The Sun.
London, England, 1856-05-17 00:00:00

(From the Morning Herald of this day. )

We look forward with the deepest anxiety to the debate
which is to be expected in the House of Lords on Thurs-
day next.
Lord Colchester has given notice of his intention to call
the attention of the Upper House to the declaration of the
plenipotentiaries assembled at Paris relative to maritime
law—a declaration by which the naval supremacy of Eng-
Find has been abrogated, the law of nations, and there-
fore the law of this land, has been fundamentally altered;
and by which the Queen in Council and the High Court of
Parliament have been reduced to a mere court of registry
for enrolling the ukases of an ambassador and his masters,
whether in or out of England.
We shall not at present touch upon the.point of the in-
formality of the document by which this change in our
laws was effected. It will be sufficient to say that in an
act of such paramount importance the authorities under
which the signing parties derived their power to bind
their respective nations should have been most solemnly
and formally set forth. We may add, that in the afore-
said declaration such rehearsal of authority is omitted;
and, on the contrary, England's surrender of her unques-
t;onsble belligerent rights to seize enemies' property where-
ever she could find it afloat, is conveye i away from her in
an instrument so informal that it is vitiated by its own
inherent defects.

Nor is it necessary for us to argue that the right of
search and seizure has always been the law of England.
This none can deny. To quote again the words of Lord
Stowell :—" The right of search is clear in practice, which
is uniform and universal on the subject. The many Eu-
ropean treaties which refer to it refer to it as pre-existing,
and merely regulate the exercise of it. All writers upon
the law of 'n ti-ms unanimously acknowledge it, without
the exception of Hubner himself, the great champion of
neutral privileges. In short, no man in the least conver-
sant wi h such subjects has ever, that I know of, breathed
a don t upon it."
We have shown on former occasions that England has,
up to 1853, invariably maintained herself when at war by
the exercise of this right. In 1780, when (to use the
words of an eloquent writer) "she was solitary, abandoned
by the whole world ; struggling with a fatal schism
a:nougat her own children; opposed with diminished re-
sources to all the greatest maritime powers of Europe, to
the continent of America, and almost to the continent of
Asia ; without a single ally, and before her ancient vigour
had shone out, under the direction of her favourite ad-
mini, to the dismay pf her opponents, nothing could be
more Srm or consequently more honourable than the con-
ductwntiailienheintuhsissi
arihgadht,leaangiuesdhaegbairnosktehetrh.e armed There
of Great Britain."—(Ward " On Neutral Powers.")
ityaiin England then : the contrast now is too pain-
fuluweeSl tohet rern
menal
dwell on,

We have also explained how, in 1800 and 1807, with
similar vigour and with similar success, she again resisted
the pretensions pat forth by Russia when the death of the
Emperor Paul ensued. For it was by an armed neutrality,
and as an armed neutral power, that in the time of the
Empress Catherine the Russian Cabinet wished to extort
the surrender of this right from England.
By the -raciness of the Emperor Paul Russia passed from
the st,te of neutral to that of belligerent, and thus was
expr se Ito the seizure of her goods. Russia, when at war,
had and has, no maritime means of -maintaining her trade
---and at that period an English Cabinet could not be found

tr ee
expose
sseo
to
hn e asm
base enough to connive at it.
will
hiellrenfoo
Her goods are heavy; they have to be transported by
e rn nationstrade
;
sea ; her sea coasts are not extensive ; her goods all pass
through narrow straits, which a few cruisers could her-
metically seal. Every man in Rnssia, private and public,
land seized her goods the Emperor Paul was strangled.
The rower of England is at sea. She can bring it to
hear on other states only by acting on their trade, If she
to her attack. We need scarcely refer to the last war with
France, to the activity of our cruisers, to the rarity of the
engagements of great fleets, and to the life of the gallant
themselves
es
Cellingwood, and other admird so speak, s passed,to in
ii
ss
sduepp ree :I e denta t os
sea,
.foor
other
hi g
one long blockade. It has always been, therefore, by the
exercise of the right of seizing their goods that shehas ex-
hausted their commerce and maintained her own. On so
obvious a point we need not. further dwell.
The most important part of the question, however, as
well for the nation as for the Rouse of Lords, is the con-
duct of Lord Clarendon in so binding this realm without
having had authority so to do.
He is now in the position of an agent who, having re-
ceived a general power of attorney to act for his employer
on a specific matter, makes use of that power to sign away
the heir-looms of an entailed estate. Clearly he is liable
to process from any one possessed of an interest.
"The common and fundamen-tal law of nations." says
Lord Stowell, "is of necessity the fundamental law of
every nation. It is one of those laws which never required
the consent of princes for its establishment, and which no
congress of princes is competent ever to take away."
There is no denying that Lord Clarendon has changed
and taken away the fundamental law of England, not only
without the consent but without the knowledge of the
great council of the nation. Any proceedings, therefore,
in Parliament which shall end without directly inculpating
him for so doing will be an absolute admission that an
English Ambassador in congress with the representatives
of other nations has autocratic power over the laws of
England, and bears rule over Qaeen, Lords, and Commons,
unquestioned and supreme.

been sent for to accom•
AA'lo.uVveYishtfe'at Geneva," says
pang, as naturalist, Prince Napoleon in his voyage to the
north."
EMIGRATION FROM THE NORTH OF SCOTLAND.—The
spring fleet from the north of Scotland for Canada has
Vaudois,nrofesso r
"hasof theologybe
taken out above 1,000 pa,lsetwers to Canada this season.
Most of them are agricultural labourers and small farm-
ers, s. hose friends, having gone out before, encourage
others to follow.