The Sun.
London, England, 1861-07-12 00:00:00

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GOVERNMENT SECURITY LIFE POLICIES.
THE CONSOLS ASSOCIATION,
429, STRAND, LONDON.
1. Provides the Security of Consols for its Policies.
2. It lends, or returns to Insurers ON DEMAND at any time,
about One-half of all Premiums Paid.
Undoubted Security for Money with a liberal Rate of Inte-
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by several Hundreds of Shareholders. Full information may
be obtained on application to
THOMAS H. BAYLIS, Managing Director.

2HE CIVIL WAR IN AM RICA.

lie, with all their gold, their manufactures, and
their industry, crying out, " Pray give us more
cotton. All we ask is more." But here is the boat
stopping opposite Mr. Roman's—ex-Governor of
the State of Louisiana, and ex-commissioner from
the Confederate Government at Montgomery to the
Government of the United States at Washington.
Not very long ago he could boast of a very handsome
garden—the French Creoles love gardens—Ameri-
cans and English do not much affect them, but when
the Mississippi was low one fine day levee and gar-
den and all slid down the bank into the maw of the
river, and were carried off. This is what fs called
the " caving in " of a bank ; when the levee is
broken through at high water it is said that a " cre-
vasse" has taken place. The Governor, as he is
called—once a captain always a captain—has still a
handsome garden, however, though his house has
been brought unpleasantly near the river. His
mansion and the out offices stand in the shade of
magnolias, green oaks, and other Southern trees.
To the last Governor Roman was a Unionist, but
when his State went he followed her, and now he is
a Secessionist for life and for death, not extravagant
in his hopes, but calm and resolute, and fully per-
suaded that in the end the South must win.
As he does not raise any cotton, the conse-
quences for him will be extremely serious should
sugar be greatly depreciated ; but the consump-
tion of that article in America is very large, and,
though the markets in the North and West are
cut off, it is hoped, as no exported sugar can find its
way into the State, that the South will consume
all its own produce at a fair rate. The Governor is
a very good type of the race, which is giving way a
little before the encroachments of the Anglo-Saxons,
and he possesses all the ease, candid manner, and
suavity of the old French gentleman—of that
school in which there are now few masters or
scholars. He invited me to visit the negro quar-
ters. "Go where you like, do what you please,
ask any questions. There is nothing we desire to
conceal." As we passed the house, two or three
young women flitted past in snow-white dresses with
pink sashes, and no doubtful crinolines, but their
headdresses were not en regle—handkerchiefs of a
gay colour. These were slaves going off to a dance
at the sugar-house; but they were indoor servants,
and therefore better off in the way of clothes than
their fellow-slaves who labour in the field. On ap-
proaching a high paling et the rear of the house the
scraping of fiddles was audible. It was Sunday,
and Mr. Roman informed me that he gave his
negroes leave to have a dance on that day. The
planters who are not Catholics rarely give any such
indulgence to their slaves, though they do not
always make them work on that day, and sometimes
let them enjoy themselves on the Saturday afternoon.
