The Sun.
London, England, 1862-01-25 00:00:00

days from Cardiff, had severally arrived out at
Gibraltar since the 15th inst.

Gibraltar exchanges were quoted on the 18th :
London, 90 days' date, 491 to 49a ; Paris, sf. 25c. ;
Marseilles, 51. 26e. ; Genoa, M. 29e. ; Madrid, eight
days' -sight, par ; Cadiz, 1, di3 ; Malaga, pm. ;
Seville, 711 dis ; Alicante, s dis ; Valencia, I pm. ;
Barcelona, -11- pm. ; Spanish pillared dollars (Fer-
dinand), 21 per cent pm., no demand ; ditto (Caro-
lus), 22 per cent pm., in demand ; silver five franc
pieces, y per cent poi.; Mexican dollars 3 per cent
pm. Freights without change.

MR. SEWARD'S REPLY TO MR. SMiTh

O'BIUEII

The following letter has been received by Mr.
Smith O'Brien, from the Hon. Mr. Seward, the
American Secretary of State. Mr. O'Brien, in for-
warding the communication to a Dublin journal,
expresses his belief that it has been written with a
view to produce an impression on the public mind
of this country, and on that account he does not
feel himself at liberty to withhold it from publi-
cation :

" Washington, Dec. 28.
"My dear Sir,—l have received your letter of the 2d
of December. It is a pleasant circumstance, in these
times of care and anxiety, to know that the generous friend-
ship which was so long ago formed between us has on
your part, as it has on my own, survived the accidents of
time and distance. I thank you sincerely, moreover, for
the interest in the affairs of my country which prompted
your communication, and I have not the least disposition
to complain that you gave it to the press before it could
reach my hands. The subject is not private, but a public
one. You had a right to suppose that, if the advice you
felt constrained to give was wise, it ought to be publicly
known ; while if, from want of recent knowledge of Ame-
rican affairs, or any other cause, it was unwise, the intelli-
gent masses in Europe and America, whose consideration
it should receive, would be able to discern the error.
" You would hardly expect me, even if official restraints
were removed, to discuss with you the questions you
have raised. I the rather send you a copy of such public
papers as I have had occasion to write recently upon the
condition of affairs in the United States. You will find
therein the reasons which explain my own position, which
is in important rospects so different from your own, namely
that society on this continent could encounter no reverse o
its progress so disastrous as the division of the American
Union. It would be war henceforth, continually, and for
ever. So also I think that society in Europe has no evils
before it equal to what would result from a revival of am-
bitions on the part of European States for dominion across
the Atlantic. You view the dangers of war very differently
from myself. 'While I believe war waged without neces-
sity and without motive, is not only a calamity, but a
crime, I think also that the State which is just, equal, and
tolerant in its government, as the United States, by
force of their political constitution and their set-
tled convictions and habits, must always be, can
and must bear with wars unnecessarily forced upon it by
sedition within its jurisdiction. We shall never, with my
ctaisent, make a war unnecessarily or unjustly against any
foreign state. Standing always, not only in the right, but
upon the defensive, we shall, while our virtue lasts, be ade-
quate to defend, maintain, and preserve institutions, the
subversion of which could not increase the freedom or the
happiness of one human being in the world, either in this
generation or in any that are to come.
"No, my dear sir, if you would promote the cause of
America, of Ireland, of Great Britain, of humanity itself,
speak and act in every case, and without qualification, for
the American Union.

" I do, indeed, know that too many of my countrymen,
heated by passion, think and feel differently; but for me,
who have not only seen but felt, in every hour of my life,
and in every condition, the inspiring and elevating influ-
ences of such a political constitution and such a country,
without seeing a single act of injustice committed on any
one, or suffering a single injury myself, there can be but
one loyal wish—namely, that I may die, as I have lived, a
citizen of the unbrAen American Union, and may leave to
those who come after me, as we received from those who
went before us, all its honoured institutions, unimpaired
and reinvigorated.—l remain, my dear sir, yours, &c.,
" WILLIAM H. SEWARD.
" To Smith O'Brien, Esq., Killiney,
co. Dublin, Ireland."

A SE.RGRANT.MAJOR'S ACCOUNT OF
THE VOYAGE OF THE GUARDS.

