The Sun.
London, England, 1865-03-20 00:00:00

SCOTTISH CENTRAL.

The half-yearly meeting was held at Perth on
Saturday ; Mr. Macduff in the chair.
The report, of which an abstract has appeared in
The Sun, was held as read.
The CHAIRMAN, in moving the adoption of the
report, said that the increase in the revenue was
still maintained, and they had been enabled to con-
tinue the 7 per cent. dividend on the ordinary
stock. He considered that the terms for amalgama-
tion with the Caledonian Railway were satisfactory.
The Scottish Central, were to receive 7 per cent.
per annum in perpetuity, with the right to parti-
cipate in any dividend paid to the Caledonian
shareholders above that amount. The Caledonian
and Central were continuous lines, the latter being
recognised as the natural extension of the former in
the Board of Trade report on their bill in 180.
The proposed amalgamation had received the ap-

proval of the public, shown by the support given to
the measure by traders and public companies. Thq
amalgamation was justified not only by local situa-
tion, but by changes of circumstances. The North British and Edinburgh and Glasgow were going in for a bridge across the Forth and other zneasures in direct opposition to the interests of the Scottish
Central, and this amalgamation, therefore, share t
only a desirable but a necessary one. Th-
holders would be called upon at an early opportu._
pity to confirm agreements with the Callander and
Oban and Crieff and Comrie Railway, to lease these
undertakings in perpetuity, and for amalgamation
with the Dunblane, Doune, and Callander.

Sir A. C. MAITLAND seconded the motion, and the
report was adopted.

Mr. H. Rose and Mr. J. Wilson were re-ele tied
directors, and Mr. Watson auditor ; and a Xote of
thanks to the chairman concluded the procc..-eding,s.

Re-Inauguration of President Lincoln.

(From the Times' Correspondent.)
WASHINGTON, March 7.

Four years ago Abraham Lincoln, elected by a
majority of the States, but by a minority of the
American people, took the oath of office adminis-
tered to him by the Chief Justice of the Supreme
Court, an ardent pro-slavery politician and friend
of the Southern cause. Washington was more than
half rebellious, and it was at the risk of his life that
the new President--whose personal character and
ability were then little known or appreciated—ven-
tured to show himself in public. Very different were
the circumstances of his re-installation yesterday.
Though fully one-third of the States took no part
in his re-election and considered him a foreigner,
and the bitter enemy of their liberty and inde-
pendence, the other two-thirds re-appointed him to
office by a majority so triumphant as to prove
that in spite of many errors, shortcomings, and
failures he was their deliberate choice for the
highest honour they could confer, and the only
man who, in their judgment, was fit to carry to its
close the fearful war of which his first election had
been the signal. On this second occasion, Wash-
ington, which was crammed to overflowing with
visitors from all parts of the country, instead of re-
ceiving Mr. Lincoln with distrust, or even with
scant courtesy, was ardent in the expression of its
joy. If he had an enemy in the capital none such
dared to show himself. He drove unprotected
through the streets in an open carriage, receiving at
every pace the vociferous plaudits of the multitude,
and when at last he arrived in the Senate Chamber
and walked to the platform, when in the presence
of the people the oath was to be administered, he
took it from the lip of a Chief Justice of his own
appointment, a man whose opinions on the great
questions which agitate the country and underline
its mighty struggle for existence are identical with
his own.

