The Sun.
London, England, 1858-08-31 00:00:00

they themselves are compelled to remain inactive in
their encampments, and consume the supplies that
are grudgingly afforded by the charity of Brigham
Young. More and more wonderful, as we consider
it, becomes the influence which that artful impostor
wields over the minds of subject thousands • and
more convincing becomes the assurance that Utah,
with its present population, and under present cir-
cumstances, will never yield submission to, or become
an integral part of, the American Union. The
Mormons must sooner or later be removed, and their
migration will probably take place in the summer of
1859, with Sonora as its destination. Many of the
males will, however, doubtless find their way to
Fraser's River, and it is even not impossible that be-
fore another year the whole extraordinary system of
pseudo-theocracy may have collapsed, and nothing
but the record of a wide-spread delusion be left to
indicate the existence of the Mormon faith.
The Washington news of the week is confined to
a series of rumours of little interest. President and
Cabinet are scattered in different directions, snatching
a brief respite from the scorching and pestilential
atmosphere of the capitol, and public business there-
fore has no extraordinary features. The prepara-
tions for the absurd expedition against Paraguay,
nevertheless, are proceeding, an the " squad-
ron" will sail between now end October. The
press of the country is almost unanimous in ex-
claiming that such a public display of impotence
had better remain avoided ; when, however, the
grounds of quarrel are considered—the expulsion of
an infamous bully from Asunsion and the refusal
to ratify a treaty which was disliked—the armanent
appears fully adequate to the occasion.
The only domestic intelligence of European
interest consists in the recent elections in Kansas and
Missouri. Both took place on the 2d of August, but
from Kansas we have only partially complete reports.
From these it appears, however, that the Lecompton
Bill is rejected by a large majority, which will be
sustained by the vote of counties yet to hear from,
and that therefore the darling measure of the Admi-
nistration is rejected. Should these reports prove
correct, and the territory really cast a vote adverse
to the English-Lecompton Bill, the hated slave-con-
stitution will fall to the ground, and Kansas remain
unorganised as a State for a year or two longer. The
territory is now peaceable, and the Governor (Denver)
although pro-Lecompton, appears to have made him-
self liked. We shall hear more of Kansas in the next
presidential campaign.
The Missouri election is interesting from the fact
that in that bigoted slave State an important move-
ment towards emancipation took place last year. It
had long been acknowledged that slave labour is
unprofitable in Missouri, and it was seen that so
long as slavery exists white immigration will be
deterred. 'With these facts, an agitation for the con-
version of Missouri into a free State was commenced,
and was so far successful that an anti-slavery repre-
sentative was actually returned to Congress, being
the only free-soil representative of a State in which
slavery exists. He was only elected, however,
through a split among his antagonists, and the
majority was still against him, although he had a
plurality of votes ; but the novel fact of finding in
Congress a voice raised from Missouri in favour of
circumscribing the limits of negro bondage made a
powerful impression through the South. Yet it
would appear that Missouri is not yet ripe for eman-
ciotion, as this year Mr. Blair has lost his seat, and
the " Democratic ticket" is triumphantly returned.
It is believed that a cargo of slaves was recently
landed at some point in the south, as a vessel arrived
at Savannah without papers, her captain stating that
she came from the coast of Africa, and appearances
testify to her late nefarious adventure. The usual
fine for want of papers will be imposed, and a new
set issued. A North and a South Carolinian have
recently informed me, quite independently of each
other, that cargoes of slaves are not unfrequently
landed, to their own knowledge, on the southern
coasts. This statement is corroborated by the num-
ber of young native Africans, frequently tatooed,
wham any one can see in the slave markets at New
Orleans. These unfortunate wretches are usually
" run across" from Cuba, and their landing is, of
course, winked at by the democratic officials of the
South.
Until the arrival of the Niagara and the
success of the submarine telegraph, ell Now
York was discussing a late judicial outrage
in a case of alleged libel. The publisher of an
amusing but somewhat scurrilous paper entitled the
Alligator was recently put in possession of informa-
tion touching certain functionaries in New York.
