The Sun.
London, England, 1864-12-14 00:00:00

THE SUN, LONDON, WEDNESDAY EVENING, DECEMBER 14, 1864.

paper had called " the river-bed-ty pc," and came closer than
any others to the Avail of the Australian native. One skull
which the professor po'nted to was a woman's, and was as
degraded and villanous in its form as any he had seen.
The tibia and the forearm, too, of this woman were out of
.the ordinary proportion, which was a fukher sign of de-
gradation. The professor, in conclusion, said the remains
afforded no ground for the theory that a "round headed"
race had precede the "long-headed' race in the occupation
of these islands. A long and animated discussion followed,
in which a very general opinion was exprassed that the re-
mains were not of so remote an 'antiquity as Mr Laing
believed. Dr Thurnham ixpressed his concurrence in Pro-
fessor Huxley's conclusions, but denied that the mode of
burial described by Mr Laing was a proof of the extreme
antiquity of this race. Burial in the crouching position
was by fat' the oldest, and the extended position was of
comparatively tecerdintroductien. On the whole, he should
not date the remains later than some 'centuries after the
Christian era. Professor Busk stated that sheep bones had
been round in some excavations in this same neighbour-
hood, which was a proof that they worn not of very great
age. Mr Evans was also of opinion that there was no rea-
son for assigning any extrema antiquity to the remains, and
with one or two exceptions he believed that none of the
stone implements had been fashioned for any particular
purpose. Mr Christie said the implements were certainly
of e© rude a description as any he had ever lean; and on
the whole he thought the remains presented the aspect of a
people which had been forced by adverts circumstances to
accept a civilisation much lower than that which was its
normal character. Mr Crauturst.sojd he had little faith in
the liower,,,ol craniology to dotesmin.() who these people
were. lie believed that they were the primordial Scotch-
men, the aboriginal inhabitants of the island, the direct
ancestors of the Bruces, the Wallacas, and the Burns. He
saw no foundation whatever for believing that these were
the remains of two races. As for the suspicion of canni-
balism, he did not believe in it.. Gibbon', on the authority
of an obscure lying Roman historian, had endeavoured
to fix the imputation of cannibalism on the ancient
Scots, but no people ever resorted to cannibalism
which had plenty of animal food, which this
people had. The' introduction of the hog had done
almost as much to root out cannibalism in New Zealand as
Christianity. Mr Wright reminded Mr Craufurd that St.
Jerome was an authority for the existence of cannibalism
among the ancient Scotch tribes. He had seen prisoners of
them in Gaul, who he said were much fonder of the owners
of the cattle than the cattle themselves, and Professor Hux-
'ey, in reference to this point, said his inquiries had led him
to the belief that cannibalism was one of the most extensive
practices of humanity, and that the first thing which natu-
rally occurred to a man was not to love his neighbour, but
to eat him. The Feejees, who were great cannibals, had
plenty of animal food, and in Sumatra they did not wait to
cook a man, but cut him up and ate him cold with lemon,
like an oyster. A cordial vote of thanks to Mr Laing and
Professor Huxley closed the evening.

Baron,

in our last issue contain one or two slight inaccuracies, but
are in the main correct.

" The principal papers, consisting of orders from Secre
tary Mallory, correspondence, &c., were not found on the
persons of the prisoners, as stated, but were discovered in a
small satchel lying on a sofa in the saloon covered with a
shawl, and were placed there by one of the parties, in hopes
that he would have an of portunity of destroying them be-
fore they were discovered. The commissions were not
found, but they are in existence, and it is known where
they are deposited. In the baggage were found small arms
of all kinds, amongst them were some French revolvers,
eleven-shooters, handcuffs, &j. The cash-book of the purser
showed the expenses of the company from' the start. The
leaders finding that the papers discovered revealed every-
thing connected with the plot, made a clear confession of
the whole affair a short time before coming into port.
" The pi isoners have not been placed in irons or close
confinement on board the Lancaster. They are closely
guarded on the gun deck, and receive the rations of prisoners
of war.

