The Sun.
London, England, 1865-08-08 00:00:00

Liverpool Cotton Market—This Day.

Market rather steadier in price. Sales, probably
5,000 bales.

SHIPPING INTELLIGENCE—This day.

Warrior

Rose
Fantail

SECOND E-lITION.

SUN OFFICE, HALF-PAST 4 O'CLOCK.

AQUATICS.

The Championship of the Timms.

The great race for the championship of tho River
Thames was rowed to-day by Henry Kelly of Fulham and
Robert Chambers of Newcastle—the champion of both the
Thames and Tyne. The stakes were £2OO a side, and a
bat of 300 to 200 on Chambers; the course, being the time
honoured one, from Putney to Mortlake. The attendance
of the public at Putney was something extraordinaty, and
when each of the competitors made his appearance he re-
received the loudest plaudits. The feeling seemed to be
greatly in favour of Chambers ; this, doubtless, was owing
to the circumstance of his having already conquered Kelly
and thereby taken from him that title which the Thames
watermen look upon with so much pride. Kelly, however,
has proved himself a thoroughly plucky sculler, and from
the settled determination there appeared to be on his part
to regain his lost honours, a great number of persons
placed their dependence and their money on him, with
lull assurance that all that mortal could do would be done
to-day.

KELLY beat CHAMBERS. i
The victor was hailed with the loudest cheering by the
immense crowd of persons assembled at Mortake to wit-
ness the termination of the struggle.
We shall give further particulars in a later edition. I

SPORTING INTELLIGENCE—This ray,

-e-
HUNTINGDON RACES.—THIs DAY.
TRIAL STAKES.

RIPON RACES-THIS DAY.
GRAND STAND STAKES.

Penbill
Lozenge
Hawkswell

Six ran.

WOLVERHAMPTON RACES-THIS DAY.

PATSIIULL STAKES.

Donnybrook
Gularna
Queen of Trumps

Four ran.
SEVENTH BIENNIAL.

THE UNITED STATES.

(From the Tines Correspondent.)

NEW YORK, July 26.

