The Sun.
London, England, 1864-01-26 00:00:00

in the coffin.

THREE HUNDRED ATLANTIC VOYAGES.—Copt.
Edward G. Lott, of the steamer Persia, of the
Cunard line, was honoured with a complimentary enter-
tainment on Monday evening at Delmonico's Fifth Avenue-
house, previous to his commencing his 300th passage
across the ocean. A brilliant party was present,
many of whom were prominent citizens who had crossed the
ocean in company with Captain Lott. Mr. Henry A.
Smythe presided over the festivities. Eloquent speeches
were made after the removal of the cloth. Captain Lott
responded happily to the first toast, " The Guest of the
Evening." Samuel D. Babcock replied to" Union, in which
there is peace and prosperity." The Rev. Dr. Prime and
A. A. Low responded to "Religion and Commerce; may
they travel hand in hand throughout the world." Ex-Go-
vernor Gardner, of Massachusetts, responded in gallant and
delicate terms to " The Ladies," and hlr. H. A. Smythe
made some eloquent and finished remarks for " Absent
Friends," A beautiful silver testimonial was presented to
Captain Lott, the chairman making the presentation speech
in very felicitous speech.—New York, World, January 13.
DOMESTIC TRAGEDY IN CUMBERLAND.—OR Fri-

day last an inquest was held by Mr, Carrick, coroner
for the eastern division of the county of Cumberland, on the
body' of a young farmer named William Brown, who had
shot himself dead on the preceding day. Deceased lived at
the village of Oughterby, seven or eight miles west of Car-
lisle. Some months ago he married a Miss Hodgson, daugh-
ter of a neighbouring farmer. They appear to have lived
in great happiness, and to have been a very loving couple.
abaut three weeks ago the young wife was confined of a
boy, which circumstance was destined to be the end of a
happy married life. The mother died on Wednesday last, '
and the bereavement seems to have made her widowed
partner frantic with grief. On Thursday he went to his
mother's house and got a gun. Northing more was seen
of him till five o'clock, when a neighbour found his:dead
body on the road. It was lying face uppermost, and the
clothes covering the chest were on fire. A gun was rest-
ing on his body, the muzzle pointing towards his face. One
end of a string was tied to the trigger. and at the other was
a loop a few inches in length, by means of which he had
discharged ,the gnn with his foot. In his pocket were
found a powder. flask and shot, together with a copy-book,
containing the following pathetic lines, written in a trem-
bling hand :—" 1 hope the Lord will forgive me. Without
my Maggie I cannot be. You need (not) mourn me, be-
cause I must go. You will all look after our darling boy.
The little sum that would fall to my darling wife and mo
will make him comfortable some time after. My wish is
that we may be laid in one grave. This is the end of eight
or nine years' courtship I Now the shot must pierce my
heart. Oh, happy shall we be I" On another leaf were
the words—" The old dog Wattie met (me) at the Croftfoot,
KirkhamPton. Put me with mylove Maggie on Saturday!"
The jury returned a verdict of temporary insanity. The
body was buried on Saturday, along with that of his wife.
Leeds Mercury.
A WILFUL WOMAN .—A determined attempt to
commit suicide by starvation has just been made at
Gainsborough, by a young woman of 22, named Mary Beech
living as domestic servant with the toll-collector at the
bridge which crosses the Trent, and connects Lincolnsnire
with Nottinghamshire. There is a covered passage on each
side of the tollgate, with a door opening to the bridge and
another to the street, through which foot-passengers have
to pass. One of these passages is not used She r trlayaffic down
, and
in it the girl voluntarily shut herself up.
upon the cold flags, and for five days and four
nigh tgs per
re-
sisted in refusing food. At length the police ahe
lieving officer for the district were called in. They found
her very weak, so that it was apparent she would die if
prompt measures were not speedily adopted to make her
take food. The relieving officer, however, could only
offer the wont= an order for te workhouse, which sh
refused to avail herself of, and h
the police avowed them-
e
selves unable to interfere unless she were turned into the
street by her master—a proceeding the toll-collector did
not feel justified in adopting. The medical officer of the
district was next applied to with the view of ascertaining
the state of mind of the girl, for in the event of her being
pronounced deranged, the relieving officer would have the
power to remove her by force, but, on an examination
taking place, no evidence of insanity could be detected.
Persuasion, expostulation, and threats were all tried to in-
duce her to take some support, or to allow herself to be
taken to the workhouse, but to no purpose. At length
she was told that unless she consented to one of the two
courses pointed cut she would be turned into the street and
conveyed to the police-station. This threat seemed to have
some weight wit her, for she ultimately said "they might do
as they liked with her." Without giving her time to change
her mind a fly was obtained, and she was conveyed to the
union. Sho was so mush exhausted, although naturally
strong, that she had to be lifted in and out of the vehicle.
On getting her to the workhouse she was put into a warm
bath, and was ordered by the medical officer to have no-
thing stronger than gruel given her. It is said that she
has a most ungovernable temper and a remarkably obstinate
disposition. On a previous occasion, in one of her fits of
anger, shd tried to strangle herself, and she has more than
on‘e been in pribon for wilful damage,

