The Sun.
London, England, 1867-05-04 00:00:00

THE SUN, LoriiioN, SATUEWAY EV ENING, MAY 4, 1867

MISCELLANEOUS FOREIGN NEWS.

(From Correspondents of " The Anglo-American Times.")
PARIS, May 2.
We shall know definitely in a few weeks whether
we are to have peace or war between France and
Prussia on the Luxembourg question. The state of
suspense which has been and is now paralysing con-
fidence throughout Europe cannot remain much
longer without a solution ; and whether that solu-
tion be the signal of a struggle for supremacy the
most formidable in its probable results which has
been waged since the days of the first Napoleon, or
the re-establishment of harmony and good feeling
as the consequence of respect accorded to legiti-

mate claims, it must transpire ere another month

has passed.

France demands it in justice to

her own tranquillity and the wishes of her, whole
people. She has shown a spirit of conciliation and
disinterestedness by withdrawing from negotiations
for territorial aggrandisement, which were spon-
taneously offered and in no way sought by
her. She now confines her , representations

to the evacuation of the fortress of Luxem-

bourg by the Prussians, since the unaccountable oc-
cupation thereof menaces continually the security of

Holland and herself. She renounces for the time

being any idea of acquisition to her domains by
consenting to accept the neutralisation of the Grand

Duchy as a basis for settlement ; and far from
seeking pretexts for war has encouraged with the
most loyal goodwill overtures made by England,

Russia, and Austria in order to maintain peace.

She can do nothing more but insist upon the recog-
nition of claims which are regarded by every disin-
terested European Power as equitable and neces-
sary. Prussia feels the importance of the termina-
tion of a state of uncertainty, which, from the ex-
pectant policy of the French Government in not
abdicating its right, and being at liberty to urge it
at any moment, places her under the neces-
sity of either acting on the offensive, and
assuming the responsibility of war, or delaying
longer and longer, thereby endangering still more,
her doubtful claims to the occupation of the
fortress, and engendering in European Powers a
moral sentiment of disapprobation, which must
ultimately expel her from the Grand Duchy. De-
lay on her part only renders a refusal to accede to
the requirements of France more palpably unjusti-
fiable, or a compliance therewith seemingly more
compulsory. Hence her anxiety for the Issue,
whether it be peace or war, provided the former
does not detract from her exalted idea of national
honour, or the latter compromise her peaceful
relations with other powers besides France. Europe
is particularly anxious for a solution of this
question, which has produced such painful suspense
in diplomatic circles since its first introduction on
the political tapir. Commerce is suffering, inter-
national intercourse is, becoming embarrassed with
certain reserves, and gloom is prevailing among all
those mutually interested in the preservation of
peace between the disagreeing governments. Any-
thing is better than the present feeling of ex,-.
pectancy, and be it peace or war, all,depire to knosfi
and know soon, what thoytorc
49yVA upon. 'i.
Rumours of a probable p- a-04c seitlepent arc cur-
til'l,
rent now, and it is generally believed that the negor,
tiations engaged in by the three great Powers—
England, Russia, and Austria—had ended in a
proposition for a Conference, to be held in
London, on Tuesday next, in which France and
Prussia would take part. Many think that
Prussia would submit to the demand, or rather
judgment, of this Conference, which will in all
probability pronounce the occupation cf the for-
tress abnormal, and therefore illegal. It is affirmed
by several journals that Prussia is disposed to
evacuate Luxembourg, and agree to its neutraliza-
tion, conditionte Powers
of collectiveaaigning th
eguaranteetreaties
beingon, ognivetnhehe
her by the
of 1839. Once in the way of concessions, she will
perhaps make others, so that, after all her bragga-
docios and menace, she may yet choose the better
part, and seek some better cause for fight than the
Luxembourg question. It would seem that a na-
tural desire for the consolidation of the work of
German unity would prompt Prussia not to under-
take at present a struggle with a great Power
having the moral support of nearly all Europe—
knowing, as she must, that failure would be attended
with the most disastrous consequences to her cher-
ished dream of a united Germany, with King
William, Emperor, Bismark anything he

