The Sun.
London, England, 1869-04-30 00:00:00

62.171,1 T OF THE PUBLIC lOURIIALB,

The in commenting upon Mr. Sumner's recent
speech on the Alabama Treaty, says that he wants some-
thing more than reparation from us; he wants contrition
and public humiliation. But in truth, as Mr. Sumner is
well aware, the wrong alleged to have been done by our
Government consists in acts which are the main topic of
dispute, and must be the main ground of arbitration.
To require from us an acknowledgment of moral liability
beforehand is to prejudge the whole controversy, and not
only so, but to stultify the proposed settlement.
Coming to the next great point of the speech, it
is wholly erroneous to assert that our right
to recognise the Confederates as a belligerent
Power can only be justified, if at all, by the casual
use of the word "blockade" in President Lincoln's
proclamation, and that if he had chanced to use the words
"closing of ports" instead, our plea would have been
barred. This is a most lawyerlike, and not altogether
ingenuous, perversion of the position taken up by those
who uphold the course of the British Government. That
course has invariably been defended on the broad ground,
adopted by Mr. Sumner himself, that belligerency is a
matter of fact, and that belligerency did, in fact, exist
when it was recognised by Great Britain. Mr. Lincoln's
proclamation has been properly quoted as conclusive evi-
dence that it was known to exist by the United States
Government, which claimed, by virtue of its existence, to
exercise rights which nothing but its existence could war
rant. The British Government has always takenits stand
on the simple fact of belligerency. What Mr. Sumner
calls " a mere technicality " has, indeed, been imported into
this grave question of international law, but it has been im•
ported by himself, and not by the advocates of Great Britain.
Upon Mr. Sumner's principle, all this anti-English feeling,
which finds vent, too, in the encouragement of Fenianism,
might be proved in aggravation of damages against the
United States in the event of arbitration. Against any
such principle we protest once and for all, not only as
beneath the dignity of great nations, but as inevitably
barren of any practical result. Let atonement be made
•Cr the insulting language of individuals, whether in
England or America, by the retrospective verdict of
public opinion, and the cultivation of mutual respect in
private relations. Nations as such can only deal with overt
acts, and overt acts are the only possible subjects of pecu-
niary compensation.
The Star says that when Mr. Sumner rises from the
contemplation of the Alabama case with a determination
to make us pay, not only for the losses actually inflicted
on individuals, but for the accruing damage to the
nation by the sale of merchant ships to the neutral
flags, the war rates of insurance, and all the in-
cidents damaging to commerce which necessarily occur
during war, we must express our amazement at the
character of his demands. The extravagance of the
propositions must strike everyone who knows bow
anxious the British Government in the main was,
during the war, to deal fairly and justly by the
United States. Blunders there may have been, and
there were, but considering how the passions of mankind
were aroused by that vast conflict of the powers of dark-
ness and light, the British Government kept a course
remarkably free from any exhibitions of unfriendly
feeling towards the United States. France, the old
ally and sworn friend of the Republic, was ready
to recognise the rebels as a nation ; we, its old
opponents and chief competitors, refused to do an
act which might have been the crowning event of the war.
Since the war has closed we have shewn in every way
a desire to arrive at an understanding with the sister
nation. We have waived our objections to arbitration,
we have waived our objections to have the recognition
of the belligerent rights discussed, we have conceded
almost every point in favour of the special envoy
lately sent to negotiate a treaty ; but if all these
concessions are merely to be used as the standpoints for
farther, and till now unheard-of, demands, we must care-
fully consider our own position, lest we establish a worse
precedent than even the burning of ships on the high seas,
by admitting a discussion of demands which are utterly
untenable and ought to be resisted.

