The Sun.
London, England, 1866-01-23 00:00:00

THE SUN, LONDON, TUESDAY E V ENiNG, JAN IJARY 23, 180.

infringing the order of the Quarter Sessions by re
moving cattle from the market. They pleaded igno
rance, and the penalties inflicted were quly nominal.

' discussion and several divisions, some of Mr. Adder-
ley's suggestions were adopted. It was resolved that
the monthly licenses should only be granted by two
justices, and that the application need not be made
in petty sessions ; that permission should be given
to remove cattle purchased at bona fide sales ; that
no fees should be taken for granting licenses, and
that sheep and swine be not included in the order.
The Court was further adjourned for a fortnight.
The Warwickshire Agricultural Society does not
intend to follow the example of many kindred asso-
ciations and dispense with its exhibition during the
present year. At a meeting of the society at War-
wick, on Saturday, the Earl of Warwick in the
chair, the subject was freely canvassed, and a very
general opinion expressed in favour of holding the
show. The arrangement of the prize-list has been
deferred till March. A letter was read from Mr. A.
Pell, chairman of the County Cattle Plague Com-
mittee, soliciting the co-operation of the society in
a conference from various counties, proposed to
be held as early as practicable in London, to
consider what steps may be recommended to the
Government and the Legislature in reference to the
cattle plague, and to prepare and circulate petitions
embodying the views of the conference. The fol-
lowing points were also suggested for consideration:
1. The absolute suspension fora time of all traffic in
and transit of live cattle, sheep, goats, and swine.
2. The immediate destruction of all plague-stricken
animals ; and the isolation and official control of all
animals that had been within the influence of the
contagion. 3. The partial remuneration of persons
affected by this measure, whether out of the county
rate, the consolidated fund, by loan spread over a
number of years, or otherwise. 4. The closing and
disinfecting of all infected premises, fields, sheds,
and railway trucks and pens, and forbidding their
use for a period of time to be fixed by Government.
Allusion was also made to the importance of an im-
mediate and uniform pressure being brought to bear
on the Government. The meeting unanimously
resolved to co-operate with the above-mentioned
association, and a deputation consisting of the Earl
of Warwick, Lord Leigh, and others, was appointed
to represent the society at the conference in London.

The Present Emperor of the French when

a Boy.

- .0^

Prince Louis Napoleon, when at the age of six,
lived with his mother, Queen Hortense, at the
Malmaison, with whom resided the Empress
Josephine ; who, •it will be remembered, received
the allied sovereigns there in 1814, after Napoleon
I. was exiled to Elba. The Emperor of Russia
when in Paris scarcely passed a day without visit-
ing those exalted ladies, and on each occasion he
breakfasted or dined with them. The Queen told
her children that when the Emperor Alexander
called every mark of attention and respect was to
be paid to his Imperial Majesty ; for to him, and
him alone, they owed everything they possessed in
the world. Prince Louis listened to his mother's
precepts with great attention, but said nothing. The
next time the Czar came, however, the little fellow
sidled up to him and quietly placed on one of the
Czar's fingers a ring, which his uncle Prince Eugene,
the Viceroy of Italy, had given him. The boy, on
being asked by his mother what he meant, said,
" I have only this ring, which my uncle gave me ;
but I have given it to the Emperor Alexander, be-
cause he has been so kind to you, dear mamma."
The autocrat smiled, and placing the gift on his
watchchain, said he would never part with it, but
would keep it in remembrance of the noble trait of
generosity shown by one so young. The Queen re-
plied, " Sire, my son Louis keeps nothing for him-
self : the other day I gave him some pretty buttons,
but he gave them away to some of his playmates ;
and when I reproached him for so doing, his answer
was, " Vous voulez, mamas, me procurer un plaisir
en me les offrant, et vous m'en procurer deux ; celui
de recevoir de vous, rnaman, un jolie chose, et
ensuite le plaisir de la donner a un autre."
Another anecdote, showing the good nature of
Louis Napoleon, was related to me by the late M.
Mocquard, with whom 1 was well acquainted. After
leaving the Malmaison, Qut3en Hortense settled by
the Lake of Constance, where the young Prince

