The Sun.
London, England, 1865-10-16 00:00:00

private individuals. Lord CLARENDON, the other
day in Hertfordshire, cited a case in which
the prohibition to hold a fair was rendered
useless in consequence of the animals being
disposed of in the neighbourhood. It is high time
that this presumption should cease, and that all
ranks and classes should combine to make common
cause against the common enemy, for such this
cattle plague has proved, and most assuredly will
prove in the future, whether its course be speedily
checked or not, for the ravages already occasioned
are too considerable not to leave traces behind them.
Mr. Du C spoke in favour of the Royal Com-
mission just appointed to inquire into the " rise, pro-
gress, and general features of the cattle plague," and
he agreed with many other speakers on this subject,
in questioning the wisdom of the cause pursued by
the Government inspectors in their very wholesale
and very arbitrary slaughter. It is, indeed, to be
regretted that the Commission was not appointed at
an earlier date, because then we should no doubt
have been put in possession of more accurate know-
ledge, and thus many hundreds of animals might
have been cured.

INTELLIGENCE.

Mr. Du CANE concluded his speech by making some
remarks on America, and declared that he preferred
the Old World to the New, for there was more
freedom in our time-honoured institutims than
in the democracy that reigned there, and which
had done very little to preserve the land from
evils and the horrors of a civil war. Mr. RALPH
EARLE returned thanks for the members of the
Essex boroughs, and made a short but effective
speech, in which he ingeniously compared the course
pursued by Liberal statesmen in dealing with agri-
cultural interests and Reform Bills to the plans
adopted by continental Governments in the prin-
ciple of nationalities, for by the use of statistics they
contrived to make a grand display of justice, and
yet kept all the good things to themselves. On
the whole this meeting in North Essex passed off in
a very satisfactory manner, and the speakers ex-
pressed themselves with good feeling and a right
sense of public spirit.

When two members of the Cabinet make their
appearance at a provincial banquet, of course we
cannot expect them to do otherwise than to plume
themselves upon the prosperous condition of the
country. It has long been a favourite theory of the
supporters of Lord PALMERSTON'S Ministry that all
the good fortune which befals us is due to the excellent
management of the Government, while the ill luck
we suppose is merely the exception that proves the
rule—

" As half in shade and half in sun
The world along its course advances."
Thesunny sideis certainly the only one which Minis-
terialists look upon at a public dinner. They all go
through much the same formula. They congratulate
themselves and their hearers on the conclusion of the
American war, and hope for the speedy restoration
of internal tranquillity in that country, and, of
course, they do not miss the opportunity for taking
credit to themselves for the strict and impartial
neutrality observed by Lord PALMERSTON'S Govern-
ment. The prosperous state of our trade and finance
is also a matter for rejoicing, and it likewise gives
a chance for praising the financial policy of
the present CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER.
We notice, however, that by slow degrees all refer-
ence to the Danish question, which until lately has
divided public attention with the American struggle,
has entirely slipped out of these comfortable ad-
dresses. Perhaps, since the Gastein Convention,
and the open flinging off of the Prussian
mask, the members of the Government have an un-
comfortable misgiving that they have not, after all,
heard the last of Schleswig-Holstein, and they are
afraid that their eminently pacific policy may have
failed to secure the results a;rived at. But in
spite of all the agreeable subjects which they have
for contemplation, they declare the burden of State
to be almost too heavy to bear. At least, as Sir
CHARLES WOOD finds, and considering the extensive
amount of responsibility he takes on his own
shoulders in interfering with all the arrangements
of our Indian statesmen, the weight of the change
is not, perhaps, to be wondered at ! It is not en-
couraging to find that the right hon. baronet has
not grown wiser or more liberal by experience,
and that he announces his intention of acting on
the same principles in representing Ripon that he
has done during the last forty years. We do not
doubt the sincerity of the conscientious convictions
he talks about ; we can only regret they should be
so extremely narrow and obstructive in their results.
Lord GREY always speaks sensibly and to the pur-
pose, and though the purpose of all parties on the
occasion of the Ripon banquet was that of self-
laudation, the members of a government have cer-
tainly as good a right to praise themselves as others
have to criticise them, and the principles they pro-
fessed deserved and secured the approbation of their
audiences.

ME SUN, LONVOIN, MONI)AY EVENING, OCTOBER 16,_1865.

