The Sun.
London, England, 1861-05-30 00:00:00

broad nostrils, and high cheek-bones. On his head
was wool instead of hair; his whiskers were little
flocculent black tufts, and his skin was as dark as
that of the Ate Mr. Dyce Sombre or Sir Jung
Bahadoor himself. lam neither sentimentalist nor
Black Republican, nor negro worshipper, but I con-
fess the sight caused a strange thrill through my
heart. I tried in vain to make myself familar with
the fact that I could, for the sum of 975 doll. be-
come as absolutely the owner o f that mass of blood,
bones, sinew, flesh, and brains as of the horse
which stood by my side. There was no sophistry
which could persuade me the man was not a man—
he was, indeed, by no means my brother, but assu-
redly he was a fellow-creature. I have seen slave
markets in the East, but somehtm or other the
Orientalism of the scene cast a colouring over the
nature of the sales there which deprived them of the
disagreeable harshness and matter-of-fact character
of the transaction before me. For the Turk, or
Smyrniote, or Egyptian te, buy and sell slaves
seemed rather suited to the eternal fitness of things
than otherwise. The turbaned, shawled, loose-
trowsered, pipe-smoking merchants speaking an
unknown tongue looked as if they were engaged in
a legitimate business. One knew that their slaves
would not be condemned to any very hard labour ;
they would be' in some sort the inmates of the
family and members of it. Here it gr4ed on my
ear to listen to the familiar tones of the English
tongue as the medium by which the transfer was
effected, and it was painful to see decent•looking
men in European garb engaged in the work before
me. Perhaps these impressions may wear off, for I
meet many English people who are ',the most stre-
nuous advocates of the slave system, although it is
true that their perceptions may be quickened to re-
cognise its beauties by their .participation in the
profits. The negro was soldto one of the bystanders
and walked off with his bundle God knows where.

" Niggers is cheap" was the only remark of the
bystandess. I continued my walk up a long, wide,
straight street, or more properly, an unpaved sandy
road, lined with wooden houses on each side, and
with trees by the side of the footpath. The lower
of the two stories is generally used as a shop
mostly of the miscellaneous store kind, in which
all sorts of articles are to be had if there
is any money to pay for them ; and in
the present case, if any faith is to be attached
to the conspicuous notices in the windows, credit is
of no credit, and the only thing that can be ac-
cepted in exchange for the goods is " cash." The
unfailing photographer, who may now be regarded
as the pioneer of civilisation, and who marches,
with his friendly sun, to the western desert, is, of
course, here ; and so is the German confectioner,
the French jeweller, the Irish dry goodsman or wet
goodsman, as the case may be ; nor is the Birming-
ham gun trade quite unrepresented, nor are music
and books without their " emporiums." At the end
of this long street, on a moderate eminence, stands
a whitewashed or painted edifice, with a gaunt, lean
portico supported on lofty, lanky pillars, and sur-
mounted by a subdued and dejected-looking little
cupola. Passing an unkempt lawn, through every
shabby little wooden gateway in a brick frame,
and we ascend a flight of steps into a hall, from
which a double staircase conducts us to the vesti-
bule of the Chamber. Anything much more offen-
sive to the eye cannot well be imagined than the
floor and stairs. They are stained deeply by tobacco
juice, which has left its marks on the white stone
steps and on the base of the pillars outside. In the
hall which we have entered there are two tables,
covered with hams, oranges, bread, and fruits for
the refreshment of members and visitors, over
which two sable goddesses, in portentous crinolines,
preside. The door of the Chamber is open, and we
are introduced into a lofty, well lighted, and com-
modious apartment, in which the Congress of the
Confederate States hold its deliberations. A gal-
lery runs half round the room and is half filled with
visitors—country cousins and farmers of cotton and
maize, and haply seekers of places great or
small. A light and low semicircular screen sepa-
rates the body of the House, where the mem-
bers sit, from the space under the gallery which
is appropriated to ladies and visitors. Inside
this fence are rows of seats and desks disposed
in semicircles, and there is a similar disposition
of armchairs, close to the table, at w hick sit the
two or three official reporters and officers of the
House. The clerk sits at a desk above this table,
and on a platform behind him are the desk and
chair of the presiding officer or Speaker of the
Congress. Over his head hangs the unfailing poi,
trait .3f Washington, and a small engraving, in a
black frame, of a gentleman unknown to me. So
much for the brick and mortar part of the buLding.
Of its living furniture one might have more to say
than I have if he had fuller opportunities ; but as
far as I could judge, an assembly of more calm,
determined, and judicial-looking men could not be
found in any country in .the world. No one who
cast his eye over those grave heads, some massive
and full, others keen, compact, energetic—could
doubt that he was in the presence of men with a
great work on hand and with great capabilities for
the execution of their task. Seated in the midst of

