The Sun.
London, England, 1861-12-26 00:00:00

" It is already a grave question what shall be done with
those slaves who are abandoned by their owners on the ad-
vance of our troops into Southern territory, as at Beaufort
district, in South Carolina. The number left within our
control at that point is very considerable, and similar cases
will probably occur. What shall be done with them ? 'tan
we aftbrd to send them forward to their masters; ,o I%*
them armed against us, or used in producing supplies to
sustain the rebellion ? Their labour may be useful to us.
Withheld from the enemy, it lessens his military resources,
and withholding them has no tendency to induce the hor-
rors of insurrection even in the rebel communities. They
constitute a military resource, and being such, that they
should not be turned over to the enemy is too plain to dis-
cuss. Why deprive him of supplies by a blockade, and vo-
luntarily give him men to produce supplies. The disposition
to be made of the:slaves of rebels after the close of the war
can be safely left to the wisdom and patriotism of Congress.
The representatives of the people will unquestionably secure
to the loyal slaveholders every right for which they are en-
titled under the Constitution of the country."

Mr. Cameron has received the congratulations
and promises of support of the advanced Republi-
cans in Congress and out of it, and the words and
acts of the most influential members of both houses
certainly indicate a strong policy tending towards
abolition. Already it is proposed to abolish slavery
in the district of Columbia, and Mr. Sumner and
others have denounced in eloquent or. energetic lan-
guage the local police and prisons, which under a
system derived from Maryland, and inspired by
slavery, have been rendered subservient to the in-
terests of the slaveholders. It is stated, for instance,
that men who have gone off to Secessia, and are now
fighting the Federal troops inVirginia, coolly lodged
their slaves in gaol here, in order that they might be
kept safely for them till they came back, and
these said gaols are described as being disgraceful
to any semi-barbarous country. The police acting
on their old iinspirations and orders have received
a severe shock.

On Wednesday a letter was addressed by Mr.
Seward, under the direction of the President, to
General M'Clellan, calling his attention to the fact
that slaves coming within the terms of the Confis-
cation Act, and escaping within the military lines
of the army of the Potomac, were arrested by the
city police, " upon the presumption, arising from
colour, that they are fugitives from service and
labour." The President directs that escaped slaves
of the description referred to shall be regarded as
" received into the military protection of the
United States," and he threatens with " military
arrest" whoever shall undertake to seize such
\ slaves and deal with them as " fugitives from ser-

vice."

As General M'Clellan has issued an order in con-
formity with the instructions of Mr. Seward, it is
probable that the city police will abstain altogether
from arresting any coloured persons from Virginia,
and when the news is spread abroad Washington
will witness an extraordinary accession to its negro
population, already very numerous. The blacks
are beginning to bestir themselves, and to look for
better times. In the "City of Brotherly Love,"
they have sent round the following curious petition,
which throws some light on their social status in
Free States :
" To the Board of Managers of the various City Passenger

Cars.
" The coloured citizens of Philadelphia suffer very serious
inconvenience and hardship daily by being excluded from
riding in the city passenger cars. In New York city, and
in all the principal Northern cities, except Philadelphia,
they ride; even in New Orleans (although subject to some
proscription) they ride in the cars. Why, then, should they
be excluded in Philadelphia,—in a city standing so pre-emi-
nently high for its benevolence, liberality, love of freedom,
and Christianity as the City of Brotherly Love? Coloured
people pay more taxes here than is paid by the same class
in any other Northern city. The members of the Sucial
and Statistical Association, although numbering less than
50 members, pay annually about 5,000 dols. into the tax col-
lector's office. Therefore the undersigned respectfully peti-
tion that the various boards of the city passenger cars rescind
the rules indiscriminately excluding coloured persons from
the inside of the cars."
In Congress the Abolition sentiment is feebly
restrained by the expectation of future triumphs.
Mr. Breckinridge has been expelled by the body
from which he has already expelled himself, and Mr.
Burnett was similarly treated in the Lower House.
Abolition petitions and speeches have been pre-
sented and made. A motion, which will be carried
in an amended form, has been received with favour
for the appointment of a committee to inquire into
the cause of the disasters at Bull's•run and elsewhere,
but an attempt made by Mr. Lane to include Gen.
Fremont's conduct in reference to the defeat of
Gen. Lyon and the surrender of Lexington was not
agreed to. Colonel Miles, who was found guilty of
intoxication at the battle of Manassas by a Court
of Inquiry, which decided that he ought not to be
punished for the offence, is not to escape so readily,
and a resolution to investigate his case, moved by
Mr. Grimes, was adopted in the Senate yesterday
(Thursday, Dec. 5). Mr. Trumbull made a long and
strong speech in bringing in a bill to the Senate
for the confiscation of slaves and other property of
Confederates, a report of which will be found in the
American journals. Mr. Gurley made a flank
attack on the military authorities in the House of
Representatives by a resolution, to be referred to
the Judiciary Committee, to inquire into the censor-
ship of the press in the capital as exercised in the
transmission of telegraphs, and to ascertain if it
had not been perverted to prevent just comment
and criticism under the pretence of withholding in-
formation from the enemy. The House eventually
resolved itself into a committee to consider the
State of the Union.
With a bad grace the President will be forced
at last to accede to an exchange of prisoners by
popular feeling, but the condemnation of Mr. Slidell
and Mr. Mason to a fellon's cell will not facilitate
their approaches. It is quite out of the power of
the Northern mind to comprehend how deeply the
Yankees are detested by the Confederates, and how
desperate is their resolve to be free from any inter-
course or connexion with them. The expeditions
along the coast exasperate the bold, while they
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