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London, England, 1863-01-13 00:00:00

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THE SUN, LONDON; TUESDAY EVENING, JAN VARY 13, 1863.

The Proclamation of President Davis.

and humanity, ari,7l- be sent home on the usual parole that
they will in no manner aid or serve the United States in
any capacity during the continuance of this war, unless
duly exchanged.
3. That all negro slaves captured in arms be at once do-
livered over to the Executive authorities of the respective
States to which they belong, to be dealt with according to
the laws of said States.

' allotted to them, and not luxuries or comforts which
the, honest poor could not command. In Ireland the
system of penal servitude had worked well, because
when the sentence was commuted the criminal was
still kept under surveillance, and was furnished
with work in the prison at trades there taught them,
and strange as it might appear the men so taught
and employed were eagerly sought for in the manu-
factories here. If the system thus guarded and
carried out with such precaution answered so well
in Ireland, he saw no reason why, if the same means
were adopted, it should not be equally successful in
this country. He opposed the suggestion of branding'
the criminal on his leaving the gaol as tending to
degrade him beyond redemption, and he doubted
but little if it had been adopted that instead of 400
out of 1,400 discharged criminals, who they had
been told had returned to their criminal habits
within a given time, they would have had the whole
1,400 preying upon society. He submitted that the
Government works and the Government manufac-
tures would afford ample means for providing
con-
victs with employment, both while undergoing their
sentences and when released on tickets-of-leave,
while it would effect a considerable saving of public
money.

-- -.-
BI THE PRESIDENT OF THE CONFEDERATE STATES-A

PROCLAMATION.

Whereas, a communication was addressed on the 6th day
of July last (1862), by General Robert E. Lee, acting under
the instructions of the Secretary of War of the Confederate
States of America, to General H. W. Halleck, CoMmander-

in-Chief the United States Army, informing the latter that
a report had reached this Government that Wm. B. Mum-
ford, a citizen of the Confederate States, had been executed
by the t nited States authorities at New Orleans, for having
pulled down the United States flag in that city, before its
occupation by the United States forces, and calling for a
statement of the facts, with a view of retaliation, if such

4. That the like orders be executed in all ctiies with re•
spost to all commissioned officer of the United States when
found serving in company with said 'slaves in insurrection
against the authorities of th-e-cliffereit States of this Confe-
deracy.

In t.lstimony whereof I have signed these presents, and
caused the seal of the Confederates States of America to be
affixed thereto, at the city of Richmond, on this 23d day of
December, in the year of our Lord, 1862.

outrage had really been committed under the sanction of
the authorities of the United States :

And whereas (no answer having been received to said
Letter), another letter was, on the 2d of August last (1862),

JEFFERSON DAVIS.
By the President,
J. P. BENJAMIN, Secretary of State.

addressed by General Lee, under my instructions, to General
Halleck, renewing the inquiries in relation to the execution
of the said :‘1 umford, with the information that, in the event
of not receiving a reply within 15 days, it would be assumed
that the fact was true, and was sanctioned by the Govern-
ment of the United StKtes :

And whereas an answer, dated on the 7th of August last
(1862), was addressed to General Lee by General H. W.
Halleck, the said General-in-Chief of the armies of the
United States, alleging sufficient causes Er failure to make
early reply to said letter of the 6th of July, asserting that
" no authentic information had been received in relation to
the execution of Mumford, but measures will be immedi-
ately taken to ascertain the facts of the alleged execution,"
and promising that General Lee should be duly informed
thereof:

Mr. WALKER MARSHALL considered the circum-
stances of England were so different to those of Ire-
land, that a system which might succeed in the lat-
ter country might altogether fail in the former. The
ticket-of-leave system, coupled with the discipline
and dietary of the gaols, failed in the three great
requirements of all punishment—viz., that they
should be certain, punative, and reforma•
tory. He suggested that professed criminals, or
persons convicted more ,than once, should be kept
on poorer diet 'and be subjected.to greater severity
in the gaol than the labouring. man who was con-
victed for the first time, andwho ought, to be kept
in a state of health that would enable him to resume
his ordinary work on his release. For the State to
undertake .the duty of teaching:criminals a trade,
and provide them with work, would be NA() more
for them than for the honest portions of the com-
munity.
The debate was then adjourned to the next meet-
ing, and a vote of thanks to the chairman concluded
the proceedings.

And whereas, on the 25th of November last (1862),another
letter was addressed, under my instructions, by Robert
Ould, Confederate agent for the exchange of prisoners,
under the cartel between the two Governments, to Lieu-
tenant-Q9loml W. H. Ludlow, agent of the United States
under said cartel, informing him that the explanation pto-
mised in the said letter of General Halleek, of the 7th of
August last, had not yet been received, and that, if no
answer was sent to the Government within 15 days from the
delivery of this last communication, it would be considered
that an answer is declined :