AMERICA.

devolve upon the general Government. During the
past few months I have enjoyed good opportunities
for studying the character and disposition of the
freedmen and of the workings of the organisation
designed to protect them. I have become fully

QUEENS T OWN, Saturday.
The Cunard Royal Mail steamer Australasian,
from New York the 4th inst., has arrived.
The New York Journal of Commerce has the fol-
lowing particulars relative to the expedition of Mr.
Hall, the Arctic explorer, an account of whose sup-
posed discovery of some of the companions of Sir
John Franklin appeared recently in The Sun.:---
On Saturday, Sept. 30, Captain Edward B.
Chapel, of the whaling barque Monticello, paid us a
visit. He brings advices from Mr. Hall, the Arctic
explorer, to the sth of August, and states that
the letter received from Mr. Hall—the one first pub-
lished in the Journal of Friday—was written some
time in March. Mr. Hall was still at Repulse
Bay in August, but expected to leave immedi-
ately after the first great snowstorm, occurring pro-
bably about the middle of the present month, for
Boothia Felix Peninsular and King William's Land.
It has been a matter of wonder why Mr. Hall did
not avail himself of the summer season to make his
journey, but Captain Chapel states that travel can
only be successfully accomplished during the winter
months, when everything is thoroughly frozen up.
In the summer the lakes and streams are open, thus
preventing the sledges from crossing. These months
are taken advantage of, however, to forward. sup-
plies of provisions, &c.—say, for 10, 20, or even 50
miles. When Captain Chapel left there was a con-
siderable fleet of whalers still at Repulse Bay. Mr.
Hall has evidently retained his journal until the last
ship was about to return home, so as to give the
latest possible information. The document is ex-
pected by the whaler Black Eagle, due about the
middle of this month, and will doubtless contain
much valuable information. A cousin of Albert (a
native companion of Mr. Hall) was one of a party
who discovered the body of one of the crew of Sir
John Franklin lying embedded in the ice, from
which it was with difficulty dislodged. The date of
this discovery is at present unknown, but the jour-
nal may throw light upon it. When last heard from
Mr. Hall and party were well and in the best
spirits. They believed that their journey to
Boothia Felix and King William's Land would be
made successfully. Captain Chapel passed the
winter at Repulse Bay very pleasantly on board the
Monticello. He built a snow wall all around the
vessel, some ten feet distant from its sides, as far
up as the deck rails, covering the entire deck with
a snow arch. He was enabled in this way to
keep his cabin warm, and he says that he did
not have even water freeze all winter. The thermo-
meter stood in the cabin at 60 deg. above zero, while
outside it stood 60 deg. below. The 28th of
February was the coldest of the season."
The New York Times publishes the documents re-
lating to the formation of the Southern Independ-
ence Association in England, with a list of the in-
vited who joined and who declined to join the invi-
tation to form part of the provisional committee.
Several of the New York papers express doubts of
the accuracy of the statement that her Majesty's
Government were furnished with information re-
specting the Fenian movement by the authorities of
the United States ; but they do not distinctly deny
it. Except this, there is no other reference of an
editorial character to the Fenian movement, though
the details are published according as they arrive.
Governor Brownlow, of Tennessee, sent his first
message to the General Assembly on the 3d. He re-
commends amendments and additions to the fran-
chise law, butsays, " I am by no means an advocate
of its repeal, nor do the loyal people of the States
wish any sweeping change." The restoration of civil
law has worked well, and 'prosperity is promised in
every section. Guilty rebels should be treated with
severity in proportion to their offences, the mass of
them with not less than 10 years' disfranchisement,
and the leaders with neither mercy nor forbearance.
He says, " I am convinced that the white and co-
loured people cannot live together, politically or
socially, as equals." He advocates the setting apart
of some portion of the national territory best adapted
for the purpose for a nation of freed men. The tes-
timony of negroes is recommended to be taken in
the courts on the same basis as that of white per-
sons. President Johnson's reconstruction policy is
indorsed as the sole hope of the country.
The Majority in Connecticut against extending
the right of suffrage to the coloured people is pro-
bably about 6,000. Only one county (Windham)
has given a majority in favour of the proposition.
Major-General Howard has returned from his
inspecting tour through Virginia, after an absence
of ten days. He reports favourable progress being
made in the improvement of the condition of the
freedmen and the settlement of the labour question
between employer and employed. One of the re-
sults of General Howard's tour has been to establish
a system for the adjudication of all minor questions
concerning the freedmen, such as labour disputes,
contracts, minor offences, &c. A commission of
three persons in each district, one appointed by the
freedmen and one by the planters, to act with an
agent of the Freedmen's Bureau, will carry into
effect this new system. All important matters will
be referred to higher tribunals, either civil ot.mili-
tary. It is General Howard's intention to soon
start on a more extended tour, which will embrace
the entire South.
General Slocum in the course of his canvass has
made a lengthened speech. His opinion of the
working of the Freedmen's Bureau is given as fol-
lows :
" General Howard, who stands at the head of the
Freedmen's Bureau, is a man of great purity of
character, and will never sustain a system which
he does not think productive of good, and yet after
carefully observing the operations of that Bureau
am convinced that more evil than goo I
d will resul
from perpetuating it after the States have adopted
Constitutions prohibiting slavery. Each State is
placed in charge of an assistant-commissioner. It is
made the duty of the Department Commander to de-
tail such officers and soldiers as these assistant-com-
missioners may require in the discharge of their duties.
All questions between whites and blacks are to be
adjudicated by an officer or agent of the Bureau.
This, of course, requires that an officer or agent
shall be stationed in each county, or at least that
they shall be so distributed as to be accessible to all
the inhabitants. These gentlemen, who are to act
as judges in matters of difference between the races,
are usually lieutenants selected from the regiments
on duty in the State. Each judge, lieutenant, or
agent, as you may please to term him, hashis guard,
and each guard its commissary establishment. The
news of his arrival in any section of the country
spreads with wonderful rapidity. A negro has a
grievance against his employer or some other white
person; he enters his complaint, and the judge or
lieutenant orders the white man or white lady to
appear before him and confront his or her accuser.
The usual course adopted in our courts of justice to
ascertain the facts of the case are discarded. In
some cases the accused is at once released, in others
he is fined 20, 50, or 100 dollars. The judge col-
lects the fine and usually forwards it to his superior
to be used in defraying the expenses of the institu-
tion, the negro goes home, stopping at each planta-
tion and detailing the particular's of his case to other
freedmen. Half the negroes in that section are at
once seized with a desire to see the Yankee military
judge, and to see how their masters and mistresses
would act on being brought before him. Complaints
are made against the kindest and best people in the
country. The immediate result is despondency and
anger:on the part of the whites—discontent and in-
solence on the part of the blacks. Here is a young
man from a Northern State, not educated as a judi-
cial officer, and often not possessing a single quali-
fication for the discharge of such duties, upon whom
devolve greater responsibilities than devolve upon
the justices of the Supreme Courts—for he not only
acts as judge, but also as sheriff and clerk ; and
from his decision it is seldom an appeal can be
made. In my remarks upon this Bureau, Ido not
wish to reflect upon any of the officers connected
with it. Generally they are earnest and sincere
men, and are doing all in their power to
make it successful. It is of the system I speak.
I contend that it is so utterly foreign to the prin-
ciples by which our people have been governed that
it cannot continue. And yet it appears to be the only
method that can be devised for regulating these
matters, providing the task of regulating them Di to

