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

THE SUN LONDON, SATURDAY EVENING, SEPTEMBER 14. 1.861..

V

SUN.

LO;%iDON, SATURDAY, SEPT. 14, 1861.

-4!

Polite CCIU

-i polite ;end
-1 S' because we are equals
are the terms chosen
by France and not unwil-
lingly accepted by ourselves, for our naval rela-
tions. We ought perhaps rather to say polite
rivals, for rivalry is the real policy of our neigh-
bour at present. We must confess that the rivalry
on the other aide is conducted with more quiet
end dignity than on our own. France does not
apparently Put herself out of the way. She laid
down long ago a scheme to increase her navy

to proportions somewhat resembling ours, and she 1
has done little more than work that scheme with
vigour. She has done her work also ;u 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
PARINGTON 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
Ithreatening 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 PALMERSTON objected,
we think, unanswerable, that it would give endless
occasion to misunderstandings and disputes, and be
more likely in the long run to geaeTate war than to
preserve peace.

It is instructive, however, to observe how our
neighbours themselves view our ehitimates 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 ITJ. 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 scruples 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. Adverting to the
coming Exhibition, he says—" I do. not doubt the
good reception which our exhibitors will receive in
London. The English, when th ey like, can be
courteous, and even caressing. Th ey gave a proof
of it in the celebrated banquet re cently 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 bot h sides—that is
certain." And having thus dismissdismissed 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 kno w 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 J'EDOW 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 how many 'ranee 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 a dopt a formula
which would fix the limits of nations .1 independence
and of our sovereignty."

We believe two to three was the proportion
assigned by Mr. COBDEN, for the 1 'rencla navy to
bear to that of England—it was obviously, how-
ever, not the proportion of half, Ns hjch excited the
contempt of M. DUPIN. "I fear xi ot to assert,"
he says, "that never shall the Engli till 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 spe tech 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 conveniunce ; and, we
may add, by the state of public opinion. M.
Chevalier, may some day convince hie; 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 themse Eves, will not
cease to levy the taxes which the nat ion 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 moans 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, tb'at 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 'Nees-
sa-y, can send that of Franee, and 111 the beach-
men and landsmen necessary to complete its crews,
to the bottom of the ocean.

M. DUPIN gives the English na Eon credit for
greater wisdom thin some of its leaders. The
exposure of our neighbour's policy ifl, he think°,
amongst the arts " employer) by certain orators and
some newspapers, in order to gain pop Clarity in the
eyes of the nation. I am willing to believe; but
these sort of tactics are worn out, and it is really
time to give them up ; for the En glish people
themselves, more enlightened as tc 1 their true
interests, seize, on the contrary, 'I pith avidity
on every occasion of marking their des ire to remain
at peace with us. Let them gather, then, them-
selves the fruit of our alliance—lel ; them enjoy
1 the fruits of this treaty which they have
so much desired ; and when at the proroga-
tion of their Parliament their a ugust 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 p roudly sullen
in Syria, at Suez, and everywhere (ant I the fable of
the pretended cession of Sardinia to France !), let
sufficient
quantity quantity corn to ea
them seriously thitn
akn do f
cotton procuring
to sp i 'n
:.n"
DunN, we will attend to our corn and cotton; but

while you can please French audiences by such
speeches as these, we think it wise to attend to
our navy also.