And whereas, in a letter, dated on the 3d day of the present
month of December, the said Lieutenant-Colonel Ludlow
apprised the said Robert Ould that the above-recited com-
munication of the 19th of November had been received and
forwarded to the Secretary of War of the United States,
and whereas this last delay of 15 days allowed for answer
elapsed and no answer has been received :
And whereas, in addition to the tacit admission resulting
from the above refusal to answer, I have received evidence
fully establishing the truth of the fact that the said Wm.
B. Mumford, a citizen of the Confederacy, was actually and
publicly-executed, in cold blood, by hanging, after the oc-
cupation of the city of New Orleans, by the forces under
Gen. Benjamin F. Butler, when said Mumford was an un-
resisting and non-combatant captive, and for no offence
even alleged to have been committed by him subsequent to
the date of the capture of the said city :
And whereas, the silence of the Government of the United
States, and its maintaining of said Butler in high office
under its authority, for many months after his commission
of an act that can be viewed in no other light than as a de-
liberate murder, as well as of numerous other outrages and
atrocities hereafter to be mentioned, afford evidence too
conclusive that tue said Government sanctions the conduct
of the said Butler, and is determined that he shall remain
unpunished for these crimes :
Now, therefore, I, Jefferson Davis, President of the Con-
federate States of America, and in their name, do pronounce
and declare the said Benjamin F. Butler to be a felon, de-
serving of capital punishment. Ido older that ho shall no
longer be considered or treated simply as a public enemy of
the Confederate States of America, but as an outlaw and
common enemy of mankind, and that, in the event of his
capture, the officer In command of the capturing force do
cause him to be immediately executed by hanging.
And I do further order that no commissioned officer of the
United States, taken captive, shall be released on parole,
before excnange, until the said Butler shall have met with
due punishment for his cr mes.
And whereas, the hostilities waged against this Confede-
racy by the forces of the United States, under the command
of said Benjamin F. Butler, have borne no resemblance to
such warfare as is alone permissible by the rules of inter-
national law or the usage of civilisation, but have been cha-
racterised by repeated atrocities and outrages, among the
large number of which the following may be cited as ex-
amples :
Peaceful avid aged citizens, unresisting captives and non-
combatants, have been confined at hard labour, with chains
attached to their limbs, and are still so held in dungeons
awl. fortresses.

The Royal Geographical Society.

An interesting meeting of this society was held
at Burlington-horse last evening. Sir Roderick I.
Murchison presided, and there was a numerous at-
tendance of members and others. Among those pre-
seat were the Earl of Sheffield, Lords Strangford
and De Blaquiere, Admirals Sir E. Belcher, R. Col-
linson, and Elliott; t ord A. Churchill, M.P.; Mr.
M. Milnes, M.P.; Mr. Danby Seymour, M.P.; Sir
H. Rawiinson, Sir R. Alcock ; Colonels Baynes.
Stewart, Rark, and Shaffner; Major Kane, Captain
and Mrs. Burton ; Captains Belford, Glyn, and Sel
wyn, R.N.; M. Du Chaffin, Mr. Alderman Finnis,
Dr. Rae, Ducket, Day, Goss, and Beke, Professor
Tyndal, Sir Digby Neave, Sir Charles Bright;
Messrs. Charles White, Osborne Smith, J. Lyons
M'Leod, &c.

The minutes of the previous meeting having been
read by the hon. secretary, Dr. Norton Shaw, and
some preliminary business despatched,
Mr. J. A. MANN read a paper on Ocean Currents
on the North-east Coast of South America. The ob-
ject of the paper was to present an account of the'
voyage, in July and August, 1862, of the Monte
Christo from Cayenne, in Guiana, to Paranahiba, in
Brazil, in which some extraordinary phenomena
corrected with the Guiana current were experienced.
The popular idea is that this current always runs
in a north-west direction, at a rate varying from
one to four knots per hour; but in this voyage
of the Monte Christo it was found that the
current was entirely reversed, running at a rate
of 41 knots per hour—a circumstance which, it
proved, would upset the received ideas not only on
the subject of this particular, but of the entire
ocean streams. Much evidence was adduced, and
well authenticated, to prove the phenomena de-
scribed, and although, as Mr. Mann stated, he was
not able to secure as satisfactory observations as he
could wish, it seemed that there was no good reason
to doubt its existence.

Others have been submitted to a like degrading punish-
ment for selling medicines to the sick soldiers of the Confe-
deracy.
The soldiers of the United States have been invited and
encouraged, in general orders, to insult and outrage the
wives-, the mothers, and the sisters if our citizens.

Helpless women have been torn from their homes and
subjected to solitary confinement,—some in fortresses and
prisons, and one especially on an island of barren sand, un-
der a tropical sun; have been fed with loathsome rations
that had been condemned as unfit for soldiers ; and have
been expOse,d to the vilest insults.
Prisoners of, war who surrendered to the naval forces of

Captain MAURY, of the American navy, being
called upon by the president to make some remarks
upon this subject, said that during the last year or
two his mind had been occupied with other matters
than ocean currents—(hear, hear)—and he very
much regretted that he had lately had very little
to do with the sea. But he must express his thanks
to Mr. Mann for the very interesting and philoso-
phical paper he had laid before them. That gen-
tleman had truly said that these currents were ap-
parently most capricious, for sometimes they not
only did not run forwards, but they even turned
and ran backwards. When he was at Bermuda, on
his way hither from South Carolina, he saw an
officer of her Majesty's navy who had been cruising
for some years on the North American station, and
he was told by him a fact corroborative of what
was stated in the paper just read—viz., that on his
passage from Halifax to Bermuda he had come
across this extraordinary phenomenon ; that the
Gulf stream actually ran to the southward and west-
ward. The temperature of the water was all right,
but his reckoning was all wrong. On going back
he tried it again, taking care to verify his instru-
ments, and, singul.,r to relate, it happened again
that the Gulf stream not only was not running in
its usual course, but was running backwards. He
thought the action of the Gulf stream accounted
for the mild winter now being experienced in Eng-
land. It operated like a hot-air furnace in the
sea, mitigating the temperature, and to what-
ever eccentricities it might be liable in its course,
it reached the shores of this country in
the long run, influencing its climate. The pecu-
liarities of the Guiana current were almost as re-
markable as those of the Gulf stream itself. Ships
sailing from the month of the Amazon to Rio Ja-
neiro had to stretch out to the northward, and west-
ward until they reached 25 or 30 deg. north when
about the longitude of 60, and then they got into
the trade winds and came south again, thus dodg-
ing those very currents which Mr. Mann's observa-
tions showed to be of an exceptional nature.
Before proceeding to the next paper,
The PRESIDENT said he had received within the
last 24 hours an interesting letter from that distin-
guished African traveller and his excellent friend,
• Dr. Livingstone. With the concurrence of the
Council of the society he would now read it. It was
as follows :

