The Sun.
London, England, 1864-09-16 00:00:00

This interview,connected with the report previously made
by Col. Oaid, left on my mind the decided impression that
Mr Lincoln was averse to seeding formal commissioners to
open negotiations, lest he might thereby be deemed to have
recognised the ind:Tondence of the Confedei :icy, and that
he was anxious to learn whether the conditions on which
alone he would be w:lling to take such a step would be
yielded by the Confederacy ; that with this view he had
placed his messengers in a condition to satisfy us that they
really came from him, without committing himself to any-
thing in event of a disagree_nent as to such conditions as
he considered to be indispensable. On informing the Pre-
sident thereof of my conclusion, he determined that no
question of form or etiquette should be an obstacle to his
receiving any overtures that promised, however remotely,
to result in putting an end to the carnage which marked the
continuance of hostilities.

The President came to my office at 9 o'clock in the even-
ing, and Col, Ould came a few moments later, with Messrs.
Jacquess and Gilmore. The President said to them that he
had heard from me that they came as messengers of peace
from Mr Lincoln ; that as such they were welcome ;
that the Confederacy had never concealed its desire for
_peace,and_ that he was ready tallear whatever they WU&
offer on that ant ject.

Mr Gilmore then addressed the President, and in a few
minutes had conveyed the information that those two gen-
tlemen had come to Richmond impressed with the idea that
this Government would accept a peace on the basis of a re-
construction of the Union, the abolition of slavery, and the
grant of an amnesty to the people of the States as repen-
tant criminals. In order to accomplish the abolition of
slavery, it was proposed that there should be a general vote
of all the people of both Confederations, and the majority of
the votes thus taken was to determine that as well as all
other disputed questions. These were stated to be Mr Lin-
coln's views. The President answered that as these

posals had been prefaced by the remark that the people of
the North were a majority, and that a majority ought to
govern, the offer was, in affect, a proposal that the Confede-
rate States should surrender at discretion, admit that they
had been wrong from the beginning of the contest, submit
to the mercy of their enemies, and avow themselves to be in
need of pardon for crimes; that extermination was prefer-
able to such dishonour.

He stated that if they were themselves so unacquainted
with the form of their own Government as to make such
propositions, Mr Lincoln ought to have known, when giving
them his views, that it was out of the power of the Confe-
derate Government to act on the subject of the domestic
institutions of the several States, each State having exclu•
sive jurisdiction on that point, still less to commit the de-
cision of such a question to the vote of a foreign people ;
that the separation of the States was an accomplished fact ;
that he had no authority to receive proposals for negotiation
except by virtue of his office as President of an independent
Confederacy, and on this basis alone must proposals be made
to him,

At one period of the conversation Mr Gilmore made use
of some language referring to those States as " rebels "
while rendering an account of Mr Lincoln's views, and
apologised for the word. The President desired him to
proceed, that no offence was taken, and that he wished Mr.
Lincoln's language to be repeated to him as exactly as pos.
Bible. Some further conversation took place, substantially
to the same effict as the foregoing, when the President rose
to indicate that the interview was at an end. The two gen-
tlemen were then recommitted to the charge of Col. Ould,
and left Richmond the next day,
This account of the visit of Messrs Gilmore and Jacquess
to Richmond has been rendered necessary by publication
made by one or both of them since their return to the United
States, notwithstanding the agreement that their visit was
to be kept secret. They have, perhaps, concluded that as
the promise of secrecy was made at their request, it was per-
tnissible to disregard it. W e had no reason for de3irirg to
conceal what occurred, and have, therefore, no complaint to
make of the publicity given to the fact of the visit. The
extreme inaccuracy of Mr Crilmore's narrative will be ap-
p•trent to you from the limping statement.

