The Sun.
London, England, 1863-08-03 00:00:00

THE GORDIAN KNOT.

All reform must grow ; it cannot safely be made.
To lecture a man upon the nastiness of chewing
tobacco, while taking a pinch of snuff, seems to
him unreasonable and impertinent. We in the
Fres States must treat the black as a man before
we have any right to ask the Slave States not to
treat him as a chattel. It is this inconsistency
which makes the South look upon our anti-slavery
feeling as the simple arrogance of the pharisee, and
indisposes it to give that respectful attention to our
opinion which it would otherwise receive. The
Southerner points to that unerring index of con-
tent and wellbeing, increase of population, as a
proof beyond declamation or assertion that the
black face is more happy in its state of slavery
than in its condition of freedom. It points to the
record of crime in the Free States, which shows the
white race with a far larger average of criminality
than the black race, and asks us if that condition
is to be preferred which brings such results. It
points to the legislature of States which exclude
the free blacks from their soil, and asks why it
should be subjected to that curse which other
States so sedulously guard themselves from. IN hat
honest answer is there to such questions ? The idea
of the Tribune is to make all the blacks of the
United States American citizens, but is the notion
practicable ? Before entering upon so vast an ex-
periment would it not be advisable to make the
experiment upon a small scale ? Can it get the
State of New York to look upon the black as a man
equally entitled and equally capable as the white
to exercise the right of self-government ? We very
much doubt it. It will not do to say that the negro
is considered inferior in New York because his
race is slave in the South. No white race would
have remained slave at the South. That this is
true can be seen from our treatment of the Indian.
That race is a noble race, a far superior animal to
the negro, and yet the common sense of this
country sets them apart. Since the whites
landed they have murdered and cheated the
Indian eternally, and will do so until not a
red skin remains. As the Indian cannot be
white, he dies. He will not serve. You can as
easily yoke a lion. Bat the basis of the negro's
mental characteristics is self •enjoyment, and con-
sequently he serves and finds not much aspiration
beyond comfort. He does not long for liberty,
except as synonymous with exception from stated
toil. That the negro is capable of improvement,
that in the course of time,, by contact with the
white, his physical nature and consequently his
moral nature will be changed, is inevitable. When
that change is effected his social condition and po-
litical status will be changed also. This, however,
is the work of generations, and will be the result
of natural laws as slow but as certain as those
which govern the formation of coral islands in the
sea. From not perceiving this great truth, from
too eager aspirations that the good which genera-
tions are needed to effect be completed in their day,
men are abolitionists, and have inoculated the
people of the North with their unreason. There is
slavery at the South, not because men there differ
from men here, but because the South has an im-
mense black population, which it fears to keep in
any other condition. It has seceded because it
believed that the North attempted, through the
agency of a common government, to compel the
adoption by the South of its views upon the ques-
tion. In other words, it believes that it is vindi-
cating the great principle of self-government. With
this belief it is idle to suppose that the war will
be ended either by the taking of strongholds or the
beating of armies alone. Such is the intense love
of liberty in the American nature that all physical
power will have to be completely crushed before
opposition ceases. It is not the will of the South
we have to subdue, but the convictions of evil
which we have to dissipate.--New York World.

PONTEFRACT ELECTION.

TO THE EDITOR OF THE SUN.

Sir,—Having seen Sir C. Head's speech at Pontefract
in favour of free trade, &c., I am at a loss to know what he
means, as he advocates the renewal of the monopoly of the
Hudson's Bay Company and its presumed sovereignty over
three•fourths of British America against the public
interests. He is also the nominal chairman of the com-
pany, alio nomine.
Sir Edmond wishes to support British shipping, if in
earnest he can do so by exacting reciprocity from the
United States. TRAVELLER.

