The Sun.
London, England, 1861-06-14 00:00:00

Doors open at halt past 6—Commence at 7.

ASTLEY'S ROYAL AMPHITHEATRE.-
THIS EVENING, the most successful Spectacle ever
produced, MAZEPPA, with splendid scenery and stately
effects. To be followed by the Rocky Mountain Wonders
and SCENES in the CIRCLE. Concluding with the Panto-
mime Ballet entitled JOCKO, the Brazilian Ape. Reduced
prices. Doors open at half-past 6.

CANTERBURY -HALL CONCERTS
AND FINE ARTS GALLERY.

EVERY EVENING,

Two Grand Selections from celebrated Operas, including
Verdi's new Opera. THE BAL MASQUE (first produced
In England and only to be heard at this Establishment), with
a Chorus of Forty Voices, and upon a scale unequalled at any
other Concerts.

Miss Russell, Miss Ernst, Mr. Greville, Mr. Herbert, Signor
Tivoli, Mr. Bernard ; the popular Solos on the Cornet-a-
piston, by Mr. Levy (the first performer of the day) ; the
Brothers Conrad (in an entirely new and original entertain-
ment on the double rope, not to be seen elsewhere); con-
tinued success of Mr. Wood and his talented little Son.
The Comic Department comprises the following favourites :
—Mr. Marshall, Mr. Hollingsworth, Mr. Blanchard, and
numerous other artistes.

Re-appearance at these Concerts of Mrs. Lawrence.
Mnsic,alDirector, Mr. JONGHMANS.

OXF 0 R
6, OXFORD-STREET.
Mr. LEVY, undoubtedly the best performer of the day on
the Cornet-a-Piston—Grand Selections (on the most complete
scale) from Dinorah, Martha, Stradella, dr.c., and other vocal
and instrumental music, by Miss Russell, the Misses Stuart,
and Miss Ernst Messrs. Charles Greville, Fornari, Kimber-
ley, Bernard, Beaumont, Bervon, Hnish, Signor Tivoli, and
)fr. Henry Herbert, with full band and powerful and selected
chorus, conducted by Mr. F. Jonghmans.—The following
Comic talent, Messrs. W. Randall, J. Blanchard, W. H. Wie-
land, Hollingsworth, E. Marshall, Harvey, and French, and
the Brothers Conrad in their latest and best entertainment,
every evening. Admission, Hall, sixpence; Balcony and
Stalls, one shilling. Private Boxes, 10s. 6d.

T H E

HIGH WATER AT LONDON BRIDGE.
Tins DA.y.—Morning, Oh. 37m.—Afternoon, sh. 58m.
To-moßnow.-Morning, 6h. 24m.—Afternoon, 6h. 50m.

THB WEATHER.—SUN OFFICE, JuNE 14, 1561.
THERMOMETER, IN THE SHADE.
73—highest since noon yesterday,:
58—lowest this morning and during the night.
76—this day at noon.

BAROMETER-30.13; falling.
WIND—S.-Easterly—fresh ; with fino summer weather.

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THE SUN.
LONDON, FRIDAY, JUNE;I4, 1881.

It is gratifying to see that the intelligence of the
Northern States is not wholly overborne by the
anti-Southern fury of the hour. Our readers have
seen that speakers and writers in the North, and

even at Washington, have joined in denouncing
England, with whom they must now associate
France, because our Government acknowledges
the Seceded States as belligerents. A course quite
in accordance with all precedent, as certainly as it
is in accordance with humanity. The object of
such an acknowledgment simply being to spare us
the cruelty of treating Southerners at sea, more
especially with letters of marque, as hostes generis
humani. Both England and France stand per-
fectly neutral; they forbid privateers with their
prizes from entering the harbours of either country ;
they prohibit their subjects from enlisting., and