The night previous to the inauguration was cold
and rainy. The Senate and House of Represeta-
tives, both of which sat till daylight of the 4th to
despatch the vast arrears of business which they
had suffered to accumulate, were startled at short
intervals by sharp gusts of wind and hail which
battered on the skylights, and which on one occasion,
in the dim grey of the early dawn suddenly burst
with such fury as to suggest the idea of an explosion
within the building. Many of the members rose
affrighted from their seats and rushed towards the
door. The deliberations were for a while suspended
in the general alarm, until the Speaker rising from
his chair, begged the representatives to resume their
places, announcing that the noise " was only a
storm." When day broke the rain was falling in
torrents, and scarcely ceased until ten o'clock.
Washington, never free from horrible mud in
wet weather and from still more horrible dust in
the dry, was more than ankle-deep in the middle of
the streets and ankle-deep at least in the footpaths.
Every one predicted that the ceremonial of the day
would take place under cover, in the Senate Cham-
ber, and that the unprivileged multitude would lose
their share of the spectacle. At 11 o'clock, however,
the storm began to moderate, and a streak of light
in the far horizon gave promise of fair weather. The
procession speedily began to form, including regi-
ments of soldiers in their shabby blue uniforms—
horse, foot, and artillery—white men as well as
black—deputations of firemen from Baltimore, Phil-
adelphia, and other cities, Masonic lodges, friendly
societies, all with bands of music, and banners, amid
-which the " green flag of Erin" was next in con-
spicuousness to the all-pervading stars and stripes.
From the White House, down the wide and preten-
tious but mean-looking thoroughfare called Penn-
sylvania-avenue, the Broadway and High-street of
Washington, which connects the Presidential man-
sion with the Capitol, all was life and bustle. In
spite of the mire and the weather the streets
swarmed with people. The women trailed their
long garments through the slush, as if silks were of
no value, and the men trampled on heedlessly in
long boots worn over their trousers, through mud
and filth of a consistency and depth which no Euro-
pean who did not know the contrary from his Ame-
rican experience could believe to be compatible with
the government of a civilised city. It was remarked
by everybody, strangers as well as natives, that there
never had been such crowds of negroes in the streets
of the capital. At least one-half of the multitude
were coloured people, pouring in from far and near
to " assist" in the ceremonial of a day which to them
and to many wiser people seemed the triumph of
their race over a fast fading social prejudice and
political injustice. The negresses, "dressed all in
their best," flaunted in red, blue, yellow, and
every variety of brilliant and gaudy colour, and
looked as buoyantly happy as servant girls usually
do when out for a holiday. The negroes held their
heads high, as if they thoroughly understood that,
under the beneficent sway of Abraham Lincoln, " a
man was a man for a' that ;" if even he were not
something better than a man—if his skin happened
to be of the Ethiopian and not of the Caucasian
colour.

On reaching the Senate Chamber, about half-past
11, I found the spacious galleries crowded with
ladies, as brilliant as a parterre of flowers at mid-
summer. The Senate was devoting its attention
during the last few minutes of the Session, which
was legally to expire at noon, to the all-engrossing
question of the negro. The negro was lord of the
hour and the place, and the Senate was but his
minister. The motion before the House was the
passing of a bill to punish by fine of $5OO, and by
imprisonment for any period not shorter than three
months, or longer than three years, any driver or con-
ductor of any railroad, car, or omnibus, or steamship,
or public conveyance of any kind whatever, who
should eject therefrom or refuse to admit therein
any person on account of his or her colour. To this
proposal some senator—whether in earnest or deri-
sion it was impossible to ascertain, or even to hear,
on account of the incessant buzz and chatter kept
up by the ladies in the galleries, which the Senate
was either too indifferent or too gallant to notice—
moved an addition, to the effect that the same penal-
ties should apply to any hotel or inn keeper who
should refuse accommodation in his house to any
negro or negress, or mulatto, male or female, who
applied for admission like other travellers. The
Senate had not decided this question, nor had' time
to ask how any penal enactment could reach a hotel-
keeper who, not liking negro company, should simply
inform any negro or negress wishing to pay for his
hospitality that his house was full, when the arrival
of some distinguished persons drew all eyes to the
gangway and put an end to all farther discussion.
Whether the bill• had passed with or without the
amendment. or whether it. hail rirrippatl ihrough
altogether, no one could tell. The new corners were
Mr. Hannibal Hamlin, Vice-President! of the
United States, and ex officio President of the Senate,
and Mr. Andrew Johnson, of Tennessee, the Vice-
President elect. The acting President, 11r. Andrew
Foote, cordially shook hands with both gentlemen
and vacated the chair, which Mr. Hamlin assumed,
and beckoned Mr. Johnson to a seat beside him.
There entered immediately afterwards Mr. Seward,
Mr. Stanton, Mr. Welles, and other members of the
Cabinet, who took their places on chairs reserved
for them to the right of the presiding officer.
Scarcely had they seated themselves, when the jus-
tices of the Supreme Court, in their black silk gowns,
preceded by Chief Justice Chase, looking every inch
like a judge, entered and took their places on the
left, and were closely followed by the Foreign Mi-
nisters, conspicuous amonc, who
the Danish, andwereu M. de Ras-
eloff, Baron' Stmoec the Russian
Ambassador, and a whole bevy of smaller magnates
from other countries. Their brilliant uniforms were
conspicuous amid the sombre costumes of the sena-
tors and Ministers, and lit up the place with a ra-
diance agreeable enough to my European eyes, but
which an irreverent New Englander, who stood next
to me, assured me confidentially was " gimcrack"
and " flunkeyism," and a " kind of thing that did
not suit a free country." It was remarked that Eng-
land and France were represented on this occasion
by attaches _only, and that Mexico was not repre-
sented at all.
Mr. Hamlin rose as soon as the little flutter caused
by these arrivals had subsided, and, in a short, un-
pretending, and effective speech, took his official
farewell_of the body over whose deliberations he had

