The Sun.
London, England, 1861-04-05 00:00:00

THE SUN, LONDON,'FRIDAY :EVENING; APRIL 5, 1861.

Norsibrammer •'—

th. -i) Union the goods which have entered at
New Orleans by the lower tariff of the South.
Indeed . Any policy more suicidal on the part of the
sending .over to Europe and England
North, thal."‘
a hostile an,i most intricate and perplexing tariff,
at the very b 'ame time as the Southern States send
us one of the
,greatest simplicity, and constructed
for Revenue purposes only, can hardly be conceived.
It remains to be seen what chance the Government
has of negotieing its new loan of twenty-four
million dollars, on the faith of such a foolish, selfish,
protectionist tariff.
On the other hand, all is not quite bright for
the South. It has not been ascertained that any
part of their loans hitherto authorised have been
taken up. Even Southerners tbemselvesi if they
have money to spare, a rather rare case, do not
like lending it to a Government composed half of
repudiation States, and headed by a President
trained in that School. Their revenues, too, are yet
to be collected, their trade to be almost created,
and money does not like to trust itself on such
chances. It turns out also that there is an anti-
Secessionist party in the South, so strong that the
leaders of the movement have not ventured to
appeal yet to the people except indirectly. They
appropriated about £lOO,OOO belonging to the
Federal Government in Louisiana, and are busying
themselves in raising and equipping soldiers, but
between their party divisions and want of money.
they, though acting with more decision, may soon
become as much embarrassed as Mr. LINCOLN and
the Republicans in the North.
In such a complication of circumstances, predic-
tion is useless. The high probability of the seces-
sion becoming a permanent one, increases, but no
one can foresee the effect of the inconveniences
which both parties will soon feel. England can
have but one wish,—that civil war should be avoided,
and that the slave trade should not be re-opened.
The last, indeed, ought to be a szne qua non of our
acknowledging the new Confederation. At present
the South is playing a thoroughly hypocritical and
politic part on that subject. The Gulf States
would like to re-open the trade, but they want
to purchase the Border States, by offering them
the profitable trade of breeding negroes for their
plantations ! Should the latter join the North, the
South will resort to Africa, if England permits it.

PONTIUS PILATE 11. has proceeded to judgment.
The Bishop of POICTIERS is now at his mercy. A
decree has issued which, "considering" one cir-
cumstance and law after another, thus concludes—
" And, whereas, according to the terms of the
Declaration of 1682, it is a fundamental maxim in
the French law That the Chief of the Church, and
the Church itself, have only received power over
spiritual things, and not over civil temporalmatters ;'
that, consequently, the pastoral letters which
bishops may address to the faithful of their
diocese must only have for object to instruct them
in 'their religious duties ;
"Whereas, the 'Bishop of POICTIERS, by his
pastoral letter of Feb. 22 last, took on himself to
censure the policy and to criticise the acts of our
Government ;

" Considering that the said pastoral letter also
contains an offence against our person, and makes
remarks calculated to alarm the religious belief of
our Catholic subjects;
" Considering that these facts constitute an excess
of power, a contravention of the laws of the empire,
and a proceeding which might arbitrarily disturb
the conscience of citizens ;
" Our Council of State having been heard,
" We have decreed and do hereby decree as
follows :

" Art. 1. There is an abuse in the pastoral letter
of the Bishop of POICTIERS of Feb. 22, 1861.'
" The said pastoral letter is and remains sup-
pressed."
At first sight the reader would think the con-
clusion of this solemn document rather a feeble one
—a ridiculus nuts from the mons parturtens.
What can the Bishop of POICTIERS care for the
suppression of the pastoral after it has done all the
mischief he meant it to do ? And as to the legal
offence of an " abuse," he must, we may suppose,
laugh heartily at the verdict ; he meant that the
pastoral should be an abuse of his spiritual position
to a secular purpose; and the decree seems, there-
fore, only to proclaim his triumph.
But we must not conclude too hastily. The actual
punishment is light enough, but the laws cited are
the sting of the degree. The " offence against the
person," which may be supposed to be that of
rebaptising the Emperor with the name of the
Roman Governor, may be punished by a fine of from
500 to 10,000 francs, with imprisonment from six
months to five years ! The publishing of a pastoral,
in which shall be inserted any censure or criticism
on the Government, subjects the offander to banish-
ment. The decree therefore pretty plainly, by
referring explicitly to these paragraphs of the penal
code, tells the Bishop that he is liable to all these
serious consequences, if the Government sees fit to
bring them down on his head. The Bishop is told
that he lies at the mercy of the man whom he has
reviled.

