The Sun.
London, England, 1860-12-17 00:00:00

PRESS and her sui to too visited us, though incognito,
without the net. essity of any certificate as to who

they were. Not only that, but we gave her such a
hearty reception 1, and she must have been so well
pleased with ilai : gratulations of dukes and Man-
chester ope•ratii,res alike, that we can almost ima-
gine the FJaPILESE telling the EMPEROR, when she
returned, that h e must make a people who had been
so cordial towards her, 'free of France. That
would be only rec iprocity,
she might say ; for
with no pre-arrange Thent—no maires and prejets
instructed to arras ige processions and cheers
she could tell of polite 1 and of kind rough attentions
too, such as proved till tt all kinds of Englishmen
were friendly to Franc Et.
The reciprocity is, h o wever, a most suitable ac-
companiment or sequel to the French treaty. Even
so small an obstacle as el passport is often some-
thing to a commercial man,. and should it be desired,
as it now must be, if for the sake of revenue only,
by the Imperial Goverrunent,,to create a large trade
with England, nothing can be more desirable than
to make it as easy to travel through France as to
travel through England itself. \Ve are inclined to
think, also, that the mere aboliti. on of passports
will increase the number of visit. rs to France.
There are a large number of persons who imagine
some serious trouble and difficulty wh..en anything
like a legal document is essential, anc.l• travelling
people as we are, we doubt not that
thousands have been diverted from a Continental
trip, by the mere circumstance of a passport being
required, and of their having heard of annoyances
in connection with it. Of course an influx of
LEnglish visitors is not only an influx of E,oglish
custom direct, but much more than that, for it will
tend to create a taste for French productions of
very kind. A more likely ex edient to make the
removal of commercial prote fficient, and to
render the modified tariff a source of traffic, could
hardly have been devised than to remove the useless
and artificial protection against travelling in
France ; and most probably the result will
soon be apparent in the increased number of visitors
on both sides the water ; for national, like social,

•
visiting creates return visits.
We ought also to accept, and we do in arl frank-
ness, the pledge thus offered us of goodwill and
amity. It is really worthy of notice in a QUEEN'S
Speech. It is certainly holding out the olive
branch, and must be allowed for when we are ask-
ing, what means this ceaseless increase of the naval
strength of France ? Is the EMPEROR beginning
to think that race a hopeless, at least a useless one ?
He has put us to enormous expense to place
ourselves on barely equal terms with him, not
equal, indeed, considering his vast army,
and the ready working of his naval conscription.
If he be disposed to come to some understanding
on this subject also, awl to do something towards
lightening our load of thirty millions per annum
for naval and military expenditure, the greater
part of it caused by his proceedings, we shall have
double cause to trust him. We hope some good of
this kind is in store for us. It ought to be easy to
come to a fair understanding which might save
both nations a heavy expense. Certainly, since
Count DE PERSIGNY'S return, all has been moving
in the hopeful direction. Some liberty of speech
was at first conceded ; some liberty of the press fol-
lowed ; some removal of incurred disabilities fol-
lowed, though the law of avertiasements is not
withdrawn; and now a certain amount of freedom
of trade with England is followed by freedom of
locomotion in France for our favoured nation.
Perhaps the mention of " reciprocity" may be also
a hint to other European countries, that if they,
like us, admit French subjects free, their- subjects
also shall be free to travel in France.

We have a telegraphic summary of President
BUCHANAN'S message, much of the character which
might have been looked for. The Chief Magistrate
of the Republic must be in favour of law and order,
but the chief of the pro slavery party must also
have a word or two for the rebellious Southern
States, and a word or two in rebuke of the trium-
phant States of the North.
Why, he asks, while the country is so prosperous,
are there threats of disunion—is not the Union
the source of all those blessings. To which inter-
rogation he furnishes his own reply—the long con-
tinued and intemperate interference of the
Northern people with the Slavery question
has, he says, given rise to servile insurrec-
tion, and inspired the slaves with vague notions
of freedom, hence " a sense of security no
longer exists around the family altar." Now
we also remember a like fear and a negro insur-
rection in Jamaica. It was suppressed in fire and
blood, but it resulted in emancipation. The attempt
was made to inculpate certain missionaries in the
Island as the cause of it ; but after the strictest
investigation the cause was found to be in the con-
duct of the planters, and even of their House of
Legislature. They resented so loudly and with so
much bluster, talking even of secession to the
United States, the resolutions of the English Par-
liament, that the negroes fully believed that the
King of England had sent them out " free papers,"
and that the planters and Government withheld
them, and they were determined not to be cheated
of what the King had given them. Similar entirely
is now the state of things in the North. The
North has not done anything whatever in in-
fringing on the sovereign rights of the Southern
States, but those States make such a disturbance
about a perfectly legal election of an anti-Slavery
President, that the utterly ignorant slaves may
well believe there is something more for them, if
they could but get it, which their masters with-
hold. We should not be at all surprised if cruel
servile war should follow. The extreme ignorance
in which the slaves are kept may indeed prevent
their hearing much of what is done by legislatures
and public bodies. On the other hand such gross
ignorance as the Planters generally deem the safe-
guard of Slavery, exposes the poor creatures to
becoming the dupes of the absurdest rumours.
Servants in families,, and negroes in towns, hear
of the way in which their masters talk at home
and at public meetings, and it might well make
them believe that the Northern States are
determined to free the negroes, and -would
give them any aid they need in seeking their free-
dom. Should a servile insurrection occur it will

almost certainly be due, like that in Jamaica, to
the domestic negroes reporting to the field hands
their masters' words, with their own interpretation

of them.

Mr. BUCHANAN is constrained to acknowledge
that the election of Mr. LINCOLN is no cause for
disunion. Deeply as it must mortify him, he yet
knows that all has been perfectly constitutional
and legal; and, he contends, we fear with too
much truth, that the South is in no danger from it.

He blows hot and cold, however, on the great
question. He Proclaims secession revolutionary,
and denies that it is constitutional; at the same
time he denies the right of the Federal Government
to coerce secondary States into submission—and,
there with more truth, perhaps, pronounces it imprac-
ticable. It would be probably a most difficult
task to preserve a federation by force ;
. but
ye.
In
is
most always
urbounleent feoafrfutlhe alstteartneas:
t j
the