The Sun.
London, England, 1858-12-21 00:00:00

yond the possibility of extrication. " War to the
knife " has been averted just at the last moment,
and the Mormons may still indulge in p )13-gamy
and other tastes scarcely more justifiable.

The abandonment of " the right of se - rch," and
the adoption of the principle that " free hips made
free goods," were, of course, very pleasing to the
PRESIDENT; but although he speaks of his detes-
tation of the Slave Trade, we do not see that effi-
cient measures have been taken to put it down. He
thinks if Cuba could be ceded to the Government
at Washington that something might be done.
That is the single obstacle to active inter-
ference. but we cannot quite see how the desired
annexation would improve the prospects of emanci-
pation. Let slavery be abolished at home ; let the
planters show that they recognise liberty in black,
as well as white, and then we may be prepare, l to
witness the surrender of Cuba by Spain, if it can
be obtained on fair and equitable terms.

A Marquisate, we doubt not, will reward the
Earl of ELGIN upon his return homewards. Never
has Minister Plenipotentiary more brilliantly
earned that high recompense. Entrusted with a
most weighty responsibility in the midst of a
general confusion both at home and abroad, Lord
ELGIN has so triumphantly acquitted himself of it
in those remote Asiatic seas that his course has
been everywhere marked by a series of swift and
bloodless successes. Scarcely had he been de-
spatched eastwards upon his great mission
of pacification when the material forces,
both military and maritime, backing up his
claims upon the respectful attention of the Chinese
Government, were diverted from their original
destination in consequence of the sudden and
alarming outbreak of the Indian insurrection.
Deprived of those forces for a while, his Excellency
retraced his steps as far as Calcutta, prepared, if
requisite, to dedicate his energies to the service of
the Crown in connection with the suppression
of the revolt in Hi ndostan. Thanks to
the calm self-reliance, however, of Clemency
CANNING and to the rapid triumphs over the herd
of sepoy mutineers, won by the comparative hand-
ful of English soldiers, led on against their
swarm of foes by heroes like HAVELOCK, and
NEIL, and OUTRAM, and NICHOLSON, and INGLIS,
and afterwards by the daring Commander-in-Chief,
newly created Lord CLYDE of Clydesdale—the Earl
of ELGIN and KINCARDINE was soon enabled to
return to the still more eastern scene of war, the
arena, as it was soon destined to be, of his almost
unparalleled series of rapid and comprehensive pa-
cifications. Under the auspices of this able diplo-
matist, the second and most memorable of our

great wars with China was brought about immedi-
ately to a happy termination. But little was re-
quired to be accomplished to this end by our naval
armament under Admiral SEYMOUR, and still less
by our land forces under General STRAUBENZEE.
An empire constituting more than one entire third
of the human race was conquered at the point of the
pen rather than at the point of the sword. The
insulation of Cbina from the rest of the world was
in a few days terminated, after its existence as a
system uninterruptedly during all these past cen-
turies. Mr. Consul PAluas had not long had the
doubtless ineffable satisfaction of literally " collar-
ing" his old antagonist, Commissioner YEII, and
carrying him off summarily to durance vile in the cus-
tody of some half-dozen blue jackets, led on by two
or three stripling midshipmen. Sir JOHN BOWRING
had not long witnessed the complete expiation by the
Chinese authorities atCanton, of the flagrant and wan-
ton outrage committed by them quite unprovokedly
in the midst of a profound peace against the flag of
England—when the famous treaty of Shanghai was
authenticated and completed under a few strokes of
the-pen by Lord ELGIN and the Chinese Commis-
sioners. Scarcely had the tidings of this great and
peaceful triumph reached the Home Government,
when they were followed by others equally sur-
prising and equally satisfactory :—those recounting
to us the terms of the companion treaty completed
by Lord ELGIN directly afterwards at Jeddo—
opening up for the first time political and commer-
cial relations between the British and Japanese
Empires. Between the date of Lord ELGIN'S no-
mination to this great Eastern mission and that of
the latest of his now renowned and historical diplo-
matic triumphs, the administration at home had
changed hands completely. The Government and
the Opposition had exchanged places in Parliament.
Lord PALMERSTON was out—Lord DERBY was in. A
Whig Ministry had despatched his Excellency to
the Chinese seas—a Conservative Cabinet received
the intelligence of his speedy successes within a
few months from the time of its unexpected instal-
lation. Neither the political changes at home nor
the internecine conflict raging comparatively
close at hand in the Bengal Presidency, in any way
seems to have appreciably affected the fortunes of
the mission intrusted to the Earl of ELGIN and
KINCARDINE. It mattered apparently little to his
excellency who might be installed in offi at home,
or what might be the perils encountered elsewhere
by the forces of the Crown—those intrusted to the
guidance of his will, as ambassador extraordinary
to China, and incidentally also to Japan, were to
testify in a signal manner his rare and remarkable
capacities as a Diplomatist. They have done so.
Everywhere his excellency has triumphed over all
opposition. Upon the completion of his crowning ,
success over those gigantcsque governments of Asia
and the Eastern Archipelago, he will return home-
wards. Lord ELGIN is now only in the forty-eighth
year of his age. Nobly has he served the Crown
and the country in both hemispheres—as Governor-
General of Canada, as Ambassador to China, as
Plenipotentiary to the Japanese Government. He
has deserved well of his country. He should bo
greeted by no common welcome on his reappearance
amongst us. The ancient motto of his heuse—
Fuimus—should apply henceforth to the earl-

doms of ELGIN and KINCARDINE. He has fairly
earned for himself the loftier honours symbolised
in the velvet cap and the jewelled coronet of a