The Sun.
London, England, 1862-01-10 00:00:00

AMERICA.

LIVERPOOL, THURSDAY.
The Inman steamship City of Washington has
arrived, with advices from New York Ito the 28th
ult., and 73,200 dols. in specie on freight.
From Washington, under date the 27th, we have
the following respecting the Trent and Mexican
affairs :

" It is reported and generally credited that the
Trent affair has been adjusted. Mr. Seward gave
a large dinner party this evening, at which were
present Lord Lyons and other eminent diplomatists
and members of the Senate and House Committees
on Federal Relations. This is a significant re-
union, and needs no comment. Mr. Corwin has made
no treaty with Mexico, and therefore there is
nothing of the kind before the Senate. At the time
the English Minister in Mexico, Sir Charles Wyke,
was endeavouring to negotiate a treaty with the
Mexican Government Mr. Corwin framed a treaty
which proposed to pay, or guarantee to be paid, the
interest on the English debt for five years. Mr.
Corwin was given to understand that this ar-
rangement would be acceptable to both England
and Mexico, but the Mexican Congress re-
fused to ratify Sir Charles Wyke's treaty,
and it was soon after ascertained that if
it had been ratified by the Mexican Congress
it would not have been accepted by the British
Government. On the failure of Sir C, Wyke's
treaty before the Mexican Congress, Mr. Corwin's
treaty, having been predicated on the success of the
English negotiations, fell through, and all attempts
on the part of Mr. Corwin to frame a treaty with
Mexico ceased for the time being, and Mr. Corwin
forwarded the papers appertaining to his negotia-
tions in Mexico to the State Department in Wash-
ington, with the request that he should be instructed
as to his future course, in view of the momentous
issue raised by the European coalition against Mexico
The State Department not being willing to take
the responsit-ility
laid the of advising in the matter, has
'papers before the Senate. The chairman of
the Senate Committee on Foreign Affairs is said to
be averse to taking any action in the matter, and
the allies will doubtless be allowed to carry out
their schemes in Mexico with no obstacles, except
such as may arise out of complications among them-
selves. On the arrival of Miramon in New York
some days ago, he was telegraphed by the Spanish
Minister to come here. Miramon came, and re-
mained two days, when he returned to New York
and took passage in the Spanish steamer Noe D ague,
which sailed from your port for Havannah on the
25th inst. The plan is for Miramon to return to
Mexico to gather the fragments of the Church party
in Mexico, which shall co-operate with the Spanish
forces, establish a Provisional Government with
Miramon at the head, and then in due course of
time the schemes of Spain for conquest and a mo-
narchy, it is thought, will be fully carried out."
The final decision of the Cabinet in the Mason
and Slidell affair did not appear to have been gene-
rally known when the City of Washington left.
On the 28th the New York times says :
" Gen. Scott makes no secret of the real motive
of his hasty return from Europe. He desires it to
be understood that he came clothed with no mis-
sion and charged with no message whatever from
any foreign Prince or Power ; that he had no in-
terview either with the Emperor Napoleon or with
M. Thouvenel, his Minister of Foreign Affairs, and
that his reason for coming home was the apprehen-
sion of immediate hostilities between England and
the United States, and the fear that if he did not
embrace this opportunity of returning he could not
return at all. The only high personage with whom
Gen. Scott had any political conversation in France
Was Prince Napoleon, and to him he expressed his
confident belief that, if foreign nations did not in-
terfere, the rebellion would be effectually suppressed
by midsummer, and that before that time cotton for
the supply of the immediate necessities of other na-
tions would be supplied through the Southern ports
of which our troops are taking possession. General
Scott states that the feeling in England and France
was universal that war is inevitable. He shared it
himself to the fullest extent till he reached this city.
What he has since seen of public sentiment on this
aide the Atlantic has, however, very materially mo-
dified this opinion. The cause of the extraordinary
anger of England, Gen. Scott believes, is the con-
viction on the part of the great body of the Eng-
lish people that the United States are resolved on
war, to punish England for her concession of belli-
gerent rights to the rebel States. The affair of the
Trent is regarded as having been made the occasion
for manifesting this feeling towards Great Britain;
and not one man in a thousand believed that the
Government of the United States would disavow the
act or make the slightest reparation or apology—
no matter how clear might be their conviction that
it was in manifest violation of the principles of inter-
national law. Gen. Scott is satisfied, as every person
in this country must be, that this assumption is ut-
terly unfounded—that this Government has net the
slightest wish or willingness to insult Great Britain,
and that any reparation consistent with national
honour for any wrong that may have been done will
be promptly and cheerfully afforded. And this, he
believes, will be quite sufficient to prevent a war.
On this side of the water all this seems almost too
ludicrous for serious comment. But on the other
side it is creating a pubic sentiment which clamours
for war, and renders the preservation of peaceful
relations a matter of the utmost difficulty. Gen.
Scott had not been here 24 hours before he could
see how utterly mistaken is the assumption of Eng-
land. Nobody here desires war with England.
Unquestionably, there has been great dissatisfaction
with the course pursued by England towards the
South. Every one feels that, but for that course,
the rebellion would latrie been already crushed. But
nobody dreams of a remedy which would only ag-
gravate a thousand-fold the evil complained of. No-
body desires to give the South an active and a
powerful ally, in place of moral sympathy, merely
because she was not entitled even to that. If what
England seeks is simply justice in this matter, and
reparation for wrongs she may have sustained, she
will have no cause of complaint. She will receive
it promptly and fully; and whatever the Govern.
ment may find it necessery to do in the matter will
be endorsed and approved by the people. Mr. Rus-
sell need give himself no concern about the Govern-
ment being 6 broken up'—nor does Mr. Lincoln or
Mr. Seward need the fervid and insolent exhorta-
tions of the London Times. There is one point it
may be well for English statesmen to bear in mind,
the more moderate and palpably just their present
exactions may be the more readily will:they be
conceded, and the less festering would be the
wound which they may inflict on our national
susceptibilities. Even if Mason and Slidell were to
be surrendered, the people would sanction the act,
and the Government would not incur the slightest
risk of being overturned. But it would be some-
what more difficult to put the relations of the two
countries into a condition of permanent and cordial
friendship, than if England were to show less arro-
gance in the moment of her power."
In a subsequent paper the Times says :
" We have reason to believe that our Government
has made a reply to the representations of the Bri-
tish Government in regard to the violation of the
British flag in the case of the Trent, which is con-
sidered satisfactory by the British Minister, and
that no further differences need be apprehended be-
tween the two Governments in connection with this
affair. Of the terms of this arrangement, we are not
prepared to speak ; it is needless to say, however,
that they are perfectly honourable to the country,
and such as, we have not the slightest doubt, the
people will fully and heartily approve."
A correspondent of the New York limes, writing
from off Charleston on the 21st, describes the pro-
ceedings of the stone fleet. He says :
The main channel of approach to Charleston har-
bour has been destroyed. Sixteen stone-filled hulks,
placed checkerwise across the passage, m the deepest
water, just at the inner and outer edges of the bar,
are the mediums through which the righteous re-
tribution has been measured out. The vessels which
have been sunk were nearly all condemned whalers
—some of them 60 and 70 years of age—the queerest
quaintest specimens of shipbuilding afloat. Lazily,
one by one, under the influence of a strong ebb-
tide, these antiquated craft dropped out towards the

