The Sun.
London, England, 1861-12-19 00:00:00

AMERICA.

LIVERPOOL, WEDNESDAY.
The Canadian mail steamship Bohemian has
arrived, with advices from Portland to the 7th and
Boston to the same date.
The Montreal Gazette of the 6th alludes as fol-
lows to the weather :
"The severe weather on the lower St. Lawrence
has driven ashore quite a number of vessels, prin-
cipally however small craft bound for the lower
ports. Among others we notice the loss of the
Government cutter La Belle Canadienne, a ves-
sel which has been employed for some
years in visiting the fishing stations on the
lower St. Lawrence and the Gulf, and looking
after Canadian interests. The weather since
our last has become more wintry, and we
have had one or two considerable falls of snow and
some cold days. The river is still free from ice, but
the canal is frozen, and the Ottawa boats are laid
up for the season,"
In the Senate on the 4th a motion to expel Mr.
Breckinridge was carried non. con. Mr. Saulsbury
offered a joint resolution, as follows :
"Whereas, the people of the States of Virginia,
North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Florida,
Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, Texas, Arkansas,
and Tennessee are in revolt against the Constitu
tional Government of the United States, and have
assumed to secede from the Federal Union, to form
an independent Government, under the name of
the Confederate States of America; and whereas
the Congress of the United States, approving the
sentiments of the President in his annual Message,
that the Union must be preserved, and hence all
indispensable means must be employed, and believ-
ing that kind and fraternal feeling between the
people of all the States is indispensable to the
maintenance of a happy and prosperous Union, and
being willing to manifest such feeling on their part
to them, and that peace may be restored to a dis-
tracted country, and the Union and Constitution
be preserved and maintained ; and inviting the co-
operation of the people of the aforesaid States in
the accomplishment of the object, it is desirable
that each and all do resolve as follows :—Resolved,
—That Millard Fillmore, Franklin Pierce, Roger
B. Taney, E. Everet, George M. Dallas, Thomas
M. Ewing, Horace Burney, Reverdy Johnson, John
J. Crittenden, George C. Pugh, and Richard W.
Thomson, be, and they are hereby appointed Com-
missioners on the part of Congress to confer with a
like number of Commissioners to be appointed by
the States aforesaid, for the preservation of the
Union, and the maintenance of the Constitution,
and that they report the result of said conference
to Congress for approval or rejection.
" Resolved,—That upon the appointment of
Commissioners as hereby invited by said States,
and upon the meeting of the Joint Commission for
the purpose of conference as aforesaid, active hos-
tilities shall cease and be suspended, and shall not
be renewed unless said Commission shall be un-
able to agree, or, in ease of an agreement by them,
said agreement shall be rejected either by Congress
or by the aforesaid States."
The resolution was laid on the table.
In the House of Representatives, on the 4th, Mr.
Gurley gave notice of his intention to introduce a
bill to confiscate all property belonging to persons
in rebellion against the Government of the United
States, including persons recognised as slaves, who
shall be made free men, and to provide for their
employment during the present war, their subse-
nequent apprenticeship to loyal masters, and their
final colonisation, Mr. Cox introduced the follow-
ing, which was referred to the Committee on the
Judiciary:—
" Whereas the exchange of prisoners in the pre-
sent war has already been practised indirectly,
and as such exchange would not only increase the
enlistments and vigour of our army, but subserve
the highest interests of humanity, and as such ex-
change does not involve the recognition of the rebels
as a Government, therefore resolved that the Presi-
dent of the United States be requested to inaugu-
rate the exchange of prisoners in the present war.''
Mr. Holman introduced a preamble, reiterating
the sentiments contained in the Crittenden resolu-
tions adopted at the last session, in effect, that the
war was forced upon them by the disunionists, and
that the only objects in carrying it on by the
United States was to re-establish obedience to the
Constitution and Union—and that when these ob-
jects were accomplished the war should cease,
Mr. Holman's proposition concluded with a resolu-
tion reaffirming these sentiments. On the motion
of Mr. Stevens, of Pennsylvania, it was laid on the
table by a vote of 71 against 65.
Mr. Lovejoy and Mr. Conway severally intro-
duced propositions on questions of slavery, the con-
sideration of which was postponed.
Mr. Secretary Seward had written a letter to Gen.
M'Clellan, informing him officially of the fact that
negroes who had escaped from the rebels in arms,
after having entered his lines, had been arrested by
the civil authorities of Washington, on the suppo-
sition that they were fugitives from service. He
says the arrest of these fugitives should be imme-
diately followed by the military arrest of those
concerned in the seizure.
The correspondence between the Federal Govern-
ment and its representatives at foreign Courts had
been presented to Congress. The following is a
synopsis of the papers :
"The volume opens with the circular of Mr.
Buchanan's, Secretary of State, Mr. Black, dated
the 28th of Feb. last, addressed to our Ministers
abroad, in which, after briefly setting forth the
political condition of our country at that time, the
following scntencLs occur :
" It is not improbable that persons claiming to
represent the States which have thus attempted to
throw off their Federal obligations, will seek a re-
cognition of their independence. In the event of
such an effort being made. you are expected by the
President to use such means as may in your judg-
ment be proper and necessary to prevent its success.
Your particular knowledge of our political institu-
tions will enable you to explain satisfactorily the
cause of our present domestic troubles and the
grounds of the hope still entertained that entire
harmony will soon be restored."
"Next follows Secretary Seward's circular, dated
March 9, also addressed to all the Ministers of the
United States. He says he is instructed by the Pre-
sident to inform them that, having assumed the ad-
ministration of the Government in pursuance of an
unquestioned election, and of the directions of the
Constitution, he renews the injunction which the Se•
cretary has mentioned, and relies upon the exercise
of the greatest diligence and fidelity on their part to
counteract and prevent the designs of those who
would invoke foreign intervention to embarrass or
overthrow the Republic. The President entertains
lull confidence in the speedy restoration of the har-
mony and unity of the Government by a firm, yet
just and liberal bearing, co-operating with the de•
liberate and local action of the American people.
The Secretary says that any advantage that any
foreign nation might derive from a connection it
might form with any dissatisfied or disconnected
State, or section even, if not altogether illuscry,
would be ephemeral, and would be overbalanced by
the evils it would suffer by a disseverance of the
Union, whose manifest policy it must be hereafter,
as it has always been heretofore, to maintain peace,
liberal commerce, and cordial amity with all other
nations, and to favour the establishment of a well
ordered government over the whole American con-
tinent; nor do we think we exaggerate ous national
importance when we claim that any political disas-
ter that should befall us, and introduce discord and
anarchy among the States that have so long consti-
tuted one great, pacific, prosperous nation, under a
form of Government which has approved itself to
the respect and confidence of mankind, might tend,
by its influence, to disturb and unsettle the existing
systems of government in other parts of the world,
and arrest that progress of improvement and civili-
sation which marks the era in which we live. The
President expects the Minister will be prompt in
transmitting to the State Department any informa-
tion they may receive on the subject of attempts
which have been suggested in this communication.
"Next
follows a circular from Secretary Seward
to the Ministers of the United States in Great Bri-
tain, France, Russia, Prussia, Austria, Belgium,
Italy, and Denmark, in which he says, The advo-