Ytm. have, no da uh', seen in the Northern papers an ac-
count of another conference on the subject of peace, which
..00k p'ace in Canada at about the someday, bz_tweenlll-:ssrs
C. C. Clay and J. P. Holccrnbc, Confederate citizens of the
highest character and position, and Mr Horace Greeley, of
Nev York. acting with authority of President Lincoln. It
is deemed not improper to inform you that Messrs Clay and
Holcombe, although er.j,,ying in an eminent degree the
confidence and esteem of the President, were strictly accu-
rate in their statement that they were without an authority
(rum this Government to treat with that of the United
States on any subject whatever. We had no knowledge of
their conference with Mr Greeley, nor of their proposed
visit to Washington, till we saw the newspaper publications.
A. significant coLfirmation of the truth of the statement of
Messrs Gilmore and Jacquess, that they came us messen-
gers from Mr Lincoln, is to be found in the fact that the
views of Mr Lincoln, as stated by them to the President,
arc in exact conformity with the offensive paper addressed
to "whom it may concern, which was sent by Mr Lincoln
to Messrs Clay and Holcombe by the hands of his private
secretary, Mr Hay, and which was properly regarded by
those gentlemen as an intimation that Mr Lincoln was
unwilling that this war should cease while it was in his
power to continue hostilities.—l am, very respectfully,
your obedient savant,

J P, BENJAMIN, Secretary of State.
llma. Jam.. M. Mason, Commissioner to the
U 0 11 111

Lord Stanley in Tipperary.

We find in the Freeman's Journal a report of the annual
show of the Tipperary Union Farming Society, which was
held at Tipperary on Tuesday. Lord Stanley attended
the show, and presided at the dinner in the evening. In
proposing the toast of the evening, the noble lord
reviewed at considerable length the present condition of
Ireland. He might be lh ught too sanguine, but he could
not bring himself to take a desponding view of the future
of Ireland, and especially of that part of it. Recent bad
seasons had operated against the farmers, and from all parts
of Ireland, especially from the south and west, there had
been a continuous outflow of emigration. They had no se-
curity
against the recurrence of bad seasons, and the best
course they could adopt was to guard against having too
many eggs in their basket, or, in other words', placing too
much dependence on any particular crop. (Rear, hoar.)
The present year happily was the most prosperous since
1860, and the drought that prevailed had net been half
so severely felt in Ireland as in England. If he thought
that the drain of the population was to continue for any
considerable time, that the country was to become a mere
grazing field, and cattle were to take the place of men, he
would not be able to express himself hopefully, and as
an Englishman he should deeply lament that the empire
was deprived of so many stout hearts and strong arms,
so much capacity for labour, and the heroic courage
which had been tested long ago, and might be
required again. But his reading and observation led him
to doubt that the tide of emigration would continue to flow
at the same rate, and although he knew that a country so
vast as America must always attract numbers to its shores,
the fact of the war in the United States, where there was a
Government expenditure of half a million a day, and the
indication of the approaching termination of that tremen-
dous conflict induced him to believe that when the war
ceased the release from the military service of about a mil-
lion of men would reduce the demand for European labour.
Moreover, he saw with pleasure the gradual increase of
wages in Ireland, which, as it progressed, must remove
many of the temptations to emigrate. As men became
abundant in America wages would diminish, as they de-
creased in Ireland wages would inarease, and thus before
long the disparity of wages which existed would be in a
large measure removed. This led him to the reflection
that the low-paid labour which had been the rule in
Ireland was not always cheap, and that the well fed
and well paid labourer was likely to do more work than
three men dieted and remunerated on the old scale.
Ireland, undoubtedly, was a prolifio country. Within
the past few days he had seen many cabins, where,
alas! the occupants had few of the necessaries and
none of the comforts of life. lie might ask why
then, if the population of Ireland had fallen off, that of
England had increased. The reason was that England
was a manufacturing country. lie the Englieh au:cul-
tural districts the population had also decreased. Thousands
had been attracted to the large manufacturing towns. It was
a significant fact that theta were about 100,000 Irish living
in and around Liverpool, and the calculation was that there
were over 800,600 Irish in the manufacturing districts of
England and Scotland. People ought in fairness to recollect
that. thew figures did not represent a movement from
this country as a whole, but only a movement from one
part of the empire to another. He for one hoped that the
day would be very far distant when an Liebman would not
be received with welcome in England, and an Euglielniten
in Ireland, His Lordship referred to the increasing eul'i-
vation of flax in the south of Ireland as an experirneut which
might prove successful, but they should not put their ha.nds
further than they could draw them back. With respect to
the value of land, he thought it ought to rise here as in
England and Scotland. The Irish climate, if damper, was
milder; the soil was more fertile, the beauties of scenery
more frclueat and remarkable. When the days of violence

RAILWAY INTELLIGENCE,

EDINBURGH AND GLASGOW.

