The Sun.
London, England, 1865-12-25 00:00:00

CLOSING UP

of its great work. One of the principal and obvious duties
with which the commission is charged, is the compilation,
and preparation for future reference, of the vast statistical
and scientific material at its command.

For the information of the public, Mr. Blatchford has
prepared the following explanatory

CIRCULAR LETTER :

To the Branches and Aid Socities of the United States
Sanitary Commission :

The Sanitary Commission has in view the preparation
of a complete history of its work. This history is in-
tended to embrace the origin, progress, methods, and re-
sults of the great enterprise in which we have been engaged.
Its object is not merely to do justice to that spirit of
patriotism and self-denying zeal which has characterised
those who have co-operated in the work, but also to pre-
sent a clear account of the methods by which its success
has been achieved, so as to afford aid to future generations
should an emergency arise similar to that which gan birth
to this commission.

For the accomplishment of this object an historical
bureau has been organised. A competent gentleman has
been appointed to prepare a general history of the opera-
tions of the commission, while others will write full
accounts of special departments. It is proposed to collect
and arrange, in an orderly manner, all the material suitable
for this purpose.
The archives of the central office at Washington have
already been transferred to this bureau, and it is now de-
cided to hecure a similar disposition of the documents of
the several branches and aid societies.

While the primary object of this collection is to obtain
authentic material for the preparation of this history,
another and scarcely less important end is the permanent
preservation of these valuable documents themselves.
The cordial co-operation of our branches and aid socie-
ties is essential to the successful accomplishment of the
work of this bureau ; for without the papers which they
can furnish the proposed history will necessarily be incom-
plete. _ .

This gathering together of all the archives of the com-
mission into one complete collection, in which the contri-
bution of each society will be preserved in its integrity
and be distinctly designated, will constitute the permanent
memorial of the commission and will for ever remain an
object of national interest, while the material of which it
is composed will possess a value and interest far greater
than can possibly belong to it while existing in detached
and isolated parts.

Relying upon your cordial co-operation in furtherance of
the objects thus briefly indicated, and inviting your aid in
the preparation of a national record and memorial, We
hope to receive at the earliest day practical the archives
of each of our branches and aid societies.
All documents should be carefully encased, each package

being accompanied by a list of contents, and addressed to
the General Secretary, No. 21, West T welfth-street, New
York; whore, for present use and convenience, in connec-
tion with the historical work, they will be deposited.
The expense of transportation will be paid by the com-
mission. JNO. S. BLATCHFORD,

General Secretary.

