The Sun.
London, England, 1869-08-24 00:00:00

7'HE AMERICAN PRESS.

The Nation wri. es more than a page to show that
it does not care a rap, nor does any one else outside
the organization, whether the Republican Commit-
tees of New York City unite or not. Weed or
Fenton, it is all the same. An unblushing scramble
for office covered by loud professions of patriotism
and hypocrisy. It belongs to the same class of
questions as these—
" Shall all of the Honourable John Morrissey's places of
entertainment be United in one? Shall all the pretty
waiter-girls keep one hotel ? Shall Mr. M'Coole and Mr.
O'Baldwin, the Irish Giant;i,go into partnership ? Shall
Raddy, the blacksmith, unite his fortunes with the gentle-
men in court who were so excessively astonished at his
disappearance? Shall the burglars consolidate with the
pickpockets ? Those are questions that will doubtless
agitate the country when it takes thorn into consideration ;
and equally momentous to the interests of the Republican
party and the human race is the question, Shall the two
New York General Committees unite ?"
The s me paper discusses the case of Colonel Verger
and the constitutional question of his trial and
punishment by martial law. Notwithstanding that
the trial does not disclose a single mitigating feature
that the murder was brutal in manner, deliberate,

lid unprovoked, yet the Nation considers Yerger's

escape from justice to be but a small matter when
compared with the constitutional question involved,
and it thus sums up its argument—

"We well might ask, then, what possible foundation
is left on which to base the clause in the Reconstruction
statutes which permit military trials of civiliaae ? The
ground seems to be entirely cut away from under it. Mr.
Attorney-General Hoar evidently feels this difficulty, and
has been driven to rest his claim, not upon any legal argu-
ment, but upon au assumed fact. In a late opinion

_ .
in reference to a similar case in Texas, and in his
recent argument before the Chief-Justice, he is forced to
maintain— and he gravely dons it—that war still exists
in the three unreconstructed States. He argues that, as

n the year 1865 there was a war within those districts
Congress may treat that war as still continuing; in,
short, that it does continue until the Legislature declares
it ended. It is a snfficient answer to this position that
the Supreme Court does not sanction military trials
of civilians in any portion of our domain, merely because
4hore is a legal condition of war within the country, but
only suffers them in those districts occupied by armies,
and which are the scenes of martial movements and ac-
tual struggles. But apart from this consideration,
the assumption of the Attorney-General is most plainly
opposed to allibe facts of our recent histor3. If there is
now a war in Mississippi, there is ono also in Virginia.
Who are the enemies? where are the hostile armies?
under what authority do they act ? what military move-
ments are in progress ? The local courts are open in these
districts; United States Judges hold their circuits within
them ; elections have been held ; conventions have sat ;
constitutions have been proposed; society as such is quiet ;
the only disturbances and breaches of the peace are individual
and sporadic. if this be war, we do nut understand the
meaning of terms. But it is useless to argue. We might as
well attempt to demonstrate an axiom. It may well be that
there is some among the Southern people. lima),
well be that convictions are hard to o'itain front Southern
judos. These are grave evils, but they always must fur
a while follow the suppression of a great rebellion. It is
better to endure them, and to await with patience el)
soothing effects of time; it is better that a few watches
like Yerger should escape their merited punishment than
that a weapon should be put into the hands of some future
Government which may be effective in destroying the
liberties of the nation."

The Philadelphia Public Ledger says :
" The latest railroad sensation is a plan by the manage-
ment of the Erie Railway to il:tuninate the whole of that
road at night by electric light at the ferries, in the tun-
nels, on all the dangerous curves, au,l ou every engine.
Mr. E. C. Morse, ‘vito has charge of the matter, claims to
have made several important improvements, a•uong others,
a plan fur p:oserving the carbon points from wasting away,
awl keeping them for months in goad condition, a self-
sustaining battery, and au invention by which the turn-
ing of the wheels of the engine shall c 'Beet electricity for
use in illumination. The Bergen tunnel is to be kept illu-
minated by night and day, so that the rays of the sun will
seem to be dull and forceless in comperis)n. There will
be a light at each end of the ferry, which it is believed will
make a collision practically impossible on the darkest and
foggiest night. Even with the diminution of light caused
by the jarring of the locomotive it is estimated that the
hoed lights will show the track to the engineer ou a
straight line for three miles."

