The Sun.
London, England, 1867-09-04 00:00:00

The Washington Titus Oates

Since the days of CHARLES the SECOND no such
perjurer as DUNHAM alias CANOVER has left his
mark on the history of the State affairs of the An-
glo-Saxon race. DUNHAM is even a greater liar
than TITUS OATF.S, for although he has succeeded
in making a muddle at Washington, which no
one can understand, he never, like the noto-
rious English perjurer, gained fortune, holding
at his breath the lives and property of his
countrymen. OATES swore himself into power,
DUNHA3I into gaol. DUNIIA3I may swear himself
out, and on the principle that a live ass is
better than a dead lion, DUNIIA3I is better than
OATES. No further light has yet been thrown on the
conspiracy, but Mr. ASHLEY'S friends admit that
he attempted to obtain testimony from CANOVER,
against the PRESIDENT, though he did not obtain the
evidence promised, while they allege that CANOVER'S
account is totally false. General BUTLER declares
that he never saw CANOVER, nor any testimony
given by him, nor any witness purporting to come
from him ; nor is there a particle of evidence to
inculpate him, except the bare statements of DUN-
IrAm (CANovEn) himself. Judge Hour, who is one
of the conspirators according to this authority,
has denied its truth. DUNHAM, it will be re-
membered, sworn right and left during the in-
vestigations by courts-martial following Mr. LIN-
COLN'S death. He was tried for perjury, convicted,
and sentenced to long confinement in the peniten-
tiary. Having worked himself into this mess by
the
the mostmeans
he endeavours to use
so familiar to get out
with which
cu h lyingeis so
of it, and he appears to have played on Mr. ASHLEY
with some effect. He managed to get into com-
munication
with that Congressman, then hotly in
pursuit of evidence on which to ground charges
for the PRESIDENT'S impeachment. It appears
that the confidential correspondence between Mr.
ASHLEY and DUNHAM commenced at the time
that the Ohio member asserted in Congress
his ability to prove the PRESIDENT'S guilt. A
recommendation for DUNK alt's pardon by Mr. A.
G. RIDDELL, one of the Government counsel in
SURRATT'S trial, dated 23d of July, is the first
document in BINCKLEY'S report. This was followed
the next day by a note to the PRESIDENT from Mr.
HOLT concurring in the recommendation. On the
26th DUNIIA3I sent a formal petition for pardon.
He seems to have waited but three days for the re-
sult, for on the 29th July he forwarded the papers
to the PRESIDENT disclosing the plot he alleges
against Messrs. ASHLEY and BUTLER. From his state-
ment a Rev.:Mr. MATCHETT, an agent of ASHLEY'S,
first broached the subject to him. Personal inter-
views followed with Mr. ASHLEY, who made out a
programme of what was to be sworn.'" by persons
of good standing and moral character." it was to
be shown that BOOTII often visited the PRESIDENT,
and that they corresponded. The placing. of AT-
ZERODT at the Kirkwood House on the assassina-
tion day was to divert suspicion from JOHNSON ; that
the original plot declared by BOOTH was to kill Mr.
LINCOLN on the day of his inauguration ; to nerve
himself, Mr. JOHNSON drank excessively that morn-
ing. The witnesses were to be protected by a reso-
lution of the House, which BUTLER obtained. CAN-
OVER in the terms of the conspiracy procured wit-
nesses who took the names of DAWSON and ALLEN,
who were inspected by ASHLEY and BUTLER, and ex-
amined in their parts—Mr. ASHLEY revising and cor-
recting their statements, and assuring them they
would be handsomely recompensed. These broad
assertions DUNHAM states he can prove by the evi-
dence of his wife, of ALLEN and DAWSON, and of
the Rev. Mr. MATCHETT. A memorandum containing
an outline of the story is one of the docu-
ments sent to the PRESIDENT. At the end
there was a paragraph still • legible, though
cancelled, "for the names of DAWSON and ALLEN,
used above, leave blanks, or substitute the names
of such persons as you know will take their parts."
Among the papers there are four notes from Mr.
ASHLEY. One dated 18th April, states he is going
to Philadelphia, and desires DUNIIA3I to send his
statement to him by mail ; the next, dated Toledo,
Ohio, April 28, acknowledges the receipt of the
statement, and tells DC:MIMI he will see him in
IVashington on the Thursday or Friday following ;
in a third he advises DUNIIA3I to let his counsel act
as he d..tems best, taking advantage of every legal
point that may be presented ; and in a fourth, dated
July 8, he announces that ho had just seen Mrs.
DUNHAM, and does not believe the false, stupid
reports against DUNHAM, and promises to_keep cer-
tain original letters safe if DUNIIAM will send them to
him. Mr. RIDDELL denies ever seeing the note said
to have been addressed to him by Mr. ASHLEY and
printed with these papers. A German named
RABBE, it is alleged, overheard conversations be- ,
tween ASHLEY and DumiAm, when in the adjoining
cell, and these conversations aro to be published.
There is just enough circumstantial evidence to give ,
a colouring of probability to this narrative, and to
render it incumbent for the matter to be cleared up.
DUNHAM'S story would have been scouted as a gross
fabrication had it not been officially published by

