The Sun.
London, England, 1857-05-05 00:00:00

LONDON, TIIESDA.? MAY 5, 1857

There is a new Central American difficulty !
" Another RICHARD in the field ! " Fortunat -ly,
England is not at present inv(dved in the contev,
although it might be difficult to say how long she
may retain that happy exemption. It is for
the time being with the Government of New
Granada with which that of the United S-ates has
thought proper to suspend diplomatic relations—
the first step, so far as " Uecle Saar " is con-
cerned, to spoliation on a lirge scale, and ultimate
annexation. A plausible pretext is put forward,
but when was such ever wanting in a controversy
following the approved precedent of Wolf v.
Lamb ? The alleged ground on the part of " the
Statesmen " is that a number of American aiti-
zans were grossly ill•used, some lives being lost in
the general melee on the line of the Panama Rail.
way, and that adequate protection was not af-
forded to life or property by the constituted
authorities. On the other hand it is alleged, and
with much apparent reason, that the overbearing
insolence of the Yankees received well-merited
punishment, and that the only verdict which
could be returned would be like that of the Irish
jury—" Sarved them right;" that in fact they
had deserved all they got, and more into the bar-
gain. Thus stands the controversy, and it seems
a pretty quarrel as it stands. But unfortunately
the Government of Washington has all the power
in its own bands. It fulfils the rather multi-
farious duties of Plaintiff, Judge, and Jury, aye,
and that of Executive, to give force and efficacy
to its own decisions. It has, therefore, the game
in its own hands, and, according to its ordinary
practice, has acted promptly and decisively. Naval
squadrons were despatched to take possession of
" both sides of the Isthmus," and under such
circumstances it requires no extraordinary•
powers
of vaticination to predict that the " debateable
land" will ere long share the same fate, and fall
under the Government of " the United States."
The weakness of the defendant can, however,
constitute no valid excuse for such summary pro-
ceedings. Even if the New Granadian authorities
were really unable to enforce their own laws, the
same may be said of many American States,
where Lynch Law prevail, and the people take
matters into their own hands, and inflict sum-
mary punishment on those whom, in the plenitude
of power, they are pleased to consider as offenders,
even to the extreme penalty of the law ! When
we learn, by the same mail, that two executions,
according to Lynch Law, had taken place in lowa,
in which the majesty of the law of the land was
totally set at defiance, every participator being :In
actual rarderer, we may sell doubt the validity

of the pretext which alleges the weakness of the
Executive to control and direct the popular will,
and to punish the wrong-doers, as an adequate
ground for invasion and ultimate annexation.

The truth, however, has oozed out, through
the public, journals. " The permanent acquisition
of the Isthmus is the object which American
policy availing itself of the existing difficulty now
proposes to accomplish." There may possibly be
a compulsory purchase, according to the " Sir
Giles Overreach" school. But if matters follow
the usual routine, the weakest must go to the
wall, and thankfully receive whatsoever the levia-
than opponent may please to offer.
This, however, is a matter in which England
may properly exercise a veto. It is in direct oppo-
sition to the arrangement between Sir HENRY
LYTTON BULWER and Mr. CLAYTON on which
the Government of Washington has already
relied in certain difficulties that heretofore
occurred. The main obj.-ot of that conven-
tion was to provide for the perfect neutra-
lity of the Lthmus, so that the contemplated ship
canal might be available to the trade of all nations,
without advantage being given to any. The ex-
clusive possession of the entire Isthmus by the
United States—and, save so far as right was con-
cerned, it signifies little whether by corquest or
purchase—would give extraordinary and very
objectionable poll er to one party, who would
thereby obtain the entire control and management
of the route connecting the Atlantic and Pacific
Oceans, and thus the direction of the trade of the
two hemispheres. This would indeed be some-
thing far beyond the jurisdiction of the United
States. It would be of the deepest interest, not
merely to England, but to every nation of Europe
—we may say, of the world. If New Granada
be too weak to establish an efficient police, and
to supply the requisite protection for life and
property, the suitable remedy can only be found
in a general arrangement, in which all can concur,
and ensure equal rights and privileges—not by
the action of a single Power, whose propensitie,
for self-aggrandisement have already become toy.
painfully notorious.

