The Sun.
London, England, 1865-05-26 00:00:00

THE SUN, LONDON, FRIDAY EVENING, MAY 26, 1865.

have had a great deal of unfortunate experience to
sib )w us 'the danger of leaving such difficult matters
entlrely in the hands of Ministers. During last
week: most mistaken conduct distinguished our
Government, and already the deleterious effects of
the un certain course pursued have been too plainly
percei, red. Too much already has been conceded
to the Yankees, and if we go on at the rate we have
there will be an end to all principles of justice and
respect for the law of nations. Had more firmness
and decision been displayed at the outset of the
American war we should now be in a very different
position with the bombastic and unscrupulous
Gov eminent of Washington. The loss of President
LINCOLN will be doubly felt in consequence of our
having so manifestly failed to establish our rightful
position. The claims for compensation, of which
rumour has told us so much, and of which in all
probability we shall yet hear more now that the
Americans can turn their thoughts to us after the
cessation of the war, are most ridiculous and im-
pertinent. The extraordinary character of such a
demand is such that it would be incredible to
suppose that the threat is to be put into execution
did we not remember alike the arrogance of those
who are to make it, and the very imprudent way in
which they have been treated by our authorities
over here. Sir J. WALSH is to ask, " Whether the
Government of the United States have sent in any
formal or official demand for the losses sustained by
American subjects from the Alabama and other
cruisers fitted out in British ports ?" The sooner
a decided answer is given to this question the better,
and Lord PALMERSTON will disappoint expectation
if he do not at the same time he replies to the query
in the letter of the demand also answer the spirit
and purpose of its meaning. Whether the Govern-
ment have actually received the communication or
are only expecting it, he can at any rate avow
the intention of himself and his colleagues to
refuse the claim on every ground, and to put
aside, as unworthy of notice, the fallacious argu-
ments which are sure to be employed by those who
make it. Other questions maybear delay, and it may
not much matter if minor affairs are mismanaged
in our dealings with foreign nations, but the honour
of England admits of but one answer to this de-
mand, and that answer must be speedily given in
the negative. The Government had better take
heed to their ways in this matter, and they will find
that they have committed an error which will cost
them dear, and which the country will neither for-
give nor forget. If Lord PALMERSTON be wise he
will follow the dictates of his own convictions, and
not attend to the anti-national party, whose false
doctrines have wrought so much evil to this country
and materially altered the spirit of our foreign policy.
If anything could add to the unreasonableness of
this demand, it would be to think of the great ad-
vantages which the Federals gained from this
country, and the very illegal measures which their
agents resorted to in order to obtain recruits. By
an ingenious interpretation of the laws it was dis-
covered, also, that they might procure arms
and ammunition to any extent, although it was
unlawful for the Confederates to take un-
armed ships out of our harbours. There
is a limit beyond which endurance will not go, and
that limit has now been reached. It is time for
a protest to be entered against unwarrantable as-
sumption, and for the demand for compensation of
injuries, with which we have nothing to do, to be
met with a stern denial, for thus only can we
maintain our dignity before the nations of the
world.

Opening of the Saxo-Thuringian Industrial
Exhibition.

(REUTER'S EXPRESS.)
MERSEBURG May 21.
. .

His Royal Highness the Crown Prince of Prussia
arrived here yesterday evening from Berlin to open
the Saxo-Thuringian Industrial Exhibition. After
attending Divine service this morning in the Cathe-
dral, the Crown Prince received the various distin-
guished personages invited to be present at the
ceremony, the representatives of the districts which
had sent articles for exhibition, and the authorities
of the town, and then repaired to the building
erected in front of the Seitus Gate.