refuse to protect them from any consequences of

doing so ; but they decidedly refuse to treat the
crews of Mr. JEFFIRSON'S privateers as pirates, and
this neutral, yet humane, policy it is which has
called forth such denunciation in the North, and
is spoken of as hostility on our part.
One of the moat respectable journals, how-
ever, in New York has thought it time to
put down this unreasonable hot-blooded jar-
gon, and has done it in a style which must
give a : quietus to these foolish] talkers. The
writer turns the tables so completely upon the
wrongheads that he chews the opposite course could
only be demanded of our Government, on the
assumption that England might be umpire in the
strife ! If she is required to condemn one side it
implies that she is warranted in judging of the
right and wrong of the quarrel. "If," he says, "we
were to insist upon her judging of the contest, we
should admit her right ofjudging. If she has a right
to decide on this as a question of principle, then
we must consent to her deciding as she may judge
fit, for we cannot insist that she shall form a judg-
ment only on condition of its being in our favour."
Bather hard this for men to digest who took pains
to let Lord LYONS know that his mediation could
not be accepted before he had ever thought of. the
offer.

He shows that Southern privateers could only be
regarded as such or as pirates ' • that England could
not regard the Southern movement as a mere riot
or !local disturbance, and must
rthereforeth er sh
odealw shows
with both as belligerents, He
that acknowledging the South as fu
belligerents, in-
volves the more important point of acknowledging
the right of blockade on the part of the Northern,
In America this argument has great weight,since
it must be remembered the Americans, in the case
of the King of NAPLES, asserted the principle that
no power could blockade its own ports ! If, there-
fore, the Americans themselves do not regard the
South as out of their power—as belligerents to be
vanquished—they could not, on their own principles
blockade the Southern ports !

He further shows, that unless the Southern
privateers are regarded as the ships of belligerents,
the Washington Government must be held
responsible for any insult or violence they
might offer to our flag. But we reed
not particularise or comment further. We
Commend the article itself to all our readers inte-
rested in the subject; that is, we suppose, to nearly
all of them. We have not for some time seen so
much calm good sense, and such just appreciation
and conduct in anything from the other side of the
water. We trust it reflects the influential mind of
the North.

Another " Little War" we are now well rid of:
namely, the war in New Z.:Aland. HAPURONA and
NGATIAWA, the rebel chiefs, having refused to
give in even after the time allowed to them for
calm reflection, between the 13th and 15th of
Ma3ch—hostiiities appear to have once more,
but happily for the last time, recommenced.
A contest, it has been from first to last
of the most unequal kind a contest,
namely, between the half-naked forces of barba-
rism and the disciplined troops of a race foremost
in the ranks of modern civilisation. Our only
justification, in fact, at all, for taking part in this
conflict is the
simple and glaring truth that we,
not been the aggressors.
at any rate, have
The struggle was forced upon the English autho.

rities out in New Zealand by the lawless audacity
of the native tribes or aborigines. And therefore,
in reality, it became obvious from the com-
mencement, even to the more humane, that the most
generous course that could by possibility
be . pursued, was the right onward course
leading us, in the most direct manner, to the
termination of the hostilities begun by the Maories
and the Waikatos.