Entering a wicket gate, a quadrangular enclosure,
lined with negro huts, lay before us. The bare
ground was covered with litter of various kinds,
amid which pigs and poultry were pasturing. Dogs
puppies, and curs of low degree scampered about on
all sides ; and deep in a pond, swinking in the sun,
stood some 30 or 40 mules, enjoying their day of
rest. The huts of the negroes belonging to the per-
sonal service of the house were separated from the
negroes engaged in field labour by a close wooden
paling ; but there was no difference in the shape and
size of their dwellings, which consisted generally of
one large room, divided by a partition occasionally
into two bedrooms. Outside the whitewash gave
them a cleanly appearance ; inside they 'iN ere dingy
and squalid—no glass in the windows, swarms of
flies, some clothes hanging on nails in the boards,
dressers with broken crockery, a bedstead of rough
carpentry ; a fireplace in which, hot as was the day,
a log lay in embers ; a couple of tin cooking utensils;
in the obscure, the occupant, male or female,
awkward and shy before strangers, and silent till
spoken to. Of course there were no books, for the
slaves do not read. They all seemed respectful to
their master. We saw very old men and very old
women who were the cankerworms of the estate,
and were dozing away into eternity mindful only
of hommony, and pig, and molasses. Two negro
fiddlers were working their bows with energy in
front of one of the huts, and a crowd of little chil-
dren were listening to the music, and a few grown-
up persons of colour—some of them from the ad-
joining plantations. The children are generally
dressed in a little sack of coarse calico, which
answers all reasonable purposes, even if it be not
very clean. It might be an interesting subject
of inquiry to the natural philosophers who follow
crinology to determine why it is that the hair
of the infant negro, or of the child up to six or
seven years of age, is generally a fine red russet,
or even gamboge colour, and gradually darkens into
dull ebon. These little bodies were mostly large-
stomached, well fed, and not less happy than free-
born children, although much more valuable—for
once they get over juvenile dangers, and advance
towards nine or ten years of age, they rise in value
to £lOO or more, even in times when the market is
low and money is scarce. The women wore not
very well-favoured, except one yellow girl, whose
child was quite white, with fair hair and light eyes ;
and the men were disguised in such strangly cut
clothes, their hats and shoes and coats were so won-
hey are fort the
those
happiest
won-
derfully made, that one could not tell what they
were like. On all faces there was a gravity which
must be the index to serene contentment and perfect
comfort,
whor a ought ue gvi hue tr
the t
to h
eworld.
know South,
best e s ttl
that
astruckt declared e
deep
dejection
tt
Leta
me more and more, as I examined the expression of
the faces of the slaves all
prevailing, if
physiognomist not universal,
g o and charac-
teristicsee o
of i s t
h hee race.
Here there were abundant
evidences that they were
well treated, for they had good clothing of its kind,
good food, and a master who wittingly could do
them no injustice, as he is, I am sure, incapable of
it. Still, they all looked exceedingly sad, and even
the old woman who boasted that she had held her
old master in her arms when he was an infant, did
not look cheerful, as the nurse at home would have
done, at the sight of her ancient charge. The pre-
cints of the huts were not clean, and the enclosure
was full of weeds, in which poultry—the perquisites
of the slaves—were in full possession. The negroes
rear domestic birds of all kinds, and sell eggs and
poultry to their
masters. The money they spend in
purchasing tobacco, molasses, clothes, and flour—
whisky, their great delight, they must not have.
Some 70 or 80 hands were quartered in this part of
the estate. The silence which reigned in the huts as
soon as the fiddlers had gone off to the sugar-house
was profound. Bafore leaving the quarter I was
taken to the hospital, which was in charge of an
old negress. The naked rooms contained several
flock beds on rough stands, and five patients, three
of whom were women. They sat listlessly on the
beds looking out into space ; no books to amuse
them, no conversation—nothing but their own dull
thoughts, if they had any- They were suffering from
pneumonia and swellings of the glands of the neck:;
one man had fever. Their medical attendant visits
them regularly, and each plantation has a practi-
tioner, who is engaged by the term for his services.
Negroes have now only a nominal value in the mar-
ket—that is, the price of a good field hand is as high
as ever, but there is no one to buy him at present,
and no money to pay for him, and the trade of the
slave-dealers is very bad. The menageries of the
gentlemen who advertise " Virginia negroes con-
stantly On sale, money advanced on all descriptions
of property," &c., must be full—their pockets
empty. This question of price is introduced inci-
dentally in reference to the treatment of negroes.
It has often been said to to me that no one will ill-use
a creature worth £3OO or £4OO, but that is not a
universal rule. Much depends on temper, and many
a hunting-field could show that if value be a gua-
rantee for good usage, the slave is mora fortunate
than his fellow chattel, the horse. If the growth
of sugar cane, cotton, and corn be the great end of
man's mission on earth, and if all masters were like
Governor Roman, slavery might be defended as a
natural and innocuous institution. Sugar and cot-

ton are, assuredly, two great agencies in this latter •
world. The older got on well enough without them.
