The Sun.
London, England, 1861-12-03 00:00:00

THE SUN, LONDON, TUESDAY EVENING, DECEMBER 3, 1861.

CONSERVATIVE LAND SOCIETY.

At the ninth annual and thirty-seventh quarterly general
meeting of the members, held at the offices, 33, Norfolk-
street, Strand, this day, the following report was unani-
mously agreed to :
" The annual audit for the financial year ending the 30th
of September, 1861, having been completed, the executive
committee of the Conservative Land Society now submit
their ninth balance sheet and statement of accounts. The
four auditors, Messrs. Astbury and \Vinstanley, appointed
by the board, and the Rev. Mr. Goodchild and Mr. Harding,
elected by the shareholders in',October last, verified the
vouchers and books on the 6th and 7th of November, and
signed the balance sheet, to which the attention of the
shareholders is referred, as showing one of the most satis-
factory years since the formation of the society.
" The receipts for each quarter, the totals for the year,
and the grand totals since 1852, aro shown in the annexed
table :

ing.

plots adjoining houses producing ground rents of £5
per annum and £4O hou ;e rent were pronounced by
the barrister not to be worth 40s. per year,
such monstrous decisions being final. The annual
inspection of the estates by the Board his proved, on the
whole, highly satisfactory, both as to the state of the roads
and other works on the different properties, and as to the
buildings in existence and in progress. The extension of
the railroad system in and near the metropolis will tend to
develop° the society's estates more and more every year.
The increased demand for and value of building land must
inevitably follow, as the tendency of all classes of the com-
munity is increased to abandon the crowded streets of towns
to live in healthy localities at convenient distances from the
ordinary places of business or occupation. The census of
1861 shows the remarkable increase of inhabitants within
the last 10 years, and, as a general rule, the tables prove
that the number of inhabited houses and of homes building
have not been in proportion to the increase of population.
Additional accommodation will be required, and as the rail-
road to distant places from the home counties has now
brought the metropolis 'within the same amount of time
formerly required to reach what mere termed suburban re-
sidences, the executive committee feel confidence in the
ultimate development of the society's estates, as in respect
to roads and drainage, salubrity of situation, and facilities
of communication, everything has been studied to
provide for habitations, from the first-class villa
to houses calculated for the industrious and sav-
ing operative. After the eloquent appeals of Lord
Derby and Lord Shaftesbury to provide dwellings for the
working classes displaced by modern changes and improve-
ments in the metropolis, it is expected that the railway
companies will make further concessions to land societies to
increase the inducements to build round London. The
society's system is one which tends to remove the objections
entertained in former days to go into bricks and mortar.
An allottee, after buying his piece of land by paying off the
purchase-money in easy monthly and other instalments,
can build his house for the precise sum ho may desire to
spend in compliance with the conditions on the plan of the
estate on which he selects his plot. The society affords un-
usual advantages in legal and surveying expenses, both to
the professional and amateur builder. The allottees can
associate themselves, if they think fit, in a joint building
operation, every facility and assistance being extended by
the society. The executive committee, in terminating their
report, beg to return their thanks to the members who have
so materially aided to secure for the Conservative Land
Society its present satisfactory position. Its stability is due
in a great degree to the preservation of a spirit of mutual
confidence and good feeling, and the executive committee
will spare no exertions for its increased prosperity. The
gratifying results of ISGI are a powerful incentive for ad-
ditional exertions in the tenth year, the board relying upon
a renewal of the cordial support with which it has hitherto
been honoured.

THE CAPTURED SOUTHERN
COMMISSIONERS.

OPINIONS OF THE NEW YORK PRESS.
LIVERPOOL, DEC. 2.
The Persia arrived here at 9 o'clock this mrn-

The American account of the Trent and San
Jacinto affair agrees mainly with that of Captain
Moir. But it is represented that all the docu-
ments of Messrs. Mason and Slidell were
seized. The indications were that Captain
Wilks acted on his own responsibility, and on
the ground that, although he may not have
acted within the strict letter of the law, the end
would justify the means in the eyes of his country-
men.

A Cabinet Council was held on the subject at
Washington, but the result has not transpired.
A Washington telegram in the New York, _Herald
says that when information was first communi-
cated to President Lincoln he declared emphatically
that Messrs. Mason and Slidell should not be sur-
rendered, even if their detention should cause a
war with Great Britain.
From the same source it is stated that the
legal advisers of the Federal Government not only
completely justify tho proceeding, but even furnish
authority for the seizure and confiscation of the
Trent.

The New York. Herald editorially speculates
on the action of England, and predicts great
agitation. In a characteristic strain it taunts
England with all sorts of perfidy, but thinks
nothing will come of the matter more than
much bustle and ostentatious wrath. It urges
the Government, nevertheless, to make prepa-
rations for all emergencies, and calls upon the Pre-
sident to ask Congress for 500,000 more men, and
recommends the immediate carrying out of Mr. Se-
ward's proposition for the defence of the coasts, &e.

