The Sun.
London, England, 1861-09-16 00:00:00

THE SUN, LONDON, MONDAY EVE N ING, SEPTEMBER 16, 1861.

PUBLICATIONS.

One Shilling.

SEAT OF WAR IN THE UNITED STATES.
WYLD'S MILITARY MAP of the UNITED
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varnished, 10s.
WYLD'S MAP of the UNITED STATES, OR t, GON,
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WYLD'S LARGE MAP of the UNITED ST.A.TES. Four
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WYLD'S STATE.; FICAL MAP of the UNITED
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STRATEGIC WAR POINTS of the UNITED STATES.
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James Wyld, Geographer to the Queen, 457, Strand, Char-
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Royal Exchange, E.C.

lIHE PRESENT DISTRESS IN TRADE
fully explained in J. GROSSMITH'S
" GOVERNMENT UPON FIRST PRINCIPLES."
The cause is there predicated of the monetary difficulties ex
perienced in 1860. The Crisis is at hand. Anxiety in bus
ness has now become the grim torture. Purity of motive,
intelligently exercised, must animate all Governments, or all
is lost, All denominations of Constitutions are carefully
examined in J. Grossmith's "Government upon First Prin-
ciples." _ _

By post. le.,
THE MEDICAL CONFIDANT on Midwifery,
Pregnancy, the Disappointments in Marriage, and
other ailments peculiar to Ladies. Female Obstruction.
Pills, ss. a box post free. Address, Dr. Scott, 17, Adam-
street, Strand, Lon, don (since 1830. Consultations, 10 till 5.

States amount to 400,000,000 dols., whereas the cost
of the war, on the calculation of high military
authorities, if judiciously conducted, will not be
more than 250,000,000 dols.
" The interest on loans at the rate authorised by
Congress—namely, 7 310 per cent.—will be on
loans of 50 dots, one cent. per day, on 100 dols.
two cents., on 500 dols. ten cents., on 1,000 twenty
cents., and on 5,000 dols. one dollar. Mr. Chase
urges the speedy acceptance of this loan, and
announces that books will be opened at once in the
several cities and towns in the United States to re-
ceive subscriptions.
"We have some further details of the affair at
Fort Hatteras. The steamer George Peabody
arrived at Fortress Monroe yesterday with one of
the prizes in tow. She reports that the Harriett
Lane was got off the shoals on Saturday afternoon,
but not without throwing her coals and her guns
overboard. It is said that the guns will be re-
covered. Another United States gunboat also went
ashore on Smith's Island, near Cape Charles, on the
Ist inst. Three propellers were at once despatched
from Old Point to her assistance.

" The frigate Minnesota arrived at this port yes-
terday with 674 of the prisoners taken at Fort
Hatteras, including Commander Barron and the
other officers who surrendered.

"We have intelligence by way of Cincinatti that
a collison took place at Boone Court-house, in
Western Virginia, on the Ist inst., between the
Union and the Secession forces, in which the latter
were badly beaten, losing 30 killed, 40 prisoners,
and a large number wounded. The Union troops,
it is said, burned the town."
The following important proclamation has been
issued by Major-General Fremont :
" Head-quarters of the Western Department,
St. Louis, Aug. 31, 1861.
"Circumstances, in my judgment of sufficient
urgency, renders it necessary that the commanding
General of this department should assume the ad-
ministrative powers of the State.
"Its disorganised condition, the helplessness of
the civil authority, the total insecurity of life, and
the devastation of property by bands of murderers
and marauders, who infest nearly every county in
the State, and avail themselves of the public mis-
fortunes, and the vicinity of a hostile force to gratify
private and neighbourhood vengeance, and who find
an enemy wherever they find plunder, finally de-
mand the severest measures to repress the daily
increasing crimes and outrages which are driving
off the inhabitants and ruining the State. In this
condition the public safety and the success of our
arms require unity of purpose, without let or hin-
drance, to the prompt administration of public
affairs.

