The Sun.
London, England, 1861-11-27 00:00:00

T HE 0 X F O R D,
6, OXFORD-STREET.
EVERY EVENING.
Selections from " 7.A CIRCASSIENNE," " Simon Roez.,a-
-11%;ra." and " Ernanl," by Miss Russell and Miss Ernst;
Messrs. Albert (his first appearance), Morley Greville, (to.
Full Band and Chorus.—Conductor, Mr. F. Jonghmans.—
liaite's new ballads by Miss Russell and Madame E. ders-
eohn expressly for them). And Varied Comic
dalle,rt.EllnnTritas by -liss arriet
Nerves), E. Msrshall, and
Coveney, Messrs. IV. Ran-
SAM &T.;;:rirl.Lidr,}lrenchH (The
Boxes, 10s. gel. • ed.; Balcony and Stalls, is ; Private

SEVEN
'whic
DAIS WITIIOIIT
steamer Nymph, FOOD.—The Rock Ferry
Friday, at 11 o'clock,
theh loft the
landing
stage, Liverpool,gside the ship Blue Rock,
in the river off on
Roclying
ssel; erry-pier, and bound for
Sydney, to put on board a
pa
ear the captain was
boy was sent on board the ND:egeo:. When alongside a
ei
io
told to take him on shore. The steal;
ntd
Rock Ferry of course first took him there andnn her way to
P.
hen to
00l He was almost naked, and little elan than skin Live-
and
bone, and made the following statement to the passengers and
craw of the Nymph :—He is a native of London. His father
and mother aro in Melbourne, and he wished to getout to them:
Finding that the Blue Rock was bound for Australia, he
stowed himself away on board her (when she was lying in
the dock) on ere 16th inst., expecting sho would Very
shortly go to sea. She, however, went into the river, and
still remains there; and he, being fairly "hungered out,"
was obliged to carne out of his hiding-place 00 Friday. He
said the people on board the ship gave him some coffee and
biscuit, but it would not remain on his stomach. Several
gentlemen on board the Nymph, on hearing his tale, gave
him money, and on being asked what he intended doing he
said he did not know, but very likely " would be in prison
before night." When asked what he intended doing on get-
ting to Sydney, Melbourne being a long way from it, he
replied that he knew that, but he intended walking from
Sydney to Melbourne. He said that when he went on board
the ship on the previous Friday ho had not anything to eat
nor drink with him. He had consequently been seven days
without food or drink. The lad's story was corroborated
by his appearance, for he looked more like a skeleton than
anything else. He also stated that another boy is stowed
ama •
captain,
the same ship, but that he did not like to tell the
. as he (the boy) appeared as if he could hold out a
of
ago. nis boy
little longer. T - appears to be about 14 or 15 years

HIGH WATER AT LONDON BRIDGE.

THIS Di .—Morning, Bh. 48m.—Afternoon, 9h. 23m.
To-monnow.-Morning, 9h. 58m.—Afternoon, 10h. 32m.

THE WEATHER,—Star Orricm, NOVEMBER 27, 1861,

THERMOMETER, IN THE SHADE.
55—kighest since noon yesterday.
41—lowest this morning and during the night.
44—this day at noon.
BA.UOMETER-29.87.
WlND—South-West.

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THE SUN.

LONDON, WEDNESDAY, NOV. 27, 1861.

If we are not brought into collision with the
Americans it will not be from any great delicacy on
their part in avoiding what might give rise to a
misunderstanding. The telegram just received
from Southampton will certainly, when it is first
read, excite a little surprise and, perhaps, indigna-
tion. That an American ship•of--war should place
herself alongside a British mail steamer and forcibly
take from her two of her passengers will seem a
strange and insulting proceeding. The passengers
were, it is true, " Confederate Commissioners" to
Europe, and were no doubt sent on an errand hostile
enough to the North ; they would probably have
been the purchasers of large supplies of warlike
stores for the South, and might have attempted to

influence the opinions of important persons in this
country and in France—they might, in a word, have
been the most important contraband of war possible,
although sailing away from the actual war. Yet
the first feeling will probably be, that they were
passengers under the British flag, and that the
respect due to it was not exactly shown by boarding

a mail steamer which it protected, and taking any
one from on board her. Of one thing we are all

sure, that, could the position of parties have been
reversed, there would have been almost such an-

other " magnificent rising of the North" as took
place when the American flag was insulted at Fort
Sumter, and the army of the Potomac would have

been mustered on the St. Lawrence.

