The Sun.
London, England, 1864-05-18 00:00:00

The Peace Society.

The 48th anniversary meeting of the Peace
Society was held last evening in Finsbury Chepel,
Moorfields—Mr Joseph Pease, M.P., in the chair.
Amongst those present were Mr R. Chartoni Mr
S. Rowley, Mr E. Burritt, Rev. J. Long, Mr H.
Russell, Rev. A. Good, Rev. E. P. Wood, Illr J.
Jones, Mr T. Tagore and Mr M. Ghose (India), Mr
W. Holmes Calton, Rev. Dr Bowry, Dr Corner,
Rev. Dr Campbell, Mr F. Thorp, Mr J. Cooper, Mr
W. H. Bonner, Mr J. Priestman, Mr R. Alsop, Mr
J. Clark, Mr J. Stewart (Croydon), Mr C. Fry, and
many others.

The Rev. Mr RICHARDS, the secretary, read the
report of the society, which stated that the princi-
ples of the association were gradually forcing their
way into society, and whether those principles were
t
good or bad the committee were determined to stick
to them, The ordinary operations of the society
lht
committee
mhmi
had been carried on much the same as usual,
although oee hadsomewhat t restrictedhreelu
eu
r e forrs
in wantthe field,
of funds. funadnsci
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several auxiliaries of the society had been formed in
the country. The committee deeply
tt
deplore the
unhappy war in America, and they believe that
while the combatants were filled with passion any
attempt at remonstrance would only lead to an ex-
tension of the evil. The committee were also of
opinion that if the news which had lately reached
this country that the Southerners were beginning
to murder the black soldiers of the North and their
white officers were true, the war would lead to an
indiscriminate butchery on both sides. The report
then adverted to the late events in /Van; and
strongly condemned the conduct of our officials in
destroying Prince Satsuma's town. The committee
felt that the cordial thanks of the society were due
to her Majesty's Government for withstanding all
inducements to interfere in the 'American, Polish,
and the Germanic-Danish wars. The cash state-
ment showed that the balance at the bankers' on the
16th of May last was £441 lle. ld. The income
for the past year amounted to £1,492 53.' and the
expenditure to £1,879 12s. 3d. The balance in
hand amounted to £54 3s. 10d.
The CHAIRMAN then addressed the meeting, and
in the course of a long address said that war and
slaughter stood in the way of the circulation of the
Bible. He commended the society to them beeause
he loved it and believed in its principles. No one
out of the metropolis could tell the amount of injury
done in the country by the spread of the martial
spirit; numbers of our young men were taken from
the Sunday schools, the churches, and from agri-
cultural and other callings- In conclusion he con-
gratulated them upon the amount of success which
had been achieved by the society's operations.
Addresses having been delivered in which the
principles of the society were advanced by Mr.
Samuel Bewley, Rev. E. Paxton Hood, Rev. Jae.
Long, Mr. Elihu Burritt, and others, the following
resolution was carried:—
" That this meeting gratefully acknowledges the
wisdom and firmness with which her Majesty's
Ministers have abstained from interfering by force
of arms in the American, polish, or Dano- German
wars, which could only in each ease have extended
the area and aggravated the horrors of the conflict.
It earnestly hopes that the Government will not
adhere to this policy of forbearance as respects
Europe and America, but that it will extend the
same to our Eastern relations, so that England may
not again have to blush before the world for such
acts es those recently perpetrated in her name in
China and Japan, acts all the more indefensible, as
our recent experience in India has proved that in
the East as in the Wrest the most conciliatory and
humane policy is also the most successful."
A vote of thanks to the chairman closed the
meeting,

THE MABIIIAGE OE TUE COUNT DE PARIS.—
Cadiz papers say the object of the visit of the Duke and
Duchess de Montpensier to England is to be present at the
marriage of their daughter, Dona Maria Isabel d'Orleans,
to the Count de Paris, which is to be celebrated on the 30th
inst. The Spanish Minister in London has also been
directed by royal order to be present as a witness of the
marriage.

LATEST INTELLIGENCE.

