The Sun.
London, England, 1861-12-03 00:00:00

ever been taken prisoner and held in captivity by
English arms. They arc sure that England was
foiled in her attempt to assert supremacy by the
arms of America alone.

FRIDAY.
Senator Simmons is going to do a little stroke of
business which is characteristic ; he, and not Mr.
Morrill, is the real aithor of the tariff. He in-
tends to sail with a little cargo of " notions"

down South to exclange with loyal men for
cotton. The expedition may dispel a delusion in
the excellent gentleman's mind. Unless I am

much mistaken, be wil get little cotton and find
few loyal men in the South, unless those who

have gone there as United States' troops. The Go-
vernment will follow uo their blow at Beaufort by
sending on Burnside's corps,which is now at Anna-
polis, and which consists of 4,500 men. They are
building iron-cased vessels at last, and then the
animosity of the North to South Carolina, the
nursing mother of secession, will be gratified by a
very strenuous effort to capture, and, if necessary,
to destroy Charleston. It is hoped that the iron-

cased vessels will be able to run past Forts Moul-
trie and Sumter, and in that case tho city would bo

at their mercy. Nor would it be easy to board them,
as an apparatus will be attached to them for throw-
ing hot water on surrounding objects. But a land

march on Charleston would be full of difficulties,

owing to the nature of the country, and Savannah
is equally difficult of access. Both these cities are

in danger. But will their capture give cotton to the
United States' Government? Certainly not ; the
Confederates will destroy it. They will have a cot-
ton Moscow all over the States, and, as the slaves
will run away or will refuse to work, it is obvious
that next year's crop and supply will be most scanty
and precarious as far as America is concerned.
That a Ns holesome rigour can be developed by the
authorities in case of need, take an instance at least
which may recommend itself in emergencies to Go-
vernments at home, or at all events make some of
our great engineers thank their stars that they are
not citizens of the United States. The steam sloop
Pensacola, which has been lying in the Potomac
for some time, was provided with engines by Mr.
Sickles, a famous mechanic in these parts, but,
as after repeated trials, it was found that the
vessel would not move, considerable indignation
was excited at the Navy Department against that
gentleman, who had received a large sum for
engines on an improved principle. He made ex-
periments and promises equally futile and value-
less, and week after week passed and saw the
Pensacola, when most needed, lying " idle as a
painted ship upon a painted ocean." At last Mr.
Sickles went on board to superintend his men, and
having given some directions, he was about to
return when the captain, a resolute sailer of the
United States' type, quietly interposed and said,
" Mr. Sickles, I'm sorry to say you can't leave the
ship, sir. My orders are that you are not to be
permitted to land till the engines are in perfect
order, and I intend to take you down past the
batteries with me as soon as you say she is all right,
in order to prove the fact." Mr. Sickles is, I hear,
working with great energy.

SATURDAY AFTERNOON.

It is strange that, hating had so much to say
about the relations between the United States and
Great Britain in this and preceding letters, the
apprehension of some coming complication which
has been present with me so long should just now
be realised. I allude, of course, to the seizure of
Mr. Slidell and Mr. Mason on board the Royal
West India mail steamer Trent on November the
Bth, which has, long before this will reach you, no
doubt caused excitement and stronger sensations at
the other side of the Atlantic. The news was
scarcely credited at the English Legation at first,
but the Ministers of France, Russia, and Prussia,
who called on Lord Lyons, had all heard of the
extraordinary circumstance. In this matter it re-
mains to be seen if the people of America or the
Cabinet of Washington can best understand the in-
terests of the United States, and, above all, the
respect due to a friendly Power—for most friendly
we have been in our strictest neutrality. An apology
in words must be tested by an apology in acts, and
it seems at first blush that the restitution of Messrs.

slidell and Mason, and the punishment of the cap-
tain of the San Jacinto—who will probably be a
hero before this ink be dry—are the only evidences
of a desire to make due reparation which can be
accepted by the Queen and people of Great Britain
for this insult. The word is rendered detestable by
its frequent use, but here it is really the only ap-
plicable substantive.
Almost simultaneously with this extraordinary
seizure of Mr. Slidell and Mr. Mason on board the
Trent at sea, or rather in Spanish waters, occurs an

outrage which cannot be dealt with in any way
except as an instance of flagrant disregard of all
international law in the seizure of ex-Senator
Gwin in, and his transmission by the armed force
of the United States across, a neutral territory. It
is plain that either all the principles of national
life must be set aside for the convenience of the
Northern States in their quarrel with their ex-
Confederates, or that the former must learn the
simple principles which constitute the conditions
of that national life and of national honour. Is the
world to bend the knee to the United States of
North America? Or, is the world to be forced to
teach the United States of North America that it
has established certain rules in matters of law and
ethics before the United States were thought of, as
determinate and as independent of the assent of
any one nation as the precepts of Christianity ?
Not many days ago I read one of the articles which
turn the heads of the people here and make them
politically mad, which, in as many words, said that
the people of the United States, as a new people,
were going to settle their own affairs in a new way,
and that the capture of Port Beaufort would make
the politicians of Europe understand what that
new way was going to be. It is now incumbent on
the old masters of the world to prove that they
cannot permit any nation, old or new, to make in-
novations which strike at the root of all national
identity. As an illustration of the very prepos-
terous mental disease which effects the minds of
men here, I may mention that there were officers in
Willard's Hotel, belonging to regiments of volun-
teers, who are now about to take up their winter
quarters in front of the opposing enemy, which is
almost beleaguering them outside their blockaded
capital, who were loud in their declaration that
they would throw off their uniforms if Mason and
Slidell were given up. Perhaps it would be more
becoming to these patriots to put them on their
backs, to keep them there, and to let their enemies,
wherever they be, see the front row of their but-
tons. There is but one opinion among the repre-
sentatives of the foreign Powers in reference to this
" outrage." Such is the mildest term used re-
specting it. France, Prussia, Russia, Spain, all
aro agreed in considering that the blow struck at
England is not the accident of a contretemps; and
the United States, if there was wisdom in her coun-
cillors, would really feel some doubts in reference
to the policy she has adopted when she sees as she
has done before, that there is no friend left to her
in the world. In spite of her abject adulation of
France and Russia, the Ministers of those em-
pires have acted as though they felt they had a
duty to perform to law and civilisation which far
exceeded the obligations imposed by petty jealousy,
or the rivalry of opposed nationalities ; nor will it
be astonishing to find that, while France on the one
hand evinces a desire to join in any legitimate means
of putting an end to a contest which causes her so
much embarrassment, Spain will not be slow io
avail herself of the force which her Mexican inter-
vention and recent prosperity may place at her
disposal to vindicate the honour of her flag if it
should turn out, as is supposed, that the San Jacinto
committed her aggression on the neutral flag of
Great Britain in Spanish waters.
There can be no pretence, unless, indeed, a pre-
tence in its true sense, that the British Government
has not exhibited the utmost desire to maintain
friendly relation with the United States, and that
it has not strained to the furthest the principle of
neutrality in this quarrel. But here is a question
of principle, for which, if ever we have fought for
anything at all, we have struggled even to the en-
dangering of actual and moral alliances with every
people in the world openly outraged by a Govern-
' ment to which in the hour of its distress we had