The Sun.
London, England, 1864-03-05 00:00:00

THE Strisi, LONDON, SATURDAY EVENING, MARCH 5, 1864.

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vernments that our laws should not be broken. All that could
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be expected from them was that they should diligently, and
to the best of their ability, enforce the Foreign Eenlistmett
Act. That we had, as he believed, done this, was a suffi-
cient answer to any claims for compensation which might
be made against us in respect of the capture of the Alabama,
The Rappahannock again escaped at night by a ruse, and
get to Calais, where she hoisted the Confederate flag.
But neither the Government nor even Mr. Adams had
any information of her equipment until she reached Ca-
lais, and we could not, therefore, be held responsible for her
escape. The greater part of the crew who sailed in her were
ignorant of the purpose for which they were engaged ; and
it would, therefore, have been hard to institute a prosecu-
tion against them. The Government had, however, insti-
tuted a prosecution against an officer of the dockyard, who
was believed to have taken part in fitting out the Rappa-
hannock and engaging her crew. It had been said that the
four ships to which he had referred were substantially Bri-
tish ships. But that he denied ; they were, to all intents
and purposes, Confederate ships of war, Again, it was said
we ought to pursue and capture them. But we could not
do so, because they were now the commissioned ships of a
recognised belligerent, and such a commission had been de-
cided by our own and also by the American courts to purge
all previous taint upon the origin of a vessel. There was more
to be said in favour of excluding these vessels from our ports
—but upon the whole her Majesty's Government thought
they would beat preserve their neutrality by admitting them,
so long as Federal ships were permitted to resort to our
harbours. He could, however, quite conceive that there
might be conduct on the part of the Confederate Govern-
ment which would lead us to revoke the permission to their
vessels to enter our ports. He quite admitted that the fact
that we had not recognised the independence of the Confe-
derate States was no reason why we should not protest
against their violations of our neutrality, and the wrongs
done by them to British subjects. There was, however,
some difficulty in approaching them—but he believed that
beforo long steps would be taken to convey to them the re-
monstrances of her Majesty's Government, and to obtain
from them any explanation they might be able to give of
the conduct pursued by their agents. The hon. and
learned gentleman concluded by referring to the difficulty
of maintaining a strict neutrality between two exasperated
belligerents, and at the same time expressing the desire and
intention of her Majesty's Government to adhere to the
course of strict impartiality which they had hitherto
pursued.

Sir E. COLEBROOK E did not think that the Govern-
ment should prevent the supply of ships to the Confede-
rates, unless they klso prevented the export of arms to the
Federals.

Mr. J. EWART was desirous that the strictest neutra-
lity should be observed between the two belligerents.
The motion was then withdrawn.
GENERAL DOYLE.

In reply to Mr. HALIBURTON,
Mr. LAYARD said it was not true, as stated in the
American newspapers, that the conduct of General Doyle
had been disapproved of by her Majesty's Government. On
the contrary, it had received their approval, and there was
therefore no reason to be believe that he would be recalled.
The house then went into committee of supply, bat was
immediately resumed.

PENAL SERVITUDE ACTS AMENDMENT BILL.
On the order of the day for the second reading of thts
bill,

Mr. ADDERLEY moved as an amendment that the bill
be read a second time that day six months. The right hon.
gentleman argued that the penal law was at present neither
clear nor precise, and that the measure of the Government
would only make it still more mystified and doubtful. He
was of opinion that the punishment for crime should be
sharp, short, and certain, and that if any remission were
allowed it should be limited solely to improved treatment
and the adoption of a system of classification. If tickets or
licences of leave were granted they should be given uncon-
ditionally; he objected, therefore, to the proposal to sub-
ject the convict to the supervision of the police.
The amendment was seconded by Mr. BEACH, who,
however, expressed an opinion in favour of police supervi-
sion, which he observed had worked remarkably well in
Ireland.

Mr. G. HARDY supported the bill, but suggested
various alterations and improvements that might be intro-
duced in committee with a view of rendering the measure
more efficient and useful.

After some observations from The O'CoNon Dox and
Sir W. MILES,

Sir G. GREY replied in defence of the bill ; and ulti-
mately the amendment was withdrawn, and the bill was
read a second time.

The Inclosure Bill passed through committee.
The remaining business was also disposed of, and the
house adjourned at one o'clock.

(tetuporarily, until Earl Vane should be qualified fora seat)
and Captain Pryce, of Cyffcnydd, were elected in the place
of Mr. Pension and Mr. Fefeaux.

A dividend of 6 per cent. on the ordinary shares having
been declared, the meeting separated.

LLANIDLOES A.ND NEWTOWN.

The half-yearly meeting of this company was held at
Llanidloes on Friday ; Mr. Ct. H. Whalley, M.P., in the
chair.

The CHAIRMAN moved the adjournment of the meeting,
but he was strongly opposed by Captain Jones, a director.
The chairman put on his h►t, and declared the meeting at
an end, but he did not leave the room, and the proceedings
were conducted by Captain Johns.

Mr. Henry Garteide and Kr. George Rae were re-elected
to the Board in the place of Mr. Whalley, the chairman of
the company, and Mr. Lefeaux. Mr. Parson and Mr. J.P.
Wilding were requested to resign their seats at the Board.
The proceedings then terminated.

The Suburban Traffic on the Great Western
Railway,

Some correspondence has passed between Mr. de
Salis and the directors of the Great Western Rail-
way, the former complaining very bitterly of the
suspension by the Great Western Railway of the
through traffic between Farringdon-street and
Windsor, which had been provided for a short time.
The writer points out that, by so doing, the Great
Western has done great injustice to the residents
upon the line, and inflicted a serious injury upon
their own shareholders, as the Great Western Com-
pany have embarked £300,000 in money and plant
towarps the construction of the Metropolitan Rail-
way. Mr. de Salis says that the neglect of the
Great Western to develop its suburba❑ traffic has
been continuous. "Your West Drayton station,"
he says, " with the wide and salubrious expanse of
country around it, appears destined to continue
limited in size to ten or twelve small houaes ;
situate on the South• Western line it would have
become a now Kingston. Your Hanwell and
Southall stations, with sites surpassingly well
adapted for villa residences, are to remain unuti-
lised and unbuilt upon, but if placed on the Brighton
line it would have become a Croydon ;" and as for
Ealing, he says, had the Great Western not barred
the line to the city it would have been a Norwood
or a Sydenham. The writer also points out the
great personal inconvenience and annoyance in-
flicted on the population of the suburban districts,
and that the policy pursued by the directors tends
to nip in the bud all the plans which
may be formed or forming for the future
progress and development of the beauties
interested. To this communication Mr. Saunders,
on behalf of the directors, replies :—" The
directors are anxious that the through communica-
tion should be resumed at the earliest practicable
period, and with this view negotiations are now
pending between the officers of the two companies;
but to enable the trlffic to be carried on in a manner
to afford proper accommodation to passengers tra-
veling to the City,without undue interference with
the traffic of the main line, much is needed to be
done in the shape of increased accommodation over
our own line, as well as in connection with the
Bishop's-road station. So long as passengers with
their luggage require to pass between the Metropo-
litan Railway and the down platform of the Pad-
dington station, inconvenience to some extent must
exist ; and altho'igh it is unnecessary that I should
say anything in reference to your remark as to the
want of attention on the Metropolitan Railway, I
think I may say that the directors of that company
are actuated by the same desire that is felt here, to
afford the best accommodation in their power to the
suburban traffic on the Great Western Railway, and
I hope before long that the running of through
trains may be resumed with advantage to the
neighbourhood and with benefit to the companies
themselves."