the PRESIDENT. It thus fixes a crime on one of the
two sides. Either thePREsiDENT is engaged in a con-
spiracy for blasting the reputation of some promi-
nent citizens of the United States, or these citizens
are engaged in one of the most hideous crimes. The
people await the development of the drama ;
the plot thickens ; and it is premature as yet
to say more than that CHARLES A. DUNHAM, alias
SANDFORD CANOVER, iS a ruffian who more nearly
approaches to TITUS OATES than any convicted
plotter since the exit of that villian. There are, we
presume, epidemics in conspiracies as well as in
other crimes and in diseases. Just now Washing-
ton is the hot-bed. The above is the outline of the
great Northern conspiracy, which was no sooner
published than a great Southern conspiracy came to
light, of which DUNHAM was still the central figure.
From this it appears that last summer at Washing-
ton, Mr. BENJAMIN WOOD, editor of the New York
News, ROGER A. PRYOR, of Virginia, and General
DICK TAYLOR, of Louisiana, laid their heads to-
gether, for the means of fixing on Judge-Advocate-
General Hour, by suborned evidence, the crime of
hiring false witnesses to convict JEFFERSON DAVIS
of procuring the assassination of President LIN-
COLN. DUNHAM, who appears to have had on hand
a stock of " persons of good standing and moral
character" to swear to anything, was appealed to
for the necessary witnesses, when he produced
NATHAN ANSER, JAMES E. MATTERSON, FRANCIS
11 'FALL, and JOHN MARTIN, all of New York.
They all affirm that DUNIIASI introduced them to
Mr. WOOD and the Confederate officers at PRYOR'S
house at New York, about the middle of July, 1866.
There DUNHAM, in the presence of these gentlemen,
proposed that they should make affidavits to the
effect that Judge-Advocate-General HOLT had
offered them money falsely to depose that JEF-
FERSON DAVIS was implicated in Mr. LINCOLN'S
assassination. MATTERSON and M‘Fau. testified
that they were paid for making these affidavits; the
others declined to make them although they assert
they were instigated to do so. The Washington
correspondent of the New York Times obtained and
published these affidavits. He states that AIKEN,
who defended Mrs. SURRATT, and who now holds a
clerkship in the Treasury Department, offered
CANOVER a pardon from the PRESIDENT, through
Judge BLAIR, if he would re-iterate under oath the
slanders he had written about the Bureau of Mili-
tary Justice in aft intensified form. Whatever the
affidavits may prove besides, they show their authors
to be perjurers, who ought all to be arrested and
punished. Mr. WOOD in the columns of his journal,
after declaring these statements to be wholly false,
announces his intention to prosecute the perjurers,
if they have really made such affidavits. Mr. PRYOR
has also published a denial, and General TAYLOR
is far away in the South, or it is supposed that he
also would have proclaimed these charges untrue...—
Anglo-American Times.

A NEW RELIGION.

-

In the TVestnzinster Review, of July, Mazzini has
proclaimed the advent of a new religion, and in
serious, deliberate terms, declares that the dogma
on which Christianity is founded no longer inspires
faith--no longer has power to unite or direct the
human race ; in a word, that Christianity itself is
consumed and exhausted !

