The Sun.
London, England, 1856-09-09 00:00:00

baneful efforts of those who offer injudicious ad-
vice to their beloved SOVEREIGN. A cot istitutional
opportunity must ere long be afforded. A general.
Election must take place, when the battle of•
the Constitution will be fought at the hustings.
As, in the United States, the rival principles of
Freedom and Slavery are at issw3, so, ia this
country, will the questions of Anglicanism and
Germanism be brought into conflict, and should.
the present system be persevered in much longer,
no compromise can be effected. It will be a battle
routrance between the parties.

It is a favourite argument with septuagenarian
politicians whenever their own views are for the
time being overruled that the days of the Consti—
tution are numbered. The decadence of tb.s
national power is fearlessly predicted, inasmuch
as they are well aware that they cannot unde r
any circumstances be taunted with the failure ,of
their gloomy vaticinations. Should they evcn
survive to witness the result, the respect due •to
grey, or, rather, white locks, would prevent any
personal application. General CASS, who is now
rapidly approaching the completion of his fif-
teenth lustrum, has acted on this principle. As a
true descendant of NESTOR, he has indulged in a
heap of prosaic twaddle on the difference between
the Senate and the House of Representatives o,t
Washington, but, wanting the wisdom of his pro-
totype, he has not called for any concessiorl on.
the part of his associates. On the contrary,
with youthful recklessness, he has counselled war
to the knife, and predicted even the " dissolution
of the Union " should the Northerns not yield at
once to the will of the Southern slaveowners—
even that Mr. Cass is prepared to brave rather
than to yield a single inch of the position assumed
by his friends. He is not even satisfied with
maintaining the status quo, but wishes to have the
brief period that remains for Mr. PIERCE'S occu-
pancy. of the White House distinguished by a coup
d'etest in favour of the thorough-going slave-
owning Yankees of the South.
But which party to the contest could get on
best without the other, and which would triumph
in the long run, North or South. All former ex-
perience is in favour of the hardy Northerns, even
if entering on the contest on equal terms. But
would this be the case ? Why, the South could
scarcely hold its own without Northern aid, if
left to its own reckless devices. The old Poet
tells us, " Yis eoneilii expers mole ruit suel ;'' and
the principle holds good to the present hour.
The machine would fall by its own weight, al-
though independent of external force and aggrees-

sion.

What is the Southern Power, to terrify the Free
Boilers? There are some 300,000 slave-owners, with
3,000,000 slaves--•a majority of ten to one in
favour of the "coloured" population, who, the
moment the matter was left to themselves, would
not fail to discover and make full use of the
golden opportunity. There might be a black
Republic or a sable Empire, but a white one
would not long exist without help from the North.
On the other side there are 25,000,000 of free
men exempted from that terrible stain that must
paralyse the arms of those who seek to hold their
fellow-men in captivity. Supposing that the
slaves were even to remain neutral in such a
contest there would be a majority of at least fifty
to one in favourof the North. What then could the
Southerns do ? Let the true conditions of the
conflict predicted, and we may add pro-
voked, by Mr. CA.SS be only considered,
and it will be seen that those who are
so insolently threatened have nothing to fear,
while the bullying party have everything to dread
from the collision. Let the North become con-
scious of its true power, and the South will not
attempt a domination only practicable over a de-
based and fallen race.

The announcement contained in a despatch
which will be found in our foreign news, to the
effect that the Emperor of the FRENCH has sent
General O'DoNNELL the Grand Cross of the Legion
of Honour, will be regarded by our readers as
♦ery significant.
When the particulars of the coup d'etat in
Madrid reached this country the more far seeing
turned with instinctive suspicion towards France
to ascertain how the feat of Marshal O'DONNELL
was regarded by the Emperor, and that suspicion
was certainly not dissipated by tie news that an
army of observation was on the way to the
Spanish frontier. Other circumstances contri-
buted to the uneasy feeling to which so flagrant
an attack on constitutional principles had given
rise. To these it is not necessary to refer ;
but it was not unfairly urged by those
who 'knew something of the policy of the
ruler of France, that, daring and unscrupu-
lous as the Spanish Marshal might be, it
was nevertheless improbable he would have so far
committed himself had he not been assured of the
sympathy, if not of the active support, of the
French Government, Subsequently the presence
of the Spanish Ambassador as a cherished gust
at the Imperial retreat left but little dou4t as to
the part taken by NAPOLEON in the infamous
transaction ; and now that all doubt on this
head, is removed, we may justly recognise in
Louis NAPOLEON the chief assassin of Spanish
liberty.

Having attained his own present position by
means of a coup d'etat, it is quite possible he
may entertain a penchant for this sort of
business, and having nothing to seize by
fraud and violence at home, must, per-
force look for its indulgence abroad. But
there, is a broader view of the matter, which
carries vastly more weight. Such interference is
a necessity of his position if he is determined to
keep France in bondage—and from what is known
of his unscrupulous character, it is quite certain
he will let no opportunity slip, and hesitate at no
act likely to be attended with success to fortify
his position. Constitutional goveinment in Spain,
alongside of absolutism in France, presented an
anomaly which it was not good for Frenchmen to
ponder ever. So, like the sagacious despot he is,
his diplomatists and secret agents were set to
work—Spanish tools wore easily found, and the
upshot was the catastrophe to which we have ad-
verted, and which every fre3man iu Europe must
deplore.

Englishmen are more interested in this affair
than we are afraid is generally imagined. Bel-
gium menaced and coerced, and Spain prostrated
by the same agency, ought to convey a warning
to us. Thank HEAVEN we are sufficiently strong
to hurl back, in contemptuous defiance, any
threats against us, and to oppose an impregnable
shield against every open attempt at interference.
There is, nevertheless, a danger against which we
will do well to guard. We have a weak side, and
that side is German. The Emperor knows it,
and, bating as he must do our constitu-
tional Government, and aware of the im-
possibility of subverting it by a dexterous
coup de main, he is likely enough to have
recourse to the only means open to him. If we
have no O'DONNELL, or offer no prospect of suc-
cess to one, we have German cousins to be cajoled
with insidious counsel, if not coerced by indirect
menace. Already the tendencies in high quarters