the 'United States, on agreement that they should be re-
leased on pirole, have been seized and kept in close con-
finement.

Repeated *pretpats have been sought or invented for
plundering the inhabitants of the captured city, by Ikea

levied and collected 'under threats of imprisoning recusants
at hard labour with ball and chain. The entire population
of Now Orleans have been forced to elect between starva•
Von, by the confiscation of all their property, and taking'
an oath against conscience to bear allegiance to the invader
of their country.
Egress from the city has been refused to those whose for-
titude withstood the test, and even to lone and aged women,
and to helpless children ; and after being ejected from their
homes, and robbed of their property, they have been left to
starve in the streets or subsist on charity. •
The slaves have been driven from the plantations in the
neighbourhood of New Orleans until their owners would
consent to share their crops with the Commanding-Gene-
ral, his brother, Andrew J. Butler, and other officers, and
when such consent had been extorted, the slaves have been
restored to the plantations, and there compelled to work
under the bayonets of the guards of United States' soldiers.
Where that partnership was refused armed expeditions have
,been sent to tho plantations to rob them of everything that
was susceptible of removal.
And even slaves, too aged or infirm for work, have, in
spite of their entreaties, been forced from the homes pro-
vided by their owners, and driven to wander helpless on
the highway.

By a recent general order, No. 91, the entire property in
that part of Louisiana west of the Mississippi River has
been sequestrated for confiscation, and officers have been
assigned to duty, with orders to gather up and collect the
personal property, and turn over to the proper officers, upon
their receipts, such of said property as may be required for
the use of the United States' army; to collect together all
the other personal property, and bring the same to New

Orleans, and cause it to be sold at public auction to the
highest bidd, rs—an order which, if executed, condemns to
punishment, by starvation, at least. a quarter of a million of
human beings, of all ages, sexes, and conditions, and of
which the execution, although forbidden to military officers
by the orders of President Lincoln, is in accordance
with the Confiscation Law of our enemies, which he has
effected to be enforced through the agency of civil officials.

And, finally, the African slaves have not only been in-
cited to insurrection by every licence and encouragement,
but numbers of them have actually been armed for ase"le
war—a war in its nature far exceeding the horrors and
most merciless atrocities of savages.
And whereas the officers under command of the said
Butler have been in many instances active and zealous
agents in the commission of these crimes, and no instance
is known of the refusal of any of them to participate in the
outrages above narrated.
And whereas, tho President of the United States has by
by public and official declarations signified not only his Ap-
proval of the effort to excite servile war within the Confede-
racy, but his intention to give aid and encouragement
thereto, if these independent States shall continue to refuse,
submission to a foreign power after the Ist day of January
next, and has thus made known that all appeal to the law
of nations, the dictates of reason, and the instincts of hu-
manity would be add'reesed in vain to our enemies, and
that they can be deterred from the commission of these
crimes only by the terrors of just retribution.
Now, therefore, I, Jefferson Davis, President of the Con-
federate States of America, and acting by their authority,
appealing to the Divine Judge in attestation that their con-
i. STthaatetea,ldlocoorardimeri
con-
duct is not guided by the passion of revenge, but that they
reluctantly yield to the solemn duty of redressing by neces-
sary severity crimes of which their citizens are the victims,
ridot issue this my proclamation, and by virtue of my autho-
Y as Commander-in-Chief of the armies of the Confede-
ratesidered
robbers and criminalscommissioned officers in the command of the
as
Soldier. Butler be declared not entitled to be eon-
said Benjamin p
a engaged in honourable warfare, but as
each of them deserving death; and that they, and
pace, be,'whenever captured, reserved for ma-
inT htahtet the
armyp rvoaft es soldiersaid Bet uonroommissioned offl-
- as only the
by his orders, and not as free agentsof thateiimes perpetrated
instruments used for the commission
they therefore
be treated whoa captured as PriMerA•of vatz. with madam

" River Rovuma, Oct. 10, 1862.