Recent Geographical Discoveries•

The last of a course of admirable lectures on re-
cent geographical discoveries was delivered on Fri-
day at the Royal Institution, Manchester, by Mr.
W. Hughes, professor of geography at King's Col-
lege, London. In summing up his last lecture on
Australia, Mr. Hughes said that all the knowledge
which had been gained of that country showed that
it had almost boundless capabilities for the develop-
ment, not merely of that particular kind of wealth
which had hitherto constituted its most prominent
characteristic, viz., gold and wool, but capabilities
also for the multiplication of settlements to a vast
extent. He had next to make some discursive re-
marks upon other lands. He need hardly observe that
in reference to other lands there were no tales of ad-
venture so stirring to be told, connected with re-
sults so important in the way of geographi-
cal discovery, as those belonging to Africa and
Australia. In sketching recent African and Aus-
tralian discovery he had well-nigh exhausted the
great topics of interest. He had used up the great
regions of the globe in which such feats as those
which were unconnected with the names of Living-
stone, Speke, Baker, Macdouall Stuart, Burke, or
Wins, could be told. There were not many conti-
nents to be crossed, and certainly no others to be
crossed for the first time. But there was a vast
deal more to be learned concerning regions as
yet unexplored, or only imperfectly explored,
in the continents already known to us, and
indeed in some which have been known to
us from early periods. In countries, small as well
as large, alike in the old world as in the
new, there were still regions where every
explorer, especially every surveyor, added
largely to our stock of geographical knowledge ; as,
for instance, with respect to the elevation of moun-
tain chains, the precise conditions of geological
stratification, and the relation of such things to the
drainage and the soil of the country. The produc-
tions of various countries, and the conditions of
human life therein, would task the energies and
engage the faculties of explorers for ages yet to come.
There were many instances in which men of science,
prompted by a desire to extend commercial interests,
as well as to solve geographical problems, were con-
tinually acquiring fresh facts, and adding to our
stores of knowledge, and were bringing to light
fresh proofs of the marvellous variety and abun-
dance which everywhere distinguished nature. Ex-
aminations, more or less scientific in their objects,
had been made by various enterprising travellers,
some by men of our own nation, and others by
foreigners, in the distant and seldom visited tracks in
the vast interior of Asia, where a good deal of posi-
tive knowledge had been gained in addition to the
materials of those records of stirring and animated
adventure which had constituted a large share of
popular reading during the last few years. In
the new world were to be found large fields and
abundant materials for the further exercise of
powers of observation, and the display of phy-
sical ardour in the examination of the great mountain
chains and river basins which distinguished North
and South America. In the latter, the field in which
Humboldt worked, and in which he thought the
best exposition of physical geography was to be
found, was still open to much exploration. In North
America, the acquisition of further knowledge be-
came more and more a matter of interest and mo-
ment. Lord Milton and Dr. Cheadle had under-
taken a journey across the Rocky Mountains and
into the valley of the Fraser river, with the view of
finding and exploriag practicable passes across that
range of mountains, as a means of connecting the
colonies of the eastern side with those of the western
side of the great North American continent. Some
such passes had been found, three or four of which
were within the British territory, and the question
of those passes became yearly of more practical
moment. Connected with the Arctic shores of the
now world was a most interesting geographical pro-
blem yet remaining to be solved. They wanted to
reach the North Pole ; but why ? He could not
say that such a feat would do either them or him
any particular good, but it would be held by a very
large number of Englishmen to be a national dis-
grace if that vast central area around the Pole, and
containing a million of square miles, was left a
blank upon our maps, after so much had been done
in marking out the limits of land and seas, and so
much scientific knowledge had been gained con-
cerning the condition of the climate and all the
various effects of meteorology on the development
of vegetables and animal life, and so much material
had been accumulated for the formation of a true
estimate of the natural history of the world. That
history could not be complete until they knew
the climate of the North Pole, whether there were
any, and if so what, forms of vegetable and animal
life, or what were the forbidding conditions which
precluded such things, and whether around the pole
there was land or sea. A proposal for a new expe-
dition was now under the consideration of the Ad-
miralty, and when they considered the number of
explorers who had voluntered to go out, they ought
to be proud that England possessed men of unselfish
energy and gallant determination.

Aim SEWARD'S FIRST KNOWLEDGE OF THE DEATH
OP LINCOLN.—Mr. Seward Ira been kept in ignorance of
the attack on the President, his physician fearing that
the shock would be too great for him to bear, and all
newspapers were rigidly excluded from his room. On
the Sunday following his assassination, the Secretary
had th 3 bed wheeled around so that he could see the
tops of the trees in the park opposite, just putting on the
spring foliage, when his eyes caught the stars and stripes
at half-mast on the War Department, on which he gazed
awhile, then turning to his attendant, said :—"The Pre-
sident is dead!" The confused attendant stammered and
changed color as he tried to say nay, but the sagacious
old man said :—" If he had been alive he would have been
the first to call on me ; but he has not been here, nor
has he sent to know how I am, and there's the flag al
half-mast." The old statesman's inductive reason had
told the truth, and he lay in silence, the great tears
coursing down his gashed cheeks, as the dreadful truth
sank into his mind.
THE ALLEGED ENGLISH CONFEDERATE BOND-
HoLDErts.—The Paris correspondent of the New York
Herald, writing on the 21st of November, says:—" The
statements of certain American correspondents of the
English press, and the denials of the alleged English
holders of and losers of the Confederate cotton bonds,
will, I believe, bo pretty thoroughly refuted ere long, by
the publication of a legal document, supporting the
original statement, and exhibiting in every case but one
the names originally published—the exception is Mr.
Sampson (city editor of the London Times). The theory
of the New York herald, in explanation of this matter, is
undoubtedly the correct one—that the gentlemen who
make the denials had never in reality received or applied
for or hold any Confederate bonds. But the names of
every one of them, with the exception above given, are, I
know positively, down for a certain number of shares,
which were attributed to them by the Confederate mana-
gers, undoubtedly with an object. The list of bond-
holders is divided into two classes—those who received
interest on their bonds and those who did not. In the
latter class are the gentlemen who have made the denial.
They were down on the books for a certain number of
bonds, which, had the Confederacy become a fact, they
would in all probability have received and profited by as
a reward for their services. Mr. Delane, of the London
Times, is down. Mr. Gladstone is down for twenty, and
Sir F. Pollock, who gave the decision against us in the
Alexandra case, has no less than one hundred against his
name. Regarding Mr. Gladstone there is other strong
presumptive evidence. I know that Mr. Dudley Mann
said to a gentleman who called upon him a year ago in
London, lam sorry you did not come a little sooner, as
you would have met Mr. Gladstone ;' and added, he is
one of the holders of our bonds.' But enough of this at
present. The story that the list lately published was
fabricated by Mr. Bigelow or anybody else will, I believe,
receive a triumphant denial in a short time, from docu-
ments the honesty and genuineness of which cannot be
called in question."