was constantly in the habit of relieving poor people
by giving away his pocket-money. One day he ob-
served a family iu the greatest distress, but having
no money to give them he took off his coat and
boots and gave them to these poor people, saying
that he was sorry that he had not any money for
them, as he had given away the allowance his mother
made him to some other poor persons who had just
passed by the house ; but he hoped they would dis-
pose of his clothes to reliev3 their wants. The
weather at this time was very cold, and the ground
covered with snow ; the Prince, nevertheless,
trudged through it towards home, and when near
the house was met by Mocquard, who expressed his
surprise at seeing him in that state. The little fel-
low, then ten years old, replied, "I have given away
my clothes to some poor people to prevent them
from starving." Mocquard added that " the Em-
peror is never so happy as was when he can relieve
the distressed." •

Loss OF THE STEAMSHIP LONDON.—A writer
in one of the weekly journals says : Our English
contemporaries have given several explanatiog,s of
the causes of this fearful disaster, none of which ap-
pear to us to be founded in probability. It is not rea-
sonable to suppose, for instance, that the owners of the
London would send her to sea unprovidedwith accurate
barometers and all other instruments which first-class
vessels usually carry ; and it is still less reasonable to as-
sert, or insbeuate, that sailing-ships are safer in bad
weather than steamers. Power is safety, especially in
storms and heavy sea-ways ; and the possession of steam
power must render a vessel comparatively careless of
wind and wave in comparison with mere sailers. When
the investigation is made into the causes of this
disaster, we believe it will be proved conclusively that the
"London" was loaded far below her bearings. Ships are
built to float on a certain water-line ; and after that limit
is reached a single ton of additional freight will send them
down almost as much as a hundred tons previously. We
feel satisfied, from the evidence already published, that the
"London" was thus improperly loaded, the idea of her
owners being that her daily consumption of coal would,
after the lapse of a certain period, lighten her up to her
proper bearings. Bet the steamer was caught in the
cyclone almost as soon as she left port, and,.not being able
to "rise," the sea broke against her like a rock or log, and
naturally carried away everything. It will also be neces-
sary to learn what instructions were given to Captain
Martin by his owners. In the hurry to make good pas-
sages there is now-a-days, OR certain lines, too much
"pressing forward" and "carrying all sail," the safety of
those on board being regarded as of secondary importance
to an early delivery of large eargoes.—Angle-American
Times.

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Slavery in Blex'xo.
CORRESPONDENCE OP SECRETARY SEWARD WITH THE

FRENCH GOVERNAIENT.

To the House of Representatives.

In answer to the resolution of the House of Repre
sentatives of the 11th inst., requesting information rela
tive to a so-called decree concerning the re-establishmen
of slavery or peonage in the Republic of Mexico, I trans
mit a report from the Secretary of State, and the docu•
ments by which it was accompanied.
Washington, December 14, 1865

ANDREW JOHNSON,

Department of State,
Washington, Dec. 14, 1865,

_ .
The Secretary of State, to whom was referred the reso-
lution of the House of Representatives of the 11th inst.
requesting the President, "if not incompatible with the
public service, to communicate to that House any infor-
mation in possession of any of the executive departments
of the Government, in reference to a so-called decree by
Maximilian, the French agent in Mexico, under date of
Dec. 5, A.D. 1865, re-establishing slavery or peonage in
that Republic," and to inform that House " what action,
if any, has been taken by the Government of the United
States in reference thereto," has the honor to lay before
the President the correspondence supposed to be indicated
in the said resolution, which correspondence presents all
the information upon the subject in the possession of this
department. Respectfully submitted,

The President.

WILLIAM H. SEWARD.

