The Sun.
London, England, 1863-08-28 00:00:00

TIM SUN, LONDON, FRIDAY EVENING, AUGUST 28, 1863.

proved by the satisfactory accounts received by the
members of the Cotton Supply Association, and
read at their recent meeting. A letter from Turk's
Island, which was produced, stated that the Caicos
Islands, now lying idle, were well adapted for the
cultivation of cotton, and that many years since large
quantities of it were grown and shipped to Eng-
land. Lands capable of producing very good cotton
might be purchased at a low rate, so that one of the
great difficulties attending the capitalist in India is
unknown. A beautiful sample of yarn, spun from
the native cotton of Jamaica was received and exhi-
bited at the meeting. This cotton is perennial, and
would, it is thought, grow well in all tropical coun-
tries. The samples forwarded from Western Aus-
tralia are also of a very high order, and it is re-
marked that these specimens have never been
surpassedquality. There can now be no
londoubtgeranybyany in
that the question of sufficient cot-
ton supply is merely a question of time, and that
the plant will readily adapt itself to several different
countries, whose connection with ourselves renders
its cultivation a matter of paramount interest. One
of the gentlemen at the recent meeting spoke of the
probable arrival of a sufficient quantity of cotton to
provide for 41 days' work weekly directly after
Christmas. We trust that such may be the case,
and that our manufacturers and millowners, who
have had such bitter cause to regret their total
dependence on one source of supply, may receive
from India, Australia, Egypt, and Brazil, full and
satisfactory proof that the marvellous plant which
has contributed so greatly to our national wealth
and prosperity is by no means restricted to one
latitude or to one kingdom in its development.

THE CONGRESS AT MALINES.

(From the Morning Herald.)

The Catholic Congress at Mechlin, thrown into
he shade as it is by the meetings of potentates and
diplomats who have the power as well as the will
to make their opinions respected by others, is yet a
phenomenon in modern history which cannot well
be overlooked by those who have at heart the social
well-being of the age. Here, in a solemn old
clerical town of Belgium, are met together a multi-
tude of influential men, laymen, priests, and bishops
of the Catholic Church, from every nation,
and speaking every language, for the purpose of
discussing the present position and prospects of
that great religious community whose interests
they have so much at heart. This meeting is some-
thing very novel. It does not speak with authority
like one of those ancient councils, having power
to bless and to ban, to make or overturn Popes,
to put kingdoms under interdict, to condemn
the tenets of an Arius, a Huss, or a Luther.
It is called upon to witness no secession like that
of Spires, to put its seal to no new doctrine like
that of Trent. It has no authority whatever, but
consists of a number of religionists who sympathise
heartily with one another, and speak of their com-
mon concerns, each in his private capacity. Such
meetings take place among Protestants, and are
sharacterised, as we know, by a display of polemic
zeal which is justifiable so long as it does not
trench upon the bounds of ferocity. The Roman
College of the Propaganda busies itself chiefly with
such remote countries as China and Japan. The
followers of Ignatius, though some old ladies in
England are still afraid of them, are now-a-days
almost as harmless as lions with their teeth drawn
and claws cut. It was not so much on the question
of enlarging the borders of their Church that these
Catholics conferred together at Mechlin, but on
the means of preventing the threatened diminution
of her influence throughout the world. The first
proceeding of the Congress was to present an affec-
tionate and loyal address to the Pope, who replied
by sending his benediction by telegraph. There is,
therefore, nothing at all mutinous in the spirit of
the meeting. It is not met to discuss theological
questions, nor matters of Church government. In
other affairs the authorities at Rome have no objec-
tion to concede the right of private judgment,
accompanied and followed as it is likely to be by a
display of private munificence. The system of the
Ctairch has always been so elastic that it stretches
or contracts according to the temper of the age.
The Congress at Mechlin spent a considerable
portion of its time in discussing the means of
supplying what it considers to be a great want.
It is a curious thing, but it seems that the Roman
Catholics of Europe have not one respectable
newspaper. Were we to number the potentates,
nobles, and commoners who belong to the rival
Churches, we should find that a majority was to be
classed as professing the tenets of the elder com-
munion. But the Romish Church is almost unre-
presented in the Fourth Estate. There are, in
Rome, Paris, Vienna, Turin, and London, some
extreme and violent organs of the "clerical party,"
which do more harm than good to the cause which
they profess to serve, and certainly do not express
the views of enlightened Romanists. Besides these
prints, which can be easily numbered on the
fingers, the Church has few on its side, for even
to show it sympathy among the newspapers of
Catholic countries. The majority of them incline
to " liberalism," which is generally opposed to
" priestcraft," and their editors are reported to be
Gallios, who think all religions very much the
same. The speakers at Mechlin were in favour of
establishing an international Catholic journal, the
mission of which should be to promote by all means
the influence of the Catholic Church, The curious
thing about the proposed print is that it is to uphold
religion and liberty together. The natural union of
the Catholic religion with an advanced form of
liberalism is the favourite theory of the able and
eloquent spokesman of Catholicism in France, M.
de Montalembert. When he arrived at Mechlin
a deputation met him at the railway station.
When le entered the roam where the Congress was
sitting the members rose all together as they
would have risen to a king. M. de Montalem-
bert made one of his earnest and almost passionate
speeches, in which be advocated the acceptance of
the revolution without arriere pensce. Modern
Catholics everywhere, except in Belgium, made the
great mistake of regretting the anciens regimes.
These have one fault which cannot be redeemed;
they are dead and gone. The Church, said the
speaker, must be reconciled with the democracy.
The free Church in the free state, things supposed
downy his
u
occasionally to be incompatible, are all that M. de
brought
Montalembert desires for the regeneration of so-
ciety.
By
psponeec
himself a
the wrath of at
Mechlin
hehasalready
the
clerical
press, already irritated, and not unnaturally, by the
scheme of the liberal Catholic newspaper. We wish
every success to this organ. After Montalembert's
speech in favour of democracy there was an oration
from Cardinal Wiseman, all in praise of toleration.
A Catholic Congress in which
such addresses were
delivered by such men cannot be said to have passed
off without eclat.