On the subject of the recent attack on the
usurers, the Nation of the sth August denounces
with great force the unjustifiable exercise of an ob•
solete and ridiculous law against the Wall-street
brokers. The usury laws have no foundation in
justice or morality ; it is no more sinful for the citi-
zens to borrow or lend at 8 or 9 per cent. or 10 or
12 than for the Government so to borrow ; nor is it
more sinful in the citizens of one State to lend at a
higher rate than for those of another State, further
than the forgotten laws of one may permit a higher
rate than those of another. But all agree that these
laws are obsolete and dead, corporations, cities,
counties, even the Federal Government itself daily
infringing them. That laws do die while remaining
on the Statute Book the Nation illustrates by show-
ing that it is prohibited to frame carriage wheels of
more than a certain width by the laws of many
States, the infringement being punishable by fine,
and even imprisonment. Continuous changes go
on, rendering unnecessary what had been expedient;
but the universal principles of right and wrong re-
main whether on the Statute Book or not. The
Nation censures the jury for framing bills of indict-
ment against the reputable bankers for such a cause,
and proceeds to show that it was a mere movement
of the speculators. A " bear" combination had al-
most cornered the " bulls" who were on the eve of
being forced to sell, when they escaped through the
bare-faced infringement of these usury laws. The
public backed the demand for their enforcement,
and, the speculators becoming frightened, they re-
laxed their grip upon the money market, and the
holders of all descriptions of securities were saved
from a forced sale. The proceeding, then, was
trickery and sham, with which all connected are
now ashamed of. But the law exists ; and the
question is, why it has not been repealed, and when
it will be repealed.
[We believe Judge Cardozo sentenced the brokers, who
all pleaded guilty, to a month's imprisonment.]
The Neu, York Times inaugurated its new edition
with an article " On the Uses and Abuses of Jour-
nalism," at least it is believed that Mr. Bigelow
thus commenced his editorial labours. The Tribune
follows it up with an article on " Journalistic
Amenities," and to listen to the Tribune no ono
would suppose that so immaculate a sheet could
possibly transgress ; and had it not been that cer-
tain leading editors had lately been calling each
other anything but gentlemen, we would never
have suspected that the 7 ribune had ever acted any
other part than that of a grave and dignified
censor.

the affairs of the Memphis and El Paso Rail-
way, as brought out in Paris under the auspices of
General Fremont, continue to be discussed in the
New York papers. The Times asserted that—

" Mariposa in all its glory never exzklled the picture
spread before the eyes of Parisian capitalists. There
were to be '2lO millions of francs, in shares of 125
francs,' first mortgage bonds based upon a munificent
land-grant; and, above all, the construction bonds were
to enjoy from the Federal Government a guarantee of
six per cent, interest. Tho last promise was unfortunate
It was specific, and admitted of a test. Mr. Washburne
was applied to for information, and ho referred to the
State Department; and the State Department remorse-
lessly replied that the United States have granted no
subsidy or aid in any shape to the imaginary Trans-con-
tinental Railway. Polite Parisian' critics thereupon pro-
nounced the prcject a fraud and the prospectus a tissue of
falsehoods."

The Tribune denies that General Fremont had
sought a subsidy or that Congress had refused one.
A right of way had been promptly, heartily, and by
an overwhelming majority granted by the House,
and it was only choked in the Senate through the
action of the Chairman of the Pacific Railroad
Committee, who, getting it referred to his commit-
tee, in spite of entreaty and remonstrance, denied
to the Senate an opportunity to pass the bill—

"Moat certainly, if any ono has represented that the
Government has guaranteed the bonds of this company,
he has said what was not true ; but we trust the Times
needs no assurance that General Fremont never made or
authorized any such representation. If it was over made
it was before his arrival at Paris, and was probably the
result of misapprehension."

The report that Jay Cooke and-Co. had advanced
money on the whisky destroyed by 016 Piro in Philadel-
- is positively denied by that firm.

I)u.svILLE and Co., Belfast7 are the largest
holders of Whisky in the world. Their Old Irish Whisky is re •
commended by the medical profession in preference to French
Brand}. Supplied in casks and cases for home use or exporta-
tion Quotations ou application to Messrs. Dunville and Co ,
Belfa.t; or 4, Beaufort-buildings, Strand,
.London, W,C.—[Ad •
va moment