The Sun.
London, England, 1849-01-15 00:00:00

AMERICAN AFFAIRS.

NEW YORK, DEC. 20.
Congress have now been in session two weeks, and
have transacted very little business—none comparatively
of any importance. This, however, is " according to
ancient usage." It was supposed that as the session
must terminate, by the provisions of the Constitution,
on the 4th of March, all parties would unite in pressing
forward thu public business. It is now evident, how-
ever, that but little will be done until after the Christ-
mas holidays.
The movements which have been made indicate an
exciting sessiou. The question of slavery will be dis-
cussed in all its forms with great violence. On this
subject the South and the North will be arrayed in
hostility the one against the other. The South will press
a compromise, which the North will oppose in all and
every form. The result probably will be that the 4th
of March will arrive without any definitive action on
this agitating question, which will then, as a matter of
course, be turned over to the new Congress. In that
new body the Northern party will predominate. They
will be a majority in the House of Representatives cer-
tainly; in the Senate probably.
On the 12th inst. an attack was made on the ma-
nagers of the Smithsonian Fund. It was in the form of
an inquiry into the expenditure of the money of that
fund. In the discussion of that question it appeared
that a large amount of the fund bad been lent to the
State of Alabama, which was considered lost, but that
the fund had been made good from the Treasury of the
United States. The agitators of the inquiry denied the
legality of such payment, contending that the loss
should be sustained by the fund, and not by the Go-
vernment. The opposite party assumed the ground that
the managers were the agents or trustees of the Go-
vernment, and as such the Government was liable for
their acts, and equitably bound to make good any loss
arising out of the transactions of the agents.
This undoubtedly was the honest view of the case, and
I have deemed it proper to make these details, as the
British people may feel interested in the question. The
resolution of inquiry, on which the discussion arose, was
then laid on the table by a vote of yeas, 107; nays, 76.
On the 13th inst. in the House of Representatives a
resolution passed, ordering territorial bills to be re-
ported, with the Wilmot proviso in them.
This decision settles the principle, so far as the 187
members who voted are concerned. The vote stood for
the resolution—yeas, 107; nays, 80.
Mr. Miller, on the 17th, offered a resolution, calling
on the President for the correspondence, if any, which
had taken place with the Government of Spain in
relation to the purchase of the island of Cuba, which
by the rules of the House must lay over one day. Yes-
terday, the 19th, he moved to take it up for considera-
tion, which, being opposed, he consented to let it rest
for the present.
Mr. Douglas called up his bill for the admission of
California and New Mexico as a State into the Union,
with a view to its reference, with his amendment, to the
Committee on Territories. Upon this proposition an
animated discussion ensued, in the progress of which it
was proposed to substitute the Judiciary Committee for
the Committee on Territories. This debate was raised
and continued by petty party considerations on both
sides. It was an unworthy struggle for the reference to
that committee supposed to be most favourable to the
contending partisans. After a protracted debate the
yeas and nays were ordered on the Committee of Terri-
caries and were as follows:—Yeas, 24; nays, 25; absent,
9—about equally divided. On the motion of Mr. Berrien,
the bill was then referred to the Judiciary Committee.
On the motion of Mr. Benton, the Senate then pro-
ceeded to the consideration of the special order, being
the bill authorizing the Government to contract with
Messrs. Aspinwall and others for the transport, for 20
years, of the mails, military supplies, &c., by steam
across tbe isthmus of Panama, when the proposed rail-
road of the latter across that isthmus shall have been
completed. After a short and apparently a business dis-
cussion, the Senate, without taking any question, went
into Executive session. The prevailing feeling was a
desire for information.

Mr. Giddings introduced a bill authorizing the people
of the district of Columbia to express their wishes as to
the condition of slavery therein. Mr. Giddings said that
when he spoke of the people of the district, he meant
every male inhabitant. (Mr. Giddings was interrupted
by the Speaker, and a motion made to lay the bill on the
table. Yeas and nays, being ordered, were—yeas, 105;
nays, 79.)
DEC. 26.