We cannot say that Mr. BUCHANAN really
contemplates the suggested annexation. But the
matter is one requiring extraordinary vigilance
and caution on our part, and that we trust it will
receive from Lord PALMERSTON and the Earl of
CLARENDON. r'on. mews hie sermo. The question
has m..t been raised on this side of the Atlantic.
It is American journalists who have promulgated
the sulution of the interesting problem, and it
may safely be assumed that they are speak-
ing in accordance with at least a section
of public opinion. They have magnified the
possible danger arising from a local squabble, in
which there might have been faults on both sides,
but where their protegees were by no means blame-
less. But whatever might be the decision of a
fair and impartial tribunal respecting the causes
of the original quarrel, it is manifest that the sug-
gested remedyis by no means appropriate. It goes
much too far. Before the Isthmus can be trans-
ferred to the United States, England, France,
Europe must be parties to the suit. Ensure
by all means adequate protection on the
route but let it be against the excesses of Ameri-
cans as well as against the consequences of the
natural indignation of the inhabitants. This will
not be accomplished by an exclusive occupation,
elthough it may by an arrangement between the
leading Powers of the Old and New Worlds
which will render the passage perfectly free under
any circumstances that may hereafter occur. This
it is the duty of Lord CLARENDON to ensure, and
we hope and believe that it will be faithfully and
efficiently discharged by the Noble Lord and his
coadjutors.

Fie, Mr. WATKIN, M.P., you ought to have
known better ! What ! seriously tell the electors
and non-electors of Yarmouth that the Times ad-
vocated a popular extension of the Suffrage—that
it even asked for a vote for every man who could
write his name ! Look again at the Times of the
27th ult., and you will see, as plainly as the style
oracular permits, that the name-writing was not a
franchise, but a limitation of it. "Sad to think,'•
so we understand the Trophonian utterances,
"we are opening the doors, and, to a certain ex.
tent, relaxing those restrictions which are proved
by printed lists and rate books ;" but can we not
reimpose the restrictions, and restore a bolt or two
in a way which suits the temper of the c 11.437 ?
Can we not " require each man to write his own
name and vote at the polling booth ?" Mr. COB-
DEN—when you get in again—Sir JOHN PARING-
TON, and my Lord of the British and Foreign
School Society—what say you to this ? Ex ilt
writing into a condition of voting. You will seem
to be patronising education ; but, only that we
whisper in confidence, you are not to say so where
the country will hear it. It may cut down the
registration list five or ten per cent: perhaps, and
that is something.

We may assure the Times, for its comfort, that
Mr. WATKLN'S mistake was shared by very few.
If here and there the greyhead of a commercial
firm did rub his spectacles when he first read the
paragraph referred to, and did begin either to
fear that his clerks might be placed on an elec-
toral level with himself, or to hope that they
might be so knowing that without that ungentle-
manly thing the ballot-box, it would be but an
addition to his own voting power, he had but to
look a second time, and he was soon undeceived.
He could soon turn back quietly enough to the
City Article and the price lists. The oracle was
all right yet. It did not mean to follow Tom
PAINE, and begin a crusade for the rights of man ;
it would never allow the substantial merchant to
be swamped by the riff-raff, nor even by his own
clerk'. The Times wou'd never desert the grey-
heads and convex spectacles for the young green-
horns, who can only clamour for Tom DUNCOMBE
and Reform. So we understood the PALMERSTON
paper when we read it, and it is thought worth a
a whole leader to prove, that limitation, not exten-
sion of the franchise was intended by the requisi-
tion of a signature. For our part we should
not object, we suppose few Liberals would, to the
requisition after a fixed date of a signature from
the voter. With the present opportunities no
man need remain disqualified on that ground.
But we now to warn the whole tribe o
trmmers that Reformers do not mean to be trifled.
with. They quits understand the object with
which feelers of all kinds are put out, and our
response is, that Reformers, with a MAJORITY OF
ONE HUNDRED in the House, will stand no non-
sense., The paltry offers of the Times, making no
mention even of the greatest Reform at all, they
scout as unworthy of notice, unless, indeed, it
may be worth while to observe, that even the
most servile of the PALMERSTON press cannot al-
together check the Parliamentary necessity of the
day. Some more liberal journals will be content
—some of them if PALMERSTON gets Biron
ROTHSCHILD into the Rouse ; and, probably, if
the Lords think that admitting a Jew this session
will stave off Reform till another, they will be
Jaws enough to turn round this time. Other
Liberals demand from the Premier Reform Pro.
raises this session, to he accepted payable at St.
Stephens next session. The Qtrzzis's Speech

