The Sun.
London, England, 1863-11-16 00:00:00

A PROJECT FOR PEACE.

The following is an extract of a private letter
from a gentleman in one of the Northern States to
a friend in London :

" Oct. 26,1863.
. In answer to your inquiries whether pacifica-
tion on a basis of separation, permanent or temporary, is
likely to be acceptable or is practicable, I can only answer
for myself. Acceptable it certainly would not be just now
in the North, a community excited in one way or another
beyond the reach of reason ; but acceptable it soon must be,
when the weariness of sorrow becomes stronger and finan-
cial trouble is more imminent. There is a growing feel-
ing in favour of peace and recognition in preference to
the continuance of such a war, or to intervention from
abroad; though ratherthan this brotherly bloodshed should
go on, people may become reconciled to that as a means of
peace. My American instincts yet revolt at the forcible in-
tervention of foreign nations in our domestic feuds ; I can-
not, however, as a friend of peace, see any objection to
foreign recognition, to which I think the South entitled,
and which, in my poor judgment, at once would produce
peace. There is a prevalent mistake abroad on this point.
"A reasonable plan of pacification, supposing statesmen
to direct our policy, would be this :
" 1. If the war is to go on for a time, as from mere mo-
mentum perhaps it must, let it be turned as soon as possi-
ble from attempted conquest to a war for limits and terms of
settlement.

"2. Let negotiations be opened at once with the Go-
vernment at Richmond for such settlement, making mere
formal recognition one of the matters for discussion. The
Shelburne Ministry sent Mr. Oswald and Mr. Grenville to
Paris, in 1782, to negotiate before they recognised us. The
mission of that negotiation is very impressive now.
"3. Of course the Southern Confederacy, as an existing
concrete thing, is to be recognised de jure. There can be no
peace without it.

" 4. As to limits, I as a Northern man prefer a natural
to an arbitrary boundary; very much prefer the Potomac
and the Ohio to the line of blazed trees and landmarks that
now separate us, and which has been quite ineffectual to
protect us from two invasions.
"6. But the States of Maryland and Delaware have a
right to determine their relations to the two Confederacies
by a free vote—free, I mean, in fact, and not in form—and
their decision affects boundaries. Pennsylvania is assumed
to go with the North.

"6. In any event of separation, Washington should not
be the capital of either Confederacy. For the North it would
be unsuitable; as a frontier fortress, which it is, it would be
intolerable to the South. For the South it would be equally
unsuitable. Let it be a monument of the glorious. It is
worthless now for any practicable purpose.

"7. The navigation of the Ohio and Mississippi,
and •n
the event of Maryland joining the South, of the l
Susque-
hanna and Chesapeake, to be free.
"8. A. common tariff for the two Confederacies as to
foreign nations, on a revenue basis, to be made by commer-
cial treaties, and no tariff or duties or custom-houses between
the Confederacies.
"9. Indemnities and compensations and territorial right
to be subjects of negotiation.
"This is I think a fair and reasonable basis of pacifica-
tion, neither intimating nor excluding the possibility of re-
confederation, but providing against future differences.
"This may save the public debts, nothing else will; for
the alternative for the North will be further disintegration
when the hour of disgust comes, as it surely will; and then
the national debt falls in ruin.
" This is an honest answer to your question,"

In the Corps Legislatif in its sitting of NV ednes-
day a rather animated discussion took place respect-
ing some contested elections; but the chief interest
of the sitting consisted in the fact that M. Thiera
addressed the Assembly at some length :
"The Marquis d'Andelarre, although a Govern-
ment member, objected with great warmth that
M. Bertrand, the Mayor of Caen, was not duly
elected, because the ballot-box had not been sealed
as the law requires, and had not, moreover, as the
law also requires, been deposited during the night
in a room with sealed doors. He also complained that
M. Foucher de Careil, the Opposition candidate,
was refused the necessary authorization to print his
election address, and that the election•room was so
filled with partisans of the mayor that electors
could not put their own bulletins into the box,
but were forced to pass them from hand 'to hand
through a crowd of the Mayor's agents. To
these charges M. Bertrand, the Mayor of Caen, who
defended his own election in person, answered that
the ballot-box was the same that had always been
used for elections in Caen, and that, although not
sealed, it was secured by four locks of such enor-
mous strength that they might have been forged by
Vulcan. (Laughter.) As to the refusal to print the
Opposition candidate's address, it was made by the
printer, who mistakenly alleged that the prefect
would not allow it, and, moreover, M. Foucher de
Careil went to the printer's on a Sunday. A printed
paper which the prefect would not allow to be
hawked in the streets was an electioneering squib
written by an agent, and not entitled to the privi-
leges which the law accords to candidates only.
The fact of the bulletins being passed from hand to
hand to the ballot-box he stoutly denied.
"M. Glais Bizoin, one of the new Opposition
members, said that in this scrutiny the Chamber
ought to have two objects in view—first, the
validity of the election immediately in discus-
sion ; And, secondly, to take care that the
abuses which had occurred s hould be so exposed as
to serve as a lesson to the country and the Admi-
nistration with the view that they might not occur
again. He read a letter from the sub-prefect of
Falaise to all the shopkeepers of his arrondissement.
recommending them to vote for the Government
candidate, in terms which evidently conveyed a
threat. Being interrupted by ironical cheers from
the majority, M. Glais Bizoin said, ' This is no
laughing matter, gentlemen, it is humiliating.'
"M. Bertrand was then declared duly elected,
without a division.

