The Sun.
London, England, 1863-02-14 00:00:00

THE CIVIL WAR IN AMERICA.

Transportation to Western Australia.

The following is a copy of the memorial presented
on Thursday by a deputation of colonists from Wes-
tern Australia and others connected with that colony
to the Duke of Newcastle on the conticuance of

transportation :
" My Lord Duke,—We, the undersigned, owners
of land and employers of labour, merchants, and
others interested in the colony of Western Australia,

beg most respectfully to lay before your Grace a few
facts connected with the subject of transportation to

the colony.

" Encouraged by the patient and attentive con-
sideration which you have ever given on occasions
when we have solicited the same favours, we have
the greater confidence in again availing ourselves of
your Grace's consideration from the fact that the
subject on which we desire to address you is just
now one of more than colonial importance and is
engaging the serious attention, as it affects the wel-
fare, of the kingdom at large.
" Her Majesty having named a special commis-
sion to inquire ' into the operations of the Acts re-
lating to transportation and penal servitude, and
into the manner in which sentences of transporta-
tion and of penal servitude have been and ale car-
Litd into_effeat under the provisions of the said Acts
or any of them,' we venture •to suggest that the
colony which we represent is in every way suited to
receive convicts on a large and comprehensive scale.

" The system is already organised to &peat ex-
tent, and has been found to work satisf#torily as
far as it has gone. The convicts, separated from
old associations and vicious companionship, have a
chance of redeeming their characters and of begin-
ning a new and better cneer, while their compul-
sory labour is much needed in works to which it is
difficult to get free settlers to apply themselves, the
making of roads and bridges calculated to open up
the internal communication and to develope the
great mineral and other natural wealth of the
country.

"Substantial prisons and depots have been already
built, and every provision made to receive a large
number of convicts, and to keep them in proper em-
ployment and control. The cost of their mainten-
ance is considerably lower than it would be in the
mother country (as appears by the last official re-
turn for 1861, showing the sum of £45,013 voted
for the whole convict service in Wcstern Australia,
the total number of convict ana ticket-of-leave men
being 1848).

" The difficulties in the way of escape are almost
insurmountable, and the neighbouring settlements
need have no apprehension from the propinquity of
convicts confined and surrounded by natural bar-
riers of such a formidable character as Western
Australia—separated by sea or by impenetrable
bush—so peculiarly affords.

" In proof of the success of the means adopted for
controlling the convicts and repressing crime, we
beg to call your Grace's attention to the following
passage in the report of the Toodgay Agricultural
Society, read at the annual meeting in Oct. last :

" In reporting on the moral condition of the district
your committee have much satisfaction in eta dng that with
the exception of one man committed for trial for forgery,
and an escaped probation prisoner convicted of cattle steal-
ing, the cases in the district poliee court have all been of a
trifling nature. This in a widely scattered district like
Toedgay (about 150 miles long by 60 broad) speaks well for
the conduct of the population here, considering so large an
area has but one sergeant and one constable of police for its
protection.

" We also desire to submit to your Grace some
remarks bearing immediately upon the subject in
the report of the York Agricultural Society, issued
in the same month, and to the following effect :
" The subject of labour must always be a matter of great
importance to a district like this. It is a singular fact that,
although there are many men roaming from ono point of the
district to another with the ostensible purpose of obtaining
employment, there is scarcely a good agricultural labourer
or man capable of taking charge of teams to be found
among them.
" Your committee, in their report last year, were of
opinion that the Government should be solicited to return
to the ticket-of-leave and hiring depot system in vogue
some years ago, and they feel confident that if this system
were carried out to a full extent not only the district would
be greatly benefited but a much greater facility would be
given for obtaining better and more suitable men. Thepre-
sent rate of wages to farm servants averages from £lB to
£24 per annum ; shepherds, £3O and upwards, with rations.
Your committee, while alluding to this subject, feel bound
to state that many of the ticket-of-leave holdeta and condi-
tional-pardon men that are in this district have proved very
useful and good farm servants.'