We (Plymouth journal) have received the fol-
lowing letter from a sergeant-major Ist Battalion
Grenadier Guards, on board the Adriatic, to a friend
iu Devonport, which will, no doubt, prove interest-
ing to our readers :

" Halifax, Nova Scotia, 3d Jan., 1862.
"Dear Old Friend,—After encountering the dan-
gers of the deep for eleven days and nights, I find
myself in Halifax. People in the Old Country
(Yankeeism) say, 'Go to Halifax;' and to Halifax.
I have gone. Oh, —, were you ever sea sick ?
It :ou were not I hope you never will. I suffered
frightfully, and, I am afraid, not with the stoicism
of an Indian. We had 1,400 men on board, stowed.
away something like pigs, all on top of each other.
Then the rations were anything but inviting. Tea!
God forgive me for calling things by their wrong
names, for I verily believe it was nothing more nor
less than a tar rope suspended in a boiler of water,
with a small portion of sugar in it. The chocolate
I can say nothing about for not one in ten drank it.
The pea soup, the first day, was something awful ;
some companies got all peas, and the others a Lind
of liquor. The soldiers on board (like the Persian
army, under Darius, which drank the rivers dry)
attacked the water barrels immediately after in good
force. The adjutant, after they had emptied one
barrel, ordered them away from the second ; they
would not go, but were mutinous enough to cry
out, Throw him overboard' They then brought
the hose to play on them, which soon cleared
the ways. They were raging mad with thirst,
The cooking, altogether, was abominable ; not suf..
ficient boilers. The duff,' commonly called pud-
ding, which was supposed to be for dinner, was
generally boiled during the night, and issued out
before breakfast ; it so stuck to the teeth you could
not get them cleaned for an hour after. I was
tolerably well up to Christmas Eve, when it com-
menced to blow a gale. The gale continued the
whole of that and Christmas Day, and the day fol-
lowing. A more miserable Christmas I never
passed. Not a particle entered my lips for the three
days, although I got a sniff of a goose from the
saloon. Then I thought of Home, sweet Home.
The voyage, altogether, was lonely. I thought the
other morning, as I lay in bed, that I should like to
hear a baby cry, just for novelty's sake. On Sunday
last we were on the banks of Newfoundland, and
intended putting in the following morning at Syd-
ney, Cape Breton Island, for coaling, then, if possi-
ble, up the St. Lawrence, only we chanced, most
fortunately, to meet the Persia (which had taken
out the Ist Battalion 16th Regiment) returning
from the St, Lawrence. She made her way as far
as a place called Bic, and commenced landing her
troops. Nine companies were safely on shore, when
the ice drifted down in such masses that she was
driven from her moorings and obliged to make out
to sea, with the company and all the baggage on
board. She left behind six of the ship's boats and
twenty of her crew. Hearing this, we gave up the
thoughts of trying to ascend the St. Lawrence,
and, in company with the Persia, arrived safely
in Halifax Harbour on Tuesday last. It appeared
in the Halifax Chronicle of today, that the
Parana was lost at the mouth of the St. Lawrence,
having on board the Scots Fusilier Guards, and
other troops, but it turned out to be false. They are
now at Sydney. We are now taking in coal, and
expect to leave on Monday for St. John's,- New
Brunswick, then overland to Quebec,
upwards of
hlgand part by sleighing.
carried for him 401bs. of
iar
willt by mhiti7ech
baggage only. It is frightfully cold here ; you can
see nothing but ice and snow, and sledges flying
Each
h mites,
officer
from one part of the town to another, each drawn by
one miserable animal called a horse,with a couple of
bells jingling round his neck to give notice of his
approach. Things are generally very cheap, meat
particularly-21d. per lb.; lobsters, ld. each ; sugar,
10d, per lb. ; rum, 6s. per gallon; clothes very dear.
The ladies appear in monster crinolines. The wea-
ther is so severe that I dread the journey, but I hope
to be there by the end of the month, with a letter
from you awaiting my arrival.—Ever yours,

" -, lit Battalion Grenadier Guards."

A deputation from the Associated Societies
(Metropolitan and Provincial) of the Beer and Wine Trade,
intr.duced by W. Scholefield, Esq., M.P., had a long in-
terview yesterday with Sir G. Grey on the equalisation of
the licensing system.

THE SIIORT TIME MOVEMENT IN LANCASHIRE.---
The Manchester papers publish elaborate returns of the
short time movement in Lancashire, of which the follow-
ing is a summary :—The' returns embrace almost the whole
of the districts in which the cotton manufacture is carried
on in the north of England, including Manchester. The
number of mills and factories is 1,174, employing 257,392
operatives. There are, in round numbers, above 69,000
working full time, 161,600 working short time, and 27,000
entirely without employment. The average number of
hours worked by those on short time is 35 2-3, or fully 3}
lopelddnt in all the other districtsave
e
th
days per week. The proportion of operatives working full
time is very much greater in Manchester and Bolton than
in any other place. Excluding these two towns the num-
ber
wouldf handsstand inat
5,
f4eumlloo emoym
0,
instead of 69,000. Dividing the
total number of hours worked
enuring
during the week by
erag
the total
wouldnu
mbebreoafwhuantd3sB, p y
1-3 hours to each unemployed,
per week.