SECOND EDITION.

SUN OFFICE, HALF-PAST 4 o'CLot

SLESWIG-HOLSTEIN.

FRANKFORT, San. 25.—The Sleswig-Ho:lstein
deputation leaves for Munich today, to thank the
King of Bavaria for the support he has given to
the cause of the Duchies, and to request lain to
continue it for the future. A. popular meeting hats
also taken place iu favour of Holstein. A precla •
ration to the German people was drawn up and:
voted, protesting against the attitude of Prtussia.
and Austria, and making an appeal to the secondary
and petty States of the Confederation.

The Condition of the Free Negroes on to
Mississippi.

(From the _Yew York Trtbune)

James E..Yeatman, president of the Western Sanitary,
Commission, recently visited the various camps in which;
the freedmen are gathered, from Cairo to Natchez, along;
the Mississippi. Concerning affairs at M,mphis he writes
as follows :—" Within the city of Memphis, not directly
connected with any of the camps or with the coloured regi-
ments, there are some 3,000 freedmen and women, mostly
freedmen, who are employed in various ways and at variou s
rates of compensation. Those employed by Governmen t
receive but 10 dols per month, while many could readil:f
earn from 30 dols to 50 dols per month. Those thus eras-
ployed are outside of the military organisation. I saw a
number of coloured men pressed into service (not military),
to labour at the rate of 10 dols per month, one of whom peti-
tioned to be released, as he had a good situation at 30 dols
per month. The firemen on the steamboat on which I was a
passenger from St. Louis to Memphis were all coloured, and
were receiving 45 dols per month. These men were afraidto
go ashore at Memphis, for fear of being picked up and forced
into Government employment at less than one-fourth their
existing wages. Besides the fact that men are thus pressed
into service, thousands have been employed for weeks and
months who have never received anything but promises to
pay. The negligence and failure to comply with obliga-
tions have greatly disheartened the poor slave, who comes
forth at the cell of the President, and supposes himself a
free man, and that by leaving his rebel master he is in-
flicting a blow on the enemy, ceasing to labour and to pro-
vide food for him and for the armies of the rebellion. Tares
he was promised freedom, but how is it with him ? Ho is
seized in the street, and ordered to go and help unload a
steamboat, for which he will be paid, or sent to work in the
trenches, or to labour for some quartermaster, or to chop
wood for the Government. He labours for months, arid at
last is only paid with promises, unless perchance it may be
with kicks, cuffs, and curses. Under such treatment he
feels that he has exchanged one master for many masters ;
these continued abuses sadden and depress him, and ho
sighs to return to his former home and master. He,
at least, fed, clothed, and sheltered him. Some-
thing should b 3 done, and I doubt not will be
done, to :correct these terrible abuses when the proper
authorities are made to comprehend them." Good-
rich's Landing presents another and more favourable
picture. It is the headquarters of the North-east
department of Louisiana, under command of Brigadier
General Hawkins, who has in command six regiments of
coloured troops, all well officered and thoroughly drilled.
One of these regiments is at Milliken's Bend, and two are
at Vicksburg engaged in working the fortifications. He is
justly proud of his troops, and has every confidence in them
as soldiers. The Infirmary Farms are intended for women
and children, and for men unable to do ordinary work.
"Dr. Littlefield, who is the physician of the Infirmary
Farms, is located at the Savage Place, where he has esta-
blished a Freedmen's Hospital. He reports he has to fur-
nish medicines and attendance to many of those on leased
plantations, especially to those on the places leased by ono
man who had leased five plantations, whose negroes are
greatly neglected and poorly provided for. The testimony of