Up to this day nothing decisive in reference to any
important contested measure has taken place in Con-
gress. The partisans, however, of various grades and
hues are caucusing, making movements, and developing
projects which demonstrate that violent collisions are
near at hand, which in all probability will end in do-
ing nothing; but if anything practical is effected, I have
no doubt it will be injurious to the prosperity, the har-
mony, and the much vaunted character of this " land of
the free."

On the 21st inst. Mr. Gott, of New York, introduced
into the !louse of Representatives a resolution, which
was adopted, instructing the committee on the subject to
report a bill for the prohibition in the district of Colum-
bia of the slave trade. This proposition produced much
excitement, and some heated remarks. Among others,
Mr. Holmes of South Carolina, suggested that the
southern members vacate their seats by withdrawing
from the house. If this suggestion is adopted, it will
undoubtedly carry the question of slavery over to the
next Congress, so far as California and New Mexico are
concerned. It may happen, and it probably will, that
General Taylor, as President, will have to settle this
vexed question.
The movement of Mr. Gott has opened the whole sub-
ject of slavery, and appears to meet the wishes of a ma-
jority of Congress. The decision of the House, instruct-
ing the committee to prepare and report a bill prohibit-
ing slavery in the district of Columbia, has given great
confidence to the friends of the measure, insomuch that
they seem to consider it certain that it will pass. Your
correspondent takes a different view of the subject.
There is a numerous class of citizens who will oppose
any measure which interferes with the provisions of the
Constitution, which this does vitally.
A telegraphic dispatch, under date Washington, Dec.
2, says the southern members of Congress of both parties
met in caucus in the Senate Chambers at half-past 7
' o'clock this evening. Senator Metcalf presided. Re-
presentative Venable acted as secretary. A series of
resolutions touching the extension of slavery in the new
territory were offered. Mr. Morse of Louisiana, led off
in a powerful and eloquent speech. The attendance was
very large, and much interest was manifested in the pro-
ceedings. Senator Benton was not present.
Since the preceding paragraph was written, a more
detailed account of the meeting has been received. Re-
solutions in connexion with the whole proceedings were
introduced by Mr. Bayly, of Virginia, embracing essen-
tially, in regard to the rights of the general government,
the principles of the resolution of 1798. Mr. Stephens,
of Georgia, opposed immediate action on the resolutions,
and moved a reference of them to a committee of one
from each State, to report upon the subject at an ad-
journed meeting to be held January 15, 1849. The
meeting was orderly; very little excitement was mani-
fested, and even the Ultras were quite moderate in the
expression of their sentiments. The remarks of General
Rusk, senator, from Texas, like those of Mr. Calhoun,
were listened to with the most profound attention. Mr.
Stephen's resolution was finally agreed to with great
unanimity. The following gentlemen were appointed
the committee on the part of the slaveholding States,
viz.:—Stephens, of Georgia ; Clayton, of Delaware;
Chapman, of Maryland; Bayly, of Virginia; Venable,
of North Carolina; Calhoun, of South Carolina; King,
of Alabama; Foote, of Mississipi; Douns, of Louisiana;
Morehead, of Kentucky; Gentry, of Tenessee; Atchison,
of Mobile ; Borland of Arkansas ; Cabell, of Florida;
and Rusk, of Texas.

The preceding statement will afford you a bird's-eye
view of the action of Congress during the present ses-
sion. Everything indicates, as heretofore predicted, a
stormy but unproductive meeting. On the great and ex-
citing questions there will be much heated discussion,
but very little final action. The slavery subject, I re-
peat, will pass over to the next Congress, in its present
position, or substantially so. When Congress met the
aspect of the Free Soil party was cheering, but, in my
opinion, it has received a check. In a former letter I
hinted my apprehension that the partisans of fanaticism
might ruin a glorious cause, with bright prospects before
them, by requiring too much ; and now, by treading in
the footsteps of the strict Abolitionists, a re-action has
certainly commenced. They demand an universal aboli-
tion of slavery. The provisions and implied pledges of
the Constitution they spurn, and demand a surrender of
them, in the district of Columbia, forthwith. I cannot
believe that this demand will ever be granted by an
honest Congress. The people of the north will never,
in my opinion, require it. Your correspondent has
been, and is yet, an active member of the Free Soil
party, but will instantly abandon it on Congress passing
any law interfering with the compromises of the Con-
stitution. Such a law would be dishonest, and would
w,
be
nothing but licensed robbery. These opinions,
are entertained by many conscientious members.
okfn know,
the
Free Soil party, and assuredly will be actedueP on
them whenever, in their opinion, it becomes nec s ary?
—Times. A GENEVESE TRAVELLER.