In the pages of an English Review the new gospel
is set forth. In it we find an open denial of the
existence of a personal God—of the immortality of
the individual soul—of the fall of man—of his
redemption—of the distinction between good and
evil—of the doctrine of grace, and of the eternity
of punishment. Mazzini looks to Italy to take the
initiative in introducing the new religion that is
to fill and enlighten the world—which Christianity
has ceased to satisfy intellectually and morally.
It is singular how this strange and impious pro-
duction has escaped notice and reprobation. Where
are the guardians of the Christian faith—the de-
fenders of Christian morality—the guides of a
people to whom the name of Christ is still sacred,
that they should allow so deliberate, so formal,
and so cold-blooded an attack against revealed
religion to pass unchallenged? Why is the English
press—that portion of it at least which has not re-
jected the Christian name—dumb in the presence
of the Italian unbeliever, whose hatred of the
Papacy is but a mask for his hatred of Christianity,
and who makes use of his asylum in England not
only to hatch treasons but to propagate in the pages
of an English journal deliberate and systematic
infidelity ? Fifteen or twenty years ago the appear-
ance of such an attack would have raised a storm
of indignation ; and now, as far as we know, not
a word has been uttered in condemnation.
The article contains many admissions which we
desire to note, many statements which, from such
a witness, are valuable, and some principles with
which we cordially agree. With a consideration
of these, then, we shall begin. The writer lays down
the principle that " the true life of a people must
be sought in the ruling idea or conception by which
it is governed and directed," and that the religious
question sums up and dominates every other ; and
that, consequently, political questions are, of neces-
sity, secondary and derivative. He holds that in-
tellectual and economic developments must be
subordinated to a great conception, to a moral
principle, to a religious idea. " The mission of
the Papacy," he admits, has been " a great and
holy mission, whatever the fanatics of rebellion at
the present day, falsifying history, and calumniat-
ing the soul and mind of humanity in the past,
may say to the contrary." The Papacy was " the
unity of moral life." It upheld the supremacy of
the moral law over the brute force of the temporal
governments, of the spirit over matter, of God over
Cagan "It was once what it can never again be,"
—for an alleged reason which we shall hereafter
adduce,—" the ruler and the director of the con-
science of the peoples."

Mazzini recognizes clearly the reasons which
induce Catholic% to uphold the temporal power of
the Pope. " Who should dare," he asks, " deny
the temporal power to the admitted representa-
tive of God on earth ? They," he goes on, " who
at the present day attack the Prince of Rome, and
yet profess to venerate the Pope and to be sincere
Catholics, are either guilty of flagrant contradic-
tion, or are hypocrites." The writer proceeds to
make further admissions in favour of the spiritual
power of the Church, acknowledges that the dogma
from which " the Papacy derived its existence
andits mission was that of the fall of man and
his redemption; from which inevitably and logically
followed " the doctrine of the necessity of mediation
between man and God, and the belief in a direct,
immediate, and immutable revelation ;" and " hence
in a privileged class—naturally destined to centralize
in one individual—the office of which was to pre-
serve that revelation inviolate." But, says Mazzini
—and now we are coming to the explanation of
all these admissions which we have put together—
" The Papaw has lost all moral basis, aim,
sanction, and source of action at the present day."
And why ? Because Christianity is now no longer
true—because humanity has outgrown the Christ.
The conception of Heaven has since changed--the
notion of life taught by religion has since been
proved imperfect. " The moral law " of Chris-
tianity
"is inferior to that of the new epoch in
course of initiation," and " the solution of the
eternal problem of the relation between man and
God, from which the Papacy derived its source of
action in the past, has since been rejected by the
human heart, intellect, conscience, and tradition."
Such are the reasons why—not the temporal power—
but the Papacy should be attacked. The last hour
has come for the Papacy, the Church, Chris-
tianity; for, says Mazzini—" The dogma itself "
the fall and redemption of man 44 which the
Church once represented is exhausted and con-
sumed lt is for this that the Papacy
expires. Mazzini adds, with an outspokenness which
shows what rapid strides the intellectual world
is taking towards unbelief, that it is his duty
to declare without hypocritical reticence of speech
.that the past must be entombed—that Christianity
must be rejected, not in part or parcel as Luther
did, but in its entirety—in order to make way for
the approaching dawn of that new religion which
is to re-link earth with heaven, destroy the duality
between the ideal and the real, between the aim set
before men and a world condemned to anathema
by the Fall. The new religion which is about to

