The Sun.
London, England, 1868-03-05 00:00:00

SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALS,

No one can venture, says the Times, confidently to pre-
dict the result of the present state of affairs in America.
There are advanced Reformers in the Union who advocate
the abolition of the office of President since Mr. Johnson
has proved how great are its powers. The disregard of
law and political principle which precedes every Presiden-
tial election might furnish them with an additional argu-
ment for their purpose. The proposed impeachment and
the contempt of the Constitution in the case of Alabama
may be traced to this cause. The spread of repudiation
in the West—a policcy as distinctly shortsighted as it
is dishonest—has been promoted by the coming con-
test. One party adopted it, and their opponents
have done the same, for the sake of keeping
their followers together. At this moment the secu-
rities of Massachusetts are 20 per cent. in value above
those of the Union, because investors believe in the
honesty of Massachusetts, and are not so fully persuaded
cf the Federal honor ; yet contending parties would still
fi;l.ther imperil the credit of the nation to secure their
irur.ecli ate end;. If patriotic Americans, revolving these
things, think the abolition of the Presidency would be
a,ivantageous, they may be excused, although it is mani-
fc:st that as long as party contests survive in their present
f"rm the abolition of that for the Presidency could do no
more than mitigate the evil. The safety of the Union
must be sought elsewhere. We look for it primarily in
the steadfastness of what Mr. Disraeli well called the
" territorial democracy," which has on former occasions
rescued the nation from the profligacy of parties ;
while we may hope ultimately for such a reform of its
institutions as shall make the national Legislature a repre-
sentation of the real national character rather than an
example of its least admirable elements.
In the duel which Mr. Johnson has forced on Congress
he has at last, the Daily News observes, exposed an
unguarded point, and the watchfulness of his
antagonists has enabled them to strike a decisive
blow. The impeachment movement bad previously
failed, not because the majority of the Republican party
were reluctant to use the weapon which the Constitution

put into their hands, but because they wished to have a
clearly legitimate opportunity of using it. Such an oppor-
Vinity Mr. Johnson had been skilful enough to deny them.
But the very failure of the proposal of impeachment seems
to have given Mr. Johnson courage. Either under the idea
that Congress had begun to fear him, or goaded by the
taunt that he had asked General Grant to do what he
was himself afraid to do, he made the false move for
which his opponents had been waiting. In the attempt
to remove Mr. Stanton and to pass over General Grant
in defiance of the Tenure of Office Act, he had committed
a misdemeanour under the Act, and exposed himself to
its penalties. It was just the one thing needed for the
legal justification of a step which had been morally justi-
fied long ago. It gave his wary and skilful opponents
exactly the opportunity they needed. He lead long de-
served removal—now he could be legally and constitu-
tionally removed. Hence, therefore, the sudden change
of tactics by the leaders of the House of Representatives,
and the passing of the impeachment resolution by the
whole vote of the united Republican party. Mr. Johnson,
in his impetuous assault on Congress, exposed a vital part,
and his enemies saw their opportunity and drove their
weapon borne.

The occurrences which have recently taken place in tne
Corps L6gislatif in Paris are not calculated, in the opinion
of the Post, to induce in the minds of the French people a
very extravagant degree of 'respect for their representa-
tives, or an overweening confidence in the existing system
of parliamentary government. " Scenes" may take place
occasionally in even the best regulated deliberative assem-
blies, and the traditional dull decorum which pervades St.
Stephen's Hall is sometimes, though rarely, somewhat
rudely disturbed. Men do not cease to be men when they
rise to the dignity of senators, and human passions will
sometimes burst the barriers raised by usage and etiquette.
Distinctions, however, must be drawn between the indis-
cretions of individuals and premeditated and cold-blooded
outrages on decency by a body of men perfectly conscious
of the offence which they are committing, and trusting for
impunity to their own strength.

