The Sun.
London, England, 1861-03-13 00:00:00

enunciatingviews of the utmost conceivable diversity. '
Conspicuous upon the list of the Fifteen appearing
the names of three right hon. baronets who have at
different times occupied the post of First Lord of
the Admiralty under different Governments—to
wit, Sir JAMES GRAHAM, Sir FRANCIS BARING,
and Sir JOHN PAKINGTON. Against the selection
of which three ex-First Lords of that very Admi-
ralty whose acts of omission and commission are
about to be examined into, the hon. member for
West Norfolk (himself one of the chosen fifteen) at
once protested in no measured tone, and really
we cannot but admit not very surprisingly
under the circumstances. True, no doubt, as the
Premier very justly remarked later on in the dis-
cussion as to whether the three ex-First Lords of
the Admiralty should, upon reflection, be allowed
to remain members of the Committee—true, not a
doubt of it, the objection raised by Mr. BENTINCK
might be waived not very rashly by the House
upon the mere consideration that the mission of
the proposed Committee is one to inquire into the
working of a system, and not one to examine into
the conduct of private individuals. Nevertheless,
this much may be said, not unreasonably, in sup-
port of Mr. BENTINCK'S objection of last evening,
that the assistance to be looked for at the
hands of Sir JOHN, of Sir JAMES, and
of Sir FRANCIS, might come more usefully
in aid of the collective judgment of precisely such
a Committee as this one of Admiral BUNCOMBE'S,
in the shape of actual evidence elicited from them
catechetically as witnesses summoned before the
fifteen. Eventually, however, in spite of any and
every objection, the particular fifteen originally
selected to constitute the committee were duly
nominated, including among them the three ex-
First Lords of the Admiralty aforesaid. A decision
nevertheless not arrived at by the House, it should
be observed, until after Mr. DISRAELI had moved
the adjournment of the debate : so unlikely
did it at one time appear last evening that the
differences of opinion expressed in this matter in
the course of the discussion would be thus
summarily reconciled. It was characteristic of
one eminent member of the committee, namely,
Mr. HENLEY, that he only consented at last to
allow his name to appear upon the list of the selected
fifteen—conditionally. The right hon. gentleman
protesting from first to last that the recall of Admi-
ral Sir BALDWIN WALKER was regarded by him
as a sine qua non for his own retention of the post
allotted to him as one of the fifteen committeemen.
Upon the contingency of the run• away ex-Sur-
veyor of the Navy not being brought back to give
his evidence before the committee, Mr. HENLEY inti-
mates his fixed determination to wash his hands of
what he manifestly for one will then regard as the
whole farce of this sham investigation. It matters
nothing that the Earl of GIFFORD assures the
House of Commons quite confidently that so soon
as the report of the Dockyard Commission shall
have been laid upon the table, as it is now pretty
certain to be very shortly, any further evidence
from Sir BALWIN WALKER will be looked upon by
one and all as little else than absolutely superflu-
ous. Have Sir BALDWIN before this new com-
mittee of inquiry in regard to the Admiralty, Mr.
HENLEY will—or—he will respectfully beg leave to
withdraw his name as one of the fifteen committee-
men. Whatever the Earl of GIFFORD may say to the
contrary, we cannot but think that Mr. HENLEY
is in this matter very much indeed in the right.
If Sir BALDWIN has nothing in the shape of evi-
dence that he is reluctant to have wrung
from him before the Select Committee—Why,
Why, Why, did he fly off at such a tangent
the other day, with such suspicious precipita-
tion, in a gale of wind, as though he carried his
flag aboard not of the Narcissus but of the Flying
Dutchman ? Unless the " powers that be" had
been anxious, moreover, to connive at, and in every
possible way to facilitate the gallant Admiral's
escape from his otherwise inevitable subjection to
the interrogative thumbscrew of the Parliamentary
Inquisition preparing to squeeze the whole truth
out of the Naval ex-Surveyor—will any rational
man say that the Government might have
readily prevented his taking his departure, or,
supposing him to have taken his departure before
they stopped him, that they might even then, had
they so pleased, have brought him back easily
enough immediately afterwards ?
As a matter of course—as we intimated yesterday
would infallibly prove to be the case in the evening
—upon the Premier's motion the order of
the sth, for the appointment of the select
committee proposed by Sir J. ELPHINSTONE,
was discharged. It was discharged too summarily,
and without any attempt at a division. The
reference to the Admiralty Committee of the
duties which were about to devolve upon that
other now abandoned committee, being carried
upon Lord PALMERSTON'S second motion
upon the subject last evening, by a majority
of 96, against no more than 33 dissentients. Now
that the matter is thus simplified, now that
the various evils complained of are brought
under the scrutiny of one comprehensive
committee of investigation, let us hope that
the fifteen members of the new Committee
will labour, with a will, in veritable earnest,
heart and soul, con amore, conscientiously, patrioti-
cally in carrying their inquiries to an issue that
will sweep away the thousand and one abuses so
long festering in the Admiralty, and lead, with all
convenient speed, to its Solid and satisfactory re-
construction.

