The Sun.
London, England, 1861-08-22 00:00:00

should understand that we are not simply upon
the verge of the millennium, but actually in the very
midst of its According to him, it is the merest
folly our devoting £30,000,000 within the year to
the furtherance of our military and maritime
armaments. According to his view for a
very long while past, if we ought not
to beat our swords into ploughshares and our spears
into reaping hooks, we ought certainly to transform
our rifles into spinning jennies, and our Armstrong
guns into railroads and steam engines. Yet all the
while—what is it that this boasted Pacificator of
Europe, this vaunted Friend of England, has been
doing exactly opposite our shores since he put his
sinister hand upon the Purse and his dexter hand upon
the Sword of France fi Why, as Mr. ROEBUCK re-
minds his fellow-countrymen—the French Emperor
has been all this while increasing the efficiency of
the French army, and he has been so fostering the
French navy that it is second only to that of England.
The Imperial army of France is at this moment—
during a time of peace—upon a war footing. It is
600,000 strong. The Imperial navy of France is not
alone " only second " to the royal navy of England,
but it is the only rival to it anywhere discoverable
upon the seas. This—recollect—while France has
scarcely a colony to speak of ! And why all this ?
asks Mr. ROEBUCK. Why that army of 600,000 men
in a time of peace ? Why that activity in the French
dockyards ? Why that immense navy ? Why those
formidable maritime fortifications ? Mr. ROEBUCK
answers everyone of these questions in just six
plain words—" They are there to threaten Eng-
land.,, And, he adds, "I as an Englishman, am
not born to be threatened with impunity." The
force of all this is undeniable. France has no need
of those gigantic fleets—excepting with a view to
direct them continually against England. Other-
wise they are there for no reason within the limits
of conjecture. And it is because the Imperial
navy of France is being thus increased
and multiplied without France having any
colonies (worth talking about) to defend, without
France having any maritime power (unless it be
England) with which to contend—it is because of
this that England has all along viewed, is still
viewing, will yet continue to view until the end
with suspicion, the ominous and threatening course
pursued so very persistently by the taciturn
Emperor of the FRENCH, at the head of his despotic
Government.

Happily, however—having recognised all this—
we have within the last few years placed ourselves
wisely in (so far as human views will let us understand
things) something at any rate having the appear-
ance of a secure position ! Our army has profited by
the terrible lesson learnt in the Crimea. It is more
effectively disciplined. It is, in a great manner,
reorganised throughout. The same, to a consider-
able extent, may be said of our navy—now either
already reconstructed or in rapid process of recon-
struction. Beyond which these " dragons' teeth"
already spoken of have been sown, and the Volunteers
have started up from the ground to the number
of 170,000 armed Riflemen. " And," as Mr. ROE-
BUCK took pleasure yesterday in reminding his
fellow-countrymen, through his constituents at
Sheffield, "besides this, there is at the head of the
Administration now one who cares for the honour
and the safety of England." And, Mr. ROEBUCK
added, "that so long as we had him there, we were
safe. He had said that he was not versed in
the language of compliment, but this he said
from his very heart. He felt the danger in
which England was placed, and looked with re-
spect upon the man to whom was confided the safety
of the country ; and depend upon it, as soon as we
got rid of this man we should get rid of one of our
great defences. He had never been a party man ;
all the world knew that. He had, he believed,
done his utmost on one occasion to turn this very
man out of office, and he thought he had succeeded,
but still he said that Lord JOHN RUSSELL, on
making his farewell speech to the House of
Commons made use of words which ought to
sink deep into the hearts of Englishmen.'
May not Ministers, in sober truth, fake a
hint from these words during the interval for deli-
berate reflection now allowed to them before the
reassembling (in another five months' time) of the
two Houses of Parliament ? Here is a thoroughly
independent member of Parliament—perhaps the
very least of a party man within its walls—heart
and soul with Ministers (notwithstanding all their
shortcomings, especially as Reformers) if they will
but uphold the honour and the dignity of England
through England's Diplomacy !

We have Mr. .ROEBUCK'S word for it that the
Emperor of AUSTRIA is an " honest and a wise
man." Most happy should we be to believe him.
Who can wish to think the EMPEROR less honest
than Mr. ROEBUCK himself ; while all will wish him,
without any disrespect to the honourable member,
even more wisdom. We ought not, indeed, to dis-
pute with Mr. ROEBUCK on the point—" It's not
the luck of every man to go to Vienna," as the old
Lhtin proverb might be now translated ; but it has
been the luck of Mr. ROEBUCK, and of Mr. LEVER
too, and during the Russian war it was the luck of
Lord JOHN RUSSELL also. And they all came back
with one story—all by their words, or deeds, or
both, told us that there was no place like Vienna.
After this it may seem like unpardonable presump-
tion and arrogance, though we are sure Mr. ROE-
BUCK, if any one, can forbear with such failings, to
differ from these three witnesses. We must,
however, complacently remind them that they
are but witnesses that we believe all
they saw,
and can tell us from personal
knowledge, but that we think ourselves quite as
competent to form opinions from their evidence and
that of others—to be good judges and jurymen, as
they themselves.

Our readers well remember ROBERT OWEN. We
believe him to have been an honest man—but his
wisdom was more scheming. We wish we could say
as much of the Emperor of AUSTRIA—we believe
his wisdom to be that of ROBERT OWEN'S, but it is
minus the honesty of the untiring schemer. If it
will at all propitiate Mr. ROEBUCK, we may say,
that though we see no reason why the moral quali-
ties of the ruling Hapsburg should be better than
those which have made the dynasty the standing
example before Europe of soft speaking cruelty
and unblushing bad faith, we yet speak of the
EMPEROR only in his public capacity. As the
being who takes certain other beings to his coun-
cils, hears what they say, and then issues his
decrees, and diplomas, and rescripts, with the Im-
perial WE. This " WE" FRANIS JOSEPH, " we" the
Editor of The Sun do not believe to be an honest
man, and we are perfectly sure he is not a wise one.
our reason may be very briefly given. An
honest man pays his debts when he can ; and the
Emperor of AUSTRIA does not pay his debts.
We do not mean his pecuniary debts ; every
Exchange in Europe knows that he cannot pay
them, though were his pecuniary honesty what it
ought to be, he would live within his income, dis-
band half his army ; set the men whose pay and
equipment now beggars him, to produce wealth for
the country, and soon extricate himself from all
his monetary perplexities. But the debt he cannot
pay is caused by the debt he will not pay. Mr. ROE-
BITCE attacks the " wisdom of Hungary in entering