The Sun.
London, England, 1868-02-10 00:00:00

'THE SUN, LONDON, MONDAY EVENING, FEBRUARY 10, 1868.

wltlich have recently occurred in the diplomatic re- '
lations be'.ween the countries may afford the oppor-
tunity o'2 establishing more cordial relations between
the GOvernments, and that the new Ministers on
either side may, on their parts, be careful to soothe
rathe r than to irritate the sensitive feelings of the
riva2 nationalities. Happily the great increase of
inter course between the people of late years has
done much to prepare the way to a better mutual
understanding. When there is such constant dis-
cussion going on in both countries with respect to
the: conduct of the principal leading statesmen and
to the chief events of the day there is less proba-
bility of giving or taking offence. Formerly the
excitement of the moment and the conflict of parties
died out in the States before the Americans read
English criticisms or comments, and we all know
how misplaced and exaggerated the comments of
the time appear after date. Congress, indeed, is still
inclined to bestir itself on behalf of Fenianism, and
the bill concerning the rights of naturalised citi-
zens abroad has been reported by the Committee
of Foreign Affairs to the House of Representatives.
The Senate has adopted a resolution asking the
PRESIDENT for information relative to the trial of
Father M'AlatioN and Colonel LYNCH by the
British authorities. Of Fenianism itself we hear
little or nothing, but the same old story is repeated
from the Southern States. Disputes between civil
and military governors, outbreaks by negroes,
feuds between black and white, and extravagances
committed by rival conventions occur in new forms.
The legal authorities are brought in on both sides
to support claims or decide differences, but at pre-
sent the status of judges and counsellors, like every
thing else, is uncertain. The Attorney-General of
Maryland has given his opinion against the Civil
Rights Bill, which he declares to be unconstitu-
tional ; and Governor JENKINS, of Georgia, who
was displaced from his office, has arrived in Wash-
ington, with the intention, it is said, of applying to
the Supreme Court for a writ of reinstatement in
the Governorship. Gen. MEADE, however, seems
disposed to consider himself superior to all other
authorities. He has now removed the State Secre-
tary of Georgia, and appointed a military successor.
He has also issued a circular declaring that all Con-
vention ordinanceslegalised by him arc to be enforced
as Statelaws by the civil courts. Judging from the
specimens we have already had of the legislation of
these Conventions, the public will not gain much
by this circular. We find a sample of their mode-
ration in the views which we publish to-day. The
Louisiana Convention has adopted an ordinance
disfranchising and disqualifying from holding office
all felons and all members of the Legislature and
national State officers who participated in the re-
bellion or aided it ! The terms of this ordinance
evidently imply that felons and rebels are on
much the same level ! In Connecticut the
Convention has adopted a different course,
strongly supporting the PRESIDENT and de-
nouncing Congress. Tennessee, Maryland, and
Kentucky, have sent petitions to the Senate, de-
precating the withdrawal of the Freedmen's Bureau.
In Mississippi a gang of armed negroes have been
attacking the police, and some deaths were the
consequence. The financial condition of the States
is, under these circumstances, not very likely to im-
prove. The uncertainty of affairs in the South is
sufficient of itself to embarrass the Treasury, and we
find that in the month of January alone the public
debt increased nine million dollars. The cash in the
Treasury during the same period has shown a de-
crease of £10,000,000, owing principally to the
payment of the January coupons of the Five-
Twebity Bonds. it is evident that so long as the
Radicals hold the reins there is little hope for the
American taxpayer. On the contrary, the na-
tional burdens will continue to grow heavier and
heavier. Possibly this great evil may be produc-
tive of good, since Americans will be sensible of
the force of this argument when no other will be
equally convincing.

The terrible stories of the middle passage, which
have so often appalled and startled English readers
in the old days of the slave trade, have found a
parallel in the present day in the case of a German
emigrant ship. The number of emigrants from
Germany to America is often very large, and in
consequence the greed for gain overrules every
other consideration. The unfortunate emigrants are
crammed into wretched and unseaworthy vessels,
without any attempt to preserve health or even
decency among the passengers. Laden heavily to
the water's edge, these miserable ships occupy an
unheard-of time on the passage ; and the quality
and quantity of the food and water
served out to the passengers is in keep-
ing with the deficiency of ventilation and
space. The Leibnitz, which has just returned from
New York after completing her voyage thither from
Hamburg in seventy days, was a specimen of these
emigrant ships. On the 2d of November she left
Hamburg for New York with 541 passengers
on board, one hundred and five of whom she
left midway under the waters of the Atlantic.
After reading the accounts given by the Commis-
sioner at the port and others, instead of wondering
that nearly one-fifth of the wretched emigrants
perished, we can only be surprised that so many
survived their sufferings. During the whole
voyage not a window was opened, and in the
lower steerage there was no attempt at
ventilation. Planks had been laid over the lower
beams, beneath which the bilge water collects, and
close by which were stowed large quantities of
hides. The compound odours of this place must
have been wellnigh intolerable, and, indeed, the
captain admits that lanterns, which were hung
there in the vain attempt to light it, would
not burn from the badness of the air.
One hundred and fifty passengers were crowded
down here, and here they died by the dozen. The
rations were not only short, but bad. Half a pint
of water daily was given to each passenger, and
this while herrings were served out twice a week
instead of meat 1 Sick and well, if any could be well,
were served alike. There was no medical officer
on board the floating pandemonium, and the scanty
medicine chest was soon exhausted. Even the dead
were neglected, their corpses being often left in the
hold for twenty-four hours after death. When the
examining officer went on board at New York he
asked some little children for their parents, when
the poor little orphans pointed, crying, to the sea,
and said, " Down there 1"
The filthiness of the ship as described by this
officer was something terrible, and if the object had
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The preparations for the launch of the ironclad
frigate Hercules to-day at Chatham dockyard, in
the presence of Mr. Corry, First Lord of the Ad
miralty, and other members of the Board, were
completed by the workmen on Saturday afternoon.
The launch will be made at about two o'clock this
afternoon.

