The Sun.
London, England, 1869-06-01 00:00:00

THE SUN, LONDON, TUESDAY EVENING, JIME 1, i 69.

once threatened to swamp it, by the creation
of a large number of Liberal Lords so as to
turn the balance of parties in the Upper House in
favour of the existing Government. From any such
formidable alternative as that, the Conservative
leaders may well shrink back aghast. In either case
the influence of the Upper House would be at once
in a very great measure destroyed. Its very exis-
tence, as an active political institution, would be se-
riously jeopardised. A General Election n:ces-
sitated within a year from the date of the list,
and necessitated by reason, of the rejec'ion by
the Lords of that Irish Church Bill which the re-
cently elected House cf Commons had passed
through all its stages so triumphantly—a G. neral
Election thus caused and thus I recipitated would
excite a 11 line of indignation against the House of
Lords, such as would hazird a permanent estrange-
ment between the peerage and the people. It would
shake to its very foundations the whole fabric of our
curiously mixed, and hitherto adniirably well ad instt d,
and to this moment exvisitely balanced conititution.
Hardly less mi chievous results, we c innot but think,
would accrue from any wholesale cr..!ttion of peers by a
Great Party Leader simply with a view to press upo
the acceptance of the Upper II ,use of I'arli ►ment
the otherwise most unacceptable policy of the actual
Government. From neither proceeding must the
chiefs of party upon both sides but shrink back with
the greatest possible reluctance. The wish of reta-
liation—that would inevitably be run by the Conser-
vative majority of the House of Lords in the event
of their throwing out the Bill in defiance of the
clearly expressed opinions in its favour of the House
of Commons and of the whole country, is altogether
too considerable to be overlooked, is altogether
too formidable of its kind not to exer-

cise a wholesome influence in tempering
the decision now immediately to be ar-
rived at. Our conviction is that the nous.) of
ers will patriotically evidence the full appreciation
by their lordships of the momentous character of
the present politic,tlsituation—ani that they will do
this by mat,fully protesting, if they so pleftse, against
the policy involved in the great measure now
coming before them, after having been tiriwnphantly
carried through the House of Commons, but by
bowing to the decision of the country, now
that in direct support of the Ministerial policy
in this matter that decision of the whole
country has been thus emphatically and de-
liberately pronounced. We have no more doubt
as to the virtual though of course relu,eant accepta-
tion of this measure of the Irish Church Bill by the
House of Lords, than we have of the utterance after-
wards as eddence of the Royal assent by those
magical words, la Regne le reveult l y which the Bili
will be eventually transformed into an Act of Parlia-
went.

THE Orangemen were in great force at Chester-
field house on Saturday. But Lord CAIRNS, says an
Orange paper, was " conspicuous by his absence."
This fact is very significant, and must be very dis-
couraging to the Orangemen. Lord CAIRNS was
selected by Mr. DISRAELI as Lord Chancellor, vice
Lord CHELMSFORD deposed, and leader of the
House of Lords, vice Lord MALMESBURY likewise
deposed. It is understood that be has just
been to Ireland, and has had interviews with Arch-
bishop TnEscu and Sir JOSEPH NAPIER, the most
distinguished clerical and the most distinguished lay
member of the Irish Church, in the hope of inducing
them to abandon the " No Surrender" standard and
come to terms. It would seem as if the ex-
Chancellor had not been particularly successful. It
is only on this supposition that we can explain
his absence from the meeting at which five
deputations attended to represent inter alias
80,000 of his old friends and electors at Belfast.
Lord CAIRNS wishes to . be Lord Chancellor again,
knows very well that he has no more chance of
grasping the great seal a second time than the most
pettifogging country attorney has, so long as the
Irish Church question remains unsettled, and,
therefore, naturally enough refuses to sanction in
any way the policy which would be fatal alike to his
party, his prospects, and the whole House of Lords.
We imagine that this circumstance alone suffi-
ciently indicates the intention of the Peers not to
reject, or to seriously modify, the Irish Church Bill.
This supposition is confirmed by the fact that the
Times, which rarely recommends a course until sure
that such a coursehas been determined upon, strongly
advises the Upper House not to fiy in the
face of the nation, but to protest against the bill and
then pass it. Certainly there was nothing in the
Duke of ABERCORN'S reply to the deputations which
could lead them to hope for any other result. Their
arguments against the bill, however cogent, however
unanswerable, had no novelty, had all been urged pre-
viously in Parliament last session, before the nation
at the general election, and now once more in the
House of Commons. All have been useless ;
the nation and its representative body have decided
ntb that
l be
pleas
taken
teahe
esarrested.
h singularly
lear
Government y
arinye no force, and that justice must
einit
bimy et Moreover,hdestt,tnehrpee
threat
Orangemen itritegepemenn
apt haveattempting
the
Union. They have thereby not only shewn that
their loyalty is conditional upon their ascendancy,
but they have forced upon the Government an arith-
metical calculation whereof the quotient is not at all
likely to prove advantageous to Orangeism. If, on the
one hand, the loyalty of the Protestants is de-
pendent upon the ascendancy of that party,
and if, on the other hand, the loyalty of the
Ilomanists is dependent upon the termination
of that ascendancy, Government may well be par-
, doned if they prefer to secure the 41 millions instead
of the three-quarters of a million. The Orangemen
might have gained a point if they had appealed
to their unshaken adherence to the Crown
and their English connection. But when
they began to threaten they surrendered
a most powerful position, and entered into
a competition in which (it is to their credit) they
are sure to be miserably beaten. Belfast and
Londonderry cannot vie with Cork and Limerick in
treason." It is a thous Ind pities that they ever
attempted to do so.