Chief Justice Chase is resolved to insist upon
negro suffrage as essential to the peace and welfare
of the country. The other leaders of this party are
silent, although they are working hard to bring to-
gether a strong combination against the Govern-
ment. Mr. Chase cannot wait for the result of
these efforts. He has delivered several addresses
in various parts of the country advocating his views,
the last of these speeches being made at a Univer-
sity meeting in Hanover, where he told his audi-
ence that " no reorganization of the country will be
complete and permanent until every man in it, of
whatever colour, is allowed to vote." He further
said that the negroes were sufficiently intelligent to
use a vote properly, and he rather paradoxically
illustrated this by affirming that, though a negro
might not be ableto give a reason for voting in any
specified way, he knew enough to walk up
to the ballot-box and put his ticket in." This is
substantially the opinion of those who oppose negro
suffrage. They believe that the negro would exercise
the privilege of voting ignorantly and improperly.
The morality and religious character of the negro
Mr. Chase eulogised very warmly; "they have," he
said, giving another strange example in proof of his
statement, " a great many black preachers among
them who are now contending for the sanctity of
marriage." These social repentances and reforms
entitle the freedmen to have as much voice in re-
organisation as any other inhabitants of the South.
Speaking of universal suffrage Mr. Chase slid " We
must take this right up to the Throne of God, and
lay it upon His sacred altar, for it is a matter of
eternal justice." These are the views of the Chief
Justice, but it is quite certain that they are not the
views of Mr. Johnson or his Cabinet. Seeing that
in his official capacity Mr. Chase will be called upon
shortly to decide more than one important question
hinging upon the future of the negro, it can scarcely
be deemed a discreet course to go about the country
committing himself to certain theories ;which he
may hereafter discover to be fallacious and un-
tenable. Whether. the negro shall be admitted
into the franchise or not will be the great battle-
ground of parties during the ensuing session, and
the dogmas of one particular section might be just
as ably and far more appropriately vindicated by a
less important officer than the Chief Justice of the
Supreme Court. Mr. Chase, however, attaches too
much importance to the subject to adopt a sober
and cautious policy respecting it. It is true that
the President has distinctly said that in his opinion
the negro is not ready for the suffrage, but the
Chief Justice feels it his duty to contradict the
President, and to argue against him at public
meetings. To the foreigner (as all Europeans here
are called) there is an incongruity in all this ;
it does not seem to add dignity or power to the
Government to be rebuked by the highest Court in
the Republic ; and it might be thought that the
Chief Justice can hardly improve his own position
by making the "stump" a court of appeal above his
own. But when one of the State Secretaries tells a
crowd that he wishes God would direct the American
people to drive the French out of Mexico, the extra-
judicial vagaries of Mr. Chase are comparatively
excusable, although they cannot tend to assist the
Government through its present difficulties. Mr.
Johnson, however, has apparently made up his
mind ; and Mr. Johnson is, above all things, a
strong and determined man. The entreaties of Mr.
Greeley, the remonstrances of Mr. Chase, and the
threats of the Radical party will not prevail upon
him unless he has other and better evidence of the
inaccuracy of his present conclusions. The tendency
of the public mind, he has justly said, is towards
limiting rather than extending the franchise. In
these words is involved an issue quite as important
as the admission of the negro to the suffrage, and
that issue will probably arise before the next Session
of Congress is over.
Already thoughtful men in the States lament the
fact that the votes of the educated are swamped by
those of persons who are barely able to read and
write. They complain bitterly of the circumstance
that emigrants are so soon placed on a level with
the native-born citizen, however unfitted they may
be, by their past lives, their habits, and their actual
powers, to exercise the privilege of honest and pa-
triotic men. It is especially felt to be a serious evil
that hordes of Irish, who land here utterly ignorant
and forlorn, with no principles which can possibly
render them good citizens, should, be able to neutra-
lise the votes of the class which has a vital stake in
the conduct of public affairs. In Massachusetts the
suffrage has been so far limited as to exclude all
persons from it who are unable to read and write.
Whether a similar measure would be acceptable to
other States is extremely doubtful, but the fact is
distinctly before every observer of public opinion
that there is a general wish to place some restric-
tions upon the exercise of the suffrage. It is com-
mon to hear men of wealth and education declare
that they never vote, because their votes would be
of no use. "We are," they say, " virtually unre-
presented." _

In this city of New York the Irish control the
elections, and the result is shown in a local adminis-
tration so corrupt that the whole country cries
" shame" upon it. When it is remembered that
the Judges are elected by universal suffrage, the
magnitude of the evil rust become apparent even
to those who have never been in the United States.
In an age when corruption is unknown, and public
men arc beyond the reach of sinister influences, the
Judges might fulfil their duties impartially, and
regardless of popular favour, but no one pretends
that we have entered upon this age yet. The
Judges, therefore, are not aboVe suspicion of study-
ing their own future prospects rather than the even
dispensation of justice. Such cases are more com-
mon in New York City than in the State, or than
in any other State, simply because of the presence
here of a large mass who vote for the man who can
play most skilfully upon their passions and preju-
dices. However much attached the American may
be to his " institutions," there is scarcely a man
among them of the better class uho does not de-
plore the existence of this system of electing the
Judges by universal suffrage. Lawyers can give
numberless instances of its mischievous effects, and
the best men consider it all but fatal to the pur-
poses for which courts of law are established.
There is another phase in which this Irish ques-
tion presents itself to the American people. When re-
ference is made to the manifest injustice of certain
English criticisms upon this country, it is remarked
by Americans, " Englishmen forget that we are
providing a home for all the outcasts and exiles of
the Old World, and that in two generations we ob-
literate the traces of their misery or crimes, and
produce respectable citizens." And it must be ac-
knowledged that the raw material with which they
have to work is of the worst pOssible kind. The
influx of Irish would ruin any other land but one
which was almost boundless in its extent and inex-
haustible in its wealth. In the second generation
they are found to be good colonists, for in this
country the influence of the priesthoodsoon
on Irish declines,
and it seems possible to impress even upon
faculties that it is better to live by fair hard work
than by laziness and craft. But the original emi-
grant too often brings with him all the vices and
leaves behind him . all the virtues of his race. He
becomes an insolent servant in a hotel, or, imitating
the congenial manners of the native " rowdy," he
prowls about the wharves and public building-8, try-
ing to pick up pence by begging or some more facile
means. The riots in New York two years ago were
entirely organised and carried out by the. Irish.
They are constantly attacking the houses of the
Germans settle down into a steady and decent life
as soon as they aroive, and the Irishman has never
heard of that system, and cannot bring himself to
understand it. He knows that he is the equal of all
men, and his notion of equality is that he is better
than his neighbour, and ought to be kept at his
neighbour's expense. One of them said in a police-
court the other day, when he was charged with
striking a man in the street with a slug shot, " I
haven't got into the ways of the country yet." They
never do get into its ways. They hear at home that
they can live in America without much work, and
when they find out the error they fall back into old
habits with a resignation that would be almost Chris-
tian if its results were uot so vicious. They arrive in such I

