The Sun.
London, England, 1869-05-29 00:00:00

THE SUN, LONDON, SATURDAY EVENING, MAY 29, L 69.

MISCELLANEOUS NEWS.

to fulfil it properly. They haVe now accompnsnea
it in something under half a year, and they
have their reward by being enabled to keep
holiday for the other half, unless any peti-
tions arising out of fresh elections should arise
in the meanwhile. In all probability the judges in
the three courts next in seniority to the above-
mentioned will be chosen at Michaelmas Term.
These will be Justice Mellor, Justice Byles,
and Baron Bramwell. They are likely to enjoy still
more largely the reward of obedience, for as it is not
at all probable that there will be a general election
within the next year, and as it is quite optional for
the election judges to sit in Westminster Hall, they
may, if they please, do almost nothing. Probably
they will not take advantage of that opportunity,
but will place their services at the disposal of their
country, which is too good a paymaster to be treated
shabbily.

Tribune a second letter was published from the
London correspondent giving the text of two
davits sworn before Captain Britton at Southainp-
ton, in compliance with an order from the State
Department through Mr. Adams. The one was
from Henry James, Mr. Thomson's clerk, who the
Consul had sent to the hotel on the 29th April,lB6l,
to:deliver a letter to Messrs. Yancey and Rost, and
to aid in any way he could, as well as to engage
a special carriage for them to London. On read-
ing the letter Mr. Yancey told him that Mr. Thomson
therein mentioned that he was there to render assis-
tance, and he was employed to see to their baggage,
and on applying for the special carriage Mr. Bos-
worth said he had already received instructions
from Mr. Thomson himself. The second affidavit
is from this Mr. Bosworth, who affirms that on that
date he received a verbal order from Mr. Thom-
son for the special carriage, and that the com-
missioners came to the station with Air. Thom-
son's clerk, and that they with some ladies pro-
ceeded therein to London. Mr. Smalley, remark-
ing on the fact that the affidavits were sworn before
Captain Britton, alludes to the feeling then existing
in Southampton that time against the United States
being such that no insgistrate could be found to
take the affidavits, and therefore they were sworn
before the Consul. Now, we wish the people of
Southampton to understand that the date of these
affidavits is 28th September, 1861. The preceding
" note " was written before we had seen these affi-
davits, in the face of which Mr. Thomson's card
appears, to say the least, unsatisfactory.
Secretary Boutwell availed himself of the fall in
the United States Bonds and the rise in the price
of gold to increase the Treasury gold sales from
$1,000,000 to $2,000,000 a week. Although this
action must doubtless have checked the rapid rise,
it did not wholly prevent it, for gold touched 145,
and there must have been something very like a
panic in the NeW York Stock Exchange. This
seems to be subsiding. for the fal is marked, gold
having gone below 140, and 5-20's are steadily ris-
ing on the Landon Stock Exchange. There has been
much discussion as to the best method of establish-
ing a sinking fund, and the course to be pursued
with the bonds purchased. Ic has, we believe, been
decided that they are to be cancelled, being so
stamped that they cannot again be issued.
The Union and the Central Pacific graded the
roads for 53 miles, side by side, pursuing the track
marked by the surveyors. At times they would
branch away and occasionally actually cross. They
proceeded in this senseless course shoutins and
screaming at each other, tearing down embank -
ments, and ripping up rails, and had it not been that
the struggle also progressing at Washington ended
in a compromise, the friendly meeting of the East
and West would have been with pistols and dag-
gers. It was not the fear of this, however, which
brought about a settlement, but the enormous and
useless expense thus incurred. The agreement wasN
that the Union Pacific received the bonds for the
extra work completed, but they were required to
sell it to the Central Pacific, and Ogden, 50 to
60 miles to the East,becotnes the junction, although
the lines met considerably to the West at Promon-
tory Point. The passenger fare from Omaha to
San Francisco is fixed at $125. This is over seven
cents a mile, but it will drop to five cents or about
$BO. It is as far from Boston to Omaha as from
Omaha to San Francisco, while the fare is but $3O.
General George B. M'Clellan arrived at Wash-
ington May 12, and saw the President in refere►►ce
to the completion .of the Stevens' battery. Dariog
the interview the news was communicated to
General Grant, forwarded from London on the
11th to the Nov York Tribune, to the effect that
England, France, and Spain had taken the first
steps for an alliance against the United States on
the plea of the rejection of the Alabama treaty, the
tone of Mr. Sumner's speech, the alleged filibuster-
ing tendencies of General Grant's Administration,
and the reported connivance at expeditions from the
United States against Cuba. Of course, this
highly sensational intelligence threw Washington
into a ferment, and people ran in shoals to the Pre-
sident to learn what he knew about the matter,
but as he knew nothing he had nothing to tell, and
seemed to care nothing, for he went on talking
with General M'Clellan, scarcely stopping the con-
versation to read it. A similar report was pub-
lished during the Adininistratior of President
Pierce, when signs were shown of demanding the
annexation of Cuba, which, although untrue, led
to a Proclamation of Neutrality. The Seeretat yof
State laughed at the rumour, although lie said it
might appear plausible enough to the people who
got their ideas of the Foreign Policy of the Govern-
ment from newspaper statements. The Tribune
availed itself of its own canard to read a little
homily on Protection, isolation, and the advisability
of Americans shutting themselves up on their own
Continent, and feuding off all the barbarous, un-
profitable things sent them by Europe, a policy,
however excellent, still but a servile copy of that
a thousand years have shown the Chinese to be
wrong.
'