" Captain Hogg states that he is a Marylander, arid hails
from Baltimore. We understand he is an old hand at the
sort of business in which he has just been detected. About
four months ago he attempted to run the blockade at Wil-
mington in the Tristram Shandy; he was then taken prisonet,
but managed beforehand to throw his papers overboard.

" On the 12th instant Rear-Admiral George F. Pearson,
commander of the U.S. Pacific squadron ; Capt. Davenport
and Paymaster Rittenhouse, of the U.S. frigate Lancaster;
William Nelson, Esq., commercial agent of the P.R.R
C)rnpany ; Col. Alexander 111‘Kee, U.S. consul at Panama;
and W. Rice, Esq., cerrispin wal , etrittrerprer
sident of this State to ask permission to pass the seven pri- I
soners now on board the Lancaster in this bt.y across the
Isthmus, in order to send them to New York by the next
steamer from Aspinwall. The permission asked for has
been refused by the President, on the ground that he is not
empowered to grant it, but we presume the representatives
of the United States Government will take the responsibility
of sending their prisoners across the Isthmus notwith-
standing."

The Invasion of Uruguay,

PARIS, Dec. 13.

The following are translations of the notes ad-
dressed by the English, French, Spanish, and Por-
tuguese Legations to Baron Tamandare, comMand-
ing the Brt zilian fleet, in reply to a notice from
that officer that he should seize contraband of war
on board foreign merchantmen :

(Confidential.)

'Monte Video, Oct. 18.

M. le Baron,—l have the honour to acknowledge the re-
ceipt this day of ycur Excellency's communication dated
the 11th inst. marked confidential, in which your Excellency
states the conduct the Imperial Government proposes to
follow relative to the lamentable conflict which has now re-
vived in this country. In the same note your Excellency
requests me to notify to the captains of British merchant-
men navigating those waters not to take on board troops or
munitions of war for transport from one point to another,
thus preserving the perfect neutrality which it appertains
to them to observe under present circumstances.
It is unnecessary for me to enter into the detail of the
matt.rs occupying the first portion of ycur Excellency's
communication.

In the latter part of this document your Excellency speaks
of the painful duty which would be imposed upon you of
exercising constant vigilance ouer English ships, with the
object of stopping, searching, and confiscating what your
Excellency terms contraband of war which might be found
on board those ehips.
In reply to this manifestation I have the honour to inform
your Excellency that, from one point of view in which I
look at this matter, discussion cannot upon this opportunity
be openly based upon the maintenance of neutrality.
There are no belligerent parties engaged in the present
struggle, as the military chief who has thought proper to
raise the standard of revolt against the Government of his
country cannot be considered by me as a belligerent.
He is simply a rebel.
Where no belligerents exist there can be no neutrals.

Further, in the absence, not only of a declaration of war
between Brazil and the Eastern Republic, bat also of a no-
tification of the blockade of those ports made with the cus-
tomary formalities, I cannot admit that the expression em-
ployed by your Excellency,of "contraband of war" can be
justly applied to any kind of merchandise carried by Eng-
lish ships in the comae of legitimate trade. Consequently,
therefore, I cannot also recognise the validity of the right
now asserted by the Brazilian Government, under the vague
pretext of exercising reprisals, to detain, search, perhaps
oven to take possession of English merchantmen navigating
the waters of this Republic upon the faith of solemn treaties
—waters in which Brazil does not exercise any authority.
In conclusion, I have. the honour to call your attention
with reference to your Excellency's intimation relative to
naval and military operations contemplated by Brazil
against seats of commerce north of the Rio Negro, that if
these operations become the cause of injury to English sub-
jeots,there resident, it will be for her Majesty's Government
to judge in how far the Government of Brazil shall be re-
sponsible for such injury.—l have the honour, &c., M. le

(Signed) W. G. LETTSOII.
Hie Excellency Vice-Admiral Baron de
Tamandare, &c.

Legation of France, Monte Video, Oct. 19, 1864,

M. le Baron,--I hasten to reply to the circular note your
Excellency has done me the honour to address to me under
date the 11th inst., and which only reached my hands yes-