The Sun.
London, England, 1868-02-01 00:00:00

OP THE PUBLIC JOURNALS

rot several years past the Times has heard complaints
and remonstrances from India of a nature to affect very
disastrously the reputation of cotton goods manufacturers
in this country. For their own credit's sake, no lees than
for their own future interests,which are greatly jeopardised
by the system they seem to hive adopted, it might have
been suppoaed they would have striven to avoid giving
occasion for a repetition of these charges. The agents of
the manufacturers themselves repeatedly wrote, from
Calcutta, Madras, or Bombay, to warn their princi-
pals that their reputation for fair dealing was being
destroyed, that the native buyers no longer bought
an English bale in the full assurance that it was what
it pretended to be, that in the Bazaar the English
guarantee had ceased to be respected, and that business
was crippled and injured through the avarice and folly of
manufacturers at home. They nevertheless persisted in
adulterating cotton goods in every stage of their manu-
facture at which adulteration was possible. Frequently
bale after bale was found to be mildewed long even before
they left the " godowns" of the firms to whom they were
directly assigned. No wonder that the goods would net
keep until they were transported to up-country stations
for distribution among local buyers. English houses com-
plained to English manufacturers, the junior partners to
the senior partners, the clerk to Lis employer, so that there
could be no doubt as to the facts ; but the temptation to
make an exorbitant profit prevailed against these argil-
's:lents and appeals. Some manufacturers may have aban-
doned a course which must eventually result in driving
away their customers, but the practice of adulteration
still goes on. The old complaints come home- by every
mail, and are duly answered ; and other bales are sent out
to rot almost before they are passed over the sides of the
ship. The native merchant in India is too great an expert
in sharp dealing not to readily detect all the forms
of imposition which the home manufacturer chooses to
adopt. When he buys a hale of cotton goods of a long-
established and respectable house, and pays the price de-
manded, he does not expect to find the contents disco.
loured and rotten ; and this is the appearance that cotton
goods sometimes present within a few hours of their being
stored in the merchants' " godowns." That the native
growers adulterate cotton before it is despatched to the
home markets we all know, but the fraud was checked
when they found they received so little for the false good°
that they actually lost by tampering with them. The
English manufacturers do not appear to have learnt
wisdom from the same lesson. In the end they must lose
by wholesale adulteration, and they know it. A ruined
reputation is not easily built up again. It may be that
other competitors will enter the market, and gain that
credit which once the English merchant possessed.
The circumstance of the Prussian Minister at the Court
of St. James's being duly accredited as representative of
the North German Confederation is regarded by the Post
as the official declaration of the political demise of the
several States, with the exception of Prussia, which
constitute that Bund. It will be in the recollection of
all that her Majesty's Government, with something
approaching to haste, withdrew their representative from
Dresden immediately after the formation of the new Con-
federation ; hut, though they might have been open to an
imputation of bad taste, the justice of their policy cannot
reasonably be questioned. It was distinctly declared by
the Prussian Government that, under the new regime, the
external relations of the several States constituting the
Northern Bund should be regulated exclusively by the
Cabinet of Berlin, and her Majesty's advisers simply re-
corded their adhesion to an accomplished fact. Their
example was practically followed by the other European
States, and now Prussia has formally declared that her
envoy is alone authorised to arrange all matters of diplo-
matic intercourse between foreign Powers and the various
States which are north of the Maine.
A superstitious fear of Mr. Disraeli, an unreasoning
belief in his magical power of uniting his own ranks ancl
dividing those of his opponents, is, in the opinion of the
Daily News, a source; of Conservative strength and of
Liberal weakness. A little reflection, however, will dispel
this alarm. The trick of last session is one which, in the
nature of things, cannot be often repeated. Mr. Disraeli.
waited his opportunity for years ; and when it did come,
he used it with astonishing skill and boldness. But such
occasions occur only once in a generation. The settle-
ment, in principle, of the Reform question has removed
the grounds of dissension between the various sections of
the Liberal party, and once more allows the line to be
drawn sharp and clear between the party of movement
and the party of resistance. On particular points there
will be, as there ought to be, divergent opinion and inde-
pendent voting ; but bold, judicious, and conciliatory
leadership is all that is needed to embody substantially
accordant sentiment in united action. What is the pros-
pect of such leadership ? This is a question which
Liberals are everywhere asking and variously answering ;
and it would be false delicacy to ignore it. ilhe party
treason of imagining or contriving the deposition of the
present leader, or even of speculating on a premature
succession, cannot, we believe, be fairly imputed t 3 even
the most disaffected of his followers. But there is irslis-
putably a certain amount of discontent, and a still larger
amount of misgiving, though a loyal and hopeful spirit
prevails over both.