.
It is astonishing when a great work has arrived
at completion and success, how many persons spring
forward to claim the conception as their's. Start-
ing from George Francis Train before the investi-
gator got to General Sherman, he would have waded
through a confusing crowd. General Sherman is
moved to sentiment in his despatch to General G.
M. Dodge, received by that gentleman when corn -
pleting the Pacific Railroad at Promontory Point, in
reply to the "mystic taps" of the telegraphic battery,
announcing the nailing of the last spike. General
Sherman's proverbial modesty prevents him from
declaring himself to be the genuine projector; he only
claims to be a part of the scheme, as in 1854 he
was vice-president of a San Francis° Company,
which offered to commence the work under the
contract of Robinson, Seymour, and Co. The Ge-
neral awards the honour of the work to Dodge,
Durant, Jack and Dan Casement, and other brave
fellows who carried it to a succ 355 in spite of all dif-
ficulties.
We never knew till now why George Wilkes's
Spirit was always for blowing up England, for
putting barrels of gunpowder under the white
cliffs of the Channel, and hurling Great Britain
upside down. In the Spirit of the Times, of 15th
May, an article headed "Personal," explains this. It
appears the animus arose from a contention between
him and a Mr. Whitney, who endeavoured to rob
him of the honour of projecting the Pacific Rail-
road; he triumphed after a hard fight, and
Whitney, covered with mortification, took refuge iu
the office of the Chicago Tribune, where he spread
the horrible report that Mr. Wilkes was ayoung Eng-
lishman, residing in New York. To do away with the
false and damaging impression this created, he had
to show the most ultra pronounced Americanism ;
hence, we presume, the series of fiery articles, which
side by side read .very curiously with courteous
challenges to Oxford and Cambridge, yachting
matches ait Cowes, performances of Eng'ish and
American horses and international billiard matches.
We believe these fiery articles must have helped to
lead the public into the error; for it is not the native,
but the naturalized Americans from whom the loud
and furious war-cries proceed.

It is. not a little instructive to mark the gratitude
which the best friends of a cause receive from the
Irish rank and file when they dare to Pssert an
opinion or pursue a course opposed to the majority.
The Mayor of Cork furnishes a fair instance in
Ireland, who went to such an extent as actually to
call for special legislation in Parliament, but failed
to adhere to the view of his supporters at the crisis
of the trial. The very men who but yesterday were
cheering, glorifying, and crowning him with laurels
are at present cursing, hissing, and throwing rotten
eggs at him. Ex-Mayor Hoffman, now Governor
of New York, is another example. The duties of
hii high office have enforced circumspection, and in
his effort to administer it honestly he could not
help running against Tammany and its Irish sup-
porters, with what result was shown at the public
reception at New York of Warren and Costello, on
May 14. Mr. Griffin, the chairman, attempted to
read a letter from Governor Hoffman, announcing
his intention to be present, but was hissed down,
and for a while all was confusion. O❑ Mr. Leddy
alluding to the regret he felt that Governor Hoff-
man was not present the meeting shouted " Devil
bit," and the speak r remarked that the people

