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 711ontreal 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 yes-
Vel which has been employed for some
scars in visiting the fishing stations on the
lower St. Lawrence and the Gulf, and looking
after Canadian interests. The weather since
vur last has become more wintry, and we
have had one or two considerable falls of snow and
$3 o e cold days. The river is still free from ice, but
the canal is frozen, and the Ottawa boats are laid
Vp for the season."
In the Senate on the 4th a motion to expel Mr.
llreckinridge was carried nein. 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
iional Government of the United States, and have
fassumed 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 case 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-
sequent apprenticeship to loyal masters, and their
final colonisation. 111 r. 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, &c.
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 w hich, after briefly setting forth the
political condition of our country at that time, the
following sentenc,:s 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 au 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
full 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 our 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 theexisting
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, Prance, Russia, Prussia, Austria, Belgium,
Italy, and Denmark, in which he says, ' The advo-