ADVERTISEMENT.] - Holloway's Pills.—Bilious affec-
tions and stomach complaints induced by a too liberal diet,
if not early checked, are often attended with serious con-
sequences. When any one finds his ideas less clear than
usual, his eyesight dimmed, and his head dizzy, while he
is indisposed for all exertion, physical or mental, he may
be quite sure that he is in immediate need of some cooling
and purifying medicine. Let him send at once for a box of
Holloway's pills, after a few doses of which his head will
be clear again, his spirits be elevated, and all his energies
be restored. Printed directions for the guidance of patients
in the use of this admirable medicine are affixed to each
box.

Naval and Military Intelligence.
•

Col. J. F. M. Browne, C. 8., attached to the
head-quarters of the Royal Engineer establishment,
Chatham, has been appointed Assistant-Adjutant-
General, Royal Engineers, at the Horse Guards,
and will assume the duties of the appointment on
the Ist proximo. An order issued at Chatham gar-
rison announces that Capt. Fitzroy, M. H. Somerset
will succeed Col. Browne at headquarters, Bromp-
ton Barracks. Capt. 0. A. Marindin, Royal En-
gineers, attached to the camp at Aldershot, has been
ordered to join at headquarters, Chatham, for duty.

A detachment of the Ist division of the Depot
Brigade, Royal Artillery, consisting of two non-
commissioned officers and 41 gunners, left head-

quarters, Chatham, on Saturday, and proceeded to
Liverpool, where they embarked on board the Cali-
fornian for Jamaica, where they will join the 15th
Brigade, Royal Artillery.
A draught of the 2d Battalion, 6th Regiment,
consisting of Lieut. C. Whyte, one sergeant, and 30
rank rank and file, left the camp at Colchester on
Friday afternoon for Liverpool, to embark to join
the service companies of the regiment in Jamaica.
An order has been received at Chatham garri-
son, directing Capt. Davidson, Royal Artillery, to
proceed to Woolwich, for the purpose of going
through an extended course of gunnery instruction.
Capt. J. D. Power, 2d Battalion 10th Regiment,
has received orders to embark for Madras,
to join the service companies of his regiment in
India. Staff-Assist.-Surg. P. G. Power, M.D., at-
tached to the 3d depot battalion, Chatham, has been
ordered to embark for Gibraltar for medical duty at
that station. Lieut. H. W. K. Hawks, 15th Regi-
ment, has been ordered to join the depot companies
of the regiment on arrival from Malta.
Detachments from the depot companies of the 2d
Battalion 4th King's Own Regiment, 2d battalion
15th Regiment, and the 29th Regiment, at Chatham
garrison, have been placed under orders to embark
for Gibraltar and Malta, to augment the service
companies at those stations.
On Saturday, by special permission of Col.-Com-
mandant J. 0. Travers, C. 8., commanding the
Chatham division of Royal Marines (Light Infan-
try), about 300 non-commissioned officers and men
from the various companies now at head-quarters
were granted an extended leave of absence, to enable
them to spend the Christmas holidays with their
friends. The non-commissioned officers and men
to whom this indulgence was exclusively granted
were all of good character. The men left head-
quarters early on Saturday morning to proceed by
railway to their respective destinations, an advance
of pay being in all cases made to those requiring the
accomomdation.

