The Sun.
London, England, 1867-12-06 00:00:00

AME.RICAN DIFFICULTY.

The London c(Nrresponaelit of the Branched. Guardian
writes :—" It is `unfortunately but too true that the
negotiations so lonl- pending for the settlement of the
Alabama claims must be regarded as at an end. Indi-
vidually. Lord St-pdey was not unwilling to entertain
Mr. Seward's last propositions, which omitted all mention
of the question orit inally raised by him regarding the
c sncession of belligerent rights to the South. When the
despatch was receip rd in SePtenier, hopes were enter-
tained that the pll.6tical waiver of this difficulty would
have sufficed ; but' subsequently the v:eather at the
Foreign Office cee.ms to have changed, and after more
t': an two months cogitation, it was resolved that nothing
short of a specifik: renunciation by America of the claim
to submit to arbitration our declaration of belligerency
would sufilcc. This resolution, communicated in the
despatch to 7.4 r. Ford which was published yesterday,
reached Washington a few days before the delivery of the
President's Message, and was unanimously regarded
by his C.3l:filet as conclusive. Public opinion would
net, in piint of fact, have sustained the American
Govern/41A in making the further concession which
ours r?quired ; and I have reason to know that
Lord Stanley was well aware that such would be the
case.. The object of the paragraph in President John-
sort's Message regarding naturalisation is not yet generally
understood, from the necessarily brief and unsatisfactory
statement in yesterday's telegram. It means no more, I
believe, than the recommendation of a declaratory statute
which would bring into something like harmony the poli-
tical and judicial course of proceeding on the part of
America. Her courts hold unmodified the ancient
English doctrine of `once a subject, always a subject.'
The Executive, from the Declaration of Independence,
has undeviatingly maintained that a denizen of the
commonwealth for five years, on obtaining letters of
naturalisation, is entitled to the protection of the
Republic to all lawful intents and pm-poses ; and that
his acquired rights eannot be barred by a plea
of previous allegiance to another Power. This has
nothing to do with the absurd questions raised by
the Fenians, or any other persons conspiring against the
peace. and security of the realm. Nor does it apply pecu-
liarly to the subjects of the Queen. The Germans who
emigrate to the Western Hemisphere much more fre-
quently return to the land of their birth than our people
do ; and there they are at once made liable to be taken in
the conscription,. and to perform every duty of subjects
which they would have been bound to discharge had
they never quitted home. This is a source of constant
difference and dispute between the Prussian and
American Governments, whereas here the controversy is
seldom raised. A convention was some time ago con-
cluded between America and France, whereby it was
agreed reciprocally to regard rights of naturalisation when
duly conferred as exonerating a person from previous
allegiance ; and laws were passed in both countries to
carry this agreement into effect. Except by consent, it
need hardly be said that the thing can in no instance be
done."

