8 APRIL 1871, Page 2

The Echo of Thursday contains a special message from New

York announcing that Mr. Sumner has " declared in favour of a protectorate of Ireland." No other journal confirms the intel- ligence, and we suppose it to mean only that Mr. Sumner in some speech outside the Senate has given expression to some abstract wish. It may mean, however, thst Mr. Sumner's friends, who are thinking of electing him President, have determined to make a final push for the Irish vote, now democratic. If this explana- tion is correct, the step surpasses anything in the way of political immorality yet perpetrated in America. It is neither more nor less than a promise to conquer Great Britain, in order to secure some votes for Mr. Sumner.