could, the persons of the most accomplished ladies
who were not of " gentle blood." The almost ex-
tinct moral sense of these creatures is, however,
awakened a little from its slumber when it con-
fronts the moral feeling of the great world ; and
the wretches who hold their fellow creatures as
mere goods or chattels, who buy and sell them
as they please; who part husbands, wives, and ,
families with as little feeling as a farmer sells his
rams, ewes, and lambs separately, who flog and kill
them at their pleasure—these wretches are ashamed
of the only.word which means all this, and simper
out instead the delicate phrase, " involuntary ser-
vitude."

As to the proposed compromise itself, though
there are doubtless thousands in the North who are
willing to accept that or any thing else, provided
" the hope of their gains" is left them, it is one
which would disgrace Mr. LINCOLN'S great
party for ever. Mr. SEWARD and the trim-
mers would doubtless take the bait ; but
though not without many misgivings, we have
hope in "honest ABRAHAM LINCOLN." The old
Missouri line of 36 deg. 30 m. is its basis. North
of that line Slavery is not to enter the territories—
South of it may. States formed out of territory on
either side are to enter the Union with or without
Slavery—we beg pardon, " involuntary servitude,"
as they please. The Chicago platform, on the con-
trary, forbids extension of Slavery into any part
of the territories. Other sections protect the slave-
holders in the acquisition of territory by conquest,
with an eye, of course, to Mexico. Others provide for
for the transit through the States of " involuntary
servants," and for their recovery when they have
become voluntary fugitives from involuntary ser-
vice. If the fugitives escape the Marshals of the
United States from any cause, the States in which
they do so are to pay the full value of the fugitive
to his master ! One good section alone appears
among the seven—a clause prohibiting in
every form the foreign slave trade for
ever. To crown the whole, lest these
noble republican enactments should ever
be changed, it is proposed to render them all im-
mutable. At least the consent of all the States is
to be necessary to their alteration ! So far as we
can see the concession is to be all on one side. The
old Missouri line is revived to be sure, but it is after
Kansas had proved that it could be maintained even
if the South abolished it.

"Further correspondence" on the affairs of
Italy, has just been presented, through the Lords,
to the public. It contains little not known before,
excepting the three closing letters, and these we
may hope are the last which will ever pass between
our Foreign Office and the representative of any
monarch of a part of Italy.
On the 20th of February Lord JOHN RUSSELL
writes to the Chevalier DE FORTUNATO, late repre-
sentative here of the King of Naples, to apprise
him that since Gaeta has fallen, and FRANCIS
11. with his Queen left their late domi-
nions the Chevalier " can no longer be accre-
dited at this Court as the representative of the
Government of the King of the Two SIciLIEs."

Lord JOHN is, at least, guilty of no hypocrisy.
He says,—" I will not on this occasion indulge in
vain regret at the catastrophe which has befallen
the BOURBON dynasty in the kingdom of the Two
Sicilies." We had long foreseen it all, says his
lordship ; we warned you, we warned the late
Monarch ; and so, with every assurance of my per-
sonal esteem, and so forth, farewell.

The es-ambassador, poor man, cannot help
replying with a rather long justification of his
master and his cause. He too did not play
the hypocrite, he " was not surprised," though he
was pained. The British Government had long
shown such "want of sympathy, of good will, he
would even say generosity," to the King's cause,
that we had paralysed the action of the King, and
emboldened the revolutionists. He wishes Italy
joy of her proposed unity—may she get it ! As to
the young King, he had always sought the good
and prosperity of his subjects. He was not respon-
sible for the, faults of the police, and abuses of ad-
ministration which had been left to him; he gave
a constitution, offered Piedmont an alliance which
she was too ambitious to accept, he would have done
anything to be kept on his throne. The writer
might have added that, unfortunately, there was
one thing he could not do—he could not change the
fact that he was " his father's son"—a BOURBON.
However, now all must be left to the verdict of
History. The ambition, cruelty, and tyranny of
the King of PIEDMONT will be recorded there, and
it will be severely impartial on the disloyal and
immoral means adopted in the south of Italy.