" In order, therefore, to suppress disorder—to
maintain, as far as practicable, the public peace,
and to give security and protection to the persons
and property of loyal citizens, I do hereby extend
and declare established martial law throughout the
State of Missouri.

" The lines of the army of occupation in this State
are for the present declared to extend to Leaven.
worth by way of the posts of Jefferson City, Rolla,
and Tronton, to Cape Giraudean on the Mississippi
river.
" All persons who shall be taken with arms in
their hands, within these lines, shall be tried by
court martial, and if found guilty will be shot. The
property, real and personal, of ali persons in the
State of Missouri, who shall take up arms
against the United States, or who shall be
directly proven to have taken an active
part with their enemies in the field, is
declared to be confiscated to the public use, and
their slaves, if any they have, are hereby declared
free men.
"All persons who shall be proven to have de
stroyed, after the publication of this order, railroad
trucks, bridges, or telegraph, shall suffer the ex-
treme penalty of the law.
"All persons engaged in treasonable correspon.
dence, in giving or procuring aid to the enemies of
the United States, in disturbing the public tran-
quillity, by creating or circulating false reports or
incendiary documents, are in their own interest
warned that they are exposing themselves.
" All persons who have been led astray from their
allegiance are required to return to their homes
forthwith. Any such absenca without sufficient
cause will be held to be presumptive evidence
against them.
" The object of this Declaration is to place in the
hands of the military authorities the power to give
instantaneous effect to existing laws, and to supply
such deficiencies as the conditions of war demands.
But it was not intended to suspend the ordinary
tribunals of the country, where the law will be ad
ministered by the civil officers in the usual manner,
and with their accustomed authority, while the
same can be peaceably exercised.
" The Commanding General will labour vigilantly
for the public welfare, and in his efforts for their
safety he hopes to obtain not only the acquiescence,
but the active support of the people of the country.
" J. C. FREMONT,
Major-General Commanding,"

AUSTRALIA.

A letter from Melbourne, dated July 26, says :

The English mail, with dates to the 20th of
May, arrived on the 13th inst., with the intelli-
gence that hostilities had commenced in America.
The Queen's proclamation has been published by
authority here, and I believe not prematurely,
as it is understood that a " citizen" of the Southern
States had arrived here with letters of marque in
his pocket, intending to fit out a privateer or pri-
vateers.

In my last letter I mentioned that the Heales
Ministry had been defeated by a large majority, on
a vote of no confidence ; that he had declined to re-
sign, and had advised the Governor to dissolve the
Assembly; and that the Governor had readily em-
braced his advice. This step his Excellency will no
doubt be able to justify, on the ground of the dis-
organised state of the Assembly. The dissolution
has accordingly taken place, and the elections will
all come off between the 29th of July, the earliest
nomination day, and the 19th of August, the latest
poll ir g-day. The writs .ire made returnable on the
29th of August. This early day has been brought
about by a sort of constitutional compulsion, accom-
panied by a scene between the Governor and the
Assembly. One or two of the Alinistry are noto-
riously deficient in the statesmanlike qualification
of reticence. They have among them men so weak
of thought who mutter their affairs, and one of this
kind let out that they would not disso.ve for some
months, What was to be done to force an early
dissolution P There was some talk of refusing sup-
plies unless the Executive would make an explicit
declaration that they would dissolve before a time
to be named. Another plan was to limit the sup-
plies to a specified number of months. But they
had already been voted in committee and the reso-
lutions had been reported to the house, so that
there was some probability that the Ministry might
act on the reported resolutions if the Commissioners
of Audits should raise no objection—as was done in
England in 1832, when Parliament was dissolved
on the loss of the first Reform Bill, and as was
acted on here to a limited extent on a similar occa-
sion in 1858. Finally, the constitutional expedients
resorted to was the introduction of the following
clause in the Appropriation Act for the service of
the present year :
" No moneys appropriated by the Act for the service of
this present year shall be issued or applied out of the con-
solidated revenue after the last day of August, 1861, unless
Parliament shall be then sitting ; and any person who, in
violation of this enactment, shall countersign any instru-
ment or make any order for the issue or application of any
such moneys, or honour or pay any check or draught out of
the public accounts, shall forfeit and pay the sum of £l,OOO,
with full costs of suit to any person who shall sue for the
same, and shall be for ever after incapable of holding office
in the public service of this colony."

