The Sun.
London, England, 1863-07-24 00:00:00

SPIRIT OP THB PUBLIC JOURNALS.

Timss.—Taking occasion from a memorial re-
cently presented to the Foreign Secretary by some
Liverpool firms, Mr. Cobden yet
be-
fore the House the question ofe erday brought
building vessels for
foreign belligerents. When a speaker so much in
earnest, and generally so conversant with the mat-
ters he discusses, can add so little to our k
it may be presumed that the subject is ppnreotiwtyledsegeell
exhausted, and this is indeed the case.
and lawyers, Federal partisans and Confederate°Politicians
sym-
pathisers, the law officers of the Crown and th
nCiohniesf,
Baron of the Exchequer have given their opinions,
and both politically and lesally the subject
.Ai on
Liverpool
well understood. 'Vb.. Cobden, by arguingis
the abstract propositions contained in the
memorial, and pointing out the dangers of such an
interference of individuals in foreign quarrelsgiven as thean
law is now said to permit, might have
treat
turn to the discussion ; but he preferred toa
the question as one of British injustice to the Fede-
ralreat States and possible Federal resentment. That
we, in our ill-will to the great Republic, are aiding
rebels i 0 s piratical war against it, and that we con-
sequently tie
d to our cost that we have incurred its
anger, are the assertions by which Mr.Cobden hopes
to influence the British Parliament, and obtain a
revision of the law. But we need not say that this
is not the ground taken by Liverpool memo-
rialists, who look solely to. the consequences of Chief
Baron Pollock's doctrine in case England shall at
any time be engagedwar, and who ask for a
change in the law, as a inmeans of inducing the world
in general to agree to a principle more favourable
to belligerents possessing large mercantile marine.
Whether the Chief Baron'sa be upheld or
not, it is perfectly clear thtrtuhlienFgoreign Enlist-
ment Act is a purely domestica enactment, intended
to bind Englishmen for the dvantage of England,
and that no interpretatione ofa it can give cause of
grievance to a foreign country. that America
or any other Power can demand of the British Go-
vernment is that it shall nwontideno,or allow any British
subject to do, anything is contraryAd to inter-
national law. Mr. Seward or Mr,
no-
thing at all to do wi:.l3 the 59°h ofGeoarnieslnlals ~ any
more than with the Act of Parliament g.which regu-
lates our street cabs. The Foreign Enlistment Act
gives no belligerent any right whariceh he does not
derive from the doctrines which
to ale question.
by
.
nations as binding on neutrals. The w
then, is whether international law forbidsl auneeautitori,),i
to build for a belligerent a ship which may be used
for warlike purposes. Now, without presuming to
anticipate the decision of the Court of Exchequer
next Michaelmas 1 ertn,_ we may say that the reesen
of the case combines with high authorities in. favour
. A
of the affirmative ship is contraband of war,
but so are rifles,
aca cannon, powder, lead, cordage, and
all other goods' c, pab le of being used in war. Yet
that these may be supplied by tse neutral to either
party without any breach of neutrality has never
been contested, except in an irritable moment by Mr
Seward test year, and even Mr. Seward did not per-
sist in an opinion which would have been contrary
to everything that has been written and acted upon
on either side of the Atlantic since. his own nation
has been, in existence. Our traders have sup-
plied both
parties with rigid impartiality during
the present war,taking their chance of capture by
Federal or Co
equal right to nfe a
Confederate cruisers, which have an
seize
cargo destined for Charleston
and a cargo
.under
for New York. Do these
dr a
ships come prohibition which does not
apply to rifles ande
it, and we believe gunpowder ? We cannot see
legal writer has
that no case and no passage from
any
all the ingenuity of been cited to that effect, though
at work. On the the Federal lawyers has been
Enlistment Act, as otherhand, the terms of the Foreign
well. as the dicta of lawyers and
politicianas,
sheiepeinandtosellnl.dicate plainly that merely
building
grounding
belli-
gerent gives noit unarmed to one
of complaint to the other.
The words of the
arm Foreign
" equip, fit out, or Enlistment Act are
Act was expressly
-intended
ship or vessel." As the
that might be " prejudicial to to prevent anything
thisto
the peace and welfare ofand tend to endanger
kingdom," the absence
of any prohibition whatever as regards the building
or seiline a vessel shows thatthe framers of that law
had no idea that such an Act could be made a griev-
ance by a foreign Power. T
arm-
ing of a vessel makes the port e equipping and
if of the neutral practi-
cally a belligerent port, and the vessel be thus
equipped and armed' it sets out once a formidable
enemy, and gives a just ground of complaint to the
belligerent whom it attacks.
ot what identity is
there between such a case andthat of a mere un-
armed vessel which is sold to a belligerent? Such
avessel leaves the neutral port unarmed
and defence-
less ; it is just as easily captured as any other piece
of contraband goods ; as soon as it is three miles
from the neutral coast it may be seized
taken into port, and condemned by the enemy
even
though it be
