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

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

paper had called " the river-bed-type," and came closer than
any others to the skill of the Australian native. One skull
*which the professor po'nted to was a woman's, and was as
degraded end villanelle in its form as any he had seen.
The tibia-and the forearm, too, of this women were out of
the ordinary proportion, which was a further alga 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 expressed that the re-
mains were not of so remote an antiquity as Mr -Laing
believed. Er Thurnham expressed hi., 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 far the oldest, and the extended position was of
comparatively recent introduction. 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 found in some excavations in this same neighbour-
hood, which was a proof that they were not of very great
age. Mr Evans was also of opinion that there, was no rea-
son for assigning any extreme 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 saii the implements were certainly
of an rude a dosceiption as any he had ever seen; and on
the.whole he thought the remains presented the aspect of a
people which had been forced by adverse circumstances to
accept a civilisation much lower than that which was its
normal character. Mr Craucurd said he had little faith in
the poweraof craniology to determine who these people
were. He believed that they were the primordial Scotch-
men, the aboriginal inhahLants of the island, the direct
ancestors of the l3rucesape Menaces, and the Burns. He
caw no foundation whateteafor aaelievitag that these were
the remains of two races. As for the suspicion of canni-
balism, ho 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
Scats, 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 Weight 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-
ley, 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, bat 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.

Consp!racy to Capture one of the Panama
ilaProad Company's Steamers,

The Panama Star and Herald of the 21st Novenaa
bar pubFshes the following account of an alleged
conspiracy to capture one of the Panama Railroad
Company's Central American steamers :
" lam nut ion was received on the 25th ult. by the autho-
rities of the Panama Railroad th :.t a plot had been concocted
for the se'zure of one of their steamers plying between
Panama and Central American ports by a party of Con-
federate pirates, end that a number of the principal persons
connected w;th the undertaking, whose names were given,
were passengers on the royal mail steamer Tamar, from St.
Thomas, which ariivcd at Aspinwall on the morning of
that day, and intended taking passage in the company's
steamer Gnatenaala, which sailed from this pot t on the same
day, with the intention of putting their designs into execu-
tion. The Guatemala hav;ng put to sea before the arrival
of the Tamer's passengers on this side, the plans of the
pirates were for the time frustrated. As another of the com-
pany's steamers did not leave here before the 10th iv st., the
conspirators were obliged to rema'n in this city till that date
before an oppor&unity offered for them to carry out their
diabolical purposes.. In the meantime information of the
plot had been received from other sources, and the managers
of the railroad fully. matured their plans for the capture o:
the entire gang. The matter was kept a profound secret
until about noon on Tuesday the 10th inst., when the steamer
Salvador was ready to put to sea. The passengers were em-
barked as usual, apparently no suspicion being excited until
all were placed on board the steamer. Immediately on corn .
ing on board the passengers were requested to enter the main
saloon, ell the other rooms has, ing been previously locked,
in order to have their tickets examined and births assigned.
A signal was then given to the commander of the United
States frigate Lancaster, who with a force of aimed marines
was stationed on and alongside the P.M.S.S. Company's
steamer Sacramento, lying a short distance from the Sal-
vador, that all was ready. Captain Davenport was soon on
board the Salvador with the requisite force, and after an-
nouncing to the passengers that he had Wren possession
of the ship proceeded to read the passenger list, requiring
each person to respand- to his name and show his ticket.
Several were soon recognised as the persons of whom in-
formation had been received, and on being examined letters
of reargue, commissions from the Confederate Government,
handcuffs and arms were found on their persons. The
evidence being conclusive, Captain Davenport took the
steamer to sea, accompanied by the Lancaster. When
beyond the jurisdiction of Columbia an investigation no
doubt took place, and the guilty ones were transferred to
the Lancaster. It is said that some 13 passengers, are sus-
pected of being implicated in the affair,several of whom are
supposed to have joined the principal conspirators after
their arrival in this city."

