The Sun.
London, England, 1864-03-15 00:00:00

THE SUN, LONDON, TUESDAY EVENING, MARCH 15, 18G4

venient for a retrospective glance to be taken of
past events, nor for a comparison to be instituted
between the conduct of Ministers on the same
question towards different parties. Mr. ROEBUCK
asked whether any remonstrance was about to be
made to the Federal Government on the subject of
" the employment by them of agents in Ireland for
the purpose of enlisting as soldiers the subjects of
her Majesty." There was the more reason for mak-
ing ►his inquiry, because it has been asserted that it
is the intention of any Government to remonstrate
with the Government of the Confederate States on
account of their sending agents over here for illegal
purposes. It is well known to every one who has
taken any pains to study the American question,
that the idea of the Government calling their policy
towards the belligerent States by the title of "strict
❑eutrality " is perfectly absurd, and, indeed, a
mockery to those to whom it is addressed. Mr.
ROEBUCK reminded the house that when the
Solicitor-General made his remarks relative
to the intention of Government to remon-
strate with the Confederate States, he was
speaking of a matter which .was sub judice. The
inconsistency of such a course is very manifest, and
on what grounds our Ministers can assume the
right to remonstrate about acts which are
not yet proved by their own courts of law
to be " illegal" we are at a loss to know.
All the decisions that have yet been come to on this
case are against the Government, and therefore it is
most extraordinary to found any complaint on the
transactions. How striking is the contrast exhi•
bited between this haste to jump at conclusions
in the one instance and the marked reticence that is
exhibited in the other. Before proof is attained of
illegality, remonstrances are to be addressed to the
Confederates; but when a glaring infringement of
the law is made by the Federals it is declared that
nothing can be done, because there are no proofs.
Now this sort of reasoning is not at all in accord-
ance with the spirit of English justice and fair-
play, and the Cabinet that adopts such a policy
cannot expect to retain the respect of the
people. For Ministers to choose out their
own friends and favourites among foreign
Powers, and then to mete out justice and
so conduct their policy that one side has all the
advantages of an alliance with a great courftry, and
the other all the negative disadvantages of war,
and then to call this by the name of neutrality, is a
line of action that cannot long be tolerated. It may
be asked whys is it impossible to find out whether
there are agents of the Federal Government in
Ireland who go there for the purpose of enlisting
the subjects of this realm to serve in their armies.
Surely a Minister must possess great assurance,
effrontery, or indifference to substantiate such a
statement. Either:it is true or not; if the former,
it is a great disgrace to the officials in authority
that they cannot use the means and appliances at
their disposal for the purpose of ascertaining the
exact nature of the rumours afloat, and authenti-
cate or oontradict them as occasion requires. It is
also very reprehensible on the part of Government
not to insist on due researches being made, and
proper investigations instituted in order that
this infraction of the law may not take place.
Lord PALMERSTON made out a very bad case, but
it may be inferred by his manner that he did not
care much about it, and was quite resolved on what
line of action to adopt, however inconsistent that
might be. Mr. ROEBUCK'S denunciation of Earl
RUSSELL'S conduct was quite refreshing after the
tame and spiritless way in which some take up the
case. There was great truth in his strictures, and
it is to be hoped that it will arouse attention and
draw notice to the very unequal raclnner in which
the arduous and important duties of the Foreign
Secretary are being performed at this critical junc-
ture. Mr. ROEBUCK, with his usual vehement
language, inveighed against the whole course of
our foreign policy, and wound up by expressing his
conviction that, after reading the various despatches,
the predominant feeling left in the mind was that
of "dire humiliation." Of course, this excited the
indignation of Lord PALMERSTON, and he strove
with all his might to prove that no blame should be
imputed to Lord RUSSELL, because he said that
all the Cabinet were equally responsible for his
actions, as ho was himself. Perhaps the noble
lord thought he was very chivalrous in thus ex-
culpating his colleague; but the fact is that there
are higher matters at stake than personal feeling
or political bias. The honour of the country is
seriously compromised by the recent management
of all our foreign communications. It is impera-
tive that during the sitting of Parliament some
lucid explanations should be given, and the only
result of any questions that are asked is that Lord
PALMERSTON, or some other member of his Govern
ment, is mortally offended, and calls the delinquen