by the builder,
in the charge of a crew put on board
and though it may claim to be
It is precisely in the position of neutral property.
a cargo of gun-
powder or other material of
war. The ship, the Il
guns, the powder may all be consumed
legality by the neutral; and it is the business of 1
with equal
the other belligerent to look sharply
after such
specimens of contraband, and to
prevent them o
coming together in some foreign port, the high
seas, and by their combination constituting on
ituti
e' equipped armed, and fitte lout" ship
of
wa ng that
which
the Foreign Enlistment Act, as Well as ther
princi-
ples of international law, forbids us to send out of
our ports. If this view of the subject be correct, it
is evident that, according to the doctrines
of inter-
national law, as they are accepted at present, the
Federal Government has not the smallest erou d
, n of
complaint against this country. If our shipbuilders
sell vessels to the Confederates, the Northern officers.
must try to get hold of them as they come out of 'the
Mersey, and before othey take teir arm
aments on
board. In default of such vigilance th ey must be
content to hear of a Confederate man-of-war i
cru.sa
-
ing about in the Atic. As to Mr. Cobden'
course of argument, it is not likely to have much
effect on the people of this country. With the usual
infelicity of his school, he appeals to the most un-
worthy motives. He would frighten us into chang-
ing our law by threatening us with the future
ven-
gee.nce of his American will probably lead to ads. If certain vesse's
are allowed to sail, it "serape
ture between this country and the United States."
We are to consider the effect of such a state of things
on the minds of the shipowners of New York and
Boston. The American Government has taken
depositions as to the value of each captured ship
and cargo, and claims for the amount have been
made on the English Government. " Her Ma-
jesty's Government hadrefused to acknowledge these
claims, but some day. when the demand could be
made most inconveniently for the Government, the
result would probably be either humiliation or war."
We need hardly say that such considerations
will be treated very lightly by the British nation.
We take our stand on Tight and international' law,
and if we have these on our side we caMr. Cobden's
re not for the
resentment of any people whatever.
speech " called attention" to the memorial of the
Liverpool merchants, but had nothing whatever to
do with it. These gentlemen do not assert that any
breach of iniernational law has been committed hy
the senieg of ships, but they are alarmed at finding
how weak international law is, and they desire that
England shall call a Congress to change it.
They
advise that the Foreign Enlistment Act shall be
made more stringent, and that then the Foreign-
office should endeavour to
United-States secure the assent of the
Government of tbe
other foreign countries, to the- adoption of similar
regulations in those countries also"—thus admitting
that even by the law of the United States the acts
which Mr. Cobden incriminates are perfectly legal.
We have no fish to dispute the proposition of the
Liverpool merchants, that the present state of the
law gives advantages to
ca weak naval State against
a strong one, and may consequently be prejudicial
to England in some future war. But that is nothing
to the point. The question is what is the law, and it
is evident that the document on which Mr. Cobden
founded his speech expressly assumes the principle
against which be inveighs.
POST.—On the eve of the prorogation of Parlia-
ment the relations between Denmark and the
German Confederation certainly demanded a pass
ex.
-
ing word. Mr. Seymour Fitzgerald only
pressed the sentiments entertained by the majority
of Englishmen when he deprecated any attempt
by the (ierman Powers to coerce Denmark
through the medium of a Federal execution. It is
scarcely probable so long as a large proportion of
the Duchy of Schleswig are Germans, and so long
as that province remains an integral portion of the
Danish Kingdom, that perfect concord wi:l exist
between the latter and the great Federation of Cen-
tral Europe. Whilst Germans inhabit the Duchy
and supply a pretext for interference, and whilst
that Duchy, with its port of Kiel, remains an object
of envy to the German Powers, Europe may expect
to hear from time to time those demands made of
Denmark by the German Federation, which are spe-
cially characteristic of mighty States when address-
ing those which are comparatively weak. The sub:.
ject matter of the dispute North of Europ has so freqeuemayy
ntl
jeopardised the peace of
have been, as Lord Palmerston yesterday observed,
one of the most complicated which has ever en-
gaged the attention of statesmen, and its origin may
possibly be concealed in the obscurity of early
times; but, at all events, recent transactions have
tended ao much to clear away compl. '
necessary to
dispel obscurity, that it is by no means
a y to
be either a profound statesman or learned anti
query to understand fully the merits of the existing
issue between the Danish monarchy and the German
Diet. It is so clearly the policy of Great Britain to
maintain unimpaired the independence
and inte-
grity of the Danish Kingdom,
thl.t one might be