presided for the last four years, and concluded by 1
introducing his successor, :the Hon. Andrew John-
son, of Tennessee, Vice-President Elect.
All eyes were turned to Mr. Johnson as he
started, rather than rose, from his shale, and, with
wild gesticulations and shrieks, strangely and
weirdly intermingled with audible stage whispers,
began to address the brilliant auditory around and
above him. Such oratory it was never my fortune
to hear before, and I hope never to hear again. Mr.
Johnson was once a journeyman tailor, and rose by
industry and the possession of something like politi-
cal genius to his present high position. In no free
country—and least of all in America—would any
right-minded man seek to cast a slur upon him
on account of the humbleness of his origin. No one
thinks the worse of Mr. Lincoln because in early
life he was a rail-splitter and a boatman ; but if, as
President of the United States, he behaved like a
rail-splitter, spoke like one, drank like one, thought
like one, and could not import into the higher sphere
of his new life anything but the vulgar manners and
gross habits of the old, it would be impossible for
any one to forget his origin, or not to lament that
circumstances had lifted him out of a sphere in which
it would have been better if he had remained. It
is not therefore because he was once a journeyman
tailor that every witness of the exhibition which Mr.
Johnson made of himself on the day that ought to
have been the proudest of his life feels humiliated at
the idea that such a person should have arisen from
the dregs of society, to disgrace not only the dignity
of his official position, but even the honest working
clastses from whom he sprang. His behaviour was
that of an illiterate, vulgar, and drunken rowdy,
and could it have been displayed before any other
legislative assembly in the world, would have led to
his arrest by the sergeant-at-arms, if not to his igno-
minious expulsion by the deliberate vote of his in-
sulted colleagues. He had not uttered two sentences
when everybody saw that something was wrong.
" He is drunk," said one. He is crazy," said
another." " This is disgraceful," said a third. Mr.
Seward and the Ministers looked on the ground, or
moved uneasily in their seats. The Judges of the
Supreme Court manifested by their faces their pain
and their surprise. Mr. Johnson was so proud of the
dignity into which fate had thrust him that he
boasted of it in the language of a clown and with
the manners of a costermonger. " I am a-going for
to tell you—here—to-day—yes, I am a-going for to
tell you all that I am a plebian. I glory in it. I am
a plebian. The people--yes, the people of the United
States—the great people—have made me what I am;
and I am a-going for to tell you here to-day—yes,
to-day, inthis place—that the people are everything.
We owe all to them. If it be not too presumptuous,
I will tell the foreign Ministers a-sitting there that I
am one of the people. I will say to senators and
others before me, I will say to the Supreme Court
which sits before me, that you all get your power
and place from the people. And Mr. Chase," he said,
suddenly addressing the surprised Chief Justice by
name, " your position depends upon the people."
Turning to the other side of the house, where sat Mr.
Seward and the other Ministers, he severally addressed
them as he had addressed Mr. Chase. "And I will say
to you, Mr. Secretary Seward, and to you, Mr. Secre-
tary Stanton, and to you, Mr. Secretary —." Here
he hesitated for a name, and, according to the public
report in the Washington papers of this morning,
bent down and asked Mr. Hamlin if he knew who
was Secretary of the Navy. Having been informed,
he continued in the same loud tone, " And to you,
Mr. Secretary Welles, you all of you derive your
powers from the people." These words were uttered
with strong emphasis upon the word " you," which
Mr. Johnson invariably pronounced " yeoo !" He
pitched his voice as if he had been addressing a
large multitude in the open air, and alternately
whispered and roared in a manner that would
have been ludicrous had it not been disgusting.
He ended at last, to the relief of everybody, just
as the members of the House of Representatives,
whose session closed punctually at noon, came
crowding into the Senate Chamber to witness the
chief ceremonial of the day. Mr. Lincoln, escorted
by Marshal Lamon, once his partner in the law