BRISTOL SUGAR SUGAR MARKET, JAN. 12.—A good busi-
ness has been done in sugars this week, at very full
, :tprices, and the market closes with much
firmness. Re-
fined goods find a free sale at advanced rates. —Bh r
Thayer,
Mercury.
We have already mentioned that M. T
Postmaster-General in France, and M. Lafiatdtea' arrive;
omualio•lgnsee service, man of the Boulogne and Amiens Railway, h
to negotiate fur the continuance of the mall
performed from Dover t
and as
we
aartephre.
sperformedto announce, as the first fruits of their
mission,
ission,
that it hos been arranged by Lord Clanriearde that the
present arrangements, which were to have been changed
on the t sth instant, will be continued to the Ist of Fe-
bruary, which will give time for further consideration.—
Times.
Two days ago, as some scavengers were emptying
their tubs into the Voirie of Bondy, they found wrapped
in a sheet of grey paperalof a sum of 6,400 f. in gold pieces
of 20f. each, nearly them of the date of 1848. The
men immediately tools the money :to their employer,
who sent it to the prefecture of police. Little doubt is
entertained that the gold was stolen or secreted, and
afterwards thrown into the privy to avoid detection.—
Paris Paper.

•
REMARKABLE INCIDENTS CON-
NECTED WITH THE LIFE OF THE LATE
LORD NELSON.

It has often been remarked upon what a slenderhalance
the fate of many things hang, and how much the
smallest event may accelerate, or retard and destroy,
the most important matters connected with the affairs
of life.

In the year 1805, memorable in the annals of Great
Britain for the glorious battle of Trafalgar, when the
gallant Nelson tell, a French and Spanish' squadron,
sailed for the West Indies with objects of conquest
and plunder in view. Lord Nelson was not long in
ascertaining this, and was
soon in pursuit of that
fleet. His Lordship arrived in the West Indies
at the time the combined fleet was there, and which it
would appear meditated an attack upon the Island of
Trinidad, at that time under the government and mili-
tary command of Sir Thomas Hislop, a distinguished
and gallant officer, who having secret information of the
intentions of the fleet, lost no time in placing the island
in a complete state of defence, forming also a determina-
tion to resist to the last extremity. it so happened this fleet
consisted of exactly the same number of ships that was
stated to compose the fleet of Lord Nelson when he was
last heard of, but as he was considered to be at a great
distance at that time from the West Indies, it was never
contemplated that he could possibly be in the West
Indies or in the neighbourhood of the Island
of Trinidad. When early one morning the signal
was made from the windward signal-posts of the island
of the approach of a fleet of men-of-war, amounting
exactly in number to the information received
of the combined French and Spanish squadron, which,
as already stated, was precisely the number of Lord
N. elsou's fleet. The officer in charge of the signal-posts
immediately conceiving that this was the combined
squadron, set fire to all the buildings of the port, and
made good his retreat to the port of Spain, the capital
of the island, after throwing all the guns over the preci-
pice and destroying the batteries. The fleet, which
afterwards proved to be that of Lord Nelson, conceiving
from this proceeding that the island, as had been previously
reported, was in possession of the enemy, continued its
course, and towards evening,when it:was too dark to observe
signals and discern objects on shore, anchored in regular
line of battle in the Gulf of Paris, within a short dia-
tance of the strong batteries known by the name of His-
lop's Advance; the flag-ship, the Vanguard, being the
head ship, and close under a tremendous battery of
thirty-two pounders and nearly a dozen of heavy mor-
tars, one discharge of which was sufficient to have sunk
several line-of-battle ships in a moment. Thus were
the British fleet and the torces on the island playing at
cross purposes—the former conceiving the place to be in
the possession of the enemy, and the island in return
conceiving the fleet to be a hostile one ; and in
this awkward and critical situation a night of
anxious uneasiness was passed by both parties.
At length towards morning it occurred to Lord Nelson
to send a boat well armed and manned, with muffled
oars, towards the shore to see how matters stood. The
boat pulled cautiously towards the beach where several
English sentries happened to be posted, who were then
passing the word to one another, and on the officer in
command of the boat listening attentively he distinctly
heard English voices and English language, on which he
lustily called out " Who's there? Are you friends?
If so, here is an English man-of-war's boat coming on
shore." And onwards dashed the boat, and in an in-
stant the lieutenant found himself not in the presence of
a guard of French and Spaniards, but in the middle of
a party of the gallant 37th Regiment of Infantry, then
quartered in the island and stationed at Fort George.
The first thing to be done now was to apprise the Go-
vernor of this extraordinary circumstance, and the, next
after that to apprise the officer in command of Hislop's
Advance and to prevent his firing on the British fleet;
and he was fortunately prevented just in time to save the
fleet, at all events the Vanguard, the flag-ship, from de-
struction, as the officer was at the very moment the
aide-de-camp arrived preparing the fuzees for the mor-
tars, the men with lighted matches standing ready at the
guns; and in a few minutes more, in all probability, the
Vanguard would have been at the bottom of the Gulf
of Paris—a wreck at the tomb of the gallant Nelson,
and the battle of Trafalgar would never have been
fought. Instead of St. Paul's containing the ashes of
the gallant hero, a watery grave would have been his
lot, and that, too, lamentable to say, accomplished by
British guns and British soldiers.

