The Sun.
London, England, 1861-01-11 00:00:00

THE SUN, LONDON, FRIDAY EVENING; JANUARY 11, 1861.

gerents at Gaeta, must inevitably be discussed in
the face of day, in the sight and hearing of
all Europe, in the British -Muse of Commons—it
must be there discussed, certainly and quite
inevitably be then discussed between the iiidepen-
dent members and the chiefs of her MASESTY'
nd
Government, between men like Mr. KINGLAKE a
Mr. LAYARD and Mr. ROEBUCK On one side, and on
the other Lord JOIIN and PALMERSTON.

Immediately after the welcome tidings of our
newly-arranged Peace with the Chinese, come the
hardly less welcome tidings that another re-
mote war is off our hands, and that we are now
at Peace also with those recent foes of ours—the
aboriginal New Zealanders.
A decisive battle, fought on the 6th of last
November, at a place called Mahoetalu—it is
spoken oS in REUTER'S Telegram as a " desperate
engagement—crowned our hitherto unsuccessful
forces with complete victory, caused the death of
the Head Chid' of the Savages, and led in the end
to the total rout of his barbarian hordes. With
this single blow the war has terminated. The
natives are cowed and scattered. The Europeans
have excited a terror au;,ong the aborigines that
will effectually preclude the latter from any future
rising of a formidable character. rlor Is this
guarantee visible in that northern d the onlyependency of
the British Crown, the only reliable?
iasssnuortantchese
there recognisable of the probabi Ity, ,
naabnsocelutheencceefrtoaritnhtyof of
tranquillity. the
,untnterrupted mainte-
nance aboriginal
inhabitants of New Zealand have in their recent
-failure when opposed in open combat to the British
soldiery lost for once and for ever the only en-
couragement remaining to them until now,
,Yo pre-
sent a bold front against those wonderful settlers
from the far North—settlers, in their regard,
of the most irresistible and overwhelming
superiority. It appears, then, upon a care-
ful scrutiny of the general social condition,
or rather unsocial condition, of these native New
Zealanders—savages, cannibals, even for the most
part—it appears upon an examination of their I,
manners and habits of living as a community, that
they are divided into tribes, and that these tribes
again are subdivided into castes so distinct
in every way as to render it at all times next to an
impossibility that they can ever have anything like
a regular combination amongst them against an
enemy. Now that our armaments have scattered
terror through the bands defeated upon the 6th
of November at Mahoetalu, it is rendered all but
a matter of absolute certainty that the Brifish
settlers in New Zealand will be left quietly to
themselves. The contest between the natives and
the Europeans will henceforth be in all likelihood
of a less sanguinary kind than one waged:with rifles
and boomerangs. The aborigines, moreover, it
should be remarked. are dwindling away in num-
bers almost as rapidly as the British population is
multiplying. It is only within a very few years,
indeed, that the natives have fallen away to the
extent of one-sixth of their former aggregate. It
has been calculated, in fact, that whereas these
savages of New Zealand numbered in 1850 a total
of about 120,000—that total has now diminished by
more than a score of thousands, so that the entire
number was estimated, towards the close of 1860,
at under 100,000 altogether! The British colonists
in that dependency of the Crown having
meanwhile increased by a proportion, in its
way, not one jot less extraordinary.
More particularly since the commencement
in real earnest, three years prior to the
former date but just now mentioned, namely in
1847, the beginning then in real earnest of that
flood of immigration from these shores of ours
southwards—an immigration chiefly pouring from
Ireland towards Polynesia, under the terrible, but
eventually (as it has proved for the survivors) the
beneficent incentive of the potato rot, resulting in
a dearth that ended in a pestilence superinduced by
absolute starvation. Thirteen years ago—before
that movement of thousands upon thousands to
America, to Australia, to New Zealand, the number
of British colonists in the latter dependency was
known to be but very little more than 15,000 in
all. How that comparatively small population has
been enhanced since then, between 1847 and
1860, by emigration principally from Ire-
land, but also in some measure from England
and Scotland, we all know, as we know also per-
fectly well the astonishing increase there in
New Zealand of the number of acres brought by the
labours of the colonists into steady cultivation—
there in that genial climate and on that prolific
soil, of which DOUGLAS JERROLD wrote so wittily
that "one has but to tickle it with a hoe, and it
laughs into harvests !" Now that the war with the
natives has been brought to a happy and appa-
rently secure termination, the prosperity of the
dependency can advance, so to speak au pas de
charge, uninterruptedly and unembarassed by
further eontentions with the savage aborigines. As
the European settlement there grows and expands
and developes itself generally year after year,
time will show how far the native New Zealanders
admit in any way of being reclaimed from bar-
barism and heathendom, and conquered not by
sword and gun but by the beneficent influences
of Civilisation and Christianity. As the first great
step towards the trial there in New Zealand of this
grand experiment, we may exult in the close of
the late sanguinary war between the natives and
ourselves, even though that lamentable war neces-
sitate for its final death-blow the bloody contest
upon the field of Alahoetalu.