quite a number of persons fully corroborated this statement.
One of the freedmen, Henson Jackson, working at Wilton's
plantation, said that they get corn wherever they can find it
on abandoned plantations ; that they frequently have to go
as far as Tensaa Bayon, that he has been without bread
for days, that four pounds of meat per week is all that is
allowed him, that he pays for his flour, and has worked
since April without receiving any pay or clothing whatever,
that he only receives tickets for actual days work, to be paid
when the crop is sold. Others from the same farm testi-
fied to the same thing, and labourers from other planta-
tions gave similar testimony. None received molasses, rice
or beans, and hominy only when they chose to make it
themselves. " The poor negroes are everywhere greatly
depressed at their condition. They all testify that if they
were only paid their wages as they earn them, so that they
could purchase clothing, and were furnished with the pro-
visions premised, they could stand it ; but to work and get
poorly paid, poorly fed, and not doctored when sick, is more
than they can endure. They do not realise that they are
free men. They say that they are told they are, but then
they are taken and hired out to men who treat them, so far
as providing for them is concerned, far worse than their
"secesh" masters did. Beside this they feel that their pay
or hire is lower now than it was when " the secesh" used
to hire them. This is true. At Milliken's Bend are 350
freedmen, mostly soldiers' families. At Omega, two miles
above, about 200 are engaged in cutting wood at 50c. per
cord and rations. At Van Buren Hospital are 419 persons,
and about 250 scholars, old and young. At Paw-Paw
Island, a few miles below, are about 1,550 persons in desti-
tute condition. At Young's Point, D. L. Jones, of the 9th
Louisiana Regiment, African descent, is in charge of the
camp. There are now some 2,100 in this camp, in miser-
able huts, tents, and hovels. There appears to be more
squalid misery and destitution here than in any place I have
visited. The sickness and deaths were most frightful. Dur-
ing the summer from 30 to 50 died in a day, and some days
as many as 75, during the latter part of June, July, and
August. Most of the medicines received were from the
Western and United States Sanitary Commissions. Al De
Soto, immediately opposite Vicksburg, there are about 275
old men, women, and children, to whom the Government
furnishes rations, but from some cause or other none had
been received for more than two weeks preceding my visit,
and great destitution and dissatisfaction existed. A. few
were earning a little more money by washing for the
soldiers. Their cabins are poor. Below De Soto there is a
large wood yard, carried on by Mr. Sweeney, who pays his
hands promptly, who are all well satisfied. They say that
if they can only get work and get paid for it, they will
be content and happy. This was the first and only
employer met with by me who had paid his labourers
promptly and well. At Natchez is a camp of 2,100 freed-
men, all in cabins, which are without proper light and
ventilation, overcrowded, and most prolific sources of
1 disease; 75 had died in one day. "I was informed that
some had returned to their masters on account of suffer-
ing. Thousands mast die for want of medicines and me.
dical attendance this winter. There are already teachers,
missionaries, and chaplains enough in the field; without
physicians there will soon be no scholars for the teacher to
teach, or souls for the missionary to save. This camp had
numbered 4,000 at one time ; now it is reduced to 2,100.
The same, I doubt not, can be said of other camps. Who-
ever will ride along the levee from Milliken's Bend to De
Soto, as I did, and see the numerous graves along the way,
for the distance of 25 miles, cannot doubt it. The whole
number of freed people gathered in camps and towns along
the Mississippi is about 25,000. There are about 15,003
coloured troops not included in this estimate.

