The Sun.
London, England, 1861-03-21 00:00:00

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and make no change of policy unless
preserve peace. He thought the Pe_ .40-ak,
stated the cause of the troubles clearly and ikudi-
cated a remedy. The President, in a manlier
peculiar to himself, proceeded to show what did
not produce the troubles. Mr. Douglas here quoted
from the inaugural, adding that, according to this,
it was the attempt to prohibit slavery or protest
.slavery in the territories in the absence of an
express constitutional provision for either purpose.
If the President (said he) has truly stated the
cause, what is the remedy ? It is to adopt a con-
stitutional provision on the subject. The President
speaks of such amendments as to define the power
of Congress over the subject.. He gives us to
understand there never can be peace until the
question is settled, and that it cannot be settled
exeept by amendment to the Constitution. The
President stands pledged to let the- people decide
on the mode of amendment. He will not interfere;
he will not oppose it. If the people say that Con-
gress shall protect slavery everywhere; the President
is
say slavery_
fvehere.. If
they shall incorporate the Crittenden proposition,
he will not oppose it. He is in favour of such
dged n o
shalltto notbe oppose
protectedit; `{he people
and, so if
amendments as will settle the question for ever by
express provisions of the Constitution, leaving to
the people to decide what amendments shall be
made, and will accept them cheerfully. Taking
this to be the meaning of the proposition, he
(Douglas) found in it much cause for encourage-
ment. In the first place it was peaceful, not
aggressive. The President will do no act of
aggression, but all his conduct will be with a
view of peaceful solution. In the second place,
as the difficulty is owing to the absence of an
express provision on the slavery question
in the Territories, he will advocate that the
people change that iustrument by express pro-
vision, Whatever departure Mr. Lincoln has made
from his party platform should be taken as an act
of patriotisukand not '.of infidelity. If he under-
stood him, Mr, Lincoln had sunk. the partisan in
the patriot, and was entitled for this to the thanks
of all Conservative men. He did not want it to be
inferred that he sympathised with the Administra-
tion, or in any contingency that he and therPresi-
dent would be associated. He expected to oppose
his Administration on those great prititipless vvhich
separated the parties in former times.; but on ques-
tions looking to the preservation of,,the -Union by
peaceable means, and the settlement of the subject
of slavery by amendment to the Constitution, it' he
understood the President's true meaning, he was
with him. He believed be had put a proper con-
struction upon these parts of the inaugural. He
believed the President was going to live up to it.
He would not surrender this opinion until there
should be reasons to change it. The Union cannot
be preserved by war, cannot be maintained by
blood. It can only be done by peaceable means,
and future difficulties can be prevented only by
constitutional amendments to settle the slavery
question by express provisions. These two remedies
are clearly marked out by the President in his
inaugural. He would ask the Administration to
live up to the line of policy here indicated. So far
from taking any political advantage, he would
commend the act as one of high patriotism, while
he dissented from the President, and would main- •
tain his own opposition on all other questions."
Washington advices report that the Southern
Commissioners had made no official communication
to the Administration, owing to the sickness of Mr.
Seward. They had been actively occupied since
their arrival in consultation and unofficial inter-
course. The subjects of the collection of the
revenue and reinforcing Fort Sumter had not yet
engiiged the attention of the Cabinet. Great efforts
were being made to effect a peaceful settlement of
the questions of the seizure of the forts and the
revenues.
A despatch of the Bth says :
" There are vague rumours afloat of an intention
on the part of the Government to evacuate Forts
Sumter and Pickens • but leading Republicans
scout the idea. Mr. Lincoln rises early and takes
horseback exercise before breakfast. He bears the
fatigue incident to his position wonderfully. There
is a crowd at his levee to-night, including several
Boston belles. Titian J. Coffey, of Pittsburg,
Pennsylvania, has been appointed Assistant Attor-
ney-General. Mr. Cobb, also of Pennsylvania, has
been appointed chief clerk in the War Igt_epartment:'

