The Sun.
London, England, 1858-08-27 00:00:00

ROYAL PRDTCESSI THEATRE.
Under the Management of Mr. Charles Kean.

lish public—who in reality govern and rule the state
who are used to see order arising from most disorderly
agitations, to disdain all the excesses of the press, to
beware, in fact, of all the exaggerations of unlimited
freedom—the British public. I say, knew nothing of
the attempts previously organised in England against
the Emperor's life, nor of the doctrines professed by a
portion of the refugees; the British public was sincerely
as ignorant as it was innocent of all those infamous
attempts. It was, therefore, with the most painful
astonishment that it fancied, assuredly without rea-
son (p), that it detected in speeches delivered in
Paris under the feeling of indignation which the late
attempt had aroused, a disposition on the part of
France to consider England as responsible for the
attempt, and to throw upon her the odium of being
a party to the crime. From that moment public
opinion in England suddenly came to a stand in the
midst of the manifestations by which the crime was
being branded throughout the length and breadth of
the land."

Last Week but One of the Present Season, and Last Nights of
" The Merchant of Venice."

THIS EVENING will be presented Skakspere's Play of THE
MERCHANT OF VENICE: Bbylock, by Mr. C. Sean; Portia, by
kn. C. Kean. Preceded by the Farce of LIVING TOO EAST.

ROYAL LYCEUM THEATRE.
Manager, Mr. Edmund Falconer.
THIS EVENLNG, Thursday, August 2'th, will be produced a
New and Original Comedy, entitled EXTREMES; or, Men of the
Day ; in which Mr. Emery, Mr. James Rogers, Mr. Barrett, Mr. E.
Falconer, Mrs. Charles Young, Mrs. Weston, and Miss Kate Saxon,
will appear. After which, the Farce of THE DANCING BARBER;
-Fitzfuggle, Mr. James Rogers. Doors op3n at half-past 6, to com-
mence at 7. Box-ofllce open from 11 to 5 daily.

ROYAL STRAND THEATRE.
Lessee and Directress, Miss Swanborough.
Last Two Nights of the Present Season.
THIS EVENING, ASMODEUS: by Mr. Belford and Miss Marie
Wilton. After which. A LOVER By PR'►Xti : by Messrs. Belford,
J. Clarke, Miss M. Wilton. and Mrs. Melville. To conclude with
DEAF AS A POST : Miss M. Wilton and Mrs. Melville.

CANTERBURY HALL, Westminster-road.—
OPEN EVERY EVENING.—The following company of Vo-
calists are eagaged for the performance of Seleetions from all the
Popular OPERAS, MADRIGALS, CHORUSES, GLEES, DUETS, &c.,
viz.:—Miss Russell, Mrs. Badsey, Miss Brunell, Miss Ray, Madame
Bartoletti, Miss Montague, Mrs. Lawrence, and airs. Anderson ' •
Herr F. Jonghmans, Mr. Henshaw, S. Jones, J. Barker, W. Melling,
enor Antonio, E. L. Rime, Mr. Badzey, Senor Tiroli, Mr. Cozens'
Mr. Bell, Mr. Barnard, and Mr. St. Albyn. Hr. John G. Fordo'
and E. W. Hackney. Pianoforte, Mr. Cecil Hicks ; harmonium'
Mr. Courtney; Director, Herr F. Jonghmans. Commence at seven
'clock precisely. Suppers, &c., until twelve o'clock.

The change in the passport system also caused
natural annoyance, for it was felt to be aimed at
ourselves—neither more nor less, in fact, than an
expression of distrust. It must, at all events, be ad-
mitted that the time selected for the change was
peculiarly infelicitous. We hail the able and truth-
ful speech of Count DE PERSIGNIC with sincere plea-
sure, convinced that it conveys an accurate view of
the feelings of both countries, viz., " That there is no
interest, no serious question at issue between the two
Governments, that the simplest exercise of common
sense cannot salsfactorily solve, and that thus it only
rests with us to maintain an alliance so advantageous
for the two peoples.'

THE WEATHER—SUN OFFICE, AUGUST 27.
THERMOMETER, IN THE SHADE.
66—highest since noon yesterday.
58—lowest this morning and during the night.
63—this day at noon.

BAROMETER, 29.96.
WIND, North-Westerly ; light, with dull weather.