business at Springfield, entered shortly afterwards
and took his seat below the Vice-President's chair,
while the oath of office was administered to Mr.
Johnson. Fortunately the President heard no part
of Mr. Johnson's speech, and was unaware of the
sad exhibition which his subordinate had made. A
few minutes were employed in reading Mr. Lincoln's
proclamation for an extra session of the Senate to
commence that day at noon for the consideration
of important public business, and in tendering the
oath to several new senators who had been elected
within the previous months, among whom was Mr.
Fessenden, the late Secretary of the Treasury. It
was then announced to the President sotto voco by
the Marshal that the weather was clear, that the
sun was shining brilliantly, and that all was
ready for the ceremonial of the day on the plat-
form erected on the steps of the Capitol. Mr.
Lincoln rose ; the Ministers, the Judges of the
Supreme Court, and a large body of the senators
followed. There was a general rush and scramble in
all parts of the house, like the emptying of a theatre
when the performances are over, but far more eager,
inasmuch as every one strove who should be first to
reach a good place to witness a new performance
more interesting than the last. Every one was left
to shift for himself, and the members of the Corps
Diplomatique, with all their fine feathers and uni-
forms, sashes and ribands, stars and crosses, fared
no better than the common crowd, and were left to
fight their way into or out of the mass, as it best
pleased them. Most of them were so displeased at
the want of arrangement, or the want of courtesy,
whichever it might have been, that they made no
attempt to follow the President, and consequently
took no part in the great celebration of the day.
Making my way out of the building as fast as possible
to mingle with the crowd outside, I arrived just in
time to hear Mr. Lincoln deliver the last words
of his singular but pathetic address. The document
was remarkably short, and did not occupy 10 mi-
nutes in the reading. This done, a salute of 100
guns was fired in honour of the event, and Mr. Lin-
coln drove home again up Pennsylvania-avenue,
preceded and followed by the same procession which
accompanied him to the Capitol, bowing graciously
and not ungracefully to his lieges on every side, and
taking their homage as naturally and unostenta-
tiously as if he were truly a king, and had been born
in the purple:
Labouring through the mire of the avenue half
an hour afterwards, I met a distinguished citizen/of
Washington, and a leading'politician, who asked me
if I had heard the Vice-President's speech ? I re-
plied that I had, and asked to what cause he attri-
buted
drti:nkl7"u'hilei''staill 111;lauYt. it was not his fault.
yuspoomne
thSeourtheedrnerarleGbeol.,
throwwasdrudisgggredaCbe
inHisorlidqeurotro
vernment." " But," said I, " if such was the in-
tention, why did not the Southern rebel drug the
President's drink rather than the Vice-President's ?"
" So he would have done, I have no doubt, only he
could not get at old Abe, who is, besides, a sober
man, and does not take drinks with strangers."
Meeting shortly afterwards with a Democratic
senator, a moderate opponent of the Government,
and no admirer of Mr. Lincoln or any member of
the Administration, he asked me " if I had heard
Andrew Johnson ?" " The country is disgraced,"
he said, " and I pray God for the health and long
life of Abraham Lincoln. I never prayed
was to yedfor him
he
before, nor knew how valuable his
country. Should he die within the next four years,
which calamity may Heaven in its mercy avert, we
should have Andrew Johnson for President, and
sink to a lower depth of degradation than was
ever reached by any nation since the Roman Em-
peror made his horse a consul." The editor of one
of the Washington journals here stopped and took
part in our conversation. " Do not," he said, " de-
-1 scribe this scene to the people of England without
telling them at the same time that the press of the
United States, without distinction of party, were
down' upon Mr. Johnson for his scandalous mis-
conduct. Mark my words," he continued, " Mr.
Johnson will never recover froth the disgrace he has
brought upon himself. He is ruined as a public
man for ever." In accordance 4ith the editor's
suggestion, I record the fact that, as far as I have
yet seen, the Democratic or Opposition press, and