bar, each anchoring where she happened to be when
the flood-tide set in. The steam transports Cahawba,
Philadelphia, and Ericsson were detailed to accom-
pany the expedition, and the steam frigate Mohican
and gunboats Pocahontas and Ottawa were ap-
pointed to convoy it. The proceedinT- were under
the immediate direction of Capt. H. Davis, of the
Wabash. On starting from Port Royal the weather
was delightful. A soft breeze from the north-west
agreeably tempered the heat of the sun, but would
have had no more influence in pushing the bluff
whalemen through an opposing tide than a breath
from human lungs. The sky was belted around the
horizon by an exquisite purple haze, and the water,
far and near, presented a busy scene, as the many
steamers passed and repassed with their tows. Ad-
ding to the picturesqueness of the scene were the
tents and storehouses on the distant shore, and the
fleet of transports and naval vessels at anchor in the
n:er roadstead, among which the grim outlines of
the Wabash loomed mightily pre-eminent. And the
sunset, too, was splendid. He passed out of sight,
looking like a huge fire-balloon, sinking into an
amber-coloured ocean, and soon afterwards the fall
moon rose in rival redness directly opposite the
point at which he had disappeared.
After a sentimental glance at their past history
and some reflections on the previous uses to which
they have been heretofore applied, he proceeds :
" But away with sentiment. The old vessels are
to be destroyed in the performance of a patriotic
duty, and even when they are gone their usefulness
survives. Here are the names of our squadron:—
Archer, American, Courier, Rebecca, Sims, Rich-
mond, Kensington, Potomac, Maria Theresa, Robin
Hood, Herald, Tenedos, Leonidas, William Lee,
Fortune, Amazon. A rather unpleasant circum-
stance happened while we were engaged in towing
the vessels to the anchorage outside the bar. It was
growing late, and Capt. Davis being desirous to
get the ships together before dark, requested Mr.
Bradbury to hail the steamer Daniel Webster, which
was coming out of the harbour, and ask the cap-
tain to take one of the ships out with him. The
favour was courteously asked, but, greatly to the
astonishment of everybody, Capt. Johnson, in reply,
bellowed out, I'll see you d— first; I'm going
to New York.' After a pause he added, Anything
I can do for you there ?' He was of course answered
lin the negative. It is to be hoped that such impo-
lite captains are rare. Nothing specially interesting
marked the trip up. The Cahawba was the first
vessel to sight Charleston Light and the vessels of
the blockading fleet. Soon the Philadelphia came
up, and a boat from her dropped alongside of our
vessel. The steamer had been sent with the expe-
dition for the purpose of taking North a portion of
the crews of the sunken vessels, and the Ericsson
accompanied us with the same object. Finding that
his coal would not hold out more than three days,
the captain of the Philadelphia requested that he
might be allowed to go directly on, and Captain
Davis accorded the permission, knowing that the
Ericsson could furnish accommodation for the
crews. For some unexplained reason, however, the
Ericsson did not stop here. She left her tows, and
went on during the night without being courteous
enough even to make a report to Capt. Davis of her
arrival. In consequence of these circumstances the
Cahawba had to receive all these passengers, 221
in number, and carry them back to Port Royal."
The sinking of the disabled whalers began on the
19th, and all of them were not sunk till the follow-
ing day. In the meantime the Charlestonians had
blown up the lighthouse. " The trick," says the
.New York Times' correspondent, " hurt nobody,
except themselves ; but, after all, lighthouses
henceforth will be useless establishments at Char-
leston. The wrecks are not ranged in a straight
line across the channel. That arrangement might
prove an effective blockade for a time, but not per-
manently. The theory of Captain Davis was that
the inland waters about Charleston must have a
channel to the sea, and if the usual one were arti-
ficially closed another would naturally form. His
scientific mind devised another plan. The hulks are
placed in three lines, checkerwise. This arrange-
ment not only does not prevent the passage of the
water, but forms a series of shoals, around which
the tide will whirl and eddy, making an intricate
labyrinth which no vessel could navigate. All of
these wrecks were prepared for quick scuttling be-
fore leaving the North. Nothing was required but
to drive out a plug and the water rushed in with
force enough to fill them in an hour. The Char-
lestonians must have felt themselves chagrined be-
yond measure at the mischief which had been done
them. The wrecks were sunk about 21 miles from
shore, in plain sight from the batteries on Morris
Island, Forts Sumter and Moultrie, from the flag-
staffs of which the rebel colours were visible. At
low water on the 20th the ships' crews returned to
them and cut away their masts and rigging, in
order that they might-drift to sea, for it was no
part of our plan that any of this property should
fall into the hands of the rebels. It was a singular
sight to see the big spars topple over with a crash
and a creak as soon as the rigging was severed by a
few blows of an axe. It is not often that persons are.
permitted to destroy valuable property, and feel at
the same time that they are doing right. On this oc-
casion, however, such a sentiment could be properly
entertained, and from the energy which the jack-
tars displayed in using their axes, I am inclined
to think that they considered the privilege
one to be thoroughly enjoyed. Smashing things
was a luxury, and the inclination to indulge in i

