The Sun.
London, England, 1867-02-21 00:00:00

THE SUN, LONIJON, THURSOAY EVENING, FEBRUARY 21, 1867.

mischief. They are, as we have said, alienating.the
greater portion of the 'Western States, at the same
time that they are making every one. ask why the
Southern States are not represented. The language
of their own organs in the press reflects more
accurately the prevailing sentiment of the
public than the opinions acted on by the Re-
publican party in Congress. One paper, the
Yew York Evening Post, goes so far as to
prophesy that every man who votes for the Bill will
suffer for it at the next election. The Nation,
another New York journal, declares the contest
does not lie between Free Trade and Protection,
but " between an unscrupulous hobby of the com-
munity at large." The Bill itself it pronounces to
be intolerable, incomprehensible, onerous, promotive
of fraud and smuggling," and foretels a desperate
attempt to modify it next session. The New York
Commercial Advertiser maintains that it would be
just as well to vote 70 or 80 millions for a Chinese
wall as to rule American trade on a policy of exclu-
sion. Exclusion will certainly be the order of the
day under the new tariff, and there is little hope felt
that Congress will fail to carry it into effect.

noble lord will state more particularly his reason
for the request on the part of her MEJESTY's Govern-
ment. Nothing more clearly shows the want of
consistency that characterises some of these dis-
affected persons than the fact that these outbreaks
should be renewed just when the Govern-
ment had accorded an act of grace in the lapse
of the Suspension Act so bitterly complained of in
some quarters. Dr. BRADY made some remarks on
the subject before the House, which were very much
to the point. He said that he did not support the
Bill because he believed that the people of Ireland
were disloyal, but many circumstances of their
social condition caused their discontent. We fully
concur with the hon. member that the chief reason
for supporting the Bill is that the Government may
have power to deal with the officers who are des-
patched here from America, and who are the agents
of designing and corrupt men. They have, in some
instances, unfortunately succeeded in raising a
spirit of discontent, and it is of the greatest
consequence that the most restrictive measures
should be adopted in regard to them. We hope
with Dr. BRADT that " if any of these emissaries
from abroad are found committing any act contrary
to the law of this country they will be taught such
a lesson as will not easily be forgotten." When
this present excitement is over the best thing that
all well-wishers to Ireland can do will be to con-
centrate their efforts and energies in the advance-
ment of such measures as may tend to improve
generally the condition of the country. The Bill
that was lately brought in for the improve-
ment of the land in Ireland is a step in the
light direction, and we hope that Irish members
will support it, instead of following their too fre-
quent course of complaining of everything, and
approving of nothing which any Ministry may pro-
pose.
It is fortunate that at this critical juncture the
Marquis of ABERCORN should prove so popular a
Viceroy. His speech at the Lord Mayor's annual
banquet at Dublin, on Tuesday, was a great suc-
cess, and that is saying a great deal under the
peculiar circumstances of the case. The Lord
Lieutenant appeared to satisfy every one present
by his comprehensive views, and the generous
spirit he displayed in touching upon various matters.
In reference to the Fenian outbreak his Excellency
made some impressive remarks. After alluding to
the decline of two fatal pestilences of the past year,
he said he must advert to a " moral pestilence, which
at the same period had proved itself a more dreaded
enemy to the peace, prosperity, and advancement of
Ireland than any dispensation which nature could
have inflicted." The Lord-Lieutenant took as hope-
ful a view as he possibly could of the state of affairs
in Ireland just now, and even went so far as
to say that he believed late events were but
the shadows of clouds passing away, or as the
galvanic spasm that convulses the corpse in the
throes of dissolution. The hope of a better state
of things being in prospect may well be indulged
in for many reasons. The influential and intelli-
gent classes have done a great deal to contribute to
the feeling of security that prevails by their unani-
mous action ; the clergy of all denominations have
evidenced remarkable decision, and some who bad
been actually misled on a former occasion have
in this last affair shown that good sense
has prevailed over their previous folly. Great
applause followed the emphatic declaration
of the Lord Lieutenant that he, for one, did not be-
lieve " in the disloyalty and disaffection of the Irish
people ;" and we are quite willing to agree with him
in this satisfactory estimate of things at this critical
juncture. We also concur with his Excellency in
his opinion that it " will be more against the ag-
gressors and invaders from without than against
the deluded population of the country of Ireland
itself that the hand of justice will have to be
aimed." No language can be too strong to con-
demn the course pursued by those who trade on the
excitement and ignorance of the lower portion of
the community, and we should rejoice to see them
brought to justice. At any rate, it is reassuring to
know that one in so responsible a position as the
Lord Lieutenant should entertain such confidence
in the loyalty and goodwill of the great bulk of the
Irish people, for without confidence no real influ-
ence can be exercised, and the chief secret of power
is lost. Mere force will never succeed at a time like
this in maintaining authority in such a state as it
should be in Ireland

