The Sun.
London, England, 1868-03-12 00:00:00

THE SUN, LONDON, THURSDAY EVENING, MARCH 12, 1868.

be given to them for their endeavours
to act in a conciliatory spirit, and the
public will appreciate their moderation in leav-
ing the Government to act in the first place,
and not suddenly thrusting their individual schemes
into notice. We hope that something definite may
be shortly done, which will enable all parties to
unite so far as possible, and the consequences can-
not but be satisfactory to the country if they pass
through Parliament a comprehensive scheme of
education calculated to remedy the evils that now
exist and promote the general improvement. s

The Republican party in the United States have
just had an election triumph to console them for
their disappointments, but it is in no new or unex-
pected quarter. They have carried the elections in
new Hampshire, returning
.the Republican candi-
date, Mr. Harriman, as Governor, and the majority
of the Legislative members. Still as New Hamp-
shire belongs unmistakeably to that cluster of States
which are always believed to be the stronghold of
the Republican party, the victory, as we have said,
is not altogether unexpected. The news which
we receive by the City of London, which
left New York on the 29th ultimo, gives us
the particulars of the proceedings against the
PRESIDENT. The Select Committee appointed to
decide the form of the proceedings has adopted the
rules of procedure. The Chief Justice of the Su.
preme Court will preside, so that, if an appeal is
made to the strict constitutional legality of those
doubtful Acts of which Mr. JOHNSON is accused of
having disobeyed, the Justice will be placed in an
awkward position. As a lawyer he can hardly con-
tradict the law, and it will not need very great
ability on the part of the PRESIDENT'S counsel to
show that the Tenure-of-Office Bill and other Acts
of Congress are open to grave objections on con-
stitutional grounds. The trial is to be conducted
with open doors. Indeed, in a matter of such
moment it would be hardly possible to exclude an
open audience. No time is to be lost, for the pro-
ceedings are to commence on the day following the
presentation of the Articles of Impeachment by the
House of Representatives. The PRESIDENT is to
be summoned to appear in person or by counsel.
In case of his non-appearance, the trial will pro-
ceed under the assumption that the defendant
pleads " Not guilty." The final argument will be
conducted by two counsel on each side, and closed
the prosecution. Two-thirds of the votes of mem-
bers of the Senate present will decide the final
judgment. Senator SUMNER, always an ex-
treme partisan, proposed that the Senate should
hold no intercourse with the PRESIDENT during
his trial, but this resolution was outvoted. Mean-
while, the impeachment is naturally occasioning
great excitement, and various manifestations of
feeling throughout the country are beginning to
show themselves. The Mississippi Convention,
whose constitution it was not difficult to divine, has
passed a resolution thanking Congress for having
voted the impeachment. A mass meeting, held at
New York on Feb. 28th, affords, however, a surer
indication of the popular feeling. Several promi-
nent speakers were present at it, and resolutions
were adopted endorsing the course pursued by the
PRESIDENT, and condemning his impeachment as a
partisan and wicked movement. We apprehend
that a mixed assembly in New York represents
more accurately the common sense of America than
a Mississippi Convention.
The difficulty about the Secretaryship of War
still continues. We heard by telegram that the
PRESIDENT had applied for a writ to compel Mr.
STANTON to show cause why he holds the seals of
the War-office; and it appears from the accounts of
correspondents that he is holding the office in a
singular and unedifying manner, refusing to leave
it even for his home, declaring that he is afraid of
violence. General THOMAS bas attended a Cabinet
meeting as Secretary of War ad interim, the
office which General GRANT was so glad to
escape from. Of GRANT himself we hear very
little. He probably did not find his recent per-
snootm
reservesuocrhr
y.wchrtei
ocdhi tr
an
mask
dn iwa noa csf e
silence
hwe
eni r tic e
ef himo
reand
eeantsra retrea
tee s expected,into
many
tahnayt
of very ordinary ability to assume a wise and dig-
nified appearance.

The all-absorbing question of the day is, of
course, the issue of the impeachment, and until
that crisis is passed every .other consideration is
comparatively unimportant. The Radicals have
shown themselves in their true colours, and since
this is their last move they are playing it with more
than their usual vigour and determination. They
may yet find, however, that the game is a desperate
one in a free country.

The Press Bill has at last passed the Corps Le-
gislatif with only one dissentient vote ; and, on the
whole, we must regard this intelligence as satisfac-
tory, for the bill, with all its faults, is yet a step in
the right direction. It is also encouraging to know
that the attention of the public has been drawn to
this matter in so remarkable a degree, as the de-
bates in the Corps Legislatif have revealed the fact
that the old spirit of France is not extinct, although
it has so long lain dormant that evil-disposed per-
sons had declared that it was a thing of the past.
We must bear in mind also that if this measure is
not perfect, neither were the provisions of the old
Act ; but use accustoms us to anything, and having
nothing more to talk about, the Parisians let the
Press trials and difficulties alone, since no fresh in-
cident concerning them attracted notice and de-
manded attention. Of course the scene is changed
when the several paragraphs of a new and compre-
hensive measure are put before the Legislature for
their consideration ; and all the indignation and
irritation that have slumbered for years for want of
opportunity for expression spring to light, and
urge the quiet and indifferent leaders on.
Such has been the state of affairs in Paris for
the last month or two, and it now
seems a positive relief to think that the
excitement is over, and that, with its merits
and its faults, the bill has ceased to be the subject of
discussion at least in one Chamber. The Senate is
not likely to take so long about it, or to become so
earnest and excited as the other place has been.
The more the Press attains an insight into the
benefits and blessings of freedom the greater the
progress that will be made, and the authorities 'will
have the greater reluctance to follow their mode of
prosecution when they know the influence on
public opinion the journals possess. Those who
desire to attain for their country that inestimable
boon —a free Press—must bear in mind that it can-
not be attained without a struggle, and that no
laws or provisions can create the freedom of the
press, though they make severe arbitrary restrictions.
We hope for the cause of progress, and the benefit
of the French nation, that this Press Bill may prove
a success, and completely realise the best expecta-
tions that have been formed of it, so that increase
of confidence, and experience of management, may
enable those concerned to strike out hereafter any
errors that may exist in it.