PRICE 4D. STAMPED, SD,

political advantage ; but when we observe at what
a cost it is purchased we may be disposed to look
with less dissatisfaction on our own system at home.
In competing with the maritime power of England
France starts at a heavy disadvantage. She has not
got a population so nautically inclined, nor such
numerous colonies to encourage nautical adventure,
nor so favourable a position for turning such chances
to account. These being the original conditions of
the struggle, France aggravates them by her own
legislation. She makes the materials of shipbuild-
ing unnaturally dear, and places all seamen under
obligations. calculated to obstruct the progress of a
mercantile marine. This she does by way of laying
the "basis" of a national navy, though it is now
thoroughly understood that a national navy—in the
sense here meant of a strong war fleet—can never
be based on any better foundations than those of a
marine naturally grown and spontaneously de-
veloped. " Ships, colonies, and commerce" form
the true elements of naval power. The most com-
mercial nations have always been the nations most
formidable at sea. A commercial nlarine contains
the germ of a fighting fleet as a matter of course,
and the surest way to secure political power is to
give free development to mercantile adventure.
No one can be surprised at the intelligence that
the French merchant service is on the decline. ' It
is sacrificed, on the one hand, to the exigencies of
the manufacturers, and on the other to those of the
State. One party takes care that ships shall be
dear, another that seamen shall have a divided
duty. Shipowners are embarrassed both ways, and
they will find, we may be sure, but little indemnifi-
cation in the turn of protection with which it is
designed to encourage them. French shipping, in
fact, is sinking under the elaborate system of bur-
dens and equivalents devised for its encouragement.
It was declared in this debate that its depen-
dence was now on the fisheries alone, and
the mere diminution of the duties on salt fish was
fraught with peril to the Marine of France. We
should think such a state of things ought to carry
its own moral. The surest way to obtain a good
Mercantile Marine is to, allow it to grow in its
natural proportions without protection or favour.
These proportions, in the case of a country like
France, would infallibly he large, but under the
system now maintained France has no means of
knowing what expansion her enterprise or her
resources might really receive.—Times.

Mr. Judd had been confirmed as Minister to

Berlin.

Adjutant-General Cooper and Assistant Adju-
tant-General Withers had resigned their posts.
Ex-Secretary Floyd has published a statement
vindicating the acceptances in favour of Russell,
Majors, and Co., and asserting their legality. He
says that instead of there being 6,000,000 dols.
outstanding, there are only 600,000 dols., and the
oontractors have secured these by assignments of
property, and if the Government will permit the
earnings of the trains of 1861 to be applied to the
acceptances, they will be liquidated in that way
without recourse to assignments. It would seem,
also, according to Mr. Floyd's statement, that the
Government owes the contractors upwards of half
a million, which is equivalent to the cash value of
the Indian Trust Bonds, of the abstraction of which
he (Floyd) repudiates all previous knowledge. He
denounces the conduct and proceedings of the select
committee with great severity, and says their sole
object was political persecution and defamation.
The Montgomery Convention had passed the
Army Bill, and it was reported that 50,000 men
would soon be ready to take the field. The Con-
vention were offering commands to officers of
repute. The Convention had instructed the com-
missioners to European Powers to enter into nego-
tiations for the extention of international copyright
privileges. A bill was reported providing, in the
event of a conflict, or the refusal of the United
States to recognize the independence of the Con-
federacy, that no State court shall take cognizance
of civil cases of citizens of the United States, and
all pending cases to be dismissed.
The news from Texas is important. Captain
Hill, in command of the Federal force at Fort
Brown, had been summoned to surrender by Cap-
tain Nichols, at the head of a body of Texans.
Captain Hill replied that he would defend the fort
to the last, denounced the demandants as traitors,
and sent to Fort Ringgold for 200 men. A collision
was thought quite probable. The troops at Fert
Brown were in good condition,