Mr. Romero to Mr. Seward,
Mexican Legation.
To the United States of America,
Washington, Oct. 5, 1865.
Mr. Secretary,—l have the honor to remit to you,
for the information of the Government of the United
States, a copy in English of the so-called law
which, on the sth of September last, was issued at Chapul-
tepee by the ex-Archduke of Austria. Fernando Maxi-
milian, so-called Emperor of Mexico, in which, under
pretext apparently of inviting foreign immigration to
Mexico, ho has adopted a plan which has for its purpose
to call to that Republic the disaffected citizens of the
United States, who are not disposed to acknowledge the
authority of this Government, nor to accept the conse-
quences of the war by admitting them, with their pre-
judices and their peculiar system of labor, already Is ell
tried in the southern part of the United States.
According to the information I have received, founded
on facts, and which I have communicated to your depart-
ment, and the Emperor of the French, and his agent in
Mexico, considering that in the country there were not
elements sufficient to sustain them, have taken means to
call to it all persons they supposed animated by any hosti-
lity to the United States.
The arrangements made with ex-Senator Gwin, of Cali-
fornia, has that object ; but as that individual was
recognised as a declared enemy of the United States on
the close of the civil war hero, it was thought not advis-
able to irritate this country by carrying out the plan which
had been agreed upon with him.
In place of them there has been another combination,
which, under a different form, it is hoped may produce
the like results. For this new plan they have gone to the
extreme of practically re-establishing, in fact, in Mexico,
the odious institution of slavery. The so-called law of

the ex-Archduke of Austria goes accompanied by a regu-
lation signed by the same Maximilian, of which I also en-
close a copy in English, whose first article, to cover ap-
pearances, declares that "according to the laws of the
empire all men of color are free from the mere fact of
stepping on Mexican territory ;" but those following
establish a slavery so much more the odious because it is
not restricted to color or determination of caste.

The working man—the name they give to the slave—•will
make, according to such regulations, a contract with his
master, called patron, by which he will bind himself to
feed, clothe, and lodge them, and support them in sickness,
and pay them a sum of money in conformity with the con-
ditions agreed upon between thorn. The fourth part of
the sum will be lost to the workingman almost, because he
cannot dispose of it, nor of the interest while his con-
tract lasts, according to terms of articles thirteen and
fourteen. " The working man will engage at the same
time with his patron to do the work to which he may bo
assigned for the term of five years at least, and ten years
at most." " The patron will engage to maintain the
children of his working men." This slavery is hereditary,
because, according to artltle three of the regulation, "in
case of the death of the father (working man) the patron
shall consider himself tutor of the children, and they shall
continue in his service until majority on the same con-
ditions as was the father." The heirs of the patron will
hold, in their turn, these working men in conformitywith
article five. To complete the odious practices of the holders
of slaves, the regulation referred to contains(article 6) an ar-
ticle against fugitive slaves, by which, "incase of desertion,
tho workman, when caught, shall be assigned, without
wages at all, to the public works, until his patron comes
to reclaim him." To consummate this work of iniquity,
article fifteen provides that in case of death, "au intestate,"
or without heirs, the effects of the working man shall pass
into the control of the public treasury.
It is really an extraordinary thing, and almost incompre-
hensible, that when slavery has received a death-blow in
the only country that could revive it, and when it has
been shown by facts that its existence is an evil, social,
moral, and political, there can be in the world a usurper
who, without having established his authority in the
country he tries to domineer over, should attempt to re-
establish the odious system fur the purpose of strengthen-
ing himself, and merely changing the name for the pur-
pose of deluding the world.
As this system of labor might be taken for what in
Mexico is called peonage, and as that may be considered
here as an institution equivalent to slavery, Ithink it expe-
dient to show to you that on some estates in the tierras
calientes, to the South of Mexico, there has in fact been,
through the abuses of tho proprietors and the influence
they enjoyed, something that might bo compared in its
practical effect with what the ex-Archduke of Austria has
now established in his aforesaid decree. But such abuses,
besides being restricted' to a very narrow district, were
never sanctioned by the Mexican laws, and the National
Government of that Republic have taken especial care to
correct them and root them out. It was reserved for the
ex-Archduke of Austria to sanction such an abusive prac-
tice by a law which, if it goes into force, will be executed
throughout the whole extent of the Mexican territory.
Before concluding this note, I think it proper to remit
to you a copy of the speech which was delivered in Mexico
on the said 16th of September, by the said Archduke of
Austria, Fernando Maximilian, in which he expresses
what be calls his irrevocable determination not to leave
Mexico upon any consideration, whatever may be the cir-
cumstances. This is one proof more that the Emperor of
the French is very far from desisting from his outrageous
attempt to deceive the people of Mexico into acceptance
of the yoke of a European monarchy.
It is satisfactory to me to avail of this opportunity to
renew to you, Mr. Secretary, the assurance of my most
distinguished consideration. M. ROMERO.