numbers as to defy control. A report issued by the
Commissioners of Emigration for 1864 states that
184,700 emigrants landed at New York last year.
Of these 89,706 came from Ireland, and 57,572 from
Germany. The German emigrants generally bring
means with them ; the Irish land with nothing but
rags and dense ignorance to call their own, with no
plan of life before them, with no definite expecta-
tions even, and no object in view, except to be made
a Fenian as soon as possible. The result is that the
streets are infested with Irish ruffians, and Ameri-
cans justly complain that upon them falls the dis-
credit of crimes committed by people from their own
shores. There are as many Irish to be seen any day
in Broadway as in Dublin. They herd together here
according to their unvarying instincts, the dirtiest
and most depraved part of the town being invari-
ably the Irish quarter. Into some of these parts the
police are actually afraid to follow them. The New
York papers often make a half pathetic appeal to
them to go West, where fortune is ready to smile
upon their industry, but they prefer to stay where
fortune of a different kind may be obtained without
industry, and of the total number who came here
last year 60,000 declared their intention of remain-
ing in New York. As to the " Fenian" craze, it is
taken up every now and then by the press as part of
the favourite diversion of " stirring up John Bull."
When other topics are dull it is always found to be
good to fall back on England. Round abuse of Eng-
land and Englishmen never fails to bring down the
cheers of the mob here. The other day one of the papers
came out on the arrival of the mailwiththe announce-
ment in large letters, " Suspension of specie pay-
ments in England—the poor old country on its last
legs." Nevertheless, by the subsequent mail it did
not appear that the " poor old country" had quite
gone. These ravings are utterly disregarded by the
intelligent classes, but they have a certain effect
upon the ignorant—similar in kind, though not, it
is to be hoped, in degree, to that which was pro-
duced on the minds of the Southern people by the
constant assertions by their leaders that the Yan-
kees were cowards, and would never fight. Nowhere
in the country were the people so ignorant as in the
South ; they thoroughly believed that the North
could not and would not fight them. Similarly,
the ill-educated classes in the North are taught
day after day that all Europe is a morsel designed
by destiny for the Americans to swallow whenever
they are disposed to open their mouths. Fenianism
is a part of this course of education, and it is the
most popular part of the course. A vision of per-
fect bliss dawns upon the Irish mind as it pictures
the sacking of London by a Fenian army, the exe-
cution of the Royal family, a general distribution of
property, and the elevation of Mr. John Mitchell to
the English throne. That is the programme of the
Fenians, and it suits some of the papers to puff it
off, and encourage the madmen in their folly. But
enlightened Americans are not satisfied that men
whose only scheme of life is to enrich themselves by
plundering others should have an overwhelming
voice in controlling the affairs of their State. , Yet
the Irish are so powerful in New York that the
best of the papers would not dare to advocate the
alteration of the suffrage as applied to them. Any
politician who did so would inevitably suffer at
their hands. It is this subject which fills the mind
of the reflecting classes with much deeper anxiety
than the admission or exclusion of the negro has
ever occasioned. The principle of universal suffrage
is at the very basis of the Constitution, and he
will be a bold and unfortunate man who first pro-
poses to limit it in any way. Nevertheless, those
who follow the course of events most intelligently,
and have the welfare of their country most deeply
at heart, are filled with misgivings when they see
that power is being rapidly absorbed by a race
which only knows what patriotism is by obscure tra-
dition.