them at a senator's desk I was permitted to " assist,"
in the Franch sense, at the deliberations of the Con-
gress, Mr. Howell Cobb took the chair, and a
white-headed clergyman was called upon to say
prayers, which he did upstanding, with out-
stretched hands and closed eyes by the side of the
Speaker. The prayer was long and sulphureous,
one more pregnant with gunpowder I never heard,
nor could aught like it have been heard since

" Pulpit, drum ecclesiastic,
Was beat with fist instead of a stick."
The rev. gentleman prayed that the Almighty might
be pleased to inflict on the arms of the United
States such a defeat that it might be the example
of signal punishment for ever,—that this President
might be blessed, and that the other President
might be the other thing,—that the gallant, de-
voted young soldiers who were fighting for their
country might not suffer from exposure to the
weather or from the bullets of their enemies ; and
that the base mercenaries who were fighting on the
other side might come to sure and swift destruction,
and so on.

Are right and wrong mere geographical ex-
pressions ? The prayer was over at last, and the
House proceeded to business. It must be re-
membered, by the by, that this provisional Con-
gress of the Confederate States is a very curiously
constituted body. It consists of delegates sent
by the Convention of each State in the pro-
portion in which that State was
entitled to send
representatives to the Senate and to the House of
•
Representatives of the United States; and, as the
Convention of the Southern States which have se-
ceded did not refer their acts to the people of their
States, it may be assumed that the Congress isnow
sitting without any direct ratification of its powers
from the people beyond that implied in the forma-
tion of the Conventions. Although each State has
several delegates in Congress it is only entitled to
one vote on a strict division. In this way some curi-
ous decisions may be arrived at, as the smallest
State is equal to the largest, and a majority of the
Florida representatives may neutralise a vote of all
the Georgia representatives. For example, Georgia
has ten delegates ; Florida has only three. The vote
of Florida, however, is determined by the action of
any two of its three representatives, and these two
may, on a division, throw the one State vote into
the scale against that of Georgia, for which ten
members are agreed. It will readily be understood
how many difficulties of this kind can arise, but
practically we are assured they do not present them-
selves. No one can tell, however, whether they do or
scarce passed
bundle
do not, for the Congress transacts all its business in
secret Session, and finds it a very agreeable and
commendable way of doing it. Thus, to-day, for ex-
ample, after the presentation of a few unimportant
motions and papers, 'the Speaker rapped his desk
and announced that the House would go into secret
Session, and that all who were not members should
leave. The only business which was not routine
was in reference to a resolution passed at a public
meeting in a parish in Louisiana, which, on the mo-
tion of one of the delegates, was read out from a
newspaper by the clerk at the table, and which
pledged the planters to tender to the State and to
the Government " the whole of the annual proceeds
of our crops, deducting only what may be neces-
sary for our current expenses during the continu-
ance of the present hostilities."
auctioneer, a
small crowd at the fountain. Another auettriying
to
fat, flabby, perspiring, puffy
man, was
box beside
sell a negro girl who stood on the!,
As I was returning to the hotel there was. another
like a London
him. She was dressed pretty
eds of leather patches,
that her shoes were mere ahre!:mouut of place, except
passed muster in
and her bonnet would have .
"Not sold to-day, Sally ;
had
servant girl of the loweror
the New Cut. She, too, in her
the buyers from
hand, and looked out at a pair of
"Niggers were cheap ;" still here
large sad eyes.
woman going for an upset -
was this youngpuce of
610 dollars, but no one would bid, and the auc-
tioneer, after vain attempts to raise the prices and
excite competition, said,
you may get
down." She stepped down from her
box and walked off down the •
main street without
further notice, while the auctioneer sauntered away
in another direction. In. the ' '
evening it was whit.