i.,I,I4.7tONDENCE FROM PARIS.

(rnou OUR OWN CORRESPONDENT. j'
nut's, SUNDAY, Feb. O.
Icy IOD to 35 votes, the Corps L6gislatif has decided to
.tinue the trial of press offences by judges unaided b 5

ics. Your readers know that this means that very few
fenders will escape. When one gets through the meshes
the judicial net it will be worth while celebrating the
ent, as was done in 1822, I think, when the Consti-
lioancl thus escaped—Paris was illuminated. Thiers,
artel, Picard, and Jules Favre pleaded for the jury, but
aroche and Pinard defended the existing rule, and that
as, of course, accepted by the Chamber. This decision,
owever, does not prevent a great interest being felt in the
3otion of DI. Berryer, which will demand that the desig-
ation of the magistrates charged to try these offences
1141 not be special for that purpose, but shall be taken in
',e ordinary course. Of course I\l. Berryer will be de-
e motion ought to be made. The Opposition
,utly resisted the clause which interdicts the exiled

,urhons from publishing anything in the French papers ;

nit in vain. This is shabby, to say the least ; for even
miler the Bourbons political prisoners were allowed to
vrite,eas they did frequently. To quote Napoleon 111.,
' The exile may be calumniated without the power to
Tply ;he may suffer, but he must not complain. Justice

. _
ITs not exist for him." The author of " Id4es Napo-
6onniennes," himself an exile, enjoyed what is denied to the
);thished princes. To-morrow M. Peyrat goes as prisoner
Sainte-Pelagie, to take his month for a press offence.
~.!t us hope he will be the last man of culture in this land

freedom that will suffer in such an odious fashion.

The attempts of alarmists to make capital of the events
r Roumania and Service have failed. The Etendard has
iovi reason to believe that the alleged mustering of armed
pands in the Principalities for the purpose of invading
ulgaria lvf:s a fabrication. Nothing of the kind has taken
,)] ace.

Is it true that the great weight on trade has been
?olitical uncertainty? It would seem so. No sooner does

lie balance of eventualities return to a staple equilibrium

than business improves. There is evidence of improve-
ment in Paris, and reason to hope that it will continue. It
s sometime, certainly, since we could count on peace so
lonn de ntly.

Our hopes as to a speedy settlement of the Schleswig

inestion are again disappointed. According to a telegram
From Constantinople, there is no prospect of a settlement

yet a while. The difference of views between Denmark
and Trussia, especially in respect to the guarantees to be

'given as to the treatment of the Ge_Aaans in North
Schleswig, are said to be very great.

According to the Liberte, the Minister of War of the
Pontifical States has just ordered 6,000 breech-loading
rifles in England.

A curious ,story is told, on the authority of Dr. N6laton,
about the Minister of the North German Confederation.
He is reported to be improving very rapidly from the
effects of the operation he had to undergo recently. A
few days ago he was determined to see how far he had
recovered his speech. He rang for his valet, and on his
entering the room attempted to address him in German.
Not a word would the tongue utter of his native language.
He tried French, and, mirabile dicta! he could speak nearly
as well as ever. This comes, plainly, from the operation
having been performed with a French knife. Of course he
will stick to la belle langue.

The sitting of the geographical Society on Friday
evening was very interesting. M. Raynal read an
account of an involuntary Njourn which he and five other
shipwrecked companions made for nine months on one of
the Auckland Islands. M. Raynal got to New Zealand
by a craft built by his own hands.

Prussia is earnestly following up her purpose to become
a naval Power. Besides the ports in the North Sea, she
will soon have an arsenal and a military port in the
Baltic. The works at Kiel are being pushed on with
vigour, and the building of a cuirassed frigate is expected
obe commenced there shortly. The Jande military port
will, all being well, be completed this year, and Germany
will Mien possess for the first time in her history a place
of refuge for her shipping capable of serious defence.
It is reported at Berlin that about a month before the
battle of Mentana the Prussian Government signed an
instrument which formally guaranteed the integrity of
Italy. The Havas Agency, however, has been instructed
to contradict this rumour.