" My dear Sir Roderick,—We have just returned
from a month's exploration of the Rovuma River.
We turned at long. 38 deg 35 min. east, and lat.
11 deg. 13 min. south; so, assuming tLe longitude
of the anchorage to be 40 deg. 30 min. east, and lat.
10 deg. 28 min. south, we went about 114 miles, as
the crow flies, from the coast. Adding our longitude
and latitude together, we went 156 miles up the
river. It was unusually and excessively low, and
entailed fregaent dragging of the boats at the
crossings. When the water split up into three
channels the work was grievous ; but having chosen
e
the dry season, when we cannot do much in th
e;
Zambesi, we put a stout heart to a
never stopped except on Sundays, and
f
brown.
44 10 down find ourselves rather tired and
44 The bed of the river is aboutw te tillrewea-nq
500
feetoBl after
eraeY brae,
never
daysithab
high.
)hof..
land, milen
wide.whic h looks lti
sl
like ranges nkedbyo
af. hills,
Sometimes the spurs of the high land come close
to the water, but generally there is a mile of
level alluvial soil between them and the bank. So
few people appeared at first, it looked like a
land to let,' but, having walked up to the edge of
the plateau, considerable cultivation was met with,
though to make a garden a great masa of brushwood

~ ~L

IN F. Tjr
of only two-and-:t-half *files betweetathosevr,Oria
nate lines. Having indicated 4,0 w a minAtifit
SpeC:i ion of doubtful or dangerous ereas rniefkitii4
be affected, ho suggested that Captain 1304MaPii-4,1,14;
Hue of soundings should form,; es it wer th 0044;
base of operations, and be taken as-the centre of affpsl,
Iwo-mile longitudinal b?lt which he 'proposed to;
have surveyed. The entire work might, he thought,
be finished in five or six months. Summing
up the advantages of his plan, he remarked that it
would furnish no less than 640 reliable observations
extending across the entire deep water of the
Atlantic, and affording a basis upon which its whole
sea bed might ultimately be mapped out. In con-
clusion he said the task was unquestionably arduous.
Its execution might prove costly and tedious. But
there it was, staring us in the face—a task which
we must either manfully grapple with and master,
or leave unfulfilled to our successors the accomplish-
ment of the grandest international project that
human sagacity had heretofore suggested. The
paper was listened to with marked interest, and re-
peatedly applauded. At its close

PRICE..... -..4d.
STAMPED ....sd.

nibf
re uedlns, tgbhhubat tedac canalluenlapiynred away. The women and children
of toa m
native objection
anb
beer.
eoor t.
Tqo
liquor
rr
e afraid,wari
ethi
n hha
inemya, asked
trees on the slopes, plenty of ebony in some places,
and thickets of brushwood. The whole scenery had
a light gray appearance, dotted over with masses of
green trees, which precede the others on putting
on new foliage, for this may be called our winter.
Olher trees showed their young leaves brownish
red, but soon all will be gloriously green. Further
up we came to numerous villages, perched on sand-
banks in the river. They had villages on shore
too, and plenty of grain stowed away in the woods.
They did not fear for their victuals, but were afraid
of being stolen themselves. We passed through
them all right, civilly declining an invitation to
land at a village where two human heads had been
cut off. A lot of these river pilots then followed us
till there was only a narrow passage under a high
bank, and there let drive their arrows at us. We
stopped and expostulated with them for a long
time; then got them to one of the boats and ex-
plained to them how easily we could drive them off
with our rifles and revolvers, but we wished to be
friends, and gave-about 30 yards of calico in pre-
sents in proof of friendship. All this time we were
within 40 yards of a lot of them, armed with mus-
kets and bows, on the high bank. On parting, as
we thought, on friendly terms, and moving on, we
received a volley of musket balls and arrows, four
bullet holes being made in my sail, and finding that
we, instead of running away, returned the fire,
they took to their heels, and left the conviction
that these are the Border ruffians who at various
points present obstacles to African exploration
—men stealers, in fact, who care no more
for human life than that respectable party in London
who'stuffed the Pio'neer'slife-btoys with old 'straw
instead of cork. • It wasesore against the grain to
pay; away ;that eelico e it was submitting. to be
robbed for the sake of peace. It cannot be called
' black mail,' for that implies .threrendering of im-
portant services.by Arabs;' nor custom dues.'
It ie robbery Perpetrated by any one who has a
traveller or trader in his power, and, when tamely
submitted to; increases in amount till' wood, water,
grass, and every conceivable .subject of , offence is
made an occasion for a fine. On our return we
passed quietly through them all, and, probably, the
next English boat will be respected. Beyond these
Makonde all were friendly and civil, laying down
their arms before they came near us. Much trade
is carried on by means of canoes, and we had the
company of seven of these smalicraft for three days.
They bring rice and grain down to purchase salt.
When about 60 miles up the table-land mentioned
above retires, and we have an immense plain, with
detached granite rocks and hills dotted over. Some
rocks then appear in the river, and at last, at our
urning point, the bed is all rocky masses, four or
five feet high, with the water rushing through by
numerous channels. The canoes go through with
ease, and we might have taken the boats up also,
but we were told that further up the channels were
much narrower, and there was a high degree of
probability that we should get them smashed in
coming down.
" We were on part of the slave route from the
Lake Nyassa to Quiloa (Kilwa), about 30 miles be-
low the station of Ndonde, where that route. crosses
Rovuma, and a little further from the confluence of
the Liende, which, arising from the hills on the
east of the Lake Nyassa, flows into Rovutita.- It is
said to be very large, with reeds and aquatic plants
growing in it, but at this time only ankle deep.' It
contains no rocks till near its sources on the moue--
tains, and between it and the lake the distance
is reported to require between two and three days.
At the cataracts where we turned there is no rock
en the shore, as on the Zambesi, at. Kebrabasa, and
Murclaison's Cataracts. The land is perfectly
smooth, and, as far as we could see, the country pre-
sented the same fat appearance, with only a few
detached hills. The Tsetse is met with all along
the Rovuma, and the people have no cattle in con-
sequence. They produce large quanikies of oil-
yielding seeds, as the susatne, or gerzelin, and have
hives placed on the trees every few miles. We
never saw ebony of equal size to what we met on
this river ; and as to its navigability, as the mark
at which water stands for many months is three
feet above what it is now, and it is now said to be a
cubit lower than usual, I have no doubt that a
vessel drawing when loaded about 18 inches would
run with ease during many months of the year.
Should English trade be established on the Lake
Nyassa, Englishmen will make this their outlet
rather than pay dues to the Portuguese.

