The Sun.
London, England, 1869-02-22 00:00:00

IMPRISON3IENT OF A CHILD.

The singular case of arresting a child, 14 years of
ago, for debt, has received some further explana-
tions. The case was.heard in the Judge's Chambers
on Friday, when it was stated that in November last
the plaintiff sought to eject one Richard Evans
froin some premises, which he claimed. An
affidavit was made by Emily Cope, the elder
sister of the imprisoned girl, to the effect that she
and her sisters were the landladies of the premises in
question. Emily Cope was not of age, but she and
her sisters made an affidavit before a magistrate in
the matter. . The affidavit contained statements
which, in the judge's opinion, were groundless, and
he ordered tlio Copes to pay the plaintiff the costs
which he had.Deen put to by them. The costs and writ
amounted to the sum of £53 lls. 3d., for which
the girl Elizabeth was r.rrested. The judge, on
hearing , the . full particulars on Friday, expressed
great surprise, and ordered the child to be released
from custody and exonerated from the payment of
costs.- Meanwhile the plaintiff's attorney has written
to the Times defending his client from the charge of
inhumanity, as neither he nor the attorney was
aware of the age of Elizabeth Cope. As they knew
thift she was the youngest of three sisters, all under
age the public impression of unnecessary harshness
is not likely to be removed by this plea,

'OREIUN NOTES.
traprioN OF THE " ALABAMA" TREATY.

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The A/abama.Clairns Convention has been the one topic
of discuseion in America since the text reached the States,
and its rejection is now gravely occupying public opinion
in England. All the leading papers discuss it, and almost
all in a kindred spirit, amid general regret that public
sentiment in America should be so hostile to England. The
opinion is equally general that England has escaped mischief
by this rejection. The Times will not regret any postpone-
ment, however indefinite, of the ratification by the Senate,
nor will it deeply lament if the Convention be immediately
rejected. If it should appear that the rejection of the Con-
vention has been agreed upon by the Senate upon such
grounds as were submitted in Mr. Upton's petition, we
shall be compelled to adopt one of two conclusions—
either that there is a disposition in the Senate to main-
tain an unfriendly feeling towards this country among
the citizens of the United States, or that a resolu-
tion has been formed to advance pretensions which are
incapable of being settled by peaceful diplomacy. In
either event, the rejection of the Convention would leave
our national conscience clear—clear, we are frank enough
to admit, to a degree we have not hitherto known in this
matter. The Tinos believes that the prospect of a good
understanding between the two countries will not be en-
dangered by the decision of the Senate, foreshadowed by
the Foreign Committee. A new and better treaty will soon
take the place of the dangerous agreement which Mr.
Reverdy Johnson brought about.

The Daily News believes that the whole subject
will now be re-discussed from a point of view
less favourable to America. The English people have
put themselves right before the moral judgment of the
world by these concessions. The Standard concludes that
England has gone as far as she can in willingness to meet
their views, and that she will yield no further. The
Telegraph and the Post both note that the more England
concedes,
.the more America is inclined to demand. It
remains for the United States Government to come
forward with its scheme of settlement.

The tone of opinion in America, on the other hand, is
not less decisive. We have already given various quota.
tions from one of the leading New York papers, and in
one or two cases only was the Convention discussed in any
conciliatory spirit. For the first time we hear the
Alabama spoken of as a "pirate." The Spirit of
the Times reablishes a series of very strong articles
on the Convention. The editor is a personal
friend of the President elect. This journal considers
us responsible not only for the ships burned, but for the
commerce which Anglo-Rebel pirates" drove from the
sea. Many of the dailies write moderately, but only one
or two support the 'Convention. None of them, in their
indignation against English hostility to the United States,
say anything about the bullying of England by America
—tbe sympathy with our enemies in all our wars, the tone
of American statesmen in their despatches, the foments of
the Fenian movement.. If the balance were struck between
English and American animus, there can be little doubt
on which side the advantage of moderation would lie.
FRANCE AND PRUSSIA.

The Daily News. notes a very reassuring circumstance
Lonnnection with Public. feeling in France on the ones-
of peace or war. _the acturesses ot canmaates tor
election to the Corps L4gislatif are unanimously in
favour of peace. Whether official or independent, no
candidate has ventured to omit from his address to the
electors a
paragraph distinctly and emphatically pro-
testing his repugnance to foreign expeditions, and his
abhorrence of wars of intervention or aggression. It
would be strange indeed if this homage of the lips did
not proceed from the heart when the general election is
to take place in May—in the middle of the spring which
some still believe will witness the march across the
Rhine.

TgE PARIS CONFERENCE.

The reception of the answer of the Greek Government
seems to have been a pure formality. The Conference
met to dissolve, and is now a thing of history. At the
seventh and last sitting nothing was done beyond signing
the various documents and winding up this diplomatic suit.
The Greek Plenipotentiary had a protest to make
respecting the denial to his country's represen-
tative of an equal position with Turkey, but this
protest was embodied in the reply from Athens. The
answer of the Greek Government is such as we have
already sketched out. It calls attention to the state of
public opinion in Greece, and notices " with regret " that
the refusal of equal rights to the Greek Ambassador
rendered it impossible for him to take part in the
deliberations at Paris. The Greek Foreign Minister
says : " In the presence of the unanimity of the six
Great European Powers and of your own declaration
to the effect that the plenipotentiaries, by diverting
the debate from the matter of fact, had in view only
to lay down the rules of conduct which are to guide the
relations between Greece and Turkey, I hasten to inform
you that the King's Government adheres to the general
principles of international jurisprudence contained in the
declaration of the Conference, and that it is determined
to conform its attitude with them.''
The proclamation of the Zaimis Cabinet to the people
of Greece has also been published. It says that various
sovereigns and Governments counselled King George to
accept the declaration. Greece accepts because she is
not prepared for war ; but the acceptance " does not
bind the future of Greece, nor endanger its hopes."