The Sun.
London, England, 1869-03-13 00:00:00

cerne. d, some of the colonies which now flourished
under the dominion of her Majesty—a dominion
of which they had just cause to be proud—might
find themselves under the stars and stripes of the
United States. Should that happen they would
find that they had made an exchange for a country-
of which they might also be proud, though he
trusted that the day might be far distant when the
possessions of England should be in any way cur-
tailed." There was a time when such a hint, and
in the face of the Prime ;Minister of England,
would have fired the British bosom, but now
nobo ly is shocke I. The Secretary of Foreign
Affairs, Earl GRANVILLE, thus jokingly alluded to
what the Minister of the great Republic had said,
" that at the moment he was unprepared to open
negotiations with him for the cession of British Ca-
nada." A remark of the Prime Minister, in compli-
menting the Society for the grandeur of its object--
the unity of the British race—contains the true ex-
planation of the change which, iu this respect, has
come over the people dwelling in Great Britain. Let
Englishmen trace back their history, and learn how
remarkably their sympathies have expanded with
education, experience, and, more still, with the im-
proved facilities for travel and interchange of
thought. Barbarism essentially narrows; civiliza-
tion widens. The tribe is the greatest expansion
of government among savages, the single rule of
a people occupying a continent is the opposite ex-
treme of cultiVation. How long ago is it since the
government of clans was that of the Scotch high-
lands, the Borders, of \Vales, and the Lord of the
Manor ruled in England with only a lesser degree of
despotism than the Chief in Scotland. The next step
was England as a unit, and Scotland as a unit, then
Great Britain as a unit. But the British, confined
in an island, overflowed in emigration, and colonies
arose, and, how those who remained at home re-
garded those who made the colonies let Mr. GLAD-
STONE tell :—" It is 34 years since I was first a
member of the staff of the Colonial Department,
and it is 23 years since I last held office in that
department. Looking back over those years no man
can fail to be struck with the great change, and that
change, I am happy to say, all of it improve-
ment, which has within the interval passed over the
spirit of our colonial policy. In the days when I
was accustomed to wear out with my footsteps the
stairs of the Colonial-office that office was haunted
byadisembodiedspirit that received a painful distinc-
tion under the title of Mr. Mother Country.' And
while that description conveys no inaccurate idea
of the narrow traditions that still hung round
about the conceptions of English statesmen more
or less, although they were in process of being dis-
charged at that period, on the other side of the
water, and in every British colony there was a
party which I rejoice to think has since become
totally extinct, under the name of " the British
Party." I speak in the hearing and remembrance
of those who may recollect the circumstances and
struggles of those times, and many of us in this
country were taught, or attempts, at any rate,
were made to induce us to believe that upon this
British Party,' which invariably represented an
insignificant minority, depended the whole hope
of maintaining the connection between Eng-
land and the colonies, and that if anything were
done to offend that British Party,' or to
recognize the vast majority of the colonial com-
munity as having a claim upon our sympa-
thies and acknowledgment, such a policy was cer-
tain to be fatal t 3 the colonial empire at large.
This was the state of things, and so strange was it,
that merely to recollect it now seems like bringing
back from the grave the spirits of the dead, so
wholly is that state of things without a parallel in
the present day." Here is a mighty change within
the official experience of a statesman ; a widening of
sympathies; a knitting of the whole, in contradis-
tinction to the severance into parts; still it is but
au earnest of what remains to be done. We will
yet learn to sink the scc:ional differences which
divide the United States from the United Kingdom,
and rejoice in the success whereby one Government
rules in North America, as iu British success. Thus
the progress £0 marked will be continued till the
whole race be included ; yet even this is but a step.
The tendencies of the future will be to break down
the barriers of nationali'y which separate people from
people. Though it may be the work of ages, yet who
can predict that it may not be speedier, and nothing
will more hasten what may be regarded as the true
millenium than the Union of the Anglo-Saxon race.
If that unity really be the object sought, and the
people be sincerely desirous of considering them-
selves as members of one and a united family, it is
more for the family interest that the continent of
North America should be under one than under
two Governments, for the essence of its progress
lies in that unity. North America is a grand
demense for the relief of over-crowded Europe,
more especially of densely-peopled England. Great
Britain has no other interest there than that, and
a fair field for commerce. The greater the productive
power of the Republic the better for England,
which cannot fail to benefit therein, and it is only
false notions,which lead to other belief. The cheaper,
the more united, industtions, and successful the
Republic becomes, the better for all countries, more
especially for England, so long as peace be main-
tained ; and it is the danger of war only which
makes Englishmen dread that growth, and fear
to see the whole continent ruled from Washington.
To avoid war, the best step is to withdraw from
America, for then the nations could not come into
collision. The incentive would disappear from
and cease to tantalize the Republic, and England
would have done an act to be remembered with
gratitude for generations. It would then cut both
ways, for while it really strengthened England for
war, rendering her less vulnerable, and in concen-
trating her force, more formidable, it would re-
move the bone of contention and turn a coveteous
neighbour into an absent friend. Canada in the
Union, would be England's ally in a
desirable place.
Canada independent, would be England's ally in a
dangerous position. The Representatives.h and
i
Senators returned from the States into which
a power-
ful the
s
ll Dominion
influence
n ion w oiuol dc
Congress, and
e dwouldexera
materially
strengthen
Inntoontehew.uorodi,onit
wwhoiuolhd,
n i
be a British deluge thrown the New England section.
followed by a large British immigration, would
rapidly change
the tone of sentiment in the States,
and the Union would again quickly revert to the
old English feeling once predominant, a state of
things of all others the most desirable for England
to cultivate and to secure.

When Mrs. Senator Patterson, daughter of
Andrew Johnson, found herself the " first lady in the
laad," she made this remark, which has been the key-
note of the feminine department of the White House
from that eventful day up to the present time :-
"We are plain people from the mountains of Ten-
nessee, called here for a short time by a national
calamity. I trust too much will not be expected of us."
When Anna Surratt threw herself prostrate upon the
floor of one of the ante-rooms of the White House, bag.
ging piteously to see Mrs. Patterson, she said, " Tell the
girl she has my sympathy, my tears, but I have no more
right to speak than the servants of the White House."
When the pardon brokers trailed their slimy lengths every-
where about the mansiol, they never dared to cross a cer-
tain enchanted pathway, and the face of any lobbyist set
in this direction has always brought up in the end against
a stone wall."— Washington Correspondent.
Messrs. R. Duncan and Co., of Port Glasgow,
have launched an iron screw named the Cambria, of the
following dimensions :- Length, 315 ft. ; breadth, 35ft. ;
depth, 22ft.. 6in.; burden 2,000 tons. The Cambria will
form one of the Anchor Line from Glasgow to New York.

DUNVILLE and Co., Belfast, are the largest
holders of Whisky in the world. Their Old Irish Whisky is re
commended by the medical profession in preference to French
Brandy. Supplied in casks and cases for home use or exports
tion. Quotations on application to Messrs. Danville and Co.
Belfast; cr 4, Beautort-buildinga Strand, London W.o,—{lo-
-