Secession is advancing with rapid strides. The
Carolinians seem anxious to make the disseverance
as complete as possible, and to take such steps as
both Mr. BUCTIANAN and Mr. LINCOLN have
equally stated to be conclusive. Overt acts of
rebellion have been pointed to as necessary to
make the formal resolutions something more than
mere paper, and these overt acts appear to have
been committed. Action has been taken both in
regard to military matters and the revenue.
Major:ANDERsoN has withdrawn the United,States
troops from Fort Moultrie and another fort, and

the Militia of South Carolina have taken possession
of the forts and theeiFederal buildings—the Post-
office, the Custom-house, and the Arsenal. The
Major ANDERSON quitted the fort is
reasonplainly
ily
that be feared an attack, and it is known
that the fort was not defensible against a resolute
assault. He spiked the guns and burnt the gun-
carriages, and even had thought it is said of
blowing it up ; all indications that he had real
fear of hostilities being commenced by the State
troops against those of the Federation under his
command. The fort to which he has retired,
Fort Sumpter, is also a very strong place. It
commands the fort he has evacuated, stands, it
seems, in mid-channel of the harbour, and could
not therefore be assaulted from the land. It is
said to be the strongest place for its size in the
world, and that it would take a six months' siege
and bombardment to reduce it. A General
JACKSON with a fort thus commanding the port
and city, and capable oftbeing relieved from the sea,
would certainly have tolerated no secession non-
, sense. But Presidents of his order? unless Mr.

~.....--...-...
LINCOLN should prove 'to be one, have departed
for ever from Amer;:,ca.
too, that the Collection of the
It would seer.,,
Revenue is! now to be taken from the Federal
officers, or rather the Federal Revenue officers
are made South Carolina officers. The prin-
cipal regulations with regard to what were
hitherto the Federal revenue are. these. Ist the
officers, as just mentioned, are made Revenue
officers of South Carolina--" without any further
connection whatever with the Federal Govern-
ment of the United States." The Governor of the
State to fill any vacancic;s. 2dly. To avoid all
embarrassment, for the wesent the duties are to
remain as they are, also the Navigation Laws, and
no duties are to be levied on imports from any of
the States comprising the Old Union. 3d, all
money, deducting merely the expenses of collection,
are to be paid into the treasury of the State of
South Carolina. 4th. All Federal property
is to be retained in the hands of the officers,
subject to the disposal of the State, " who will
account for the same upon a final settlement with
the Government o f the United States." If it be
not an overt act to take the United States Revenue
officers, and make them the officers of the seceding
State ; to fill up the places of those who resign by
the nomination of the State Goveraor, to order all
customs collected to be paid into the States own Ex-
chequer—if all this be not an overt act or acts, we
know not what can be termed so ; since, of course,
the officials will all act on their new authority, and
in accordance with the new regulations at once.
After these acts—we cannot be surprised at the
solemn promulgation by the Governor of the
absolute independence of the State. Between the
usual preamble and conclusion to formal docu-
ments, stand the following clear and decided words
of the Governor :—" I, therefore, as Governor and
Commander-in-Chief in and over the State of South
Ca:olina, by virtue of authority in me vested, do
hereby' proclaim to the world that this State is, as
she has a 'right be, a separate, sovereign, free, and
independent. State; and, as such, has a right to levy
war, conclude peace, negotiate Treaties, leagues or
covenants, and to do all acts whatsoever that of right
fully appertain to a free and independent State."
Connected with this, suitable ordinances • were
passed by the convention, authorising the governor
to exercise all the poers
an independent state, ually vested in
both
the
Chief of the Executive of
in regard to Foreign Powers and home matters.
Also ordinances fixing the nature of citizenship and
the very simple means of obtaining it.
The signature of the Secession ordinance was an
affair in its theatrical incidents and arrangements
quite worthy of the earlier days of the French Re-
volution, and the skill of its chief painter, DAVID, it
is thus magnificently described by the Charleston