wishes, Bce.
There can be but little doubt that both France
and Prussia are prepared for any contingency. They
have foreseen the possibility of a rupture since
the battle of S tdowa, and have been arming and
equipping for it. The day Austria was humiliated,
and German unity became a fact, Prussia became a
formidable rival to France, and Frenchmen as well
as Germans have looked forward to a struggle for
the championship of Europe. Where each power is
jealous of the other's pretensions and efforts for ex-
tension of territory, and constantly on the look-out
for some challenge to combat, it is no wonder that
a " bone of contention" has been found thus easily.
Prussia's intolerance and presumption have afforded
France a long list of grievances, and given her
ample came for quarrel. A less pacific Emperor
than Napoleon 111. would long since have accepted
the defiance ; but, if war is undertaken, Napoleon
is determined that the responsibility shall rest with
Prussia. " They that take the sword shall perish
with the sword " will very likely be the case if
Prussia does commence the fight. Diplomacy may
succeed in averting the struggle threatening at
present, but a trial for supremacy will surely come
off at some future time, ere peace may be said to be
durably establishel between the two now rival
Powers.

I gave in a previous correspondence a statement
of the actual strength of the French army, at the
present time. I now gather from the Gpinione
Nationale a few items in regard to the Prussian
army. This army is composed of 304 foot batta-
lions, 256 squadrons of cavalry, and 150 batteries
of artillery; in all, 240,000 men, of whom 175,000
are infantry. Supposing that the calling out of the
reserves and landwehrs would triple this amount,
we then have a total of 720,000 men, but since
much of this fefee would be required for garrison-
ing the fortresses of countries annexed in spite of
themselves, such as Saxony and Hanover, the real
fighting strength of the Prussian army would not
exceed, if it equalled, that of France. Of all the
States annexed since the battle of Sadowa, only
Brunswick and Oldenburg have adopted the Prus-
sian arms and system. The former furnishes
1,500 troops, and the latter 3,000.
In response to a demand for interpellation rela-
tive to the Luxembourg affair, signed by several
prominent members of the Corps Legislatif, the
Minister of State, Mons. Rouher, addressed a letter
to the President of the Chamber, stating, that al-
though the Government
theeLettos
expose to its legislators and
feltth everyinclination
countrye
all
relating to the question of the Grand Duchy, cer-
tain negociations favourable to the maintenance of
peace, which were now under way, imposed the
greatest reserve on the part of the Government of
the Emperor, which had to propose with regret the
adjournment of the discussion until some more
opportune time. As soon as circumstances per-
mitted, it was resolved to treat the important sub-
ject fully before the Legislative Chamber. The
members, realising the importance of silence at pre-
sent on the question, accepted cheerfully the pro-
posed postponement. Before discontinuing my
remarks on thp; Luxembourg difficulty, it may be
well to add that Queen Victoria has addressed a
letter to the King of Prussia, in which she appeals
to his sentiments of family, his Christian senti-
ments, and his feelings of humanity, and exhorts
Lim to preserve the peace of Europe by respecting
the just susceptibilities of neighbouring Powers.
This personal and spontaneous intervention does
credit to the good sense of the Queen, and will
perhaps have a good effect upon the Cabinet of
Berlin.

An English paper says that orders for 40 thou-
sand breech-loading muskets have been received by
English manufacturers from the French Government,
and that a large number have been delivered, while
the remainder are being completed with the utmost
expedition.
There is much talk here now of a new portable
copper cannon, of extraordinary power, which was
recently invented by an artillery captain in the