What is the most remarkable of all to English-
men is, that the law under which the pastoral is
pronounced an abuse, was one made during the
time when democracy had even abolished the Chris-
tian era! It is dated 18th Germinal An 10 ! and,
amongst other vague offences, was specified
that of "arbitrarily disturbing the conscience of the
citizens." Under such a law religious liberty is
obviously impossible. Who shall say what is an
arbitrary attempt to disturb conscience, and what
a reasonable one ? Every Religious Reformer
must have but a poor chance indeed, if he belonged
to the higher order of ecclesiastics against whom
the law is directed. Our Puseyites on the one
hand, and Essayis's and Reviewers on the other,
would be rather hard put to it to show that they
had not needlessly caused the good people some
little perturbation. However, we manage these
things better in England, and hope we ever ',bail.
Rude abuse of the Sovereign, under the garb of
religion, would in. England need no legal punish-
ment.

We are glad to learn (says the Cheltenha2n
Examiner) that his Grace the Duke of Beaufort is now in
a fair way of recovery from his recent severe affliction. Hii
grace is now able to take carriage airing, and it is confidently
hoped that he will soon be equal to horse exercise, to which
he is well known to be so devotedly attached.

The Right Hon. B. Disraeli and Mrs. Disraeli
have passed through town from South Wales, where they
have been. on a visit to Lord and Lady Tredegar, for Wim-
pole, Cambridgeshire.
The Duke de Modena is about to leave Vienna
for Venetia. General Cabrera, Count de Morera, has ar-
rived in the Austrian capital from Modena.
RETURN OF LORD ELGIN.—It is probable that
mthiis dddliestoifnugusexitbwedeenko.bleroardn wE
na r
is riven iwn
travellingE ngl a d i
an t thhi
se
leisure from Trieste, and is expected in Paris on Saturday
next, where Lady Elgin will go to meet him.
THE BALLOT SOCIETY.—The weekly meeting of
the executive committee was held on Tuesday, at the offices,
5, Guildhall-chambers--The Rev. W. H. Bonner in the
chair. Mr. Whitehurst, Mr. Bontems, Mr. S. Nodes, Mr.
Man, Mr. Elt, &c., were present. The following subscrip-
tions were announced, amongst others : —A. W. Daulton,
J. Cunningham, Brentford, £2 25.; W. F. Defame,.
£ 1 ;
Athzr. Sergeantton,3LP., 1Os.; C. Cooke, Newport,
Parry,lsle of Wight,
£3
3s. ;
Rev. W.
H. Bonner, 55.; James Wrigley, Bury, a ; T. Wrigley,
Bury, £2 2s. , T.
• Bazley, M.P., £3 3s. (additional) ;20
workmen in the employ of Mr. Ephraim Helium, Stock-
port, £i. J. W. Probyn, Esq., London, was elected a mem-
ber of the council. Reports relating to movements in the
ballot in the several constituencies of Carlisle, Oxford,
Abingdon, and Lewis, were received, and directions gig e
to aid the local friends in thir movements.

T T NEW 6.

more buoyancy, although the amount of business
still continues very limited. For the Account,
Threes- are now at 67f 65e. Railways quiet, but
firm. The following were the last quotations
4i per per Cents ... 94 95 Credit Fancier
Do end month.... 93 —1 Belgian 4f looi
3 per Cents
Do. end month 67 651 Roman
Bank Shares . 2892 50 , Austrian
Credit Mobilier.... 643 751§panish Threes 47 75
Do. Account .. 645 j Home Debt -