The Sun.
London, England, 1866-10-13 00:00:00

SPIRIT OP THE PUBLIC JOIJRNILS.

TIMES.—The long struggle between the President
and the Republican party in the United States may
be looked upon as constitutionally terminated by
the elections which have just taken place. These
elections seem to show that the new Congress will,
by a large majority, insist on the constitutional
amendment which the Republican party has advo-
cated, or, at least, on that part of it which relates to
the representation and suffrage. President Johnson
will find himself next December faced by a Legisla-
ture which, though only representing a part of the
Union, represents that part which population, wealth,
and the result of a successful war have made irre-
sistible. In this Legislature he will not be able to
count on a third of the members. In the Senate his
policy numbers only some 15 supporters to 37 of the
opposite party ; in the House of Representatives the
two-thirds majority will be easily obtained by his
opponents. In face, then, of Congress, as it now
stands, he is in Legislative matters powerless. Con-
gress can pass any measure it pleases, in spite of his
veto, and though his constitutional authority is still
very great, though he commands army and navy, still
makes and unmakes officials, still to a large extent
directs the government in the conquered States, it
is evident that he cannot carry out any national
policy of his own. There will be men in Congress
who will not even shrink from impeaching him, for
the political passions of Americans run fiercer and
stronger than under our temperate constitutional
climate. Congress would, indeed, probably shrink
for a time from such a course, but no one can say
that it might not be brought to it at last under what
it might consider extreme provocation. Such a feud
between the Executive and the Legislative powers of
the country would, however, be the greatest of mis-
fortunes, and it is evident from the tone of the Ame-
rican press that in such a case something more than
a mere legal or constitutional conflict might be ex-
pected. It is the interest and duty of all parties
now to bring this hard-fought campaign to a close.
The services which Mr. Johnson has rendered to
the country during his term of office have been of
the highest worth, and we believe that among what
may be called the moderate Radicals there is no dis-
position to question them. During the first months
of his unexpected Presidentship he simply carried
out the-policy of his unfortunate predecessor. Mr.
Seward was the adviser, one might say the guide, of
Mr. Lincoln ; he knew what the late President's
purposes were, for he had to a great extent formed
them. himself, and in filling the highest place in
both the present and the former Cabinet he showed
that the prevalent spirit in • each was the same.
The power of the President has been used with the
greatest effect to lessen the inevitable bitterness of
conquest. Those who had fought so long and
fiercely laid down their arms with less humiliation
when they found that there was moderation and
manliness at Washington. We believe that the
benefits which the President and his chief
tadviserth
conferred on their country by their treattmbeen f
vanquished Confederates have been grea
party
estimation, and that when the storms of
this
soend all
warfare are over all men will acknowledge it. For
a time it hung in the balance
South.ewthheethr
terrific proscription should rage in
Chief of the Executive would have had law and
precedent to justify him if he bad hanged and con-
fiscated in all directions. European Governments,
even the most civilised, had never scrupled to punish
traitors with death and forfeiture; the most humane
moralists had only demanded that the followers
should not share the fate of the ringleaders. As to
the lands and goods of rebels, Congress bad actually
declared them to be forfeited, and no sooner were the
Federal armies in occupation than some of the mili-
tary leaders showed thA they were not inclined to

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FEIGN 4d.
STAMPED sd.

leave the Act a dead letter. The Radical orators in
the North were crying out, for blood. Another set,
with more interesteemotives, were moving for the
plunder of the wealthy Confederates. President
Johnson, with a nobility and courage which will bring
him honour when_ his failings are forgotten, stood be-
tween the Southern people and a proscription which
might, perhaps, have once more driven them to arms
to wage a war, not for independence, but for revenge.