The Fatal Accident at Aston-hall,

The inquest on the body of the woman calling
herself the "Female Blondin," killed by falling from
a rope at Aston-hall, on Monday evening, was
opened on Wednesday afternoon, before Mr. W. S.
Poole, one of the coroners for the county of War-
wick. The first witness was Edward Powell, the
husband of the deceased, who stated that he resided
at King-street, Borough road, St. George's, South-
wark, that he had been married 17 pars, and ..itir-
ing that time his wife had followed the theatrical
profession ; she belonged to the original " Hunting"
family. She had been accustomed to w,lk upon
the tightrope ever sinee she was t'.ree years of age,
and had been in every town in England, Ireland,
and Scotland ; and never had a fall till nine years
ago, when witness caught her. Mr. Charles Porter,
the surgeon, who came up after the deceased fell,
said that the fall was the primary cause of death.
He judged the deceased to have been about 6 months
advanced in pregnancy. The secretary of the Hall
and Park Company was called to prove the letting
to the "Foresters" for a fete. Nothing was said
about the kind of entertainment to be provided, nor
did the park committee act in any way as a check,
or interfere with the kind of amusements. The
" agreement" having been produced, it set forth
that the committee of Foresters had the use of the
park and bowling-green ; also that one-fourth of
the gross amount of the receipts at the entrance to
the park and grounds, and for the sale of tickets,
was to be paid to the company. The coroner called
the attention of the company's secretary to the
posting-bill, which gave a programme of the fête,
and announced that " the committee had at an im-
mense outlay secured the services of extraordinary
artists, the Female Blondin, Madame Genieve, &c."
having done so,he asked whether, upon that bill being
published, the attention of the Aston-park committee
_ . _

was called to it, and any remonstrance made against
it. To this the secretary replied that no " official
corsmunication"was made to him about the bill; that
nothing was said to his committee about it, and that
they did not interfere. He admitted that the com-
pany had engaged the services of Blondin himself;
but that they had refused to have anything to do
with women. On Monday there were about 14,000
persons present in the park, while on one occasion,
without the " sensational class" of amusement, the
attendance did not exceed 4,000. The rope on which
the woman was walking belongel to her husband.
In reference to its condition, Mr. Henry • White,
foreman to Messrs. John and Henry Wright, rope
makers, was examined. He said that he had
looked at the end of the rope which was broken.
Supposing it to have been sound it would have taken
a weight of four tons to have broken it ; the rope
might have been examined before the breakage
without the flaw being detected. The outward ap-
pearance of the rope was such as might deceive any
one. To properly examine it part must have been
opened. It appeared to have the dry rot—to have
been need when wet and then put by. Each of the
threads of which it was composed was supposed to
be capable of bearing one hundredweight, but the
rope was rotten and had no strength, the strands
might be almost rubbed to pieces with the hand.
In reply to the coroner, this witness said that a mart
unskilled in the examination of ropes might not
have been able to detect that this one was defec-
tive ; but it was bad in every place and bad all
through. In the state this rope was, and it having
been subject to extra strain, the weight front a
person's body would be quite sufficient to break it.
The rope had not been spliced at the ends ; as to
whether it had been in another part was a question
for the husband of the deceased. Powell having
been appealed to by the coroner, said " that the
rope had not been spliced by him," that he bought
it from a maker in London who supplied all the
profession with these ropes, and that he gave 114 d.
per lb. for it. The Secretary of the Foresters' Com-
mittee was examined; he stated that ho had never
heard any complaint before the accident about the
rope not being safe ; at the time it gave way the
deceased fell straight for a short space, and
then upon her back. At this stage the inquest