Dr. Griffiths, of Milford, has been appointed Go-
vernment surgeon to the various forts and batteries
at Milford Haven. He was highly recommended by
Sir H. Owen, M.P., and the Hon. Capt. Edwardes,
and the appointment has given general satisfaction.
The following are the quantities of solid shot and
shell for which provision is to be made on board the
ironclad frigate Lord Warden, 24, 1,000 horse
power, now fitting for sea at Chatham-dockyard--
viz., 9-ton 8-inch rifled guns ; 240 common, 80
double elongated. and 80 shrapnell 8-inch shells,
with 320 cast 8-inch shot and 160 steel 8-inchshot;
7-inch breech-loading Armstrong 110-pounder pivot
guns; 184 common, and 96 segment 7-inch shells,
and 200 hollow 7-inch 100-pounder shot.

Her Majesty's ship Fox has arrived at Pembroke
dock from Woolwich and discharged a quantity of
stores and machinery for the dockyard and for her
Majesty's ship Vestal, recently launched.
The Wivern, 4, screw, iron turret ship, Capt. H.
Burgoyne, V.C., is ordered to proceed from
Portsmouth to Devonport to be docked and
make good her defects preparatory to further trials
in moderate weather of her turrets and guns. We
presume from this re-arrangement of the Admiralty
orders that Capt. Burgoyne will retain the command
of the Wivern, and conduct the contemplated trials
for which he by this time, from his long command
of the ship, must 139 so well qualified.
His Excellency the Japanese Commissioner,
Shibata Hiougano Kami, with his secretary and
suite, paid a second visit to Portsmouth dockyard
on Saturday. He was accompanied by the Flag-
Lieutenant of Rear-Admiral Superintendent G. G
Wellesley and by Lieut. M'Kechnie, H.M.S. Asia,
and after lunching with the Admiral proceeded
round the yard, inspecting with much apparent in-
terest the various workshops, with their machinery,
and also (to which great interest appeared to be at-
tached) the ironclads in the port—the Warrior,
Wivern, Scorpion, and Minotaur.

Emigration to the Southern States•

-

During a long period antecedent to the late disastrous
civil war which ravaged, and in a great degree desolated,
the southern portion of the United States, large tracts of
country in these districts were esteemed in Europe, by the
most intelligent of the people, as infinitely the best field
towards which to direct the energies of emigrants of almost
every class. Large tracts of fertile territory, rich in all the
elements of natural wealth, courted and rewarded the in-
dustry of willing cultivators of the soil ; magnificent graz-
ing grounds allured the skill of cattle breeders, and im-
mense beds of metalliferous and other mineral deposits
offered their temptations to those whose knowledge and
industry were directed to extracting exhaustless wealth
from the bowels of the earth. For the purpose of utilising
these inestimably valuable natural resources, a continuous
though moderated stream of emigration poured into those
favoured districts, chiefly by way of the Northern States,
caused, no doubt, by the greater 4acilities of conveyance
which existed between Europe—and in an especial manner
through Liverpool—and New York. This fair tido of
beneficent traffic was unhappily checked and rolled back
by the ruthless hand of that war which has been already
referred to, but which has now happily been brought to
such a termination as secures the integrity of the great
Republic, while it has also removed the foul blot of slavery
from the otherwise pure and free political institutions of
the country. The removal of that bane of contention can-
not fail to instil new life and energy into the social rela-
tions of all portions of the American Union, while it must
confer an immense additional stimulus upon the national
industry. The restoration of peace will set all branches
of productive industry in motion to repair the losses, and
to overcome the retardation of development occasioned by
the war. This is peculiarly true as regards the present and
immediate future of the Southern States, which have suf-
fered so severely in the loss of men that the ordinary ope-
rations of an industrious people are crippled by the want
of hands to conduct them, but which the irrepressible
activity of the American character will constrain that
high-minded people to employ every means to overcome.
The readiest and most efficient process by which this object
can be achieved is by promoting and encouraging a well-
conducted system of immigration ; such a system, indeed,
as will secure to them a large supply of industrious emi-
grants from the overstocked labour markets of Europe.
That this will meet with ready welcome and encourage-
ment cannot be doubted—indeed it is already a prominent
feature of the Southern policy ; and in aid of that impor-
tant course of policy it is gratifying to find that a most
efficient line of first-class powerful steamers, to run be-
tween Livei pool and New Orleans, have been laid on by
the British and American Steam Navigation Company, the
freight department of which is under the management of
Messrs. Boult, English, and Brandon, and the passenger
arrangements under the experienced management of Messrs.
William Searle and Co. These steamers sail from Liver-
pool every alternate Tuesday, and the rates of passage
money are so moderate as to bring them within easy reach
of all classes of our industrious community. The steamers
are large, commodious, and in every respect admirably
found; and they are commanded by captains of experience
and high character. By means of this line direct commu-
nication is opened between Europe and the mouth of the
Mississippi, and by that magnificent river and its scarcely
less magnificent tributaries, with all the Southern States
of America, entirely by steamers without even once touch-
ing upon Northern territory.
Having made these preliminary observations, let us cast
a glance at the probabilities of success which attend the
advent of industrious emigrants upon this extensive and
teeming land of promise. Arrival at New Orleans places
the immigrant in possession of the immediate means of
communication with every portion of that vast tract of
country which constitutes what in geographical language
is termed the basin of the Mississippi. Besides the Mis-
sissippi, which has a course 3,200 miles long, 2,200 of
which are navigable, this vast basin is intersected by the
Missouri, 3,300 miles in length, and navigable 2,200 above
its junction with the Mississippi ; the Arkansas, 2,500
miles long, navigable 420 miles above its junction with the
river first named; the Red River, 2,000 miles in length,
navigable for 1,200 miles;. the Ohio, 1,250 miles long,
and navigable 600 miles above its confluence with
the Mississippi ; and in addition to all these numerous
rivers, which in Europe would be considered as of im-
mense size, steamboats of great power and capacity sail
regularly from and to New Orleans along the whole range.
of these superb, navigable streams, carrying an immense
and daily increasing trade to and fro with the interior,
constituting direct lines of intercourse throughout a