A later edition says :—" We are enabled this morning to
give some further particulars of the piratical attempt to
seize the P.R.R. Co.'s steamer Salvador on the 10th inst.,
and of iuture plans of the pirates had they been successful;
but prudence obliges us to withhold the full details of the
plot for a few days longer, as although the principal leaders
are under arrest, and the conspiracy has been rendered
harmless. still there are many persons implicate) in the
affair who have not yet been reached. The United States
steamer Lancaster returned on the morning of Saturday,
the 12th instant, bringing as prisoners seven of the persons
who had taken passage in. the Salvador; on several of the
other passengers suspicion was very strong, but on inves-
tigation the evidence was not found sufficient to warrant
their being taken to the United States. From all
we can learn, the plot must have been quite a gigantic
affair—of proportions sufficiently large, had it been suc-
cessful, to have swept the United States commerce from
the Pacific, and almost perfect in its concoction. From the
orders of Mr Mallory, Secretary of the Navy of the Con-
federate States, to Captain Hogg, the leader of the party,
and from other documents found, it appeared that Hogg,
acting according to instructions, sailed from Wilmington,
N.C., for Havana, and at the latter port enlistzd his associ-
ates, the paper containing their names and the oath to stand
by each other until death being dated at that place.
" From Havana the party COMO to Aspinwall via St.
Thomas and the same steamer which brought them con-
veyed the full details of the plot and the names of the can.
spirators from the United States Consul-General at Havana
to the United States Consul in this city, and the latter im-
mediately gave the news to the commercial agent of the
railroad.

" Captain Hogg and his associates intended to take pas-
sage on the Guatemala, and when out at sea seize the ship.
It is believed they have confederates on the coast, or on a
vessel near by, who were then to join them, and that there
are also persons connected with the plot on both the Cali.
fornia end Central American steamers.

"The instructions were then to int rcept the P,M.S.S.
Company's steamer Sacramento on bier way to this port
from San Francisco, take possession o'f the treasure, which
amounted to over a million dollars, and if it could not be
shipped safely across the Isthmus, to take it to ValFaraiso,
and there deposit it with some reliable British house, or to
ship it on board a French man-of-war, if one be found
that would take it. With the guns, &c., to be found on
board the Sacramento, the Guatemala might have been
made a very dangerous vessel. The Sacramento carries
one 100 pounder and four 20 pounder rifled Parrots, a
large amount of shot and shell, some three dozen Sharp's
r;fles, and other steal'-arms. These, together with the two
guns-12 and 24 pounders—and the supply of small-arms
already on board the Guatemala, would have given her
quite a formidable armament. This, coupled with the fact
that she is very fast, being able to steam 101 or 11 knots an
hour, and can carry sufficient coal to enable her to steam 60
days, shows that she would have been•able to have captured
or destroyed almost ally mercirent vessel under the United
States, flag on the Pacific. But even had the pirates suc-
ceeded in possessing themselves of the Guaternals, the cap-
ture of the Sacramento would not have been quite so easy
as they might have expeoted. On the 21st ult., the day
previous to the sailing of the leiter from San Francisco, a
despatch was received in that city from New York, reveal•
ing the plot ; e similar despatch arrived here by the steamer
of the 3d inst. ; Capt. Bradbury, of the Sacramento, was
therefore on his guard, had his guns shotted and everything
made ready to give the pirates a warm reception should
they call upon hire.
"As the programme of Messrs Hogg and Co. for the cap-
ture of the Guatemala and Sacramento fell through, they no
doubt made up their minds to carry it out on the Salvador
and the Golden City due here on the 16th inst. During the
two weeks' stay of the pirates in this city they purchased
3001 b of No. 7 blasting powder suitable for cannon, had it
put in tins and shipped on board the Salvador, and marked
for some port in Central America, expecting to use it when
they got possession of the steamers.
"The details of the arrests on board the Salvador given ,

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

" The principal papers, consisting of orders from Secre-
tary Mallory, correspondence, &a., 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 hops
that he would have an opportunity of destroying them be-
fore they were discovered. The commiss'ons 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, &o. The cash-book of the purser
showed the expenses of the company :rom the start, The
leaders finding that the mole discovered revealed every-
thing connected• with the plot, made a clear confession of
the whole affair a short time before coming into port.