Mercury :

" The scene was one profoundly grand and impressive.
There were a people assembled through their highest repre-
sentatives—men most of them upon whose heads the snow
of sixty winters had been shed—patriarchs in age—the
dignitaries of the land—the high priests of the Church
of Christ—reverend statesmen—and the wise judges of
the law. In the midst of deep silence an old man, with
bowed form and hair white as snow, the Rev. Dr.
Bachman, advanced forward, with upraised hands, in
prayer to Almighty God for His . blessing and favour
on this good act of His people about to be consum-
mated. The whole assembly at once rose to its feet, and,
with hats off, listened to the touching and eloquent appeal
to the All-wise Dispenser of Events. At the close of the
prayer, the President advanced with the conseeratedparch-
in,ent upon which was inscribed the decision of the State,
with the great seal attached. Slowly and solemnly it was
read unto the last word—' dissolved ;' when men could
contain themselves no longer, and a shout that shook the
verybuilding, reverberating, long continued, rose to heaven,
and ceased only with the loss of breath."

The appeals to Heaven of Mr. BUCHANAN to avert
Secession of Slaveholders from the Union, or at least
his Governmental fasting and praying about it ; and
the prayers of the Slaveholders for a blessing on
Secession and Slavery appear to us a rather painful
mixing up of religion and politics. We fear Heaven
has very little to do in either matter, unless it be,
indeed, to look on with silent wrath until, as Hebrew
prophets would say, " the cup" of Slaveholders, and
Pro-slavery Presidents " was full."

But this is not all, South Carolina is acting

vigorously, while 'Mr. BUCHANAN 'is temporis-
ing. She is appointing commissioners, with
full powers, to all the other Southern States
whose Conventions have for the most part assem-
bled by the present time ; she is in fact doing
everything possible, to expedite decisive action in
the other Southern States, who, to do them
justice, appear' ready enough to comply with their
solicitations. At Washington they seem to be quite
as active. They have commissioners there with whom,
of course, the PRESIDENT is willing enough to
treat ; but he and his Cabinet appear to continue in
the most undecided, actionless condition. The Caro-
lina commissioners were very indignant at the part
taken by Major ANDERSON, but the President, it is
said, denied complicity, and said that he acted on
his own responsibility. This, however, was doubted.
Mr. BUCHANAN is completely at his wit's end.
The Border states have met, by their representa-
tives, at Washington, but have come to no decision.
There are, however, signs of what we most fear—
concession by the timid portion of the North, for
the sake of preserving the precious Union. The
Senate, indeed, almost agreed upon a scheme
which, as we understand it, would be a concession
of half the territories to Slavery ! They only
split upon the old rock ahead—the admission
of Kansas. Most remarkable of all, Mr.
SEWARD came forward with a proposal to modify
the Fugitive Slave Law, giving to the person
charged with being a fugitive the benefit of trial
by jury. The South would not accept this, but
Mr. SEWARD was willing, if they did, that the
Personal Liberty Acts of certain States should be
repealed. Thus we have at once Secession making
rapid strides, and bids for Union from the North.
If this goes on the Slave States will raise their
reserve bidding, till either they will become
"masters of the situation," or till their arrogance
shall have driven the North to renounce them and
their accursed institution for ever.

