The Sun.
London, England, 1859-05-31 00:00:00

AMERICA AND THE WAR.

(From the New York Herald.)
On the threshold of a general war, involving a
"rectification of the boundaries" of perhaps every
state of Europe—t contest which in its conse-
quences may prove to be a counterpart of the wars
resulting from the first French Revolution—the
question. naturally arises, is this great power, the
United States of America, to remain an idle specta-
tor of this tremendous drama from the lifting to
the dropping of the curtain ! We should answer
no ! For while the belligerents of Europe are
absorbed in the formidable work of reconstructing
their checks against each other, there will be an
opportunity afforded for the quiet settlement of the
" balance of power" on this continent which our
Government cannot and will not regard with indif-
ference.

We have full authority for this declaration in the
regular and special messages of Mr. Buchanan to
the lato Congress concerning Mexico, Central Ame-
rica, and the island of Cuba. They are each to us
what Turkey is to Europe, " a sick man," who can
only be saved from the most terrible dissolution by
the most powerful remedies. It is reported that this
European entanglement hinges upon an under-
standing between the Emperor Alexander, King of
Sardinia, and Louis Napoleon, in reference to " the
sick man" of Turkey and the eastward extension of
the power and civilisation of Russia. In any event,
we may safely predict that in the terrible struggle
between Austrian and French arms and ideas in
Italy, the paramount idea with Russia will be the
opening of her " road to Constantinople."
In view of this important element in the general
European programme, England may now be occu-
pying an enforced position of armed neutrality ; for
ere long, with or without the co-operation of France,
she may be called to the defence of the overland
route to India. Surely there will be work enough
in this prodigious job of the reconstruction of the
map of Europe to occupy for a year or two the un•
divided attention of England and France. Nor is
it probable that Spain will be permitted to play,
meantime, the part of a passive spectator. She is
too intensely devoted to and identified with the Pope
and the Church of Rome to remain neutral in a
contest involving the very existence of Rome as
the head-quarters of the Church. But if Spain
should still find it her policy to stand aloof, the
fierce contagion of war will almost certainly re-
kindle within her own borders the fires of insurree-
tion and revolution.

Thus, then, with France, England, and Spain
completely absorbed in the bloody European drama,
what will there be to prevent the government at
Washington from quietly settling the troubles and
complications of our " sick" neighbours upon a
strong and solid American basis ? Mr. Buchanan
has definitely settled the Kansas question ; and
he has put the Mormon difficulty into such a shape
that it will very soon settle itself. At the same
time the revived and still increasing financial and
commercial prosperity of the country disposes of
the otherwise troublesome tariff question. The
schedules of 1857 will answer the purposes of
relieving the Treasury, and bountiful crops and an
increased carrying trade will satisfy the present
wants of the country. There will thus, in Con-
gress, be no disturbing democratic issues in the
way of a bold and decisive American foreign policy.
Under the pressure of general war and bank-
ruptcy in Europe, Spain may be persuaded to sell
her " ever faithful island," Mexico may be quietly
induced to part with half her territories, or to come
boldly into the Union ; and the states of Central
America may be moulded to the " true intent and
meaning" of the Munroe doctrine. During the siege
of Sebastopol there was such an opportunity for
these interventions on our part, looking to the com-
mercial and military " balance of power" on this
continent, but the trifling and vacillating adminis-
tration of poor Pierce permitted the occasion to pass
away. Mr. Buchanan has already indicated a more
positive and decisive policy ; and had he been pro-
perly seconded by the late democratic Congress, we
believe that, with the meeting of the new Congress
in December next, the wisdom and sagacity of his
recommendations would be proved by the most
substantial results.

We presume that the President, in his next
annual message, will adhere to the bold and masterly
foreign policy recommended in his last, with such
modifications of a more decisive character as cir-
cumstances and the occasion may suggest. In this
he will be supported by the public opinion of the
country, and he may be able to make an impression
upon Congress which will be equivalent to the
shaping of the issues and the parties for the Presi-
dential succession. With all the dirty gossip, and
twaddle, and scandalous abuse levelled against him
by disappointed office beggars and Opposition poets,
penny-a-liners, and hanger9..on outside public
kitchens superadded to party rebellions, treacheries,
and conspiracies unprecedented in American poli-
tics, Mr. Buchanan 's administration has not been
shaken. It stands in a morepromisingposition now
than at any other time since his inauguration. In
spite of a distracted, divided, and powerless party,
he has cleared the main obstacles from his path.
His course henceforward lies over a comparatively
smooth and open plain. All the signs of the times
are in his favour.

Thus, by the meeting of next Congress, in view
of the troubles of Europe, Mr. Buchanan may be
enabled to place our relations and our policy in
reference to the weak, sickly, disorganised, and
troublesome republics, islands, &c., of the Gulf of
Mexico and the Caribbean Sea in such a "palpable
shape" before the two houses, that they will be com-
pelled to act upon it. And why not ? While the
powers of Europe are absorbed in settling the "ba-
lance of 'power" here, there, and everywhere on
that continent, why should not we be doing the same
thing for the continent of America ?