The zealots of the extreme party cried out as loudly
then as now, but the good sense of the nation soon
showed it that mercy and generosity were the best
of policies,. Acts of retaliation were avoided which
would have filled every man, woman, and child in
the South with undying enmity against the Northern
people. The prospect at the present time, indeed,
is not very bright. We who know from the excmple
of Ireland how national or sectional hatreds are
handed down from father to son, and how difficult
it is to conciliate those whom our ancestors estranged
may be excused for believing that many_ difficulties
may be in store for the United States. The Southern
people are sore at their humiliations, and it is hard
to suppose that a large part of them are not dis-
affected towards a rule which is exercised by the
party antagonistic to them. But so far as they have
been conciliated, so far as they are likely to bring
up their children as good citizens, attached to the
Union and its institutions, it will be the work of the
work of the men who have wielded the executive
power of the United States since the war. Mr.
Johnson has, however, for the most part fulfilled his
task. Life and property in the South are safe, and,
except as regards the negroas, the right of self-
government is recognised. The present conflict is
mainly as to the representation in Congress, and on
this the verdict of the North, which is practically
the whole country, has been given against the Pre-
sident. We think he may now fairly yield, the
more as the chief question is one of electoral reform,
which is especially within the jurisdiction of Con-
gress. A part of the Constitutional Amendment
seems not unreasonable. The Radicals do not for
the present demand the institution of negro suffrage
throughout the Union, but they claim that where
negroes are excluded they shall no longer be counted
as part of the populatiou. As our readers know, the
House of Representatives is constituted anew after
each census on the basis of population, Thus Ohio
has 19 members, Pennsylvania 24, New York 31.
In this enumeration the coloured population of the
South used to be counted as equivalent to three-
fifths of their number : thus 100 black men would
count as 60, and the State received representatives
on the whole number thus made up. But now the
Republicans demand that where negro suffrage is
not established only the white population shall
count—a change which would further diminish the
number of Southern members, already very small,
through the increased population of the Northern
States. It is probable that after the present elec-
tions the Republican party will demand negro suf-
frage pure and simple as the condition of the admis-
sion of a State to Congress. But that is in the
future ; for the present the demand is that the
members shall be in proportion to the voting popu-
lation, and as the principle is in itself not unjust,
and as it is plainly upheld by the majority of the
people, we think the President will do wisely to
oppose it no longer. But the real sting of the Con-
stitutional Amendment lies not in the suffrage
clause, but in that which disqualifies for office all
who have; had any share in the rebellion. It is evi-
dent that this is simply the abolition of self govern-
ment in the Southern States for a generation.
Every man of education and position in the whole
South took part in the rebellion, and to disqualify
these, from Gen. Lee down to the drummers of the
Confederate army, from Mr. Davis's Cabinet down
to the clerks in their offices, is simply to subject the
Southern people to the administration of strangers
or negroes, and to force them to send men to Con-
gress who will do anything but speak for them. If
this obnoxious and, as it seems to us, useless clause
were expunged, the Constitutional Amendment
might be accepted by the South without much ado.
We should be glad to hear that some such compro-
mise had been made. The policy of exclusion from
office and of governing a people by an insignificant
and hated minority has been tried in more than one
district of Europe, and the end of it has always
been a misery and a curse. The only result in
America would be to envenom still further the
hearts of the late Confederates, and, as not even.
Mr. Thaddeus Stevens and Mr. Wendell Phil-
lips propose to exterminate the whole Southern
people, it will be as well to leave them alone, and
let who will be Governor or Congress-man, Judge
or Mayor. But, whatever the resolution of Con-
gress, we sincerely hope that no worse conflict than
one f words and votes will follow at Washington.
There are people who believe that the President and.
Congress are about to come to open war. The Pre-
sident will defy Congress, and Congress will im-
peach the President. Mr. Johnson will declare that
Congress as it exists at present is not Congress at
all, that it is a mere " rump," since it only repre-
sents 26 States, and, prevents a portion of its own
members from taking their seats in their respective
Houses. He will accordingly consider the supreme
power of the Union as devolving on him, and either
disperse the truncated Legislature; and carry on
affairs without it, or introduce the-Southern mem-
bers to their seats by force. On the other hand,
Congress will impeach the President, take the Exe-
cutive power into its halide, and as soon as possible
elect a new magistrate. That these things are not
--experted to come to pass without an appeal to other
Luau inv. at Itillat) zuva. - 4.3...reVi11iat10116 on
the respective dispositions of the regular army and
the Volunteers. Such are the speculations which
occupy men's minds at present. We are not inclined
to believe that things will be carried so far. Ame-
rican politicians are shrewd, and they know how to.
bear a defeat as well as how to employ a victory..