A last attempt, however, was made,
it appears, by Governor BROWN at the
eleventh hour to bring the rebels, if possible, to
their senses, and to prevent the further effusion
of blood. " For twelve months," wrote his Excel-
lency, addressing himself to HAPURONA and
NGATIAWA, immediately prior to the close of the
armistice ending on the 15th of March, " you have
been carrying arms against her Majesty the
QUEEN and the authority of the law. You have
now laid down your arms, and expressed your
desire for peace. Believing you to be sin-
cere, I have come from Auckland for the purpose of
stating the terms upon which it will be granted,
and upon which her MAJESTY'S gracious pardon and
protection will be extended to you." General
BROWN then enumerates the conditions in the
manner following :—" 1. The investigation of
the title and the survey of the land at Waitara
to be continued and completed without inter-
ruption. 2. Every man to be permitted to
state his claims without interference, and my de-
cision, or the decision of such persons as I shall ap-
point, to be conclusive. 3. All the land in possession
of her MAJESTY'S forces belonging to those who
have borne arms against her MAJESTY to be disposed
of by me as I may think fit. 4. All guns belonging
to the Government to be returned. 5. All plunder
taken from the settlers to be forthwith restored. 6.
The Ngatiawa who have borne arms against the Go-
vernment must submit to the QUEEN and to the
authorities of the law, and not resort to force for the
redress of wrongs, real or imaginary. 7. As I did
not use force for the acquisition of land, but for the
vindication of the law and for the protection of her
MAJESTY'S native subjects in the exercise of their
just rights, I shall divide the land which I have
stated my intention to dispose of amongst its
former owners, but I shall reserve the sites of the
blockhouses and redoubts, and a small piece of land
round each, for the public use, and shall exercise
the right of making roads through the Waitara
district." And his Excellency adds pointedly—still
addressing himself to HAPURONA and NGATIAWA
—" On your submission to these terms you will
come under the protection of the law, and enjoy
your property, both lands and goods, without
molestation," All his pacific and conciliatory ad-
vances, however, prove ineffectual. The terms are
not accepted—the 15th of March arrives—
the stipulated period set apart for the time draws
to a conclusion, and hostilities are recommenced.
The result is exactly what alone could have
been anticipated. Our English soldiers to the
number of 370—men of the 57th and 65th
Regiments—advance to the front and are
there divided into working parties and
coverers. The sap is resumed—the principal sap
leading to Te-Arei. A branch sap from ore of the
redoubts (No. 8) is carried onward to sweep the
rifle pits excavated along the very verge of the
valley. Before the morning of the 15th has well
commenced, indeed it is only yet 7 a.m., there
arrives from Waitara Captain MERCER, of the
Royal Artillery, and sixty of his artillerymen,
bringing with them THREE ARMSTRONG GUNS and
two 8-inch and two 10-inch mortars! Unconscious
of the awful import of all this, the insensate savages
haul down the white flag from the Maori staff in
token of the truce having come to an end, and send
fluttering up to the staff-head the blood-red war flag.
"In a few minutes," we read in the accounts
just brought to us, "it (the blood-red war-flag) was
lowered, and one solitary shot from the natives
invited to the combat." JAMEY has by that time
donned his war-paint, and strides forth
to view no longer the peaceful JACREY, but
transformed, brandishing his war-spear, whooping
his war-whoop, the terrible, or if not exactly ter-
rible, the singularly picturesque KALINGALUNGA !
But—confronting him—there are those two eight-
inch and two ten-inch mortars, and, worst of all,
those three deadly Armstrongs. " Our fire
was excellent"—we read with a shudder—
" and fearfully destructive." It continued
through all Saturday and through the Sunday fol-
lowing, up to five o'clock, the natives yielding then
at last for good and all, and sending up the white
flag once more in token of submission. Three
hundred out of 1,500 men are destroyed,
the Waikatos have retreated, WIREMU KINGI
has withdrawn, and the terms laid down
by his Excellency are finally accepted by HAPU-
RONA. And so terminates this last of our "little
wars"—would that events might prove it to be, in
truth, the last of them, and that, by thus sedu
lously guarding against their recurrence, we might

apply the crowning tribute of the national grati-
tude to the memory of the Great Duke of WEL-

LINOTON.