The Americau public, which has been so busy
during the last few mouths in criticising and censur-
ing the conduct of the PRESIDENT, more especially

with regard to the exercise of the veto power, is
now anxiously hoping for another assertion of Pre-
sidential supremacy. The new Tariff Bill is making
rapid progress, and having passed the Senate by

more than a two-third vote, has been referred, in
the Lower House, to the Committee of Ways and
Means. The Senate, it will be remembered, made
considerable alterations in the bill while it was be-

fore them—all the amendments being for
the worse rather than the better. One of

the principal changes was the provision that
the bill should come into effect immediately
upon it becoming law instead of on the Ist of April,
as originally fixed, so that it is possible that even
the cargoes now being shipped in Europe may, when
they arrive in American ports, be subjected to these
almost prohibitory duties ! It appears, at first, ex-
traordinary that so unpopular and impolitic a mea-
sure should have even a chance of success, but the
various methods of influencing members have been
tried unsparingly by the parties interested in its
passage. The lobbies of both Houses have been
thronged by such persons and their agents,
and the effect of their assiduous endea-
vours has been only- too plainly perceptible
in the increased amount of the several duties.
The Western States will of course suffer heavily by
this measure, and the Eastern States have been
most unwise in forcing it upon them. The country
at large will now suffer for the injustice with which
the Southern States have been treated. Had the
ten excluded States sent each their two Senators to
vote upon it the bill would never have passed the
Upper House. As it is, all that can be hoped for
is a Presidential veto, which is most likely to come,
but which it is more than probable may be over-
ridden.

This redoubtable measure is the twentieth tariff
during forty years—an additional reason for its
unpopularity, since the unsettled state of the
revenue laws operates, of course, most unfavourably
upon commerce. We must add that eleven of the
nineteen bills hitherto passed have been passed
within the last five years, each adding to the bur-
dens imposed upon commercial enterprise. The
imports under the tariff now under discussion ave-
rage 90 per cent. The energy of the American
people, and the almost boundless resources of the
soil and climate, have prevented the mischievous
nature of these measures from becoming more per-
ceptible, but Congress should remember that it is
possible to overweight a winning horse ; and
why should the advantages so liberally be-
stowed by nature and fortune be neutralised, if
not altogether: counteracted, by such reckless and
suicidal legislation ?
By their conduct respecting this obnoxious tariff
_ the Radical party are doing them elves immense

The British North American Confederation.

The following address, signed by the Mayor of
Halifax, Nova Scotia, and by several hundred of
the leading inhabitants of the city, of all shades of
public opinion, was presented to the Hon. Thos.
D'Arcy M'Gee, Minister of Agriculture for Canada
and member of the Canadian Parliament, on the
arrival of the Asia, from Boston. Mr. M'Gee is
one of the deputation now in London on the sub-
ject of Confederation :
To the Honourable Thomas D'Arcy M'Gee,
M.P.P., Member of the Executive Council, and
Minister of Agriculture, Canada.
Sir,—We, the undersigned, citizens of Halifax, having
learned that you are about to pay this city a short visit,
on your way to Europe, are unwilling to allow so favouev
able an opportunity to pass without convoying to you our
warm approval of your conduct as a public,pan, in refer-
ence to some important questions which have lately
agitated this continent.
The warmest thanks of every loyal inhabitant of
British America are due to you for your manly and
spirited condemnation of the late movement in the
United States, known as the Fenian organisation, which,
under the pretence of remedying grievances in Ireland,
aimed the destruction of British rule in these provinces, and
under that pretext attempted to carry fire and sword
among the peaceful inhabitants of Canada and New
Brunswick.
Though it is quite unnecessary that we should here re-
count or even refer to the many and great services you
have rendered to the cause of British sovereignty in
British America, yet we feel bound to express our high
appreciation of your strenuous exertions for its main-
tenance.
We cannot close without a passing reference to your
signal services in the cause of " Colonial Union," in the
near prospect of which we beg to congratulate you, as one
of its earnest and most untiring advocates.
Wishing you much pleasure in your anticipated visit to
Europe, end many years of useful and honourable labour
n the public service,
We beg to subscribe ourselves
Your Obedient Servants.
[Here follow the signatures.]