was gratified without stint. After everything tha
_ _ _

could be saved was taken from the Robin Hood, her
rigging was cut and frapped,' or secured to the
masts, in order to make an illumination and a pyro-
technic display worthy of the successful issue of the
expedition. She was fired early in the evening,
and her burning afforded a novel and beautiful sight
to most of those who witnessed it. The blockading
squadron were especially entertained. Their lives
are such a dull and tedious round of monotony that
a far less magnificent spectacle would have afforded
them a topic of conversation for a month."
On the subject of this destruction of the harbour
of Charleston the New York Times in a leader
says : _ _

" The 16 ships of the stone fleet which have gone
0 their final moorings on Charleston bar, and around

which the heavy masses of sand are now settling,
will effectually close all passage into or out of the

original Secession city by that line. They will effec-
tually blockade the port so far as the main ship
channel is concerned, and will relieve our regular
blockading fleet from duty in that direction. But,
as we showed some time ago, there are other chan•
nels that lead into Charleston harbour besides the

one we have closed, and it is mostly by them, too,
that the ships which have lately run the blockade
made their entry and exit. Of these the principal
one is Maffit's Channel, which is of quite recent
discovery, but which is really, in many respects;
the best entrance to Charleston. It can now pro-
bably give safe passage to any vessel afloat. In this
channel no hulk of the stone fleet has been sunk.
Fortunately for us, however, if it be a good channel
it is also one which is easily watched ; and oneof our
blockaders, placed off Breach Inlet, near Sullivan's
Island, can prevent any rebel ship from creeping into
or out of Charleston by Maffit's Channel. There

are also several other channels leading into
Charleston harbour, in which no part of the great
stone fleet has been sunk. The stone fleet will thus

not absolutely seal up Charleston, nor will it de-

stroy all possibility of future commercial in-
tercourse with the outside world. It will only

render the blockade practically impervious."
The British schloner Jane Campbell, captured
off Beaufort, had been taken into New York a prize.

A WINDFALL.—A shoemaker at Brentwood has
received an intimation that his wife, as the lineal descen-
dant of a gentleman who died recently, is entitled to an in-
heritance of a cool million.

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