country, says Mrs. Somerville, in her " Physical Geo-
graphy," twice as large as France and six times the size of
England. . •
Mere magnitude, however, as all the world knows, is
not the chief criterion as to the territorial value of 3
country. That depends principally on its natural re-
sources for producing such commodities as the instinc-
tive or artificial requirements of man render indispensable
to his existence and comfort. Considered in this latter
point of view the region opened up by the water-courses
referred to is as rich and various as it is extensive. It
contains the noble State of Mississippi, which
containe
brine springs, from which salt is obtained in sufficient
quantity to supply the wants of the State, and afford a
considerable amount for the service of the adjoining
States. Lead, coal, lime, and iron are also found in
abundance. Immediately east of the river from Which
the State derives its name there is a magnificent undu-
lating country, about 300 miles broad, and extending
1,000 miles from south to north, between that great river
and the Alleghany Mountains, which includes part of
the States of Tennessee, Kentucky, Indiana, and Ohio ;
the whole of which States, together with those of
Louisiana, Arkansas, and Missouri, are included in the
basin of the Mississippi. In this extensive region, as
might naturally be supposed from the great range of its
latitude, which extends from 30 degs. to 41 degs. of north
' latitude, there is a very great variety of climate and
temperature. The southern portions are suited to the
successful culture of sugar and cotton, bsides other
vegetable products requiring a temperature bordering on
tropical ; the middle districts yield maize, flax, hewn
and tobacco in profuse abundance ; while the more
northerly portions, such as the richly-wooded plains of
Ohio, afford abundant crops of wheat, oats, and rye and
the charming undulating vales and uplands of Indiana
afford exhaustless pasture and varied feeding for cattle,
sheep, horses, and pigs ; all of which species of product
thrive and yield, in the respective districts, to an extra-
ordinary degree.
When it is remembered that even prior to the war there
was a scarcity of laborers to cultivate those fair and
fertile lands, and that that cruel scourge relentlessly
swept away a large portion of the most useful cultivators
of those natural resources, it is obvious that this splendid
region presents one of the most tempting fields of emi-
gration to be met with on the face of the globe. The
small farmer will here find abundant and profitable
employment for his capital, and a rich reward for his
industry. The agricultural laborer, the shepherd, and
the dairymaid, will here meet with such encouragement
and reward for the application of their valuable labor
as will secure their immediate comfort, and rapidly
progressive advancement in the social scale. To
mechanics, artificers, miners, and skilled laborers of
every description, so extensive a country, so rich in
every kind of animal, vegetable, and mineral produce ;
so felicitously supplied by cheap means of transit for
' even the heaviest and most cumbrous kinds of merchandise,
by means of its magnificent navigable rivers, an endless
source of profitable occupation immediately presents itself.
, In short, all who are active and able, and willing to works
, will find delightful settlements, and ample as well as
profitable employment, in the Southern States of North
' America.