the independent journals in general, have spoken
with well-merited severity on Mr. Johnson's mis-
conduct, but that the Republican, the Administra-
tion, and the philo-negro press has passed the sub-
ject over with discreet and friendly silence. To-day
it is annnunced that Mr. Johnson is still indisposed,
and that he has been unable in consequence to pre-
side over the deliberations of the Senate.

On Saturday evening Mr. and Mrs. Lincoln held
a grand reception at the White House. No invita-
tions were necessary. Everybody, white or black,
civil or military, general or private soldier, man or
woman, master or servant, were welcome ; and the
people, to the number it is computed of fully
20,000, took advantage of the privilege to pour
through the rooms of the Presidential mansion, to
gaze at Mrs. Lincoln and to shake hands with the
Chief Magistrate. Mr. Lincoln bore the infliction
with manly fortitude, and in numerous instances
where he happened to be personally acquainted
with his visitor, or to be specially introduced,
inflicted so hearty a grip of welcome as to bring
tears of pain rather than of gratitude to the eyes
of the recipient. Last night there was a grand
inauguration ball given under the auspices of the
Loyal League, at which Mr. and Mrs. Lincoln and
all the wealth and celebrity of Washington were
present. With this event, the inaugural ceremonies
and festivities, as well as what is called the fashion-
able season at Washington, were brought to a close,
With reference to this ball, it is only of interest to
state that no coloured people were allowed to be pre-
sent. There was during the day considerable appre-
hension that the pertinacity of a negro attorney, re-
cently admitted on the motion of Mr. Chas. Sumner
to practice in the Supreme Court, who insisted on
being present with a coloured lady, and the deter-
mination of several other coloured gentlemen to
bring their ladies to a ball, to which everyone was
invited who could pay $lO for a ticket, would lead
to unpleasantness, and cause the white belles of
Washington to absent themselves en masse. The
negro attorney, however, was over-persuaded, and
for the sake of peace, and with a good sense which
did him and his coloured brethren credit, consented
to keep away. congress may pass what laws it
pleases about the negro race, but fashion and the
ladies are more powerful than the Legislature, and
even the members of the Loyal League, who love
the coloured man so dearly, cannot persuade their
own wives and daughters to tolerate him, except at
a distance from their festivities.

The Lock-out in the Iron Trade.

- 40^ -

MIDDLESBOROUGH-ON-TEES, Saturday Night.

