The Sun.
London, England, 1865-12-12 00:00:00

American Thanksgiving in Paris•

The American celebration of thanksgiving took place in
Paris on Friday evening of last week, at the Grand Hotel,
and the invitations to attend were extended to all Ameri-
can ladies and gentlemen in Paris. Upwards of 250 were
present, the chairman being the Right Hon. John Jay, of
New York, a grandson of one of the signers of the Treaty
of Paris :

The CHAIRMAN, in giving the toast of the "President of
the United States," remarked—The doubts that for 80
years have troubled the world, and perhaps sometimes our-
selves, as to the destiny of our country, are solved, and to-
day we thank God that the American Republic is no longer
an experiment, but an accomplished and most stubborn fact
—(loud cheers)—that we really have at last, in Webster's
familiar words, "Liberty and Union," now and for ever one
and inseparable - (cheers)—and that henceforth for all Ame-
ricans there remains one country, one constitution, and one
destiny. (Cheers.) The delusion that the American people
consisted of two nations—two races of different blood and
antagonistic habit—is dissipated and gone--(applause)
and to-day our countrymen at home are assembling, not in
one section, but in all ; not in individual States, but
throughout'the continent, to render their common thanks-
giving to God for thereturn of peace, of brotherly affection,
of national unity, and universal freedom. (Applause.) The
second toast, "the Emperor of the French," was also given
by the chairman, and in speaking he reminded his audience
of the past services of France to the United States.
The principal interest, of course, attached to the speeches
of Mr. Bigelow and General Schofield, who were present.
Mr. Bigelow replied for the "Diplomatic and Consular
Representatives of the United States in Foreign coun-
tries." In doing so he said none of them would expect re-
velations of their doings with foreign countries:—
Though those relations were never probably more inte-
resting than they have been for the last two or three years,
I am persuaded that they do not inspire you with any seri-
ous anxiety. (Hear, hear.) Not speaking of myself, who
am only a subordinate, I feel quite safe in assuming that
that unflinching faith, which, in common with the rest of
our country people, you have exhibited under the greatest
emergencies in the wisdom which directs our national coun-
cils, will not falter now. Nor should it. When I first pre-
sented myself asyour national representative to the distin-
guished statesman who directs so ably the foreign affairs of
this empire, I took occasion to let him know that I was
not unconscious of my inexperience as a diplomatist. He
replied, with characteristic courtesy and wisdom, that ac-
cording to his experience the most important qualification
for a diplomatist was the faculty and the disposition to
look at diplomatic questions from the point of view occu-
pied by those with whom one is negotiating as well as from
one's own. (Loud cheers.) There never was more wisdom
or sound statesmanship expressed in fewer words. It is
the faithful adherence to that principle by the eminent
statesman who now presides over the destinies of our
country and his immediate and lamented predecessor that
renders our public policy both at home and abroad so
simple and direct as to strip it of all mystery, and I might
almost add of all difficulty. If I were disposed, therefore,
I could tell you no secrets, for you can judge as well as I
what the legal necessity of our position as a nation, in-
spired by the great principle to which I have alluded, and
which is neither more nor less than the doing to other
nations as we would have other nations to do to us, must
in almost any imaginable contingency require. No one
who has studied the measures and conduct of our present
chief magistrate can entertain a reasonable doubt that this
principle has been, and will continue to be, his faithful
guide. (Loud applause.)
General SCHOFIELD responded for the " Army and
Navy of the United States," and in doing so said :
" Would I could tell you how much gratification will be
produced in the heart of every war-worn soldier and
sailor in America when they learn with what warmth of
enthusiasm the names of the army and navy have been
received by you to-night. (Applause.) I will not attempt
a lengthy response to the toast which has just been offered
you, but desire simply to allude to one of the important
lessons taught by the late American war—the grandest
and most important lessons of modern times. A people
who have always enjoyed so great a degree of personal
liberty as to be almost unconscious of even the existence
of a Government over them in time of peace, have found
this mild Government to be in time of civil war the
strongest in the world—(loud cheers)—a Government
capable of raising and maintaining armies and navies
which, in point of numerical strength, physical and
moral qualities of the individual soldier and sailor, dis-
cipline and mobility in large masses, grander than the
world had ever before seen. (Cheers.) But what was
grandest of all, and most gratifying, not only to Ame-
ricans, but to the whole civilised world, these vast
armies, when their work was done, quietly disbanded,
and every officer, soldier, and sailor returned to
the avocations of peace as quietly as the Christian returns
from the sanctuary to his home on a Sabbath morning, and
in all respects a better citizen than he was before he became
a soldier. (Applause.) These citizen soldiers of the Re-
public have shown themselves alike heroic in time of
danger, and moderate and generous in the hour of triumph.
Not only have they conquered their enemies in the field, but
they have governed themselves in the hour of victory.
(Cheers.) We learn from this great lesson that the
cohesive strength of a people and the power of
a nation to maintain its dignity and honour among
the nations of the earth do not depend upon the
form of Government. That the greatest concentration of
national strength and the most unlimited military power
and resources are entirely consistent with the broadest
liberty of the citizen. (Loud applause.) Let .us then unite
heartily with our fellow-citizens at home in returning
thanks to Almighty God for the grand and triumphant
vindication of our cherished principle of pepular govern-
ment. In -conclusion I will propose a toast which I believe
will be heartily responded to by every true American—
" The old friendship between France and the United States;
may it be strengthened and perpetuated." (Immense ap-
plause.)