His Royal Highness was received at the entrance
by the guests and committee, and conducted to a
throne placed in the centre of the transept. The
chairman of the committee then delivered a long
address of welcome. The speaker next sketched the
former importance of many of the towns included
in the exhibition district, alluding particularly to
Erfurt and Merseburg, and dwelt upon the new era
in the manufacturing and commercial life of these
regions, which, he said, justified the most brilliant
hopes for the future. The present exhibition, in
which so many various districts were represented,
displayed an attractive picture of Germany's united
toil. Great difficutlies had had to be overcome by
the promoter, and these had all been fortunately
removed, princes and governments, communities
and private individual vieing with each other in
making sacrifices for the common good.
The speaker continued :—" Upon this festive day
I may venture to call to mind that 50 years will have
elapsed to-morrow since, by the decree of fate, this
portion of the country passed into the possession of
Prussia. At that time, notwithstanding its just sor-
row at the severance of long familiar bonds, the
population bowed with resignation to the wisdom of
the decrees of Providence. Now it is animated by
the joyful consciousness of being a not unimpor-
tant part of that great Power which looks bac
upon a mighty past, and looks forward to a gloriotts
future. At that time the population looked with
hopeful confidence to the pre-eminent qualifications
which the record of history shows to have dis-
tinguished the House of Hohenzollern ; now it
knows that the members of that high house have a
heart for the interests, wants, and wishes of the
people. It is among the most elevating and pre-
cious results of our entire undertaking to have
arrived at this knowledge by personal experience."
His Royal Highness replied :—" Gentlemen, I
congratulate you upon the completion of the under-
taking which unites us here to-day. It affords me
joy, in accordance with the wish of my royal
mother, to testify, by my presence among you, my
interest in this exhibition, and to be able to con-
vince myself how liberally the task you have under-
taken, though coupled with so many difficulties, has
been assisted.

" I have also much pleasure in welcoming among
us councillors and representatives of those illustrious
Princes who are so near to us by kindred and blood,
and whose countries have sent hither artistic produc-
tions. They are all heartily welcome.
" Allow me also, at the same time, to pay a
special tribute to the memory of an illustrious
Prince from these countries, whose premature loss
we deplore, and who, in the true sense of the word,
was the creator of the idea of this noble emulation
in industrial products. I repeat here what I said
recently upon a similar occasion, in another part of
the monarchy, viz., the wish that his spirit may
inspire and guide us.
" And while we now proceed;to the opening of the
Exhibition, let us above all be mindful of his Ma-
jesty the King, under whose beneficent hand may
the industry of the country grow and flourish."

The Crown Prince then called for three cheers
for the King, and declared the Exhibition open,
after which he made the round of the building, ac-
companied by the Presidents of the committee.
His Royal Highness returned in the afternoon by
railway to Berlin.

COMMERCIAL RELATIONS WITH AUSTRIA.—The
Board of Trade has intimated to the Chamber of Commerce
that the International Commission has decided to invite
delegates, representing the industries and the arts of both
countries, to meet them in Vienna, and to give evidence as
to, the conditions of productions in England and Austria,
and the means of increasing tb. trade betreen those
cottatriet

LATEST INTELLIGENCE.

(REUTER'S TELEGRAMS.)

AMERICA.
CAPTURE OF PLESIDENT DAVIS•

ARRIVAL OF THE SCOTIA
(Via Crookhaven).
The following are the heads of the news brought
by the Scotia :
NEW YORK, MAY 17 (Morning).
Jefferson Davis, with his family and staff, have
been captured near Macon and forwarded to
Washington under a strong guard.
The conspiracy trial is progressing. Reporters
are admitted and the proceedings are published
daily. No positive evidence has yet been given

implicating Davis.
M. de Montholon, the French Ambassador, has
presented his credentials to President Johnson, on
which occasion reciprocal expressions of friendship
took place.