Mr. ROEBUCK'S model Parliament at Vienna has
just taken in hand the subject of Religious Liberty.
A subject every Englishman thinks he quite under-
stands, and he does, too, practically ; for he knows
that he may not only think, but do and say all he
pleases in regard to religion, may adopt the most
fantastical notions, may even build a palace if he
chooses, like a late wealthy banker, for the recep-
tion of the daily expected Saviour at his second
Advent, and no one will dream ofl interfering with
him. Even the illiterate Ranter may now fre-
quently assert his apostolic succession against the
well-comported Rector or Vicar; the squire and the
large farmer having in many places got a notion
that however little methodism may be to their own
taste, it is yet an excellent thing for turning out
steady labourers ; that the "Brimstone" preaching
is, in truth, the best recipe for tendencies to idleness
and poaching.
1
The document on which we have to offer a few
remarks represents the views not of the Govern-
ment at Vienna, but of that portion of the Reichs-
rath to which the consideration of the subject was
remitted, and is, of course, to be received as their
recommendation to the Government and the rest of
the Reichsrath. We may not be far wrong, if we
suppose that, as a bid for popular favour, it would
be willingly accepted by the Government at the
present moment. The Chairman of the Committee
was the Dr. SMOLKA who spoke so well for the
Hungarians in the recent debate on their conduct.
The most remarkable result of its adoption would
be that it would completely smash the Con-
cordat, as it would place all the confessions on a
footing of legal equality.

The Report proposes first to guarantee " full free-
dom of creed and conscience to every man"—a
proposal which strikes us in England as offering a
guarantee, for what no one can deprive another of; but
we must remember the powers claimed by the domi-
nant faith in Austria and in other Catholic coun-
tries. The inquisition is possibly, therefore, alluded
to, and the clause may be a guarantee that it shall
never be restored. The addition that "no one
shall be forced to declare his religious conviction"
looks that way. They have, we believe, a religious
census in Austria; we may ask, after our experi-
ence of this year, whether a person will be required
on that occasion to acknowledge his belief. The
next clause certainly points to the existence of
religious restrictions which we should hardly have
expected. It proposes that " the domestic exercise
of religion should be free to all." It would seem,
therefore, that in some instances religion as a family
affair was not secure against interruption by the
authorities.

Public worship follows—nearly all over the con-
tinent, the Governments, however liberal, seem to
think they have a right to supervise,, at leaßt,
meetings for this purpose. This results not only
from desire to include worship itself amongst the
subjects of their superintendence ; but from fear
lest the meeting for worship should be abused as an
occasion for plotting political schemes. The pro-
posal is that every " legally recognised Church and
Religious Society" should be "assured the right of
public worship." And this is to be subject to the
rules necessary for the security of public order and
tranquillity." The last limitation probably aims
at nothing more than purely police regulations,
such as Continentals, even the Liberals, all think
essential. The former limitation seems, however,
to point to the few well-known confessions ; as,
besides the Roman Catholic, the Lutherans, Cal-
vinists, Moravians, Greek Church, and perhaps,
some others.

The next clause is the one which, in regard to
the extent of religious liberty is most important.
Lord LYNDHURST'S last act conferred the full pro-
tection of the laws on any assembly for religious
purposes, wherever it might assemble and what-
ever the religious views of the worshippers. We can
hardly think that the Vienna Parliament—superior to
our own in some points, Mr. ROEBUCK says—would
equal it in following Lord LYNDHURST thus far.
When, therefore, it proposes to " grant the same
protection and rights to all churches and religious
associations," and that " no religion is to be especially
privileged by the State," we fear we must under-
stand it as meaning the Churches and Associations
" legally recognised," according to the former para-
graph. Even this is, however, a great stride to
make at once. Indeed the member for Sheffield
would tell us that it far surpassed our own prac-
tice ; since, in this country, Episcopalians in Eng-
land and Ireland, and Presbyterians in Scotland,
are " especially privileged by the State." If, there-
fore, it is not proposed to put literally all sects on a
level, that is all which have arisen or may arise out
of the pale of the legalized ones, between the latter
it creates an equality unknown in a land which
boasts of complete religious liberty.
Several clauses follow, apparently designed to
exemplify "the rules" before spoken of, as necessary
for tranquillity and public order. Some of these
are such as, we should all think, undue intermed-
dling by the secular authorities—neither Church
clergymen nor Dissenting ministers would submit
to them here ; still we imagine they are only such
as all parties would think necessary in all the
States of Austria, and generally in Germany—they
seem the results rather of their habits of adminis-
tration than of any design to be vexatious. One
of the principal rules seems to correspond almost
entirely with the arrangement, by which the Assem-
bly of the Church of Scotland requires the presence
of the Queen's Commissioner.
The laws for marriage it is proposed to place on
a sound basis. As we understand them, they
are equivalent to the proposal of Archbishop
WHATELY—that the State should prescribe one
civil form for all, from which all the civil protec-
tion and advantages the State can guarantee should
flow, leaving to all persons to add such religious
service as they think right. There can be no doubt
that this is the sound principle, and that it would
simplify a great many of the questions relating to
marriage. Different sects could then disallow
or recognise certain marriages according to their
distinctive tenets, while the Civil Government
could bestow the civil rights of property and
legitimacy on all who conformed to the civil mode
of Registration. Even the vexed question of
marrying a deceased wife's sister could easily be
settled on this basis. The church or sect which
choose to pronounce it sinful could act accord-
ingly, in its religious proceedings, but it would
no longer be able to inflict civil penalties on the
more numerous Christians who think such mar-
riages lawful and commendable.
What course will be taken with this liberal re-
port, we cannot yet tell. No intimation of the
views of the Government has appeared. The pre-
s lawse ntßei e
for
t sera tla
Empire, is indeed
although
th eEc3o, p dE
Ri t
oi o t
Rn
declares
pass
that it is. The Representatives of Transylvania
and Croatia, as well as of Hungary, are yet absent,
and the Assembly will be felt to have no universal
authority. The Government may, however, be in-
clined to accept and carry through these, for
Austria, very liberal proposals, by way of
saying to the recusant Hungarians—J. See what a