The PRESIDENT said that Dr. Wallich had ac-
companied sir Leopold :11‘Clintock in his memo-
rable explorations, and his pen had enriched the
scientific literature of the country. That society
had seldom had a paper placed before it' more
directly connected with the highest objects of
physical geography than that which hod just been
read. Dr. Wallich had also exhibited and
explained to them the working of his ingenious
apparatus for not only tapping the soft strata, but
also boring into the rocks at the bottom of the
ocean. Whether or not any adventurous body of
persons would lay down a telegraphiccable be-
tween this country and our North American kins-
folk, as a nautical people it was of the greatest;
importance that we should become acquainted with
the characteristic features of the great ocean bed
between the two hemispheres. (Hear, hear.) It
was to prevent illusory schemes from being taken
up, or encouraged, that the present paper had been
submitted to them.

Sir E. BELCHER, as almost the senior surveying
officer now in England, felt it his duty to say a few
words on this project, It was very well as far as
concerned the passage across the Irish Channel;
but in his experience of searching for shoals even
-within 100 yards of his own ship, for six weeks, and
14 hours a day, he knew the difficulty of finding ti
rock which did not cover a much larger space titan
their president's chair. (Hear, and Et laugh.) He
therefore conceived that the proposed survey would
not only cost the country an immense sum of money
and take 60 years to cornplete, but it could not be
carried into effect. They did not want the deepest
water for the laying of a transatlantic telegraphic
cable. If they carried the line from the Hebrides
or the Orkneys to the Faroe Islands, and so on in
that direction, they would have a simple method of
being sure of what they were doing. He thought
a cable might be laid down from spot to spot at a,
very trivial expense, and, in that mode they could
surely feel their way across the ocean. He had him-
self used a very accurate instrument, not only for
, sounding and obtaieieg the bottom, but also for as-
certaining the temperature at any exact depth and
bringing up the water. That instrument consisted of
a cylinder within a cylinder, made of stout bell
metal ; and between the years 1836 and 1847 neither
it nor the delicate thermometer within it showed
the slightest derangement. In conclusion, Sir
Edward expressed his conviction that, before sanc-
tioning any such scheme as that sketched by Dr.
Wallich it would be better to take the opinions of
scientific men as to whether it would not be right to
have four separate stations for the telegraph across
the Atlantic, instead of adopting the plan of cross-
ing by one long line. (Hear, hear.)
Admiral ELLIOTT believed that if they carried
out the survey proposed by Dr. Wallich, and ob-
tained the accurate information he desired as to the
ocean bed, they would then be no wiser than they
now were with regard to the laying down of the
electric cable— (hear)—for they could not thread
their way across the Atlantic, as Dr. 'Wallich sug-
gested, in the manner that would avoid the hollows
and mountains that might be found at the bottom.
Moreover, he did not think the proposed scheme for
sounding was at all practicable, and he should pre-
fer the method recommended by Sir E. Belcher.
Again, to keep the laying of the cable in abeyance
until such a system of soundings could be taken
would be meat inexpedient. Let them lay down
the cable at once, and if it lasted only for two years
it would repay the outlay and confer a great benefit
upon the public. He did not believe the failure of
the last cable was attributable to the nature of the
ocean bed. It might be accounted for by various
other causes. One of these was the weight of the
cable itself, and another was that it might not have
been sufficiently tested before being put on board
ship. He had great faith in the possibility of lay-
ing a light cable across the Atlantic, so as to enable
them to establish the communication between the
two hemispheres, within the next 12 months. As
the chairman of a company for laying down such a
cable, he should regret anything that might destroy
the confidence of the public in the feasibility of
such an undertaking--(laughter)—and prevent its
being carried out.

" We return to put our ship on Nyassa, by the
Shire, because there we have the friendship of all
the people, except that of the slave-hunters. For-
merly, we found the Shire people far more hostile
than are the Makonde of Rovuma, but now they
have confidence in us, and we in them. To leave
them now would be to open the country for the
slave-hunters to pursue their calling therein, and
we should be obliged to go through the whole pro-
cess of gaining a people's confidence again.
" It may seem to some persons weak to feel a cord
vibrating to the dust of her whc rests on the banks
of the Zambesi, and thinking that the path thereby
is consecrated by her remains. We go back to
Johanna and the Zambesi in a few days. Kind re-
gards to Lady M., and believe me ever affection-
ately yours,

Professor TYN DALL believed that, as far as the
physical objects indicated in the paper went, they
were not likely to be of sufficient importance tojus-
tify a very great outlay. His own reflection had
brought him to a conclusion on this matter some-
what in accordance with that of Sir E. Belcher and
Admiral Elliott. The proposed survey was open to
this objection, that in the five mile intervals be-
meen the soundings peaks like that of the Matter-
horn might possibly exist in the ocean-bed without
being discovered.

" DAVID LIVINGSTONE."