'notified in treating with indifference threats which, " was adjourned. The rope was suspended.
lf carried into execution, would have the effect of thirty feet high, not thirty yards, as aeci-
lighting up a war in which England would assured!)
leotally stated. The Foreetere c mmittee had ad-
be found on the side of Denmark. But, nu tortu
rertieed to the public that at an immense on-ley"
nately, the tone in which certain British statesmen•
hey had secured the services, &e. The following
have treated the question at issue between Denmark
and the Confederation has given rise abroad to some letter to the secretary of the committee of that body
pardonable misconception. On rising from a peru- marks the truthfulness of that statement, and shows
sal of the celebrated despatch which Earl Russell for what a small amount the writer was willing to
addressed to the Danish Government in the autumn imperil his wife's life ;—" 6, King-street, Union-
street, Borough-toad, ,London, June 17. Sir,—ln
of last year one might well ask the question which
was put in the House of Commons yesterday by
Mr. S. Fitzgerald—What would England do in the answer to yours, just received, permit me to state
event of the threat, pf a Federal execution being that the lady will appear twice in the day and night
carried out ? The reply to this question given b 3 —once in the afternoon, and the other at night with
Lord Palmerston is of so reassuring a character that fireworks, if you think proper ; terms, .£l5. We
henceforth the German Powers will have no excuse
find all our own app
tempt to coerce Denmark by en armed force. aratus. You will have to find
for ignoring the necessary consequences oi any at-
oAs about six scaffold poles and a crab or winch to
to the policy and course of the Government in re- tighten the big rope ; poles of course you can bor-
spect to these disputes, the Government are desirous row. This lady is the principal artist now in Euge
that the rights of Denmark should be maintained, land. Should this offer meet your approbation an
and if any attempts were made to overthrow those answer by return will oblige.—Yburs respect fully,
rights they would be resisted." This is a clear out.
M. E. POWELL." Much blame is considered tc be
spoken policy, of which there can be no misappre-
hension, and which will recommend itself to every attached to the Aston-park Company, not only for
one. Denmark is not a large State, but it is as making no remonstrance against a performance of
sovereign and independent as Russia ; whilst, as such a character as this, which has terminated so
the Premier observed, its geographical position ren-
fa
ders it a matter of great importance to this countrytally, but still more as the amount to be paid to
them was dependent on the receipts, of which they
that its rights should be secured. Since the promul-
gation of the ordinance of the 30th March, giving were to have one-fourth of the gross.
to the Duchy of Holstein a separate constitution, all
pretexts for interference by the German Confedera-
tion in the affairs of the Danish monarchy has been
completely removed. England, said Lord Palmer-
ston, recognises the right of the Diet to exercise the
same control over the affairs of Holstein which they
are empowered to exercise over those of the other
States which constitute the Confederation'; but in
respect to Schleswig they were considered to have
no more right to interfere than in regard to any
independent State not a member of the Coofedera-
tion. This is so indubitably true, that it is to be
regretted that Lord Palmerston entertained for a
moment the frivolous pretext under which the Diet
justify their interposition in respect to Schleswig.
" There are many Germans in Schleswig," said Lord
Palmerston, " and the Governmtnt held that the
German Confederation had a right to represent, it
such a case existed, that the German inhabitants
were not placed on an equal footing with he sub-
jects of DPnmark." But is there not a fall .cy
lurking under .he expression, Germane ?" If l;
that term was meant German subjects, then the
ground lot. interference by the German Power whose
subjects they were would be intelligible. But if by
the term is simply meant persons speaking the Ger-
man language, and possibly cherishing German
likings and German traditions, then the ground for
interference becomes so shadowy that if entertained,
and generally acted upon, there would be no end to
the complications to which it would give rise. The
population of Schleswig, it is needless to say, are
Schleswigers and Danish subjects; niece that Dueler
forms as intimate a part of Denmark as Ireland does
of the United Kingdom, and they can no more be
called Germans because they speak the German lan•
guage than Belgians can be called French because
they speak French. Without for one moment at-
tempting to justify any distinctions which the Danish
Sovereign may draw between different classes of
his subjects, if any such distinctions exist, it is evi •
dently not open to a foreign Government to dictate to
him in the management of the affairs of his kingdom.
The Diet, indeed, confess that in regard to Schles
wig they are not entitled to interfere, and it is
only in the Duchy of Holstein that they threaten a
Federal execution. But by the royal ordinance of
March last the Holsteiners are placed in a position
which leaves them nothing to desire, and their pro.
tectors, the German Powers, nothing to demand.
Hence the dissatisfaction of the latter at the pros-
pect of their sole ground for interference in the
affairs of Denmark being removed. In the course
of the spring several of the German powers" pro-
tested" against the course taken by the Danish So-
vereign in giving to his subjects in Holstein a
liberal constitution, and a Federal execution was as
usual threatened. The German Powers are, how-
ever, far from precipitate, and in the present condi-
tion of European affairs there is little probability of
the execution taking place. Lord Palmerston has
pledged the Government to make every effort to
retain this much vexed question within the field it
has so long occupied—that of diplomacy. He is
more sanguine about the results of friendly nego-
tiations than we are. As for the Danish Go
vernment, the course they have to follow is simple
enough. They cannot admit the principle of foreigt
interposition in the conduct of their internal affairs.
On the other hand, we hope—though we doubt it
—that the German Powers will at length admit that
a common tongue and a common lineage do not give
them a right to prescribe the political privileges
which the subjects of a foreign State should receive
at the hands of their Sovereign.