" The prisoners have not been placed in irons or close
confinement on board tha 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, and 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. Pac'fic squadron ; Capt. Davenport
and Paymaster Rittenhouse, of the U.S. frigate Lancaster;
William Nelson, Esq., commercial agent of the P.R.R.
Company; Col. Alexander AP.Kee, U.S. consul at Panama ;
and W. Rice, Esq., consul at Aspinwall, called on the pre.
sident of th;s State to ask permission to pass the seven pri-
soners now on board the Lancaster in this bry across the
Isthmus, in older to send them to New York by the next
ateamer..irom Aspinwall. The permission asked,for has
been refused by the President, on the ground that he is not
empowerel 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 Brazilian fleet, in reply to a notice from
that officer that he should seize contraband of war
on board foreign merchantmen :

(Confidential.)
Monte Vidco, Oct. 18.

M. le Baron,—l have the honour to acknowledge the re-
ceipt this day of your 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
matters 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
...,xercising constant vigilance ouer English ships, with the
object of stopping, searching, and confiscating what your
Excellency terms contrabanl of war which might b 3 found
on board those ehips.
In reply to this manifestation I have the honour to inform
your Excellency .hat, from one point of view in which I
look at this mattir, discussion cannot upon this opportunity
be openly based upon the maintenance of neutrality.
There ere 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
oeuntry 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, but also of a no-
tification of the blockade of those ports made with the cus-
tomary formalitiep, I cannot admit that the expression em-
ployed by your Excellency,of "contraband of war" can ba
justly applied to any kind of merchandise carried by Eng-
lish ships in the coutse of legitimate trade. Consequently,
therefore, I cannot also recogn ise the validity of the right
now asserted by the Brazilian Government, under the vague
pretext of exercising reprisals, to detain, search, perhaps
even to take possession of English merchantmen navigating
the waters of this Rapublic upon the fai'h 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 cruse of injury to English sub-
jects.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, &a., M. le
Baron,

(Signed) W. G. LETTSOM.
His Excellency Vice• Admiral Baron de
Tamandare, &c.

Legation of France, Monte Video, Oct. 19,1861.

M. le Baron,—l hasten to reply to the circular nob your
Excellency has done me the honour to address to me under
date the 11th inst., and which only reached my hands yes-
terday.
'Without discussing the facts or appreciations of which
the first portion of that note is composed, and confining my-
self to the principles which its tenor contains, I commence
by asking myself by 'what right his Excellency proposes to
the foreign agents to associate .themselves up t 5 a certain
point with the extraordinary measures he has decided to
pursue under the name of reprisAls.
Has war been declared between the Imperial Govern-
ment and the Eastern Republic of Uruguay? Has there at
least been a notification of the blockade with the indispen-
sable formalities and delays required by the law of nations,
and the practice cf all civilised peoples ?
In a state of affairs where neither belligerents nor nen■
trals exist, how are the laws relating to the right of search
and to contraband of war applicable under the mere name of