The marriage of Mr. Hope Scott, Q.C., to Lady
Victoria Howard, the eldest daughter of the late Duke of
Norfolk, was solemnised in the Catholic chapel of Arundel,
on Monday last. Long before the hour appointed for tho
ceremony the chapel, which is a small building, was filled
with spectators,
THE EX-DUKE OF MODENA REDITTJRUS.—Gen.
Saccozi, commander of the little body of troops still in the
service of the ex-Duke of Modena, has published at Bassano
the following order of the day :—" Brave Soldiers, I am
charged by his Imperial Highness the Archduke Albert to
announce to you good news. You are destined to form the
vanguard of the army which is shortly to enter on a cam-
paign. It is for that purpose that arms of precision will be
delivered to you to-day, and his Imperial Highness has no
doubt that you will be worthy to bear them, and that you
will know how to use them for re-entering your country."

DISTRESS IN NOTTINGIIAM.—The operative lace-
makers and framework knitters in Nottingham are suffer-
ing great distress. Both the staple trades of the town are
exceedingly depressed, there not having been such a dearth
of employment for many years. At the weekly meeting of
the Board of Guardians on Tuesday the vice-chairman (Mr.
Turner) stated that the number of in-door poor exceeded
by 415 those in the house at the corresponding period last
year, while the out-door recipients amounted to 2,016m0re
than last year. In comparison with last week there were
more than 1,000 applicants for out-door relief. Soup kit-
chens are opon in tho town for the poor, and other means
I,are being adopted to alleviate the distress,
. -

We regret to announce that Lord Vivian met
with a severe accident whilst hunting on Saturday last,
causing a dislocation of the shoulder. His lordship is,

however, doing well.
M. H. d'Arnim, Prussian Ambassador at Paris
from 1846 to 1848, and subsequently Minister of State in
Prussia, died at Dusseldorf four days back, aged 63. -
THE REV. H. J. POOLVS CASE.—The case of this
gentleman, whose license as curate of St. Paul's, Knights-
bridge, was withdrawn by the Bishop of London, is to
come before the Archbishop of Canterbury on appeal next

month at Lambeth Palace.
The latest quotation from New York for bankers'
bills is 104/. In consequence of the advance in the Bank
of England rate of discount and the delays in coinage in
America, the calculation now is, that for sovereigns from
this country to yield a profit the returns must be made at
a price scarcely exceeding 1054.
EXPLOSION OF GAS ON THE GREAT NORTHERN
RAILWAY.—Last evening, about 8 o'clock, a terrific explo-
sion of gas took place at the Colney Hatch Station on this
line, which blew the roof off the station, and very nearly
killed the guard of a train then waiting on the spot. The
accident is attributed to the action of the frost on the iron
pipes.
THE SHANNON.—SOUTHAMPTON, Thursday.—
The Trent has again left here to tow in the mail packet
Shannon, which arrived at Plymouth on Monday. They
are both expected here to-morrow. The commanders of
the two ships have been ordered to come in round the east
end of the Isle of Wight, in order to avoid any possible
accident in passing through the narrow passage of the
Needles.

DREADFUL TREBLE MURDER. SLIGO. —P.
Callaghan, his wife, and servant girl, were brutally mur-
dered on Tuesday night, at Ballymote. Their throats were
cut by the assasins, Callaghan and his wife being in the
house, and the girl in an outhouse at the time. Callaghan,
who was 40 years old, was a substantial grocer. The sup.•
posed object of the murderers was plunder. The authori-
ties and police are on the alert. The victims were greatly