/ -
.7"-ed about that the Congress
`ant act which recognised
stated States and the Confedei
gulated the conditions of letters
condemnation and payment of is
nati papers contain the reprodui
typographical errors, of your eorresponusa, _
letter from America, which he would not here allude
to, were it not that the papers in question accuse
him of misrepresentation in stating that it was
General Jackson who introduced "the distribution
of spoils system." He is glad to find that M. de
Tocqueville, who was in America at the time,
laboured under the same impression, and he is forced
to maintain the accuracy of his assertion.
TUESDAY, MAY 7.
The newspapers contain the text of the declara-
tion of a state of war on the part of President Davis,
and of the issue of letters of marque and reprisal,
&e. The object of this war measure is to depreciate
the value of the shipping of the North, and to pre-
vent the vessels of the United States commercial
marine getting cargoes abroad. The Government
here conceive they have a right to demand from
foreign nations that their flag shall be recognised,
and their law officer declares the Confederate Stalls
will maintain their right to issue letters of marque
in the face of the world. It is the right of a belli-
gerent Power, and it was respected, they say, by
the courts of laws in the United States in the case
of the South American Republics if any formal re-
cognition of their Governments or of their inde-
pendence was made by any Power. The refusal to
admit the privateers of the Confederate States to
exercise the rights of belligerents in the right of
search, will be taken as an act of war, and as a proof
of alliance with the enemy—that is; the Govern.
ment of the United States. It need hardly be ob-
served that the protection of British interests de-
mands that an efficient squadron of vessels be at
once sent to the American waters in the face of
such contingencies as will inevitably arise.
But it may be asked, who will take these letters
of marque ? Where is the Government of Mont-
gomery to find ships ? The answer is to be found
in the fact that already numerous applications have
been received from the shipowners of New England,
from the whalers of New Bedfor3, and from others
in the Northern States for these very letters of
marque, accompanied by the highest securities and
guarantees ! This statement I make on the very
highest authority. I leave it to you to deal with
the facts.
To-day I proceeded to the Montgomery Down-
ing-street and Whitehall, to present myself to the
members of the Cabinet, and to be introduced to
the President of the Confederate States of America.
The offices of the Government are contained under
one roof in a large brick building of unfaced
masonry, which looks like a handsome first-class
warehouse. On the first landing is a square hall,
surrounded by doors on which legible inscriptions
are fixed to indicate the offices of " The President,"
" The Secretary of War," "The Attorney-General,"
" The Secretary of State," of " The Cabinet," &c.,
and on a landing above are situated the offices of the
other members of the Government. The building
is surmounted by the flag of the Confederate States.
There is no sentry at the doors, and access is free
to all, but there are notices on the doors warning
visitors that they can only be received during cer-
tain hours. The President was engaged with some
gentlemen when I was presented to him, but he re-
ceived me with much kindliness of manner, and
when they had left entered into conversation with
me for some time on general matters. Mr. Davis is
a man of .slight, sinewy figure, rather over the
middle height, and of erect, soldierlike bearing. He
is about 55 years of age ; his features are regular
and well-defined, but the face is thin and marked
on cheek and brow with many wrinkles, and is
rather careworn and haggard. One eye is apparently
blind, the other is dark, piercing, and intelligent.
He was dressed very plainly in a light gray summer
suit. In the course of conversation he gave an order
for the Secretary of War to furnish me with a let-
ter as a kind of passport in case of my falling in
with the soldiers of any military posts who might
be indisposed to let me pass freely, merely observ-
ing that I had been enough within the lines of
camps to know what was my duty on such occa-
sions. I subsequently was presented to Mr. Walker,
the Secretary-at-War, who promised to furnish me
with the needful documents before I left Mont-
gomery. In his room were General Beauregard
and several officers, engaged over plans and maps,
apparently in a little council of war, which was,
perhaps, not without reference to the intelligence
that the United States troops were marching on
Norfolis Navy-yard, and had actually occupied