liberal Parliament is this w Leh you refuse to join."
At present nothing of this kind would, however,
cajole the wise and cautious Magyars. They have
planted their feet on a rock, and they know it.
They have got their Archbishop's speech in their
hands, and they care not fir his being sent back
from Vienna. The laws imposed may be good,
but they will have them lavfully.

MR. HAMER STANSFELD'S CURRENCY
SCHEME.

LATEST NEWS.

AMERICA.

QUEENSTOWN, SEPT. 14.

The Royal Mail steamship Canada, from Boston
on the 4th, and Halifax on the sth inst., arrived
here at 6.45 a.m. She brought 67 passengers. She
landed 110 sacks of mails and three passengers, and
proceeded for Liverpool at 7.10 a,m, She passed
the Arabia on the 4th inst,

NEW YORK, SEPT. 3, EVENING.

The naval expedition, under the command of
General Butler, commenced the bombardment of
the Confederate forts at the entrance of Hatteras
Inlet on the 28th of August.

On the following day the garrison, consisting of
45 officers:and 600 men, surrendered conditionally,
and will be treated as prisoners of war. The
Federals captured 25 cannon, 1,000 stand of arms,
and three vessels. They now occupy Hatteras.
The prisoners have arrived at New York.
General Butler has arrived at Washington and
been serenaded. He made a speech on the occa-
sion, in which he declared that at the commencement
of the frost the Federal army would march south-
ward.

It is reported on good authority from Washing-
ton that the Administration will not at present
avail itself of the permission of Congress to collect
duties on shipboard at the Southern ports.

Fifty vessels have been seized in the Northern
ports under the confiscation law, as property owned
by the South.
The Secretary of the Treasury has issued an ap-
peal to the people on behalf of the National Loan.
The privateer :Jefferson Davis has been captured
off the coast of Florida.

Heavy firing was heard to-day at Washington,
from the Virginia side of the Potomac.

President Jefferson Davis is very ill. It is re-
ported that he is dead, but the news is discredited.

The steamers North American and Arago have
arrived out.

(LATEST BY TELEGRAPH TO HALIFAX.)

NEW YORK, SEPT. 5.
There is no further news of importance.
Stocks are firm. Erse, 244 ; Illinois, 65 ; New
York Central, 781.
A further considerable rise has taken place in
cotton, Midland Uplands being now quoted 22 to 221.
The provision market is quiet.

TURIN, SEPT. 13.
The Danish Minister will accompany the King
to Florence.