(From the Times' Correepowlent.)
NEW YORK, Jan. 30.
Another disaster to the Northern arms as great
and demoralising as that at Fredericksburg will
break the spirit of the Northern people. Their
patience is so sorely tried that a victory of some
kind is absolutely necessary to restore their self-
reap. tit or to infuse into their minds the smallest
particle of confidence in the men who pretend to
gc.vern them. Possibly one of the many blows that
are to be simulta; eously struck against the Confe-
derates within the next three weeks over an area of
800 or 1,000 miles square may be successful, but the
most sanguine believers in the invincibility of the
North and the indivisibility of the Republic scarcely
anticipate that all of them will be victories, or that
the result in any case will be the conquest of the
South and the collapse of the rebellion. Of the
thousands who hope there are not five who believe
in the final victory of the Northern cause; while
nine out of ten persons have come to the conclusion
that separation is better than the prolongation of a
war without other results than mischief to both
parties, and most of ail to t ree institutfojin And
the future prosperity of th 4reei4lliiligtrefr
is the under current of men's thoughts, the outer
surface of society betrays no sign of the gloom
within. This great city seems to revel in the hey-
day of luxury and enjoyment. The streets are
blocked with traffic. The theatres never before at-
tracted such immense crowds, and what calls itself
" Society" was never more resolutelybent on amuse-
ment. The only signs of war that meet the eye are
the flags at the recruiting offices, and now and then
a legless or an armless hero—the victim of the
bunglinghobbles anti brutal surgery of the battle field—
who bles through the streets or lounges at the
Park Barracks. In all other respects the city would
seem to be the home of untroubled peace and un-
ar, and one half of
rowdies and black-
pg rueacreddse thaevde a
tl prosper.gun iet yt 0 t Tit
eh e
them at least have left their bones on the battle
fields of Virginia and Tennessee, so that the city was
never before so free from the turbulent scum of the
population. Greenbacks fly from hand to hand in
unexampled profusion; and such is the daily ex-
penditure of the Government, and so enormous are
the gains of contractors and speculators and stock-
gamblers that all the trades and manufactures which
ersanmdembeogryga'rs have become
administer to luxury are more prospseuromusantyhaunneaet
apnenynitliemsse
adventurers
livingtur
rich, that the jewellers, the silkmercers, the carriage
manufacturers, the horsedealers, the upholsterers,
and others, are kept in perpetual activity to supply
the wants of the new class that has arisen to storm
the avenues of " Society" by their hospitality and
profusion. Never before were so many diamonds
sold in New York as are now sold within a week.
Never before did the mercers dispose of so many
rich silk, damask, and velvet dresses at extravagant
prices; the purchasers being the husbands of wo-
men who three years ago may have had visions of
satins and velvets in their sleep, but never thought
to see the day when they would be able to wear
either in a waking state. A " shoddy" aristocracy
has arisen, to whom all things in the way of wealth
are new, and who surround themselves with every
luxury that greenbacks can purchase. The piano-
forte manufacturers were never before so busy, and
cannot supply instruments of the highest price and
finish with sufficient rapidity to keep pace with the
demand, although the purchasers too often require
them for show rather than for use, and have yet to
learn the first rudiments of music. And it is not
only the class of nouveaux richeSrwhei-indulgClif
prodigal expenditure on articles of luxury. Men
who acquired wealth years ago by honourable trade
and industry make haste to invest their greenbacks
in real estate, in gold, in jewellery, and in dia-
monds; in anything, in tact, that is likely to fetch
a price in the markets of the world in the days that
seem to be fast approaching, when the paper dollar
will fall to 30 or 40 cent. Wall-street is in a
frenzy of speculation. Gold is ai 5E premium, and
cotton at 92 cents per pound. Mr. Chase is at his
wits' end, and poor Mr. Lincoln—if he do not—
might well exclaim, with Hamlet—
" The time is out of joint—oh, cursed spite
That ever I was born to set it right."