Of course we have yet but the barest information

So far as goods and passengers are concerned, our
mail steamers are of course but private vessels ; and

the Americans will point us to our QUEEN'S procla-
mation, telling her loving subjects that all aid ren-
dered to either of the belligerent parties must be at
the risk of those who render it. If the steamer

received the commissioners on board, knowing their
character, the Americans will argue that she even
rendered herself liable to seizure. But if not, and if
the captain of the Jacinto obtained trustworthy infor-
mation at Havannah that the commissioners were on
board the Trent, the delicate question will arise
whether, not being bound for any blockaded port,
nor carrying anything which has ever been defined,
that we know of, as contraband of war, the Jacinto
was justified in forcibly taking from the Trent the
two passengers. Some dispute may also
arise as to their character. They may plead
that they were simple Americans, and as
exempt from seizure by other Americans on
the deck of a British vessel, as the two crews
now at Southampton are. Refugees of course they
are not. But, as we are friendly with both North

more than exchange their angry looks. Nor is it
merely that in England our police would be strong
enough to prevent seizures by either party. Had
the Americans landed on the smallest British island
and taken the Commissioners off its soil by force, we
should have resented the violation of the soil almost
at the cost of a war. But a vessel of any country
is confessedly, in international law, but an exten-
sion of the soil of the country, and hence it will be
said that what could not be done on the island could
not be done on the ships' deck.
To this the reply will be that a ship has a
double character, and is also a machine for
carrying goods and passengers, and that, in that
capacity, if employed to aid and abet the plans of
either of the belligerent parties, she must, if her
country were on terms of neutrality with both, take
the consequences of joining one of the parties to the
war.

Such are some of the considerations on both
sides. We can, of course, with so few facts
before us, and
.without serious consideration, pro-
nounce no opinion one way or the other. It
is for the law officers of the Crown to de-
cide ; but even if the Americans have interna-
tional law on their side, we must think they
have been guilty of an irritating piece of folly, and
must take the consequence in the shape of the ill-
feeling they doubtless glory in provoking. It
will be observed that the Funds have severely felt
the effect of the untoward news, and that the gene-
ral impression is that it creates a real difficulty.

It is said that all weapons are fair at elections,
but there is one which the better feeling of the pre-
sent day refuses to use, we refer to attacks on a
candidate through his religious sentiments. It is
generally conceded now that such attacks are an
infringement of religious liberty, and injurious to
religion itself. So much has public opinion altered
on this subject since the days of Lord ELDON, that
it is felt to be a hardship when a man of otherwise
good character is refused the civil right of giving
his evidence in a court of justice, because he is an
Atheist. It is with deep regret, therefore, that we
have learned on the best authority, that the
Cathedral interest was strongly worked against
Mr. POTTER at Carlisle, and orthodox Dissenters
appealed to to withhold their votes, because on some
points of theoretical theology he held the views
of a MILTON, a NEWTON, a LARDNER, and a
PRIESTLY. Such tactics affix, we think,
indelible disgrace on those who use them. 'The
opinions which a man holds on such ecclesiastical
questions as are discussed in the Legislature—on
Church-rates, for instance—are fair weapons of
influence either way ; but it is surely time that a
man's personal opinions on every point in theology
should be as
sacred from attack at elections as the
manuscripts 'which lie in his desk, and, if possible,
more so. We are glad the party which resorted to
these tactics has lost its election, for they deserved
it ; but it would have been more to the credit of
Carlisle if the resentment had boen so strong as to
place Mr. HODGSON far behind Mr. POTTER. We
say so because we see that in his speech, as re-
ported, Mr. HODGSON condescended to allude to
Mr. POTTER'S theological opinions, and thereby
implicated himself openly in what we think the
most base and ungenerous mode of attack
on an opponent. Mr. POTTER, though opposed to
Church-rates, as they are really voluntary in Man-
chester, had given far more than could have been
demanded of him by law. Yet Mr. HODGSON
charged this free•spirited man with wishing for
the abolition of Church-rates—because "of his

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