His Excellency was ill-advised enough to step
out of his path to get rid of this clause. There is a
clause in the Constitution Acts which authorises
the Governor—

" To transmit by message to the Council or Assembly for
their consideration any amendment which he shall desire to
be made in any Bill presented to him for her Majesty's
assent, and all such amendments shall be taken into con-
sideration in such convenient manner as shall by the rules
and orders aforesaid (i.e., the standing orders) be in that
behalf provided,"

Of this clause the Governor availed himself,
though very irregularly, before the bill was pre-
sented to him for her Majesty's assent, and on the
2d of July the Speaker intimated that he had re-
ceived a message from his Excellency with regard
to the Appropriation Bill, recommending the As-

sembly to reconsider the bill and strike out the
third clause. Mr. Reales, the Chief Secretary,
moved accordingly that the clause be struck out.
A very spirited debate ensued, which will hereafter
form a chapter in the constitutional history of the
colony. An amendment was moved by Mr. Michie,
as follows :

" That this 11011813 declines to accede to the proposal con-
tained in the message of his Excellency the Governor, be-
Cause it is contrary to the spirit of the Constitution that
either the Council or the Governor should propose any alte-
ration in the Appropriation Bill."

This 'distinct assertion of a constitutional right
was carried against Ministers by a majority of 36
to 17, the minority consisting of the seven Mini-
sters and ten of their supporters, three of their
usual adherents having crossed the House and voted
against them.

On the following day the Legislature was pro-
rogued, and the Governor in his speech animad-
verted in strong terms on the above clause. He
said—

" I am bound, as Queen's representative, to protest
against the limitation you have imposed on the issues of the
supplies after the close of next month, unless Parliament be
then sitting. Conditions of this sort are totally at variance
with the usage of the mother country, since the true prin-
ciples of constitutional government were settled at the Revo-
lution nearly two centuries ago. In looking to the assurances
you have received on the point in question, both from myself
and my advisers, no political necessity can be pleaded for
the introduction here of so absolute, yet dangerous an expe-
dient. Mindful of the shock to the financial credit of the
country—of the injury to its public establishments, and of
the whispered distress among the labouring classes, which
the rejection of the Appropriation Act would entail, I have
refrained from complying with an alternative which the
strict line of duty would have justified ; but I confidently
trust that the good sense of this community will not suffer
such an attempt to coerce the Executive to be drawn into
a precedent, for disastrous as its future would have been,
as already pointed out, its success ultimately would prove
not more fatal to the prerogative of the Crown than the
liberties of the people.

Upon the conclusion of this sentence loud cries of
"No ! no !" proceeded from two or three members
of the Assembly at the bar of the Legislative Coun-
cil. If they had cried "Privilege ! privilege !" his
excellency would have been more forcibly reminded
that he was overstepping his constitutional func-
tions. A very strong feeling of indignation was ma-
nifest among the members of the Assembly, more
than is indicated by the words "No, no." There
was a good deal of excitement among them, and this
was more especially among those highest in social
position. On their return to their own Chamber,
where the printed copies of the speech were distri-
buted, it was openly torn by one excited member
and trampled under foot, and I have not the least
doubt that the Governor's conduct will be brought
before the new Assembly early next session.
And who will venture to say that his Excellency's
conduct has not been injudicious and unconstitu-
tional ? The message of the 2d July was a mistake.
It can only be constitutionally communicated on a
bill being presented to the Governor for her Ma-
jesty's assent." But the Appropriation Bill is only
presented by the Speaker on the last day of the
session, and was not, in fact, presented, until July 3d.
His Excellency could not be ignorant of this, because
he has been twice advised to resort to the expedient
to amend errors in bills presented to him, and once
a suggestion by the Legislative Council to get a line
in the Appropriation Act of 1858 amended by a
similar expedient was rejected on the express
grounds that the clause in the Constitution Act did
not apply. His Excellency cannot well have for-
gotten this, as it was on the occasion of his being
kept waiting for seven hours while the constitu-
tional point was under discussion. Moreover, at