The scraping of the fiddles attracted us to the
sugar-house—a large brick building with a factory-
looking chimney, where the juice of the cane is ex-
pressed, boiled, granulated, and prepared for the
refiner. In a space of the floor occupied by
machinery some 15 women and as many men were
assembled, and four couples were dancing a kind of
Irish jig to the music of the negro musicians—a
double shuffle and a thumping ecstasy, with loose
elbows, pendulous paws, and angulated knees,
heads thrown back, and backs arched inwards—a
glazed eye, intense solemnity of mien, worthy of
the minuet in "Don Giovanni." At this time of year
there is no work done in the sugar-house, but when
the crushing and boiling are going on the labour is
intense, and all the hands work in gangs night and
day ; and, if the heat of the fires be superadded to
the temperature in September, it may be conceded
that nothing but " involuntary servitude" could go
through the toil and suffering required to produce
sugar for us. This is not the place for an account
of the processes and machinery used in the manu-
facture, which is a scientific operation, greatly im-
proved by recent discoveries and apparatus.
In the afternoon the Governor's son came in from
the company which he commands. He has been
camping out with them, to accustom them to the
duties of actual war, and he told me that all his men
were most zealous and exceedingly proficient. They
are all of the best families around—planters, large
and small, their sons and relatives, and a few of the
Creole population, who are engaged as hoopers and
stavemakers. One of the latter had just stained his
hands with blood. He had reason to believe a culp-
able intimacy existed between his wife and his fore-
man. A circumstance occurred which appeared to
confirm his worst suspicions. He took out his fire-
lock, and meeting the man, he shot him dead with-
out uttering a word, and then delivered himself xp
to the authorities, It is probable his punishment
will be exceedingly light, as divorce suits and ac-
tions for damages are not in favour in this part of
the world. Although the people are Roman Ca-
tholics, it is by no means unusual to permit relations
within the degrees of consanguinity forbidden by
the Church to intermarry, and the elastic nature of
the rules which are laid down by the priesthood in
that respect would greatly astonish the orthodox

in Ireland or Bavaria. The whole of the planters
and their dependents along " the coast" are in arms.
There is but one sentiment, as far as I could see,
among then:), and that is,—" We will never submit
to the North." In the evening several officers of
M. Alfred Roman's company and neighbours came
in, and out under the shade of trees, in the twilight,
illuminated by the flashing fireflies, politics were
discussed—all on one side, of course, with general
conversation of a more agreeable character. The
customary language of the Creoles is French, and
several newspapers in French are published in the
districts around us ; but they speak English

7
r,..
which way was best. The young gbitiL -7.,::,
answer that the road they were oil 7,siiilfiVirsitk7,.7
they had come, and that they had bett:tect
lige
The father made no reply, but at the s Bib liken -.-..- 1"::1
turned his horse aside and went up a lankio tilt &;4
left, leading off the road. The lane was a lonely one;
there was no one about, nor any one visible when
they entered it, and the son, who had all along
felt a peculiar dread, said to his father that he could
not understand how they had gone up into that
lane. The baron made some reply about feeling
unwell, and asked his son to hold his horse while
he got off. The son did so, and inquired whether
he should ride on and fetch some brandy, but the
baron declined this with some haste, and said he
would go and pay a visit to the Due d'Aumale, and
then led the way down a lane to the right of
Orleans House. Here they met a woman, who
informed them they were going in a wrong direc-
tion. They retraced their steps, and again his
father led the way down another lane and then
another, which brought them to the back of Orleans
House by the stables. The son wondered, but ex-
pected there must be some reason for this. They
did not enter the house, but again turned on one
side, which led the young gentleman to suppose his
father was going up to the entrance. They got up
this lane, to where it turned almost at a right angle
facing a shady nook. The lane went on for a short
distance, and then made another turn at a similar
short angle. When the baron reached the spot he
halted his horse at the corner, and gave a scrutinis-
ing look both ways. No one was to be seen. The
young Alfred had ridden on, but his father's voice
SO3ll brought him back, as he told him they were
, all wrong, and must come back. The youth was
then on his father's left hand, and had only returned
a few paces when he felt a violent blow, and on
looking round to see whence it proceeded saw the
baron advancing upon him with his hand uplifted,
and something in it, preparing to strike him. The
blow fell a second time on the alarmed youth, and
the father was about to complete his diabolical
purpose by another and a finishing blow. The
youth's hat had fallen off. There was nothing to
save him. The murderer's blood was up. The poor
boy's forehead, cut and battered, was streaming
with gore. Impulse made him press on his horse,
and as the horse rose to the spur it caught theblow
on its head. That moment saved the youth's life,
101* he saw coming round the corner a man and a
worn"- Withillitastitit'S:clelayalle slipped or
fell from his horse;Yttned fewards :delay,
woman, and,.
