The Sun.
London, England, 1862-05-06 00:00:00

AMERICA.

LIVERPOOL, MONDAY.

The Canard steam ship Asia, Captain Shannon,
has arrived, with the New York mails of the 23d
ult. and 157,226 dols.

On the day of sailing the Asia spoke the Persia,
off Sandy Hook.

In the Senate, on the 21st, a petition was pre-
sented from free coloured citizens of the United
States, praying for colonization in Central America
if possible. The petitioners say they appreciate to the
full extent the humane actions which are now inau-
gurated to give freedom to their race, but they believe
that this freedom will affect them injuriously unless
there shall be opened to the coloured people a region
to which they may emigrate—a country which is
suited to their organization, and in which they may
seek and secure by their own industry that mental
and physical development which will allow them an
honourable position in the families of God's great
world. Though coloured people, and debarred from
the rights of citizenship, their hearts, they say,
none the less cling to the land of their birth. They
desire to go to Central America, there to be tempo-
rarily protected, so that they may not be wholly
excluded from the United States, and that they may
aid in bringing to their native country that great
commerce of the Pacific which will still further in-
creme the wealth and power of the United States.

In the House of Representatives, on the 22d, a
motion to lay all the Confiscation Bills-15 or 16 in
number—on the table, was lost, by 65 to 39. The
first of the series—to forfeit the property and slaves
of those engaging in the rebellion—was debated at
considerable length, when its further consideration
was postponed. The second, offered by Mr. Hickman,
of Pennsylvania, leaving confiscation discretionary
with the President, was rejected ; but Mr. Brig-
ham's substitute for it, declaring that "all property
of rebels, wherever found, shall be lawful indem-
nity to the Government," was adopted by 62 to 48.
The question then came up on the passage of the bill
as amended by the adoption of the substitute, but
the House adjourned without a vote.
The President had communicated to Congress the
following corrrespondence respecting the arrest of
Mr. Came,-con
" MR. BREWSTER TO Mn, SEWARD.
,s No 706, Walnut-street, Philadelphia,
April 16, 1862.

Sir,—By the direction of General Simon Came-
ron, I send you a summons issued out of the Su-
preme Court of this State, at the suit of Pierce
Butler v. Simon Cameron,' July 1, 1862, No.' 17.
The writ is returnable on the first Monday in May,
and is for tresspass vi et armis, assault and battery,
and false imprisonment. The cause of the action is
no doubt founded upon the supposed misconduct of
Gen. Cameron in causing the arrest of the plaintiff,
Mr. Pierce Butler, and placing him in Fort Warren,
or some other public fortification, without authority
of law, while he (Gen. Cameron) was Secretary of
War. As I am instructed, the act was not the act of
Gen. Cameron, and was done by those who com-
manded it to be done for just reasons and for the
public good. You will please communicate the fact
of this suit to the President and such other official
persons as should properly be advised of it, and
have such action taken as shall relieve the defen-
dant, Simon Cameron, from the burden, cost, and
responsibility of defending this suit. By the direc-
tions of Gen. Cameron, I have, as his private coun-
sel, ordered my appearance for him, while I also
invite and request the intervention of the proper
authorities in his behalf and for his protection.--
I am, sir, yours truly, &c.,

" BENJAMIN H. BREWSTER.
" To Hon. W. H. Seward, Secretary of State."
" MR. SEWARD TO MR. BREWSTER.
" Department of State, Washington,
April 18, 1862.

41 Sir,—l have received your letter of yesterday,
stating that, by direction of Simon Cameron, you
transmit to me a summons issnep out of the Su-
preme Court of the State of Pennsylvania, at the
suit of Pierce Butler against Mr. Cameron for tres-
pass vi et arras, assault and battery, and false im-
prisonment, in causing the arrest of the plaintiff
without authority of law. This communication has
been submitted to the President, and I am directed
by him to say, in reply, that he avows the proceed-
ing of Mr. Cameron referred to as one taken by him,
when Secretary of War, under the President's direc-
tions, and deemed necessary for the prompt suppres-
sion of the existing insurrection. The President
will at once communicate by correspondence to the
Attorney-General of the United States, and also to
Congress.—l am, sir, your obedient servant,

" W. H. SEWARD.
" To Benjamin F. Brewster, Esq., Philadelphia."
The Washington correspondence of the New York
Times contains the following statement respecting
the slave trade negotiations between the British and
Federal Governments :
" It is stated, upon high authority, that the treaty
for the suppression of the African slave trade, re-
cently negotiated between Secretary Seward and
Lord Lyons, and transmitted to the Senate, is based
upon an express desire communicated by Mr, Se-
ward to Lord Lyons. That the President is ani-
mated by a sincere desire for the complete suppres-
sion of the trade the correspondence shows. Since
the date of the convention between Great Britain
and the United States, dated Aug. 9, 1842, to slaves
have been carried into any of the torritoriesof Great
Britain, and, with the exception of the case of the
barque Wanderer, none have been brought into the
United States. The traffic has been mainly carried
on under the fraudulent cover of the American flag
by residents in other countries. Lord Lyons' re-
sponse was prompt and hearty on behalf of his own
Government, expressing the strongest wish of her
Majt sty to act in concert with the President of the
United States for the attainment of the objects de-
sired. Her Majesty's Government believes that it is
on the co-operation of the United States that the
success of their own persevering labours in the
cause must mainly depend. His lordship gives
assurance that his Government will be prompt
to agree to any stipulations giving increased
efficacy to that co-operation, and expresses
his readiness to enter at once upon negotiations,
To the draught of the treaty submitted to him,
Lord Lyons made objections to but one clause—that
limiting the duration of the treaty—which objection,
it is said, was soon removed by Mr. Seward, who
assumed that if the treaty was faithfully executed,
the trade would be brought to an end within the
term of ten years proposed, and that, should the
traffic survive that period, it was easy to see that
some new and probably different means from that
which the treaty proposes, will have become neces-
sary for the vindication of the cause of humanity in
common. The treaty, as originally drawn by Mr.
Seward, was signed by the latter and Lord Lyons
on the 7th day of April, and has been favourably
reported upon by the Committee of Foreign Rela-
tions in the Senate."
On the 19th, the President, accompanied by Se-
cretaries Chase and Stanton, Captain Dahlgren and
D. D. Field, of New York, went down the Potomac
in the revenue steamer Miami to Acquia Creek.
Evidence had been received at the Treasury De-
partment that the work of mutilating Treasury
notes had become quite a business, and not an un-
profitable one. For instance, the mutilator takes a
10-dollar note, and tears off a tenth part on one
corner, and passes off the cote for 10 dollars, nobody
questioning him that it is perfectly good. He takes
another note of the same denomination, and tears off
a tenth part on another corner, and so on until he
has secured four corners. Then he takes another
note and tears out a piece from the upper side right
—from another note a piece from the upper side
he corners; from two more notes a
left, next to t
piece is extracted from the lower side right of one,
and a piece from the lower side leftof the other.
From the ninth note he removes a piece from the
right of the middle, and from
the tenth and last
note a piece from the left middle. Then he has ten
del. Treasury
parts of what appears to be a single 10 d.
and
note, which he ingeniously pastes together,
passes off under the plea that the note was acci-
dentally torn in pieces, bat is nevertheless just as
good as if it was whole.
Letters from Yorktown of the 17th
report that
early that morning all the infantry were ordered
under arms, and formed in line of battle at the rear
of their respective encampmeßts. No assembly-roll