A committee of the House of Representatives, ap-
pointed to report on the conduct of the war," has
been making an investigation into the circumstances
of an attack by the Third Regiment of Colorado
Volunteers upon a party of the Cheyenne tribe of
Indians. The official statement of this committee
discloses an extraordinary series of outrages. In the
course of last summer a message was received from
the Indians by Major lynkoop, then c3inmanding
the post of Fort Lyon, making known their wish to
deliver over a number of white captives whom they
had purchased of other Indians. The captives were
received, but the Cheyennes, who have always been a
friendly tribe, were taken prisoners by the United
States forces. After a while they were sent to a place
on Sand Creek, and told.to remain there until they
received instructions from Major Anthony, who had
succeeded Major Nynkoop. They thought they
were to be treated as friends, and the Commissioners
state that " everything seemed to have been done
to remove from the mind of these Indians any fear
of approaching danger." A few nights afterwards
Col. Chivington and Major Anthony marched out
with upwards of 800 men, and surrounded the In-
dian camp, which consisted of about GOO persons, of
whom more than half were women and children.
The head chief ran forward with a small white flag,
but a general massacre was immediately commenced.
The Commissioners say :
" Men, women, and children were indiscriminately
slaughtered. From the sucking baba to the old warrior,
all who were overtaken were deliberately murdered. Not
content with killing women and children, who were in-
capable of offering any resistance, the soldiers indulged
in acts of barbarity of the most revolting character, such,
it is to be hoped, as never before disgraced the acts of men
claiming to be civilised. No attempt was made by the
officers to restrain the savage cruelty of the men under
their command, but they stood by and witnessed these
acts without one word of reproof, if they did not incite
their commission. For more than two hours the work of
murder and barbarity was continued, until more than one
hundred dead bodies, three-fourths of them of women and
children, lay on the plain as evidences of the fiendish
malignity and cruelty of the officers who had sedulously
and carefully plotted the massacre and of the soldiers who
had so faithfully acted out the spirit of their officers."

This extraordinary act seems to be' absolutely
without palliation. The Indians had not only been
friendly 'themselves, but had done all that lay in
their power to restrain the lawlessness it nd violence
of other tribes. The language of the Commissioners
towards Colonel Chivington is most severe. They
accuse him of having " deliberately planned and
executed a foul and dastardly massacre, which
would have disgraced the veriest savage among
those who were the victims of his cruelty." They
recommend the immediate removal of all the officers
who took a part in the butchery, and who " dis-
graced the. Government by whom they are em-
ployed." The rapid disappearance of the Indian
from this continent would be a heavy reproach to
the nation if it could be traced to such a policy as
that which Colonel Chivington and Major Anthony
thought proper to pursue.
Reports from various parts relative to the pro-
spects of the cotton crop are generally discou-
raging. It is computed that 500,000 bales will
represent the total crop, and that the entire
quantity of "merchantable cotton on hand" is
about 1,200,000 bales. It is impossible, however,
for any one to estimate with precision the quantity
which is held in the trans-Missiisippi country. An
opinion has been given by Attorney-General Speed,
in compliance with the demand of the Treasury,
upon the right of loyal merchants or foreigners to
cotton which was seized by the United States' Go-
vernment during the war. This decision will be
of great
arises importance to many English traders. It
from what is known as the Savannah cotton
case, the facts being there :—Last
ecernber Gen.
Sherman confiscated, on behalf of the Treasury
Department, 38,000 bales of cotton in the city of
was sold in New York at
Havan n ail . The property
public auction, and subsequently claims were posted
for the proceeds by parties representing themselves
to be loyal merchants or subjects of neutral
Powers. The Attorney-General de ecoiadfpetosi,ipriiennditol; 'net
tfitpirci>santt
place, that
point
ctoltiteoisiawysas:_la:lfuallmy
the second
neither the President, nor any other executive offi-
cer can restore, or authorise such a commission as
you (the Secretary of the Treasury) suggest to
make restitution of the proceeds of their captured
property to these loyal claimants." The following
passages are too important to be abridged :