were there in all their might, and higher and
stronger than any public servant. The cases are
legion which prove that Irish leaders are, in truth,
but slaves ; that the despotism of these loud-mouthed
professors of liberty is among the most grinding
known ; that a man must learn and repeat all his
claptrap phrases and must adhere to the stereotyped
course or be branded as a traitor and treated as
such. One of these set phrases was uttered by Mr.
Leddy, " There were two powers in the world,
God and the Devil, the good and the bad, and Eng-
land was the latter." It appeared, however, from
the next speaker that America could scarcely be the
good ; " he," Peter M'Corry " was not a citizen of
this country, and did not wish to be, until it could
protect the rights of its citizens." The assemblage
fairly screamed itself hoarse at this and other asser-
tions much more violect. The speaker said he "was
glad to see his auditors so enthusiastic, but what
reason had they to be jubilant; had England done
anything for them ? (Cries of 'No !') had Ame-
rica? (' No !')" He then turned towards the Stars
and Stripes, which were draped at the back of the
platform, and said : "Tear down that flaunting
lie.' It does not shelter those who claim its pro-
tection." (Great confusion.) So a continent is to
be involved in war, and the destiny perhaps of the
Republic changed, because a paltry European island
raises some inhabitants better qualified to agitate on
a platform than to assert their rights in the field, and
having failed themselves, desire, as is natural, if
selfish and unreasonable, to thrust that duty on a
country a vast proportion of whose citizens are the
direct descendants of the people they denounce.
The funniest part of that funny meeting, the
whole affair being Irish throughout, was that these
most conspicuous for their absence were Warren
and Costello, the suffering patriots it was assembled
to honour. A red flag waved in the eyes of a bull
may create irritation for an indefinite period, but
there is some limit to the enthusiasm raised by a
green flag waving over the Irish Republic in New
York. The patriots do not excite the considera-
tion they had every cause to anticipate, and the
paltry attempt of a Griffin to get up a public re-
ception did not accord with the demonstration such
martyrs expected on returning from the scene of
their glory and sufferings. Nothing less than the
State and City authorities could accord a suffi-
ciently dignified welcome to such as they, and only
when these dignataries, united with their fellow
citizens, tendered an invitation and signifier' it to
them by a proper notification would the patriots
condescend to co-operate.

Many of those appointed Consuls, after receiving
their instructions, threw up the posts on finding
that they were prohibited from travelling about
wherever they pleased. They intended a foreign
tour, but Uncle SA3I means business. So general
has been this misapprehension that the Secretary
believes that half the Consulates lately filled will be
vacated in six months. The appointment of General
John Meredith Read, as Consul-General at Paris,
has been • well received at Albany by everyone, as
he is a general favourite, and his qualifications ac-
knowledged by all parties of those among whom he
has re:lied for some years, having been president of the
county Republican organisation for two electioneer-
ing campaigns. Mr. Montgomery Gibbs has been
appointed a❑ officer of the Treasury Department to
serve in Europe. Ex-Governor Kirk, Minister to
the Argentine Republic and Uruguay, received his
instructions on the 15th May, and was to sail from
New York for his destination on the 22d inst. The
Washington Chronicle says that powerful influ-
ences are at work to induce Minister Washburne to
resign the French mission, which, if successful, will
substitute William Cullen Bryant. The Baltimore
American announces the President's determination
'to recall Mr. Morris from the Turkish mission. The
reason it gives would be worth noting, if reliable,
as indicative of the policy of the Secretary of State.
We therefore give it entire for our readers to take it
for what it is worth, premising that it has been
contradicted on the authority, it is said, of no less
a person than the Secretary himself :
" The manner in which Mr. Morris bt ought influence to
bear upon the President, as well as oa the Sate Depart-
ment, to have himself retained at Constantinople, vexed
both President Grant and Secretary Fish very much. He
had a petition drawn up and signed by a large number of
Greek and Russian merchants and bankers of Constanti-
nople, who are not at all friendly to the Turkish Govera-
meut, praying for his retention. This was addressed to
the Secretary of State, but sent to S'era,tor Sumner to. be
delivered to the Secretary, with the request that it be laid
before the President. Secretary Fish declined to do this,
and seemed highly displeased that Mr. Morris had found
it necessary to get foreigaers to ask for his retention.
Baron Stoecicl, the Russian Minister, also asked that Mr.
Morris be kept in Turkey, probably because he sympa-
thised with Russians against Turkey; but this only served
to strengthen the President's conviction that it was for
the interest of the Government to make a new appoint-
ment for this mission."

