The Sun.
London, England, 1862-01-29 00:00:00

CANADA,

(From the Correspondent of the Times.)
MONTREAL, JAN. 13.
The past week has been quiet, and devoid of in-
cident. The military preparations continue ; and
the Volunteer movement daily assumes larger pro-

portions. Canada West has been divided into three
military districts; fortifications, consisting of earth-
works and palisades, have been commenced at seve-
ral points on the Welland Canal ; the new batteries
at Toronto have been completed, and the guns
mounted. Ile aux Noir, in Lake Champlain, which
has been recently used as a reformatory prison, has
been again surrendered to the military authorities,
and is now garrisoned by a company of the 47th,
under Major Villiers, and a detachment of artillery,
who are mounting the guns, and placing the works

in a better state of defence; and a guard has been

placed over the Victoria-bridge. The barracks for
the troops expected from Halifax and St. John's

are ready to receive them, and a considerable num-
ber aro expected to arrive this week. We have
had a series of distressing rumours of the loss of

:roop steamers; arising from a foolish act on board
the Australasian. When off the coast of New Bruns•

wick warm clothing, Canadian boots, and similar
articles were served out to the men, and the empty

packing-cases thrown into the sea. These drifted
ashore at several places, with part of the cargo of
the North Briton and portions of wreck from other
vessels, and thus kegs of butter, boxes of cheese,
and packing-cases marked " Rifles, Australasian,"
produced the belief that the Australasian had been
lost. When this steamer arrived safe, it was re-
ported that the Parana had on board part of the
freight intended for the Australasian, and it was
the Parana that was lost. The Parana has, however,
arrived, and the officers of the Australasian fur-
nished the explanation of the drift packages. Much
painful excitement was created for a time, and the
American operators on the telegraph lines in New
Brunswick and the United States added to it by
exaggeration. From the quantity of the North
Briton's cargo adrift from Gaspe downwards, it is
evident that she has broken up.

On Wednesday last Mr. Shaver, of Belleville,

Canada West, a Canadian gentleman, who has been
imprisoned in Forts Lafayette and Warren since
the 15th of October, returned to Canada, having
obtained his release through the exertions of Lord
Lyons. Mr. Shaver was a passenger agent for the
C3crand Trunk Railway between Detroit and Louis-
ville, Kentucky. He was arrested on the cars at
Detroit, on a telegraphic order from Secretary
Seward,on a charge of carrying aims and despatches
to the Confederates. After hie. arrest he was
stripped naked and searched, the lining of his
clothes cut out in quest of concealed papers, the
soles of his boots cut off and torn to pieces ; and,
although nothing was found to criminate him, he
was confined in a filthy cell with negroes, thieves,
and the other wretched characters that form the
prison staple of a large city. Thence he was removed
to New York, and examined before the Chief of
Police, Mr. Kennedy, who told him Lis arrest was
a mistake, and that he would be liberated in a
few days. In the meantime he was sent to Fort
Lafayette, where he was one of 49 prisoners in an
nnventilated stone casemate, with no pro,i.loti
for cleanliness or decency, and only allowed
to escape for two hours a day from the pestiferous at-
mosphere of a cell swarming with vermin and reek-
ing with ordure. After he had been here a few days
an order was received from Secretary Seward to dis-
charge him on taking the oath of allegiance to the
Federal Government. Mr. Shaver, being a British
subject, and the grandson of a United Empire
Loyalist, one of the earliest settlers of Upper Ca-
nada, refused to take the oath ; and although typhus
fever had broken out in the prison and was carry-
ing off numbers every day, resolutely resisted every
attempt to make him deny his nationality. Public
outcry against•the condition of Fort Lafayette com-
pelled the Federal Government to remove the pri-
soners to Fort Warren, in Boston Harbour, where,
through the contributions of the benevolent and the
kindness of the Governor, Col. Demmick, their
position was greatly improved. In the meantime
Lord Lyons pressed the Federal Government to
bring Mr. Shaver to trial if they had any charge
against him, or to discharge him from custody if
they had none ; and he also represented the case to
the Imperial Government. Towards the close of
December Secretary Seward ordered Mr. Shaver's
discharge on his engaging upon oath not to travel
into any insurrectionary State, and to hold no com-
munication, either in the United States or else-
where, with persons disloyal to the Federal Govern-
ment. Mr. Shaver very properly refused these con-
ditions also ; he recognized the right of the Federal
Government to try and punish him if guilty of any
offence against the laws of the United States ; but
if they acknowledged his innocence by refusing to
bring him to trial, he would accept nothing but the
unconditional discharge which was his right. At
last, on the 6th of January, ho was discharged un-
conditionally, having been in confinement a little
less than 12 weeks. Every communication which
he received from Lord Lyons during his imprison-
ment, although bearing the Ambassador's signature
on the envelope and the seal of the legation, was
opened and read before it was handed to him ; and
his letters to Lord Lyons had to be sent unsealed.
Many British subjects who were arrested on as fri-
volous grounds as Mr. Shaver, unable to endure the
horrors of the worse than Austrian dungeons at Fort
Lafayette, have been glad to escape by taking the
oath of allegiance, or by signing some paper by which
they deprivedthemselves of their claim for compensa-
tion,and they were systo matically worse treated than
the other prisoners to induce them to accept liberty
on any terms. Of all the thousands of prisoners
in Forts Henry, Warren, and Lafayette not one
'has been brought to trial, with the exception
of the officers and crews of the captured privateers.
Mr. Shaver's case is one that calls for a strong re-
monstrance from the British Government, and for
a demand for adequate compensation.
The " On to Canada" movement is receiving a
new development; the frontier is swarming with
deserters from the Federal army, chiefly British
subjects who enlisted from want of occupation, and
have got tired of soldiering. They complain bitterly
of their sufferings, the brutality of their officers,"and
of their want of pay. Many regiments have received
no pay for three months, except such as they have
got from the sutlers. This sutler system is the
greatest abomination in the American service. Each
re,giment has one attached to it, who is usually in
partnership with the Colonel ; he keeps a store, in
which are sold pies, cakes, candy, oysters, sardines,
liquor, and everything which is likely to tempt the
soldier's appetite or vanity. This store is the com-
mon loafing place of the men when off duty, and
they are not only induced to spend their pay on
man who does not stand welt
trash, but it is perfectly well understood that the
money minuet 'with the sutler is sure
to stand ill with hie officers. The men having no
purchase at other places, where prices
are !ilea'orate, and where they might procure articles
that they need; and thus, when the long-deferred
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