The Democratic party is closing
n the plea-
ranks, preparatory to a new onslaught o
up its broken
opponents, expelled
sant places of power, from which its own divisions,
rather than the strength of its
it two years ago. On the other hand, the Republican
party is breaking up. Its leaders lose faith in its
cause, and yield up its most vital
principles, one
after the other, as the war proceeds. The retire-
ment of Mr. Thurlow Weed from the editorship of
the Albany Evening Journal, which he has conducted
to the for 33 years, with unflinching devotion
history of the
inte-
rests of his party, is an event in the
war. Mr. Weed does not retire because of failing
energies, for he is still in the maturity of his
hi
Intel-
lectual powers. Neither does he renounce s con-
-1 nexion with the journal which he founded because
It no longer answers as a commerciel speculation,
tor it is still prosperous. But he withdraws from
vubltc life and editorial duty because he finds him-
self in hopeless disagreement with theparty of which
he has long been the ablest and least ambitious
leader. The war has made him a Conservative. He
c nuot follow the Abolitionists down the jagged
precipices of revolution. In his valedictory address
he says, "We have fallen upon evil times. Our
country is in immediate and imminent danger. I
differ widely with my party about the best means
of crushing the rebellion. That difference is radi-
cal and irreconcilable. I can neither impress
others with my views nor surrender my own
solemn convictions. The alternative of being in
strife with those I have esteemed or withdrawing
is presented. I have not hesitated in choosing the
path of peace as the path of duty." The confession
is more creditable to Mr. Weed's kindliness of heart
than to his civic courage, and almost amounts to
the crime of despairing of the Republic. What-
ever opinion may be formed of it by those who think
that the greater the perils of the
State, the more
imperative the duty of the true patriot to tad in
its salvation, whether by tongue or pen or strong
right arm, no one can fail to see that words like
these uttered at such a time by such a man are a
ca Republicans, tried
sfartthhiengfircsotntdimemenbaytiotnheoefuttihees
and
rev
onsibilities
of office, and found miserably wanting in every at-
tribute of statesmanship. Mr. Weed has studied
history. He knows that the Girondins have had
their day, and he, their Nestor, gives them notice
of their impending doom. Mr. Seward, Mr. Blair,
and all the other moderate Republicans who think
that the Union, with guarantees
to slavery, was
better than disunion, accompanied by servile as
well as civil war, must resign
or be dismissed.
Their hour has come. The President is in the
hands of the Jacobins. Marat, Dauton, and Robe-
spierre, in the persons of Mr. Horace Greeley, Mr.
Charles Sumner, and Mr. Wendell Phillips, are in
the ascendant, and will mould him to their pur-
poses. Not all the ridicule and opprobrium hurled
against him by Mr. Wendell Phillips has prevented
Mr. Lincoln from extending the right hand of fel-
lowship to his formidable opponent. Mr. Phillips
went to Washington on an errand of coercion, and
nfit
firmly
ly
theorists. He is no longer his in the toils of the
8 own master. The
hemen
coerced.
o f one
hold of him, and
[ADVERTISEMENT.] —lion ' . OWaY s Ointment and ri. .
-I, _ they will use him as they please. No sentiment of
For bad legs, bad breasts will stand in their way, Their
o,iisicorbutic or scrofulous sore.s, loyalty . . .y• cause is
this is ‘ genuine specific '
mony of thousands, who have eexgrtqeful and eFnest. testid- desperate, and, being convinced, about a year after
ideai' h The
aPvreesgi President
power over these complaints,
and
derielimed their unrivalled desperate,
had arrived at the slime conclusion, that
from prostrate helplessness and a cwontzis.thavk been raised
neither conquer.. . nor exterminate the South,
themselves and others, renders it quite duiniewei loathsome to they can
en-
large, in this place, upon its extraordinary cveisrstary toos The and that emancipation is disunion, they have deter-
parts affected should be bathed with lukewarm water,e.and • dto strr gle for the mastery of the North, An
when the pores are thereby opened, the Ointment mine ,g .
be rubbed in at least twice a day all round the complaining
oriild
Illinoisj‘:;arnal—and at this moment both Illinoisand
parts.lt then penetrates to the seat of the
andpermanent disorder, and ind;ana are as restiff in the Union as South Carolina
effects a thorough
defines their position and in-
-30 months ago—
are composed of rare balsams as mild as they are p was
van- . " it asks, "are the Abolitionists
caoious. tentions. ii To what,