The habit of yielding to the will of the majority
when it has once been determined is so ingrained in
their character that they are not likely to struggle
for a cause merely to show themselves consistent.
It is not improbable that the present storm will
rapidly and completely pass away like many others
which have threatened the peace of the Union.
ANGLO-AMERICAN TIMES. Among the most
desirable objects to be carried out for placing
on the firmest footing the alliance between Eng-
land and America is the establishment of an
international copyright. The subject was ably
handled in a paper laid before the Social
Science Congress by Mr. ANTHONY TROLLOPE.
Although that great author's argument embraced
all nations, we confine ourselves to an Anglo-Ame-
rican view of this question. Indeed, so great is the
market opened to English writers in the United
States that could our American cousins be induced
to adopt an international copyright it would be a
matter of little concern whether other Governments
followed their example or not. America has often
and justly complained of the spirit with which many
English authors wrote on their country. We are
happy to say a change has gradually taken place,
which could not be more strikingly illustrated than
by a comparison between Mrs. TROLLOPE'S works
and those of her son. The difference between the
two countries accounts for the fact that in England
are the authors—in America the readers. In Eng-
land is to be found great realised capital, and closed
walks of industry. In America less created wealth,ee
and wide and open paths of all branches of commerce.
In In England a family is brought up surrounded
all educational advantages, which whenl
cAlt/Itmerica
difficult to turn to profitable account. nearly
the demand for labour necessitates the
qualified to
em-
ployment of the.youth when he becomesn
r i the former
acquired are
aid in productive work. In a word, to literary
country there is much leisure, coo
of
more profitable
pursuits—in the latter, the. tidmfor
to become authors is req r_2
-ouißngland the advantage
those qualified
work. These facts give
the general spread of
of possessing authors,
frelaxation required after the
means,
general distribution of
gent
lel raat
country the great field of
daily
magklesnd has attained a great eminence in
intheAmerica wthe
readers.
stioannd
End
Americau acknowledges her superiority
literature,
and
cided national preference for the works
by showing a e
o
There are many reasons for the
f British authors.
establishment of an international copyright, some of
which have been given by Mr. TROLLOPE, but in our
• • the chief reason has been omitted. So long
as
as these essential differences exist, which must exist
till America becomes a densely peopled country, it
would be wise in the Americans to d t English
authors op
authors as their own. An author, like a newspaper,
must write for his readers. If the market for the
sale of his book is mainly on the other side of the
Atlantic—American subjects, the traits and
cha-
racteristics of the people, their • p e, eir thoughts, feelings,
and manners, the history, geography, and nature
of their country—will here assume among the author
class a pararhou t n importance. America would then
soon cease to be a terra incognita with
the
English.
The •
New England fireside, the home in the broad
prairie, the social life of the Southern planter, and
the feeling that animated the Washington
politician,
would become here as familiar as Household Words.
A flood of light regarding American life would begin
to dawn upon England. What is now to the Eng-
lish an enigma, a mystery, something incomprehen-
sible, would become clear as the noon-day. English

~~~

authors -would not presume to foist upon their
readers garbled statements and caricatures of the
country. They would cease to write in a narrow
spirit of sarcasm, and would take care to make them-
selves thoroughly acquainted with their subjects.
They would no longer dare to launch across the
Atlantic a book that only proved their own gross
ignorance. Many would seek that field for the
exercise of their talents, and most of them would
remember that the main body of their readers were
there, and not here. The influence would be felt
directly, and most. beneficially. We have little
hesitation in stating that more injury has been
wrought to our friendly connection by English
authors than by politicians, or indeed any other class.
