The Sun. — 1867-03-13 (London, England)

EMPEROR. History will do him justice, and among the measures which we hope will be inaugurated and carried out in his reign will be an extension over the greater part of Europe of the coinage of France.— Anglo-American Ttmes.  themselves in any given number for places beside their brethren in the dock of the Old Bailey. The fact is that England, in the face of her professions, dare not act with such inconsistency as a rigorous course would indicate, and she is reaping the reward of her sentimentality. It is earnestly to be hoped that hereafter England will maintain the attitude she has all along assumed of moderation and conciliation. The day of a little wholesome severity has gone bye, and the green fields of Ireland must be stained with blood. But England, who has led on these ignorant peasants, by comfortably providing for captured Fenian conspirators, who have regarded their mission as one of pleasant excitement, almost wholly free from danger, ought not now to turn savagely on the people their own conduct has permitted to be duped. Of course, we will read of brutal murders and outrages. These are the direct consequences of such proceedings, and, if the conspiracy is permitted to be hatched, it is surely folly to stand aghast with horror, on beholding the chicken. England can now show that its philanthropy is not the skin-deep thing we more than half believe it to be. People are inclined to deal with increased severity with those who have persisted in aggressive conduct in spite of generous forbearance, and it is not improbable that thus England will argue, and the feelings of the people be impelled in consequence into a fiercer and more summary course. If so, the ignorant peasantry will become the victims alike of the assumed philanthropy and genuine ferocity of of the English character. We advocated an early severity in dealing with the concoctors of this terrible crime for the reasons we have already given ; but valuing highly English honour, English humanity and consistency, we will hereafter strenuously advocate a-temperate and merciful course. We know it is almost vain to expect anything at first but an outburst of national fury, to be followed as usual by a strong reaction, which will make the instruments of this fury its victims—if men are so misguided as to act on the savage instinct of the nation which is roused by blood, and lasts only so long as it flows. Of course a large portion of Ireland being in insurrection force has to be met by force, and the appeal' to steel and lead settled by steel and lead. A vast number will fall in battle if the insurrection really has any heart ; and fall they must, for all must concede that Irish rivers would flow with blood before the foot of the last English soldier retreated from Irish soil—a case possible only in the face of a European combination against Great Britain. But it is now, however, in battle that the question of humanity, versus ferocity, has to be considered. There men meet on terms on which they have deliberately pitted themselves against each other, and fall with arms in their hands and the excitement of battle in their hearts. The horrible part is —first, in the murders and outrages of the insurgents ; next, in the retaliation ; and, finally, in satisfying the vengeance of the violated majesty of the law. If Irish weather has been anything like that just experienced in England, the young men from the drapery stores will get a taste they little anticipate] of what the real work is they have undertaken. To sleep in a " shanty," or perhaps in a snow-covered bog, will not be an agreeable pastime, and will be found a cooler of patriotic ardour. There is no great difficulty in attacking a few police-stations, cutting telegraph wires, and tearing up the rails of the iron-road. But it requires real and heartfelt grievances, and to make men endure the terrible exposure and great hardships through which they must pass when fairly engaged in a revolt which promises any chance of success against an established Government. A horrible shadow lies heavy on the minds of men when fairly committed—the conviction that these hardships will end on the gallows. It is one thing to discuss treason and apportion estates in a grog-shop. It is another to bear up with a firm and undaunted front against the crushing forces put in motion by a powerful Government.—Anglo-American Times.