cates of benevolent and human progress, encouraged
by the slow though marked meliorations of the
barbarities of war, which have been obt i'ned in
modern times, have been recently engaged with as-
siduity in endeavouring to effect some modifica-
tion of the law of nations in regard t the rights
of neutrals in maritime war.' He i ecites the
diplomatic history of our own country on
that subject, and instructs them to ascertain
whether those Governments are disposed to enter
into negotiations for the accession of the Govern-
ment of the United States to the declaration of the
Paris Congress, with the conditions annexed by
that body to the same. If the Governments are so
disposed, the Ministers will enter into a Convention
to that effect. The Secretary concludes by say-

ing :
‘, <lt is presumed that you will need no special
explanation of the sentiments of the President on
this subject for the purpose of conducting the neces-
sary conferences with the Government to which you
are accredited. Its assent is expected on the ground
that the proposition is accepted at its suggestion,
and in the form it has preferred. For your own in-
formation it will be sufficient to say that the Pre-
sident adhered to the opinion expressed by my pre-
decessor, Mr. Marcy. It would be eminently de-
sirable for the good of all nations that the property
and effects of private individuals, not contraband,
should be exempt from seizure and confiscation by
national vessels in the maintenance of the war. If
the time and circumstances were propitious to a pro-
secution of the negotiation with that object in view,
he would direct that it should be assiduously pur-
sued, but the season seems to have passed, at least
for the present. Europe seems once more on the
verge of quite general wars. On the other hand
a portion of the American people have raised the
standard of insurrection, and proclaimed a Provi-
sional Government, and, through their organs have
taken the bad resolution to invite privateers to prey
upon the peaceful commerce of the United States.
Prudence and humanity combine in persuading the
President, under the circumstances, that it is wise
to receive the lesser good offered by the Paris Con-
gress, without waiting indefinitely in hope to ob-
tain the greater one offered to the maritime nations
by the President of the United States."
GREAT BRITAIN.
Secretary Seward writes to Mr. Adams, our Mi-
nister in Great Britain. In the course of his in-
structions he says :
" The President neither looks for nor apprehends
any actual and permanent dismemberment of the
American Union, especially by a line of latitude.
The improvement of our many channels of inter-
course, and the perfection of our scheme of internal
exchanges, and the incorporation of both of them
into a great system of foreign commerce, concurring
with the gradual abatement of the force of the only
existing cause of alienation, have carried us already
beyond the dangers of division in that form. The
so-called Confederate States therefore, in the opinion
of the President, are attempting what will prove a
physical impossibility, necessarily they build the
structure of their new Government upon the same
principles by which they seek to destroy the Union
—viz., the right of each individual member of the
Confederacy to withdraw from it at pleasure and in
peace."