There is no State of the Union whose credit equals
that of Massachusetts. Not a shade of a taint of
repudiation has ever stained her escutcheon, and a
long period of scrupulous honesty has produced its
certain result—that of establishing the State's credit
on a strong foundation. Having determined to ne-
gotiate a gold loan Massachusetts naturally applies
to the cheapest market, and Mr. George Walker, a
leading Boston banker, accompanies Mr. Motley in
the Cuba, and will probably arrive in London in a
dayor so to propose this loan. The amount of scrip to
beissued underexisting laws isupwards of $5,000,000,
but a million or two of this will suffice. Mr. Walker
was appointed by the Governer and Council with
the authority of a special agent. If the time be un-
propitious it results from the feeling raised by the
speech of his distinguished townsman, Senator Sum-
ner. It is an ill-wind that blows nobody good, and
if English capitalists can obtain the bonds of the
loan at a price less than they could otherwise have
got them, it follows that Massachusetts will be the
first State to pay directly for her Senator's speech ;
and ►he best of the joke then is, that the very oli-
garchy denounced by Mr. Sumner will be the
persons who gain. It will certainly he strange if
this should prove to be the case, for one of the first
payments made on the Alabama difficulty will in
that event be by Senator Sumner's own State, and
to EngliSh capitalists !

"Men are the sport of circumstances, when
Circumstances seem the sport of men."

The Messrs. Laird of Birkenhead have addressed
a sensible letter, marked by moderation, to the
daily papers, explanatory of their part in the Ala-
Kama affair. 11 hat they say adds but little to the
general stock of knowledge about that most idiotic
of English WB, the despatch of the Alabama on a
cruise against American commerce. It tends to fix
more clearly the liability and culpability of the
Government and the inefficiency of the English
Neutrality Laws. From beginning to end the Ala-
bama was shown to be a ship of. war intended for
the Confederates, that ample opportunity was
offered to stop her, of which the Government did
not avail itself. Though all this was known it was
not generally known that the Lairds only received
an ordinary price, lower than the cost of similar
vessels in her Majesty's service, and that therefore
they were not temple], as reported, to do an illegal
act by an extravagant gain. Mr. J. Laird, ALP.
for Birkenhead, had ceased to have an interest in
the firm before the Alabama was built, and it was
later still that he was returned to Parliament; but he
knew who had ordered the vessel. Why did he make
the statement in Parliament that he would rather
be the builder of the Alabama than the deliverer of
John Bright's speeches? Is it that in those days
people thought very differently about No. 290 than
they think now? 'and he assumed then a merit
with which he can now afford to dispense. The
firm assert that in 1861 they declined an order for
a large ironclad from the Confederate Government,
although a condition of the contract was the deli-
very only on the conclusion of the war, while the
price was to be so paid by instalments that the
firm was secured against loss. Therein the Lairds
sacrificed their private gain rather than aggravate
existing differences between England and America,
although there war nothing either in the muni-
cipal or international law that prevented them from
taking the contract.
Sir Francis Head has written a third letter to
show what occurred in Upper Canada during the
rebellion and to explain the case of the Caroline, to
which Mr. Sumner alluded in his celebrated speech.
She was a small steamer, and had been brought to
Fort Schlosser, opposite Navy Wand, on th 9 Arne- ,

-- --~Y....r s---~

rican side, avowedly to convey the insurgents and
their ammunition to the island. Sir Allan M'Nab,
with the sanction of Sir Francis, directed her to be
destroyed, and she was set on fire and sent in flames
down the Falls of Niagara. This violation of neu-
tral territory aroused great indignation, but it oc-
curred only in presence of an overwhelming neces-
sity, acknowledged even by President Van Buren,
who denounced in no measured terms the unlawful
interference of Americans in the contest. The case
against Governor Marcy for connivance at the re-
peated invwions of Canada by American fillibusterS
is very strong, and forms, with the acts themselves,
no creditable chapter of American history ; but as
the English Cabinet held that the Federal Govern-
ment were not to blame, these acts did not consti-
tute a breach of iteernatioual duties, and were never
pressed as such. The Times thus comments on the
letters and the evidence. lately furnished by its vari-
ous correspondents :—" On every side the refutation
of Mr. Stunner's unworthy diatribe is complete. its
logical inconsistency has been well exposed in the
American press; its perversions of facts will become
more conspicuous the more it is tested by the evi•
deuce of history."