The Sun. — 1860-12-20 (London, England)

HIEN-FUNG and his Boards. The honour of receiving a deputation from Japan our English sight-seers must envy. We hope next time the TYCOON will think of us. We have aomething,to show if the envoys could be made to under, stand what they see, which was not found easy in the States.  Brazil is very amicable; it is h Slave State, though a comparatively humane one. But the central States of America are not so well behaved. Three of the minor republics, therefore—New Granada, Costa Rica, and Nicaragua—have to square as well as they can, the elaims of American citizens with the American Government. Mexico gives most trouble to Mr. BUCHANAN, as well as to Lord JOHN RUSSELL ; a difficulty is found in catching a Government. What with one supplanting another, and two or three chiming all of them to be Governments, it is not easy to fix responsibility, even for the most barbarous murder of Americans engaged in acts of humanity to the wounded and dying. What, however, Mr. BUCHANAN thinks " most important," is that he has so managed, even in Mexico, as to prevent the Governments of the Old World intervening there. It would seem that, had we thought it necessary to deprive Mexico of a portion of her territory—that is, of course, till she had satisfied our claims—the MUNRO Doctrine would have compelled him to resist us even by force ! We certainly are little likely to attempt what he threatens us he will not let us do; but we as certainly should not ask his leave respecting going to war with Mexico or any independent State in America, any more than if it was a European State.  Having gone quite round the globe, Mr BUCHANAN returns to Washington, via Kansas, but we shall not stay to expose as it deserves his smooth and pleasant description of his partisan, tyrannical, and, in their working, bloody dealings with that long-oppressed territory. Happily the territory has been able to baffle his fraudulent and violent efforts to convert it into a Slave State, though under the penalty of remaining somewhat longer a territory instead of becoming a state immediately, and also of losing a portion of its valuable lands. With the Mormonites he succeeded better, though he owns that he grudged the dollars it cost to bring the Polygamists to submission. Arrived at Washington, finance occupies his first attention—he wants a little more money, but a sum which not only Mr. DISRAELI who applies the epithet to the interest of our National Debt, but what even Mr. GLADSTONE and Mr. BRIGHT would regard as " a flea-bite." The actual expenditure for the year ending June 30, 1860, is not so many dollars (55,402,465) as ours has been pounds. Even if we include the total expenses of the separate states, and deduct our National Debt from our expenditure, Mr. BUCHANAN'S subjects would rejoice in taxation, considerably less than half our own ! Still he needs a little more than he has been raising ; though he will want but 62 million dollars next year; and proposes therefore to revise the Tariff, introducing, as far as possible, specific instead of ad valorem duties; as the latter give rise to very numerous frauds. Mr. BUCHANAN congratulates the country on his success in two respects—he has put down the American-African Slave-trade ; not one slave has been imported into the country this year. Also, he has entirely put an end to filibustering exploits from American ports--(does he forget the last little affair of WALKER which we helped to settle). Perhaps, however, this success of the Archfilibuster of Ostend, must be ascribed to the wellknown policy which finds old smugglers the best instruments for the suppression of smuggling. Or, may we, discarding metre, paraphrase an old motto —Quis tulerit Gracchos, de seditione sublata, gratu lantes?