SUMMER ASSIZES.

OXFORD CIRCUIT—STAFFORD. Yuly 23.
CIVIL COURT.
(Before Mr. Baron Martin and a Special Jury.)
WRIGHT V. IZOD.

Thia was an action on a bill of exchange for £l,OOO brought
by the endorste against the acceptor.
Mr. Sergeant Pigott, Mr. Powell, end Mr. A• S. Hill
were for the plaintiff, and Mr. Kenealey, and Mr. Macna-
mara were for the d.-fendant.

1 he plaintiff was Mr. Edwin Thomas Wright, of Wolver-
hampton, and the defendant was Mr. William Izod, of Bir-
mingham, and the defence was that no consideration had
been given by the drawer for the bill, and also that the bill.
was obtained from the defendant by the fraud of the
cirawer, who was Mr. Samuel Griffiths, of Wolverhampton,
an ironmaster there, who has lately figured in the Bank-
ruptcy Court, and that the plaintiff took the bill with no-
tice of the fraud and without consideration. The accept-
ance was obtained as part of a payment of £3,000 to be
made by the defendant to Mr. Griffiths lor a ,upply of
meling iron, upon a contract for such supply m de between
them on the 27th of December, 1861, up :.n a representation
made to the defendant that Mr Griffiths had 200 or 3001
tons of melting iron at Bilston Brook; that he was making
40 tons of iron per week, and that he would deliver 600
ton. in a very short time; whereas the defendant said that
there was no such iron there, and that they were not
making iron at the rate of 40 tons per week, and that in
fact, he never got the iron, though he had paid the consi-
deration for it. The plaintiff denied all this, and it ap-
peared that the defendant had got a part of the iron, whish,
however, he appropriated to a cheque for £l,OOO, which he
paid as another part of the £3,00A, and that he had also
got £5O, and had received £1,000; which he put against
another £l,OOO bill, the other part of the £,3000 payment.
The case had occupied the Court since 11 o'clock, and has
not yet concluded. •

COUNTRY MARKETS.

MANCHESTER-JULY 23.

At our market this morning there was a moderate at-
tendance of buyers, and there was a limited demand for
wheat. Eoreign held for an advance of 3d per cental on
last week's prices, whilst the little English offering brought
extreme rates. Flour neglected, but no change in prices.
Oats and oatmeal at the rates of last week. Beans and
Indian corn at 6d per qr more money.