Alexandria. On leaving the Secretary I proceeded
to the room of the Attorney. General, Mr. Benjamin,
a very intelligent and able man, whom I found
busied in preparations connected with the issue of
letters of snarque.lEverything in the offices looked
like earnest work and business.
On my way back from the State Department I
saw a very fine company of infantry and three field
pieces, with about 120 artillerymen, on their march
to the railway station for Virginias. The men were
all well equipped, but there were n ammunition
waggons for the guns, and the transport consisted
solely of a few country carts drawn by poor horses,
out of condition. There is no lack of muscle and
will among the men. The troops which I see here
are quite fit to march and fight as far as their per-
sonnel is concerned, and there is no people in the
world so crazy with military madness. The very
children in the streets ape the air of soldiers, carry
little flags, and wear cockades as they strut in the
highways, and mothers and fathers feed the fever
by dressing them up as Zouaves or Chasseurs.
Mrs. Davis had a small levee to-day in right of
her position as wife of the President. Several
ladies there, probably, looked forward to the time,
when their States might secede from the new Con-
federation and afford them the pleasure of holding
a reception. Why not Presidents of State
of Georgia or of Alabama ? Why not King of
South Carolina, or Emperor of Florida ? Soldiers
of fortune ! make your game ! Gentlemen poli-
ticians, the ball is rolling. There is, to be sure, a
storns gathering at the North, but it cannot hurt
you, and already there are eondottieri from all parts
of the world flocking to your aid, who will eat your
Southern beeves the last of all. Virginia seems in-
clined to set up for herself, or to divide herself into
two " Old Dominions." Here are Messrs. Henning-
sen, Pickett, and other gallant gentlemen, quite
ready to help you and themselves out of their little
difficulty by their swords and their pens, and no
one can say how far the family of Kings may extend
on this good Continent if the fear of a common
enemy should ever permit the States to gratify
their private jealousies. One word more as to a
fleet. The English owners of several large steamers
are already in correspondence with Government
here for the purchase of their vessels. The intelli-
gence which has reached the Government that their
commissioners have gone on to Paris is regarded as
unfavourable to their claims, and as a proof that
as yet England is not dispose& to recognise them.
Is is amusing to hear the tone used on both sides
towards Great Britain. Both are most anxious for
her countenance and support, although the North
blusters rather more about its independence than
the South, which professes a warm regard for the
mother country. " But," say the North, "if
Great Britain recognises the South, we shall cer-
tainly look on it as a delaration of war." "And,"
say the South, " if Great Britain does not recognise
our privateers' flag, we shall regard it as proof of
hostility and of alliance with the enemy." The
Government at Washington seeks to obtain pro•
mises from Lord Lyons that our Government will
not recognise the Southern Confederacy, but at the
same time refuses to give any guarantees in re-
ference to the rights of neutrals. The blockade
of the Southern ports would not occasion us any
great inconvenience at present, because the cotton-
loading season is over; but if it be enforced in
October there is a prospect of very serious and
embarassing questions arising in reference to the
rights of neutrals' treaty obligations with with the
and
United States Government ; the trade
com-
merce of England, and the law of drawn
between
adeeneie•en-
ferenee to the distinctions to be w
measures of war and means of an
of the State noyance.
As I write the guns in
front
De-
partment are firing
a salute, and eachreport marks
a State of the Confederacy. They are now ten, as
Arkansas and Tennessee are now out of the Union.

AT EASTERN.—LIVERPOOL, Wednes-
THE GREAT
Great Eastern was to have sailed from New
day.—The
York for Liverpool on Saturday last, the 25th inst., and,
„,av therefore, be expected in the Mersey on Monday or
Tuesday next. She will be moored off Rock Ferry,
and
for this purpose the steamer Speedwell left the Mersey this
morning for Milford, to bring round the Great Eastern's
moorings, at present lying at that port.
CONFEDERATE MERCHANT VESSELS CAPTURED
BY FEDERAL SKIPS.—It was stated on 'Change at Liver-
pool yesterday that several cotton ships from southern
ports had been captured by the Federal vessels of war.
The Argo, laden with tobacco, from Richmond, Virginia,
has also been captured by the vessels of the northern
blockading squadrons.

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