The Sun.
London, England, 1866-09-04 00:00:00

HIGH WATER AT LONDON BRIDGE.

Twig DAY.--I!elorniug,l 9h. 16m.—Afternoon, 10h. Om.
To-Moßßow.-Ilerning, 10h. 40m.—Afternoon, 11h. 22m

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LONDON, TUESDAY, SEPT. 4, 1866.

The text of the treaty of peace is now published,
and will be perused with interest, affording, as it
does, full particulars concerning the manner in
which those differences have been settled which
have disturbed the peace of Europe. Except inas-
much as we are assured that the miseries of war are
over, and that innocent parties will not suffer for
the sins of others, we see nothing to rejoice at in
this conclusion of hostilities ; and, indeed, in the
uncompromising attitude Prussia has assumed we
may safely predict fresh disasters to be at
hand, and this peace itself contains the ele-
ments of war in its hard and worst details.
The best proof of the want of moderation that
Prussia has displayed may be seen in the fact
that neither Saxony nor llesse Darmstadt have been
permitted to escape in this general devastation of
independence and Power. How people can per-
suade themselves that such a state of things can
conduce either to the interests of Europe or the
welfare of Germany is indeed difficult to under-
stand, but time will certainly show them their mis-
take, and exhibit the want of faith of the Berlin
Government. A proof of the extortionate nature of
that Power is shown in the immense sums required
to be paid by the losing side. From the Emperor
of AusTraA the sum of forty million Prussian
thalers is demanded, subject to some deductions
for the occupany of the Prussian army in the Aus-
trian States. If the people of Northern Schleswig
should by free vote express a wish to be restored to
Denmark they should be restored accordingly. This
is, in truth, the only satisfactory part of the affair,
and we hope that it will be carried out in good faith.
As for the concession about Saxony, it is worth
nothing, because the King of PRUSSIA reserves to
himself the right of settling in a separate treaty of
peace the position henceforth to be held by
that kingdom in the North German Confedera-
tion. We all know pretty well by this time
what the result of such a reservation will be, and
can compute alike the fairness of the bargain and
the advantages likely to be derived from it. The
Emperor of AUSTRIA has to recognise the changes
about to be made in North Germany before he
exactly knows what they are, which is a striking in-
stance of the justice and moderation of Prussia.
For the present we can hope for nothing, and ex-
pect nothing, in the way of progress in Germany.
While the people are not quite dead to all
sense of independence they must eventually
resent the treatment they have met with, and resist
the oppressive measures put upon them. An armed
force may take its position and drive all before it
for a time, but it is quite another thing for a usurper
to hold fast what he has gained by force and fraud
combined. If Count BISMARCK is to be the hero
of this age it is not very creditable to its judgment,
and posterity will certainly not ratify our decision,
for he is the enemy to all free thought and the
repressor of all progress and independent action.

We can fancy sober-minded people saying, Are
we never to hear the last of this fuss about Governor
EYRE and the means adopted for the suppression of
the outbreak in Jamaica ? The fact is, that the
affair, although already prolonged for a considerable
period, does not seem likely to be settled quite yet,
nor the discussions be permitted to drop. On the
contrary, it is now sought by some who prefer par-
tisanship to principle to make political capital out
of the matter, and for this purpose many devices
are resorted to, and steps taken which are unworthy
in the extreme and reflect the greatest discredit
upon these who adopt such a course. No censure
can be too strong that is passed upon those mis-
chievous individuals who get up a cry of this sort
for one reason or another, and persist in their pur-
pose totally heedless of the restraints of good sense
arid right feeling. It has surely been sufficiently
treated of in all its bearings, this matter of the
Jamaica insurrection, and we are all tolerably well
informed concerning the opinions of the chief men
of the day about it. What end can be answered
them by all the senseless clamour now being raised
-
so many mouths afterwards? The object is to
damage those who have presumed to welcome Mr.
Ey1:1: on his return to this country, and utter their
sympathy for the bad measure dealt out to him by
the late Ministry. It is quite departing from the
principles which have always guided this country
for personal abuse to be dealt out to those who have
the courage to give expression to their own
opinions, and the more this plan is adhered to
the better for the interests - of- the community.
The really independent and straightforward oppo-
nents of the course pursued in Jamaica will be
indignant at the demeanour of these violent indi-
viduals, who arc driving all before them in the