Constantinople letters and journals to July 23
have reached us. The National . Exhibition has
closed, and, as every one foresaw, its commercial
result has been a heavy balance on the wrong side
of the account. The total cost of the building and
its subsequent administration amounted to
2,000,000 p., against which the realised receipts are
only 450,000 p.; leaving a deficit of more than
£44,000. This sum, however, the Sultan has, it is
said, promised to make good to the company out of
his privy purse.
A communication from Stockholm of the 25th
gives some details of the arrival of Prince Amadeus
of Italy :—" The Prince has just landed here from
Lubeck and alighted at the residence of the Marquis
Thaliavarni, Italian Minister at the Court of Sweden.
All the members of the Royal family being tempo-
rarily absent from the capital, Count Manderstrom,
Minister of Foreign Affairs, waited on the Prince
to deliver an autograph letter from the King, in
which his Majesty expressed h the welcome which
regret at being
compell€d to defer for a few days
he desired to give him personally. While waiting
for the arrival of the Royal family, the Prince pro-
poses to go and visit the University of Upsal, as welt
as the naval works now in progress at the fortress
of Carlscrona."
The Court of Assizes of the Seine on Friday tried
two commission agents, named Krieg and Verel, the
former residing at Marseilles and the latter at Paris, both
representatives of the firm of Nadiroff and Co., silkmer-
chantsto Tiflis, on the 18eitfihi2s7Atahpnrdiolf
PlAaasrpti,rsi.lt appeared
April,
with intent
at Tiflis (Georgia), for forging and despatching t
"'e
teinjurelegr brothers Stepaun and Martiros Termykertit-
th
re-
ceived at Tiflis two telegrams from Paris, S
apparentlyt epanehi froman the BeivikidniellerCeehtahllat: ()ant thT
from his brother Martiros. One of
them was sent off
at 10 am. on the 18th, and contained
the following
words :—" Wool and cotton,b
much lower ; silk
higher; receiving two bales wool
sent." The other was couched business very bad at pre-
as follows :—" This morn-
ing's eespatch annulled;
await letter."
tiros received a, letter from his brotherOn May 14, Mar-
despatches had greatly embarrassed stating that these two
him.
endeavoured to discover the authors of t
them to the prisoners, who had
and traced
had forwarded them to
promote the interests of their
Co., by keeping Termykertitchi principals, Nadiroff and
time. Krieg at once confessed ang out of the market for a
ed
despatch to Verel in Paris
s that he had forwarded the first
it to Tiflis, and had been by letter, requesting him to send
of reality by n enabled to give it an appearance
ship's manifest seeingVerel the two bales of wool inscribed in a
confirmed this statement, and added
that having, after reflect ion, repented of the fraud he had
practised, he sent off
day to prevent its doing the second despatch the same
g any
mischief. The prisoners
both declared that they were not at first aware of
they had committed, and
seemed very penitent. The counsel for the defence argued
that their clients had not been guiltyat
the
of forgery in the legal
sense of the word, and denied that
brothers
kertitchiang had any claim for damages. Theja
y, T e rmy -
taking
that view of the case, brought in a verdict of not guilty
and the Court, in pronouncing their acquittal, said that the
question of damages must be decided by a Civil Tribunal.
A pleasure yacht built for the Empress by MM.
Mazeline of Havre was launched on Thursday
last in the Vauban Basin. Its dimensions are—length,
18 metres, and breadth, 3m.75 c. It has two screws, both
aft, worked by engines with tubular boilers constructed dux
designs by M. Cody, an engineer attached to MM. Maze-
lines's establishment. The hull is made of sheet steel, and
the internal fittings are mahogany. This yacht is intended
for the use of the Empress between Paris and St. Cloud. Its
draught of water is about 24 inches, and its speed nine knots
an hour.
The French Minister of the Interior has awarded
one first class gold medal, three first class and 70
second class silver, for acts of courage and devotedness per-
formed during the month of April last. The Minister of
Marine has also given two first class and nine second class
gold medals, 16 first class and 44 second class silver, and 65
official certificates of satisfaction, for similar acts in saving
vessels from shipwreck and otherwise.
LE Rol L'Antuss!—King Otho of Greece is, we
hear, about to seek rest "from his cares of government and
other sad experiences" in Bamberg; and he has promised
to aid the local theatre so considerably that a Dramaturg,
Victor Herzenskron of Munich, has been appointed by the
director. and great things will soon be heard of.
M. Huber, wonderful octogenarian, is just finish.,
line a new work for the opening of the coming season,