Some of the New York journals speak of the pro-
bable necessity for apologies and reparation even to
the sending of the prisoners back, but others argue
in a totally different strain. The New I ork Journal
of Commerce says it was purely an act of grace that
the British merchantman was allowed to go free, and
that it is far from likely that England would bother
herself with any complaint from her captain
who escaped with his vessel and cargo from the
fate of which the Queen's proclamation warned
him. Great stress is laid in some of the argu-
ments against
,that clause in the Queen's procla-
mation which prohibited British vessels from car-
rying officers, despatches, &c., for the service of
either party, and it is asked if British Ministers
in the face of such a proclamation can protect
the Trent in her conveyance of rebel emissaries and
rebel despatches.

The New Fork World does not believe that the
British Cabinet will make any complaint, but if
it does the American Government can fully justify
it by the case of the American steamer Caroline,
which was destroyed by British officers in 1837.

The Washington correspondent of the New York
Iribune, writing on the 20th, says :

" The search of the British steamer Trent, and
the forcible taking from her of Slidell and Mason,
are fully justified here by all who have made inter-
national law a study. The case is strengthened by
the recognition which England has so persistently
given to the right of maritime search. She has
never abandoned this right, but has always claimed
it. Commander Wilkes is regarded here as having
exercised his lawful privilege with a hasty pru-
dence or an excessive leniency. The Trent was
herself liable to capture, and the British Govern-
ment would have found it difficult to establish a
claim in behalf of her owners, after having justi-
fied and sustained 11PLeod for cutting the steamer
Caroline out of an American port, and sent her
over Niagara Falls. The Caroline had carried
troops to invade British territory. When the rebel
emissaries reached the deck of the San Jacinto, Mr.
Mason, having added to ordinary F. E. V.'s stock
of knowledge while Chairman of the Committee on
Foreign Affairs, saluted Captain Wilkes, but Mr.
Slidell passed on without noticing him. I desire
you to observe, sir, that I'm captain of this ship,'
remarked Captain Wilkes. The hero of Plaquemine
saluted."

The New Fork Tribune says :
" Whatever complications may arise from the
arrest on board a British ship of the Lord High
Commissioners of Secession to the Great Powers of
Western Europe, it is certain that the faces of loyal
Americans broadened into a universal grin at the
intelligence of their capture. It was the fit con-
clusion of a week of good news—the best that we
have had since treason broke out into rebellion.
Of all the arch-traitors there are no two—not even
Floyd and Jeff. Davis—whose appearance among
us as prisoners would have diffused more
general and hearty satisfaction. But what
will Great Britain say to the taking of these
two would-be envoys by force from one of her
merchant vessels ? We do not know, and do
not greatly care. We shall endeavour to say no-
thing on the law of the case that may ever seem

calculated to forestall or embarrass the
action
of
our Government. If Great Britain demands the
liberation of these gentlemen, and reparation for
their capture, we propose to sustain such response
as our Government shall see fit to make. For it is
not possible to make such demand without in sub-
stance confessing that the right to search American
vessels for British seamen, and to take away those
who are adjudged such—which was the principal
cause of the war of 1812—has no foundation in
public law. If, then, the British Government sees
fit to confess that it was utterly wrong in every in-
stance wherein she searched our merchant ships for
those claimed as native-born subjects of the British
Crown—we trust our Government will stand ready
to deal wisely and generously with the venerable
penitent. She need not admit that she was wrong
in particularly flagrant instances, such as the attack
of the Leopard on the Chesapeake in 1808, and the
burning of the Caroline at Schlosser (one of our
docks) in the Niagara river, in 1838. If she is
ready now to establish and abide by any doctrine
on the general subject, we trust her proffers will be
received with distinguished consideration. But if
she chooses to be satisfied with British precedents
for the case immediately in hand, she can be sup-
plied with them to her heart's content. In either
case, the energy and decision of Com. Wilkes has
secured a substantial triumph to our country."

The Boston Daily Advertiser ,contains a letter,
attributed to the Hon. Edward Everett, in which
the legality of the act is affirmed. The Natialigi

Intelligencer defends Capt. Wilkes's proceeding,
a legal act. The New York World is jocose.
" Should England," it sayE—

"Following her custom of interpreting interna-
tional law to suit her own convenience, complain of
the insult offered to her flag by the San Jacinto,
two modes suggest themselves of disposing of the
prisoners taken from'the Trent. Either they might
be landed by a national vessel at theii respective
destinations, with whatever diplomatic dignity and
influence chanced to survive the ridicule of their
capture and release, or the Government might fol-
low in every point the precedent set in the case of
the Chesapeake and Leopard, by hanging its desert-
ing subjects first and making amends to the insulted
Power afterwards."