fierceness of their indignation ; while the rational
reformers among the lower classes will be ashamed
of those who profess to represent them, but are
quite unfit to do so, from mixing up things which
have no real affinity to each other. In consequence
of a placard, headed "The Monster Ex-Governor
EYRE," being exhibited, a large crowd assem-
bled on Clerkenwell-green for the purpose
of trying the wholesale murderer, and the
wishes of those wbo got up the affair were expressed
to the effect that " the offender might be burnt in
effigy, and that they should like to serve him and
his aristocratic entertainers in the same manner in
the flesh." Unfortunately these patriotic philan-
thropists passed the narrow limits which divide the
sublime from the ridiculous, and their effigy caught
fire before they carried out their righteous sentence.
The speeches were bitter in the extreme, and more
stress was laid on the vices of those who enter-
tained the villain than on the crimes of the delinquent
himself. There was all the trash uttered which might
have been expected at such an affair, such as aristo-
cratic abettors of wrong, who never earned any
money in their lives and cared nothing for those
beneath them, &c. If Mr. BRIGHT and his friends
think that such affairs as this will promote the cause
of reform they are entirely mistaken, and though
no doubt at the next field day at Birmingham or
elsewhere this meeting will be referred to in ex-
travagant terms, such as the orator used in reference
to the riot in Hyde-park, wise men and sensible
men will see their folly, and deplore the mischief
of this species of agitation. Inciting the igno-
rant to angry feelings, and putting enmity
between class and class, is a work that should call
forth no sentiments but those of horror. All the
tactics and nianceuvres of this Jamaica faction have
been mean from the commencement, but they are
now becoming utterly contemptible, and those who
promote the displayed have much to answer
for, and their doings will not readily be forgotten
when the discussion of the subject itself has died
out. It is a course which cannot be too strongly
denounced, for it is subversive of all justice,
and represents tyranny in its worst form.

We may reasonably believe that one of the
first uses which President JOHNSON will make
of his increased political power will be to
lighten the burden of JEFFERSON Davis's cap-
tivity. It would be, no doubt, a matter of
very general regret throughout the States, North

as well as South, should the illustrious ex-President
end his days in prison. To class JEFFERSON DAVIS
with ordinary offenders against tho law, or even to
set him down as a mere conspirator, or rebel, is so
manifestly incorrect and unjust that it is now
scarcely attempted even by the ultra-Radicals.
During a period of no ordinary difficulty and danger,
which might well have tried the executive powers
of any established Government, JEFFERSON DAVIS
directed the affairs of a population numbered not
by thousands, or tens of thousands, but by millions.
He presided over their Government during a pro-
tracted and extensive war, and it was mainly due to
his constructive ability that the Southerners were
able to face the difficulties which beset them on
every side. As one of our own statesmen said

JEFFERSON DAVIS made the South a nation, not

merely in numbers and in discipline, but in the con-
stitutional form of the Government and the tempe-
rate spirit in which he ruled. He was, in fact, too
constitutional for his own success. He hesitated to
employ those strong repressive measures against the
malcontents and conspirators in his own camp which
the stern necessity of the moment rendered indis-
pensable. his prescience and sagacity enabled him
to foresee the result of the planters' obsti-
nacy, but when his dignified and mourn-
ful appeals and warnings were unheeded,
he had not the energy to grasp the reins of power
and enforce the necessary measures. If ANDREW
JOHNSON had been in the place of JEFFERSON DAVIS
the consequences of the war would have been very
different. The South, at the worst, would have
extorted some concession from the North, and the
war would probably have ended by a compromise
instead of a failure. But whatever speculations
we may indulge in relative to Mr. DAVIS'S policy,
there is no doubt either of his ability or of his high-
mindedness. His integrity, his disinterestedness,
his magnanimity, were unquestioned, and the base
attempt of his enemies to identify him with the
plot for Mr. LINCOLN'S assassination was so com-
pletely hopeless, from the well-known character of
the man, that it was very soon abandoned. Ameri-
cans of almost all parties do not now refuse to
admit that the Southerners at least believed them-
selves to have a just cause for secession, and they
do not fail to recognise and to appreciate
the courage, the fortitude, the resource,
which were displayed by their countrymen.
The Confederates have suffered heavily enough

