The Sun.
London, England, 1869-03-05 00:00:00

EMIGRATION.

A Mr. *William Parfitt, in a letter to the Standard,
!flakes some remarks upon the proposed scheme for
increasing the number of emigrants to Victoria, and
hopes it may not prove another failure. He con-
siders that the postal question had better
not be mixed with one that is commer-
cial. To do so would greatly increase the
expense, and offer no corresponding advantages.
He is against the scheme of an alternate monthly
mail via the Cape, and thinks that the Cape route
possesses advantages for a passenger and cargo line,
but that it would require an enormous subsidy to
mice it answer as a mail line, that irregularity would
be created, and hale its efficiency for carrying cargc
and emigrants would be destroyed.
Mr. Richards, Commissioner of Crown Lands.
Toronto, writes to Mr. Lynn on the subject of
Canadian emigration, and considers the proposal that
has been made relative to the reservation of land for
intending English emigrants. He states on behalf
of the department of Crown Lands, that they are
willing to give a fair trial to the plan which has been
proposed for free grants of land to be made to the
emigrants to be reserved for them for six months,
but he adds that the experience of the past does
not encourage the department to make the experi-
ment again. _

FOREIGN NOTES.

THE NEW PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES.

Yesterday General Ulysses S. Grant entered upon his
term of office. Mr. Andrew Johnson retired into private
life, and the twenty-first Administration of the United
States was formally inaugurated. The ceremony took
place at Washington. The head of the State was
escorted to the capitol by a procession of the authorities
and the people, and the oaths of office were administered
by Chief Justice Chase. The day is ordinarily concluded
by a grand inaugu: at'on ball. Deputations from all the
States have come up to Washington to take part in this
ceremonial. There is generally a great concourse of
foreigners, but this year the capital has been literally
invaded; for several weeks past not a single chamber in
the city has remained vacant. Two oaths are required of
the President—the old Constitutional one, by which
he swears to preserve, maintain, and defend the
Constitution ; the second, prescribed by a law passed
during the civil war, by which he promises to esteem the
Union as the fundamental principle of the Republic.
General Grant is the eighteenth President. Three of his
predecessors were Vice-Presidents who were elevated to
the highest dignity by the death of the President ; and
six were twice elected.
General Grant enters upon his term• of office under
circumstances which, though difficult, are less dangerous
than those which his predecessors had to meet. Many of
the most serious questions arising out of the civil war are
virtually disposed of. Reconstruction is so far an accom-
plished fact, that some of the Southern leaders have
manifested a desire to come to terms. Negro suffrage has
gone through Congress, and is now left to the local
legislatures. Congress, too, has taken up the question of
debt redemption, and thus the new President will in all
likelihood have nothing to do but ratify the decision of the
Legislature. Above all, he begins his duties in the enjoy-
ment of unbounded popularity and confidence, and with
the support of a large majority in both Houses. Never
has the ruler of a people commenced his Government
under more favourable auspices.
THE BRAZILIAN SLAVE TRADE.

" Justice to Ireland" has been followed in a small way
by an act of justice to Brazil. In the year 1826, after
Brazil had shaken off the authority of the Portuguese
Government, a convention was concluded between
England and the South American State, by which it was
solemnly declared, first, that any Brazilian subjects
engaged in the slave trade should be deemed and treated
as guilty of piracy ; and, next, that a reciprocal right of
search should be recognised, and mixed courts of adjudi-
cation established. The Brazilian Government readily
struck this bargain, but shewed no haste to ratify it. The
importation of slaves went on unchecked, and when the
treaty lapsed, in 1845, the Brazilian Gov ern m ent did not pro-
pose any renewal of it. England then perpetrated a well-
intentioned, but wholly unjustifiable act. Our Government,
under Sir R. Peel and Lord Aberdeen, concurred with the
Opposition of the day, under Lord Palmerston, in passing
an Act by which Brazilian slave dealers were to be
regarded as pirates. The insulted Government of Brazil
then encouraged slavery, but our cruisers not only roamed
the seas, but entered Brazilian waters and Brazilian ports
in quest of prey. These measures alarmed the South
Americans, who passed a severe Act, the effect of which
was that since 1855 not a single slave has been imported
into the country. But our proceeding, though it has had
this good effect, was thoroughly at fault in principle. It
is now proposed that the Aberdeen Act should be repealed,
and the admission is tolerably universal that it ought not
to have been passed. The necessary measure has been
read a second time in the House of Lords.