The emigration excitement has somewhat subsided.
The subscriptions to the Seven Thirties on Satur-
day amounted to pomo,coo. Mr. M'Culloch has
commenced the issue of the balance of the loan,
amounting to $230,000p0. Gold 1294.
Wilson's cavalry surprised and captured Jefferson
Davis, his wife, sister, and brother, and Post-
master Kegan, at Irwinsville, Georgia, 75 miles
south east east of Macon, on the 10th inst. The
Federals also captured Colonels Harrison, John-
son, Morris, and Lybbeck, and Lieut. Halkaway,
forming the staff of Mr. Davis.
The cavalry, pursuing Davis from opposite
directions, mistook each other for the enemy.
An engagement ensued, and two men were killed
and five wounded, before the mistake was disco-
vered.
Wilson's despatch says that his men assert that
Davis, when surprised, put on one of his wife's
dresses and fled to the woods and was captured. He
threatened his captors with the bowie knife, but
surrendered on the presentation of a revolver.
All the prisoners captured have been sent north
under a strong guard. Wilson has made dispo-
sitions for capturing the other Confederate leaders,
none of whom have yet got through.
Breckenridge's son has been captured.
The New York Times states that Davis will be
confined in Fort Lafayette, and says that his de-
liverance to the gallows will only help to con-
sign the rebellion to infamy.
The Herald regards him as an accessory to Mr.
Lincoln's murder, and says there is no human pos-
sibility that he can escape the full penalty of
the law.
The Tribune trusts that Davis will be treated as
a prisoner under the protection of the dignity and
honour of a self-respecting people.
Press reporters are admitted to the conspiracy
trial, and since Saturday the proceedings of the
the court have been published daily.
The evidence given on Friday, the opening day
of the trial, previously suppressed, has now been
published. Witnesses testified to having seen
Booth in Canada, conversing with George Sanders.
Booth was also present at secret conferences of
rebel officers at Stanton, Virginia.
All the prisoners present in court were heavily
ironed. The specification charges them with con-
spiring with John Suratt, Wilkes Booth, Jefferson
Davis, George Sanders, Beverley Tucker, Jacob
Thompson, William Cleary, C. C. Clay, George
Young, and others unknown, to murder President
Lincoln, Johnson, Seward, and Grant, in aid of the

rebellion.
Harrold is charged with aiding Booth to commit
murder and assisting his escape ; Payne with at-
tempting the assassination of Mr. Seward, and At-
zeroth with lying in wait to murder President John-
son and General Grant.
Mudd, Arnold, and Mrs. Surratt are charged as
accessory to the crime.
Mr. Reverdy Johnson has been admitted as coun-
sel for Mrs. Surratt.
The evidence produced since Friday implicates all
the prisoners. One witness testified that Surratt
visited Richmond last March, accompanied by a
lady, and on his return to Washington had about
$2OO in gold. He stated that he had seen Jefferson
Davis and Benjamin, and that Richmond would not
be evacuated. On his return from Richmond Sur-
ratt left for Montreal, and returned to Washington
the day before Lincoln's assassination.
A special despatch to the Express asserts that
Johnson was misled by the Judge Advocate regard-
ing the evidence upon which he issued the procla-
mation attributing complicity in Lincoln's assassina-
tion to Mr. Davis and others.
Johnson, it is said, now finds that the Judge
Advocate has no foundation for the evidence he
alleged to exist.
M. de Montholon, on his reception by President
Johnson on Saturday, was introduced by Acting-
Secretary Hunter. On presenting his credentials,
M. de Montholon expressed the wishes of the Em-
peror Napoleon for the complete restoration of peace
on the American continent. " France," he said,
" will always view with satisfaction the consolida-
I tion of the prosperity and greatness of the United
States. Animated by sentiments of deep sympathy
for the American Union, their Majesties and France
share with other nations the grief into which a most
atrocious crime has plunged the Government and
people of the United States."
th e President
headof
Johnsonyonr repliedo w
n Government
o:v— " Your intimacy
with ernment cannot fail
to impart perhaps universal confidence to your re-
presentations respecting his proposed policy in refer-
ence to the United States. The people of the United
States have a traditional regard for France, univer-
sally and warmly cherished. This regard must
continue to flourish and expand unless checked by
events most uncommon, and not to be anticipated
by ordinary foresight."
In conclusion, Johnson expressed the hope that
M. de Montholon's mission would strengthen and
perpetuate the good understanding that exists be-
tween the two Governments.
The determination of Kirby Smith to continue
the contest is confirmed.
War meetings have been held at Shrieveport,
Louisiana, and Marshall Texas.
An expedition for Texas is being organised at
New Orleans.