The next business was the reading of a paper by
Dr. G. C. WALLiell, on the question of a Survey
of the Physical Condition of the Atlantic, preli-
minary to the laying down of another electric cable
connecting Europe with North America. Dr.
Wallich began by pointing out that both the amount
and kind of information we now possessed regard-
ing the deep-sea bed of the Atlantic were altogether
inadequate to meet the requirements of oceanic tele-
graphy. Referring in proof of this to the line of
soundings taken by Capt. Dayman, in 1857, on
board her Majesty's ship Cyclops, he observed that
these, though as perfect as circumstances then
allowed, furnished data necessarily incomplete; in-
asmuch as only 41 soundings were taken at depths
exceeding 250 fathoms, across an area of 1,300 miles
of ocean, leaving a mean interval of 32 miles be-
tween each two soundings. Having assigned his
reasons for disbelieving that the entirecentral basin
of the Atlantic is, as many have supposed, a vast
plateau unbroken by alterations of level as great as
those existing on land, he observed that in the in-
tervals between the previous measurements of the
depth of the ocean-bed some of the largest
tt natter
obviously moun-
tainranges might very well be included
—athu:3 safe
obviously most important, as bearing
laying of a telegraphic cable. True,
detectedn in the
upon
oP7uch sub-
marine slopes had hitherto beenh:o_
it
was
assumed
mid-Atlantic, but the datahoereww
of‘s fathoms had
ere, he maintaintA,
that they did not exist t
purely arbitrary. A
oval', ILA., within about
been taken by Lieut. Sal
3,000 fathoms taken by
32 miles of ono of Captain
Daytnan. Dr. than enumerated the various
kinds of observations that he had thought essential
to a trustworthy telegraphic survey, among which
was a method ot probing the deposits of the sea-bed,
with a view to determine
their geological character.
He exhibited an ingenious instrument, designed by
him to efft et this object, besides other new appara-
tus for raising specimens of water from any desired
depth, and for gauging the pressure at all depths.
Passing to the means requisite for carrying out
his survey, Dr. Wallich recommended that the
Government should equip two steamships for the
work ; the great novelty of his plan consisting in
the two vessels sailing in p Irallet courses, removed
only two miles from each other, and the soundings
taken alternately on each line of the longi-
tudinal belt thus defined. Wuile, therefore, there
would be an interval of five miles at the utmost be-
tween any two soundings on the same line (that was
taken by the same ship), there would be an interval

After some further discussion, in which Captain
Selwyn,
H.N., and Mr. Webster took part, Dr. Wal-
lich briefly repliPd, defending his plan from the ob-
jections that nad been urged against it, and adducing
further reasons against the adoption of the counter
telegraphic route suggested by Sir E. Belcher,
The proceedings then terminated at a quarter to
11 o'clock.

Importing Tea without colour on the leaf pre-
vents the Chinese passing off inferior leaves as in the usual
kinds. Horniman's Tea is uncoloured, therefore, always
good ocae. Sold in packets by 2,280 agents.

By late advices from Fortress Monroe we are glad
to hear that the famous "sione fleet" with which
President Lincoln and his advisers, to the disgust of the
civilised world, attempted to close up the aPPr"ches to
Charleston, has entirely failed to produce the intended
effect, and therefore a large amount of Federal money has
been expended in vain. The channels leading into
harbourCharles-
ftoornmerly;so
outare o f aan
actuallye ,n
bettern t,
avy Gazette.
OPENING , andtun sae fpe
or
thi
va an
athtneoy ci were
of
ef
good has arisen.--drmr and •A
ObrealutEilLDlALands übs BRIDGE
substantial i aYI °i
iron bridge— r e
of the
been erected over the river Ouse at Lendal, York,
tookBB longpleas on Thlut.rsday last, and will supply a want which
b
which opening w
The foundation stone of a bridge. PiZeen
felt.
was
laid on Tuesday, October 9, 1860, by Mr. Alderman Evers
s
the then lord. mayor. Ls the bridge advanced, and its cha-
racter became more prominently displayed, neither those
who had seen the plans nor the general public were at all
satisfied with the appearance it was likely to present. Most
of our readers are acquainted with the circumstances at-
tending the destruction of the bridge on Friday, Sept. 27,
1861, very nearly a year after the foundation stone had
been laid. One of the girders fell into the river, and the
others were prostrated upon the bridge, five persons em-
ployed thereon being instantly hurled into eternity:
The design for the bridge (which is after the style of the
Westminster Bridge) presented by Mr Page was ulti-
mately adopted, and the contract for the iron work front
Messrs. Hawks, Crawshay, and Co., of Gateshead, for
£3,600, was accepted by the committee a year ago. The
t
bridge consists of a single arch of the Tudor stele, has
used
prepayin
th e for
present the
a span of 176 feet 2 inches, and is 25 feet in height
from the summer level of the river to the crown. Sic
rib, of immense size are tied together with cross
ad
girders
forh
e
and braces tied and stayed,ich thereo e being bearers
cgoirrdruergabtreiddgieronanpd ielawtehswh
h have b had
beenn
bridge, The spandrills consist of castings of Gothic,
tracery, ornamented with large shields of the city on one
side, and the arms oft:engsesetoonf
stone,
York on the other. The
footpaths on the bridge are made of the Hopton Ward stone,
'till e Housesbeautifully oPa white
par
liament, The extreme width of the
bridge is 37ft. 9in. ; the width of the footpaths, aft. 3in. ;
and the width of the roadway, 21ft. Sin. The weight of
the bridge is at least 360 tons, and it is believed to be of
sufficient Strength to carry a railway train. In the evening
a grand banquet took place is honour of the occasion.