" When the insurrection has been suppressed the owners
are authorised to invoke the jurisdiction of the Court of
Claims. The proceeds of the property aro thus,in the pos-
session of the United States, subject to the adjudication of
the Court, and when it shall have passed upon the claim-
aats' rights and decreed iu their favour Congress has so-

lemnly declared that they shall receive restitution of their
property. In the presence of such legislation, covering as
it does the entire subject-matter, providing for the safe
custody of the property in question pending hostilities, and
for the final judicial determination of the rights of the
parties in interest, I cannot see that the Executive has
power to make a different disposition of the property from
that provided by Congress, or authorise any one to deter-
mine the questions which Congress has intrusted to the
decision of another forum. lam therefore of opinion, in
reply to your inquiry, that jurisdiction cannot be conferred
upon a commission appointed dither by the President or
the Secretary of the Treasury to examine the claims in
question and to make restoration of the proceeds of so
much of this cotton as may belong to the loyal claimants."

Ford's Theatre, Washington, in which President
Lincoln was shot, has lately been the subject of
some cheap and vehement patriotism. A portion of
the press is unreserved in its indignation because the
Government forbade the re-opening of the theatre
one night recently, when a play especially adapted
to excite disorder and tumult was announced for
production. When Mr. Lincoln died it seemed that
the whole country wanted to buy the theatre, and
turn it into some sort of memorial of the " Martyr
President." But, provided there be not some great
principle or cause at stake, popular sentiment is
very shortlived in America, and the desire to da
something from motives of respect and gratitude to
Mr. Lincoln soon burnt itself out. So Mr. Ford was
unable to get any one to buy his theatre ; even the
Young Men's Christian Association, which had been
very eager to sanctify the unhallowed spot by meet-
ing together in it, could not make up their minds to
pay for the privilege. The Cabinet appears to thinjc
that it is undesirable to let the theatre become pub-
lic property, and they have, consequently, agreed to
pay rent for it until next session, when Congress
may be willing to pay for its purchase. It is a little
more than doubtful, however, whether 'the money
will be voted, for the prevalent feeling towards Mr.
Lincoln, though kindly, is by no means enthusiastic,
and it is very common to hear expressions of regret
that the Queen wrote a private letter to Mrs. Lin-
coln. Men who are familiar with public affairs, and
who remember them, speak with the highest admi-
ration of the late President ; but the mass of the
pe9ple have fickle memories, and with them the
merits of Mr. Lincoln are eclipsed by the more
showy performances of Grant and Sheridan, the
two popular idols at this moment.

The Abyssinian Prisoners.

♦-'

A letter from Mr. Stern, one of the missionaries
who are captive with Consul Cameron in Abyssinia,
has reached our hands. Some extracts of this letter
may prove entertaining reading, even to Lord Russell
and Mr. Layard. At this season of the year probably
both gentlemen unbend from the high official in-
difference they have shown to the sufferings of our
countrymen ; besides, both are gentlemen of a lite-
rary turn, and the letter has at least the sort of
interest to be found in books of travel and adven-
ture. If there are passages in it which refute the
" explanations" of her Majesty's Afinisters, that
need not trouble them now, when they are already
knee-deep in misstatements and contradictions.
They have said, for instance, that the sufferings of
the missionaries and the Consul are the conse-
quence of personal indiscretion, and that to assign
them to the anger of King Theodoros against the
British Government is absurd. Yet in the first page
of Mr. Stern's letter we read—" I believe that,
next to the members of her Britannic Majesty's
Government, King Theodoros considers me the
greatest miscreant that ever breathed the free air
of heaven." The writer (whose letter is dated
April, 1865) thus proceeds :
" You are aware that in the beginning of April,
1863, I reached Abyssinia. Our mission, though
restricted in its operations was then most
prosperous. In June, Captain Cameron, H.B.M.
Consul, arrived a second time at our sta-
tion in Genda. The King, who had been at some
distance, also quite accidentally came to our neigh-
bourhood. During his stay in our vicinity, I heard
several times that he was annoyed that Capt. Cameron
had not lirought an answer to his letter to the British
Government, and also for having gone round the
frontier and formed, as was falsely expressed, pre-
judicial intimacies with his enemies the Turks.
Against us and our mission I also heard unfavour-
able reports ; and as I knew the priests were op-
posed to us and our work, I communicated my fears
to my fellow labourers.
" Not expecting violence or forcible detention,
even under the most adverse circumstances, I visited
the Faloshas of various districts. About the 20th
September I came back to Genda ; and on the even-
ing of my return, a royal order summoned the Bri-
tish consul, all the missionary agents and myself, to
Gondar, to hear the reading of the letter which a
Monsieur Bardel had brought from the Emperor of
the French. All obeyed the behest, and on the
morning of the 2d October, I think (the dates may
not be quite correct), the despatch was publicly
read, and the fictitious interview between Monsieur
Bardel and Napoleon 111. narrated before the small
European colony. The King was exceedingly
dissatisfied with the letter and the reception
of his messenger ; and I know that M. Lejean,
the French Consul, might still keep us company
had not Aboona Salama (the Abyssinian patriarch)
arrested the King's violence and gained him permis-
sion to leave. M. Lejean and M. Lagard, a French
physician, were peremptorily requested to quit
Abyssinia, and the rest returned again to their re-
spective homes.