The wish expressed by Mr. ROEBUCK, in the
debate on the Affirmation Bill of Sir JOHN TRE-
LAWNY, was a perfectly fair one. "He should
like," he said, "to have the question, whether an
oath was any guarantee for speaking the truth,
fairly argued. Many a trustworthy man had
been put aside because he conscientiously refused to
take an oath ; and one who took the oath, without
the least intention of adhering to it, was allowed
to give his evidence. That some modification of
the
present system was required was evident."
Mr. ROEBUCK proceeded to argue some important
aspects of the
question in a very convincing man-
, ner ; of course, argument could be of little avail
when a Home Secretary, of whom we might ex-
pect, from his acquaintance • with the laws of his-
torical evidence, better things, took the side of all
the legal and Conservative •
prepidce for things as
they are; yet Mr. ROEBUCK Was
not answered.
spite He put the case of the person who, in of the
unpleasantness of facing public reprobation, yet
confessed to disbelief of a future state of rewards
and punishments—he might have added, Who,
also, as in the recent case at Rochdale, acknowledged
it to the failure of justice in her own case; and
compared it with that of the unbeliever who cared
so little about truth as to profess belief without
having it, in which case the jude would have no
alternative but to admit the evidence. The:truth-
speaker in this very likely case is rejected from
the witness-box—the liar admitted. " Your rule i
of law," exclaimed Mr. ROEBUCK, " excludes the
trustworthy man, and accepts one who is not
trustworthy." This argument no one met, though
it was of course easy for routine lawyers and rou-
tine legislators to vote it bad.

But surely there must be some tolerably clear
principle which should be our clue to escape from
all the windings and turnings of the legal laby-
rinth into which the House was led on Wednesday.
One clue, if honourable members could but clear
their minds a little on the subject of religious liberty,
might be sufficient. If we fairly followed out the
principle that no man should suffer civil damage,
or privation of any civil privilege, on account of his
religious belief, this would conduct us to a_right

conclusion. The House already sees so far as to
own that if a man have a religions scruple
against taking an oath, he may be relieved from
taking it. This scruple is indulged in both criminal
and civil cases in regard to Quakers and certain
specified sects, and, in regard to civil cases only, the
judge may allow all persons who have a religious
scruple against taking an oath to make an affir-
mation. A rather misty horizon this to limit the
vision of our elite 658. Affirmation being sufficient
precaution for truthfulness in one large class of
cases, but not in the other half. Sectarianism is
held equivalent to an oath in criminal cases, while
accordance with the sectarian opinion on the part of
a person who does not belong to the non-swearing
sect, does not give his affirmation the value of an
oath ; no, not even should he bear on his
person the marks of violence which could be in-
flicted only by a weapon belonging to the villain
who had attempted to mutilate and rob him! How
can all this square with the ready professions of
' every member of sincere respect for religious liberty.
The fact is, our legislators were mystified by
the argument that by the present bill it was not
proposed to meet religious scruples, but defect of
religion. The Home Secretary rested the weight
of his opposition to the bill on this argument. In
the cases in which relief is now given, he argued,
in fact, that there was a surplus of belief—the ob-
jectors were too scrupulous—religious over much;
a state of mind which has worked intolerable mis-
chiefs and cruelty in the world ; still excess of re-
ligious scruple, it is supposed, (especially with the
penalties for perjury to keep it sober) might be
trusted ; but who could trust the word of a man
without any religious faculty—or whose religious
sentiments, if so they can be called, evaporate into
Atheism, or are attenuated into Pantheism ? The
member for Berks, Mr. WALTER, reduces such per-
sons to the same category as Americans do their
slaves—they want, he says, the distinguishing cha-
racteristic between the man and the brute. Ac-
cording to the oracle from the Dordona of Bearwood,
it might be worthwhile for a commission of surgeons
to examine the person of Mr. HOLYOAKE, and ascer-
tain whether in body as well as in mind they could
not find in him an illustration of the development
theory—whether Fleet-street would not furnish
an example of progress from the Gorilla to the
subdivision as we should now think it—BIMANA
Cuv. We cannot stay—indeed, it is not our pro-
vince—to argue theologically or metaphysically—
but we would ask these objectors a question or two.
Do they, or do they not believe in moral sentiments,
instincts, or faculties—we care little about the term
employed—or not; and do they believe in them as
a part of human nature ? If they do, then we ask
how can they be sure of those instincts being dead
even in the heart of an avowed Atheist ? The
truth is those sentiments are indestructible. They
may be dormant in the mind of a Theist as well as
of an Atheist ; but believers in a God and in the
Bible must believe in the moral nature of man, and
ought to trust it.
To return, however, to the more appropriate
ground of the secular journalist, we desire to point
out the clue which ought, we think, to guide our
legislators ; it has been furnished them indeed long
ago, and like almost all other legal proposals of the
same great thinker, it must be accepted sooner or
later—the rule to let every witness give his evi-
dence, leaving it to a jury to estimate its value. The
jury will rarely fail to do this easily enough under
the guidance of an English bar and an English
bench. The most lying and perjured witness on
earth may be of material service. It generally
requires extraordinary skill to concoct a self-consis-
tent lie, and probably did not a too lazy practice of
relying on what is sworn to, interfere, the cases
would be few indeed in which falsehood could be
palmed off for truth in an English Court.
It would be open to counsel to question
witnesses on their religious belief so far as
it affected their veracity —it would be
open to them to adduce evidence that their avowed
religious opinions were such as would, in the opinion
of the jury, impeach their credibility. The folly
lies in rejecting any evidence whatever on account
merely of a person's character, instead of letting
character and evidence go to the jury together. We
do this now continually in the case of witnesses who
have taken oaths. There should be one clear rule
for all witnesses.
Perhaps to conciliate the timid a little—those we
mean who think speaking the truth entirely depen-
dent on the selfish fear of future punishment—it
might be allowable to double the punishment in this
world of persons who "ginned" falsely, or who dis-
believed the existence of a God and of future punish-
ments. If we accept Mr. WALTER'S natural history
of man and beasts, yet even the YAHOOS would be
amenable to fear, and in prospect of heavy penal-
ties would refrain from saying " the thing which is
not." Anything the advocates of swearing please,
only let them not deprive us of evidence which we
can turn at least to some account.