The half yearly meeting of this company was held at
Glasgow on Tuesday—Mr 11. Dunlop in the chair.
The report, an abstract of which has appeared in The
Sun, was taken as read.

The CHAIRMAN, in moving the adoption of the report,
said it was satisfactory to see that the traffic continued to
increase; and that they were enabled to recommend a divi-
dend of 41 per cent per annum. If the traffic continued to
increase, they might expect a better dividend, as they were
4.Lttla Vin, the way of improvement. Their new agreement
with the North British Railway Company was now in ac-
tive operation, and apparently was likely to work well. It
was a very simple arrangement, and he thought it would
prove satisfactory, and he hoped it would receive the sanc-
tion of Parliament next session. They had nothing to fear
except attacks from some of their aggressive neighbours.
He thought for his part the thee had arrived when the
main lines of railway might be content with the position
they already held. There were few main lines in that dis-
trict which had not established their position, and their
rights to a certain traffic, and ho thought they might be
content with that, and with developing the trade of the
)nstructing new lines with a view to
abe— crane which legitimately belonged to their
neighbours. (Hear.) He wished the pressure of the share-
holders could be brought to bear upon direct ~..\to provant
their adopting such an erroneous course. He believed the t
a great deal might be done by the shareholders expressing
their opinions at meetings of companies against such con-
duct. It was net like a reduction of the rates, which was
a temporary measure from which they might sutler for
a time and it would pass away, the public de-
riving some benefit during the competition ; but when
they constructed duplicate lines a permanent evil was
created, for all unnecessary expenditure of capital must be
a loss to shareholders, while it was no benefit to the public.
(Heer

Mr WHITE seconded tho motion for the adoption of tho
report.

Mr J. 111.‘GATIN said he quite agreed with the Chairman
in the line of policy he had chalked out as that which ought
to gov2rn the great railway companies of the country.
Duplicate lines roust ultimately be.a loss to the country, fcr
whenever they empended two sets of capital, and employed
two sets of men to work that which one set could accom-
plish, the public would have eventually to pay for them.
For a short time ruinous rates might prevail, but they all
knew that public companies would not long continue to fight,
and the experience of all duplicate lines hitherto had been
the same. He believed they were to be invaded by the Cale-
donian Company in the next session of Parliament. It was
said they intended to run parallel lines from Glasgow to
Edinburgh ; and, if so, they ought to be strenuously opposed
by this company. They had been cajoled by an alliance
with that company, and they had at the same time invaded
their district. If the Caledonian said they must have a
larger share of the traffic between Edinburgh and Glasgow,
they must be told that the Edinburgh and Glasgow Com-
pany must have a greater share of the coal traffic of Lanark-
shire.

Atter some observations by Mr MEIKLEM and ➢ir IVErn
as to rumoured attacks from the Caledonian, and as to what
the directors ought to do in these attacks,
The CiutiumAN said that, with the strong alliance which
they had formed with the North British Railway Company,
the Edinburgh and Glasgow Company felt they were able
to defend themselves, and, if neces,ary, to oppose aggressive
neighbours ; but they hoped this course would not be netes• nary, and he thought it would be a great pity if it were.
Resolutions were passed adopting the report, and declar-
ing a dividend for the half-year, at the rate of 41 per cent.
per annum, on the ordinary stock of the company.
The proceedings concluded with a vote of thanks to the
chairman.