be substituted for Christianity, or, as Mazzini pre-
fers to term it, the " new formula of life and its
law " is revealed to us, so speaks its prophet, in our
own day by the result of experience, by the voice
of individual conscience, by the intuition of genius,
and the grand results of scientific research. Its
logical consequences are, according to the same
authority, " the substitution of the idea of a law
for the idea of a mediator ; of a continuous edu-
cational revelation for that of an immediate,
arbitrary revelation ; the apostolate of genius and
virtue, and of the grand collective intuitions of the
peoples, for the privilege of a priestly class." The
new formula of life cancels the dogma of grace,
Which is the negation of the capacity of perfec-
tibility granted to all men • • • and that of
eternity of punishment, which is the negation of the
Divine eleme,nt existing in every human soul.
Mazzini sums up the new religion in the single
word " progress ;" but he complains that this sacred
word has been abused alike by the materialists
and the men of science. By the first it is made to
express man's ever-increasing power over the forces
of the earth ; by the latter to indicate the accumu-
lation of facts submitted to scientific analysis, but
its real import is, to make short work with Mazzini's
grandiloquent explanation of the dogma of the
future—to substitute Pantheism for Christianity.
The theory of the progressive perfectibility of
the collective life of humanity, " the slow con-
tinuous progress of the human ego through an in-
definite series of existences," the development of
the " divine element existing in every human soul,"
presents of necessity an absolutely new view of
the mission of man upon earth. Mazzini's new
religion, by denying the idea of sin, puts an'ena to
the antagonism between earth and heaven, destroys
personal responsibility, as it has before rejected a
personal God, and since it alters the whole aim
and end of life, sweeps away, as a matter
of course, the whole moral law. After making
a tabula rasa in religion—after rejecting alto-
gether the Christian dispensation after con-
founding the Godhead with humanity—Mazzini
declares, that " since all link with Heaven is broken,
the Papacy has no longer any raison dare. Once
useful and holy, it is now a lie—a source only of
corruption and immorality." If his premises be
true—namely, his denial of a personal God, and his
disbelief in the Christian dispensation—then only
is his conclusion against the Papacy just.
Mazzini invokes a school in Italy which shall
declare the death that is without denying the life
that was. He is content to praise the Papacy for
the glories which it has achieved—Christianity for
the good which it has effected ; but he regards
Christianity only as a passing and imperfect mani-
festation of the Divine element in humanity which
is now working out for itself a higher development
and making further progress in the work of human
perfectibility.

Mazzini affects to believe that Europe, weary of
scepticism and egotism, and of moral anarchy, will
receive the new religion with acclamation. He
protests, before the world, against the terrible
growth of materialism, against the all-pervading
worship of temporal interests, against that degraded
philosophy which admits neither the intervention
of any creative intelligence, divine initiative, nor
human free-will, which can but lead to the
triumph of physical force or of moral anarchy
in the world. He is obliged to confess that the
rulers in Italy have " no belief in the supremacy
of the moral law ;" that " they are materialists ;"
that " their want of all faith in God and His law "
leads to the " substitution of the idea of interest for
the idea of duty," of " opportunity for principle."
This disbeliever in Christianity acknowledges that
the youth of Italy—the children of the Revolution
—" reject alike all idea of a Church, a dogma, and
a God." And how does this philosopher, who has
grown old in revolution and in unbelief, propose
to arrest the progress of a dangerous and degrading
materialism—of a philosophy which he himself
is forced to confess is that of all expiring epochs
and peoples ? What has he to offer to the children
of the Revolution and infidelity ? All he has to
offer is a revived Pantheistic philosophy—a vague
and hazy spiritualism, the religion of intellectual
Paganism, the product of the Greek intellect. To
nations plunged in moral anarchy, or sunk in a
dull, dead materialism, or agitated to the very
quick by new ideas and aspirations—to Europe of
the nineteenth century, in the frenzy of a new birth
—this rehash of Pagan spirituality and of German
philosophy, must seem a mockery, an insult, and
an aggravation of all their ills. The only hope,
the only remedy of Europe, in this its supreme
hour of trial and danger, is to turn away from these
false prophets and teachers of evil, and to return
in faith to the Incarnate God of the Christians.—
Westminster Gazette.

