The Sun.
London, England, 1864-07-29 00:00:00

part of his duty since the war had broAen out was con-
nected with the complaints of British subjects, and no
pains had been spared by himself or the consuls in inves-
tigating thee, and every effort was tr ade to obtain redress
in those cases that were well founded, but in few cases only
had their efforts produced any satiEfac;;ory results. (Hear,
hear.) Major General Dix, the mili Lary commandant at
New York, had informed the America.o Secretary to the
Navy that almost every imaginable form of fraud, outrage,
and dissipation had been developed by the American re-
cruiting agents to obtain the recruiting bounty. Boys
had been deluded from their homes ; men had been
drugged; and, in short, every artifice and fraud had
been resorted to, and men labouring under incurable
diseases had been pressed into the service, in order to
plunder the American Government of the bounty money.
The unfortunate men from this country were tleceived
and kidnapped in the most scandalcus and inhuman man-
ner in New York. Whilst they were unconscious from
drink they were clothed in the uniform of the Ft.deral
army, and on coming to their senses they sudden) y found
themselves absorbed in an army, and called upon to take
part in a war the objects of which they were not only igno-
rant of, but indifferent to its results. The noble lord then
farther quoted from Lord Lyons's despatches which de-
picted the horrors of the system in America, and which was
corroborated by Major-General Dix ; and in one of Lord
Lyons's despatches he stated that British subjects who
claimed exemption had, contrary to the general rule, been
sent to the army, and many of them had been shot and
others wounded pending the inquiry into the justice of
their claims. In a war of defence it was the duty of
every man to take up arms in support of his country; but
a war of aggression he looked upon as wicked, and those
who foisted themselves into it and took part in it dir. no
other than commit murder. It was true there were Nome
men—filibusters or buccaneers—who drew down on them-
selves a certain amount of approbation from a large
portion of mankind ; but ho doubted if any right-rainded
man applauded the conduct of those who joined in it, and
thereby prolonged that which every one would wis'a to see
stopped. (Hear, hear.) He had no wish to ssy r,nything
about the United States Government or army. -de cared
not what government a country had so long as it protected
industry, was just, and gave the necessary amount of pro-
tection and happiness to its people; and with regard to the
American army, and also the Southern army, they had
shown themselves to be composed of men whose
fighting had not been equalled; but he could not help
thinking that it would be more just towards theist) bravo
men that their numbers should not be added to by men who
had nothing to do with the struggle that was now raging
in America. (Hear, hear.) It was time that this struggle
should cease, and be thought we ought to do everything
in our power to prevent those evils being increased by the
emigration of our people to America. (Hear.) There were
now on both sides widows, sisters, and brothers wishing and
crying out, though not so audibly as they could desire, for
peace—(hear)—and it was our duty to prevent, as far as we
could, any fuel being added to the devouring flame. (Hear.)
What was the opinion of the man who was best com-
petent to pronounce an opinion upon this subject? Earl
Russell, in his despatch to Lord Lyons, dated May 27, 1864,
referred to the case of Irishmen enlisted at Portland and
Boston for the American army, and said it appeared to her
Majesty's Government to be clear, from the reports received
from her Majesty's consuls at those ports, that those en-
listments were effected by the most fraudulent schemes,
and contrived and executed in disregard of the neutral
rights of Great Britain. It appeared that when they
landed at Portland the unfortunate emigrants were plied
with drink. They were then dealt with in a manner
which made it natural that they should yield to the temp-
tations and persuasions of the recruiting officers, who
obtained access to them by the aid of the police autho-
rities. Those facts having come to his (Lord E. Howard's)
knowledge, he felt it to be only his duty to bring the ques-
tion before the house with the view of warning those who
might still be seduced into those ruinous engagements.
He thought that the Secretary for the Colonies might be
better able to warn the public generally through the many
emigration agents against this abominable system.' The
right hon. gentleman, he believed, had applied to the
agents at Liverpool on the subject, but they said that
they could not aid him in his object. He held in his
hand a card distributed by those agents, headed " Notice
to Emigrants," which, as far as it went, was very good and
unobjectionable. But at the bottom of it he observed a
very significant notice—" Remember that in America
a dollar is equal to 4s. 2d. English money, and that
a cent is equal to one farthing." (Laughter.) Now, ho
thought there ought to be some special warning to the
public in respect to that particular point, inasmuch as we
all knew that an American dollar was worth nothing like 4s
in English money at the present time. It was a mere ques-
tion of humanity to do all they could to prevent some of
those poor wretches from enlisting in the United States
army, and by doing so to assist in preventing that unneces-
sary effusion of blood which was a disgrace to humanity.
He did not wish to utter any threats, At the same time the
United States Government ought to know that our resources
were ample, and that we were in a position to become, it ne-
cessary, the arbiters of the world. If it were possible he
should like the Government to give some expression of
opinion upon the subject; but, at all events, he felt certain
the Foreign-office would do all that was possible to
protect those who had been kidnapped from their native
land to take part in a war which was a disgrace to both of
the contending parties.

LONDON GAZETTE--This Evening,

WHITEHALL, JULY 27.

The Queen has been pleased to direct letters patent to be
passed under the Great Seal, appointing the Rev. William
Conway, M.A., to the place and dignity of a Canon of the
Collegiate Church of St. Peter, Westminster, with the
Rectory of the parish church of St. Margaret's, Westmin-
ster, thereunto annexed and united, void by the death of
Dr, William Cureton.