convinced that the policy adopted by the President
of leaving to the respective States the entire control
of their local affairs is the only safe policy that can
be adopted."
The General offered the following explanation
with reference to the termination of military rule

in Mississippi :
" In response to an application for instruction as
to the jurisdiction of military tribunals, I received
from the War Department a communication in-
forming me that the Government regarded the State
of Mississippi as still in a state of rebellion. Imme-
diately after the receipt of these instructions the
Provisional Governor proposed to organise and arm
the Militia of the State. Acting under my orders,
I would not permit it. Subsequently, the President,
taking a view of the condition of the State differing
somewhat from that taken by the War Department,
resolved to withdraw the United States' troops
from the State, which, of course, removed all ob-
jections to the organisations of the Militia. So far
from feeling annoyed at the result of this matter, I
most heartily approve the removal of the troops
from that State, and I most earnestly hope that
within 30 days every soldier now on duty there will
be mustered out of the service, and that all
attempts to interfere in her local affairs will cease.
Now that the State has adopted a constitution
which does not recognise slavery, I would confide
to her the settlement of all questions likely to arise
as to the means of supporting and controlling the
freedmen. I believe that the people will regard the
interests of the State as closely identified with that of
the freedmen, and that such laws will be passed as
will be best calculated to promote the interests of
all."

The President has ordered the release of ex-
Governor Charles Clark, of Mississippi, who has
been imprisoned for some months at Fort Pulaski,
near Savannah.

The Cincinnati Commercial expresses the opinion
that the alleged attempt to throw from the track
the train in which Gen. Grant happened to be was
purely accidental, and that the alleged intention to
kill the General is entirely unfounded.
According to a military order issued by General
Woods, all the Episcopal churches in Alabama are
to be closed, on account of the refusal of Bishop
Wilmer to order the prayer of the President to be
read. The prayer has been heretofore omitted on
the ground that the authority of an ecclesiastical
council was necessary to amend the prayer accord-
ing to the established facts of the day.
The General Convention of the Episcopal Church
was to be held at Philadelphia on the 4th. In refer-
ence to this assemblage the New York Daily News
remarks :

" Its proceedings will be peculiarly interesting,
and attract very general attention, by reason of the
fact that the Convention will have to define the
terms upon which the Southern diocesses may re-
sume their former relations to the Protestant Epis-
copal Church of the United States. Everything in-
dicates that the Convention will be controlled in its
action upon this very delicate and very important
matter by the same enlightened counsels which
guided the Convention of this diocese at its recent
session in this city, and by the same generous confi-
dence in the Southern churches and the same gentle
spirit of Christian charity and love which breathes
through every line of the noble and eloquent address
which the venerable Bishop of New York delivered
before that Convention."
A treaty has been concluded with the Osage In-
dians, by which they cede 1,000,000 acres of land to
the United States' Government for the consideration
of poomo. They also cede 2,000,000 acres more
of their reservation, to be sold by the Government,
in trust for the tribe. All these lands are in Kan-
sas, and the rights of actual settlers are protected
by the treaty.
The Grand Masonic Lodge of Tennessee met at
Nashville, for the first tune in four years, on the 2d
inst. Large delegations were in attendance from all
parts of the State.