Theodore, Emperor of Abyssinia
_ _

England is engaged in preparations for a fresh
little war, and she has been fortunate enough to
secure a new field. Indeed, the field is so new that
nobody knows anything about it. The expedition
is being organised in Bombay, consisting of eight
regiments of Punjab infantry, six of irregular
cavalry, two battalions of Europeans, and two bat-
teries of artillery, under General NAPIER, with
General STAVELEY second in command. The ex-
pedition will land at Massawah in November, march
against the Emperor THEODORE, where, no one
knows; but it is conjectured about 300 miles
through a country whicfi, according to Captain
HARRIS, who a quarter of a century ago proceeded
there on a mission, is far from inviting. Prepara-
tions are progressing at Woolwich, and coal is
being forwarded to Aden and Bombay. The
expenses will be borne by the Imperial Trea-
sury, although the details of the expedition
are being organised in India. Abyssinia is
said to contain an area of 7,450 square miles and
a population of 3,000,000. The whole Ethiopian
plateau, comprising Abyssinia and the Sidama and
Galla countries, has, according to Bishop MASSAJA,
12,000,000 people, 9,000,000 of whom are Sidamas
and Gallas. THEODORE succeeded in 1855. Consul
PLOWDEN, in writing to the Foreign Office of this
monarch in 1855, says :--14 A remarkable man has
now appeared, who, under the title of King THEO-
DORE, has broken the power of the great feudal
chiefs, has united the whole of Northern Abyssinia
under his authority, and has established tolerable
tranquillity." He describes him as young, vigorous
in all manly exercises, of a striking countenance,
peculiarly polite and engaging when pleased, and
displaying great tact anddelicacy ; of untiring energy
both mental and bodily, and of boundless daring,
personal and moral. Mr. CAMERON, who succeeded
on Mr. PLOWDEN'S death as Consul at Massawah,
arrived there in 1862. It appears that the EMPEROR
towards at the end of that year wrote an autograph
letter to Queen VICTORIA, requesting permission to
send an Embassy to England. But though the
letter reached London, February, 1863, no answer
was returned. Mr. STERN, a missionary, drew on
himself the KING'S wrath by remonstrating against
some cruelty, and the end was that Mr. CAMERON,
Mr. STERN, and all their servants were seized, put
in chains, and cast into prison. In 1865 Mr.
RASSAM, well-known in connection with Mr.
LAYARD'S discoveries, then employed at Aden, was
sent on a special mission to THEODORE. On Feb-
ruary 7, 1866, Mr. ItAssAm announced that the
EMPEROR had given him a magnificent reception, and
released the prisoners. They were on the eve of leaving
when the EMPEROR ordered the party to be detained
as State guests until an answer was received to a
second letter addressed to the QUEEN. At first
they were well treated, but the EMPEROR, who
seems to be of a fitful and suspicious temper, took
alarm at a report that English, French, and Tur-
kish troops were on their way to invade Abyssinia.
Their confinement then became more rigorous, and
every effort of the British Government has failed to
procure their release. What opposition-THEODORE
can offer to the march of the expedition is little
known. He has been engaged in war with the rulers
of Tigre and Shoa, the principal and most civilised
provinces in Southern Abyssinia. At the end of
February, 1866, THEODORE'S commander defeated
the troops of the ruler of Tigre. On the 30th
of June, 1866, a great battle was fought be-
tween the army of THEODORE, said to amount to
95,000 men, and the ruler of Tigre, whose force was
even snore uumeroui at Axown, oue o 4 the two eapi-

talc of that province. Count BissoN furnished a re-
port to the Nice Journal, which reads like a grand
European engagement. THEODORE carried the
position of the enemy, and occupied Axoum, taking
three pieces of artillery after thirteen hours' bard
fighting. His losses, according to this authority,
were 25,000 killed and 18,000 wounded. The
accuracy of the account was doubted by the mis"
sionary FLAD ; but Dr. BEKE, in a letter to the 7 bites,
expressed his belief that the description had a solid
foundation of truth. If it be true, there is harder
work before our expedition than the English people
seem to imagine, and they may have to endure thn,
unpleasant sensation as depicted in the cartoon et
one of our humorous contemporaries where the
British lion is seen retreating with his tail between
his legs from Abyssinia.—Anglo-American Times.