The Sun.
London, England, 1861-06-04 00:00:00

THE SUN.

LONDON, TUESDAY, JUNE 4, 1881.

The correspondence and the newspapers by the
last mails are even warmer than the telegrams in
regard to England and foreign powers—they are
the flame to the sparks. We must be very careful,
or we shall have the Great North down upon us in
a little time; it will first give the rebels their
thrashing, and then round and" lick the Britishers."
It is proverbial that apostates are the bitterest
persecutors of their old creed, and the hottest in
their new one. No one more angry than Lord
DERBY with beloved Austria, when she jilted him
by going to war without his leave, and adversely
to his political interests; and Mr. SEWARD appears
to be no exception to the rule. With an absurd
self-complacency in his own wisdom, which pro-
voked a smite, he refused to believe in prolonged
rebellion and a hostile Southern movement, he
wasted abundance of valuable time, smiling in
inaction—but, now that his dreams have been
thoroughly disturbed, his wrath with rebels, and
with any one else whe only looks at them, knows
no bounds. There is nothing he will not do, not
only to bring the rebels to subjection, but to punish
afterwards those who may " comfort and abet
them."

Mr. SEWARD finds himself, indeed, compelled to
follow the people ; and makes up for his unsea-
sonable past backwardness by being more mad
than the mob itself. We should, however, be ex-
ceedingly sorry if Lord JOHN RUSSELL could de-
scend to regard in the least all this braggadocio
of boyish statesmanship and to modify the straight-
forward and excellent policy which he has already
chosen. It is that of the strictest neutrality.
For, however thoughtless and angry politicians
may be at New York and at Washington, to
acknowledge belligerent rights for the South is not
to acknowledge the Southern Government. M.
THOUVENEL went further, for he annoyed the
Washington representative not a little by remind-
ing him that the modern practice of Europe had
been to acknowledge de facto governments, and it
would be certainly difficult to show that the
Southern Confederation did not deserve that name.
We are sorry to observe that the Washington Ad-
ministration itself is not backward to compli-
cate our relations with a view to its own
advantage. It accepts the Canadian Regiment
which has offered its services, touchy and insolent
as it was respecting our enlisting American citizens
in a late war fully as righteous as their own, and
certainly more disinterested. We shall, however,
continue to look on Southern crews of privateers
not as men to be hung at the yardarm by the
commanders of American ships of war ; nor do we
believe that such a threat can ever be carried into
execution. Most certainly, if it were, the sympa-
thies of all Europe would be at once with the
Slaveholding States. Another form of Washington
bluster is that Mexico has been warned that the
MUNROE policy must be strictly carried out ; that
no European Power may help her against her
rebels ; and that Spain is to come to grief if she
'lnsist in her wicked attempt on St. Domingo.
We believe that attempt to be wicked enough ; but
whether the Northern States be pleased or not, we
hold it to be perfectly optional with all European
Governments to take what part they think wisest
in the affairs of America. Any European State is ,
quite as much at liberty to admit the de facto
Government of the Southern Confederacy, to ally
itself with it, and to aid its efforts for independence
as France was to give aid to America for the same
purpose when the Thirteen Colonies revolted.

Preparations appear to be making to attack
Virginia from three points, from the east moving
along the Bay of Chesapeake to Fort Monroe at its
entrance, where a considerable force will be eon-
Coo trated, as it will become the base of further
operations. By this means, the Norfolk navy
yard will again be in possession of the Federal
Government. One small fort at the entrance of
the harbour has already been destroyed by the
ships of the Federalists, and a whole fleet of prizes
lies in Hampton Roads under the guns of the
ships there. From Fort Pickens the intelligence
is, that an attack is not unlikelY. The 'Dirt •is
thought, however, to be impregnable, and it 48