The Sun.
London, England, 1859-10-26 00:00:00

do we want new ships for ; did we not build plenty
during the Russian war ? Answer," His Majesty,
our faithful ally, the Emperor of the FRENCH, wills

—He will build, and we can but imitate him."

In plain English, there is no reason on earth why
we should now be paying much more than double
income tax, but the schemes, whatever they may
be, of the man who is master of France, and, there-
with, absolute master of half a million of soldiers,
of a fleet nearly as large as our own, and of 40,000
sailors, whom he can any day order to man it, and
sail it to our shores. Disguise it as we may, every
additional penny we pay this year is wantonly ex-
tracted from our pockets by NAPOLEON 111.
While we had been napping after the Russian war,
we one fine morning found out that he had about
overtaken us in steamships of the line, and that if
his whim should be, any day, to fulfil what he has
declared to be his destiny—to avenge Waterloo,
and to do it on the coasts of the country whose
general had defeated his uncle, and whose Prince
Regent had sent him to end his days on a rock—
we should have hardly a ship to spare from the
mere defence of the Channel. This looked some-
what unpleasant. Our first 'Lord of the Admiralty
rubbed his eyes, took up his predecessors' estimates,
which he had at first cut down, asked for more
money, and even then spent four or five millions
more than he asked for, to hurry on the ships that
were begun ; and that five millions we are paying
this Michaelmas. It is the LOUIS NAPOLEON Eight-

pence.

But we may well begin to ask how many more
NAPOLEON'S eightpences are we to pay ? That no
one knows. At present the man seems determined
to give us a run. It is not denied that if, as a con-
tinental Power, he has a right to an army four or
five times as big as ours, we, as an insular Power,
with our innumerable colonies, have a right to a
correspondingly large navy. If we have consider-
ably the larger navy, but no army that we could
spare for an invasion, we could not materially
injure France; if France, again, has considerably
the larger army, but not a navy that could cope
with ours, she could not use her large army to
invade us. Common sense indicates the kind of
force which each should keep to be practically on
equal terms. Yet obvious as all this is, the EM-
PEROR strains• every nerve to equal us in ships,
while he outstrips us five to one in soldiers ! Can
he have an honest motive? It is he himself who raises
these questions. Even in the days of the hot-headed
young JOINVILLE we were not menaced by a deter-
mination that we should not have, if possible, a ship
afloat more than France. Now, no sooner is it
seen that England has built a few more ships than
France, than we read of fresh vessels ordered,—
steel-plated vessels,—the plates able to resist for
hours a sixty-eight pounder at short range!!
Does the EMPEROR really think to beggar our
Exchequer ? SHARPLEY, the acting briber at
Wakefield, said his chief business was to go among
the Conservative electors, and by " insinuating'
offers of larger sums, to make the Conservatives
pay handsomely for their election, even if
they got it. Does„ the EMPEROR mean to make us
pay handsomely for our fleet if we are determined
to be superior to France on the ocean, as she is to
us on the land ? He may rest assured the attempt
is utterly futile. While we might curse him as we
pulled the Napoleon's eightpences out of our
pockets, we should pay it for all our lives, rather
than subsist as a nation at his imperial will and
pleasure. We might also begin to consider whe-
ther it is well for us to supply, with coal especially,
the man who was putting us to such enormous ex-
penses. Coal is now a munition of naval war.
Or has he any deeper design ? Does he intend to
be master of the Mediterranean ? It is a favourite
idea with our vain-glorious neighbours, who, with
their little trade, yet covet the display of power.
What mean these interferences in the Spanish
freak with Morocco. Is it the purpose to get a
footing, by alliance with Spain, in new ports of the
Mediterranean ? Does he intend to add the occu-
pation of Ancona to that of Rome, since he cannot
get hold of Central Italy ? And is even the unlucky
Suez Canal a visionary part of the same scheme—of
making the Mediterranean a French lake ?
To such questions no one, of course, can yet give
an answer; of one thing we may, however, be
pretty sure, whether he be plotting against us or
against our outlying possessions, he is determined
that he will not be second to us by sea, while he
is vastly ahead of us by land ; and then, whatever
ambitious project he may cherish in the East or
the West—he will pursue it with an impunity his
uncle never enjoyed. We would, however, just
whisper in his ear, France may build ships, but
she cannot build NELSONS.

LORD Y. IHMSELL AND 7RE SPANISH
ECCLESIASTICAL AUTHORITIES.

A demand having been made by the Spanish
ecclesiastical authorities for the disinterment of an
English child, who had been buried in a Protestant
cemetery at Denia, in the province of Valencia, in
consequence of its having been baptised by the sur-
geon who assisted at the birth, and who was a
Roman Catholic, an appeal was made to Lord John
Russell, the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs,
who instantly took steps to protect the parents from
molestation, and to prevent the Spanish ecclesiasti-
cal authorities from carrying their threat into exe-
cution, as will be seen by the official answer, viz::—
" Foreign Office, Oct. 15.
" Sir,—l am directed by Lord John Russell to
acknowledge the receipt of your letter of the 29th
ult., inclosing a statement received by you from Mr.
G. Graham, relative to a demand which had been
addressed to him by the parish priest of Denia, in
the province of Valencia, requiring him to disinter
the body of his child, which had been buried in the
Protestant cemetery ; and I am to acquaint you that
the British Consul at Alicante having, in conse-
quence of the representation made to him by the
British Tice-Consul at Denia, brought Mr. Graham's
complaint before Mr. Buchanan, the British Minis-
ter at Madrid, Mr. Buchanan has addressed to the
Spanish Minister for Foreign Affairs a formal re-
monstrance against the proceedings of the ecclesias-
tical authorities in this matter:Lord John Russell
has approved of the steps taken by Mr. Buchanan
for the protection of Mr. Graham, and has in-
structed him to use every endeavour to secure that
gentleman from molestation on the part of the
ecclesiastical authorities. _ _ _

" I am, Sir, your obedient humble servant,
" E. HAMMOND."

His Excellency the Turkish Ambassador has
arrived at SL Leonards from Paris. His Excellency and
Madame Musurus and family will return to town to-day
from St. Leonards.

His Excellency the Austrian Minister arrived at
Chandos House on Monday evening, from visiting the
Marquis and Marchioness of Salisbury at Hatfield.
The Duke and Duchess of Richmond are expected
in town in a few days from Scotland.

The Marquis and Marchioness of Normanby have
left the St. George's Hotel for Brighton. _ _ _

The Earl and Countess of Abergavenny have left
Birling Manor for Bridge Castle, Kent.

The Earl of Winchelsea has left the St. George's

The Earl of Kilmorey has left the St. George's
Hotel.

Lord Panmure has arrived at Breehiu Castle for
the winter from Invermark, his lordship's shooting quar-
ters in the north.

Lord and Lady Wodehouse have arrived at their
residence in Bryanston-square, from Kimberley Park,
Norfolk.

The Right lion, the Speaker and Lady Charlotte
Denison have arrived at Osslington Hall, Notts, from Lang-
well, the Duke of Portland's shooting box in Caithness-

- - Sir W. Hylton Jolliffe, M.P., qualified at tb e
quarter sessions held at Wells last week to act as a magis-
trate for Somersetshire. The right hon. baronet subse-
quently left Ammerdown Park for Knowsley, on a visit to
the Earl of Derby.