Although the satisfaction excited in the minds and
hearts of reflective men in these islands, by the suc-
cessful completion of the grandest of all the grand
submarine telegraphic enterprizes, may have been
less uproarious than that expressed by all classes in
the United States immediately upon the announce-
ment of the great exploit, it has in no way been less
profound, less sincere, or less comprehensive. While
Englishmen remained dumb at the first tidings,
Americans, wherever the news spread among them,
broke forth into instantaneous acclamations. Church-
bells were rung, cannon fired, flags unfurled—there
were banquets, balls, and torchlight processions.
Speeches were delivered by heads of corpora-
tions. Sermons were addressed by enthusiastic
clergymen to their flocks. Cousin JONATHAN was
half-wild with pleasurable excitement. And
no wonder. He had ample reason, in all con-
science. The intelligence thus welcomed spontane-
ously by the multitude of free citizens all through
the States was in truth, as one of the chief function-
aries on the opposite shores of the Atlantic said
through that magical talking-wire trailed across the
unfathomable abysses of two thousand miles of salt
water—far more glorious tidings than any ever
bruited abroad in regard to some sanguinary
victory gained upon the battle-field. The ardour
of the United States' men is in truth a thing to be
respected—an outburst of feeling in the impassioned
fervour of which there is not one generous-hearted
inhabitant of Great Britain who has not already
sympathised to the very uttermost.
Meanwhile JOHN BULL has been quietly
enjoying the luxury of an apparently appath-
etic brooding over his great achievement. Days
and nights passed and not a single church bell has
tinkled, not a single banner has been displayed,
not a pinch of gunpowder has been exploded.
JOHN had actually accomplished what he had been
s• long anxiously bent upon accomplishing. And
having coiled up the end of the cable at Valen-
tia, and received news, through it, that everything
was going on satisfactorily at Newfoundland—
having seen all taught, put the entire machinery of
the telegraph in gear—he sat down to have a good
think over his doings—over what had been done and
what there yet remained to do. Both—considerable.
The actual achievement certainly immense—scarcely
at this moment quite conceivable. The residue
of work of the like kind, vast and complicated, to
an extent beyond very ready computation. At
length we are waking up from our reverie. A con-
gratulatory banquet is to be given to Mr. BRIGHT,
the principal engineer of the expedition, at Dublin,
on the Ist of September. A similar demonstra-
tion is being set on foot at Liverpool. There
cannct be much question that another and yet
grander movement of the same kind wi 1 b?gin before
long to be prepared in earnest by the good citizens
of London and Westminster. After the exultation
natural under the circumstances has been indulged
in—then will come the hard work yet in store for

Count PERSIGNY now regards the relative position
of England and France in a much clearer point of
view than when making the celebrated speech which
cost him his appointment as Ambassador to the
Court of St James's. We do not believe that he then
expressed his own opinions, but rather spoke in ac-
cordance with instructions from head-quarters. He
was too well acquainted with England and the Eng-
lish, knew too well the peculiarities of our national
character, to suppose that threats or blustering
would produce the desired effect. He had resided
amongst us as a refugee, had enjoyed that
hospitality against which Count DE MORNY
had railed, which Count WALEWSKI required
to be abolished, and the French colonels desired to
be permitted to uproot vi et armis. He was well
aware that England would expend her last man and
her last shilling before she would abandon the un-
fortunate exiles who sought a sanctuary on her
shores. He knew that he was tossed on the horns
of a dilemma, that he should offend either the Eng-
lish people or the French Government, and he
selected the former as the lesser evil of the two. It
was ill both for Lord PALMERSTON and himself
that he harked in with the French cry of the
moment. It upset the Government of the
former and consigned him to private life, probably
for the remainder of his existence, and it
deprived the latter of his snug quarters
at Albert-gate, and the liberal means supplied to
maintain the dignity of the representative of the
EMPEROR. We believe, however, that M. DE PER-
SIGNY was the victim of circumstances ; that no
French statesman more fully appreciated the value
of the English alliance, or understood the dangerous
nature of the course adopted than himself; and it was
with profound regret that the English people were
compelled to acquiesce in the propriety of his retire-
ment from the exalted station he had previously
occupied with so much credit to himself and advan-
tage to his country.
He has now come forward handsomely to make
the amende honorable, and to bear his willing and un-
exceptionable testimony, not only to the value of the
French and English alliance, but to the healthy and
honourable feeling of the English people, and the
manner in which they were led to modify their
views. He acknowledges the coldness that sprung up
—a coldness that might have led to very fiery results.
But he very sensibly remarks—" It is a fact, gentle-
men, that the interests of the two peoples are at
present so closely connected that it would be diffi-
cult, even for the blindest passions, to cause a com-
plete rupture between them. Th's communion of
interests has, in fact, become such, that were London
or Paris to be burnt to-morrow, the two countries
would mutually have to suffer immense commercial
losses. Whilst a similar catastrophe visiting Berlin,
Vienna, or St. Petersburg, would only excite our
commiseration ; in London, on the contrary, such a
calamity would strike almost as heavy a blow at our
interests as if Paris itself were destroyed. Now,
when two nations are so intimately bound up toge-
ther, they are evidently destined to become even
more closely united than they are at present."
This is true wisdom. Mutual interest will cement
and consolidate friendship, and we shall not feel dis-
posed to quarrel with those with whom we carry on
profitable dealings.
But there are other points on which France may
desire to cultivate and maintain friendship, and
which M. DE PERSIGNY clearly and distinctly
explained. He said, " Let us then first examine
what advantages France may reap from her alliance
with England. With England, we are masters of
the seas, and therefore have no aggression to appre-
hend on our frontiers. No coalition can ever be
formed against us, arid the peace of Europe
is assured as long as we have England for an ally.
Our country, therefore, nay give its undivided atteri•
tion to the development of its internal resources, free
from any anxiety, and complete the consolidation of
its institutions without any apprehension. Our ma-
terial rivality with England ceased when she threw
open her immense colonies to our commerce as well
as to her own ; it will not be her fault if, by adher-
ing to our present system of high-priced production,
we show ourselves incapable of availing ourselves
of the advantages within our reach." This
is so strikingly correct that it requires no
arguments to establish the accuracy of statements
that carry conviction with them. Nor is the inte-
rest of England less obvious. He puts the matter
in a very striking point of view when he says—" In
1814 and 1815 she succeeded in conquering the colo-
nial and maritime supremacy which formed the ob-
ject of her desires, and to which she seemed as it
were predestined by her insular position, and by the
natural tastes of her inhabitants. That supremacy
she now enjoys without dispute, and she confesses
that in the case of a new conflict with us, even
if (which GOD forbid!) the fate of battles had fresh
disasters in store for France, the only result
for her would be to retain possession of what
she is now mistress, that is, her maritime and
colonial supremacy. England would, therefore, have
everything to lose and nothing to gain by a war
with France. By a complete transformation of her
interests the situation of England at the present day
may be said to be this : that her desire to remain on
friendly terms with France equals her hostility to-
wards us forty years ago. Such, indeed, is the desire
of England not to disconnect her interests from our
own, that in two grave circumstances on determining
to join us in making war, and then peace, she con-
sulted our position rather than her own."
These are important truths that should be under-
stood by every straightforward and honourable
man in both countries. It is for the benefit
of humanity, the progress of civilisation, and
the welfare an.l happiness of mankind, that
France and England should remain united—
that the entente cordiale between the nations should
not be lessened by any unfortunate betiserie on either
side. Such, however, did occur, in consequence of
what M. de PERSIGNY terms " a series of misunder-
standings en both sides of the Channel." But his
own statements do not quite establish the conclusion
as to there being faults on both`sides. He admits that A very interesting trial has just taken place in
"On the receipt of the intelligence of the attempt of Liverpool, involving questions of the deepest impor-
January 14th, England was unanimous in branding tame I
eto the commercial community. It was an
it as a hateful crime, At that period the real Eng- action brought agaiwt the managing director of the