Masters and men in this the headquarters of the
northern iron district, in view of the failure of the
York conference yesterday, have arrived at the con-
clusion that the lock-out is not likely to be settled
for a considerable period, and are preparing for the
worst. In fact, affairs are drifting towards a terrible
struggle between capital and labour, and they see
not the end. Middlesborough is entirely dependent
upon the iron trade ; of course, puddling is only one
branch of it ; but it has knocked off nearly 6,000
hands, who have been living in enforced idleness
during the past week, and as a large number of
them are labourers, who are in the enjoyment of
but a moderate wage in the best of times, the out-
lock is not a very agreeable one, especially for
the tradespeople. Since Christmas three of the
largest concerns in Middlesborough—indeed, three
of the largest ironworks in the district—have
been absorbed into a limited liability company, and
as the holders of shares are guaranteed a cer-
tain dividend by the former proprietors of them for
a course of years, these gentlemen have a decided in-
terest in bringing the lock-out to a termination as
early as possible. If the lock-out continues any
time emigration to America upon an extensive scale
may be expected from this district. In fact, 53
puddlers left Bishop Auckland on Thursday, and a
large number yesterday, very many of them bound
to Liverpool, and thence to America. There is also
a complete exodus of labourers and underhands
from the iron districts in search of work. Many
managers of works have tried to keep their hands
together, in hopes that there would have been a
settlement at York yesterday, but to day the men
have been paid their " baff," and have been turned
loose to fend for themselves. The blast furnaces in
this town, and, indeed, throughout the Cleve-
land district, are at full work, and the
demand for "pigs" being so good in the
Midland Counties and Lancashire and York-
shire they are nearly all shipped off as soon
as made, and little are held on warrants. Iron ship-
building is also still going on, so that branches of
trade other than puddling in this district have not
been materially affected as yet by the lock-out. The
ironworkers here have taken up the impression that
the masters were not very unanimous at York yes-
terday ; indeed, it may be stated broadly, wholly
apart from the impressions of the workmen, one way
or the other, that the engagements of some of the
northern masters are such that they would very
readily break away from the association if they
could and resume work. This is known to the men
and gives them confidence. The delegates had not
arrived in the north from York this afternoon. It
is thought that they are concerting measures to
maintain the men that are out of employment. But
it is probable that there will be meetings of the
workmen throughout the district on Monday. All
is quiet at Consett, Witton-park, and Spennymoor.
NEWCASTLE-ON-TYNE, Saturday Night.
As the delegates sent to th?conference at York
had not reached Gateshead late this afternoon,
nothing has been done upon Tyneside with regard
to the lock-out to-day. It is the impression, how-
ever, here that, as the affairs stand to-night, we may
have an obstinate conflict between masters and men.
The workmen keep quiet and orderly. The iron
shipbuilding trade upon the Tyne and Wear is
busily employed, and the blast furnaces are at full
work: It seems tolerably well understood in com-
mercial circles in this town to-day that the confer-
ence at York yesterday having utterly failed in
bringing about an arrangement between the masters
and the workpeople the lock-outis likely to be a much
more protracted affair than was anticipated in the
early part of the week, and masters and men seem
to have made up their minds as to eventualities. A
meeting of the iron trade was held at York yester-
day before the committee of the Northern Masters'
Association, had an interview with the delegates. It
was strictly private. The following gentlemen were
present:—North of England—Mr. C. M. Palmer,
Jarrow; Mr. John Elliott, Jarrow; Mr. H. T. W.
Bolckow, Mr. J. Vaughan, Mr. T. Vaughan, Mr. D.
Chadwick, and Mr. H. D. Pochin, Bolckow and
Vaughan, Middlesborough ; Mr. T. Bell, Walker ;
Mr. W. R. Innes Hopkins, hon. sec. ; Mr. Whit-
well, Stockton ; Mr. F. Atkinson, Darlington Iron
Company ; Mr. J. Priestman, Consett ; Mr. D.
Hale, Shotley-bridge ; Mr. E. Pease, firm of Pease
and Hutchinson ; Mr. Hutchinson, firm of Pease
and Hutchinson ; Mr. George Dyson, Tudhoe ; Mr.
S. Fox ; Mr. W. Bell (Tyzack and Co). South
Staffordshire.—Mr. W. 0. Foster, M.P., chairman
of the South Staffordshire Masters' Association; Mr.
Walter Williams, Mr. G. T. Barker, Mr. Thomas
Sparrow, Mr. W. H. Dawes, Mr. J. P. Hunt, Mr.
F. Smith (agent for the Earl of Dudley), Mr. Wil-
liam Barrows, Mr. E. J. Gibbs, and Mr. J. T.
Johnson. North Staffordshire.—Mr. W. S. Naylor,
Mr. Robert Mr. N. J. Roden, Mr. W. Bates,
Banrclie Rrly Mr.
J. Knight. Derbyshire.—Mr. J. J. Alleyne,

It is thought that the BrierlY -hill Executive acted
under the advice of the trades unions in London in
refusing to put in an appearance at York yesterday.
But of course that is mere conjecture. As the dele-
gates have not returned from York there has not
been a meeting of the Gateshead Executive of iron-
workers. But no doubt one will be held as soon as
they do arrive to decide upon the measures to be
adopted by the association in the present emergency.
Everything has been peaceable and quiet during the
day at Consett, Witton-park, and the other out-
lying iron districts. A number of off-hands and
labourers have received their.; " baff " wages at
Walker and other places, and many of them are going
off to other districts in search of employment. There
is likely to be a considerable exodus of puddlers
from the north during the next week—in fact,
it has begun already. Many have already
left the Weardale district, most of them
being bound for either Wales or America. All