DEATH 05' SIR JOHN BROOK STONIIOUSE, BART.—
We have to announce the decease of the above baronet,
who expired a few days since at Clifton, at a very
advanced age. The late Baronet was formerly in.
the civil service of the Bengal establishment,
and was many years Registrar of the Zilla Court
of Ghazeepore, but had long since retired from
his duties in India. He succeeded to the baronetcy on
the death of his uncle (the 12th bart.) in 1810. The de-
ceased is succeeded in the ancient honours of the family
(the baronetcy created as far back as 1628) by his son,
now Sir Timothy Vansittart Stonhouse, in the civil ser-
vice of the East India Company, at Madras, born 1799,
and married to Miss Sturt, eldest daughter of the Rev.
William Sturt, of Long Critchil, Dorset.
CRIM. CON. IN HIGH LIFE.—In an action which
has been brought against a Noble Duke for criminal
conversation, which has formed the topic of much dis-
cussion in the higher circles, and which has given birth
to many rumours, an application was made on Friday
to a judge at chambers, by Mr. Edwin James, as
counsel for his Grace, for further particulars in
respect of the dates and the occasions upon which the
alleged offences were stated to have been com-
mitted. The Learned Judge, after a lengthened discus-
sion, intimated his opinion that the information which
was afforded by the statement in the declaration was
very vague and inaccurate; but added, that the rule of
practice in such cases prohibited him from making the
order applied for. The case will, in all probability,
come on for trial at the sittings after the present term.
The damages are laid at an unusually large sum—several
thousands.—Observer.