Mr. Seward to Mr. Bigelow.
Department of State,
Washington, Nov. 2, 1865.
Sir,—The condilion of the emancipated slaves or freed-
men within the United States is at this moment, very pro-
bably, a subject of deep interest. Tho establishment of
the perfect equality of men of the African race with men
of other races throughout the whole continent is a policy
which the United States may.hereafter be expected to cul-
tivate with constancy and assiduity. Certain decrees
bearing on the subject of immigration, which are under-
stood to have been promulgated by authorities acting in
Mexico, in opposition to that Republic, have arrested the
attention of this Government. Tip law officer of the
Government has submitted to this department an opinion
that, if those decrees were carried into execution, they
would inevitably operate to reduce into a condition of
peon slavery working men of the African race, and, of
course, such of the freedmen before-mentioned as, with
or without their intelligent consent, might be brought
within the jurisdiction of Mexico.

If European opinion can be regarded as established in
reference to any one political question, it is settled that
African slavery, in any form, ought henceforth to cease
throughout the world. We do not doubt that the Emperor
of France cordially and fully concurs as we do in this
humane sentiment. I have, therefore, to request you to
place a copy of the opinion of the Attorney-General
herewith enclosed (the opinion of the Attorney-General
referred to herein is that previously inserted under date
of Oct., 21, 1865,) in the hands of M. Droun de L'lluya
and asks that the attention of the French Government
may be directed to the question which the Attorney-
General has discussed with ability, and with an anxious
desiro to arrive at just conclusions.—l am, Sir, your
obedient servant,

WILLIAM IL SEWARD.

Mr. Bigelow to Monsieur Dronyn de Lhuys.
Legation of the United States,
Paris, Nov. 22, 1865.
Sir,—Becalling the conversation which I had the honor
to hold with your Excellency on the 17th ultimo, in rela-
tion to the alleged levy of Egyptian troops for involuntary
service in Mexico, and the representations I then made
in regard to the natural unwillingness of my Government
and countrypeople to see slavery in any form replanted
either within our territory or on our borders, I beg to
invite your Excellency's attention to certain recent decrees
bearing upon the subject of emigration to Mexico, pur-
porting to emanate from authorities acting in opposition to
that republic. In the opinion of the law officer of my Go-
vernment these decrees, if enforced, would inevitably
reduce to the condition of peon slavery working men of
the African race, and of course such of the freedmen of
the United States as may have already boon, or hereafter
may be, seduced to go there, without a full and intelligent
comprehension of their liabilities.

That your Excellency may understand the grounds for
this discussion, I am instructed to transmit to your Excel-
lency a copy of the Attorney-General's opinion, which
will be found inclosed, and to invite the attention of the
Imperial Gyvernment to the question§ therein tliscus§ett

In complying with these instructions of my Government,
I avail myself of the language of the despatch containing
them to say that—" If European opinion can be regarded
as established in reference to any one political question,
it is settled that African slavery, in any form, ought hence-
forth to cease throughout the world." We do not doubt
that the Emperor of France cordially and fully concurs, as
we do, in this humane sentiment.