SCHLESWIG-HOLSTEIN,

A letter from Kiel, dated Jan. 21, says :—The
Saxons left us here this morning between seven and
eight o'clock. There is only one railway line at
Kiel, the one going southward to Altona-Hamburg.
This line meets, at Neumunster junction, a short
hour from this, the line which leads from Altona
to Rendsburg. From Rendsburg the line proceeds
northward to Klosterkro, where it again splits into
two branches, of which one soon ends at Schleswig,
the other striking off to the westward, to Oersted,
Husum, and Tonning. At Oersted another line goes
northward to Flensburg, the utmost limit reached
hitherto by the railway in this peninsula. All that
we know hitherto is that the Saxons have gone to
Neumunster ; whether from there they will con-
tinue their journey to Altona, or whether they will,
turn to wards Rendsburg, is yet matter for specula-
tion. It has been said that the King of Saxony had
offered to the Frankfort Diet the aid of his troops
to repel the Austo-Prussian invasion ; but the Com-
missioners at Altona have as yet no orders from the
Diet, and it is quite impossible to believe that that
body would give its sanction to a proposal which
would lead to a civil collision between Germans on
the eve of a war with a foreign foe. The probabi-
lities are that the troops of the Confederacy will
keep out of the way of the advancing forces of the
two great Powers. The Prussian vanguard was to
reach Neumunster to-day, and we may expect to
see some of them here to-morrow. Before the end
of the month, it is expected, an imposing Anstro-
Prussian army will be stationed on the frontier of
the Eider. The commander-inachief of the Austro-
Prussians is old Field-Marshal von Wrangel, and
General Falkenstein is the head of his staff.
All is quiet enough here, but people look with no
little anxiety on the possible issue of a contest to
which the Austro-Prussian interference comes to
add such an unutterable complication. The move-
ment thus far had been, in the eyes of the Schles-
wigsHolsteiners, comparatively simple and natural.
They grounded their rights both on the principles
of freedom and nationality and on those of justice
and legality. For them, Prince Frederick of An-
gustenbarg was, by right of feudal succession, the
only legitimate heir of the two Duchies. The at-
tempt of Denmark to denationalise the Sehleswigers
had filled the measure of the people's ill-will against
that Power, and they deemed -themselves justified
in proclaiming their absolute separation from the
Danish Crown, and the accession of their lawful
Sovereign. Mind you, Ido not by any means assert
that they could be borne out in all these assumpe
Lions. I am not called upon to give an opinion as to
the legality of the Prince's clairsee, nor as to the pure
German nationality of all S'llleswig, nor on the right
psople may have, under all circumatanees, to set up
national rightsav;ainst long established dynastic
pretensions. A:;ls,.et I mean to say is that such were
their views, and that in these views they believed
they we:ald be supported by Germany in so far as
Germany may
be said to be represented by the
.Frankfort Diet. They were in daily expectation of
n recognition of their Prince on the part of that
Diet, when, by establishing a Ducal Government
sand raising an army, they thought they could pre-
pare themselves to make good their Duke's rights
in SChleswig no less than in Holstein.
So far, what was contemplated was merely a na-
tional war between the Dachies and Denmark,
which should decide upon whom the sovereignty of
Behleswig-Holstein should devolve. Whatever
friends Denmark might be able to enlist in her
cause, the Dachies felt sure of the support of all
Germany in a quarrel which involved, as they
thought, universal German interests. But now
the two great Powers of Prussia and Austria,
reeking up between them much more than two-
thirds of the might of Germany, take the affair
into their own hands, and occupy the Duchies with
views not altogether friendly to Denmark, but no
less at variance with those of the Frankfort Diet
and of the generality of the German people. With
and Prussia there is no question either of
nationality or of disputed succession. They are
not unprepared to recognise the integrity of the
Danish Monarchy ; nay, they are in a certain man-
ner pledged to support it ; only they think them-
eelves entited, and eren obliged, to meddle with
the internal affairs of the Danish Government, and
&mind the rcpced of a Constitution which the
King, perhaps. deemed necessary to the safety and
well-being of his State.
Again, I do not wish to sit in judgment upon the
coudnet the King of Denmark. I have no pre-
pumption to decide how far he was bcand to abide
by the Treaty of London, how far the November
Carstiu:ien violated that treaty, cr how far he was
induced by pressing necessity to depart from the
• engagements then and there entered into. My only
desire is to lay the whole question open berme the
reader, not from my own point of view, but from
that of there good Schleswig-Holsteiners, who con-
ceive they have a right to be heard, and are, they
say, determined to make themselves heard at any
rate.

