The Sun.
London, England, 1866-05-26 00:00:00

Stephens was plotting in Ireland there was danger
—danger not to the British Empire, which will
never be dismembered by a handful of pikes, but
to the poor peasantry, who might be intoxicated
by the fumes of revolutionary patriotism flavoured
with whisky. While Stephens was in Ireland—
whether in prison or out of prison—there was reason
to fear that his presence might be the means cf
igniting the inflammable materials which undoubt-
edly abound in the sister isle. The solitary indi-
vidual among all the Fenian leaders and circles
who has developed a modicum of the capacity
which reflected so much lustre on the councils of
the United Irishmen is as much out of mischief's
way in New York as if he were tracking the ocean
in the direction of Western Australia. He may
take round his hat, and fulminate and conspire
against Saxon tyranny ; but the three thousand
miles which separate him from the Irish shore will
interpose an obstacle more formidable than the
Alps to the accomplishment of- any undertaking
which he may map out on paper.
The Daily News believes that President Johnson
has now before him a splendid opportunity. All
that is needed of him is the renunciation of his per-
sonal preference for all the details of his own re-
construction plan. As a statesman he ought to be
able to make this sacrifice to the exigencies of the
State. If he cannot make it--if he is resolved to
have his own way or nothing, and if he sees in the
conciliation and moderation of the scheme of Con-
gress only a personal triumph for himself, and not
a predominant desire on their part to advance in
the work they are both engaged in, he will miss the
flood of the tide in his affairs which would have
floated him to fortune as a statesman, and be ever
after bound in the shallows and miseries of a petty
personal policy. And the Daily News does not
think he will have a chance of success in any en-
deavour to force his own policy on the country,
when the only reason which can be given for his
obstinate adherence to it is that it is his own. To
take back the South on equal terms, to give to those
who had been conquered in an attempt to destroy
the. Government an equal position with themselves
in the powers and privileges of that Government, is
surely an act of unequalled magnanimity on the
part of the victors in a civil war, and to expect
more than this from them, to blame them for not
giying to the South their old inequality of repre-
sentation, and in consequence their old predomi-
nance, is surely to exhibit complete ignorance of
the commonest dictates of wisdom and the simplest
maxims of experience. Yet the one is the policy
recommended by Mr. Johnson and enforced by his
admirers—the other is the policy on which Congress
and the people is resolved. The one is the policy
of laissez faire, the other needs wisdom in its con-
ception and statesmanship in its execution. To
exhibit such statesmanship is Mr. Johnson's oppor-
tunity. The Daily News wishes it could believe
him to be equal to it.
The Daily Telegraph says that England has spent,
within the last few years, one hundred millions ster-
ling upon our navy. It is the fashion to receive with
scorn, or dismiss with incredulity, the statements
which reveal the doings of other maritime nations,
and to be content with the assurance that our iron-
clad fleet is at least abreast of that of France, and
that M. Dupuy de Lome heartily agrees with Mr.
Reed in believing broadside ships immeasurably supe-
rior to turret ships. But occasionally there come across
the ocean, from various corners of the earth, voices
which are calculated rudely to shake our confidence in
the Warrior, Minotaur, Northumberland, and
Agincourt ; bringing us face to face with questions
to which we wish Mr. Reed would vouchsafe an
answer. Such an incident recently occurred in
Valparaiso harbour. We are informed that when
remonstrances and threats of armed interference
were addressed to Admiral Nunez by the Consuls
of Great Britain and the United States, on the
subject of his contemplated bombardment of the
town, he pointed at once to the large Spanish
ironclad Numancia, and intimated that the pos-
session of that vessel made the Spaniards
masters of the situation. Against the cogency
of the argument Admiral Denman, the repre-
sentative of Great Britain, had nothing to
advance. In spite of our enormous annual ex-
penditure upon the navy, not a single British
ironclad is to be found upon any foreign station
more distant than the Mediterranean. Against the
Numancia the wooden ships of Admiral Denman
were practically helpless. But in threatening the
Americans with her prowess, Admiral Nunez soon
found that he was reckoning 'without his host. It
happened that the United States double-turreted
monitor, the Monadnock, had recently arrived at
Valparaiso, bound upon a long and trying voyage
from New York to San Francisco. She bad in
February last lain for some time in the harbour
of Rio Janeiro, and is said to have produced
in the minds of all the English and French cap-
tains who visited her, a feeling of hopeless despon-
dency, suggested by the impossibility of pitting
any ironclad vessel of England and France against
a submerged structure which presented to the guns
of an antagonist nothing but two impenetrable
turrets. Upon hearing of Admiral Nunez's boast,
Commodore Rodgers very plainly intimated to him
that, in the event of a combat, the Monadnock
would, in thirty minutes, leave.'nothing but
the mast-heads of the Numancia standing above
the water. The Admiralty, of course, may say
that the threat of the American commander
proves nothing more than the characteristic bluster
of his nation ; but those who are acquainted with
the crushing force of the 500-pound spherical shot
which the Monadnock's guns project cannot en-
tertain the slightest doubt that the Numancia would
now be rotting at the bottom of Valparaiso harbour
if Commodore Rodgers had been called upon to
give effect to his words ; and that the result would
have been the same had any of the finest ironclads
of the Royal navy occupied the position of the
Spanish vessel.