I pray your Excellency to accept assurances of the dis-
tinguished consideration with which I have the honor to
be your Excellency's very obedient and very humble ser-
vant, JOHN BIGELOW.
His Excellency M. Drouyn de Lhuys, Minister of Foreign
Affairs.

SPIRIT OP THE PUBLIC JOURNALS.

-♦

TIMES.-It would not be reasonable to expect
Parliamentary Reform to be an easy matter. No
great change in the Constitution of this country has
yet taken place without a degree of violence, and
even disorder, only just redeemed by the value of
the object. The first serious amendment in the
American Constitution has just cost a million lives
and five hundred millions sterling. 'the truth is,
everybody who finds himself pretty well placed in
the existing system is a Conservative at heart, and
wishes things to remain as they are for the present.
If he is a Reformer, he probably thinks it will make
no great difference, for he trusts, not without
reason, to the Conservative instincts and the con-
stitutional habits of all respectable British sub-
jects. Indeed, we most of us, from the peer to the
peasant, carry the whole Constitution, the three
Estates of the Realm, and all our national jealousies
and prejudices in our own bosoms. Thus, really
insincere, and without any necessity except what
has arisen from political complications, and except,
also, that respect which is due to our own loudly
expressed intentions, we are all in for a Reform Bill.
No doubt it would be a happy thing for the country
if it could take such a dose of Reform as would last
a whole generation. Not only would the consti-
tuency be improved, but a ghost would be laid, a
quarrel set at rest, and an hypocrisy deprived of its
trade. But this is a state of things which greatly
aggravates the difficulty of a Reform Bill. There
are many things easy under pressure, but difficult
at leisure. Soldiers, whether attacking or flying,
will perform feats they afterwards stand aghast at.
The excitement of the hunting-field will take men
over anything. But we have now the very doubt-
ful, though much desired, advantage of being able
to do the thing quietly. We are about to do, not a
cavalry dash, but a piece of engineering—a mere
matter of paper work that we can sleep and dream
over—nay, that all England has been sleeping and
dreaming over now for many years. We have all
bewildered ourselves with maps and calculations,
and got into such a maze that people hardly know
where to begin and certainly not where to end, and
whether to do it at all in one good stroke of work,
or to divide it, and save some for next day or next
season. Curiously enough, the most ardent Reformer
of us all, Mr. John Bright, is the man who takes
the most deliberate, the most prospective, and most
" bit by bit" view of Reform. In deference to the
taste for serials„the has announced Reform in num-
bers. Number I. he hopes to bring out this year ;
the rest to follow in due time. We are not told
when the publication is to be completed ; and it is
even admitted that the original subscribers may have
reason to repent of their bargain. But that is an in-
stance of the spirit in which this great work is to be
entered upon. The works of the Main Drainage
could not have been undertaken more coolly. We
must beg leave to doubt very much whether Reform
can be done in this fashion. Even Acts of Parlia-
ment which are only laws, not revolutions, require
a good deal of dash ; and in their case the greatest
momentum of legislation often finds itself brought
to a standstill, baffled by the petty obstructions of
interests, classes, and prejudices. There are im-
provements of a purely administrative character
which have taken thirty years to make their way ;
and there are statesmen who, with the best views
and the most honest intentions, could never carry a
measure, simply for want of what is called " go"—
perhaps we might add for want, too, of self-sacri-
fice. Are we likely to carry the supposed citadel of
corruption before us by slowly advancing zig-zags,
tardy blockade, and starving out? Is the business
before us to build a house, the foundation to be laid
this year, the walls next, the roof the year after,
and the fittings and decorations in due time ? By
every analogy that history can furnish this is a busi-
ness, not for a siege, but for a pitched battle, and
which must be done at a blow. Of course, if an
ambuscade were possible, if it could be done with-
out lying, and if there were no John Bright to
preach from the housetops what was whispered in
his ear the day before, we might be ready to say,
" By all means surprise Parliament into a reduc-
tion of the franchise, and make such use of it
afterwards as you please." But that is utterly
impossible. There can be no secrecy, no reserve,
no ulterior intentions in the matter. The Con-
servatives know perfectly well that a redistribution
of seats is intended, and that some forty or fifty
dwindling constituencies are doomed. 'I hey know
that the question will not be settled till these consti-
tuencies are disfranchised, merged in the counties,
or grouped, and the seats so gained given to more
populous districts. If this is to be done, and can-
not be avoided anyhow, the only difference of opinion
can be as to the manner and degree ; and that must
depend on the character of the Parliament which
does it. Mr. Bright's calm and leisurely proposal is
that this, which is the very cream of the whole, is
to be carefully reserved for a future Parliamen