" The crisis, which for some time had been loom-
ing in the distance, was now drawing nearer and
nearer. All felt that there was something impend-
ing, but even the most timid dreaded nothing be-
yond the seizure of property and an expulsion from
the country. My own work being finished,, I pur-
chased the requisite number of animals and started
for the coast. On my way I had to repass Gondar,
where the King was still with his army. The Metro-
politan, with wonted kindness, invited me to his
residence, an offer which I gratefully accepted. I
reached Gondar on Thursday, and on Saturday I in-
tended to pay my salaam to his Majesty. Unfor-
tunately, before I could secure a baldaraba, or in-
troducer, the King unexpectedly set out on an ex-
pedition against a rebel. I remained at Gondar till
Tuesday, and then bade a final adieu to the Bishop
and other friends, and quitted, as I thought for ever,
the capital of Abyssinia. Captain Cameron, and
also the Frenchman Bardel, accompanied me about
two hours on my road, and then shook hands and
parted.

" My people as well as myself were in the happiest
mood, a feeling which even our animals seemed to
share, for they marched with ease along shelving
paths and over dizzying precipices up to the plain of
Woggera. Here to my surprise I saw the King's
white tent glimmering in the sun's rays on one of
the heights which dot the plateau. Duty as well
as courtesy forbade me to advance without saluting
his Majesty. This induced me to halt, and towards
afternoon I proceeded, accompanied bytwo servants,
one of whom spoke a little Arabic, to the royal camp-
ing ground. After waiting about two hours, his Ma-
jesty came into the open air. Myself and attendants
immediately made a most humble obeisance. There
was a frown on the King's countenance which augured
nothing auspicious. Between the first question and
the death of my two servants the hand of time could
not have advanced ten minutes. The gloom of ap-
proaching night, the rattling of the sticks, and my
own doubtful fate, mechanically prompted me to put
my hand to my lips, or, as it was said, to put a
finger into my mouth. This was construed into a
crime, and in less time than these words take to pen,
I was stripped, beaten, and -almost lifeless on the
;►round. Wounded, bruised, and bleeding, my exe-
cutioners dragged, or rather carried me, down the
hill, where my swollen wrist was fastened by a
hoop and chain to the arm of a soldier. My guar -
than, moved with compassion, tried to staunch
with rank grass the blood which profusely welled
out of more than a score of gashes and scars ;
but, finding the effort useless, he wrapped himself
my battered form clinging
in his shams,
withalso sank several times into a
and, oh ! how gladly would I have
feverisht o him, fellstu stupor
passed the wearisome hours of night in forgetfulness
had not the shifting motion of blood in my mouth
and throat denied me this indulgence. At daylight
I was given in charge of several chiefs, whilst the
King moved on to Gondar."
His guards, however, and the villagers behaved