to account for presuming to make attacks on an
absent man. This may be a very clever dodge, but

it will not last for very long, because it is oviden

that if the Foreign Secretary's place is in the Upper
House, remarks touching his policy must perforce
be made in his absence by the members of the
lower branch of the L?gislature. Many would not

believe some years back that our foreign policy
could come to such a pass as the present Adminis-
tration have brought it to; and certainly the worst

forebodings could not have exaggerated the result

A SCIENTIFIC EXPEDITION TO MEXICO on a
magnificent scale is (after the fashion set in Egypt
seventy years ago) preparing under order of the Imperial
Government of France, The Minister of Public Instruc-
tion has nominated a commission to prepare and instruct.
this phalanax of inquirers; including Marshal Vaillant,
Baron Gros, Michel Chevalier, Vice-Admiral Jnrien de La
Graviere, MM. Boussingault, Combes, Decaisne, Faye, De
Longperier, Maury, Milne-Edwards, de Quatrefages,
Charles Sainte-Claire Deville, De Tessan. Baron Larrey,
Angrand, Col, Ribourt, Viollet-Le-Duc, Ctiasar Daly,
Mari6-Dany, Vivien de Saint-Martin, Brasseur de Bour-
bourg, Aubin, and Bellaguet ; with M. Antole Durny as
secretary.

IMPRACTICABLE AIR. LOWE.—,There is not a
member of the Ministry with so little tact as Mr,
Lowe. Whether it be as Lord It. Cecil hinted, that he is
a secret adherent of Mr. Baines, who steadily uses his great
information on the subject to resist the progress of educa-
tion, or whether ho simply dislikes the share which the
clergy have in instruction, or whether, as Mr. Adderley
put it, he is a genius confined in a box too small for him,
the result is the same—he is always running his head
against some class, or interest, or system, which must be
conciliated before the education of the poor can advance.
Two years ago he laid hold of a principle, the payment for
results, which besides being sound was strong enough to
pull him through the angry opposition of the teachers and
country gentlemen, and he nearly spoilt that in his eager-
ness to make it carry also a number of ideas which, sound
or unsound, worried people without securing much good.
This session he has dashed full tilt at squires and clergy
together, in order to save some £30,000 a year which the
country does not grudge, which the villages crave very
much, and which, if wasted at all, is only wasted in extra
grease to the wheels of the train, —Spectator.
THE CONVICT HALL.—At 10 o'clock on Saturday
night the Governor of Warwick Gaol received from
the Home Secretary a reprieve for the condemned man,
George Hall, The fact was at once communicated to Hall,
who was lying in bed, though not asleep. The unhappy
man was so overcome by the sudden revulsion of feeling
that he could scarcely gasp his acknowledgments. The
following notice was on Sunday posted on the gaol doors :
" County Prison, Sunday, March 13, Mt —George Hall.
—The sentence of death is respited by her Majesty's com-
mands.—J. M. Anderson." Several persons who had
already arrived from Birmingham to see the execution, at
once tramped back again.—Birmingham .Post.
THE DANISH LOSSES.—Reports have been re-
ceived by the Minister of War from the Danish
head quarters, giving a Necise nominal list of the Danish
losses in killed, wounded, and missing from the commence-
ment of the war until the engagement before Duppel on the
22d ult. The list shows a total of 43 officers, two regimen-
tal surgeow, and 1,924 men,

LATEST INTELLIGENCE.

(REUTER'S TELEGRAMS.)

THE WAR IN DENMARK.

DRESDEN, MARCH 13,

A large public meeting to consider the affairs of
Schleswig-Holstein took place here to-day. The
resolutions passed were to the following effect :
" Complete satisfaction should be given to the
rights of the Duchies. The German people should
support those Governments who demand the entire
rights. Any solution not completely separating
the Duchies from Denmark would be treason against
Germany and German honour. Confidence can
only be restored in Germany by following ilia line
of conduct marked out by the wishes of the Ger-
man people."

HAMBURG, MARCU 13 (Evening

It is believed here that the attack upon Dappe
will commence on Wednesday. The Prussians in.
tend to deliver the assault upon the 22d, the birth
day of the King of Prussia.