manufactory of fire-arms at Saint Cloud. Great
secrecy has been observed in the experiments with
this arm, and it is evident that its construction;
modus operandi, &c., aro things to be withheld from
the public yet awhile. All that has been learned
concerning it is, that it is composed of three barrels,
manufactured separately, and then so arranged as,
by means of an ingenious tourniquet, to enable the
person handling it to fire as many as 50 shots per
minute. The projectiles employed are said to do
murderous execution at 2,000 yards distance. Pro-
digious results have been obtained from experi-
ments made and its efficacy seems to be settled be-
yond all doubt. When " wars and rumours of
wars" are the order of the day such a weapon derives
additional consideration from the possibility of its
being, at an early day, brought into useful service
against the enemies of France.
In the collection of cannons which decorate the
Prussian section at the Universal Exhibition is now
shown a monster specimen, which weighs, waggon
included, over 110,000 lbs. To prevent damage to
the railways a..special waggon was constructed for
its transportation. After considerable detention en
route it has been safely landed, and is now exposed
to the admiring gaze of spectators as a specimen of
what Prussia can do in the way of fabricating
death-dealing machines. I have heard some ac-
count, almost fabulous, of the quantity of powder
necessary to charge the immense gun, but have now
forgotten it.
On Sunday the Prince Toko-Gawa-M,in-Bou-
Taion, son of the Tycoon, Emperor of Japan, was
received in public audience by the Emperor and
Empress, surrounded by the grand officers of the
Crown. The young Prince was accompanied by
the plenipotentiary and chamberlain of the Tycoon,
his preceptor, and different civil and military officers
of his suite. Through the medium of an interpreter he
assured the Emperor of the friendly sentiments en-
tertained by Japan for France, and announced that
he had come to France to witness the Universal
Exhibition, and complete his education. In
reply, the Emperor expressed his sympathy for the
Japanese Government, and thanked the young
Prince for his visit to France. A letter, enclosed in
a leather box, and fastened by an enormous loop of
red silk, was then presented to the Etnperor on ba-
half of the Tycoon, and afterwards the party re-
tired, bowing, a reculons out of the room. The pre-
sents sent by the Tycoon to be delivered on this,
occasion were far from princely in their value or
appearanee. They consisted of three stnalt houses,
one in wood and paper, and two in crystal drops or
balls, for the Emperor; pieces of silk for the Em-
press, and a large sabre for the Prince Imperial.
That the World's Fair is not a failure is proved
beyond all question by the immense multitudes that
are daily flocking to the Champ de Mars. On
Easter Sunday 62,000 persons were admitted, and
sent. Considering that it was the opening on Monday following more than 100,000 were pre:.
inbnth,
the weather 134g:ben exceedingl7 disagreeable the'
zreater part of the
,time, this .% stately enorrnons._.
'What will it be, when the,,crbwa4;r9,s4ooll:B3:,gt
•:/ire to come, hav4rri,‘ ve4d, and t1itt*,141,0,147,164':
slue trains from the fovinces cli)F-dt4911 ;CO:
hotirly landing:theirJiosts in the eitiiital. 7- '
The 'reserved' garden of the Exposition was
inaugurated a, few days ago by the Empress,
who has taken the most charming and agreeable
part of the park under her patronage. In this
garden are collected the rarest shrubs and flowers
from the hot-houses of Paris, the aquariums of
fresh and salt water, cascades, basins, and a minia-
ture river. Concerts of military music are to be
given there every day hereafter, as also in the cen-
tral garden of the palace.
A series of official fetes, in honour of the Ex-
hibition, commenced last Saturday, the Minister
of State, and vice-president of the Imperial Com-
mission, giving the opening one in his magnificent
saloons at the Louvre. About 5,000 of the elite of
the city were present, numbers of distinguished
foreigners, &c. The next took place at the
Minister of Marine's, and from the 15th of May
to the 15th of June the Tuileries will open its
splendid halls frequently on the occasion of the

fetes.
The King of Greece is now on a visit to Paris.
The King and Qieen of Portugal are expected in
a few days, and the Viceroy of Egypt and Victor
Emmanuel abiut the middle of next month. These
are the only sovereigns whose visits are looked for-
ward to with certainty at this time.

NEW YORK, April 22.