Lord JOHN'S reply is of the briefest. Poor Che-
valier FORTUNATO is now out of court. He has no
locus standi in writing to the Foreign Secretary of
England ? he no longer represents any foreign
power. " The same reason," says his lordship,
" which caused me to make the former communi-
cation to you, preclude my replying to your
letter of the 22nd. Personally, he wished to
show the Ex-ambassador all courtesy, but their
political relations were at an end—and so
end the relations of England with the kingdom of
the Two Sicilies, for the kingdom itself is no more.
CIALDINI, quite justly tells the Commander of the
garrison of Messina that, he can no longer deal
with him as a soldier but as a rebel. No capitulation
will be accepted—he must surrender at discretion and
if he ventures to fire on Messina, he and his will
soon be handed over to the justice of the in-
habitants. Thus falls, unwept, falls amidst the
joy of all free nations, another hateful dynasty.
Freedom asks but similar sacrifices at Vienna and
at Warsaw, and then Europe would begin to
breathe again. The HAPSBURGS and the ROMAN-
OFFS swept from civilized Europe, and what an
era of progress, of internal improvements, and poli-
tical liberty plight at once begin.

" Peace at any price"—is the proposal of the
now famous Peace Conference at 'Washington. It
was held to bring about reconciliation between
slavery and freedom, and the Border States were to
be the mediators—the result of their conference in
this critical juncture is now before the world, and
the world will certainly be of opinion that if the
Republican party accept it their position in history
is disgraced for ever. • It is a proposal again of
compromise ; of that which has worked so fatally
for the Union hitherto, and which if , accepted
would as certainly be again fruitful in heartburn-
THE EMPEROR OF AUSTRIA V. Louis KOSSUTH.
ing and disunion. —A case, is now pending in the Court of Chancery,
in which the Emperor of Austria has obtained an injunction
On the face of it the plan of the conference damns to restrain Louis Kossuth from publishing certain notes,
slavery while seeking to save it. It is, and rightly which he has been advised, on high le gal authority, that he
enough, ashamed of the very name of its client. can
publish lishtl withoutemen, .thle sdl.ightng i\eist inrfsralcvtihoniteof
cßrit.ish
can publish without the slightest infraction of British law.
enough, ashamed of the very name of its client. Sev
It dares not use the word slavery. Through- Stansfeld, M.P.s, and Professor F. W. Newman, gfeelingait
out the seven sections, it does not venture that the resources of the noble exile, who has sacrificed
his all in support of constitutional liberty, must be unequal
to call a spade a spade. It must find some to cope with those of Imperial Austria, and desirous of
such expression for slavery, as an implement for securing a full and fair hearing of the case, have resolved
(%vithout prejudging the question between the parties to
loosening and inverting the earth would be for a endeavour
to provide a
out,
forh They
are purposeheprprepared to
a roef
act the
spade. " Persons held to labour," or "to servi- issue raised fairly tried u. T
their
hroyisdional committee to receive subseiiptions and see to
as n
uetaopfrop
jriaFtion.l'or the present any sum may be
tulle," and "involuntary servitude," are the cant
remitted
beneath which the moral obscenity of slavery is
Bontems, 14, Moorgate-street, E.G.,
concealed. After all the praises bestowed on this the hon. secretary.
—0
nit'hhee
Ist
numberb
rouf
reyff,
IcBt
6i vl,e s
is not(retu r
nine d-
diabolical institution, its advocates dare not in the
eluding
gE
officers) on
face of the world introduce the word " slave" into
as follows :
On the British establishment—At home 82,410
their proposed amendments of the Republican
Constitution. Can anything mark more emphati-
In the colonies*
'54907
„ the Indian establishment—ln India *67,909
cally the real conviction of these YELVERTONS of At home 15,063429
liberty. They do not like the lawful relation Embodied Militia
between master and workman. They want service
for their own advantage and gratification, without
the reciprocal obligations due to the other side; so
they 'think it no harm—if notexactly laudable, yet
nothing wrong—to appropriate the servicesof those
T would appropriate vwh o are not of the white skin; just as our YEL-
ONS
to themselves, if they

Total 223,723
The average number of effectiv€ s (not including officers) on
the British establishment and embodied Militia in the year
1850 51 was 106,191; in 1855-56 (Crimean war), 214,165;
in 1859- 60, 136,456. The average cost per man, calculated
on the absolute expenditure on votes for pay and allowances,
miscellaneous charges, clothing and provisions, fuel and
light, was £46 18s. Bd. in 1850-51, £97 14s. 6d, in 1855-56,
£54 4s, sd, in 1859-00.

.j,

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