COPENHAGEN, March 10.
The following official report has just been pub
lished by the Ministry of War :

" Headquarters, March 9, 1 p.m

" Yesterday morning the 20th Infantry Regi-
ment, on outpost at Elbodal, was attacked by e,
hostile division of all arms. The outposts were
hotly pressed, especially at Heisekurg and Keme-
berg, where the Dane Company was forced out of
its line of retreat, and has probably been captured.
Our forces withdrew without cffering resistance,
and took up an outpost position behind Erritsue,
about 1,200 yards in advance of the inundation
works and the fortified camp. The enemy has oc-
cupied Sandaishuse, Fuglesandskov, and Stroustrup.
"Simultaneously with the attack upon the out-
posts before Fredericia, the enemy appeared in
great force at 9 a.m. in front of the outposts of the
4th division. Between 3 and 5 o'clock an im-
portant infantry and artillery engagement com-
menced in rear of Veile. But as this position
became untenable after the evacuation of Veile, it
was abandoned about quarter past 5, and the retreat
commenced northwards, the enemy pursuing with
10 or 12 gune, as far as the heights of Juelsberg.
" General Waster, Captain Hoffmann, First
Lieutenant Weyen and Second Lieutenant Kohler
are wounded, besides ten men of the 20th and two
of the 19th Regiment. In addition to Captain Dane
and his company, Second Lieutenant Bosenstano
and 18 men of the 20th Regiment are missing. It
is stated that they were cut off while upon patrol
in front of the Havreballe pass. The loss of the 4th
division is not believed to be great. Nothing took
place last night, and up to 10 45 this morning before
Fredericia."

Ilagblac'et of to-day doubts whether the advance of
the Prussians towards Fredericia heralds an attack
upon that fortress, or is merely a tactical reply to the
landing cf the Guard in Holstein. In the former
case De Oladeg finds much comfort in the faot that
the fortress has been placed in good defensive
condition within the last few weeks. General
Lundvig, the commandant, is not likely to aban-
don the defence easily; and Lieutenant-Colonel
Reich, his next in command, is said to be one
of the most skilled Danish artillery officers.
Major-General Wilster, wounded before Fre-
dericia, on Tuesday, by a shell in the arm and side,
arrived here this morning by the train from Korsor.
As soot as he has recovered from his wounds, the
Major-General will return to the army. Captain
Hoffmain, General Wilster's chief of the Staff, also
wounded in the engagement of the Bth, has had his
leg amputated below the knee, and is now in hospital
at Fredcr:cia.

THE SUEZ CANAL DIFFICULTY,

PARIS, MARCH 15.

The Moniteur of to-day says :—"Tho Emperor
had charged the Duke de Morey to make a report
upon the questions at issue relative to the Suez
Canal. This report stated the basis of a com-
promise which appeared equitable to the Emperor,
and its conclusions were communicated to the Vice-
roy, who requested the Emperor to settle the diffi-
culties between the two parties.
" The Emperor, accepting the arbitration, has
formed a committee to examine the question at issue."

SPAIN.

MADRID, MARCH 14.

Some Madrid journals ask what would be the
course of the Government if an European war were
to break out in Italy.

FRANCE.

BOURSE, March 14.—Sales for realisation have
caused tamed a slight retrograde movement,
Threes, for the Account, being now at 66f. 65c.
Mobilier have also receded, having been done at
1,055 f., bat have since recovered to 1,0601 r. Rail-
way Market without animation, with prices gene.
rally firm. The market again recovered towards
the close, and left off as follows :

4t per Cents 93
Do. end month 93 40
3 per Cents
Do. end month 66 75
Credit Mobilier 10•.52 60
Do. end month 1067
Bank Shares 3315
Credit Fonder 1265
Roman

r Italian Loan 6B
Do. end month —
Nev ditto
Do. end month....
Russian
Austrian

Spanish Threes
Home Debt
Deferred

ILA ILWAYS.
Cash. Account.
Orleans lOO5 --- .. 1007 50
Northern
New ditto
Lyons and Mediterranean 930 • • 930 --
1\ ~w ditto
Southern 653 75 .. 607 50
Western
Eastern .... .. 480 . .. 476
Sardinian 378 .. 377 50
Austrian
Lombard
North of Spain
Saragos.a ..
Ditto to Barcelona .... "

WEST INDIA AND PACIFIC MAILS.
SOUTHAMPTON, MARCH 16.