In another article it says :
" Great Britain is estopped, both by the decisions
of her Admiralty Courts and the practice of her
Government in numerous instances, from taking
offence at the arrest of the rebel ambassadors on
board one of her ships."
The Yew York Times is jubilant :

"We do not believe the American heart ever
thrilled with mere genuine delight than it did yes-
terday, at the intelligence of the capture of Messrsi
Slidell and Mason, recently of the Senate of the
United States, the most prominent and influential
actors in the rebellion, and on their way to Eng-
land and France, to represent the rebels at the
Courts of those countries. The capture of Beaufort
may have created a deeper and more lasting impres-
sion, from a consciousness of the important results
accomplished, but really no satisfaction is equal to
that experienced when base and treacherous knaves
meet their deserts. If we were to search the whole
rebeldom, no persons so justly obnoxious to the
North could have been found as those just caught.
Davis himself has some redeeming qualities ;*Mason
and Slidell none. . . . These are the men whom we
have caught, and who are now safely caged. All
thanks to Captain Wilkes, who, consulting the
dictates of common sense alone, marched straight
to his object, unmindful of protests, convinced that
an act which every honest heart must approve could
not be contrary to usage and law. In this he was
perfectly correct. The only mistake he committed
was in not seizing the ship from which he dragged
the traitors. . . We have not the slightest idea
that England will even remonstrate. On the con-
trary, she will applaud the gallant act of Lieut.
Wilkes, so full of spirit and good sense, and such
an exact imitation of the policy she has always
stoutly defended and invariably pursued. There is,
consequently, no drawback whatever to our jubila-
tions. The universal Yankee nation is getting
decidedly awake ..... As for Commodore
Wilkes and his command, let the handsome thing
be done. Consecrate another Fourth of July to
him. Load him down with services of plate and
swords of the cunningest and costliest art. Let us
encourage the happy inspiration that achieved such
a victory. In this contest it is safe to adopt the
Irishman's advice to his son on leaving for a fair—
' When the music opens, whenever you see a (rebel)
head, hit it l' A clear instinct is always in har-
mony with law."

In another article the New York Times says :
" But ;we must be prepared for a vehement party
clamour in England on this subject. It happens
that the American question is entering largely into
the domestic politics of John Bull. The Liberal
party in power has determined to keep the Govern-
ment absolutely aloof from the quarrel. It sees
nothing in the attitude, and thus far nothing in the
action of the American Government, to justify in-
terference in any form, even in the character of a
mediator; and persists in regarding the blockade
as legal, and, so long as legally maintained, as an
insuperable bar to the British greed of cotton. The
Conservative or Tory party, long in fruitless oppo-
sition, because through the adroit management of
Lord Palmerston left without an available issue upon
which to appeal to the country, believes itself to have
found that issue in the American policy of their
opponents. There is evidently a concerted action
among the Derbyite leaders to make fight upon
this question. We must be prepared, therefore, to
expect from the Tory party of England a chorus of
vociferous howls on the terrible outrage inflicted
upon the British flag. The action of Captain Wilkes
will bo den ounced in every possible variety of phrase;
and the most imperative demands w ill go up, from
every Tory organ and orator in the realm, for the
most signal and exemplary vindication of the out-
raged honour of the British flag. That this outcry
will test severely the strength and courage of the
Ministry we can easily believe. Their organs may
be compelled at the outset to make a show of yield-
ing to the pressure. But we take it for granted
that the recognised principles of international law
will speedily make themselves heard in this clamour
of contending parties, and that the Tories will meet
no better success in this than they have in so many
other attempts to oust their opponents from the
possession of power."
The same journal gives a report that when
Capt. Wilkes determined to arrest the Trent, he re-
marked " that he should do it, right or wrong, and
that at the worst he could only be cashiered."

On this the New Fork Times remarks :

"lie need have no misgivings on the subject.
His action was prompt, energetic, and patriotic. If
Capt. Wilkes erred at all, it was in not seizing the
English ship which was found conveying these
rebel agents and their despatches, a flagrant viola-
tion of the neutrality enjoined upon her by the
English Government, and bringing her in for con-
fiscation as lawful prize. In view, however, of the
great service which he has rendered the country,
and of the fact that he acted without instructions,
we presume that both the Government and the
country will overlook this neglect on his part, and
will award him the highest possible praise for what
he did."

The New York. Shipping and Commercial List
remarks :

" The business public, as well as the community
at large, have recently had occasion to congratulate
themselves upon the Consummation of a highly
desirable and important though altogether unex-
pected event. Of course we refer to the capture of
the two Confederate Commissioners to England and
France, Messrs. Mason and Slidell, together with
their secretaries and all their effects, by Captain
Wilkes, of the frigate San Jacinto, in the channel
of the Bahamas. The fact that they were forcibly
taken froth au English vessel has occasioned 1211C11