must contain an advertisement of PALMERSTON
and Co.'s Reform Bill, and the Premier must
issue a prat), full prospectus afterwards for the
country to study after Honourable Gentlemen
have fled to the moors or to the sea shore. Some
of this advice may be honestly meant—but we
know the meaning of most of it, and it is neither
more nor less than this—spare poor Lord PAL.
MERSTON, burdened as he is with his large ma-

jority.
Now we have no kind of sympathy with this •
mawkish pity for PALMERSTON. One of the First
Peers of the Realm, the Noble Leader of the •
Cinservatives in the House of Lords, was pleased,
in quoting our Candidates' Catechism, and the
remarks connected with it, to mention us as
among Lord PALMERSTON'S supporters ;—we are
the supporters of no man, as such. We have
supported Lord DERBY when we thought him in
the right, and we have thoroughly exposed Lord
PALMERSTON when we thought him in the wrong.
And, however right we thought him on the Chi-
nese question, if he cannot come up to our stand-
ard on the great domestic question of this Parlia-
ment, we shall show him no more mercy than
Manchester, Huddersfield, and Salford showed the
League. Already he has fallen behind expecta-
tion in the Chinese business. Witness his truck-
ling to routine and the Horse Guards in the nomi-
nation of a General, his loss of time in getting of
gun-boats and reinforcements, and to clench all—
the Transit again I Pity Lord PALMERSTON ! No,
we cannot. Pity a Premier with THREE HUNDRED
AND EIGHTY Members elected to vote for him—
pity him I what fort Why, because these three
hundred and eighty were elected to vote for Pal-
merston, and Reform, and it is believed the Pre-
mier, and perhaps the Court, wants the PALMER-
STON without the Reform.
Now we quite agree with those who demand
that the QUEEN'S Speech announce a Reform Bill.
We will not accept a Jew for a Reform Bill ;
neither will we accept a Reform Bill next year
for one this year. We do not want a Thai° ses-
sion. We have given our Government one hun-
dred guns more than the enemy, and woe to the
commander if he close the campaign with only a
look at the Conservative Cronstadt. Let him
remember Sir CHARLES NAPIER. If he does not
we shall ; for we feel no doubt that if he do not
avail himself of his superiority in the way the
country expects be will be dismissed from his
command by another session. His successor
would do little better than he, and the nation,
after having elected a Reform Parliament, will
see the enemy's fortress left intact at the end of
the war.
It shall be no fault of ours if this colliery do
succeed. We believe it is a deliberate design
to hoax the nation. If Reform can be shuffled
out of now, it will be evaded next year, and for
ever, Parliaments without end. From the days
of NEBUCHADNEZZAR till now the drift of puzzled
magicians and conjurors has been to gain time.
Time and the chapter of accidents is the fast de-
fence of anti-Reformers ; it should therefore be
the one thing refused by Reformers. When time
is demanded they may be sure that it seedi but
a vigorous assault, and the Malakoff is t ikon.
No statesman pleads want of time when he has

anything better to plead. A few weeks ago the
Premier's Illoniteur told us that he had hardly
wasted three weeks, instead of a year ; if so, why
have we not as much time to deal with Reform
this session as we shoull be likely to have in any
coming one ? We say deliberately that to put off
a large measure of Reform till another session is
to put it off till the Greek ICAlends, or till, Mr.
GLADSTONS will arrange an honest income tax.