We hold that the main difficulty of the statesmen of
both countries to keep the peace between theni has
arisen from English writing. It is one of the great
sources of evil that would be in the highest degree
judicious to remove, and this could be done most
effectually by establishing au international copy-
right. An English author naturally feels sore at
seeing the product of his brain pilfered. As the law
now standa the American market is a ilead letter to
hini. Helnay see an announcement in the Ame-
rican papers that his great work about to be pub-
lished will be issued at New York immediately on
receipt of the first copy. He knows that from the
one book will spring the thousands to be spread
not only over the whole American Continent, but
even over the colonies, and he cannot but feel that
both readers and publishers are defrauding him of
the results of his days and nights of toil. It is
highly improbable that a man so placed can enter-
tain sentiments of satisfaction. He writes for his
bread, and he finds more than half the loaf he has
earned snatched from him. Mr. TROLLOPE shows
that, although so injurious to authors, the system is
in no degree beneficial either to publishers or readers
in America. The man who holds the copyright
protected by law can calculate with a degree of
certainty on-what the circulation will be, what the
cost of an edition, and he can easily, therefore, tell
what he can afford to pay the author. By working
with this certainty he can produce the book cheaper
for the reading public than when embarking in the.
speculation of publiShing with he cannot tell'how
many competitors. " The true interest.," says Mr.
TROLLOPE, "of international literature between
" England and America is altogether antagonistic
"to the present system. It stands to reason that
"a certified property in copyright must enable the
" publishing proprietor of that copyright to do more
"in the way of cheap selling than can be done by
"the unsteady hold of their precarious adventures,
" which the American booksellers now possess. 1
" have never met an American publisher who has
" not professed himself to be in favour of interna-
" tional copyright." Although at the present time
the establishment of an international law, protecting
copyrights, might be held to be a concession on the
part of America to England, the tendency of time
is to equalise the merit and number of authors in both
countries, and may perhaps hereafter give the balance
of the advantage to America. At present their great
authors would benefit largely, and on the whole an
incentive would be given,as much to the authors of
America as to those of England. Natural talent in
America, for which something, has to be paid, must
work at a disadvantage, if it has to compete against
English talent, for which nothing has to be paid :
and if the system which Mr. TROLLOPE desires is
beneficial in giving cheap literature to readers, it
must act most injuriously against American writers.
It is hardly probable that an American publisher
would pay a fairly remunerative price to an Ame-
rican author, .if he can " crib " from an English
author as good or a better book for nothing. The
true policy is to make the fields one, and to let all
comers enter on equal terms.

Metro; olitan Boaid of Works.

- -111..---- '---..

At the usual weekly meeting of the members of
the board yesterday—Sir John Thwaites, the chair-
man presiding—the cash statement showed the cash
balances to Oct. 8, 1866, to be £695,097 14s. 2d. ;
and cheques not presented £8,515 12s. 3d.
A deputation attended on the board from the
District Board of Works for Poplar to present a
memorial from the inhabitants of that district, pray-
ing for the appropriation of a site of land for the
purposes of health and recreation in that district.
The memorial set forth that' at the early part of this
year a very favourable opportunity presented itself
of opening a negotiation with the Secretary of State
for India for the purchase of the buildings and
nsai
dfserpoanc
frontage
e
grounds situate in the East India . Dock-road, and
for many 'years used as alms-houses for the officers
of the East India Company. The memorialists had
been strongly urged by the trustees of Poplar, and
by a very generally expressed wish of the inhabi-
tants, embodied in a memorial with upwards of 3,000
signatures, obtained at very short notice, and the
negotiations were satisfactorily arranged to pur-
chase the ground for the use of the inhabitants for •
the purpose of being laid out and maintained as
egEir
High-street,
isugtand.
