feverish .excitement of a Derby week, cannot but be

pregnant with momentous results to the future of the.

Turf.

It is difficult to persuade men who judge by

externals merely, and who will tell us that never was

there such a mighty concourse of humanity assembled
upon Epsom Downs as this Derby will exhibit., that a
worm is nevertheless at the root of their favourite sport
—a worm which the Jockey Club alone is potent
enough to extirpate. To the great mass of the

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Derby Day's holiday-makers it cannot make any
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difference whether Pretender and Belladrum are two of

the mightiest cracks that Epsom ever saw, or whether the
Derby is won by a "plater." But no one who "looks
before and after" can doubt that if the Derby ceases to be
contested by an average high class of three-year-olds,
there will soon cease to be any Derby at all. The ap-
proaching meeting of the Jockey Club will, perhaps, be
the last really important synod of that body at which
Lord Derby, General Peel, Admiral Rous, Lord Zetland,
Lord Strafford, and one or two more of the club's eldest
members, will ever be present. Let them beware how
they allow what we fear we must call " the golden age of
the Turf " to pass away, without leaving on record their
protest against such barbarisms as the Brocklesby Stakes
at Lincoln and the Althorp Park Stakes at Northampton;
and without taking some notice of the significant fact

that, out of 2,150 races run in Great Britain and Ireland
during 1868, no fewer than 1,213 were over distances
varying from three to six furlongs in length.
The Star observes that opinions are much divided as
to the course likely to be pursued by the Upper House on

the Irish Church Bill. A dissolution bas been talked of

in case the bill is thrown out ; but no dissolution can alter
the composition of the Home of Lords. The time for
dissolutions upon the Irish Church question has passed.

The country has called Mr. Gladstone to the . head of

affairs to carry out a definite policy, not to submit it to
discussion afresh, and we have not the slightest doubt that
the courage, genius, and parliamentary tact of Mr. Glad-
stone are equal to the task. We have seen it also contended
in some quarters that the result of a defeat of the bill
in the Houa of Lords would necessarily lead to the resig-
nation of the Gladstone Ministry. But the people do not
give a Minister a majority•of upwards of a hundred at his
back in order that he may throw up the cards, or, with a
false chivalry or strained constitutional etiquette, give
the honours of the situation to the enemies of free-

dom. In addition to the solemn compact Mr. Gladstone
ratified with the nation when he announced his policy
and won its confidence, he has taken upon his shoulders a

responsibility as regards Ireland which he, of all men, is
the least likely to disregard. For ourselves, we hope much
from the practical wisdom which the Peers have often dis-
played at times when the people have clearly declared their
will. There musthe some mode of finally sol v ing questions of

policy in a land where for generations we have abandoned
the very thought of force as an element in the struggle.
No better mode has been devised than an appeal to the

country. The Peers may well listen to the reply, for it is

the mode by which the

Sovereign herself learns the wishes

of her people, that she may make and unmake Ministries
in conFonaoce therewith. On the great occasion no'

drawing near, the Lords have to do, in a restricted and
humbler sense, that which a solemn constitutional duty
imposes on the Sovereign. We place our hope on the cul-

tivated political intelligence of that august assembly, but
if the hope should unfortunately prove delusive, the policy
of the Premier cannot thereby he thwarted, as he has with
him the people, who are the source of all power, and th)
Sovereign, who is the fountain of all honour.

The Popolo Italian° of Genoa announces .04
Alazzini has left Lugano for London, 1.