The Sun.
London, England, 1869-07-20 00:00:00

THE AMERICAN PRESS.

The St. Paul PresB says that half the css

the courts iu Illinois seems to be to satisfy the ven-
geance of women because they can't get the men to
marry them, and the other half to enable women to
get rid of men who have married them.
The New Fork Tribune has an article on miti-

gated penalties, wherein a full, true, and particular
account is given of Hiram Miller's last moments,
hung at Windsor, in the State of Vermont, for the
murder of fir. and Mrs. Cowing :

"He was eleven minutes dying; he made no confession,
and upon the gallows he only 'mumbled,' and ' was ap-
parently in a stupor.' He was understood, however, to
say that he was innocent ;' that he bad never hurt any of
those who were gazing at him,' and that he would trust

in Jesus.'"
If the object of hanging be retributive torture,
eleven minutes was not long enough ; indeed, the
Tribune argues that after the first shock the sensa-
tion is delightful, and therefore hanging fails to
attain its purpose. While defending the (Lath-
punishment by Levitical law, and appeals to Ju-
daical practice, the Jewish system is altogether
overlooked, otherwise: this should be our practice :
" They stoned (lapidatio); they burned (combustio) ; they
beheaded (decollatio); they strangled (suirocatio); but it
must bo observed that their strangulation was not our
hanging; the malefactor ' was put in dung up to the loins,
a towel b ing cast about his neck, which two executioners,
one on each side, plucked two and fro until he was dead.'
Other capital punishments the Jews derived from foreign
countries, and mostly from Rome, including crucifixion,
sawing asunder, casting to wild beasts, the wheel, drown-
ing in the sea and beating to death."
Hence, it argues, that if we adhere to the doctrine
of blood for blood, the blood of the manslayer should
be shed, and matters not weakly compromised by
hanging him ; either that, or cease to kill altogether.
It is worse than useless to talk of executing men
humanely, as severity is the very essence of the law
we copy, and every effort to mitijate the austeri-
ties is an impeachment of the Divine wisdom which
framed the criminal code of the Hebrews.
"One hundred years ago men were hanged the day after
that of conviction. Two hundred years ago men were
hanged one hour after sentence. But, true to the spirit of
compromise, we adhere to a method of execution which
seems to us the least cruel, and we keep those who are
doomed to death for months in the agony of anticipation.
Shall we ever be free from the malignant influences of the
Past ?"

The same paper tells an affecting story of " a
Quakeresa missionary who, the other day, entered
a railway office in Columbus, Ohio, and petitioned
for a pass, tl:at she might do missionary work up
and down the line. Getting that fur which she asked
she ftll upon her knees and made a prayer—this
being, probably, the first prayer ever offered in the
office of a railway superinlindent. If the lady had
Lut thought of a prayer against delinquent direc-
tors, stock-waterers, carele s switchmen, pilfering
conductors, rotten sleepers, open draws, and rails
full of imp( rfections, good might have come out of
her petition. Some railways in this vicinity need
praying fur hugely, if, indeed, any intercession,
however fervent, can now be effectual ; but so long
as pious people afts.r a smash hold a meeting and
resolve that the directors are not at all to blame, we
suppose that it would be useless for this Western
Quakeress to come East."
The Episcopalian has received
"A most significant item of news from foreign parts,
which is related to the general subject of education. A
Teachers' Congress was held in Berlin in the latter part of
May, 1869, which was attended by over 4,000 instructors
from all parts of Germany. The principal sup ject of dis-
cussion was the propriety of removing scholastic institu-
tions from the supervision and control of the clergy. Seven
teachers from the United States are reported to have been
present. Vienna was selected as the place where the next
meeting of the Congress should be held, in 1870."

It considers the fault to lie with the clergy them

selves.

The New Irt:rk World Las been writing down the
action of the Republican party, to which it attri-
butes the discredit of the failure of the Alabama
negotiations. It considers the revelations made in
a pamphlet, containing the correspondence which
led to the Clarendon-Johnson treaty, to be a dis-
grace to American diplomacy. It believes the
Eng Minis#ers to have been misled, and even
deceived throughout, and the whole attitude in
which the country has been placed is regards as a
slur on the nation, affixed through the stupidity
and incapacity for business of the great ruling party.
IVe may here reinaik that the report lately pub-
lished Ly several New Yolk journals of an unsatis-
factory interview having )seen held between Mr.
Gladstone and Mr. Motley is officially denied.