It is said that the misunderstanding between
Sherman and Stanton may prevent the contemplated
review at Washington.
A sharp correspondence has passed between
HaMeek and Sherman, concerning HaHeck's order
in reference to Sherman.
Governors Brown of Georgia and Vance of North
Carolina have been arrested.
It is reported that President Johnson will shortly
issue a new amnesty proclamation.
The Mexican emigration excitement has some-
what subsided. The enlistments, however, con-
tinue. The Herald is informed that none of the
professed emigration agents would receive any
authority from Ortega.
The subscriptions to the Seven-Thirty-Loan on
Saturday exceeded $30,000,000. The second series
of $300,000,000 has been all subscribed for.
Mr. Di'Culloch hate commenced Leming the

balance of the loan authorised by Congress, amount-
ing to $230,000,000 in Seven-Thirties, the Govern-
ment reserving the option to pay interest at the rate
of 6 per cent. in gold, instead of 7 3-10ths in cur-
rency. The subscriptions on Monday and Tuesday
amounted to $5,000,000.
The Stonewall left Savannah on the 11th inst.,
ostensibly for Galveston.

The steamers City of Boston, Saxonia, Etna,
Virginia, Cuba, and Europe have arrived out.

COMMERCIAL MTTELLIGENCE.

NEW YORK, May 17 (Morning).

Gold, 1294. Exchange on London, 143 f ;on
Paris, 3.90. Stocks dull. New York Central, 91 ;
Erie, 76i ; Illinois, 116 ; 5-20 Bonds, 104. Cotton
dull. Middling Upland, 50c. Flour and wheat
declining. Corn quiet. Provisions good inquiry.
Coffee and molasses steady. Sugar firmer. Petro-
leum quiet ; crude, 36 ; refined, 52.

MEXICO.
NEW YORK, May 17.

It is reported from Mexico, via Cairo, that the
Liberals demanded the surrender of Matamoras on
the 29th ult., and that the Imperialist troops re-
fused to march out and meet them. Subsequent
reports state that on the 4th inst. the Liberals were
in full retreat.

FRANCE AND AMERICA.
PARIS, MAY 26.

The Constitutionnel of this morning says —" We
learn that the Government of the United States
have taken measures to repress any attempts to
effect illegal enlistments, and to put a stop to any
proceedings undertaken with the object of prepar-
ing emigrant expeditions against Mexico, in viola-
tion of the Feleral laws. Instructions to this
effect have been forwarded to the United States
Attorney at New York, who at once took the neces-
sary measures for the prompt execution of the
same."

The Royal Mail steamship Scotia, from New
York on the 17th inst., arrived at Queenstown at
6 a.m. to-day (26th inst.), with 265 passengers,
and $936,250 in specie. She landed 116 sacks of
mails and 46 passengers, and proceeded for Liver-
pool at 6.30 a.m. All well.

The Scotia made the passage in eight and a half

days.

Negroes and Negro Labour.

The following circular has been issued Py General
Gordon relative to the disposition of negroes and
negro labour

" Head-quarters, District of Eastern Virginia,
Norfolk, May 10, 1865.
_

" To the people, white and coloured, within this

district :