The Standard says that the debate which closed a'
seven o'clock on Mr. Disraeli's amendment to the 28th
clause of the Church Spoliation Bill marks, as we are in-
clined to hope, the beginning of a new phase in the present
aspect
of politics. Mr. Gladstone informed the committee
that he had reconsidered the matter and peremptorily
refused to consent to any modification of his proposal. A
more animated debate than has lately taken place upon
the bill was the result. The more independent and con-
scientious Liberals were hurt and affronted at the slight
put upon them, though the memory of Mr. Laing, Mr.
Roebuck, and Mr. Horsman, of the unseating of many
and the humiliation of more who dared last year to
have an opinion of their own upon party questions, and
the fear of Mr. Glyn's vengeance at a future election,
restrained them from giving vent or effect to their irrita-
tion. The friends of the Church were justly indignant at
a flagrant breach of faith, and were subject to no such
restraints. The result is not of much direct importance.
The sum at stake is not a very large one, and it is quite
c-rtaiu that the bill will not pass until the decision of Thurs-
day has been reversed and the proposal of Mr. Disraeli
substituted for it. The Church will receive her parsonages,
and she will receive them on the same terms on which
Maynooth retains her college buildings, free of all charge
whatever. But the impression of bad faith which this
transaction will make on the minds of all persons jute-
rested in the question will not soon be effaced ; the
deliberate repudiation of Liberal promises will long be
remembered against the party and its leader ; and the
Protestants of Ireland will feel none the less resentful and
hitter against Mr. Gladstone and his Roman Catholic
allies because the heavy fine with which they were threa-
tened, if they should insist on retaining the ancient
residences of their clergy, will not be actually enforced.
The Telegraph observes that by a majority of 91 the
House of Commons has declared that the disestablished
Cl:urch of Ireland shall not get the parsonages for nothing.
After the question had been hotly debated on Monday
night, the settlement was postponed until Thursday.,
and by many members of the House it was fondly hoped
that in the interval the Ministers would make up their
minds to "be generous with other people's money." At
the outset of Thursday night's labours Mr. Gladstone rudely
dispelled the delusion by announcing that the
Government was resolved to abide by the hated
clause. None of his decisions in committee have
been so unequivocally challenged by members of
his own party ; and as one Liberal after another implored
.him to have mercy on the poor Irish Protestants, it might
almost have seemed that a new " Cave" had been dig-
covered. Ultimately, however, the defections were few,
and the majority in favour of the Government reached
the usual proportions. Tory gentlemen say that the
Prime Minister and the President of the Board of Trade
have not kept faith with the country. The truth is, that
they would have broken faith with the country if, under
totally altered circumstances, they had acted in accord-
ance with the letter, while they violated the spirit, of their
original intentions.
The Herald considers that the condition of Ireland is per•
fectly appalling. Murder succeeds murder with abnormal
rapidity. The assassination recorded by the press on one day
is thrown into the shade by the greater brutality of that
perpetrated on the next • and those who committ them in
every instance escape discovery. It would be unfair to
attribute the law's failure to the inertness or the inca-
pacity of the police, for it is evident that those who com-
mit such atrocious crimes act upon a system which
renders detection almost impossible. It may be asked,
how are we to account for such an outburst of
crime when there is in office an Administration ele-
vated to power in a great measure by the votes of the
Irish pea.seantry themselves, some of whose members have
promised more for what istermed their advantage than
it will ever be possible for any Ministry to effect, and who,
to maintain their popularity, are hurrying through Parlia-
ment a measure designed to remove a badge of ascendancy
which is said to wound their feelings, although it does not
touch their pockets? The answer, we think, is readily
given. The discontented Irish count largely on the par-
tiality of their professed friends, and take liberties which
they would not venture to indulge in under the rule of
those represented to be their political enemies.
The Post thinks the
_general idea that "everybody
should do as they like,' is suificientlyanddangerous when
contentment;
applied it aislsimply f ruinous.orclorder
But the fact is
appliede(i ttoo
enlgalnadin
that now that statesmen have opened their eves th 4
those
haveabt:
idt ft a llltre
Ireland
nn
dt o
canth e
existence of real grievances in Ireland, and
ad-
dressed themselves to the consideration or
grievances may be removed, they
to be denied plums
strange hallucination of suppzin
be petted back into loyalty by giving
whenever it cries. Nothing
spoilt child now ; Irish rebels are released after
to
the
brief, very brief captivity ; Irish assassins are left a
u
punished and Irish agitators are allowed to spout
atrpealipun
wherever and whenever they please. This
which can attain no good end; it must disgust the orderly
and loyal ; it certainly will not pacify the disorderly and
disloyal portion of the population. We trust that it will
soon be succeeded by more vigorous measures ; and it ie
to he remembered that no more favourable time could be
. found for resetting to unusual severity against the criminal
and the seditious than the time when the claims of tht
Irish people for the redress of some real grievance are
meeting with such calm and generous consideration.

The Times asserts that the Ministry were in some per
plexity in dealing with the glebe-houses. The Opposition,
supported by Sir George Grey, Mr. Martin, and Mr.
Bagwell, urged that they should be surrendered gratui
tonsly, and appealed to Mr. Bright's language as implying
a pledge to leave them in the hands of the clergy. The
choice was one of pure and, considering it. as such,
it was impossible, with. rat denying the principle of the
bill, to accede to their requests. Mr. Bright ex
plained on Thursday night that when he suggested
the propriety of allowing the clergymen of Ire.
land to retain their residences, he coupled it with
a proposal to allot a million for the purpose of buying
glebes and erecting houses on them for the Romar
Catholic priests. These proposals could not be dis
severed one from another. It would, perhaps, have beer
wisest to adopt both, but if one be impossible, Parliament
cannot stilt cling to its fellow. Religious equality is the
be-all and end-all of the Irish Church Bill, and this must
be secured at whatever cost to kindly feelings,which
would. indeed, have been most gratified by leaving things
entirely as they were. The deci,ion on the question of
glebe-houses was important because it was a test of the
thorowdiness of the House of Commons in adhering to the
principle of the bill ; but we regard the controversy whick
subsequently raged over the (late from which private
endowments shall be traded as of much less intrinsic
value.