The Sun.
London, England, 1865-12-19 00:00:00

the money.
The report contains a report of the decision of
Vice-Chancellor WOOD in the case of the UNITED
STATES v. PRIODEAU and others, better known as
FRASER, TRENHOLM, and Co. The committee state
that " they have consulted Mr. FLEMING, Q.C.,
who has a reputation for the knowledge of inter-
national law." The following is the substance of
his opinion, which he states " has been come to
with much anxiety and hesitation, and is given with
great diffidence :"
"If the view which I have formed as to the original
validity of the loan be well founded, then the United States
have taken the property of the Confederated States, sub-
ject to the charge for the loan, and applying the principle
expressed by Vice-Chancellor Wood in the 'United States
v. Prioleau' ' a principle fully admitted by the most learned
commentators on international law, any property in this
country which was subject to the charge, and can only be '
obtained by the United States, continues liable to the
charge, and can Duly be obtained by the United States,
subject to the liability which previously attached to it. The
case is different in fact, but not in principle, in regard to
property in America and under the immediate control of
the conquerors. • With that of course the successful party
can deal. and if it be their pleasure to deny the validity of
the loan, 1 do not see any means by which their right to
take the property of the States which they have conquered,
repudiating its liability to creditors under the loan, can be
questioned in America."
Mr. FLEMING, also gives the following opinion as
to the liability of Messrs. ERLANGER and Co., the
contractors of the loan :
"1 have no doubt that if the contractor have any por-
tion of the loan in his hands unapplied, or if he have in his
hands any property or funds forwarded to him by the
Confederate Government or their agents, to meet any liabi-
lity or payments on account, or in respect of the loan, that
he is liable to the contributors ; and it appears to me that,
if there be reason to suppose that he has any such property
or funds in his possession, it would be prudent to file a
Bill in Equity against him."
The committee made an application to the Com-
mittee of the Stock Exchange, asking that the Con-
federate loan might be officially quoted, but they
received no reply. The committee comments very
severely upon Mr. SEWARD'S statement " that there
is no likelihood that any part of the Confederate
debt will be assumed or recognised by the United
States' Government," and of his non-acceptance of
Vice-Chancellor WOOD'S decision. The following
is a specimen of their specious reasoning on this

point :
"'The Government of the United States has, by the
indiscretion of Mr. SEWARD, thrown away as glorious an
opportunity as ever a nation had to establish its credit in
Europe at a small sacrifice, for had the American Govern-
ment been politic aria magnanimous enough to nay.
acknowledged this insignificant foreign debt of the Go-
vernment they have superseded, instead of shocking
Europe by proclaiming a policy of repudiation and defiance
of international law, their financial credit would hava risen
to the highest possible pitch ; instead of which, ever since
the publication of Mr. SEWARD'S despatch, the demand for
United States securities has fallen eff, and as the United
States debt may be computed at £650,000,000 sterling
against the Confederate Cotton debt of £2,418,000, the
loss occasioned by a fall of even 1 per cent. in the United
States debt would pay off the Confederate debt three times
over."

The Committee recommend that the bondholders
pledge themselves to allow five per cent. on the
amount of the debt, payable in bonds, if the Com-
mittee are successful in making satisfactory arrange-
ments for the payment of the bonds, and it is their
intention to despatch an agent to the Southern
States. It has been suggested that Mr. JUDAH
BENJAMIN would be a proper person for this mission.
One of the closing paragraphs of the Report is most
interesting. For cool audacity it is unequalled :
" Your committee, in conclusion, beg to remind those
whom it may concern, and especially Mr. Seward, that the
Cotton Loan was strictly a mercantile transaction, based
and subscribed for on an hypothecation of cotton, which
has been seized on by the United States, and which, by the
condition and terms expressed in the bonds, the holders
had the option of exchanging for cotton at 6d. per pound
six months after the conclusion of peace, and which option
made every cotton bondholder a promoter of peace ; and,
moreover, without such a condition and hypothecation,
they would not have advanced their money.'
The proceeds of the Cotton Loan were turned into
arms and ammunition, and kept the Confederacy
afloat for twelvemonths longer than it could have
otherwise existed, and this at a cost of tens of thou-
sands of lives on both sides, and now the bond-
holders, through their committee, claim that they
were promoters of peace.
The only mischief that the present agitation for
the payment of the cotton loan can render is that
it might enable a few of the holders to obtain a
purchaser at probably a trifling advance on present
prices, but even this is not likely. The fox in this
case cannot induce the goat to jump into the well,
that reynard may make use of his body for the pur-
pose of getting out of it. No one dreams that the
United States will pay the rebel debt ; the Southern
States cannot if they would, and would not be
allowed by the Federal Government if they could,
and manifested any intention of doing so. The only
hope that the bondholders have, and the committee
think it unworthy of mention, is that of obtaining
something from Messrs. ERLANGER and Co., or from
some of the rebel agents in this country who are
known to have part of the assets of the Confederate
government in their hands.

THE LESSON OF JAMAICA.--Many English papers
of the Tory order, and American Copperhead journals are
professing to find an argument against emancipation in the
rebellion of the blacks in Jamaica. The London Standard
says: "The reports of the West Indian Governors leave no
doubt upon the mind of any impartial person that eman-
cipation has fulfilled none of the promises which were so
confidently made by its advocates. It has not made the
negro a better or a wiser, scarcely even a happier, man.
He is more brutal and less useful than he was as a slave ;
he is further from the level of the white man ; he is more
savage, more vicious, less amenable to reason, less grate-
ful for kindness, less sensitive to religious influences, and
in every way a worso man than the Virginia slave of 1860.
Emancipation has not even given us security against negro
rebellion." While we deny the general statements above made,
we would contrast it with the fact that in Brazil the emanci-
pated negroes have risen to the highest positions, socially
and politically, in the empire. The majority of the Empe-
ror's Cabinet officers, of his army and naval commanders,
and of the elective officers, judges, &c., of Brazil are
negroes or of mixed blood. Wherein is the difference ?
Simply this—ln Brazil there has been no distinction of
caste, color, or race, and every person having property
worth $3O per annum has a vote. On the contrary, in the
Island of Jamaica, the scene of the recent rebellion, there
are but 3,000 voters, all white, in a population of 400,000,
of whom 300,000 are black, and the officers whom they
elect have no influence in governing the island. The
mistake made in the British West Indies is in eman-
cipating the negroes as individuals and enslaving
them as a population—in governing them without their
consent. Some men are foolish enough to wish to repeat
the same experiment in this country. It is wholly unne-
cessary. We freely admit in advance that if emancipation
is to be no more complete in the South than in the British
West Indies, if the negroes are to remain an oppressed and
down-trodden race, then it will have no better 'result here
than in Jamaica. On the other hand, if emancipation is
Ito be as complete as it is for the emancipated class in
Brazil, then they will exhibit the same progress and up-
I ward tendencies here as there.—Chicago Tribune.
The population of Paris is rapidly overtaking that of
London, and has increased more rapidly. It is now
1,700,000, whereas London must still be under 3,000,000.
Formerly the difference between the capitals was much
greater.