" You are now called upon to meet a question of
vast importance—one the discussion of which has
often agitated the country, and been presented as an
insurmountable barrier to the freedom of the coloured
race. Now, through the grace of God, the coloured
man is free, and he is here demanding a social status
in your midst. He is here upon your farms and your
plantations, in your towns and your cities ; and
to-day you must meet the fact, and this hour begin
the solution of the problem. Bad men for political
ends, weak-minded men and women, and therefore
pitiable, not blameable, have been deceived, or have
deceived themselves, in regard to the difficulties of
its solution. There are no real obstacles in the path ;
nothing that for one moment should make coloni-
sation or expatriation questionable or debateable.
Whatever rule may be for the present en-
forced by the nation, or whatever policy adopted
by the State, it may be safely asserted that it must
be in accordance with laws adopted at the North,
governing free labour for those who can work, an
entire or partial support of those who cannot, and
compulsory labour for those who can, but will not.
Entire or partial support, in States heretofore free,
of the infirm and aged poor, or the homeless too
young to labour, is secured in every town or county
in the most humane manner, on farms conducted
and supported by the town or county for whose poor
provision is thus made. From these farms minor
children are bound out to proper persons upon pro-
per and humane conditions. At the poor farms all
who are able labour under the supervision of a com-
petent overseer, and thus aid the town or county in
their support. For the idle and lazy vagabond
the penitentiary is provided, where compulsory
labour lessens expense. Thus in each community
there is provided the home, the poor-house, and the
penitentiary. As the whites of the South appreciated
the incomparable value of the free labour of the
coloured man, as they find—as they surely will—that
their capital increases, and new channels for industry
arise in proportion to a just, moral, and intelligent
aid given to raise and educate his labour, they will
loudly call for still another Northern institution that
lessens expense and diminishes inmates of poorhouses
and penitentiaries and increases the number of
homes—the schoolhouse. Then they will appreciate
that the coloured labour in their communities is of
priceless value, and will regard any effort to rid
themselves of it as springing from lamentable igno-
rance or hopeless insanity. The coloured race
wish to live and labour where they were born, and
they are anxious to support their families in the
community where they were raised. That they
may be encouraged in this work, that they may sus-
tain themselves and save the community from ex-
pense, that they may build up their homes and edu-
cate their children, is it not both economy and
wisdom for the farmers and planters to hire them as
labourers upon their lands, and thus relieve the com-
munity from the support of many that would other-
wise 'fall upon the public charity? It is not only
economical, but does not such a course insure greater
puplic security ? To this consideration your atten-
tion is invited. Aid the willing labourer, punish
and confine the idle and lazy, support the pauper,
and educate the race. Let each city, county, and
town charge itself with the management of these in-
stitutions, and there will be no insurmountable diffi-
culties arising from freedom to the slave. In this
district, under the disadvantages of a state of war, the
negro population have been treated, as far as pos-
sible, in conformity with the principles enunciated.
From the scarcity of demand for farm hands, and
from the impracticability of adopting new, and as
yet untried, fields of labour in this community, from
the over-crowding of people drawn by the barbari-
ties of war from near and remote plantations and
homes, the Government agents in adopting, as nearly
as possible in the case of the homeless and landless
race, the Northern institutions of the home, the
school-house, the poor-house, and the penitentiary,
have been compelled to make departures from their
practice, and bestow charity upon those who would
work if work could have been found, although this
class has mostly been confined to females ; they have
also been compelled to find labour for the coloured
man where he should have found work for himself ;
and thus the Government has not been able to prac-
tically teach that inexorable lesson that from to-day
must be taught the coloured man—that support
will alone come from the labourer's own earnings;
that with impartial laws and all aids to progress,
mental, moral, and physical, the negro starts
henceforth to hew his own way through all
obstacles to equality before man as he now stands
equal before the law. For the steps that have been
taken in this district too much praise cannot be
awarded Capt. 0. Brown, Superintendent of Negro
Affairs, under whose intelligent effort the coloured
r man has been partially instructed that he must earn
his own bread by the sweat of his own brow.—By
order of " Brigadier- General GEO. H. GORDON.
" T. H. Harris, Assistant Adjutant-General."

SPEEDY JUSTICE.—A daily paper published in our
little namesake, Canadian London, states that recently at
the railway station of that westernmost city of Canada,
a fight took place between a passenger and a townsman.
The men were at once taken by a constable before an
alderman, tried, convicted, fined a dollar each with costs,
and sent about their business. It was all done in a
quarter of an hour, and the passenger combatant sue
ceeded in rejoining his train before it left the station, and
went on his way to Sarnia.