THE CYCLONE AT CALCUTTA,

The following details of the terrible cyclone that swept
over Calcutta have been extracted from an " extra " of
the Calcutta Englishman, Nov. 2 :
The rains had apparently ceased, when Calcutta was
astonished on the 26th of October at a return of wet
weather. About three o'clock the barometer began to
shew signs of falling, and the wind came down in
fiercer gusts. At dusk it was evident that Cal-
cutta was about to be visited by a storm which would
rival the now famous cyclone of sth October,
1864. Men went home from office to hurry through
dinner and prepare for the struggle : and although some
daring spirits went to the opera, they were the excep-
tion. At ten o'clock the fastenings of doors and windows
began to be severely tasked, and the storm rushed over
the city with a heavy murmurous roar, like a fierce surf
beating on a shingle beach. This roar never lulled until
daylight, but every few minutes it swelled up into a
thunder of wind and rain, marking the approach of
heavier squalls. Up to half-past one the storm was
content with rattling doors and windows furiously, but
now it forced its way into the well-gl - arded dwellings of
the European portion of the city, and tore off here a sash,
here a venetian, here a door. The houses shook under
the weight of the blows. The hurricane fortunately
swept down .the river instead of up. It thus had to do
battle with the tide, instead of bringing with it so
dreadful an auxiliary as the storm-wave which in
the cyclone did so much damage. Having only to
contend against the wind, the ships in harbour, as
a rule, were enabled to ride out the storm with far
L:=3.injury and danger than might have been anticipated.
The steamer Orissa, which was_ to have left this morning,
helpless wreck. She seemed smashed, and her masts
are broken, her funnel broken and twisted, her bulwarks
stove in, and she has gone down; fortunately so near shore
as to be on shore rather than sunk. The Furness Abbey,
in the middle of the river, is almost as badly off as the
Orissa. The Nile, at 1.30 a.m., dragged her anchors,
having a number of cargo boats foul of her. Previous to
this she had paid out a sufficient quantity of chain to
enable her to weather the storm, but she and the India
got foul of one another, and both sustained damage.. The
tug steamer Sestos is on shore at Bagh Bazaar Canal,
where she quite blocks the way to the river. Another
steamer with red funnels has foundered off Cossipore.
Close to Armenian Gaut the Jadel Currcen is on shore
by the stern, and has lost her mizenmast. The Arabia is
also on shore near her. The Peninsular and Oriental
Steamship Company have lost their tender, the Howrah,
and the police hulks have been unroofed. In the native
quarter of the town scarcely a but is standing ;
several pucka houses have fallen, and at three o'clock the
return of natives killed was given at—northern division,
63 ; middle ditto, 18 ; southern ditto, 18 ; total, 99.
In the European portion of this city, window frames,
venetians, balustrades, and doors have been blown away
in nearly every house. Trees have been overthrown
in all directions, and the Maiden was converted into a
shallow lake. The storm was particularly hard upon our
amusements. The Opera got through three acts, but
then the gale found its way into the house, and put
audience and actors to an ignominious flight. In Juan
Bazaar a syce was killed alongside his horse, which was
also killed. A little further west two persons were
crushed, one was killed on the spot, and the other was
removed to the hospital. At the back of Rasmoney
Dossee's house a mother and daughter were overwhelmed
in the fall of their house. The mother died, but the
daughter was removed, dangerously wounded, to the hos-
pital. At the back of Hunter and Co.'s stables at Dhur-
rumtollah a European woman was killed by the falling of
a wall. At Sealdah the wind unrooted the station, a
feat which even the cyclone failed to accomplish, and
drove several carriages off the line. It next attacked the
old Sealdah market, the present pauper hospital, and all
through the long and bitter night it poured its fury, and
hurled clouds of cold and piercing rain over a miserable
crowd of 369 sick. The sheds for cooking, &c., attached to
this hospital were carried away, and the appearance it
presented in the morning was forlorn and wretched b -
yond conception. From Alipore we hear of five deaths.
From Ballygunge there is a report that a pucka house has
fallen and killed a European and his wife. From Entally
31 deaths were reported. AU through the suburbs the
roads arc lined with the well-known, unwieldly, metal-
clamped and low strong boxes in which natives delight,
serving on the present ,oceasion as a drying ground for the
wreck of their personal effeots. At Dum-Dum the "great
tree" has been overthrown. The racket-court has been
blown down, and the roads are strewn with the dead
bodies of cattle and horses ; there has also been, we fear,
great loss of life among the natives. At Barrackpore the
damage done has been even greater than at Dum-Duna or
Cossipore.

A WOMAN CUT TO PIECES ON A RAILWAY.---OH
Tuesday a woman, supposed to be named Ann Clark, a
cook in a gentleman's family, having been out for some
time on business, was returning home, at Streatham, and
in order to do so had to cross the line at the station. She
had made scarcely three paces when one of the fast trains
came along. The driver saw the, danger the poor creature
was in, and attempted to stop the train, but he was unable
to do so in time, and the buffer struck her on the side,
hurling her some distance. The wheels of the engine and
carriages passed over her, literally cutting her to pieces.
HOSPITAL STOPPAGES IN THE ARMY. —ln the re-
marks we lately made on this subject we endeavoured to
set the ball in motion, and should now be glad to see that
some action was about to be taken by the authorities.
The anomalous inequality with which the burden at
present falls upon the shoulders of the steady soldier,
when sick and disabled by causes resulting from military
duty, is of course most apparent to the medical officer ; but
it rests with the military authorities to take the necessary
steps for • shifting the weight upon the shoulders of
those " hospital birds," as they are termed, whose
inefficiency arises from diseases self-induced. We be-
lieve that those who would take action in the matter
are restrained by groundless or insufficient reasons. Sol-
diers and sailors are no more devoid of common sense and
feelings of justice than other men, and we imagine they
would recognise the fairness of any measure that might
be devised to draw some pecuniary distinction between
the two classes of patients to be found in every military
hospital. When a man's disease is clearly and distinctly
referable to his own imprudence, and the causes of it are
matters entirely within his own control, he ought certainly
to forfeit something more than another patient, or that
should pax less whil dergorxr ospltlktrea.t.
Idatigai