THE " ANGLO - AMERICAN TIMES." —ln the
days of their own direst extremity, all true Ame-
ricans had words of encouragement or friendly
counsel for their fellow Republicans in Mexico. In
the midst of a four years' struggle for very life, the
American Government found time for numerous
friendly offices, and truly reflected the ardent sym-
pathies of the people. But now
" The strife is o'er, the battle won,"
and freedom has triumphed gloriously. The end of
the struggle has seen the vital energy of the Go-
vernment not only unimpaired, but vastly increased.
The first year after the war has developed the finan-
cial resources of the country beyond the hopes
of the most sanguine; and the surplus income which
can be applied towards the extinction of the national
debt will probably exceed the total yearly revenue
of more than one of the first Powers of Europe.
How far to trust their misguided and vanquished
brethren of the South, is now the greatest difficulty
which Americans have to encounter. This is a very
important matter, but its solution is not likely to be
unsatisfactory. Their next greatest question would
be the glory of a Gladstone. They can spare
from the national revenue some twenty millions
sterling per year, and still rapidly extinguish
their national debt. Under these pleasant circum-
tances they scarcely know how they shall remit
taxation to the greatest advantage. While this is
the real state of affairs at home, the American Go-
vernment is treated with proper respect by foreign
Powers. The Emperor of the French no longer-
expresses contempt, but without doubt sincerely
regretting the circumstances by which he has been
misled, he freely accords to the United States the
courtesy which is her due • and consents, at her
request, that the intervention in Mexico shall
cease. England has long ceased to treat her with
the scant courtesy she accorded at the beginning of
the war. Although there are some internationalques-
tions which ought soon to be settled, still there is
nothing pending which ought to disturb • the
friendly relations of these kindred peoples. The
American people now have time to breathe and
look around them. They have time to think of
the troubles and difficulties of others, without dan-
gerous neglect of their own vital interests. An era
of peace has dawned in the West, but the Eastern Con-
tinent is now bristling with arms. A million German
soldiers stand ready to scourge the Fatherland with
desolating war. Croats, Huns, and Italians will
join in the strife. France and Russia, armed to
the teeth, look grimly on, and the weaker powers,
trembling, prepare as best they may to meet their
fate. It is just possible that the impending war
may be avoided—it is not altogether improbable that
it may be limited to one campaign in Central Europe ;
but the causes are so deep, there are so many ele-
ments of strife, that none can tell when or where it
islikely to end. The third quarter of the 19th century
marks a crisis in the history of the world. On the
Western Continent the turning point is, doubtless,
passed ; on the Eastern it is probably just at hand.
Of what is about to be enacted in Europe,Americans
cannot be indifferent spectators. Many will inves-
tigate the matters in dispute, and give their sym-
pathies to the right, wherever they may find it.
But all will look with the deepest interest to the
course which England may pursue. She has her
enemies in America, and they will gloat over
every mistake. But the majority of the American
people, notwithstanding some heart-burnings,
look to England as to a mother-land. They ear-
nestly sympathise with all that is great and good
in the land of Shakspere and Milton, of Chatham
and Burke. They would not wish to see England
make a single mistake in a crisis so serious as the
present. Every nation, like every individual, needs
a friendly critic. England cannot possibly see her-
self as others see her. She is just beginning to
comprehend what Americans generally consider
her most serious fault—too great attention to ex-
ternal matters, and a consequent neglect of the
' less exciting but more important-home affairs of