The Sun.
London, England, 1856-05-29 00:00:00

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capitulation," or the gratuitous and uncon-
stitutional surrender of our unquestionable
maritime rights. Never was there a sacrifice
more wanton and uncalled for than that
which Lord CLARENDON deliberately made.
Not a single effort was made to avert the
evil—not a word spoken in defence of what was
considered by the Statesmen and Jurists of former
days, as the clearest and most valuable privilege
belonging to their " Mistress of the Seas," the
most formidable weapon by which she could bring
any enemy, whether continental or transatlantic,
to reason. We were accustomed to rely on our
" wooden walls," not merely as defenders of the
1 British soil, for any invaders, even if they effected
a landing, would have bitter cause to deplore
their temerity, but also as the means of checking
and destroying the adversaries' commerce, and
thus inflicting the heaviest blows on the sensitive
part, the pocket. Against this power no
enemy , could stand. It was to it that
England owed her eventual triumph in
the most serious struggle in which she had ever
been involved. But for it there might have been
no interruption to the NAPOLEON dynasty. The
Great EMPEROR might have lain in state in the
Tuileries in place of dying in exile. With its
surrender we have abandoned the chief source of
strength which entitled us to rank amongst the
great Powers of Europe.
It is obvious that England is not and cannot
be a great military nation. We cannot maintain
half or three-quarters of a million of fighting men,
partly because our free institutions do not allow
of forced conscriptions, and men, aye and boys, of
all ranks being compelled to serve as private sol-
diers at the will of a despotic ruler ; partly, also,
because our commercial and manufacturing
occupations are too well remunerated to in-
duce men voluntarily to shoulder the firelock
and accept the QUEEN'S shilling, but chiefly be-
cause we pay and feed our soldiers far better than
any other nation, and do not allow them to make
up by plunder for the scantiness of their ether
resources. But our maritime power and maritime
rights more than compensated for any and every
deficiency. As GEORGE CANNING truly declared,
we have " braved confederacies and sustained
wars rather than give up the principle, and when-
ever in despair of getting the British" (they were
British, not German Governments then) " Govern-
ment to surrender it by force, recourse had been
had to proposals of amicable negotiations for the pur-
pose of defining, limiting, or qualifying the exercise
of the right of search, Great Britain had uni-
formly declined all such overtures, from a convic-
tion of the impracticability of qualifying, limiting,
or even defining in terms that would be accept-
able to the other party the exercise of a
right, without impairing, if not sacrificing the
right itself." It was in speaking of that
same right, and the attempt to produce
a new code of maritime laws, that Mr. PITT
made the memorable dec!aration " Whatever
shape it assumes, it is a violation of public faith,
it is a violation of the rights of England, and im-
periously calls upon, Englishmen to resist it even to
the last shilling and the last drop of blood, rather
than tamely submit to degrading concession, or
meanly yield the rights of the country to shameful
usurpation."

But this degrading concession has been
treacherously made at Paris without the slightest
necessity on the insidious application of our own
Ally. It was to France that the powerwas peculiarly
dangerous. In the event of any future compli-
cation in which the flags of France and England
were arrayed on opposite sides—and such an
event is possible, although, we trust, not probable—
France could carry on her whole commerce under
neutral flags, and her only vulnerable point being
guarded by the concession so improvidently made
might laugh our puny efforts to scorn. We have
voluntarily disarmed ourselves, or have been com-
pelled to fling down our well-tried weapons by a
juggle, of which we shall not trust ourselves to
speak in the terms that it deserves.
Lord CLARENDO.i is not the only delinquent.
There are others implicated. The manner in
which the surrender was made, proved that it was
not the result of any sudden inspiration, but
rather of a well-organised conspiracy to sap the
foundation of England's greatness. Neither the
Parliament nor the People of Great Britain were
consulted. If such had been the case we can
scarcely doubt the nature of the indignant response
that would be heard from every district through-
out the length and breadth of the land. We
would still be prepared to resist to the last shil-
ling and the last drop of blood the degrading
concession, and refuse to barter our children's
birthright to gratify Emperor, Kaiser, or Prince.
But the matter was kept involved in deepest
mystery. Not a hint was suffered to leak out of
the terrible degradation and injury about to be
sustained by Great Britain. We were deluded
into the notion that the Conference was held for
the purpose of obtaining satisfactory guarantees
from Russia, such as might justify the cessation of
hostilities. It was not for moment imagined
that we, who had made no aggression, were to be
required to make the heaviest sacrifice of all. The
Italian question, and others, were venti-
lated as a mere excuse for the more se-
rious matter introduced. They were quietly
shelved by ' the refusal of Count Buor, to dis-
cuss them, as not within the scope of his
duties. But Lord 'CLARENDON did not adopt a
similar course. Ho struck at the first summons
not on a topic under discussion, but one that was
surreptitiously and improperly introduced by
those who should not have aimed a blow at, or
been willing to surrender, England's rights.
That it was illegal and unconstitutional we
have no doubt. That it is not, and cannot be,
binding on our successors is equally certain. We
cannot deprive them of their weapons of
offence and defence—cannot compel them to sur-
render their inalienable rights, rights indispens-
able to the honour and security of the country.
It would be just as competent for Lords PA.LMER.
STON and CLARENDON, LOUIS NAPOLEON, and the
irresponsible Premier, to stipulate that England
should pay tribute to France, acknowledge its
supremacy, and entrust its defence in case of
aggression to French soldiers, while the British
helots worked at the loom or the plough, as that
they should attempt to bind her not to resort
t° the only weapons that could be effectual in
time of war.

-We repeat what we have already declared, that
not only Lord CIARENDON, but all the parties
cognisant of this miserable and degraded capitu-
lation,,sheuld be impea.ched and brought to con=
exemplary punishment.
dip and

t must be much
mi,
hi.nnlthe Derby-
C u mous MEASURE•TROVii:—Lcismenz
mast make
easier than finding, for where you
day with one Mall " who has picked
come in contact with at least ten who ha:eller you
theirs. By the bye, the Lord of the Manor
a good thing of it, if he claims all the money that
dropped on those ocoasions.—Punch.
Taz FORCE or HABlT.—'Louis Napoleon has
whether the
credit,
hather justly or not, of having concluded the
present treaty. It would seem as if, at the "Theatre
of War," as at all our other theatres, the English could
not aveil
taking their "Peace" from the French.—
Punch.
- _

COLONIAL.—..It is not true that the Governorship of
Victoria war, offered to Prince. Albert, and in the hand-
somat &Dauer idiattd.—Funcht.