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

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, he 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 somepaper by which
they deprived themselves of their claim for compensa-
tion,and they were systematically 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
regiment 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
trash, but it is perfectly well understood that the
man who does Lot stand well with the sutler is sure
to stand ill with his officers. The men having no
money cannot purchase at other places, where prices
are moderate, and where they might procure articles
that they need; and thus, when the long•defcrred
pay-day arrives, the sutler has a preferential claim
on the greater part of their pay. In order to facili-
tate their getting into debt, and to avoid the labour
of the details of a multiplicity of accounts, the sol-
diers are furnished by the sutler with printed
tickets, receivable for goods at his store, to the
amount of several dollars at a time ; the whole
amount being charged to them at once as cash, they