which shall be more worthy of it than the present.
' In fact, he does not trust this House of Commons.
The small borough interest, he fears, will come to
the rescue, and beat a bill which strikes at them.
But they are just as wise in their generation as Mr.
Bright or Lord Russell can be in his. If they don't
like the destruction of their little strongholds, neither
would they like to admit the foe right up to their
very gates, and leave themselves at his mercy. They
are quite entitled to say they will agree to nothing
till they know what is to be done. Indeed, upon
the mere question of symmetry, and with regard to
the anomalies which constitute the case for Reform,
it would be simply absurd to pass a bill which
grossly aggravated all the inequalities of our system,
and did no more. If it is matter for Reform that
300 votes in one place and 3,000 in another have
only the same share of the representation, that is not
mended by raising the former to 350 and the latter
to 6,000. So, with all due respect to the masterly
engineering, so lucidly expounded by an accom-
plished proessor, we adhere to our belief that this
is not an affair of slow earthworks. The Reform
Bill will have to embrace the whole of the Reform
intended, and must have its schedules as before.
The Conservatives interested in small consti-
tuencies will, of course, oppose any bill. The
Liberals must be prepared to make a few sacrifices.
Why not ? A Whig landowner may very naturally
say that he will stand up for his borough till he
sees the political necessity for its surrender, and
knows how much that surrender stands for in the
general arrangement. A seat is not awthine• to
be thrown away wholly • without an equivalent.
But ii the sacrifice of twenty Whig seats will pro-
cure the disfranchisement of as many Conservative
seats, and a somewhat more popular franchise
besides for the whole British constituency, no Libe-
ral with a character at stake can stand in the way
of the bargain. Disfranchisement, of course, is not
a very gracious proceeding, but .it is necessary to
the very notion of Reform. It is scarcely necessary
to insist upon the danger of throwing the country
into a chronic disturbance upon the pretence of Re-
form by dividing it into , annual instalments; but
we feel very sure it will never do to habituate the
public mind to the idea of continual reconstruction.
Nor is it necessary to repeat that a half-reformed
House of Commons, meeting for the express pur-
pose of completing its own reform, is more likely to
make wild work of the business than the Parliament
now about to meet. We will take the broadest
possible ground. There is a work to be done, and
being a matter of adjustment, equivalents, and com-
promise, it ought to be done at once and completely,
without leaving an ugly sequel behind. Nobody
supposes that the best bill in the world can pass
without much battling and considerable mortifica-
tion. That is a process which will require the whole
matter in dispute to be in view. A Congress is
about to sit. There will be the representatives of
classes, interests, and prejudices. They will not
put their name to any treaty which simply binds
their hands till another Congress can overhaul and
overthrow_ their work. They will be ready to give
and take, but not to give when they will take
nothing and will immediately have to give a great
deal more.

