The Sun.
London, England, 1866-06-23 00:00:00

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e-jefriirji7E.l3- •le
a • srey!"..
how ,
Refo,.” 1•5144..•
.nd t 0,4,4
ha 'y
led over I 'e
of materi. # y hare had

lent to overturning the
gas, or getting out of
riot. We maintain,
utter bad management
and his advisers, the I
stage of discussion, al
it should not be hand
have now abundance _
some sifting. There have been importauu
sions. Not one of them has prejudicially affected
the chief principles of the bill. Then, why not pro-
ceed with the discussion, which, even if it should
last three or four years, will not last as long as the
most ordinary Chancery suit about a worthless pri-
vilege, a few hundred pounds, or a hundred acres of
mud or barren sand ? But, " No," say these ad-
visers. "We will begin quite anew. IVe will start
fresh from the very essentials of the question, and
clear our faculties as well as wipe off all the debts of
controversy, by passing through an era of confusion
and bitterness." There are tho,:e who are always
wanting to clear th 3 table, and try their luck
over again. Though they make a thousand mis-
takes, there is always that resource. It is some
such hope that drives men to the gaming-table, or
its commercial substitute. When regular business
fails, when ordinary calculation has been baffled,
• or, more likely, folly visited with its natural re-
sults, there still remains the last chance of staking
all on one die, and committing one's fortune to
suicide, and nothing more. As well se ..
accidents and causes beyond mortal control. This
sdis
anmo
re o rlless
unreasoning
the and
into capivity as put one's cause into the power of
characterinea
compared with the deliberations of a Parliament
13ouflabe.lve process.ery
which has really admitted the necessity of settling
general errl ehcat ti
o I sn
a question. The House of Commons has done this,
and, what is more, it has dealt more seriously and
more respectfully with Reform than Government
itself has. It has passed without a division the first
and second readings of the bill, only stickling for a
whole measure instead of half. It has only once
discussed foreign affairs, though, in the face of ap-
proaching wars, it has voted supplies with unpre-
cedented readiness. It has had one long debate,
and only one. It has left the great principles of
the bill—nay, the one principle, in Mr. Gladstone's
own opinion—entirely unchallenged. Then, what
has it done that it should be cashiered, disbanded,
and sent back for fresh credentials? • If that step
-be 114-4uaLit
„will be most dangerous to those who
~
take it ; for if the fidelity of the supporters of Go-
vernment be suspected and questioned now, it will
be suspected with better reason when they have
been visited with an undeserved penalty and marked
with an unjust stigma.
THE " ANGLO-AMERICAN Trams." National
life has no hereafter beyond this world, and
Providence has ordained that the sins of a na-
tion should he expiated on this earth, where the
sins were committed. History is merely a detailed
account illustrating the truth of .this statement, and
perhaps the most memorable instance is to be found
in the present position of Germany, following so
closely on the iniquitous dismemberment of Den-
mark. But an affair has occurred within the borders
of our own Empire, which, in a small way, equally
illustrates the truth of our assertion, and it is to
this event that we would direct the public attention.
Not many months have elapsed since lawless men
from the Southern States organised in the Canadian
territory the most unjustifiable raids into the United
States. Canada looked placidly on while bucca-
neers endeavoured to establish piratical cruisers
on the American lakes, and gangs broke into
the States of the Union on a mission of murder •
and plunder. It is no wonder that the action of
the Canadian people excited the greatest indignation
away, and the state of affairs became totally
among the Americans. These few mouths passed
changed. The great war which had threatened to
split the Union into halves was at an end. The
Northern people had triumphantly carried out the
objects for which they had taken up arms, and in
the peaceful solution of political difficulties
left by the war, found little time to give that
attention to the designs of an unprincipled baud
among their people, but not of their people,
who had styled themselves Fenians. These designs
were no less than to make war against the British
Empire, and to base their operations from the
United States. The Canadians found the same
stye of organisation threatening their own quiet
homesteads from the United States which but a few
short months before had threatened the homesteads
of the Union from Canada. What wonder if Ameri-
cans chuckled a little at the strange turn
events had taken, and looked on--half in compas-
sion, half in amusement—at the terror and anxiety
of their neighbours over the border ? The
Republican giant, however, was satisfied with
the victories he had achieved and the manhood he
had shown—now acknowledged by all the world. In
the hour of his triumph he was not in the mood for
petty jealousies and petty spite, and the action of
the American Government iu the emergency is
worthy of the mighty nation it represents. NO
sooner had the Fenian bands committed themselves
to an unlawful act than Uncle Sam stretched
forth his great arm —and crushed them. The
whole frontier bristled with American bayo-
nets, and the greatest of American generals has-
tened to the spot to direct the operations. The
President put forth a Proclamation, and the
Fenian chiefs were at once arrested. Now, here is
an example how loyal nations should act towards
each other, and we feel sure it will not be lost on
the British people. In England's long career she
has committed and suffered for many mistakes, and
among the greatest of these mistakes has been her
sluggish action in the matter of the piratical cruisers
which the Southern States managed to get to sea
from these shores, as well as the St. Albans' raid
affair, which has been so fitly punished at Fort
Erie. Of all nations in the world England is that
one which should most jealously suppress piratical
and brigand expeditions, for she is the nation most
exposed to their depredations both on sea and land.
The American people have taken most noble revenge
—and one which will do them the highest honour
in history. But if Providence has ordained
that nations should be punished here on earth for
their sins, the converse of this is also true ; and it
has been decreed that the good deeds of a people.;
should meet 'with a great and prompt reward. The
action of the American Government was as wise as