sltnirsde
India
situatePoplar,rloc ko- r o tande
southaa
nn d
oh `Thei,ah
peas eth
con-
taining a measurement of three and a half acres,
and is agreed to be sold to the memorialists for the
sum of £10,500. The following is the estimate fur-
nished by their surveyor of the cost of purchasing
and laying out the ground, viz. :—Purchase-money,
£10,500 ; enclosing the ground £2,300 ; laying out
£250 ; law charges, £5O ; total, £13,100. Deduct
for old materials to be sold by action £l,OOO, leav-
ing a total of £12,100 to be provided. It also set
forth that the nearest open space is the Victoria-
park, which is a distance of -three miles from Poplar,
rra thp do all in their
I power towards the health of the
suffered much from epidemics. It concluded by
asking the board to grant such a sum of money towards
the cost of the purchase of the land as
.might bo
deemed fair and equitable.
After some discussion, in which the project was
most favourably received by the board, it was una-
nimously referred to the Works Committee for con-
sideration and report.
Mr. FREEMAN rose and moved the resolution of
which he had given notice :—" To refer the question
of the water supply of the metropolis to the Works
and General Purposes Committee, with an instruc-
tion to report on the present state of the law as
*re-
gards constant supply to each house contained in the
he
saveral Companies and Metropolitan Acts, on on the
system of constant supply now in operation i)rin,
up
Glas-
gow, Nottingham, and other towns, and
to
suggestions for such an amendmento
of the
of the law and
improvement of the existing
machinery
distribu-
tion as would ensure a constant supply of water to
jurisdiction of
the board."
every house within the
Mr. WESTERTON seconded the motion.
After some discussion,
said the motion of Mr, Freeman
Mr. LE BRETON
its scope as it ought to be ; and
was not so large. in.
should move an amendment
in no hostile spirit be
to it, which was—
‘, That the question of the water
supply ofthe metropolis be
metropo referred to the Works
and General Committee to report thereon, with such
suggestions as they may deem advisable for the
purpose of obtaining an increased supply, and of
better quality." •
Mr. llowEs seconded the amendment.

Mr. NEWTON said that in some parts of the east
end of London there was a constant supply of water,
but that was not in those parts where it was most
needed by the poor.

Mr. FREEMAN, in reply, said his only object was
to obtain an inquiry, and if it could be better arrived
at by Mr. Le Breton's amendment, he was willing
to withdraw his motion.
The amendment of Mr. Le Breton was then car-
ried unanimously.

THE CHAIRMAN OF COMMITTEES.
Mr. ROCHE moved that no member of the board
shall be eligible to be elected for more than two suc-
cessive years as vice-chairman of the same com-
mittee.

The motion having been seconded, after a short
discussion was carried, after which the board ad-

journed.

DEATH OF WILLIAM FISHER HOBBS, ESQ.—
We regret to have to record the death of William Fisher
Hobbs. Esq., of Boxted Lodge, in this county, which took
place yesterday (Thursday). Mr. Fisher Hobbs was one
of the founders of the Royal Agricultural Society of Eng-
and ; for very many years he had been ono of the Society's
Council ; and there were few of its more important com-
mittees which were not indebted to his indefatigable labour
and keen powers of investigation. In the smaller sphere
of his county Mr. Hobbs was equally active and useful.
Every County Agricultural Society formed during the last
30 years was more or less indebted to his assistance in its
formation and management ; and of the less pretentious
Labourers' Friend Societies he was the fetinder of two at
least (Coggeshall and Earls Colne), and the prOttioter of
several others. The Anti-malt tax movement also loses
ono of ils most earnest and persevering advocateS,-;:-Sks
Standard.

ROYAL STRAND THEATRE.
Sole Lessee and Manageress, Mrs. Swanborough.
THIS EVENING, THRI MARRIED BACHELOR.
Messrs. Thorne and price; Misses Johnstone and Hughes.
To be followed by WAITING FOR, THE UNDER-
GROUND.
After which, will be proluCcd a Grand Burlesque of
DEtt FREISCHUTZ ; or, A Good Cast for a Piece.
Messrs. Thorne, James, and Robson; Mesdames Swan-
borough, Raynham, Johnstone, and Elu.;hes.
To conclude with J ACK'S DELIGHT.