SIMULTANEOUSLY with the arrival in England of
Mr. REvEnDY JOHNSON'S successor, Mr. PEABODY,
foremost amongst wealthy philanthropists, leaves
the country which owes him so much to return to his
native land. During Mr. JOHNSON'S unfortunate
career of mistaken conciliation Mr. PEABODY was
pursuing a labour of love towards England which
even Americans were not disposed to regret. Whilst
the two nations were doubting whether they should
not prepare for war, he was practically
proving, by min2.stering to the severest of
England's necessities, the real bonds of sympathy
and friendship which yet bind together the two
divisions of the Anglo-Saxon race. Mr. PEABODY
has worthily represented the Great Republic ; it
remains to be seen whether the distinguished
American who has just arrived will accomplish the
not less important work of peace which lies within
his power. Mr. MOTLEY comes upon a difficult
, mission of uncertain result. With the commence-
ment of his diplomatic career the relations between
the two ewintria enter upon a new his pre-
decessor failed because he did not represent the domi-
nant party ; bat though the ivork will have to be done
over ag:iin, we shall hslve the satisfaction of knowing
, that whatever progress is made for the future will be
substantial. Mr. MOTLEY will not indulge in any of
the outpourings of spirit by which his predecessor gave
such offence; but whatever action he takes will be done
in the name of the party which now rules the -United
States. Just after Mr. SUMNER'S speech it was
apprehended that Mr. MOTLEY would come with
instructions based on that warlil-e manifesto, or that
ha would at least adapt a rolicy of hostile inactivity,

Mr. SUMNEIt'S speech, however, is no longer looked
upon in America as an oracular emission.
The new Ambass-tdor comes amongst us with words
of peace ; and, dispassionately considered, the situa-
tion is one which ought not to give rise to ttny serious
fear of war.

Various momentous considerations confine the
policy of America within limits as narrow as our
own. Mr. SUM ER and the editor of the New York
Herald have unbounded liberty of making unofficial
declarations of war to which little responsibility
can be attached ; but President GRANT is not
in the position of these bellicose personages.
As the head of a nation he has no
alternative to a peaceful policy. It is needless to
recount the losses which the Americans would incur
by a great war ; and it is not less certain
whatever they might hope to gain will be more
readily acquired by rigid abstention from war.
No doubt the Monroe doctrine is still the creed of to
large and powerful party in the United States. Tht
United States might possibly acquire Canada as the
reward of a conflict, whereas EnW ind could not hope
to obtain any substmtial advantage whatever.
But the conquest of Canad is by no
means the matter-of-course undertaking which
the New York Herald and some Englishmen
are disposed to believe. The colony could not be
taken by a coup de wily. It is true that in 1865 the
United States possessed an immense army, to which
England and its colony could offer no effective oppo-
sition. But this army exists no longer. It has
dwindled down to a force of 20,000 men, who find
abundance of employment in garrisoning the South
and keeping the Indians in subjection. Before a
campaign could commence an army must be. raised,
and the delay thus involved would place the two
nations, at the beginning at least, on an equal footing.
England would have time to throw all the force she
could raise upon the Canadian frontier; it .is not
impossible that New York might be taken before an
American "army could be raised to strike a blow.
The American navy is now confessedly unequal to
our own, and it is to be still further weakened by
large sales of frond:ads. It would be long before
the United States could make any effective attempt
to keep the sea in time of battle against
us. These and similar considerations shew how
little real importance is to be attached to the vapour-
ing of irresponsible orators and writers. Most likely
Canada might be captured in the end, but the danger
and difficulty of a war with a nation of Great Britain's
tried resources are so serious that something more
definite than Mr. SUMNER'S speech ought to be re-
quired to cause a panic amongst the holders of Five-
Twenties.
_ .

It is certain, then, that the Monroe doctrine of
"America for the Americans" can never advantageously
prevail by force ; whether by process of natural
selection the whole of North America will come
under one rule, is a question with more than one
aspect. Experience is not in favour of the Monroe
doctrine. History teaches us that States which
exceed a certain territorial magnitude are liable
to fall to pieces by their own weight. There is
a certain point at which the differences of
climate, race, and soil become incompatible with
single government. The map of Europe has been
vastly altered during the last two centuries; but all
attempts to unite a large portion of the continent
under one rule have failed. The Roman Empire
divided in two soon after it attained its greatest
strength. Victoria and New South Wales are be-
ginning to display a peaceful sort of antagonism ;
rivalry is rapidly springing up between them. And,
judging by these precedents, it is more than ques-
tionable whether the United States, which are now
as large as all Europe,can extend from Panama to the
Polar Sea without imminent danger of disruption.
At present the Camclians display no desire to join
the States. The American journals point trium-
phantly to the large emigration from Canada south-
wards; but though the States, from their greater
population, may be preferred as settlements, it
by no means follows that a people now settled
in Canada must desire annexation. They
can expect to reap no benefit which they do not
already enjoy, except heavy taxes. •The Washington
Government has it in its power to reduce the burdens
which press upon the American nation. It is rapidly
doing so. The Army and Navy Budgets are being ruth-
lessly cut down, and the Treasury frauds will belessened
as much as possible. These wise measures, combined
with the utter disgrace into which the doctrine of
repudiation has fallen, may do much to counter-
balance Mr. SUMNER'S foolish speech, and raise Ame-
rican credit. With an improved position in the•money
markets of the world, lighter taxes, and that general
prosperity which is sure to attend American fortunes,
the States may invite their Canadian neighbours to
join them. Whether they can live in peace and
harmony will be an interesting question of the
future; but they can never live in peace as con-
querors and conquered with infinitely increased
burdens, diminished trade, and a trebled national
debt.

CORRESPONDENCE PROM PARIS.