LREUTER'S TELEGRAMS.]

T`tJEIN, MAy 18.

The Opinione of to-day denies the rumours that
the negotiations for the sale of the Government
railways have been broken off.
On the contrary, the negotiations are almost ter•
minated, and a contravention will shortly be laid
before the Italian Parliament, together with other
railway bills.

CADIZ, MAY 17,

Advices received here state that the steamer
Puerto Rico had left Cuba with 1,000 men for St.
Domingo.
The Infanta Isabel had arrived.
An insurrection had broken cut at Hayti, but
has been suppressed by Presidlnt Odfrard.

DENMARK,

(From the Times Special Correspondent lately at the Danish

Head-quarters.)

COPENHAGEN, May 15, p.m.

There is good reason to believe that the Prussians
are not willing to abide by their own part of the
terms of the armistice. It was stipulated that the
intercourse between the Danish Islands and the in-
vaded districts of Jutland should be free, but we
find that travellers are not allowed to cross from
Funen to Jutland, between Middlefart and
Gnoghoi, nor across the Lum Fiord, between Aal-
borg and Norreeundby. It was with the greatest
difficulty, and after 24 hours' delay, that the post
was allowed to proceed beyond Aerhuus.
The Prussians seem also to carry on their depre-
dations i❑ Jutland as freely after the armistice as
they did before it. A merchant in Aarhus writes
that on the 13th an intimation was conveyed to hine
that his shop would be plundered. That shop, like
other clothes' stores in that town, was closed by the
Prussians, who set their seals on the locks, and put
sentries to the doors. The military authorities of the
invading army keep the property of the citizens
under lock and key, and help themselves to it when-
ever it suits their purpose. It is thus that other
shops at Aarhuua were robbed, some to the extent
of 3,000 thalers—some even for larger sums. On
the 12th and on the following day horses and
cattle were forcibly taken from the peasants, and
goods from the shopkeepers. Oa the same day,
the 13th, a contribution of 200,000 thalers was, we
are assured, laid upon the town ; 400 woollen
blankets were plundered from the shops; besides a
large number of horses and cattle from the country.
At Randers all the corn stores have equally been
put under sequestration, and their contents are at
the mercy ofithe invaders. Goods which had been
seized ban) the 12th have been carried away as
lawful prey on the following day—that is, three
days after the armistice was announced, and 24
hours after it had come into operation.
The Berlingske Tidende, a semi-official organ,
defends the Danish Government from the charge
which has been brought against it, of breaking its
contract with the Dnke of Augustenburg. At the
time that the Duke placed himself in open treason
and rebelion against his Sovefeign, in 1848.50, the
King's Government agreed to pay to the Duke
1,500,000 specie-thalers upon certain conditions,
among which there was the exclusion of the Duke
and his family from all the Danish dominions, and
a solemn promise on their part never to disturb the
tranquillity of the State. That sum was intended
as an indemnity for the confiscated property of
the Duke, which lay in the Isle of Ala and other
parts of Schleswig. That property was, however,
only valued at 1,300,000 species ; it was, besides,
encumbered with mortgages to the amount of
360,000 species. The sum of 1,500,000 species
(8,500,000 f.), vastly exceeding the real worth, was
allowed from mere generosity of the then King,
Frederick VII., probably with a hope to put an
end for ever to the pretensioes of a Prince who had
shown so little scruple both as to the end he was
driving at and as to the means by which he hoped
to attain it. As the Danish Government were un-
able or unwilling to pay the stipulated sum at once,
they converted it into bonds to bearer of 2,000
species each, and paid these bonds regularly in half-
yearly instalments on the 30th of June and 31st
of December of every year, up to the end of last
year (1863), when the sum still due was 274,000
species principal, and 13,400 interest, or altogether
, 287,000 species. As the payments were, however,
by a common agreement, to be made by the State
Treasury at Altona, and this town was occupied by
the Federal troops before the 31st of.Decereber last,
the Danish Government conceives that the payment
should have been made by the Federal Commis-
sioners charged with the administration of Holstein,
and out of the revenues of that Duchy.