Some sympathy, they think, might be shown to
the Schleswig-Holsteiners, who, after all, only
claimed that right to dispose of themselves which
begins to be acknowledged as common to all the
families of mankind. Some regard might be due
to the sentimental, though perhaps not wholly nn-
ambitious, aspirations of the Germans, who availed
themselves of the opportunity offered by a case of
what they deemed indisputable right to take the
first steps towards a strenuous assertion of their
nationality; but it is utterly impossible to under-
stand the ground and aim of the present Anstro-
Prussian movement, equally indefensible, as it
is here thought, on the score of old diplomatic
maxims and of modern liberal principles.
Austria and Prussia invade the Duchies with an
intent to recall the King of Denmark to the terms
of the London Treaty. But other Powers were
parties to that Treaty, and it is not said that these
have commissioned the Austro-Prussians '‘o act in
their name and with their consent. Austria and
Prussia, moreover, acted in 18`,1-2 as representa-
tives of the German Confee,eAcy, and they are now
pursuing a coarse not ;Ally not imposed upon them
by the Confederac-.„, but in a bold and wanton
opposition to its wishes. Those two Powers
have, in ireint of fact, the whole world against
them—i)e-nmark the Duchies, the German Diet
"1. people, and the framers of the London Treaty.
It is not in a matter of international policy that they
move at all ; they interfere in the internal manage-
ment of an independent State. The world would
soon come to a pretty pass if one or two Govern-
ments, on the mere strength of their superior armies,
were to take upon themselves to decide questions of
the home affairs of another Government. It is not
from Berlin, and not from Vienna, that men can
give sentence upon the difficulties which beset the
rulers at Copenhagen, and drove them from one con-
stitutional experiment to another in the hope of re-
conciling the irreconcilable. To give a Prince the
sovereignty over a people, and to prescribe the limits
of the power to be exercised over them, is to attempt
impossibilities. The dissensions between a Sove-
reign and his subjects are matter of private concern,
and interference with them is as unwise as media-
tion in conjugal quarrels. Constitutions in behalf
of a people have often been made the theme for

diplomatic stipulations. The Constitution of Sicily,
that of Hungary, of Poland, rested on the faith
of`treaties, but the violation of such compacts was
in all cases effected with impunity, unless the peo-
ple, who alone were the interested parties, had
power to demand their due, It well becomes Prussia,
indeed, to stand up for the people's rights, and it
well becomes Austria to be a stickler for national
Constitutions and the non-incorporation of provinces.
It is only a pity Danmark or some other stronger
State does not turn the tables upon them and take
up the cause of the oppressed nationalities groaning
under their yoke. The very Sehleswi,g-Holstciners,
thoc,e who are bitterest in their enmity to Denmark,
ver that she is unfairly dealt with, and that Prussia
d Austria have absolutely no other ground of
st her than the immense preponderance

action ag

opsrfor the forces brought against her
~ most people here still expect that Den_
..rk will make a stout resistance, and, if the
present thaw centinnes, by no means an ineffec-
tual re3istance. Neither are people at all sure

inav

that Dcnmarls will be left. single-handed in the