The Sun. — 1848-09-28 (London, England)

GOLIATH. The most charitable construction which can be put upon his conduct is, that the intellectual disease which rendered his father a King of virtuous inefficiency is hereditary. Let France view these incidents correctly, and she will never disgrace the records of her new Constitution by electing the Citizen Louis NAPOLEON BONAPARTE as the first President of the Republic.  Preparation for war is the preservation of peace. This is a truth which we beg to offer to the consideration of Mr. COBDEN and Mr. STURGE, and the members of the Peace Congress generally. It is a sentiment which, had we been in the place of the Hon. Member for the West Riding when the three propositions for the Congress were submitted to his consideration, we should have begged leave to substitute for the startling announcement conveyed in prosition 11—" To recommend, as a matter of primary importance, general disarmament to the several Governments of Christendom." To recommend the several Governments of Europe to lay aside their arms, and this, too, as a matter of primary importance 1 This recommendation, gravely uttered and seriously advocated though it be, falls upon our ears like some fragment of the " Arabian Nights," or a paragraph of the " Utopia," so extraordinary is it, and so entirely unsuitable to present times and circumstances. Were it not that we are well aware how marvellous delusions haunt the brains and warp the judgments of the enthusiasts in any cause, were it not for this conviction we should be inclined either to doubt the sanity of those who put forth such a recommendation, or else to believe that they themselves are incredulous of the sanity of those whom they address. But, as it is, we believe them to be enthusiasts—enthusiasts in a good cause—and consequently we at once understand the method of their madness, and make due allowance for its vagaries. They are enthusiasts in a good cause, in a most holy cause—the cause of universal peace—a cause in which we beg to assure them they are not one jot more interested than ourselves, only we happen to differ from them in their mode of progression. We, too, are no less anxious than Mr. COBDEN for the advent of the day— " When angry lances into scythes shall bend, And the broad falchion in a ploughshare end;"  or, according to the yet happier definition of a more modern poet, for the day—  " When man to man the world o'er  Shall brothers be and a' that." We are solicitous for the advent of such a day, and what is more, we believe that such a day will arrive —it will arrive when civilization shall have consummated her yet but half-accomplished task. We will even go a step further, hand-in-hand with Mr. COBDEN, and admit that the Peace Society is animated with laudable motives, and may, perhaps, be productive of beneficial results ; but here we must part company. We cannot concur with the champion of free trade, in approving the prepositions to be submitted to the Peace Congress at their meeting at Brussels. The third of these propositions, which we have already quoted, excites our unmingled astonish. ment, an astonishment which is considerably increased by the " fact" that a man of Mr. COBDEN'S practical sense should listen to it calmly and approvingly. True, Mr. COBDEN brings to the support of his cause the fundamental truths of Christianity. He may say with justice, that he is "contending for a principle based upon truth, and sanctioned by the law of Gob," but that fact in no wise enforces the "recommendation." Peace is enjoined in the Gospel, it is true, and in the same way murder and stealing are positively forbidden ; but, because an anathema is placed upon those crimes, would Mr. STUBGE or Mr. COBDEN be inclined to leave their doors without a fastening or their money without a lock ? Not so ; they admit the enormity of the crime, but they are also aware of the depravity of human hearts, and therefore they deem it right and necessary to take all possible precautions. In the same way, say we, let us extol the blessings and enforce the duty of peace, but at the same time let us take measures to preserve it and ourselves. To be prepared for war is the true way to maintain peace, that is in present times and circumstances. Not so ! exclaims the Peace Congress, and not so I re-echoes Mr.