Elsewhere in our columns this evening will be
found a letter from Mr. W. H. BARBER. It
is a statement of his case—very frankly put by
himself—eminently worthy of consideration. It
explains in the clearest manner possible, the way
in which he received the £5,000 already
paid over to him by her MAJESTY'S Government.
That instalment, as we may at once call it, of the
pecuniary compensation due to him from the Go-
vernment,was paid not so very long ago, as many may
have been led to imagine. In effect, Mr. BARBER
only received the money in 1859, then giv-
ing a receipt for it, as he tells us now, simply
in acknowledgment of that amount. In the very
next session, that is no further back than last year
(18G0) his claim for a final settlement was brought
forward in the House of Commons by Sir FITZROY
KELLY, Lord I)ERBY's late Attorney-General.
The validity of the claim in itself is as
clear as anything of the kind could
well be. Mr. BARBER is endeavouring—
not to make money out of his misfortunes, but—
simply to be reimbursed by the State to the extent
of the money he himself has been actually com-
pellea to pay away, by reason of the State's unjust
condemnation and fearful punishment of him,
while heed haveuohbimtself was all the while a perfectly
innocent man ! The case is so clear, in fact,
that
wilot t ,
tthhaatt cannot
BARBER'S a have,
demand
onem
foro -
compensation. will be yet allowed by the House of
Commons—an act of simple justice being thereby
done by her MAJESTY'S Government.
E

e new . ,ast Indian Loanßill,
involving an
advance of another £4,000,000 sterling, last night
duly passed through Committee in the House of
Commons. Not, however, without eliciting the
avowal of many objections to it from those who
(like Col. SYKES) find reason to distrust Mr. LAING's
budget, and to condemn his estimate of expenditure,
as framed upon a scale marked by its extravagance,
as well as from those who (like Sir HENRY
WILLOUGHBY) find it difficult not to express
grievous apprehension that great complications
must arise from mixing up railway matters with
the sufficiently complex and problematical
subject of General Indian Finance. Upon
the reasonableness of this last-mentioned class
of objections we have already ourselves