The cession of Russian-America has been the grea
topic of the past few weeks. Did we know the Russian
mind, I dare say the Romanoff nation fancies it has
made a good bargain. Had every transaction suc-
ceeded as well with the Czar of all the Russias, had
he been able to gain two thousand per cent. by every
sale, the Russian exchequer would not be as unfilled
as it is. The Cossacksellsforten milltione dollars
in gold what he purchased for seventy thousand
pounds sterling. Independentlyof h
pecu-
niary view connected with this sale, the Russian
fancies he is shaking hands .with the only nation
that rivals his own in broad expanse of terri-
tory. The New York papers love to exhibit
the progression by which the Union has attained it-
present magnitude, and to hint at the infinitesimal
series of developments which are to be effected by
the future life of the Union. Louisiana, Texas,
California are, it may be, mere fragments iu
comparison with the vast stripes of territory
which the Union is to acquire. Already by
the acquisition of Russian-America the map of the
Union looks deformed and ill knit together ; Canada
is an eye-sore, and the Union has a broken unity,
till the stars and stripes flutter to
in
etcoo Aldwmileidns.ooano
thee icy hills that tread away into the Arctic Ocean.
li
Then there is another feeling h
mind which the cession of Russian-America has
whichit t
of thes
with
14 . h h
the
e
called
Union
into
blends life—namely, f
and
fusesat n e l yos,
togetherutehore
fanacse heterogeneoustim ele-
mentsueien
uipnhtoeldozni
nod
thehomg
pee
homogeneous
o facilityy s
Washing-
ton powers vindicated over the autonomy of State
Government, the Aumem-migriahcatttnerbseods a
nholthowsenmoinal unity
meroosor
grasp the whole world
esw
ittahbilnisihtesda
rwmhs i. c h
Population ; it easily
omfarweihieast
esoerdterthte governedhefelasef
the Union banner.
Local legislatures can consult for local wants and
pander to local prejudices, but
power at Washington, while it'the great directing
jurisdiction remains intact. Hen
army extended, likewise feels thatseese itse t
lheeo:Vjuni s
an gusi supremefaus
govern Esquimaux, but if the work of the cold
north is to be done, those sons
sedgeonsoft to traversehecoldmust
harness the reindeer to
Mountfrozen steppess t. Eii
the
brother Jonathan, In Elias in
endanger their lives to explore
of Mexicoio forwarding the interests of
to the same
agency of Inprtihneeipslaem, ethw,ayh,yahnrdidbyraethese
who shall
far shalt thou be welded on and cohere
Americanism is
mayheoeuntralising Union. Aggressive
say to the order of the day, and
is certain, that the re •
American lovesand no farther? One thing
this aggressive Americanism—
Thus.
t o h
picture
institutions knows roPag(
from pole to bounds,to
himselfa n and r o ahmo
wt he
rearth
s
pole, and from ocean to ocean. The
shall fade away, and all men of all races and colour,
from the man of Caucasus to the descendants of , Ham, shall arise .
blessed with equal rights, powers,
. and prerogatives, borrowed from the institutions of
To-day he deems the thought no day-
, dream, nor does ".1, . consider the time of its realisa-
tion far distant that an era shall come when he may
transport himself in i't to the
Capitol, and behold
rl.
the whole North American Continent one compact
Republic. „. .
His banner shall float from the waves
of the Mexican Gulf to the ice-bound coast of the
Arctic, and be
brightened
by the sun in his course
from
ocean to ocean. Countless families shall mul-
tiply in his vast te • rritory, cemented together by the
agencies of steamboat railroads, and telegraph
wires. Leviathan '
men-of-war shall scour the ocean
• on either side, and causethe sea-going nations of
the earth to
flag of 1
bow More the Columbia.
Limitless resources, boundless territory, number-
less inhabitants, unapproachable power, and excel-
lence—these • .
are the ideas of destiny. Such are the
thoughts conjured up by of
the cession Russian
America, and these
of the American. There in no love of ice, or cold,

or walrus, or Esquimaux, or cod, or whale ; but
there is the thought thatAnierica shall be the most
overshadowing nation the world ever saw—and that
by destiny.

NEW ENTERPRISES-THEIR TRUE POINT OF

DEPARTURE.

advent of the Spaniards, they had disappeared, ex-
cept in Mexico. They seem, however, to have been
gathered into a nation, and to have maintained
themselves to a much later period in Kentucky than
elsewhere. The name means the " Dark and
Bloody Ground," and it was there, that the only
tradition remained of the extirpation of the prior
inhabitants. We give entire the concluding re-

marks on this subject in the Edinburgh Review :
" It is proverbial among Transatlantic travellers
that he who has seen one tribe has seen all, so
clOsely do individuals of every family resemble
each other, notwithstanding their immense geo-
graphical dissemination, and those differences of
climate which embrace the extremes of heat and
cold ; and after devoting a lifetime to the inves-
tigation of their linguistic affinities, the late vene-
rable Albert Galatin arrived at the same conclu-
sion. llowever differing in their vocabularies,'
he remarks, th&.e is au evident similarity in the
structure of all the American languages.' From
wha';ever land the Aboriginal population of North
America proceeded— from Eastern Siberia, by the
passage of Behring's Straits, or by the Aleutian
Islands, or which we conceive to be much more
probable, from the Bactrian heights, or Hindus-
tan, by the Indian and Pacific Oceans—the in-
fluence of their genius, mythology, and civilisa-
tion has not wholly declined to this day. Hence
many have likewise been led to believe in the
unity of the American race. Without impeaching
the justice of this opinion, so far as it affects the
tribes of native Red Indians, we cannot but think
that the original occupants of the soil 'disappeared
long before the advent of the Spaniards. So far
as is now known, the highest civilised races at the
era of the conquest were restricted to the territory
falling within the 10th and 25th degrees of north
latitude, and to, that smaller region which is
watered by the Rio Colorado and the Rio Gila,
and their tributaries. Every other portion of the
Continent, with one notable exception, was occu-
pied by indigent and semi-barbarous tribes, widely
scattered, and subsisting for the most part on
the produce of the chase. The exception was
Kentucky, bearing the ominous appellation of
the dark and bloody ground, which had
long been shunned by every Indian with super-
stitious dread. According to the traditions of
the locality, the now attractive banks of the Ohio
had been the scene of a frightful carnage many cen-

