The Sun.
London, England, 1868-08-15 00:00:00

TILE SUN, LONDON, SATURDAY EVENING, AU G UST 15, 1868.

FRENCH AND ENGLISH ELECTIONS.

MISCH

'EWS.

(From the Anglo-American Times.)
The death of Thaddeus Stevens has given the
best proof of the influence he exerted during life.
That line of a cable telegram has set more pens in
motion than any event since it announced its own
success, and more than anything merely personal
for many years. The Times attributes the secret
of his life to a passionate love of equality.
The Daily News considered that lie had outlived his
leadership since the war, and holds with us that he
was more a revolutionary leader than a statesman.
The lelegraph says that " he was indeed a man," and
in a comparison with the leaders of the same party
elevates Stevens with all his faults to the highest
place. The Star thinks he has exercised the most
commanding influence over American politics of
any man of modern times, and this by force of
will, by invective, by knowledge of Parliamentary
usage, and by a deep attachment to the cause of
human freedom. The Sun asserts that no one can
deny his energy, his ability, or the position he
achieved ; his death will remove one of the
most formidable champions of " greenbacks,"
and the South can no where find a more bitter or
uncompromising enemy. It hopes that the ani-
mosities of the past may be buried in his grave.
The Pall-Mall Gazette alludes to the striking figure
which has disappeared from Congress. Whoever
entered asked which is Thad•lens Stevens, and those
acquainted with his public character could almost
have singled him out. He lived close to the capitol,
and would, when he could, get out of bed, drag

himself to the chamber in which he had spent the
active part of 20 years. " There were some per-
sonal reasons in his case, as in that of an emi-
nent colleague in another Chamber, for the almost
superhuman animosity with which he pursued every
partisan of the: South." Considering, if the Gazette
means Senator Sumner, that it was the energy with
which he threw himself into the cause of the Negro
when that cause met with little moral support and
considerable personal danger, that brought on him
the ruffianly attack, we can scarcely see the appro-
priateness of the remark. If the editor of the Pall
Mall was kicked for giving honest utterance to his
convictions, and because he held those convictions
after being kicked, was told that there were perso-
nal reasons for his holding them, the case, as put by
the Pall Mall, would be similar.
The New York Sun declares that Mr. Wells, the
Special Commissioner of the Revenue, was legis-
lated out of office from the Ist August, by the 50th
section of the New Tax Bill. This the Evening
Post disputes, asserting that nothing but a forced
construction of the law could make it thus act. The
friends. of Mr. Welles are not, however, without
anxiety, knowing the peculiarity of the President's
nature. If it can be so construed, and he can use
a Congressional instrument to annoy Congress, he
is considered safe to do it. He desires to get rid of
Mr. Rollins, and even of Mr. M'Culloch, making a
clean sweep of the Treasury, and doubts were en-
tertained whether he would not consider Mr.
Rollins' resignation unconditional, and remove him.
The Secretary of the Treasury has issued his
usual monthly statement of the public debt and the
cash in the Treasury of the United States. The
former amounted on the Ist inst. to $2,633,500,000,
and the latter to $110,000,000. We do not know
what portion of the money in the Treasury is gold ;
but, although the statement shows an increase in
the debt, it is considerably better than rumour led
many to anticipate.
Although the bill for the reduction of the army
failed, Secretary Welles is preparing the necessary
orders to reduce the naval force by ordering one
or more vessels home from the various squadrons,
discharging the crews, and placing officers on shore
duty.
Generals George E. Spencer and Willard Warner
were admitted as United States Senators from
Alabama. Both are of Northern extraction ; the
former was once clerk of the lowa Senate, of which
State he is a native, and both served in the Union
army, the latter on General Sherman's staff. On
the close of the war these officers settled in Ala-
hama,.Warner erecting there an iron manufactory.
Of the twelve Senators sent from the South,
before the return of those from Georgia, two
only are Southerners ; one coming from New
Hampshire, one
.from • Massachusetts ; .and New
Jersey, New York, Minnesota, Michigan, Illinois,
Ohio, Kansas, and Nebraska, each furnishing one.
The Georgia Legislature elected Joshua Hill, an
original Union man, though Conservative, for the
long term ; and 11. V. M. Miller, a strong Demo-
crat, for the short one. A discussion occurred in
the Chamber about the date from which the
Southern members were to be paid, to which these
patriotic gentlemen listened, we hop; with indif-
ference; if not, we regret to say that virtue, in
in this instance, was not rewarded, as the carpet-
bags will not bulge out with the greenbacks ex-
tracted from the Treasury, for the Senate decided
that they should not be paid for the whole session,
but only from the date when their States re-entered
the Union.
General Hancock has published a letter in denial
of the report that he was dissatisfied with the
nomination of Seymour and Blair. He holds with
Senator Doolittle that it is now the business of the
party to unite in support of their candidates, and
he asserts that if he failed in this he would not only
falsify his own record, but commit a crime. The
nominations of both Conventions have been ac-
cepted as final, and there now appears no chance of
a split on either side in getting up a third party
movement, even that in favour of the Chief Jus-
tice having died, as Mr. Chase now clearly sees
that it would be useless ; indeed he has, according
to the Republicans, dragged his robes through
the mire quite enough to soil them.
Senator Henderson delivered himself before
Congress adjourned of a bitter reply to Mr. But-
ler's Impeachment report. He accused the General
not only of being a bold, wilful, intentional falsi-
fier, but a thief4although nobody has been able to
show that Butler ever directly stole anything. On
the 18th page of the report is this telegram, dated
Washington, May 15, 1868, the vote being taken
on the following day—" To John It. Garland, New
York. Senator Henderson says conviction will fail
by two votes. Lockwood." And on this Mr. But-
ler thus comments in the report :—" So the Gold
Room had the benefit of Senator Henderson's
knowledge." Lockwood is Mr. Crounse, of the
New Fork 7iines, who was in communication with
the members of the Missouri delegation, then
labouring to turn their Senator from his evil design
of voting for acquittal, and from them he got the
information he telegraphed thus positively, consi-
dering the source so good. Although Butler
had not the slightest reason for his insinua-
tion he did not hesitate to make it. His re-
ply is remarkable for the horror it depicts against
the man who breaks the Sabbath. The Senator's
speech was made on a Sunday, as the Chamber sat
on that day to get through the business. "On the
evening of the Lord's Day," says Ben Butler, " a
certain debating assembly deem the Sabbath well
spent in listening to such an harangue." He
escapes by a shuffle from Senator Henderson's alle-
gation that the other members of the committee
were gentlemen, and would have nothing to do with
the report. "He submitted it," he adds with sor-
row, " grieving continually that without the expla-
nations of the Senator from Missouri, of which he
of his own will had deprived the committee, the
evidence seemed to bear so hardly and conclusively
upon him," especially when he was compared with
" admittedly innocent and honourable Senators."
Now, in the Report, Butler acknowledges that he
had not found any proof against any Senator, but
he continues with these innuendoes and assertions,
at the same time turning up his eyes in pious hor-
ror at the desecration of the Lord's Day.
General Butler got leave to print his speech in
reply to Senator Henderson, as the House very pro-
perly declined to waste time in listening to it, and
it appeared in the Globe on the 30th July, headed,
Henderson Wounded." - It is thought either the
publishers of the G/ol" or more likely, General
Butler, will come to grief through this violation of
propriety ; and, if so, Butler will be in a peck of
troubles, for while passing through Baltimore he
was served with a visit at the instance of Woolley,
who wants $lOO,OOO for false imprisonment, and
another by 0, Baltimore firm, who assert that the