He heard that the head of the municipality was in
the habit of allowing himself undue familiarity with
the blooming matron of a public charitable institu-
tion, whom he appointed to the responsible post, and
Branch boldly published the statement, together
with many others of similar import. He was crimi-
nally indicted for libel, and brought up last week
before a jury which is said to have been openly
" packed." The prosecution was conducted as
usual, but when the witnesses for the defence ap-
peared all but the most indirect testimony was
arbitrarily excluded by the Court. The prisoner's
counsel protested, but in vain, and after a one-sided
charge from the judge, the jury retired for a few mo-
ments, and then returned a verdict of guilty. In-
stantly, without allowing the defending counsel time
to protest, the sentence was delivered, and the heaviest
penalty of the law—one year at the peniten-
tiary and a fine of l2so—fell on the unfortunate
Branch. Within three hours of his arraignment he
was confined in the Tombs (being placed between a
couple of murderers), and next morning was hurried
off to the penitentiary, where his head was shaved, a
prison dress put on him, and the other indignities of
a prison fully wrought out. I was in conversation a
few hours after this mock trial with a prominent
Democratic politician,who, as he alluded to it, dashed
his fist heavily upon a table standing near and ex-
claimed, " By G—d, sir, I shudder when I think of
our French revolution." Scarcely, however, was
Branch housed in the penitentiary when Frank
Leslie, the crusader against poisonous milk, was
overthrown by the strong arm of the law. Leslie
(an Englishman), publishing an illustrated news-
paper, has recently exposed the iniquities of the dis-
tillery cow stables, the milk from which is sold by
the cartload in New York, and causes annually the
death, it is calculated, of 4,000 infants, and
in the course of his undertaking has severely,
animadverted on the corruption of the alder-
men appointed to investigate the swill - milk
system. These men have presented a report,
in which they laud this poisonous milk as equal,
if not superior, to that of grass-fed cows ! On
Saturday, the 7th instant, Leslie was arrested
and hurried to the tombs (the city prison), on
half-a-dozen suits for libel, emanating from the
aldermen, and the presiding justice, demanding
$7,500 bail, refused to receive it at all unless Leslie
entered into recognisances to drop the subject he
had been prosecuting during the space of an entire
year. Instead of going to prison for 24 hours,
Leslie accepted the terms of his adversaries, and lie
also will probably be sentenced to the penitentiary.
I cannot forbear extracting a small specimen of
forensic eloquence which emanated from the counsel
of the indignant aldermen. This lawyer, Graham
by name, had been, I believe, the subject of a
humorous engraving in Leslie's paper. I quote
from the report of the New York Times:-
4, Mr. Graham proceeded to state that they intended to
show these English scoundrels that they could not libel and
caricature respectable citizens with impunity.
" Mr. Leslie suggested that Mr. Graham should be more
careful in his use of epithets.
" Mr. Graham—Don't speak to me, you scoundrel, or I
shall not be answerable for the consequences. The first
acquaintance I ever had with Leslie showed him to he a
d—d scoundrel. If they will meet me on any flat in New
York, I'll take the beads off both of them. I'll show them
there il., no Miss-Nancykm about toe.
" Mr. Leslie—We are gentlemen. We are no pugilists,
Mr. Graham.
" Mr. Graham—You are a G—d d—d English thief. I
can lick the pair of you.
::Justice Osborne--Gentlemen, you must stop this.
Mr. Graham--Toe only question is, are two gentlemen
to be continually libelled by these English transports ?
They contaminate the air. If I stay in the room much
longer, I shall suffocate. See the mean-looking English
thieves."

I have only extracted the more decent portion of
this colloquy, but I think it right to add that Mr.
Graham, although a leading man in the profession,
is not a fair sample of the New York bar, so far as
respectability is concerned. The principal lawyers
in New York are Irishmen—as, indeed, is the case all
over the country. Dick Busteed and Jim Brady,
both natives of the Emerald Isle, are at the head of
the profession here.
Many, if not all, your Irish readers will remember
Thomas Savage, who, at a very early age, became
foolishly implicated in.the troubles of 1848, and was
expatriated in consequence. He is now domiciled at
Washington, as editor of the States' Newspaper,
where his raw-head-and bloody-bones order of pa-
triotism has entirQly left him. He has recently
completed a tragedy in five acts, entitled " Sybil,"
which is to be produced during the winter, the prin-
cipal role being filled by a gifted young actress, who
is now studying the part. She is enthusiastic con-
cerning the merits of the piece, and I am informed. by
those who have seen " Sybil," that it really is
meritorious production. As a matter of course, it is
devoted to the delineation of female character, and
the author's delicate perceptions of womanly feeling
and instinct have been highly commended.
There is little stirring in literature, but a new
work by the Italian, Guerrazzi, will shortly be pub-
lished here. The translation is by an Italian pro-
fessor at Havard College. Guerrazzi s work
is
devoted to the life and tragic death of Isabella Medici
degli Orsini, and is somewhat less saturated with
blood, and horrid with unnatural crimes, than his last
work, "Beatrice Cenci." AUGUST 16.
Your correspondent attended on Saturday last a
curious merrymaking, by special invitation. The