reprisals ?
And nevertheless, his Excellency M. le Baron de Taman-
dare, considering all these rights as acquired by his Govern-
ment, after having notified b the agents naval and military
operations which are going to take place in consequence,
desires to conclude by asking them to concur in these stops
by ordering the ships of their nations to submit to his re•
quirements. What is more serious still, he adds that he
shall thus be released from the painful but indispensable
duty of exercising constant vigilance, and seizing such con-
traband of war as those ships shall have on board.
In our turn, we fulfil the duty of notifying to his Excel.
lency that it is impossible for us to admit on the part of the
vessels placed under his crders the r;ghtoi stopping, search-.
ing, or seizing, in time of peace, merchantmen navigating
upon the faith of solemn troatie3 waters essentially free, and
not even bordered by Brazil, and where such acts may even
entail complications with the Argentine Republic, diplo-
matically bound on its own part to guarantee fluvial neu-
trality.
I will not onclude without adding, that in case the ope-
rations of war announced under the name of rept isals against
the rests of commerce situated on the north of the Rio
Negro should occasion injury to the subject) of the Empe-
ror, my august Sovereign, it will be for his Majesty's Go-
vernment to determine how :far the responsibility for that
injury will fall upon the Brazilian Government.—l profit by
this opportunity, &e,,
(Signed) M. MAILLEPER,
Charge d'Affaires of his Majesty the Emperor
of the French.
His Excellency M. le Baron de Tamandare, Vice-
Admiral Commanding the Brazilian Forces in
La Plata.

Legation of her Catholic Majeety.

M. le Baron,—l had the honour to receive to-day the
confidential,circular note your Excellency addressed to me
under date of the 11th inst., and while abstaining from dis-
cussing the comments contained in the first portion of this
note, relative to the steps taken by your Excellency towards
the Eastern Government, in consequence of the special mis-
sion of Councillor Saraiva, I shall confine myself to reply.
iug to the second part. In this your Excellency acquaints
me that the Imperial Government has determined that its
army shall expel the troops of the Eastern Government oc-
cupying the cities of the Republic north of the Rio Negro,
and shell retain them by way of reprisals until it obtains
the satisfaction demanded. In order that these troops shall
receive no assistance from Monte Video, your Excellency
asks me to give the necessary orders that ships sailing un-
der the Spanish flag (respecting neutrality) shall refuse to
take on board troops and munitions of war, as in the oppo.
site case you would find yourself under the painful but ine-
vitable necessity of exercising upon them constant vigilance,
and of seizing such contraband of war as might Lo found on
board.

While thanking your Excellency for the I,yal and frank
considerations employed in the note above mentioned, I find
myself compelled, in replying thereto, to adhere to the prin-
ciples governing the matter in question.

The Legation of her Catholic Majesty, M. le Baron, can-
not associate itself with your Excellency's intentions as to
the extraordinary measures which you inform me you have
determined to adopt under the name of reprisals, bef,re
having carried into effect the formalitiem demanded by public

PRICE ..4d
STAMPED

law, for my Government watches with great interest those
guarantaes and securities which give its subjects established
rules and principles.
The vigilance to which your Excellency speaks of sub-
jecing the Spanish ships which navigate these rivers com-
prehends the right of search---.a right I must reject, pre-
testing against such a pretension with the utmost energy,
so long as there has not been a declaration of war between
the Imperial Government and that of the Eastern Govern-
ment, nor the antecedent of a notification of blockade.
'Without similar declarations establiOael by the right of
nations, and the practice followed by all peoples, there can j
be no belligerents and consequently no neutrals. How then
could the laws relating to right of search and the seizure
of contraband of war be applied under the simple name of
reprisals ?

1 fulfil a duty in stating to your Excellency that it is im-
possible for me to admit that the naval forces under your
orders should arrogate to themselves the right of stopping
and searching Spanish merchantmen navigating waters
essentially free (which do not wash any territory of the
empire), as such acts might occ-sion complications which
it is the interest of ail to seek to avoid.

Before cancluding this note, I feel it my duty to add that
in casa the operations of war your Excellency announces to
me under the name of reprisals, against the towns of this
Republic to the north of the Rio Negro, should occasion
injury to Spanish interests and Spanish subjects, who are
established there in great numbers, it will be for the Go-
vetnment of the Queen, my sovereign, to which I shall
communicate your Excellency's note and my reply, to judge
how far the responsibility for the injury occasioned ought
to fall upon the Government of his Majesty the Emperor of
Brazil.—l take this opportunity, &c.,