Russia seems to be relenting of her conduct towards
Poland. At any rate the Russian papers have suddenly
Peered round and begun to use the language of commi-
seration towards the unhappy Poles. This expression of
amiable and conciliatory sentiments is, of course, done to
order. It is noticed also that three of the Polish nobles
who have been loyal, hut at the same time Liberal, have
been summoned to St. Petersburg to confer with the
Government on some matter which is supposed to be of
great political importance. As yet we have only the.
words ; the acts of the Russian Government alone can
sliew if their late repentance is sincere.

" A Bristol Taxpayer " comments in the Times on the
letter of Lieutenant Prideaux, one of the captives at
Magdala, published a few days ago. Lieutenant Pride:tin
was amused at " the ignorance of the country displaye,:
by some of the newspaper correspondents," and in hi,
opinion " 3,090 men would have been amply sufficient " for
the rescue of the captives. If this be so, we have sent out
a force six times too large, and hence it comes to pass that
the water supply alone, at the rate of £4,000 per day, is
costing as much as the entire expedition need to have cost.

There are various items of election news. At Cambridge
University both Mr. Beresford Hope and Mr. Cleasby are
carrying on as energetic a canvass as the forms of that dis-
tinguished constituency will allow. In Lambeth, Mr.
Hartwell, who has offered himself as a working-claw
representative, has been recommended at a public meet-
ing of electors as a fit and proper person to sit for that
large and wealthy constituency. Another candidate for
the representation of Lambeth has made his appearance.
This is Mr. Alison, the principal partner in the firm of
Alison, Merry, and Cunningham, ironmasters, Glasgow.
On retiring in 1844 from the active management of
the extensive ironworks is Lanarkshire and Ayrshire,h-
travelled over the greater part of Europe and Asia, and
in 1860 published his " Philosophy of History and Civili
sation." He is president of the Church Reformation
Society and chairman of the Currency Reform Associa-
tion, which advocates the establishment of a State Bank
of Issue.

At Bristol the only candidate in the field is Mr. Miles,
who offers himself in the Conservative interest. Besides
receiving the united support of his party, it is said that
many Liberals have promised to vote for him. The Bristol
Liberal Association can scarcely be complimented
upon their generalship in thus allowing their op-
penents to go ahead of them. Months ago
they knew that Sir Morton Pete must vacate his seat,
and the committee, with one exception, invited Mr. Edgar
Bowring to come forward. That exception was the ex-
mayor of the city, who thought that he would make a
better representative than Mr. Bowring. Both were for
a time " up" for Bristol, and in the end both were requested
'A) go down again for the sake of healing the breach in the
party. They are now without a candidate, and the
Conservative promises to take possession of Sir Morton
Peto's seat.

Turning to Scotland, it is seen that the Conservatives of
Aberdeenshire, on the rumour that Mr. Dingwall Fordyce
was about to retire from the representation, have brought
out the Hon. James Gordon, a brother to the Earl of
Aberdeen, and a young man of two - and - twenty, in
the " Liberal Conservative " interest. It appears, how-
ever, that Mr. Fordyce has no present intention of
resigning his connection with the county, and that
should an additional member be granted under the forth-
coming Scotch Reform Bill, he will stand in conjunction
with Mr. M'Combie, of Tillyfour, the owner of the
Smithfield prize ox last year.

The Marquis of Lorn, eldest son of the Duke of Argyll,
has just made his first public appearance as a candi-
date for the representation of Argyllshire. The seat
is vacant by the retirement of Mr. A. S. Finlay, who took
the chair on the occasion. The marquis, who was well re•
ceived, made a safe and neat little speech, in the course of
which he laid down principles which the sturdiest Tory
could not well controvert. His lordship is now in the
23rd year of his age. A motion declaring the marquis to
be a fit and proper person to represent Argyllshire in
Parliament was carried by acclamation. It is not expected
that there will be any opposition to Lord Lorn's return,
although Lord Breadalbane has been mentioned in the
Conservative interest.

Haddingtonshire, which has borne with Lord Elcho's
lhanges of political opinion for more than twenty years,
is said to have given him up in despair. It is confidently
asserted that as his lordship has no chance of being
ectnrned, he will not again offer himself. In 18G5 he was
unsuccessfully opposed at the last moment by a farmer,
Mr. George Hope by name. That was, however, before
the political marntuvres of the parliamentary Tea-room
had been heard of, and when the exigence of a political
Cave of Adullam was unknown.

Both Mi-. Lewis and Mr. Chambers are threatened with
,erious opposition in Marylebone, in consequence chiefly
of the part they took last session respecting the Reform
Bill. Marylebone contains, however, a greater proportion
of Conservative votes than probably any other metropoli-
tan constituency. In the county of Mid,llesex there is
every expectation of a tight for one scat ; and in We: t
ininster it is certain that there will be a contest. The
exertions of the Conservatives to retrieve the defeat of
Mr. Smith in 18C5 have never been relaxed during the
period that has since elapsed.