LONDON, TUESDAY, JANUARY 13, 1863.

The EMPEROR'S Speech, on opening the Imperial
Chambers yesterday, has at any rate this obvious
advantage—it is pacific. Peace in Europe, his
Majesty declares, in the very midst of his
harangue, is_ guaranteed. The strength of the
guarantee he attributes to the personal inter-
views that have 'taken place between the Sove-
reigns :—" During the years recently passed,"
he says, " I have been enabled to have personal
interviews with most of the reigning Sovereigns,
and from those interviews friendly relations have
arisen which are so many guarantees for the peace
of Europe." Ignoring in this, altogether, the in-
fluence of the amicable relations which facilitated
intercourse has cased to spring up between the
peoples of Christendom. The above is a truly auto-
cratic view, as will be observed. A por-
tion of the truth there is, no doubt, in the EM-
PEROR'S remark—but the whole truth there is not.
Having spoken thus, however, of the peace, his
MAJESTY adds,—" This peace cannot be disturbed
by the events which have just taken place in
Greece." Greece at this moment affording the
only imminent difficulty to the European Govern-
ments. Yet, by the events now transpiring in
Greene, NAPOLEON 111. declares emphatically
Peace cannot be disturbed! If only because of its
containing that one formal and emphatic ,declara-
tion, the EMPEROR'S inaugural harangue would be
deserving of note, and more than simply of note, of
commendation as eminently, nay, as pre-eminently
Pacific.

It is in the enumeration of his achievements,
however, that he addresses himself the most effec-
tively to his subjects—flattering their pride—kind-
ling their patriotism. This enumeration is, to
say the least of it, remarkable. It is worthy of a
'French Sovereign. It is an appeal throughout
to the national sense of La Glare. Oddly, almost
whimsically at the outset of this extraordinary
enumeration, the Em
TEROR says—" It is a usual
thing to suspect in the acts of Sovereigns some
secret motive or some mysterious combination.'
Adding in the very longest sentence
we can re-
member, his usually laconic MAJESTY to have in-
dulged in :—" Yet my policy has always been
simply to increase the prosperity of France and
her moral preponderance without abusing and
without weakening the power placed in my hands;
to maintain abroad within the limits of right and
of treaties, the legitimate aspiration of nations
towards a better position; to develope our com-
mercial relations with thosea
gr co
eater community
untries towards
which we are drawn
of interests ; to erase from diplomatic parch.
ments the old questions of litigation, so as to
obviate all pretexts of misunderstanding; to insist,
finally, Upon a full reparation for any insult offered
to our flag, f
°I. any prejudice against our country-
?, A grand
! Yet one
programme certainly
that the reigning -ExPEaoR immediately goes on
to maintain that he has. scrupulously carried out,
na it were, seriatim, “it.i
thin," he says, " that,
according to circumstaneeFt ikava been enabled to
carry out these principles. the
East," par
exemple, qnoth his Majesty, "the national
wish of
the Danubian Principalities to form
people could not find us unconcerned, anc7 y one
port has contributed to cement their union.". Adding
furthermore, in regard to this," "have given given our our
support to what we thought justifiable in the griev-
ances of Syria and of Montenegro, and of the
Christians of Syria, without disavowing the rights
of the Ottoman Porte." It is in referentp
to Italy, however, and to his tortuous Ita-
lian policy that the EMPERcat speaks—who
:can wonder at it ?—the most ambiguously. "Oar
."n%," he says, "have dc fended the independence or
Italy without tdmperiz;g with revolution—without
altering after the day of battle cur friendly relations
-with our advle •
raartes even fo: a day--without abet)
cloning the Her `Father, whom our honour and our
,past engagementsiaoundna to support." Language,
'this, that will satisfy no one
—unwelcome alike to
General GAIIII34LDI at Camera, and to Cardinal
ANTONELLI in the Vatican. so is it, in
regard to
the other States—so is it in His MAJESTY'S allusions,
now to Spain, now to Switzerland. In stri •
ving to
satisfy everyone, NAPOLEON runs the hazard of
pleasing no one—except the glory-loving French-
man, For throughout, there is no doubt but that

French interests have been especially subserved.
An acknowledgment made, it should be said, how-
ever, in no way at all invidiously. Wisely and
grandly enhanced those French interests have been,
without question, in the vast majority of in-
stances. Who shall deny this, for example, when
the reigning Emperor of FRANCE can say, and can
say truthfully, to Messieurs les Senateurs and to
Messieurs les _Deputes, to the members of the
Senate and of the Corps Legislatif—" Commercial
treaties have been, or are on the eve of being, con-
cluded with England, Belgium, Prussia, Italy, and
Switzerland." A glorious catalogue of achieve-
ments these—beyond any array that could be
named of bloodstained victories !
Possibly, er rather probably, to the hearts of all
Patriot Frenchmen, the grandest sentence of all in
the Imperial harangue, the one tehfastl has atshedo6uol3o,tloeosos
by this time stirred the hearts
soldiers of France—cavalry, infantry, and artillery
—as with the sound of a trumpet, is that in which
his Imperial MAJESTY says, simply and finally,
~ Expeditions to China, Cochin-China, and Mexico
prove that there are not any countries, no matter
how far distant, where any attempt against the
honour of France remains unpunished." Altogether
it is a speech eminently French, pre-eminently im-
perial throughout. Bat for Europe generally it is
satisfactory also—for it is pacific.

