The Sun.
London, England, 1861-09-14 00:00:00

to proportions somewhat resembling ours, and she
has done little more than work that scheme with
vigour. She has done her work also in a far
more business-like and economical style than we
have, and has consequently a great deal more
to show for her money. We have slum-
bered and worked by turns, she has kept at it.
When aroused we have thrown as much energy
into old-fashioned and antiquated work, as she
was giving to the best and latest plans, and have
consequently found that even after the great
PAKINOTON ado we were still far behind
the builders of La Gloire. And so it
has gone on. England making every now and
then a spasmodic effort, getting considerably a head,
and France then quietly again making up to us and
threatening to surpass us.
This behaviour on the part of our rival has created
two parties here, one that would put a stop to the
costly rivalry by some means ; the other and the
vast majority, with the Premier for a willing
leader, who would go on to any extent that French
ambition may push us. Of the former party one
of the favourite projects is a convention, which shall
limit the number of ships to be maintained on each
side side. To this plan Lord PALM ERST ON objected,
we think, unanswerable, that it would give endless
occasion to misunderstandings and disputes, and be
more likely in the long run to generate war than to
preserve peace.

It is instructive, however, to observe how our
neighbours themselves view our estimates of French
policy, and the proposals of the peace and economy
party in England. M. CHEVALIER, so far as we

can comprehend him, would put all straight by
bidding us confide in NAPOLEON 111. Accord-
ing to him, the great and noble-minded man
who made the treaty in which M. CHE-
VALIER took so active a part, can never mean
any harm to England ; and it is folly, therefore, in
us to put ourselves to the expense of building ships
of war, as if the EMPEROR's ships could ever be
employed against us. We are, in opposition to a
very high authority, to "put our trust in Princes,"
and in one, too, who, as some persons think, has
not done much to earn such trust, or rather has
done a great deal to shake it. Mr. COBDEN, M.
CHEVALIER'S associate, has much the same confi-
dence, though he has not been very successful in
imparting it to his countrymen. The almost
universal feeling in this country is, indeed, that he
does cherish good-will enough towards us. That
it is his interest to do so ; but there is as little doubt
with most of us that should his interest be the other
way, no moral scrTples would keep him from our
shours—in short, that confidence in LOUIS NAPO-
LEON must be a confidence sustained by " keeping
our powder dry."
But another Frenchman, and one who has served
in almost every line of French politics, talks to a
French audience in quite another strain. M.
DUPIN laughs at the theorists. Advayting to the
coming Exhibition, he says—" I do not doubt the
good reception which our exhibitors will receive in
London. The English, when they like, can be
courteous, and even caressing. They gave a proof
of it in the celebrated banquet recently given at
the Mansion House to Mr. COBDEN and the French
theorists who assisted the English practical man in
concluding the famous treaty of commerce, des-
tined to reconcile for ever the two nations, and
which is to bring about cheapness in everything.'
Everything will be cordial on both sides—that is
certain." And having thus dismissed them with a
good-tempered skit at their Utopianism and their
chimeras, he turns to ridiculing the idea of limiting
the number of the French fleet. "Nevertheless,"
he says, " let not the English, under the circum-
stances, think of reproducing those tracts in which
they spoke of bringing about I know not what com-
promise which would condemn France to never
have a fleet more than half the strength of the
English fleet. True, Frenchmen could not listen
coldly to such things. Ido not know how many
vessels may be necessary for England in order that
she may be assured of her safety, and relax the
activity of her dockyards. That is her affair. I
am equally ignorant of hqw many France may re-
quire to ensure the honour and safety of the French
flag ; but this I fear not to assert, that never shall
the English succeed in making us adopt a formula
which would fix the limits of national independence
and of our sovereignty."

We believe two to three was the proportion
assigned by Mr. COBDEN, for the French navy to
bear to that of England—it was obviously, how-
ever, not the proportion of half, Ns hich excited the
contempt of M. DUPIN. " I fear not to assert,"
he says, " that never shall the English succeed in
making us adopt a formula which would fix the
limits of national independence and of our sove-
reignty." Though there may be something of
French swagger in the way in which this is thrown
out, which its being a popular speech may well
excuse, the principle is, we must think, the sound
one. No limitations can be imposed on two per-
fectly independent nations, beyond that imposed
by their own good sense and convenience ; and, we
may add, by the state of public opinion. M.
Chevalier, may some day convince his countrymen,
that to spend their money on soldiers and ships
is a very thriftless proceeding ; but we fear that
time is very far distant. Till it arrives, the rulers
of France, being Frenchmen themselves, will not
cease to levy the taxes which the nation is willing
to pay for :the glory of constituting France the
first military power, and not the second naval
power in the world. To that point French ambi-
tion tends. She is at the head of the world in
taste, in fashion, perhaps in science. She leaves to
us willingly the superiority in the coarser mechani-
cal arts and manufactures, but she means to stand
at the head of the nations with her army and navy.
Only—just on this last item England has a pretty
strong opinion, and that opinion is, that as France
keeps an army large enough, so far as numbers are
concerned, to beat ours outright, so we mean to
maintain a navy which, whenever it may be neces-
sary, can send that of Franee, and all the beach-
men and landsmen necessary to complete its crews,
to the bottom of the ocean.

M. DUPIN gives the English nation credit for
greater wisdom than some of its leaders. The
exposure of our neighbour's policy is, he thinks,
amongst the arts " employed by certain orators and
some newspapers, in order to gain popularity in the
eyes of the nation. lam willing to believe; but
these sort of tactics are worn out, and it is reLllly
time to give them up ; for the English people
themselves, more enlightened as to their true
interests, seize, on the contrary, with avidity
on every occasion of marking their desire to remain
at peace with us. Lnt them gather, then, them-
selves the fruit of our affiance—let them enjoy
the fruits of this treaty which they have
so much desired ; and when at the proroga-
tion of their Parliament their august Queen
expressed the confidence that there was
no apprehension of peace being broken, let
them enjoy with us the benefits of that peace ;
and instead of showing themselves so proudly sullen
in Syria, at Suez, and everywhere (and the fable of
the pretended cession of Sardinia to France !), let
them seriously think of procuring in sufficient
quantity corn to eat anti
ouricott corn
ntno spin."
DunN, we will attend ..and eotton7 M.
but