respected.
THE NEW BISHOP OP WORCESTER.—The Very
Rev. Dr. Peel, Dean of Worcester, has issued a mandate to
the canons residentiary to appear in the cathedral on Thurs-
day next, in order to proceed to the election of a bishop, in the
room of the Right Rev. Dr. Henry Pepys, deceased, under
a cohge d'elire granted to the Dean and Chapter for that
purpose; and also to consider a recommendation.made by
her Majesty that the Dean and Chapter should elect as
Bishop of the vacant see the Rev. •Dr. Henry Philpott,
Master of St. Catherine's College, Cambridge, and Residen-
tiary Canon of Norwich Cathedral. The Bishop nominate
has not yet formally resigned his collegiate mastership, bat
he will do so in the course of a day or two, in order that the I
appointment may be filled up in the course of the forthcom-
ing term. The gentlemen elected to the Mastership of St.
Catheiine's College will succeed of right to the canonry at
Norwich, the one being held with the other by act of Par-
liament. By Dr. Philpott's elevation a chaplaincy to his
Royal Highness the Prince Consort becomes vacant.
THE THAMES FROZEN OVER.—The River Thames
from Westminster-bridge down to the Pool at high water
is now completely blocked up with vast masses of ice.
Being made stationary by the abutments of Westminster-
bridge, they become connected together, and thus com-
pletely cover the river with one vast sheet, the tide flowing
underneath it. Of course an entire stop is put to all navi-
gation either above or below bridge. A number of barges,
laden with coal, are firmly fixed in the ice ; and a fleet of
some 20 aro moored off Westminster-bridge, unable to get
to .their destination. In the Pool considerable damage has
been done to the shipping by the ice, and a vast number are
unable to load or unload their cargoes.
ACCIDENT ON THE MIDLAND RAILWAY.—An
alarming accident, though fortunately unattended with
loss of life, occurred yesterday afternoon on the Midland
line. The 1.35 up train left Bristol at its regular time,
and had almost reached the tunnel near Yatc, when the
engine came in contact with a mass of rock which had
fallen on the line in front of the train, and which appeared
to have been projected from some blasting operations which
were going on' in the immediate vicinity. The affect was
that the engine, the van, and the carriages which composed
the train left the rails, and ran into the embankment.
However, although the shock was a severe one, the train
came to a stop without serious damage being occas:oned to
the engine or carriages, while the passengers escaped com-
paratively uninjured. Information of the occurrence was
at once forwarded to Bristol, and exertions were made by
which the engine and carriages were placed on the down
line, and brought back to the terminus, while the passen-
gers were f• rwarded to their respective destinations by the
up express train.
SINGULAR CASE.—A somewhat singular case
was three days back submitted to the Council 'of State.
Count de Larnage founded in 1857, in the town of Tain
(Drome) of which he is mayor, an establishment for the spe-
cial treatment of persons afflicted with epilepsy, and he placed
the management of it in the hands of some Sisters of Charity,
and had it dedicated to St. Vincent-de-Paul. But as the
greater part of the patients admitted to it wore required to
pay for their treatment, the tax-gatherers held that it must
be considered, not as a charitable establishment, but as a
private maison-de-sante, and must accordingly pay the same
taxes as such places. The Sisters refused to pay, and called
on the Council of Prefecture of the department to declare
that their house ought to be exempt. The Council, however,
decided against them. The Sisters then appealed to the
Council of State, and contended that their establishment
must be considered a charitable one, inasmuch as it admit-
ted a number of patients gratuitously and others at reduced
prices, and because any prafits that might be realised would
be employed in increasing its public utility. They added
that the Emperor himself had regarded the house as a cha
ritablo institution, having given it 6,000 fr. But the
Council held that, as the greater part of the persons ad-
mitted were required to pay, the house was in the eye of
the law a private maison•de-sante, and was therefore liable
to taxes.
ACCIDENT ON THE SEINE.—A moving incident
took place on the the Stine on Wednesday. Two barges
filled with mill-stones, belonging to a bargeman named
Bertin, of Livry (Seine-et-Oise), were moored near the
Pont de la Concorde, and all at once the ropes with which
they were fastened, having been weakened by the friction of
the floating ice, gaveway, andthe vessels were carried away
by' the current to the Pcnt des Invalides, against the piers
of which they struck with great violence. By the shock a
hole was made in the hall of one, and water rushed in so
fast that the barge soon bigan to sink. In it there happened
to be Mme. Bertin, wife of the owner, and her two chil-
dren, one aged 13 and the other three, and the woman see-
ing that they were all in imminent danger of drowning,
took them in her arms and :,umped with them on to a piece
of floating ice. Their weight caused the ice to rock, and
a number of spectators on the quay and the barge, not
doubting that the poor woman and the children had fallen
into the water, raised a cry ; but she managed to main-
tain her footing, and to keep fast hold of both children.
Her husband, who was on the other barge, threw out cords,
but they did not reach her, and the ice went on floating
down the river. The womat and the children were now
in as great danger as when in the sinking barge, but the
spectators could do nothing. At last, however, three men,
moved by compassion, put )ff in a boat which happened
to be near, and, though not without great danger to them-
selves, succeeded in rescuing the mother and the two chil-
dren. '