in an agony of terror, poor youth! clung to her
knees, saying, " Oh protect me—save me.
The man was John Rivers, a labourer, and as he
was coming from Sion-row, down Orleans-road, he
had seen the two gentlemen riding up from the
Thames towards him. He saw the elder gentlemen
strike suddenly at the younger one, hit him on the
forehead with a whip (as he thought), the handle of
which was bright at the end that struck the poor
youth's face. He saw the young fellow's hat fal-
ling off, and heard him cry out, " Oh! don't, pray
don't ;" but the eldest advanced upon the younger,
and when the young man slipped off his horse and
ran forward, the elder gentleman ran forward too,
calling out " Hoy ! hoy ! here is your hat," and he
had almost caught the youth, but the latter ran,
and fell at the woman's feet, imploring aid, his fore-
head streaming with blood.
At this moment they had reached a spot where
was standing another man, John Evans, a barge-
man. He saw the young Alfred's face covered with
blood, and that he came crouching like some hunted
and terrified beast all shuddering for its life, cower-
ing down as he cried out " Help me ; protect me. ;
save me !" He saw, too, the Baron de Vidil (w ho
wore a white hat, and had a riding-whip in, his
hand) come, or rather run up, and ask in an agitated
manner—" What is it ? what has happened ?" and
the baron made a rush at a gate by the roadside
leading to a field down the Thames, and tried to get
over it, though John Evans told him there was no-
thing on the other side ; but, though he shook very
much, he still persisted, and in his haste and tre-
mulousness slipped as he got over and tore lais
hands with the hook nails that were on the hal) of
the gate, and went on two or three paces to be-
hind some shrubs. The young de Vidil was
bleeding profusely, and John Evans supporting
him. " Oh, lam so glad you are here," said:
the poor young man, "Do not, do not
leave me." " No, I'll not leave you," replied John
Evans ; " but how did it happen ?" The yorttle
opened his mouth to speak, but his eyes fixed avith
a terrified stare as he saw his father's eye steadily
Gazing on him, and he heard him murmur some-
thing' about a wall and a fall. And so they pro-
ceeded, supporting him bleeding, to the nearest
publichouse on the road. " Why did you get over
the gate ?" inquired John Evans of the baron. " To
fetch assistance," was the ready reply. " How did
it happen ?" inquired John Everett, another labourer,
who came up as he saw the group and the bleeding
man. " How did it happen ?" " Oh, the young gen-
tleman stood up in his saddle to look over a wall,"
was the father's reply, "and his horse reared, and
so he fell ; hut to John Evans he said the horse
shied and threw the boy against the wall.
They washed and bathed young Alfred's wounds,
and, to his terror, his father wished to assist in the
operation, but he became alarmed and clung to
John Evans and begged not to be left. Then a sur-
geon came, and to him he communicated his desire
that that gentleman's assistant should accompany-
him to town, for he dreaded a lonely journey and
a solitary night with that fearful man. The sur-
geon, Dr. Clarke, of Twickenham, who imagined
something was not as it should be, consented to the
proposal and saw it carried out. He examined the
wounds, which he considers to have been produced
by some weapon like a life-preserver, and declares.
that no fall from a horse or otherwise could have,
produced the same wounds as are on the head and.
forehead of the young Alfred John de Vidil.