In another part the Secretary says :
" In short all your arguments must belong to one
of three classes, viz.-1. Arguments drawn from
the principles of public law and natural justice,
which regulate the intercourse of equal States. 2.
Arguments which concern equally the honour, wel-
fare, and happiness of the discontented States, and
the honour, welfare and happiness of the whole
Union. 3. Arguments which are equally conserva-
tive of the rights and interests, and even sentiments
of the United States, and just in their bearings upon
the rights, interest, and sentiments of Great Britain
and all other nations."
And again Mr. Seward says :
" The President would regard it as inconsistent
with his habitually high consideration for the Go-
vernment and people of Great Britain to allow me
to dwell longer on the merely commercial aspects
of the question under discussion. Indeed he will not
for a moment believe that upon the consideration of
merely financial gain that the Government could be
induced to lend its aid to a revolution designed to
overthrow the institutions of this country, and in-
volving ultimately the destruction of the liberties
of the American people. The President will not
dwell on the pleasing recollection that Great Britain
not a year ago manifested by marked attention to
the United States, her desire for a cordial reunion
which, all ancient prejudices and passions being
buried, should be a pledge of mutual interest and
sympathy for ever thereafter. The United States
are not indifferent to the circumstances of common
descent, language, customs, sentiments, and religion,
which recommend a closer sympathy between them-
selves and Great Britain than either might expect
in its intercourse with any other nation. The
United States are one of many nations which have
sprung from Great Britain herself. Other such na-
tions are rising up in various parts of the globe. It
has been thought by many who have studied the
philosophy of modern history profoundly, that the
success of the nation thus deriving their descent
from Great Britain might, through many ages,
reflect back upon that kingdom the proper glories
of its own great career. The Government and people
of Great Britain may mistake their commercial inte-
rests, but they cannot become either unnatural or in-
diffirent to the impulses of an undying ambition to
be distinguished as the leaders of the nations in
the wars of civilisation and humanity."
Next follows the correspondence of Mr. Dallas
and Secretary Seward, in the course of which the
former speaks of his interview with Lord John
Russell, saying.:—
' llis lordship assures me in great earnestness
there was not the slightest disposition on the part
of the British Government to grasp at any advan-
tage which might be supposed to arise from the
unpleasant domestic difference in the United States,
but, on the contrary, that they would b highly
gratified if those differences were adjusted, and the
Union restored to its former unbroken position."
Minister Adams writes to Mr. Seward, May 17,
announcing his safe arrival at London, &c., to which
Mr. Seward replies that—
"This Government considers that our relations
in Europe have ruched a crisis, in which it is ne-
cessary for it to take a decided stand, on which not
only its immediate measures, but its ultimate and
permanent policy, can be determined and defined.
At the same time it neither means to menace Great
Britain nor to wound the susceptibility of that or
any other European nation. That policy is developed
in this paper."
After instructing Mr. Adams on the subject of
the blockade, &c., Mr. Seward says,—
" As to the recognition of the so-called Sou: horn
Confederacy, it is not to be made a subject of tech-
nical definition. It is of course direct recognition to
publish an acknowledgment of the sovereignty and
independence of a new Power. It is direct recogni-
tion to receive its AmOassadors, Ministers, agents,
or Commissioners officially, A concession of belli-
gerent rights is liable to be construed as a recogni•
tion of them. No one of these proceedings will pass
unquestioned by the United States in this case."
Mr. Adams, in a subsequent despatch, details his
interview with Lord John Busse'', remarking that
Lord Russell said " he did not himself know what
he was to say. If it was expected of him to give
any pledge of an absolute nature that his Govern-
ment would not at any future time, no matter what
the circumstances might be, recognise an existing
State in America, it was more than he could pro-
mise," &e.
In the course of the correspondence Mr. Seward

says,--
The British Government can never expect to
in duce the United States to acquiescein her assumed
position of this Government as divided in aty de-
gree in the powers for war more than for peace. At
the same time, if her Majesty's Government shall
continue to practise absolute forbearance from any
interference in our domestic affairs, we shall not be
captious enough to inquire what name it gives to
that forbearanc:‘, or in what character it presents
itself before the British nation in doing so. We
hold ourselves entitled to regard the forbearance as
an act of a friendly Power, acting unconsciously of
a domestic disturbance among us of which friendly