The Sun.
London, England, 1860-06-04 00:00:00

aro to quiet the apprehensions of Europt
All has been, we are told in regard to Saver y,
so " just," so " for the interests of the provineef
annexed to France; so surpassingly " fran2a ,
regular, and legitimate," that " accusation' ;

of it are malevolent," and sinister interpretationli

are " thoughtless," at least. Indeed ! Germany,
Austria, Prussia, and England, are the best judges
of that; and their judgment is shown by Rifle
Volunteers, and by a costly war establishment in
time of pe-tce in our quiet island, which would be but
too happy to spend its money in trade, rather than on
a navy and army ; it is shown by all Germany, like
us, incurring the costs of war, during peace, merely

, -
as a needful insurance against their neighbour.

And yet the Zfoniteur, when the utter distrust of
Europe is perceived, tells us that we are all misled
" under the influence of hostile passions or impru-
dent friendship, some listen to insinuations, others
to appreciations which tend to attribute to the
French Government the design of provoking or

allowing to be' created complications iu Europe, in

order to seek occasion therefrom to obtain new ag•

grandisements of territory. This is an idea alto-'
gether contrary to that by which it is animated."
Not only are we misled, but the EMPEROR is
grieved to his guileless heart that we are so, and
assures us that he wishes to live peaceably with all
men. " The Government, we proclaim it aloud,
deplores the manoeuvres destined to propagate daily
impressions the least exact as regards its real in-
tentions. The EMPEROR has made every effort to
reestablish in Europe the confidence which has
been shaken. His sole desire is to live in peace
with other Sovereigns, his allies, and to use all his
endeavours to actively develop the resources of
France."

Now, however, it is that we recal the past. " The
coup d'etat," " Savoy and Nice," every Englishman
and German mutters to himself—We have seen
what professions meant thsn—what must we think
they mean now ? The very professions are the
strongest grounds for men's fears. " Methinks
the Emperor doth protest too much," is the com-
mon feeling. We should feel safer if he did not
sing to us his political lullaby. How easy were it
to do something better than pen idle assurances
Is it for mere whim or amusement that he has buil
a navy equal to that of the only naval power
which, though it would never attack him, might
yet interpose in prevention of unbearably ambi
tious projects? Is it for mere parade that he main
tains an army of 600,000 men as well as his enor
mous fleet ? One year of honest reductions in his
army and navy—of reductions which could not be
immediately reversed at pleasure—would do more to
reassure Europe and " to develope the resources"
not of France only but of all the continent, than a
hundred Ministerial speeches at agricultural dinners,
and a hundred columns in the Moniteur.
The truth is, and it is affectation to conceal it—
Louis NAPOLEON is the costly disquieter of Europe.
He has but one thought—to please the army which
put him on the throne and which keeps him there,
and so to please a vain-glorious people who, to do
him justice, care as little about honour or morality
as he himself does, provided they have the empty re-
nown of victories, and the solid gain of augmenting
their territory and getting commercial treaties of
which all the gains are theirs. Next time he wants
£20,000,000 of the people's savings he knows how
to obtain it ; ready, therefore, financially as well as
in naval and military preparations for war at any
moment, who can feel assured that EMPEROR,
army, and people will not very shortly demand that
some fresh territories shall be called on to ballot
for annexation to France, or for remaining under
the Government of —, or for Government by 0
member of the Bonaparte family ? Will the ques-
tion be first put in Italy or on the banks of the
Rhine—or, nobody yet knows where ? No one
threatens Louis NAPOLEON, his military and naval
preparations threaten all, and we believe the ques-
tion will soon be, whether it be cheaper for Europe
to keep up war establishments for years, or go to
war at once, burn and sink his navy, and scatter
his army.

WILLIAM PATERSON, the Merchant Prince, who
in 1693 founded the Bank of England, was, later
on in his history, the projector of a far grander
enterprise, which at length gives promise, after the
lapse of more than a hundred and fifty years, of
being happily realised. Its realisation, however,
supposing it to be thus eventually accomplished,
will be effected in a manner the originator of the
scheme itself in the abstract could never, by any
possibility, have anticipated. The cherished day-
dream of PATERSON was nothing less, it will be
remembered, than the opening up of a World's
Highway across the isthmus connecting the two
Americas. A ship canal, cutting through the nar-
rowest portion of Darien, was to unite for ever the
waters of the Atlantic with those of the Pacific. The
commerce of Europe and the commerce of Asia was
to be brought there into direct communication with
each other ; they were to blend and amalgamate in
the newly-dug ocean channel, there to reciprocate
wholly incalculable advantages at that central
point between the twin continents of the
Western hemisphere. It was argued in
favour of the undertaking, even at the period
of its original announcement, that this surely
should, among all favoured spots of earth, be
the world's commercial high road, situated as it was
familiarly known to be even then, within six weeks'
sail alike of Europe and of Asia—midway between
the golden regions of Mexico and Peru—in the
very midst, as it were, of the West Indies, within
eas♦ distance of the Spice Islands, of Japan, of
China, and of Hindostan.
Upwards of a century and a half having now
elapsed since this magnificent enterprise was first
projected—it appears, at length, tolerably certain
to be now very speedily accomplished. Virtually
the design of PATERSON will be fulfilled;
though, in the mere manner of its eventual
fulfilment, the enterprise will prove, in so many
words, to be—the same with a difference. The
isthmus will be crossed—but at another point than
the one originally indicated. While, instead of the
world's highroad being (as was intended) a ship
canal—it will turn out to 1)2 (what PATERSON never
dreamt of)—a railway !
On Saturday last— to be explicit—there waited
upon the French EMPEROR, in the Palace of the
Tuilleries, a deputation of the Honduras Inter-
Oceanic Railway Company—a deputation consisting
of Mr. F. Mourros, of Paris ; Mr. JOSEPH ROBIN-
SON, of London ; Dr. HOLLAND, M.D., New York,
Physician to the Surveying Expedition ; and Mr.
ROBERT ROWAN MOORE, Secretary to the Com-
pany—these four gentlemen being introduced to
his Imperial Mojeety by Senor HERRAN, Minister
Plenipotentiary for the States cf Honduras and San
Salvador. From the simple statement of the facts
advanced upon the occasion of this interview, it is
obvious enough that the prospect of the projected
railway being actually constructed is very far, in-
deed, from being in any way merely visionary, Con-
clusive testimony, demonstrative of the value of an
interoceanic railroad in that particular quarter of
the globe, has been afforded, in point of fact, for the
last six years continuously. For it was in 1854 that
the Panama Railway was first of all opened, and
, from the perfectly reliable statistics of that rail-