The Corriere Mercantile of Genoa of to-day con-
firms the news that the American Minister had
gone to Caprera for the purpose of offering to
Garibaldi a command in the Federal army.
The Diritto of to-day says :
"We regret that we cannot give a denial to
the rumour of the acceptance of this offer by
Garibaldi."

INDIA.

CALCUTTA, AUG. 8 (via Marseilles).

Grey shirtings dull, and declining; mule twist
tending downwards. Raw silk and indigo quiet.
Copper inactive, and declining.
AUG. 15 (by Telegraph to Point de Galle.)

Grey shirtings dull, but unchanged; mule twist
lower. Sugar and linseed active, and prices ad-
vancing. Saltpetre dull at forme: quotations.
Copper, jute, and rice unchanged. Hides active;
shellac buoyant. Exchange on London, 2s. 0/d.
Government Securities : Fours, 193 dis.; Fives 53
dis. Freights falling.

CHINA.

SHANGHAI, JULY 19 (via Marseilles.)

Grey shirtings declining. Tea tending upwards.
Silk active. Settlements in the fortnight, 4,000
bales; export to date, 2,600 bales. Exchange on
London one penny higher; on India three rupees
lower. Freights unaltered.
FOOCHOW, JULY 18.
An active business is doing in tea at former
prices.

CANTON, JULY 27.

Grey shirtings dull and declining ; water-twist
unchanged. Tea active, and prices advancing ;
total export to date, 8,615,00 llb, Exchange id.
lower.

AUSTRALIA.
MELBOURNE, JULY 25.

Business dull. Brandies—Martell's, 10s. 3d. ;

Hennessey, 10s.; Geneva, 16s. 6d. Oats, 47d. ;
butter, 10d. ; hams, 13d. ; Bass's ale, £8 10s. ;
flour, £l5 ; rice, 171 d. ; Mauritius sugar, £36 to
£47. Wool in limited demand, exports 1,175 bales.
Exchange on London, 60 days, 11 prem.

ADELAIDE, JULY 26.
Copper, £92 10s per ton ; Burra Shares, 130,
Exchange, 60 days, 3 prem.
TURKEY.

A letter from Constantinople of the 4th says :
" The Sultan has just dismissed his first chamber-
lain, Ghalib Bey. The reason assigned is that his
Majesty, having gone incognito to render assistance
in extinguishing a fire which broke out a few
nights back in the district of Bechiktache, near
the Imperial palace, remarked that Ghalib Bey,
though residing there, did not present himself:
it is also said that his Majesty is irritated against
him for having made repeated demands to be
promoted to the grade of Muchir (Marshal), and
to obtain an increase of salary. A grand review
and manceuvres took place a few days back near
the Waters of Europe.' The Sultan was nor
present, but the Minister of War, Namik Pacha
did the honours to Generals Codrington, Monte-
bello, and Willisen. General Codrington, who is
already decorated with the Order of the Medjidie
of the first class, has been presented by the Sultan
with a magnificent snuff-box, ornamented with
diamonds. He has left Constantinople, but is to
spend two or three days at the Dardanelles to
inspect the fortifications, and is afterwards to
stop some time at Athens. General de Montebello
has received from the Sultan the decoration of
the Medjidie of the first class, and so likewise
have General Willisen and Count Golez. General
de Montebello intends to remain here ten days
more. He is engaged in visiting the principal
curiosities of the city and environs, and in addition,
has frequent interviews with the Grand Vizir and
the other Ministers. The General, who has always
professed great sympathy for Turkey, lately paid
a visit with all his suite to Riza Pacha, and had
with him a conference which lasted about two hours.
After it Siza Pacha manifested great satisfaction,
but what was said by the General is not known.
Said Pacha, Viceroy of Egypt, lately visited the
Grand Vizir at the Sublime Porte, and two days
back dined with the Sultan, who shows him much
kindness. The Viceroy is studying the Turkish sys-
tem of military administration and of manceuvres.
The Valide Sultana has just presented Sir H. Bul-
wer with a ring arnamented with brilliants, as a
testimony of her special esteem."