,SITTINGBOURNE AND SHEERNESS.
The half-yearly general mee:ing of this company was
held on Wednesday at the offices, John-street, Bedford-row
—Mr L. Simpson in the chair.

The report stated that the Board thought it desirable to
invite the aid and counsel of some of the leading shire_
holders and creditors of the company, and this led to the
appointment of a special committee to consider and propose
such an equitable arrangement with all the creditors and
shareholders as would put the company into a position to

pay a dividend, The committee hnd since Fubmitted such
a scheme of arrangement to the Board, it had received
their unanimous approval, and was recommended to the

shareholders for adoption. The income of the company was
largely increasing, and if the pending questions were settled
as proposed by the committee, nothing would prevent tho
payment of dividends for the future. For the protection of
the property in the meantime against legal assailan's, Mr
Evans, the company's accountant, had been appointed re-
the total amount of liabilities being £57,000.
The CHAIRMAN, in moving the adoption of the report,
congratulated the proprietors on the results of the labours
of the committee, which consisted of Mr Baines, M.P.,
Mr West, who represented Mr Wythes, the contractor and
principal creditor, Mr Head, Mr Atkinson, who repre-
sented the preference shareholders, Mr Hartridgo for the
ordinary shareholders, Simpson, the chairman, end
Mr Magnus, the deputy-chairman of the company. After
m
they
,of
all hadpa r t
i succeededes.
i,
The
result sa reconcilingun ly meetings
t was that t the Board cdoran fluiccht
ihnangde igdnoet tcei ai
r decided s o:s that all cla'ms on the
company must be discharged out of its assets, so as to re-
move all impediments, in the shape of liabilities, to the
future progress and prosperity of the company. He re-
gretted that they had not been able to come to an arrange..
ment with the War-office and other outstanding questions
as to land. It was gratifying to find that, as regarded the
increase of traffic at Quecnborough, there had been an in-
crease for the last six months of 17 ships and 7,000 tons of
merchandise. It was proposed to erect suitable machinery
there, and when that was done n) doubt the traffic would
be doubly developed.

Mr MAGNUS seconded the motion. According to the
statement of Mr Evans, there were £73,800 of liabilities,
£5,000 interest on debentures, and £3,000 interest on pre-
ference shares—making a total of outstanding liabilities of
£87,000, to meet which there were 6,113 shares not issued,
lands to be taken by War Department, and other items.
Whether these would produce sufficient or not remained to
be seen, but the result of the proposed arrangement would
be that the company would be out of debt upon disposing
of these unissued shares and surplus lands, and any surplus
would be available for general purposes.
Mr HARTRIDGE congratulated the meeting on the result
of the labours of the committee and on the successful way
in which they had adjusted the conflicting interests. 11e
believed that the preference shareholders would get the
whole of their interest, an: that the ordinary shareholders
would be placed in a good position.
After some observations from Mr Wade, Mr Roche, and

others, Capt Dumerquo and Mr S. Bersley were re-elected
directors, and Mr W. G. Head auditor.
The thanks of tho meeting were then given to the chair-
man, directors, and officers of the company, and the meeting
separated.

theifrro y works.road,
naccordance
THE NEW ATLANTIC TELEGRAPH.—Active opt,.
rations have been commenced daring the week for
the manufacture and submersion of the new Atlantic tele-
graph cable. The construction of the core with all the
latest practicable
tiste l
eI progressingscientificrja commission, a
d a,t, c
-f
oi
ftheG
ut ta h
pewr ciwith
an : pi .
Companyiroodv
eesmints
g improvements,
designs
n o,f h
the
consisting cf Captain Galton, Professors Wheatstone and
Thomsm, and Messrs Fairbairn, Whit worth, and Varley.
The iron wire, and hempen cpvring forming the exterior
portion of the cable, are also in hand at the manufaeory
of the Telegraph Construction Company's works, under
Messrs Glass and Elliotithe contractors, at Morlen Wharf,
East Greenwich, a largo numb,.r of artisans being; em-
ployed at both places for the purpose. The 11,,A' cable
ii in every respect a groat improvement on the old one of
1858.

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