The Tariff is just now the great topic of the day,
but the relations between the two Houses are not
without significance. We find in their discussions
another indication of the growing weakness of the
Radical party, and there are hopes that with their
collapse a better state of things may be restored
North and South. A few days since we heard of the
rejection of a bill which had passed the Lower
House by the Senate. The House of Represen-
tatives have now had their revenge, for we
learn by telegram, dated Tuesday evening, that
they have rejected the bill passed by the Senate as
a substitute for the Military Bill. This bodes ill
for the unity and consequent strength of the domi-
nant party. If once division comes in the camp
of the Radicals they will have nothing to look to
out of doors for support. The better class of
people were already disgusted with the result of
their treatment of the Southern States ; and now
this unpopular tariff will array against them a
long list of sufferers from the inevitable revulsion
in the commercial world.
Americans, whatever their political extravagan-
ces, are but human, and the accounts which daily
reach them from the South can hardly fail to excite
some compunction and sympathy. The statements
brought forward at the meeting held in respect to
the prevailing destitution by Mr. BEECHER, HORACE
GREELEY, and others, were startling enough, but
they are more than confirmed by subsequent ac-
counts from numerous sources. . The writer has
been unusually severe in America as in Europe, and
even in the towns of the South there has been great
suffering, caused by want of fuel as well as want of
food. It is computed that hunger and cold have
destroyed in the principal Southern States at
least two thousand persons, and the condition
of Alabama is painfully described by the Governor.
There is not, he says, a county in the State to which
the authorities have not been compelled to send
food for the poor, and so extreme is the general
poverty that, although food is placed free of charge
at depots within 50 or 60 miles of their border,
they are unable to pay the cost of transportation.
In Alabama alone there are not less than 40,000
persons who will have to be fed by public charity
until a crop is matured, and a larger number will
require partial relief. The greatest distress exists
in those parts where the white population pre-
dominate, since there are the largest number
of widows and orphans left destitute by
the war. Many of these persons, it must
be remembered, owned large estates before the war,
though now they are forced to accept the alternative
of perishing of starvation or accepting public charity.
This is not a state of affairs which should bo sub-
mitted to by a great nation like America. To pau-
perise and degrade an important section of the
community is as impolitic as it is unjust, and in
this animosity of one party against another, this
vindictiveness of New England against Secessia,
the great national interests of the States are being
sacrificed, and the future of the American people
affected. If, instead of the unhappy dis-
putes about matters of precedence and personal
interest, Cabinet and Congress were heartily to
combine to endeavour to heal the wounds of the
nation, to close the breach and restore confidence
to capital, stimulus to labour, food and employ-
ment to the starving millions of the South, how
great would be the benefits to the whole nation !
The North says the Radical party is not prepared
to sacrifice the objects for which it fought. Were
those objects then the destitution and misery of
,ens of thousands of their fellow-countrymen ?

Regent's Park Calamity Award Fund.

TO THE EDITOR OF THE SUN.

SlR,—The late Ice Clearing Committee having
united with Mr. Bussey and other gentlemen who
commenced the above fund solicit your valuable
aid in making a further appeal to the public for
their assistance towards rewarding those brave men
who risked their own lives in their heroic efforts
to save life, one of whom perished in the attempt.
The committee also take this opportunity of
thanking those who so liberally contributed towards
defraying the expenses of clearing the ice from the
lake. Subscriptions will be received at the Blooms-
bury branch of the London and Westminster Bank ;
the treasurer, Mr. G. J. Bussey, 14, Elton-villas,
Haverstock-hill ; or by Mr. G. Joblin, honorary
secretary, 27, Douglass-road (North), Islington, N.