We are all aware that there is a large cotton ma-
nufacture in France, though it cannot pretend to
vie in magnitude with that which smokes and
whirrs over the coalbeds of Lancashire. We know
therefore that there must be great difficulty and
distress there as well as in our own cotton districts ;
yet all this distress, if suffered, was suffered silently.
We heard nothing, or next to nothing, of it on this
side the Channel; we inferred its existence almost
as theoretically and analogically as we do
the occupation of the other planets of our
system by intelligent beings. We believe it
was a correspondent of our weekly contem-
porary, the Spectator, a week ago, who first
brought before the English public something like
definite information on what it could not be doubted
was the truth ; and his statements since then have
been fully confirmed. The inquiry is natural, how
such distress could have existed, and England have
heard nothing of it through the French papers P
Every week, since Lancashire began to suffer, the
English press has given increasing attention to the
subject, and made itself one of the most efficient
helpers in the work of relief; yet from the French
papers we should hardly have inferred that there
was suffering at all ! Was it culpable indifference
on the part of the French Editors, or was it fear of
the authorities ? We should hardly think it was
the latter. Anxious as the French Government has
been to intervene in the American war, it would,
seem to need all the public evidence which could
well be furnished, that it was not wishing to inter-
meddle for frivolous reasons. Neither could the Go-
vernment be very unwilling to be called on to act
the part of a public almsgiver ; it is a Napoleonic
idea, and even M. FOULD would have hardly ob.'
jected to such an interference with his budget cal-
culations. There are, moreover, no poor laws in.
France, so that all legal aid must be direct from,
headquarters. We fear, therefore, the chief blame
must rest with our French contemporaries.
The want of employment began about eleven,
months ago, and has of course increased, like our
own, rapidly. The following are the facts, as de-
tailed by the correspondent of the Spectator in
regard to the principal seat of the distress:—

"There are in the Seine inferieure 2,200,000 spindles,
14,000 looms, 32 chintz manufactures, and 64,000 hand-
looms. Well, in ordinary times, the manufactures employ
50,000 working-men. Now a-days they employ scarcely
20,000. Consequently, 30,000 are out of work. Each
band-loom must occupy a man, and a woman or a child,
in all, 128,000 hands. Since the crisis, five weavers out of
six stand still for want of work ; in other words, there are
about 102,000 weavers in a state of starvation. Nor do
those fare much better whose work is, either directly or
indirectly, connected with the manufactures ; so that the
number of persons in utter destitution round Rouen is
reckoned at 260,000. As the night comes on, all the by-
streets begin to swarm with famished spectres. In the
surrounding country, little boys wander up and down in
quest of a few potatoes. Sometimes they are obliged to go
so far in order to get them that they cannot come back
home before the day after. In many a' commune,' withered
leaves are burnt in lieu of wood or coals. No bed, no
linen, are to be found there. The children sleep on a bit
of rotten straw, the parents on a plank."
It seems the Norman manufacturers, like our
own, were backward to let the public know what
they were actually doing for their distressed work-
men. They concealed the sacrifices they made,
and thus contributed to increase the doubts felt at
first in regard to the reality and extent of the
distress. It seems also that the manufacturers of
Alsace, by obtaining timely supplies of the raw
material, when they saw the likelihood of its fail-
ing, have managed to keep their mills agoing,
and Normandy was unwilling openly to confess
itself beaten by Alsace. However, the distress
has become too great for longer concealment,
and the subscriptions are now becoming general.
The total sum subscribed, 600,000 francs
(X 24,000), seems to be small indeed. The
POPE, who, however, receives in the shape of
" Peter's pence" from France " infinitely more than
he gives"—is prominent among the contributors,
and the Count DE CHAMBORD follows his example
with £400; and now that the lists have been
opened, we may expect that all classes will soon
begin to vie with each other in relieving the suffer-
ing caused by the Cotton Famine in France.

Turning to our own people there does seem every
reason to believe that the worst is past. At first it
was said that the decrease of paupers was owing to
the Relief Committees having superseded parish re-
lief, but further inquiry does not confirm this appre-
hension, and it seems to Le ascertained now that
the diminution of pauperism is real. The return
in this aspect of it is most gratifying, since it shows
a real ebb of the tide. It stands thus. The differ-
ence in the number of paupers was in the—
Third,so
week of November.... 12,090 increase.
Fourth ........
690
Third do. ................
Fseicrsotndwdeeoli.
.. . . .
..
..
43:320 decrease.
4 050 IP
....... '
2,580
Fourth do.
First week of January ...... 7,310 1,
Thus the real difference between the third week
o f November and the first week of January is not
omstoresatt
less than nearly 20,000 per week, an increase of
more than 12,000 weekly having been convex.
intoo oaedecreaseofm fed
collateralliisafnac7to,oroyo. proofs
that these figures represent a real s' cessation, to
certain extent, of the cause of the distress,
reports of resumption of work, in whol is t e
part, by many mills in numerous districts. Thus I
at Preston two mills are stated to have recom:
menced work, and several other mills to have
changed from short time to full time. Even at
Blackburn a slight improvement is noticed. Stock-
port, which has so deeply felt the distress, reports
1,653 persons who were out of work as now em-
ployed, and 1,341 more persons working full
time. Ashton has 100 more persons qt work.
Staleybridge has 330 mote working full time, and
1,341 more working five days. Rochdale reports
a. third week of continued decrease in the destitu-