j" THE ANGLO - AMERICAN TIMES" ON THE
ARREST OF CAPTAIN SEMMES. The United
States Government will faithfully carry out the
terms of surrender accorded to the armies of
Lee, Johnston, and Kirby Smith, insuring to
each man who during the Rebellion acted ac-
cording to the laws of war, freedom from moles-
tation upon his observation of the terms of his
parole. But the United States will not permit any
one to escape, by virtue of
.the parole, from the
consequences of any antecedent violation of the
laws of war while he was acting either as a soldier
or a sailor. The latest illustration of this fact is to
be found in the circumstances connected with the
arrest of the famous—or infamous Raphael
Semmes, upon charges preferred against him by
Secretary IVolles. Semmes was the commander
of the Rebel cruiser called the Alabama, which, after
a period of successful buccaneering, was sunk by
the guns of the Kearsage. The circumstances
attending the surrender of the former vessel before
she went down, are well known. Some time before
the Alahain4 sunk the white flag was flying in

token of surrender; after it had been displayed,
and after the firing of the Kearsage had been
suspended, the Alabama fired on the latter with
two of her port guns. The Kearsage replied,
when a boat from the Alabama came to the
Kearsage with the notification of surrender.
The Deerhound, British yacht, was commissioned
by Captain Winslow to pick up the crew of the
Alabama, who were struggling in the water, not to
rescue them from the effect of their surrender. The
owner of the yacht picked up 41 persons, among them
Semmes, the rebel commander. How the latter,
and all taken up by the Deerhound, were suffered to
escape, is well known. There was some talk at
the time of demanding the surrender of Semmes
and his associates, but nothing came of it. Semmes
would have been safe had he remained in Europe,
but his vanity impelled him homeward, where, al-
though he was a whipped man, and derelict in
honor as an officer, he expected to be feted and
flattered. He wisely abstained from the risk of
running the blockade, knowing that if he had been
capture by American blockaders he would have
received very little mercy. He went to Mexico, and
got safely across the Rio Grande and Mississippi,
and was for a time quite a lion at Richmond. He
went South, and, atter Johnston's surrender' was
one of the first individuals to present himself to a
provost marshal, and claim the parole. He now in-
sists that he belonged to Johnston's army, beipg at
Greensborough, N. C., in command of a naval
brigade. He contends that, by virtue of the sur-
render of Johnston, he is entitled to all the benefits
of that act. But Secretary Welles has ordered his
arrest for a violation of the laws of war, in having
made his escape by means of the Deerhound
after he had surrendered, and with intent to
evade an actual surrender as prisoner of war.
The case may involve some nice points in the laws
of warfare. A prisoner of war having actually sur-
rendered, and being in the possession of the captor,
has a right to escape if he can, and it is the business
of the conqueror to keep him safely. He incurs no
military punishment if recaptured, although he may
be treated with much more severity than previously,
and be closely confined. But the laws of war will
not tolerate frauds in a surrender, and where a
prisoner who has surrendered escapes before he is
reduced to manual possession of the captor, he acts
dishonorably, and in contravention of the code. The
owner of the Deerhound was requested by Captain
Winslow, from sentiments of humanity, to pick up
the men of the Alabama in danger of drowning, by
the sinking of the Alabama. Had Capt. Winslow
chose, he could have ordered that vessel off and fired
into her, in case of disobedience. The Deerhound
and crew were the agents of the United States,
undertaking voluntarily to do what was requested.
Even if it were impossible to compel the owner of
the yacht to answer for breach of faith, the action
of the latter did not confer upon the persons who
surrendered any right to avail themselves of the
wrong. If Captain Semmes had been an honorable
man he would have sought the Kearsage and given
himself up ; but honor was not a leading sentiment
in the minds of the chief rebels. Semmes broke his
oath as a United States officer when he engaged in
the rebellion. It was therefore scarcely to be ex-
pected that he would keep his word impliedly given
by the display of the signal of surrender. Under
the circumstances the protest of Semmes against a
violation of the terms of capitulation on the part of
Johnston would be denominated sublimely impu-
dent on the part of one who had violated his own
terms of capitulation, if it were not thoroughly
natural.