Many of the gentlt men who have signed this
memorial can beer tt stimony, of their own personal
observation and knowledge, that numbers of con-
victs who have served their time of punishment or
probation in the colony have not only become re-
formed characters but are themselves employers of
labour, and honourably assisting in the develop-
ment of the great national resources of the colony.
" Finally, we beg to sum up the advantages
which appear in our opinion to recommend West-
ern Australia to the attention of her Majesty's Go-
vernment as a convict colony. Its comparative
isolation fini3 the difficulties it prevents in the •att.

oh ecape ; the t,ucce rs which has attuticlud the sys
;em Ain:Ay et=l,lbiished ; the cheapness of p-ovi-
sions and LOL:A Tient tconorny in ihe ntointenance
of criminals ; the desire ut the colonists for an ex-
tension Of transportation ; the adequate means al-

ready prepared and expenses incurred for providing
for and securing a much larger number of men than
has yet been sent; the ample scope for their em-
ployment in works essential to the profitable prose-
cution of enterprise and to the realisation of the
natural wealth of the colony in timber, minerals,
&c. ; the excellence of the climate, wherein epide-
mics are almost unknown ; these are considerations

which induce as respectfully but most earnestly to
ask of ht.'. Majesty's Government an extension of
the system 01 transportation already so successfully
and only in too limited an extent carried on for the
last 12 years, and to trust that they will be con-
sidered of sufficient force to induce the sending out
of an increased number of convicts of whom there
may be a reasonable hope of reformation.
" We have the honour to remain, my lord duke,
your grace's obedient servants,
" HENRY A. SANFORD, 23, Cadogan-place.
" HENRY POWNALL, 63, Russell-square.
" Thos. A. YULE, 12, Bridge-avenue,_ Hammersmith."
CHARLES WITTENOOM, 3, Devonshire-place, Turn-
ham-green.
" CAVAN LUBBOCK and Co., 29, Finsbury-circus.
" HENRY MANNING, 251, High Holborn.
" WILLIAM FELGATE and Co., 4, Clement's lane, Loin.,
bard • street.
" LEE STEERE, Jayes, near Dorking, Surrey.
" CHAS. E. MANGLES, Pyle-park, Farnham.
"R. PHILLIPS, Colonel, Chatham.
" R. M. HABGOOD, 60, Moorgate-street.
" JOHN CHAPMAN, 2, Leadenhall-street.
" J. E. HENDERSON, Deal.
" ALEXANDER ANDREWS, 6, Church-court, Clement's-
lane.
" PETER BOLT, St. Michael's-house, Cornhill.
" GEORGE NICHOLAS, 3, Abchurch-lane.
" LEMON HART and SON, 42, Trinity-square, Tower-
hill.
" JAMES MORRISON and Co., Philpot-lane.
" FREDERICK MANGLES, Pendell-court, Surrey.
" FREDERICK MOORE, 15, Gresham-street.
" H. IL GRELLET, 41, Lime-street.
street.
"WILLIAM
F LLNIAM
rrFREDERICK MOORE, 7, Great Winchester-
" JAMES M.`Doh.Ln and Co., 30, Moorgate-street.
"J. . POWNALL, Lincoln's-inn.
:
tr T. IG4INAHE'AUM,I3
" CHARLES GoswELL, Lombard-street.
' Jorm c' -LlNcx and SON, Abchurch-lane.
" GEORGE and JOSEPH OLIVER, High-street, Wap.
jpe.pr
.K, Kentish-town.
'n ~
J.
in
g.
~,Jr.
mEIIILELRIsFANT, Ottory St. Mary, North Devon.
4i eN. 31.
Cossington, Somerset,"