The two horses meantime had been caught, and
blood was seen on the mane of one horse and on
the saddle. The baron accompanied his son to
ton n, and stayed with him, greatly to his terror,
until 12 at night; but the young man wc,uld not
part with the assistant, nor could any cleverness
on the part of the baron induce that trte sty assist-
ant to quit the side of his charge. Early T lest morn-
ing, convinced that his father's intention had been
to murder him, and conscious that his, life stood in
dangerous interposition between 1' father and
the enjoyment by that person of b is mother's for-
tune, the youth withdrew in . alarm from so
dangerous a vicinity, and went, r almost with the
morning's light, to his uncle's ho use in one of the
home counties. But even there / -is father seemed
to follow him, for a letter came tc 3 his uncle inform-
ing him of the accident, and how young Alfred had
fallen from his horse. But the young man told his
own story, and inquiry begat a to be made. The
baron, meanwhile, lived a th, a Clarendon, and last
Friday dined at the Travel) ,oertyist'ocCraeslit.ug,b in company
with several members of th a
Monday afternoon he was ar
the accusation of murder, .fl '
kforbnrhiffins
nesapseecitno rhTahnodr,nt
andon,
has
f theh dl Ye
1:t e°
.eg • f
detectives on his track.
five orced,clheeiclfa.e:whtOi2latdhne
thel
of evidence and supplied the: thye,pmicisesdinugp
ltihneksc.haiAn
party of detectives are now in Paris, but up to the
present time no tidings have been received of the
capture of the delinquent baron.. It would appear
that there is a flaw somewhere in the law for the
extradition of criminals between the two countries.
A Frenchman committing a crime in England, and
escaping to France, cannot, it is said, be claimed by
the country in which the crime was committed ;
but an Englishman committing any crime is given
up, because the laws he has offended are those of
his country. It remains, howerer, to be seen whe-
ther this difficulty will prevent A. de Vidil from
being placed at the bar of a cr;Lminal court in
this
country.

_ _—
MUNICIPAL JUSTICE AT CAli TERBURY.—Yeder-
day the Mayor (Mr. E. Flolttursa) and Messrs. Mount,
Masters, Trimwell, Philpott, arid T. S. Cooper (borough
justices) reviewed the decision o't the borough Bench of tho
previous Monday in the case of rrhonlas Godden, a little boy
only seven years of age, who was convicted of breaking the
George's. street, and ordered
windows of Mr. Grinder, in St..
to pay a fine of L 5 and the costs, or to be imprisoned for 21
days, as noticed in The Sun of Tuesday last. The magis-
trates consulted for some brae together in private, and, upon
the doors being thrown op'm for the admission of the public,
the boy and his father were called forward, when the Mayor
said,—Circumstances with regard to your boy having come
to the knowledge of the magistrates, they have determined
M
the insurance-office),, at whose insjanrCeKtheeyepsro(st u
not to enforce the puncshment,
been instituted, nowul informed the Bench that he had re-
ceived a letter fro the office, 'which he wished to lay ace at
igoen n ht had
be-
fore them. Alderman Masters—We have looked into the
document you 'handed in on Monday, and we find it not to
be law. Mr. "-erimmell—Besides,ithe penalty would have
gone to the.
Keyes—Then,
borough fund, and not to the office. Mr.
am I to write to say that the magistrates
have reverfed their conviction? Alderman Masters—We
shall not, enforce it. The matter then dropped.
LADNMRTISEMENT.] rills
and medicine invariably ag-
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in indifferent health sending only their address to E.
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Will receive gratis and free by post the " LIN-Amps' Ows
GITIDE," or Natural Restorer, without medicine or exl
penes, of perfect digestion, strong nerves, sound lungs, and
refreshing sleep, to the most enfeebled, insuring the removal
of indigestion (dyspepsia), constipation, liver complaints,
nausea, epilepsy, paralysis, debility, nervousness, Palpitatiot,
cough, asthma, Consumption, dropsy, flatulency, diarrh°3a,
dysentery, biliousness, fevers, sore throats, catarrhs, colds,
noises in the ears, rheumatism, gout, impurities,
eruptions,
hysteria, neuralgia, irritability, sleeplessness, acidity, palpi-
tation, heartburn, headache, despondency, cramps, spasms'
sinking, fits, bTonohitie.—"Unguestionably..the_sateit Golds
to healtlV!;