THE " TIMES " CORRESPONDENT ON THE NEGRO.
—The . Wilmington correspondent of the Times writes
as follows of the negro and his willingness to labor :
" A gentleman who has held a leading commercial posi-
tion in Wilmington for twenty years past expressed a
different opinion concerning the negro from any I have
yet heard in the South. He had been the owner of slaves,
and now had the same negroes about him as he had before
the emancipation. He had no difficulty whatever with
them, and believed that any one who was disposed to pay
them properly and treat them fairly would find in them
good and faithful servants. To one negro whom he
pointed out to me on his premises he paid a dollar and a
half a day (equivalent to about 4s. 6d. in greenbacks). He
looked upon the whites as the indolent class in the country.
I asked if he meant the poor whites. He said he meant
the whites of every grade. The masters had been bred to
look upon work as beneath them, and if they were too
proud to look after their servants personally they could
not expect faithful laborers. The negroes had been brought
up in habits of industry, and, unless they were fools or
improvident men, they wculd work if they were properly
paid."

_
RESTORATION IN THE SOUTHERN STATES.—A cor-
respondent writes to the Times regarding "Restoration :"

"If the Government intends to restore' the South, it
cannot begin too soon to give back its liberties, to let it
manage its own affairs by its own State officers, and to
remove the military. It is absurd to suppose that any
idea of another appeal to arms, at least in this generation,
is cherished by Southern people. They could not make it
if they would. Their blackened fields and empty houses
warn them far more impressively than a company of United
States soldiers can do that further wars are not to be
thought of. They have suffered more than words can
describe, and now to drive the iron further into
their necks is a fatal policy on the part of the Administra-
tion. A gunboat in the river in front of this city and a
detested body of negro troops patrolling its streets will
never make the North Carolinians loyal. To trust them
would be the wiser and safer course. No doubt there are
many who cling desperately to the hope that some sudden
and unlooked-for opportunity will yet arise to give them
the independence they fought for. Thirty thousand sons
of North Carolina fell on the battle-fields of the Confede-
racy, out of 90,000, which she sent to the armies. The
people cannot in a body yet reconcile themselves to the
thought that these lives were lost in vain, and that the
result is an armed force of their former slaves placed over
them."

A HOME FOR JEFF. DAVIS.—A correspondent of
the New York Herald, writing from Jackson, Mississippi,
says :—" There is very little of interest transpiring at the
present writing. The News, anti-Administration paper, has
a leading article in to-day's issue recommending the pre-
sentation of a ' magnificent homestead' to Jeff. Davis, or
the means of purchasing one in a foreign country, after he
has been set free. The modus operandi which it proposes
is this, that every surviving soldier who has at one time
or another, either directly or indirectly, been engaged in
the Confederate service, shall subscribe one dollar to the
fund, commissioned officers to subscribe at their discretion.
It is calculated that such a subscription would amount in
the aggregate to half a million of 'dollars ; and it is pur-
posed to make it exclusively a soldiers' testimonial. Ido
not think the plan will work ; for even if we grant the
willingness of the Southern soldiery to subscribe to such
an object, I doubt exceedingly whether the great mass of
them are just now able to do anything more than barely
provide for their own necessities and meet their own ex-
penditures. Moreover, I suspect that the love of the
almighty dollar is about as potent south of Mason and
Dixon's line as it is north of it. People are not usually

lavish in pecuniary devotion toward representatives of a
fallen cause, and there is a wide difference between
that sort of enthusiasm which prompted the Legislature
to memorialise the President for the release of Jeff. Davis
and that chivalry of the purse for the exercise of which the
project calls."