The Royal Mail steamship La Plats, with the
above mails, has arrived here. She brings 105 pas.
sengers, 5,194,690 dole. in specie, and 1,619

packages of cargo.
The La Plata left St. Thomas on the 29% ult.,
and of the Ist inst. spoke the English barque
Northern Light ; on the 10th, the barque Harvey ;
on the 12th; the ship Avalanche, homeward bound;
and on the 14th, off the Lizard, the ship Devon.
shire from Calcutta.

A severe earthquake had been experienced at
Copiapo. Several houses were damaged, but no
lives were lost.

millions were at once
The Government of Santiago had issued a pro-
ppoorsaclefnotr. a
ulopanwaorfdssisof tthwouosand dollars at 7f to 8
tendered for the first half.

General business at Chili was good. Freights
less active at £4 10s, Exchange, 44d. to 44/d. per

dollar.

The British bark Countess of Winton had been
destroyed by fire in Valparaiso Bay.

The Government of Peru had entered into a con-
tract with Messrs. Oyague, Graham, Rowe, and
Co., for the conversion of the Bolivian currency and
the introduction of a now standard national coinage,
whereby all Bolivian coin will be sent out of the
country, or melted in Lima, in two years, A new
currency had been established, and an exchange on
London fixed, which it was anticipated would be
most beneficial for the extension of commercial re-

lations with the country.
Lima exchange, 90 days' eight, 37d.

The news from the West India Islands is unim-

portant.

tranentiont4 in the produce market were

limited. Freight was scarce, and the rates had
declined to 21d. for London, and 2s. for Liverpool.

Business was very dull at Jamaica, and the coffee
and pimento crops scarce. Prices wore unchanged,
and sugar ranged from 18s. to 225., according to
the quality.
The weather was fine at Demerara, and favour-
able for the estates.

Freights heavy. Exchange on London, 90 days
;1,- per cent, premium.

The Proposed Conference.

L'Europe of the 14th inst. publishes the following
as tke text of the last note addressed by the Govern-
ments of Austria and Prussia to the Governments
which signed the Treaty of London of 1862

" The Government of - had hoped that the
Danish Government would have shown a more con-
ciliatory spirit. Had it been so, the two great
German Powers would have willingly stopped their
military action and entered into negotiations. But,
with regret, we must state that our hopes have been
deceived. The attitude assumed by the Court of
Copenhage its refusal to accede to the Conference
proposed by England, impose upon us the duty of
maintaining the coercive measures to which we
have had recourse. Important strategical conside-
rations have justified the authority given to the
Commander-in-Chief of the Austro-Prussian troops
to enter Jutland to cover the position of his forces
and to keep in check the Danes assembled at Fre-
dericia, preventing them from threatening the
flanks of the army, or from devoting all their
strength to the defence of the lines at Duppel.
" The two Powers had the less hesitation in
allowing this strategic movement as they had good
grounds to use reprisals towards the Danish Go-
vernment, which had issued orders to seize in the
open sea all vessels belonging to the belligerent
States and to States forming part of the Confede-
ration.

" The extension given, however, to the military
operations does not in any respect alter the previous
declarations of the Government of -- relative to
its attitude in the present conflict. To prove in a
still more patent manner that its conciliatory views
are sncere and that its intentions are unchanged,
the Government of -- declared itself ready to
conclude an armistice with Denmark, either upon
the basis of the evacuation of the positions of Duppel
and of Alsen by the Danish troops, or of Jutland by
the Austro-Prussian army, upon the basis of the
military uti-possidetis. But in either case the
Government of --- insists upon the condition that
cessation of hostilities by sea shall be included in
the armistice, and that all captures shall be recipro-
cally returned, and all embargo on vessels in port
removed.

" The Government of -- declares itself, at the
same time, ready to enter into conference with the
Powers interested to discuss the proper means for
the re-establishment of peace."

The Cat and the Brand v, Military

Recruiting,-

TO THE EDITOR OF THE SUN.