for their dream of independence. JEFFERSON DAVIS
himself has expiated his fault, if fault it were, by a
long and trying imprisonment. It would be a grace-
ful act, and one fully in accordance with the spirit
of the great National Convention just dispersed, to
release the ex-President from his tedious and pain-
ful captivity. Free, he would be powerless to injure

the Federal Government ; captive, he is a lasting
reproach ; and, dead in prison, his name would be
a by-word of discontent and of disaffection through
half the Union. We are very glad, then, in the
interests of the North as well as the South,
for the sake of the existing Administration as
well as of unanimity and justice, to sec
that it is currently affirmed in New York that

.EFFERSON Davis is to be released on bail. By this
act harmony would be restored, and it would be
doubly gracious if the favour were granted before
the Southern representatives could claim it in the
national assembly.
The Fenians are not yet grown wise. ROBERTS
is said to be organising another raid on Canada,
but the British troops already despatched will give
them an awkward reception. The heroes who are
to restore unity and harmony to Ireland are not
yet at peace among themselves, and the « doctors
disagree" to an alarming extent. STEPHENS has
declined an offer for the fusion of the STEPHENS'
and ROBERTS' factions, which SWEENEY denies
having had any part in making. As their supre-
macy is likely to be shortlived they are perhaps wise
in getting all the temporary glory they can.
We are glad to learn that the cholera is disap-
pearing from New York, and the general aspect of
American affairs is in every way satisfactory.

We learn, by the intelligence brought by the
Bombay mail that the exceptional weather of

this year of storms and rains has been felt even
there. A very severe storm passed over Bombay,
and it did a great deal of damage among the
shipping at the mouth of the harbour. The place
where most of the wrecks took place is very dan-
gerous, and Government has long been urged to
take some means of warning vessels of the dan-
ger of the coast, but, as usual, it requires a long
list of catastrophes to rouse them to action. A
gale commenced on the 3d ult., but happily with-
out doing much damage, thanks to the precautions
taken in consequence of the signal indicating
the approach of bad weather. So much for the
progress of meteorological science. The quantity
of rain which had already fallen in Bombay when
the mail left exceeded the • moneoo I average of

the last fifty years (seventy inches), but hap-
pily the public health is reported as very
good . As may be supposed, much damage
has :been done by floods in the swampy districts.
Several bridges have been seriously injured, and
there aro many gaps along the line, extending in one
instance to 1,000 feet. This is on the Bombay,
Baroda, and Central India Railway, and the
through traffic has consequently been suspended.
Every effort is being made to restore the line to
working order, though the full damage cannot be
ascertained until the floods have subsided.

The Supreme Government has sanctioned the
establishment of money-order offices in the
Bombay and Madras Presidencies, which
will bo very useful. A telegram from
Madras states that the Governor, Lord RAPIER,
has made a tour through Ganjam and the other
parts of the Presidency which are suffering from
the prevailing distress, and had obtained the sanc-
tion of the supreme Government for the commence-
ment of the Chika Canal, with the view of giving
employment to a large number of the poor. A
telegram from Calcutta describes the famine in
Bengal as very severe. The people from the stricken
parts are flocking into Calcutta; 17,000 are receiv-
ing private relief, 12,000 are homeless ; sickness
and death are busy among them, and in a distri-
bution of rice 32 were killed and 15 wounded ;
and this in India with her vast natural capacities.