ORIGIN OF MYTHOLOGICAL FABLES. The
generations that built up
mythology,hoiiogy,
it has been
very recently and very ingeniously suggested, had none of
the language by which we at once settle the character of
external objects. They could not say that the sun was a
heavenly body, for they had no comprehension of the dis-
tinction between heaven and earth, and still less any con-
ception that answered to body. They saw a beautiful thing
moving above them, the presence of which brought cheer-
fulness, and the absence of which brought gloom, Row
were they to express their feelings F The only language
they had for bright, beautiful moving things, causing pro-
found
nd
expressions
used os
ef lerangt
mere. T
was
h enecessarily derived from
the step
frcm this to
speaking as if the thing spoken of were a man is very easy:
for all people love to put their vague feelings about what
interests them into some definite shape, and no means of
attaining this definiteness with regard to the beautiful mov-
ing thing instinct with human activity and power was so
natural as to speak of it as a glorified man. The thought
of such a being once formed, fancy loved to paint what he
would be like; and as the same process was going on in
many directions, the being thus evoked had to take his
place among others like him, and then the pleasure of de-
vising incidents, and of inventing characters, prompted the
creation of the whole family history of the dwellers of
°lYroPus. Such, stated in a laic°, bold, and very imper-
feet th9lO'way, may be eAitl to have been the history of
ingy,

LATEST INTELLIGENCE.

(REUTER'S TELEGRAMS.)

and one or two foreigners. As, however, it was
impossible, even under a Russian system of go-
vernment, to keep in prison people against whom
nut the shadow of a chance could be found, a
sharp-witted policeman from St. Petersburg sug-
gested that revolutionary pamphlets should be
slipped into the pocket of every person arrested, a
device which has been adopted with great
success. This, however, is only used as a last
resort, for the police are seldom at a
loss for pretexts. Thus on the 18th inst.
M. Skrzymowski was arrested because he had on a
cap of a new shape, and the next day P. Pielecki,
because a carving-knife was found in his house.
The most frequent cause of arrest is neglect to take
off one's cap or hat before the GrandjDuke Constan-
tine. The Grand Duke himself is the most zealous
pursuer of those who cifend i❑ this particular.
Scarcely a day passes but he finds some one in his
walks through the city, who voluntarily or involun-
tarily, remains covered before him. I❑ these cases
he invariably turns to the Cossacks of his escort, and
orders them to seiza the refractory Pole there and
then. It was in this way that an America❑ officer,
named Edmund Bernard, was arrested in the gar-
den of Lazienki. He was taken to the station-house,
and interrogated by Le wszyn, the Director of Police,
to whom he exhibited his passport, and explained
that he did not know the customs of the
country he was in. Apparently these customs were
not at all to his taste, for immediately after his libe-
ration he left Warsaw.

The police of the capital is to be largely in-
creased. The city was formerly divided into two
districts ; it is now to have four. Every sub district,
in which hitherto there were but 40 policemen, is
to have 240, and there is to be an inspector for every
600 inhabitants.

A. letter from the palatinate of Ayustow describes
an atrocious act of brutality committed by the
Russian troops. It appears that an estate called
Dumble was on the 11th occupied by a detachment
of Polish cavalry under Col. Rychlewski. A picket
of this detachment was on that day being relieved,
when it was suddenly attacked by a squadron of
Russian hussars. Micewicz, the commander of the
picket, immediately fired a pistol to warn his com-
panions,and then with his three men advanced to join
them. Unfortunately his horse fell, and the Russians
being by this time upon them, and, calling to them
to surrender, the Poles gave up their arms. The
Russian commandant then ordered them to strip.
The Poles obeyed, no doubt thinking that the
object of the officer was to ascertain whether they
had any more arms about them. When this wa s
done, the commandant turned to the Cossacks and
exclaimed, " Kill the rebels." A terrible scene
ensued: the Cossacks, after inflicting dreadful
wounds on the naked Poles, cut off their heads and
mangled their bleeding bodies. While this butchery
was going on, a youth of 16, named Szerkniewski,
unable to bear the sight, ran across the street to
the house of Count Ronikier. The soldiers imme-
diately pursued him into the house, and, entering
the room where he had taken refuge, cut off his
head and cars and tore out his bowels. This young
man Was a clerk in a private office, and had no
connection whatever with the insurgents.