We beg to acknowledge the following sums :
Miss Alford and Finis, 10s. ; Mr. Mackenzie, 2s. 6d.;
Miss Jardly, ss. ; Mr. Pearce, 10s.; Mr. Robson, 10s. ;
Mr. Toole, 10s. ; Major-General Dennis, £1 ; Captain Jas.
Gibbert Johnstone, £2 ; Mr. J. H. Wright, 10s. ; Mr. J. E.
Salsbury, £1 ls. ; 0. W.,
ss. ; Mr. John Bell, ss. ; Miss
Hay, 2s. 6d. ; Mrs. Ely, ss. ; Avenue-road, ss. ; Mrs.
Moe, 3s. 6d. ; Mr. Thos. Bond, 2s. 6d. ; Mr. G. Roslin, 10s.;
Mrs. Lawrence, 10s. ; Mr. J. A. Hicks, L 1 ; Mr. G. Bishop,
10s. ; Mr. J. E. Douglass, 10s. ; A. M., £l.

After the many unsatisfactory occurrences that
have taken place on the Continent of late, it is en-
couraging to dwell upon the present prospects of
Hungary. The enthusiasm which prevailed upon
the first receipt of the intelligence communicated

in the rescript of the EMPEROR has not abated; but,
on the contrary, the people seem to appreciate their
good fortune the more as time goes on, and they
reflect upon the consequences of the changes that have
taken place. On Tuesday a grand demonstration
took place at the National Theatre at Peath, and
shouts of " Long live the KING" were raised. Ac-
counts are continually received from all parts of
Hungary, which testify to the satisfaction expe-
rienced, and " enthusiastic festivities are being held
in honour of the restoration of the Hungarian Con-

stitution." So far, then, at any rate, the European
has no reason to be disappointed at the result of

the change which has been made—tardily, it is true

—but still sufficiently soon to prevent serious con-
sequences ensuing. We hope that many good
consequences may follow upon the restoration of
their Constitution to the Hungarians ; and that,
with greater confidence and good feeling, more
strength and unity will be imparted to the
political aspect of affairs in Austria and in
Hungary. One thing is certain, that to
realise such a plan will be the most effectual, if not
the only, method of preserving the prosperity and
consolidating the resources of the imperial Govern-
ment at Vienna. . _

Count BISMARCK does not seem to be flourishing
with all his inordinate success and his world-wide
renown as the master spirit of his age. His health,
it is said, has again sunk under the pressure of
anxiety and the accumulation of business. State
affairs have been so overwhelming of late that the
unfavourable symptoms before apparent have
again been noticeable. The serious state of
this Minister's health may well give rise to
grave doubts in the minds of many as to whether in
the event of his retirement the many important
schemes he has set on foot could be carried out to a
successful or even satisfactory issue. It would seem
as if the Government of Berlin had had to
reconsider its ways, for it is said that King
WILLIAM, in answer to a deputation from
Frankfort, promised that the city's future rela-
tions should be reconsidered, and that it should
not be expected to contribute greater burdens than
were possible without prejudice to the welfare of
the inhabitants. We believed all along that
the Prussians would find it more difficult
to keep their conquests than to gain them ; that is
to say, that a concurrence of circumstances con-
duced to give them a great preponderance lad

The Water Supply of London.

summer; but to render their acquisitions really LATEST INTELLIGENCE.
effective required tact, judgment, and forbearance,
none of which desirable qualities they seem to (REUTER'S TELEGRAME.)
possess, and must therefore fail in the real accom-
plishment of their designs.

SWISS ARMAMENTS.

BERNE, Feb. 21.

The Federal Government will issue a loan of
twelve million francs on the Ist March, for arming
the Swiss troops with the Winchester breech-

loading rifle.
The loan is to be issued in two series, and the
subscription will be public.