The Sun.
London, England, 1856-04-15 00:00:00

and the magnitude, splendour, -and extravagance of
which are themselves, to many, its chief recommen-
dation.

(From the Morning Herald of this day.)

The Government has for the present escaped the con-
sequences of the motion of the member for Inverness ;
but we trust that it is not the intention of Mr. Baillie to
abandon his intention of calling the advisers of the Crown
to account for their foreign enlistment policy. Lord
Palmerston adroitly avoided the impending danger last
night by pleading the absence of Lord Clarendon, and
the necessity for the presence of the Foreign Minister
before the papers relating to the subject of Mr. Baillie's
motion could be laid before the house, and more espe-
cially the correspondence with the American Govern-
ment. So the matter rests ' • and thus for the hour a
ministerial crisis and a dissolution have ben deferred,
bat that is all.

The terms of Mr. Beillie's motion were sufficiently ex-
plicit. That the conduct of Ministers of the Crown, in
the matter of foreign enlistment, "in defiance of the
laws of foreign countries, and in despite of public re-
monstrances, is inconsistent with the good faith and
'friendly conduct which ought to characterise all our
relations with allied states ; and has tended to lower
the dignity, to endanger the peace, and to compromiye
the honour of the nation." It is no wonder that Lord
Palmerston shrunk from meeting this resolution. lad
it been debated, and pressed to a division, Ministers
would have either been defeated, or left in so narrow a
majority as to render the last alternative of a tottering
Government inevitable.
The result of our efforts at enlistment on the Conti-
nent were not calculated, it must be confessed, to raise
the character of this country or Government throughout
"Europe, or to conciliate the good-will of those nations
with whom we are on terms at least of amity. In some
instances our attempts to obtain recruits were promptly,
if not contemptuously, defeated ; in others, as at Co.-
logne, our officials were treated with insult ; but the
effect of our policy in America has been- the most un-
fortunate, and has all but given rise to a most serious
misunderstanding with the Government of the States.
On this recruitment. question we have commented fre-
quently and fully, and in our remarks have endeavoured
to do justice to the Foreign-office, as well as to our Mi-
niater at Washington, and to the British consuls said to
have been implicated in the enlistment of American ci•
tizens within the jurisdiction of the Union ; and having
read all the documents and correspondence which have
appeared en the subject, we are still of opinion that the
American Government have failed to make good against
our representative or ufficials the charge of infringement
of the municipal law of the States. In fact, the opinion a'
both of Mr. Marcy and Mr. C. Cushing ou this matter
conflict with that of one of thejudges of the Supreme Court
of the Union, sitting at Philadelphia. But admitting, as
we have readily done, that the violation of the munici-
pal law of the States has not been made out, the Govern-
ment of this country still stand convicted of having, by
an obstinate persistence in a stupid, needless, and inef-
fective policy, placed the relations of this country wish
America in serious jeopardy, and even, in the terms of
Mr. Baillie's resolution, "endangered the peace" of the
two countries. • If we required troops to make up the
losses occasioned by our bungling in the Crimea, where
was that "national reserve" of which Lord Palmerston
boasted so confidently ? Or if the militia was not avail-
able to the extent it .should have been, and it became
necessary to look beyond our shores, why not go at once
for a Canadian contingent, instead of establishing depots
in Canada and other places in our North American colo-
nies, for the enlistment of the citizens of the United
Stites who chose to cross the St. Lawrence ? The Go-
verntuent of Washington became incensed, for they saw
that while we affected to respect the letter of the Ame•
rican law, we were endeavouring to violate its spirit.
And what is the consequence ? So menacing has become
the language of the. American Government and Senate,
that our ruiers have considered it advisable to be pre-
pared for the worst; and accordingly, as was
announced exclusively in our columns yesterday,
ten thousand troops are to proceed from the Crimea
direct to Canada, under the command of Sir Richard
Eyre. Some weeks ago we pressed the expediency
of this movement as the best assurance against a
surprise—as the best answer to the injurious
lan-
guzige of the American Government. It will be also in
the recollection of our readers that at the same time we
directed attention to the necessity of strengthening the
military positions of. St. John's and Montreal, of repair-
ing the fortifications of Quebec, aed of supplyiug the
Canadian army with additional stores of ammunition.
Our advice has been taken, in one respect, at least ; but
the necessity for such preparation has been created, wan-
tonly created, by a Government that can only be taught
wisdom by disaster, that cares nothing for the dignity of
the country, and is only coerced into activity by the
dread of a Parliamentary defeat.
Yesterday a Ministerial contemporary held out the
threat of a dissolution, in anticipation of an unfavourable
result of Mr. Baillie's motior. The motive was obvious.
Honourable gentlemen will sometimes vote for a go-
vernment they neither like nor respect rather than face
their constituencies, and upon this fear our contem-
porary has endeavoured to practise. It is a far different
case, however, when we give, as me have done so fre-
quently of late, our reasons for regarding a dissolution
of Parliament as an event neither distant nor uncertain.
Mr. Baillie's motion may or may not come on again,
but other motions equally dangerous to an Administra-
tion without Parliamentary support must and will. The
weakness of a Government begets unceasing hostility,
and nothing has saved that which is named by the name
of Palmerston but the toleration accorded during the
progress of the war and the settlement of the peace.
That toleration has come to an end.

IRELAND.

DUBLIN, MONDAY MORNING.

TIIE SPECIAL COMMISSION.

Another of the tt:sassins of Miss Hinds has been
made a,inenable to juAice. Yehterday evening, after two
day,' trial, Taos. Dunne, a respectable farmer, was found
guilty. He and James Murphy were sentenced to be
executed. Dunne was the chief plotter in the conspiracy
to murder Miss Hinds, and it was in his house that the
doom of the unhappy lady was sealed.