The most remarkable similarity seems to the Standara
to exist between the occurrence at Duncannon and that at
Cork, and suggests the idea that the actors on both occa.-
slow; were the same. The result was very different, for in
the Cork case the authorities were taken by surprise ; in
the affair of Monday night they were thoroughly prepared
and seem to have been able to give their assailants such a
reception as will probably lead to the identification of some
of the party. If it should prove that the fire of the
military took effect, it is hardly possible to suppose that in
a country swarming with informers the police will be un-
able to track out some of the assailants. When, f :or the
contemptible failure of the rising at Tallaght in March
last, the police were rather anxious to avoid than to hunt
down the wretched boys who participatel in the assembly,
.they yet had several instances of wounded fugitives in the
purlieus of Dublin forced upon their notice by the officious
zeal of informers. In the present conjuncture of course it
will be the most anxiously desired object to trace out and
identify the perpetrators of the outrage. The report
speaks of the party of assailants as well armed ; and this
was also the report of the performers in the several ex-
ploits at Cork. It would be a rash inference to attribute
these exploits at Cork, at Newport, or at Duncannon, to
the energies of the local circles of the brotherhoood. Our
• contemporary has no doubt it will turn out, when the
police can get a clue to the perpetrators, that these acts
have been all committed by the same, or nearly the same,
parties—a few Irish-Americans of a peculiarly bold and
adventurous disposition. But however that may be,
as regards the diagnosis of Fenianism, either them
occurences mean action on the bart of the Brotherhood—
and may look upon them as promising us a more speedy
eradication of the conspiracy than we bad hoped for— or
they are only austher cycle of Fenian bids for popularity
with Irish disaffection, and they are symptoms which the
public have made up their mind long since to regard with
equanimity.
The Saturday Ike kill has an article on the feeling be-
tween England and the United States. It draws attention
to the fact that while the controversy has kindled in
America feelings of animosity, the feeling in England has
hardly been unfriendly. There is a certain class of poli-
ticians in America who would welcome any rupture be-
tween the two countries. And yet a war with England
• would involve an enormous addition to the army, to the
navy, and to the National Debt of the United States.
When the maintenance of the Union was at stake, the'
American Government surprised the world by the un-
- limited resources in men and money which were available
for the struggle. Recruits were always forthcoming,
although in the latter part of the war each soldier cost,
in addition to his pay and rations, about fifteen hundred
dollars iu the shape of bounties ; and loans and taxes were
voted by Congress as fast as they were demanded by the
President. If the same issue were once more raised,
former sacrifices would be repeated or exceeded ; but the
evils of war and of debt have been better understood since
the peace, and it is scarcely probable that new burdens
would be readily assumed for the purpose of wreaking an
irrational vengeance, or even of accomplishing an unjust
conquest. The weight of taxation is severely felt, and all
attempts to discharge the principal of the debt will for the
present probably be abandoned. The revenue which
Congress will consent to levy will only be sufficient to
provide for the expenses of administration, and fir the
interest of the debt- A war with England would deprive
the Government of the greater part of its customs
receipts, while it would render a large addition
to the revenue indispensable. The credit of
the United States will always be negotiable on
more or less onerous terms ; but at present American secu-
rities pay about 8 per cent. to a purchaser, and the growing
popularity of repudiation will not increase the confidence
of the money market. If the honour or interest of the
aesettry were engaged in a quarrel, the people of the
171,i„ ,1 States would not wait to count the cost; but
I i Haan:4 will consider the consequences before
w.,ntonly ceuuneuring a mere war of spite. Canada
N add net be surrendered without a struggle which would
tax even the und-nbted energies of the invader ; and if
llriti North America were ultimately wrested from the
Crown, England would have in turn become invulnerable
to American attacks. It would be imprudent to taunt a
great and high-spirited nation with the limits which are
imposed by circumstances on its means of offence, but it,
is not unnecessary to reassure a peaceful community'
against the vague fear which has been inspired in some
quarters by American menacee. The unfortunate ani•
I•"°itY which prevails may perhaps be incurable.; yet it
"WI 1;44 just to Eiiiiio4o that there are some i4inde 19
ArfArici w_l4c.ll_9ll 01:14 kiViY Act