The Sun. — 1863-01-28 (London, England)

THE SUN, LONDON, WEDNESDAY EVENING. JANUARY 28, 1863.  these circumstances, then, I say that the North are fighting against slavery. It has been said, like many other calumnies, that the North would submit to the South again to-morrow, and that if the South would only come back they would consent to restore the Union as it was. No party and no man in the North has ever uttered such a sentiment as that he would restore theUnien with the powers the slaveholders demanded. The President would restore the Union with  limited slave power, well knowing that under such circumstances the scorpion slavery would shortly sting itself to death. What they are really now fighting for is, that slavery shall be for ever abolished in the United States. The American Government, free from the stain of slavery, have for the first time strung up at the yard-arm as a pirate the captain of a slave ship, and last and greatest of all, has come the proclamation of President Lincoln (which makes us feel thankful to God that we live in 163), that new declaration of independence and the rights of men, greater, in some respects, than that which inaugurated the republic in 1777. Look at it side by side with the proclamation which it called forth from the Southern chivalry and Jefferson Davis. It would seem as if the spear of Ithuriel had touched at the same moment the two Presidents ; and they came out in their true colours—President Lincoln with a proclamation for the emancipation of 3,000,000 slaves, and Jefferson Davis by hoisting the black flag, directing that all slaves shall be relegated to their mastrs, and that the officers of the United States' army shall be murdered. How can we account for the phenomenon that in freedom-loving England public opinion in certain classes should have gone so widely astray upon this question? It must be confessed, I think, that it is largely in consequence of the want of knowledge natural in regard to everything which takes place 3,000 miles off, and also to the fact that within the last 20 years we have been placed to some extent in antagonism with America; but who was it that has been constantly urging on. the people to go to war with England, to punish her in the first place, and to divert attention from slavery at home? Southern chivalry. Who proposed to seize Texas and bribe the North by a seizure of Canada as a makeweight ? Southern chivalry. Who seized negroes out of our vessels at Charleston, and put them in prison? The Southern chivalry. Who laid the basis of that antagonism which has grown up between these nations ? Not the people of the North, but Southern filibusters. Our press never pretends to be fair in the discussion of these questions, but according as they go in for the North or South do they villify those they are determined to write down. Only the other day the Times declared that there was not one word in the Bible which could be wrested into an objection against negro slavery. There is, indeed, a change in England from the time when the Ironsides of England went forth to fight for liberty with the sword in one hand, the Bible in the other. I am happy to find that sounder opinions are gradually making their way, and I am satisfied that better feelings will be aroused when the question becomes to be better understood. lam not about to prophesy, but I firmly believe that success will inevitably attend the North, if it has the courage to stand by its principles. At the same time there must be no more Alabamas, if we wish to maintain our self-respect or to cultivate the good feelings of the American people. If the Alabama had been paid for by Mexican money in order to prey upon French principals, is there one among us who can believe that its character would not have been detected by the British Government, and that it would not have been stopped in its career before many weeks had elapsed? The hon. gentleman resumed his seat amid loud cheers, and a vote of confidence was unanimously accorded him, tegether with thanks for his past services in Parliament.