Ile Boston Adrertiser thus remarks on the sub-
ject of introducing the Alabama claims into the Ite-
public::n platform in the coming election :--
"It requires but t, moment's reflection to see Low utterly
absurd and indecent it is at this stage of the question to

use the controversy for political purposes. We do not
speak of it as leading by a very direct process to war, be-
cause that would not be possible till we have gone much
farther in the negotiations, nor without a radical change
in the feelings of the people of both countries. But as an
attempt to use the passions of the moment to build up an
impaired political credit, it. has no merit and will find few
endorsers. It will be especially dangerous for Republicans
to attempt to commit their party to a war policy, even
with the certainty of securing a temporary polit'cal alliance
with our adopted fellow-citizens. There could be no more
expeditious way of reducing the ranks of that pcwerful
party than by staking its cbances upon the hazard of a
war with England, and by committing it to a policy which,
if it is not intended to be a cheat, must lead to a war. For
this the country is not quite prepared ; and would much
prefer tC see Mr. Alexander M'Clure and Governor Curtin,
and even Colonel Forney himself, in retirement for a
year or two."

The same paper takes the following broad view of
the commercial interests of the Republic :

" The direct and immediate interest which we here in
New England have in the successful developmmt of every
great enterprise on t his continent, no matter in what di-
rection it apparently tends or to whose advantage it in the
first place enures, well illustrates the close interconnection
which exists between the different sections of the country
as regards their welfare and success. That which tends to
the advantage of one section is found to be to the advan-
tage of another. There are, doubtless, during the present
week not a few of the inhabitants of St: Louis, New
Orleans, and the other cities along the Mississippi here in
Boston. It is greatly to be hoped that they will not return
home without realising the deep interest which we hero
feel in the success of their efforts to restore their
great river to its position as the natural channel
through which much of the production of the Missis-
sippi valley finds its way to the markets of the world.
Perhaps no city on the whole contiuent, save St. Louis
and New Orleans itself, would derive so immediate an ad-
vantage as Boston from the result, should New Orleans

once more become a great central point of commerce, re-
ceiving the raw material from all the rich country lying
above it, and returning to the country in its immediate
vicinity the innumerable articles required for domestic con-
..

sumption. Boston needs for the hands and mouths of her
artizaas great and continuous supplies of everything which
the teeming valley produces, and the valley in return calls
for all the results of our eastern labour. A great and
valuable direct commerce would there spring up between
the two regions, and contribute largely to the pros' erity
of each. On the one hand we hero should receive cotton
and food directly by water from the place of production,
and on the other New Orleans and the region above it
would enjoy those advantages which have never failed to

spring from direct and unrestrained exchange cf commo-

dities."

The Journal of Commerce prints tables, showing
that

" The imports at New York for the month of May are
nearly $5,000,000 greater than in 1868, and more than

$5,000,000 above those of May, 1867; while, at the same
time, the next export of specie was but about $2,100,000,
against nearly $15,500,000 in May, 1868, and more than
$8,600,000 in May, 1867. For the first five months of
1869 the total imports amounted to $146,567,411, against

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$107,169,285 in 1868 and $115,608,385 in 1867 ; the export
of specie in the same months being about $4,000,000 this
year, against $34,000,000 in 1868, and $16,800,000 in 1867.
For the eleven mouths since July 1, 1868, the relative in-
crease of imports is much less than since 1869 began ; but
the net export of specie in that period is scarcely more
than a third of what it was the preceding year, and consi-
derably less than in 1867. The largest amount of imports
on record in the month of May was in 1866—about
$29,000,600, while now it is a little more than $27,000,000." j

The Rev. C. E. Cheney, of Chicago, is to be
tried for violating various articles of the Church consti-
tuCon, the particular charges being that he omits the
words "regenerat," and "regeneration" from the baptismal
service, and makes other variations from the liturgy in
condt.cting divine service.

DoNviLLE ant Co., Belfast, •are the largest
holders of Whisky in the world. Their Old Irish Whisky is re
commended by the medical profession in preference to Frencl
Brandy. Supplied iu casks and cases for home use or exporta-
tion Quotations on application to DI cssrs. Dunville and Co..
Belfast; or 4, Beaufort-buildings, Strand, Loudon, W,O. - [Ad
v use nent