One word more. We are not exacting in de-
tails. We can well leave all that really requires
some time till next session. What we want is
one or two simple and easy extensions of the suf-
frage and voting by ballot. It would be easy, for
instance, in a few days to make the suffrage and
paying to the poor-rates co-extensive, and at the
same time to abolish the rate-paying clauses,
leaving the overseers and the law to settle their
own business. The franchise in counties ought to
be the same, and that is the only alteration we
should suggest to Mr. LOCKE KING—a clause,
namely, that if the franchise were extended to
any class in towns, the corresponding class should
enjoy it in the counties. The cant about the im-
portance of different franchises for boroughs and
counties is too transparently Eldonian to impose
on a child. But the Ballot is the reform
which is the first necessity. We maintain now,
as we have maintained before, that if but
ra e reform can be carried, it ought to be
this. Before all other reforms, let a vote be a
vote—a reality—the act of the person who gives
it, not of another who uses him as a tool. Talk,
indeed, of the mechanical character of the Ballot
Why, what on earth is more mechanical than the
vote of the tenant-farmer, the mortgagor, the
dealer, the retail tradesman Open vctiug is a
mechanical device for depriving the votes of de-
pendent persons of their free and intelligent cha-
racter. The Ballot is a mechanical device too, if
you will ; but it is one for making a vote an
affair of judgment, free will, conscience. We
care not who is the Minister to do it ; but we
would support the veriest old Tory Premier who
could be found in any of the old political strata if
he would but give us the Ballot.

Yesterday morning the ceremony of oburcbing the
Queen was performed in the private chapel at Bucking.
ham Pa ace, by the Hon. the Very Rev. the Dean of
Windsor. His Royal Highness Prince Albert, the
Prince of Wales, the Princess Royal, the Princess Alice,
arid the Marchioness of Ely, were present.
The Countess de Neuilly and the Doke and Duchess
de Nemours visited her Majesty yesterday.

The Bon. Mr. and Mrs. Vernon have arrived at the
St. George's Hotel.

Sir Francis and Lady Arabella Baring soma to town
to-morrow, from their seat in Hampshire, for the season.
Sir Benjamin Hall left London yesterday for Man-
chester, to attend the opening of the Art Treasures Ex-
hibition.

Lord Feversharn arrived in town a few days since
from Duncombe Park, Yorkshire. Her ladyship remains
at Duncornbe Park.

Lady Rolle is expected in town in a few days from
Iticton, near Exeter, for the season.
Lord Lilford has left the St. Goorge's Hotel.
The Itlght Hon. Sidney Herbert, M.P., and Mrs.
Herbert cow to town to-morrow, from Wilton House,
for the season.

The Earl and Countess of Lanesborough returned to
town on Saturday, from Swithiand Hall, Leicestershire,
for the season.

The Earl and Counteee of Darnley return to town to-
morrow for the seaBon.

Viscount and Viscountess Boyne have arrived in Bel-
grave-square, from their seat, Burwarton Hall, Shrop-
shire.

Lord and Lady Poltimore arrived at their house in
Grosvenor-square, yesterday, from Paris.
The Lady Augusta rim es gave birth to a daughter,
yesterday morning, in Portman-square. We are glad
to announce that her ladyship and the infant are pro-
gressing favourably.
Her Royal Highness the Duchess of Kent dined with
the Queen in the evening.

On Thursday it is expected that her Majesty and
Prince Albert, with the Royal Family and ladies, and
gentlemen in waiting, will take their departure for the
Queen's marine, residence at Osborne, Isle of Wight.
A Cabinet Council was held yesterday at the official
residence of, the First Lord of the Treasury, in Down-
ing-.treet. All the Ministers were present.

The Queen will hold a Privy Council to-morrow (Wed.
uesdaY), at Zuokiagbam Palace.