REPRESENTATION or SOUTH STAFFORDSHIRE:.
BIRMINGHAM, SATURDAY.—Surmises continue in cir-
culation as to the probable candidates for the represen-
tation of South Staffordshire ; but, considering tho
varied chances of success, there is evidently a growing
feeling in flavour of a practical man, like Mr. Forster,
of Walsall. Commercial matters, such as those of South
Staffordshire, require an adequate representative. Mr.
Forster, it will be remembered, was the first Member
returned to Parliament for the borough, with which, as
banker, his name is so honourably associated. His
opinions are Conservative, and his great knowledge of
the manufacturing as well as agricultural interests of
Staffordshire would render him a valuable representa-
tive of the Southern Division. Until the funeral of Earl
Talbot, nothing will be definitively announced.
CARDIGAN ELECTION.—Mr. John S. Harford has
issued an address, /dated the 11th instant, to the elec-
tors of the Cardigan burghs, vacant by the death of Mr.
Pryse Pr) se, whom he opposed at the last general elec-
tion. Mr. Williams, the late Member for Coventry, is
spoken of as likely to come forward.
DUDLEY, SATURDAY.--This evening the last o
the quarterly meetings of the iron-masters of this district
was held here at the Swan Hotel, when the prices, of
which you have been already apprised, were fully con-
firmed, and with every reasonable prospect that they
will be maintained throughout the ensuing quarter:
The attendance was numerous, and some brisk orders
were said to have been taken for foreign as well as dO.
mestic purposes.
ST. JAMES'S THEATRE.—The season commences
this evening with Paer's one act operetta, Le Maitre de
Chappelle, and Auber s charming opera, Le Domino Noir,
iu which Mons. Conderc and Madlle. Charlton will make
their appearance.
SACRED HARMONIC SOClETY.—Hanclers Judas
Maccabeus, which gave such great satisfaction at the
last performance by the above society, is to be repeated
next Friday.

STORM .IN MORECAMBE BAY.—On Wednesday
last, a storm raged in Morecambe Bay that exceeded in
violence any experienced for a series of years. Being
1 the highest of the spring tides, too, such an immense
body of water was driven up the bay as to cause an
overflow of the banks in a great many low-lying situa-
tions. The surf was blown with violence against the
windows of many houses situate near the shore, causing
great alarm to the inmates and doing considerable
damage. At Greenodd the water overflowed the quays
and road, carrying away a quantity of timber and col-
liers' basket rods. At Barrow, where the tide was
within a few inches of the highest ever remembered, the
steamer Helvell yn, rairing
driven from the blocksep on which she restedandslip!forced
high upon the shore, sustaining, it is feared,great 111'
_
at patent was
jury. The railway embankment between .Barrow_ and
Piel likewise sustained serious injury. Up the Duddon
Sands the tide overflowed the banks, and covered the
before the trains
railway from Kirkby to Broughton, damaging the line
so much that it will be a week
Jdioffiurcnualtly. Will be ex can run,
Dunnerholme• she -
again; the schooner Nanny and Betty, of Fleetwood, Ws
driven on shore near to did not re-.
gas mePeetriinenc7t
oleeved the third
ou—ur report of the
ieneigveetmtinugchher injuryo
fri•n—
ERRATUM. .
don Without, in our Saturday's
resolution—iv
g 14
Fanning publication, Web
stated that Af
should have been Mr. Mawb.v.
A POLICE DOG.—A dog, of the b
belonging to Mr. Tibbs dog' of Hereford
bull-terrier breeds
evinced a strong partiality to , some time agip
force, and at the commencementthe members of the policft
of their night duties he
regularly in attendance at the station-house to accom+
parry some one of the officers .
upon whom his choice fo.,
the night may have fallen. Upon one occasion the.
officer, wishing to get rid of his canine attendant, some.•
what roughly wishing
threw him over Wye•bridge into the river,
but in a few minutes the dog was again at his heels.--i
Gloucester Journal.
UNITED SERVICE INSTITUTION. The Imperial
Austrian Government have presented to this institution.
a selection of their military maps, exhibiting Learly tho•
whole of that great empire in thirty sheets. Thif
execution of these maps is of the highest order, and to,
a soldier they exhibit the whole varied face of thdi
country with unusual perspicuity, and although crowded
with names of towns and villages all are most distinc
and visible. The maps were presented through Baron
Koller, Austrian Chargé d'Affaires.
AN EXPENSIVE UNDERTAKING.—The Chapel-hill
pits, belonging to the British Iron Company, are I,
length freed from the enormous quantities of water—•
the accumulation of years—which have so long floodec;
them, and coal has at last been found. The water, two‘
r. m abnubtaysdomrs
years ago, when operations were first commenced, was,
84 yards deep, and the expense attending its draining is
estimated at no less a sum than 10,000/. This includes,
the erection of engines, stacks, and whimseys and the
losses occasioned by breakages, &c. The pits have been.
previously worked, but it is known that an excellent
mine still remains to compensate the enormous outlay in
arriving at the treasure.— Worcester Chronicle.