us in regard to the paying out and laying down of
these submarine cables. By the time the last toast
has been cheercJ, and the last bumper quaffed at
these banquets of congratulation, we shall hope to
see good earnest given of an energetic resolve on the
part of Englishmen generally—English speculators,

and English merchants, and English engineers, backed
by a patriotic English Government—to carry out
elsewhere far and wide the magnificent system
inaugurated so gloriously and triumphantly by the
completion of the submarine enterprise between
England and America, uniting by means of the line
threading the bed of the Atlantic the two great
hemispheres.
Literally no impediment whatever stands in
the way, in regard to mere distance, in any
' part of the globe—east, west, north, or south
—now that we have succeeded, by one enterprise, in
vanquishing an ocean-breath of two thousand miles
from point to point, from Valentia to Newfoundland.
Nowhere else, either in the old world or the new, i
there any such gap as this to ba spanned, any such
unbroken interval to be traversed. Elsewhere the
task, to be sure, is, to all intents and purposes, easy
by comparison. Having satisfactorily laid
down so many thousand miles of wire in
one continuous length under the Atlantic,
we may set resolutely to with a heart and with a
will—to the gigantic but facile toil still lying before
us, that of laying down a whole net-work of telegra-
phic wires and cables, stretching hither and thither,
under seas and gulfs, through straits, across
isthmuses, alike over continent and peninsula, and
in unseen loops from island to island through the
whole chain of a vast and scattered Archipelago.
It is not a day-dream nowadays—the notion of the

time coming when England may hold instantaneous
communication at pleasure with the whole of her
enormous and scattered possessions, to the east
with Hong Kong, to the west with British
Columbia, northwards with the Red River
Settlement, southwards even to our antipodes
in Australia. It has happily become now

merely a question of time and money. It will cost

so much and so much—directly we can make up our
minds about the extent of the disbursements it
is done. We have only to manufacture so many
hundreds of thousands of miles of gutta percha cable,
with a copper core to it—to coil the rope up safely
on board appropriate steam-vessels—to pay it out
according to an approved system—to keep our eyes
open and our wits about us, while we are going
through these momentous labours—and the achieve-
ment, wonderful from first to last, scarcely com-
prehensible from first to last, is, as rapidly as we
please, accomplished.

It was whimsically remarked by Boa when he
paid his famous visit to the United States and then
came home and told us all about it in his American
Notes for General Circulation—that the characteristic
cries of the Yankee and the British coachmen as of
the two peoples are—in England—" All right !" in
AmErica—" Go-a.-head I" It would be well in
regard to the acceleration of the mere speed
of our doings here in England if—now that
(Thus and JONATHAN thrill smpathetically to the
same nerve trailled along the bed of the Atlantic—
the former were to take an obvious hint from the
latter—linking the incentive to the consolation.

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THE SUN.
FRIDAY, AUGUST 27, 1858.