The Herald cannot agree with " Historicus" in thinking
that it would be well, at this stage, to withdraw from the
prosecution of "Colonel" Nagle, because questions of some
nicety are likely to be involved, and because the precise
effect of quasi-traitorous acts done within the three-mile
coast line may give rise to moot points the discussion of
which will occasion some trouble. On the contrary, we
regard these as reasons for continuing the proceedings.
Fenianism is, as we know only too well, a plant of foreign
origin. It was brought to us by Americans and Irish
Americans who had tasted blood in the great civil war,
and who have since found themselves with their occupa-
tion gone, unless the perpetual getting up of filibustering
expeditions shall keep them employed. If there is no way
of preventing this—if we must perforce submit to the pre-
sence of such cruisers as the Erin's Hope, without being
able to punish any but our own subjects who may be found
on board, it is as well that we should know it. Possibly
such a decision might stimulate our desire for a convention
to settle anew the bases of allegiance and rationality,
while a contrary result might, in equal degree, induce a
similar feeling on the part of others.
The Telegraph tells the story of a Portsmouth jury who
once sat upon the body of a sailor shot in the act of destr-
tion. Making a little mistake in the directions which the
coroner gave them, they delivered as their verdict that
" lle just died with a hole in his side." A naval court-
martial on hoard her Majesty's ship Aboukir has come to
much the same sort of decision about a seaman of the
Favourite, who was lately put to death with nobody to
blame. It seems that the unlucky man-o'-war's man was
ordered to be gagged ; and in the process of gagging him
the administrators of that penalty wereunfortunate enough
to strangle him outright. On the court-martial, however,
everybody was " honourably acquitted "—no ; we beg par-
don ! the first lieutenant was honourably acquitted, and the
master-at-arms was merely acquitted. It seems such an
intolerable thing that an English sailor should be strangled
with a gag, that we must ask how it could have happened
without the shadow of b'.ame resting on any one. While
we are about it we would also ask " My Lords" how long
gagging has been prescribed by the Admiralty regula-
tions, and for what offences a sailor can be gagged, with a
chance of strangulation? At present the details of
the trifling misfortune on board the Favourite arc not
made public ; but since the court-martial has advised for
the future medical attendance and a special sentry, as
appurtenances of the gag, there must be something inte-
resting in the punishment apart from such a passing
triviality as the life of an Englishman. It would be well
if a member of Parliament would move for information on
the matter.

The Volunteers are to have their great annual field-day
this year at Portsmouth. The Standard is glad of it, for
many reasons, without in the least disparaging the merits
of Brighton an Dover. There have been splendid
marches and manoeuvres of riflemen on the bright Sussex
Downs ; and nothing but what is good can be said of
Dover, with its castle and cliffs, its chalky heights and
windy spaces ; yet Portsmouth, with its fortified harbour
and battlemented hills, its garrison, its grand variety of
surface, and its distinct naval and military aspect,
deserved a turn of favour, and offered advantages which
could not be denied. It was well, therefore, that the
review for 1868 should take place in a neighbourhood so
Tich in heroic memories. The Volunteers are to muster
on the glacis between Portsea and its parent town, and
march past the commanding officer on Southsea Common.
The foe will have safely landed, and taken up a formidable
position ; he intends to creep round, over and behind those
swelling ridges, to the level of Hilsea. At this point he
is to encounter " the cheap defence of nations." They are
to assault him, traversing a brancli of water by means of
pontoons, and sustained by the fire of gunboats. Then is
to be the battle, and for this tug of war a field has been
selected full of those difficulties which will practically
test the readiness and endurance of the Volunteers, who,
of course, are to triumph, and rescue our Royal harbour
from the menaces of the invader.

The Times recently asserted in its leading colnmrs
that "it would be impossible to name a country
which has improved so rapidly in all, material re-
spects" as Ireland. Little as the Star may think of
the wisdom of the present Government, it -cannot for
a moment believe that there is any member of the
Cabinet who -would not regard such preaching as that of
the Times with infinite contempt. This theory of popula-
tions dwindling because they are so well off and rebelling
because they are so admirably governed, has long indeed
been the favourite of blockheads, the pet resource of ad-
ministrators too lazy to govern, and the curse of the very
systems it was invented to support. But we refuse to be-
lieve that it has now any hold upon the English mind ;
and it must at least be the business of the Opposition to
take good care that it is not made the basis of the Govern-
ment's policy.

THE ATTACK ON BARON DE DUDI3ERO. baron
de Mcycndorfr, who made an attack on Enron de BudixTg„
the Russian Ambassador, at Verviers, has been judicially
examined, and afterwards set at liberty, sufficient grounds
not le'n; found for prosecliting 'him.
_ _

TILE BISHOP OF LABITAN. —The living of God-
manchester has been offered by the Dean and Chapter of
Westminster to the Right Rev. Dr. M`Dougall, Bishop of
Labuan and Sarawak, and we believe it has been accepted
by his lordship. Its annual value is £323. The health of
the bishop makes it exceedingly doubtful whether he will
be able to return for permanent active labour to his
diocese. The bishopric of Labuan is supported by grants
of £360 from the Colonial Bishopric Council, and £3OO
from the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in
Foreign Parts.