SIR,—I would beg permission to say a few words
,hrough the medium of your extensively circulated

journal on the subject of military flogging and
branding, which occupied the attention of the
House of Commons on Thursday, I do not pro-
pose to consider the question from the philanthropic
and humanitarian point of view, but simply as a
choice of evils, It is said that, having regard to
the exceeding rough raw materials which have to
be wrought up into the soldiers of which our army
is composed, discipline cannot be maintained with-
out the lash and the brand. But the brand and

the nine tails of the cat are just so
many scare-crows hung up to scare away the
bone and muscle of the country from entering the
army. The like principle applies to the navy.
Which is the greater evil of the two ? the hypo-
thetical difficulty—for it is not proved—of main-
taining discipline, or the dead certainty of fright-
ening men out of the army ? It is not merely the
cruelty of the system, as its degrading character,
that operates so strongly to deter men from enter-

ing a service where it is in force, and whore they
may thus run the chance, for a venial offence, of
being disgraced and degraded, for life, and never be
able to hold up their heads again. The very patrons
of it, who ask, " what punishment would you sub-
stitute if that were done away with r answer them-
selves by telling you that the punishments arejustas
severe, and therefore just as effective, in foreign
armies where flogging does not exist. I repeat, it
is chiefly the disgrace and degradation which Eng-
lishmen look at in this question. The English-
man asked to recruit says very naturally "if I
were to enlist in a foreign army I should not be
liable to this irrecoverable degradation. By enter-
ing the service where the soldier is flogged, I place
myself immeasurably below the level of the com-
mon soldier in other armies." If we still had the
press gang, or if we had substituted a conscrip.
tion, we might be in no danger of getting men
to recruit our armies, because we could force them
into the ranks. But now that our service, army
and navy both, is strictly a volunteer one, to
frighten men away from it by brandishing the
cat and the branding iron in their face seems
not consistent with

COMMON SENSE.

Naval and Military Intelligence.

THE ARMY.

Captain Hay, 72d Highlanders, is:about to retire
from the service.

The 78th Highlanders will shortly proceed to
Dublin, there to be quartered.

Lieut.-Colonel Enderby Gordon, Royal Artillery,
is to succeed Lieut.-Colonel Ward in the R. M.
Repository, Woolwich.

Major-General B. Willie has accepted the £6OO
per annum retirement.

Lifeboat Services,

CASTLETOWN, Isle of Man, March 12.
The schooner Water Lily, of Pwllheli, left Dun-
dalk on the 9th March, in ballast, bound for Bangor,
and on the evening of the next day was driven by
stress of weather into Derlyhaven Bay, where she
anchored with two anchors out. About noon on
the 11th a very violent gale from the N.W. came
on. One of the anchor chains parted, and the
vessel dragged out round Fort Island into the Tides-
way. A signal of distress was then hoisted, and
the lifeboat at this place belonging to the National
Lifeboat Institution was at once transported to
Derlyhavan Bay, and launched to the rescue of the
shipwrecked crew. It was now blowing a furious
gale of wind, but the lifeboat soon reached the
vessel and succeeded in rescuing the crew, consist-
ing of three men and a boy, and afterwards landed
them in safety. The vessel ultimately became a
total wreck.

LOSSIEMOUTH, March 12.

The smack Barbara, of Burghead, laden with
coals, sprung a leak, and afterwards came on shore
at this place, during a gale of wind last night. The
National Institution lifeboat stationed here was soon
launched and succeeded in saving the vessel's crew.
The smack afterwards became a total wreck.
ORMESBY, Norfolk, March 14.

Nine lives were saved this morning from the
Alice, of Newcastle. The vessel had struck on the
Cross Sand last night in very stormy weather, when
the crew took to their boat, and wag afterwards
picked up by a Caistor yawl. The Seratby and
Caistor lifeboats had also gone off with the view of
rendering assistance to the same crew.

Mr. BOHN has sold his publishing business and
classic copyrights to Messrs. Bell and Daldy, of Fleet-street.
THE LOCK-OUT OF THE YORKSHIRE COLLIERIES.

—The lock-rat at the South Yorkshire collieries,
there seems to be little doubt, will become an accomplished
fact, so that in the course of a few days there will be some-
thing like 3,700 men out of work. Both sides seem deter-
mined, so that the struggle will evidently be the most se-
vere that has ever taken place in the district. The men,
it appears, will be dependent in a great measure for sup-
port on the union, which now extends over England, Scot-
land, and Wales, and are confident of being able to make a
long stand. At present there are between 500 and 600 out,
but the entire body will be out of work in a few clays,