the commencement of the speech is a most offensive
and unconstitutional expression. He speaks of the
vote of no confidence as " the recent action taken
by a majority of the Legislative Assembly having
rendered an appeal to the country desirable as the
only constitutional course available," &c. What
right has a Governor to speak of a vote of the House
as the action of the majority ? What ought he to
know of majorities or minorities ? A vote of the
House carried by a majority of one is as much the
vote of the house as one carried by 77 out of the 78
members. Then it was a wanton and unnecessary
misrepresentation to say that an appeal to the coun-
try was the " only" course. There was obviously
another course—the resignation of the Ministry.
There had been a debate in which the dissolution
had been condemned and the alternative was sug-
gested a dozen times, and a day or two afterwards
the Governor coolly tells the Assembly that disso-
lution was the only course. The speech no doubt
was prepared for the Governor by his advisers; but
he was not compelled to take their advice, and had
he declined to do so they could still have resigned.
His Excellency has certainly given to the present
Ministry a more cordial support than he has afforded
to any previous Ministry, though it is the least
competent and the least respectable of any which
we have as yet had. It has yielded to the clamours
of a section of the community in favour of selection
before survey. It has availed itself of a question-
able interpretation of the Land Sales Act to grant
occupation licenses without any reasonable prospect
of being able to collect the rents from the occu-
pants. It has given force and effect to what was a
very weak cry for protective duties. Individual
members of the Ministry have repeatedly encou-
raged the most vulgar prejudice against the re-

spectable classes of the community by sneering at
the " kid glove" and " broadcloth" aristocracy.
The financial policy, or rather no policy of the
Ministry, including originally a tax on imported
food, is a ft.ilure, and is likely to impair the credit
of the colony at home and abroad. If the dissolu-
tion should convert their minority into a majority,
nothing but the peculiar vitality of a new country
will save the financial condition of the country
from paralysis. What may be the result of the
elections cannot be foreseen. The protection doc-
trines of the Ministry alone ought to destroy them ;
but it is by no means certain that it will do so. The
result will depend in a great measure upon the hold
which the folly of protection has obtained on the
minds of the constituencies.
Since the prorogation the Ministry have lost
their ablest colleague, the Attorney-General. When
their financial scheme was brought before the
House and ignominiously rejected Mr. Ireland was
not in the Assembly, and he appears to have given
it a tacit assent. When the Speech was under

consideration he required that certain passages
_ _

favourable to protection should be omitted, and it
is understood that he succeeded by a threat of re-
signation. Since then he has become entitled to a
pension, but to give effect to his right regulations
are necessary to be framed by the Governor in
Council. Mr. Heales is opposed to these Ministe-
rial pensions, and declined to make the necessary
regulations. Mr. Ireland resigns on the ground
of his differences with his colleagues on the protec-
tion question. Of course, their view of the case is
that he resigns on the pension question. On this
question he has right on his side, and it is simply
an act of repudiation not to recognise it ; and there
is something of cowardice too. They feared that
promulgation of any regulations at this moment
would tell against them on the hustings. At the
present juncture they are unable to secure an At-
torney-General, and as Mr. Ireland must hold office
till his successor is appointed, it seems not unlikely
that he must be chained to the dead carcass of the
Ministry until they meet the Assemblyl
Serious disturbances have taken place in New
South Wales between the Europeans and Chinese
at a place called Lambing-flat, not far from Yas—a
township on the direct road between this colony
and Sydney. Months ago the Europeans evinced
a determination to expel the Chinese from that
locality. The Government of New South Wales
sent up some troops, and the Chief Secretary, Mr.
Cowper, visited the place. He made some speeches,
attended a complimentary dinner, and fancied he
had settled the question. The troops were then
withdrawn, and when he returned to Sydney he