turies before the arrival- of the European. An
entire nation, both physically and morally distin-
guished from the red skins—white men—and who
bad been settled in the country from time imme-
morial, were unexpectedly assailed and overwhelmed
by their enemies. The manifest incompletion of
several of the monuments in the valley betoken a
sudden cessation of labour on the part of their con-
structors, and thus far confirms the terrible reality
of the Indian legends. If those ill-fated people
were not the true Aborigines of the soil, they were
undoubtedly connected with them, as may be in-
ferred from the peculiarity of many of their struc-
tures, the relics exhumed from their tumuli, and,
above all, from their primeval mode of sepulture.
" In the absence of documentary proofs and posi-
tive evidence, it is extremely difficult, and often
impossible, to determine the aboriginal migrations
of a people. The primary immigrants of, North
America are no exception to this general rule. They
arrived in the New World, we believe, by various
routes and at various epochs. That comparatively
narrow. territory which stretches from the Pacific
Oce4to the (lull of Mexico, and which is so especially
ih stupiliaous and highly-decorated monuments,
malty 'of ..theme bearing indisputable marks of the
hoariest,' antiquity, was the first abode of the civi-
ii.sed nations. Those nations, as Mr. Taylor argues
on a priori grounds, brought their civilisation with
them, it was not of indigenous growth ; and the
Abbd Brasseur de Bourbourg, who has laboured
long as a missionary in that part of the Continent,
as well as in the interests of ethnographical science,
inclines to the opinion that the Mayas of Yucatan
are their degenerate descendants. Thence popula-
tion was diffused, and radiated through the immense
regions of the North. Almost the same combina-
tion of mounds, terraces, and pyramids is found
throughout the Valley of the Mississippi, as at
Copan, Palenque, and Uxmal ; a fact which goes
far to prove that the inhabitants of the interior de-
rived their civil as well as their religious institu
tions, and such knowledge of the arts as they pos-
sessed, from Central America. The one, no doubt,
was a modification of the other. By one of these
refluxes, which were so common in the early his-
tory of mankind, the tide of population returned to
its original source, but by a circuitous or north-
westerly channel, commingling in its passage with
several streams of later immigrants to the Continent
by Bhering's Straits, or the Aleutian Isles. Hence
the cause of those national changes and revolutions
which may be faintly traced on the face of the
most primitive monuments, and which are most
distinctly portrayed on the more modern ones. The
mild religious services of the first ages were
superseded by the sanguinary ritual in vogue at the
time of the conquest ; political domination had
completely succumbed to sacerdotal rule ' • the Inca
added to his other functions those of supreme
pontiff. No doubt there were many intermigrations
of more or less importance, the order of which,
however, it is impossible to indicate. In connec-
tion with these we may remark, by the way, that
no existing tribe of Indians, located east of the
Mississippi, lay claim to the monuments surround-
ing them. According to their several traditions
they found them much iu the same condition as
they now appear, when their forefathers, centuries
ago, arrived from the- West and possessed them-
selves of the county. Old societies had utterly
perished ages before, leaving posterity ignorant, not
only of the extent of their dominions, but also of
their very titles. The Atlantic sea-board, from
New England to South Carolina, would seem to
have been but sparsely peopled till within a com-
paratively recent epoch. The remains on that long
slip of territory are much less numerous than else-
where on the continent, and for historical deduc-
tion almost valueless. Nearly the whole of them
are the supposed works of the Iroquois and their
affiliated tribes, and do not possess, it is reported,
an' antiquity very far back of the discovery.'"