The Sun.
London, England, 1859-11-29 00:00:00

THE SUN.

LONDON, TUESDAY, NOV. 29, 1859.

Congress or no Congress--is the question of the
hour ; and we must confess we do not envy those on
whom the decision of that question lies. If Eng-
land refuses to join in one, it is quite possible that
none will be held ; but it is equally possible that
one may be held without her. If without her, her
voice could have little effect on its proceedings,
because she would be no party to the consultations.
How could she presume to pronounce judgment.
when she had not heard the pleadings ? If Eng-
land, on the other hand, were present, she and
Sardinia would be in a minority of two, against
what majority would depend on the number
of smaller States which might be invited. If
only the Four Great Powers—the liii niajores
of Continental despotism—were permitted to
vote, she might well expect to be on ever`•
question of national liberties and independence in a
minority of one. Which of all these positions would
best comport with her dignity or with efficient
action on behalf of these rights which English-
men wish others to enjoy as well as them-
selves, it is. not easy to say. Cold and un-
sympathising as we may he thought by con-
tinentals, there is no toast which we all drink with
more zest, than that of " civil and religious liberty
all- over the world." There is no nation upon earth,
certainly not the United States, with its four mil-
lions of slaves, which so nobly exemplifies that sen-
timent.

But what can, or rather will, a Congress do for
the rights of nations. lEtherto they have been
nothing better than the gatherings of the Robbers
and Thieves of Liberty, to divide the spoil of popu-
lar rights amongst themselves. We do not remem-
ber that the consent of the people, not even in the
most formal way, was ever asked to any of the ar-
rangements made ;—Poland, Venetia, Lombardy,
Naples, the Rhenish Provinces, Belgium, Geneva,
—what small Duchy, or larger state, was asked in
1813 how it wished to be governed, whether it
preferred to govern itself, or whom it would have as
its sovereign? The marriages of territories to this
or that sovereign's domains were made ds irrespec-
tirely of their wishes as if they had been so many
political brides sold to the harems of the polyga-
mist tyrants of the day. There is, we believe,
floating in the political atmosphere just mow a certain
opinion that nationalities and their leanings cannot
be quite so safely ignored as they were in 1815.
But we more than question, except on the part of
England, whether the opinion is not a most unwel-
come one. The grand object of the crowned heads
will be how to cajole and overpower it. They will
prefer to trick public European opinion if they
can ; if not, armi s of half a million each will be
arguments that public opinion cannot easily
master. England could give give utterance
to the thoughts of the nations, but her courtly
plenipotentiaries are too aristocratic themselves
to do this. Sardinia if there might speak her mind,
but she must do so in the presence of the man who
aoc7pted Austrian handcuffs at Villafranca, and
who seems now bent on proving them to be wrist

ornaments merely. A Congress is incurably a
confederation of despots. Liberty can hope nc-
thing from it. Even An Englishman at one breathes