" Viscount Lanjuinais (the Opposition member
for Nantes), complained that, although there had
been no protest against his election, the bureau to
which it was referred had kept him waiting for
three days, and refused to make a report upon the
pretext that a protest was expected.
"M. Rouher (Minister of State) wished to say
that the Minister of the Interior had only that day
received a protest against M. Lanjuinais's return
and that the protest must by this time have reached
the Chamber.

" A conversation ensued, in the course of which
M. Rouher admitted, and the Duke de Morny (who
was in'the chair) strongly insisted, that the bureaux
ought to make their reports without delay, and not
hold them over to wait for protests to come. It
seemed to be generally agreed that there was a
casus omissus in the law as to the time within which
a protest against an election ought to be made.
The report of the bureau in M. Lanjuinais's case not
being ready it necessarily stood over, but with an
understanding that no further evidence against the
return was to be received.

" M. Jules Simon (Opposition member) asked for

the
,adjournment of the case of M. Noubel, against
whom there was _a very,st9us protest by M. Baze,
which was to , been supported by M. Marie,
who was unfortunately absent from illness. M.
Bazo had 35 documents which he brought forward
as proofs in favour of his protest, and they would
be in the hands of members on the morrow.

" M. Pissard (reporter)—lt is true there are 35
documents ; the bureau has examined them all care-

fully, and it was of opinion—without feeling it
necessary to hear the testimony of either M. Baze
or M. Noubel—that there was nothing in them.
"M. Thiers—l wish to make a simple observa-
tion. Why did the bureau, making an exception

to the general rule, refuse to hear M. Baze and M.
Noubel. Allowance ought to be made for the dif-
ference between the situation of those who, being in
the Chamber, can offer explanations, and those out-
side, who cannot.
" M, Crenzet—M. Baze did not ask to be heard
by the bureau ; he only said he was ready to be
heard if called upon. The bureau thought itself
sufficiently informed about the case without calling
for his evidence, that is all.

"M. 'Tiers—No other election presents so grave
a fact as that which we have here—a suspension
of the course of justice. (Clamours.)
"M. Noubel—l am ready to answer. (The Pre-
sident having put the question of adjournment,
which was negatived.)
"M. Theirs resumed—l am not prepared to dis-
cuss the whole report on this election. I merely
point out one very serious fact, which is treated in
the report with an indulgence unworthy of the
dignity of this Chamber. (Cries of `No, no.') The
case is this. M. Baze's placards were torn down
by order of the mayor in the commune of St. Front,
and that was a violation of the law. M. Baze there-
upon obtained an order from the President of the
Tribunal that the mayor should appear before him
*to show cause why he should not be compelled to
post M. Baze's bills. But M. B3ze could get no
huissier to serve the process upon the mayor, be-
cause the Procureur-Imperial had ordered all the

huissiers not to act for NI. Baze until June 2, which
was the day after the election. Well, you would
have the law respected in the country, and yet
you treat with indifference a fact like this, which
is nothing less than the suspension of the
course of law in France. (Noise.) The Pro-
cureur-General and the Minister of Justice have
both censured the illegal act (applause on some
benches), and now the report treats it as just nothing
at all. (More interruption.) The bureau would
not hear M. Beze. That fact is certain. (A Voice.
It has been explained.') I will assume that
the bureau thought itself sufficiently enlightened,
but I must observe that it is the only bureau which
has refused to hear explanations. I repeatthat I
am not prepared to go into the case fully. M.
Marie,, who would have done so, is absent from in-
disposition ; but I call the attention of the Chamber
to this interference with justice, and I thus free my
own responsibility.
" M. Pissard.—The reporters said that the judge's
order only appointed a hearing for June 6, and
therefore M. Baze was in no Way prejudiced by the
service of the order on the mayor being suspended
till June 2.
"M. Rouher (Minister of State) admitted that
the act of the Procureur Imperial was not legally
justifiable, and said that he had been reprimanded
for it. But it could have had no effect upon the
result of the election, since M. Noubel's majority
was very large. The fact was, that legal process
frightened country people very much, and the Pro-
cureur Imperial thought, bona fide, that M. Baze's
writ might operate as an intimidation while the
election was going on.
M. Thiers.—l don't care about the influence of
the act upon the election. That is not the question.
I have obtained an admission from the Government
of all that I wanted—namely, that the course of
justice was suspended by the act of the Procureur
du Roi. (Loud laughter.) I beg pardon, I should
have said the Procureur Imperial. I shall soon get
into right habits. (More laughter.) You speak of
intimidation ; but it you say the Opposition exer-
cioes intimidation in the elections, France will not
believe you. (Interruption.)
" After some further excuses for the Procureur