-----
SAN FRANCISCO.—Accounts from San Francisco
to the 9th of November show that highly sanguine expec-
tations are still entertained of the results shortly to be de-
rived from the Washoe Silver Mines. A respectable and
cautious merchant, who had hitherto looked with doubt on
all the statements regarding them, now writes that the tes-
timony which has reached him on the subject leaves little
room for disbelief. It is averred that the quantity exceeds
both in extent andrichness all previous mining experience.
" Persons perfectly conversant," it is stated, " with the
mines of Mexico end Peru say that there can be no corn-
parison between these and the Washoe mines, and the
main trouble at resent seems to be that the ore is too
rich, and therefore too difficult of reduction."
My wife say; her mother never got over the
impression of the great snow,of 1814, when the children
were too young t.) know anything more than that some-
thing terrible wes apprehended. Their father was on a
journey in the north, on business ; and he was not heard
from for three weeks. At last, 14 horses dragged the mail-
bags through one snowdrift, in Northumberland, of miles
in length, and 16 horses through another in Yorkshire,
longer still ; and e handful of letters arrived at once. In
the interval the mamma was crying ; the confidential maid
was crying ; the mow filled up the window-panes so that
the children could not see out ; and it was impossible for
them to attempt t,) walk. The sky was leaden coloured.
There was silence in the parlour ;7anctin the kitchen there
was a dreary chill, from the snow being set to melt within
the fender. Dim aotions of their father being all alone in
the snow, haunted them, or of his being lost on a wild moor.
No wonder their nether looked grave through life, when
a heavy snowfall was coming down.— " January," in
Once a Week.
WONDERFUL !—The Sport relates the following:
—"As three days ago the Emperor and Empress were
walking arm in arm in the Bois de Boulogne, his Majesty
saw a young lady, who was walking some paces before him,
drop her pocket handkerchief, and his Majesty picked it
up and called to her. She turned round, as did also her
father, mother, and brother, who accompanied her; but all
of them—they were, it is said, Russians—on recognising
the Emperor, were tlaunderstruck, and hesitated to approach.
The Emperor then advanced to the young lady and gave
her the handkerchief."
A NEIGHBOURLY CORRESPONDENCE.—" Mr.
Thompson presents his compliments to Mr. Simpson, and
begs to request that he will keep his piggs from trespassing
on his grounds." " Mr. Simpson presents his compliments
to Mr. Thompson, and begs to request that in future he
will not spell
piggs with two gees." " Mr. Thompson
respects to Mr. Simpson, and will feel obliged if he adds
the letter E to tile la&-t word in the note just received, so
as to represent Mr. Simpson and lady." " Mr. Simpson
returns Mr. Thorapson's note unopened—the impertinence
it contains being only equalled by its vulgarity."—Anicri-
aan Paper,

L Arl E N
S

CHINA.

FOREIGN OFFICE, SAN. 11.

The following telegram has been received from
her Majesty's Consul at Marseilles, dated Jan.
10, 4'50 p.m. :

News from Hong Kong to Nov. 29.

The Treaty has, with Emperor's consent, been
posted over the walls of Pekin, and read by
crowds of natives, astonished at the Imperial