SOUTH KENSINGTON MUSEUM.—Visitors during
the week ending March 7 :—On Monday, Tuesday, and
Saturday, free, front 10 a.m. to 10 p.m., 9,376 ; on Wed-
nesday, Thursday, and Friday (admission 6d.), from 10
a.m. till 5 p.m., 1,460 ; total, 10,836. Average of corre-
sponding week in former years, 10,311 ; total from the
opening of the museum, 7,230,864.

CORRESPONDENCE FROM PAWL

(FROM OUR OWN CORRESPONDENT.),
PARIS, WEDNESDAY, March 16.

There are still rumours of a dissolution and of Mink!.
erial changes, but I believe that theyare quite unfounded.
There is no good reason for either event. There is plenty
of work before the present Corps Legislatif which cannot
well be put off, especially the Budget and the new law Ott
public meetings. Moreover the Emperor, so far from
wishing to get rid of the present Legislative Body, is parti-
cularly pleased with it just now for having voted
the new Press Law unanimously, save for M. Berryer's
vote. He referred to this at a grand dinner at the
Tuileries on Monday, and remarked that M. Berryer's
isolated vote was significant of his isolated position as the
sole supporter of Legitimist opinions.
The discussion upon the Public Meetings Bill commences
to-morrow. Y our readers will be able to judge how far it
may be called a " crowning of the edifice" when I tell you
that before a meeting can be held seven persons must
deposit a joint caution. Electors, before attending an
election meeting, must give in their names and residences;
and no meeting may take place within five days of the
actual voting—i.e, just at the time when it is most
wanted. Lastly, a prefect has full power to adjourn
any meeting which in his opinion is of a nature to trouble
the public peace.

M. Peyrat came out of the St. Magie prison to-day,
after his month's imprisonment for a press offence.
If the France is to be believed, the negotiations between
Prussia and Denmark with respect to North Schleswig
have been abruptly broken off, and the Danish Councilldr
of State, M. Larsen, who had gone to Berlin to assist in
the settlement of the matter, has left that city with the
intention of not returning thither. This is rather a strange
comment upon Prince Napoleon's mission ; and if the
Prince really had a mission it has clearly failed.
I learn that Baron Baude, formerly secretary to the
French Embassy at Rome, is expected in that city very
shortly. It is believed that he goes thither on a confiden-
tial mission to the Pope from the Emperor.
M. Rouher, not content with the title of " Vice
Emperor" which the Parisians give him, is intent upon
becoming an Academician. He has offered himself as a
candidate to the Academy of Moral and Political Science,
grounding his claim upon the treaty of commerce. M.
Chevalier is his sponsor ; M. Gamier, an economist, and
M. Levasseur, an historian, are his competitors.
We are promised some piquant revelations with regard
to Mexico, from two sources. M. Domenech is about to
publish a history of Mexico, which will be based upon
40,000 documents hitherto unedited, and will contain some
letters written by the Emperor Maximilian and the Empress
Charlotte to Napoleon ; and Dr. Basch, Maximilian's
physician, is publishing a history of that sovereign's reign,
which will contain a portion of his journal written in
Queretaro, and some letters written to him by Napoleon.
The French papers make a sad mess of the Abyssinian
affair. The France talks of " Admiral Rassan " who had
sent a message to the hostile :army—meaning, I suppose,
Mr. Rassam. Menelek is spoken of as the chief of the
advanced guard of the expeditionary force. What has
become of Sir Robert Napier, I wonder?

We have news of the serious illness of two queens—
the Queen Dowager of Bavaria, mother of King Ludwig,
and Elizabeth, the Queen Dowager of Prussia, aunt of the
Emperor of Austria, and widow of Frederick William IV.
The two queens are related, since Queen Elizabeth was
the daughter of Maximilian I. of Bavaria, and Queen
Marie was the wife of Maximilian 11.

According to the Pall Intl Gazette, Prince Napoleon's
mission to Prussia has failed. This, of course, assumes
that he had a mission, which is, to say the least, doubtful.
The same paper says that the negotiations between Den-
mark and Prussia with regard to North Sleswick are
supposed to have been broken off, and that the French
Government has determined to disarm five plated vessels.

The Vienna correspondent of the Times thinks that
there may be something in Prince Napoleon's visit to
Berlin. He supposes that the Emperor is desirous of
detaching Prussia from its former friendship with Russia,
and, having alienated the two Northern Powers, so
securing the preservation of peace, and rendering feasible
that general disarmament which now seems farther off
than ever. This correspondent does not augur well for
the Prince's undertaking.
The Calcutta correspondent of the Times cans attention
to the opium revenue. It appears that in the year 1865-6
a sum of over 8i millions sterling was received from this
source alone, or a sixth part of the whole revenues of India.
Leaving out the moral question whether it is right for a
Christian Government to derive a large income from a
drug which has been forced upon the Chinese after two or
three wars, there are fiscal considerations which render it
very doubtful how far the opium duty is a desirable tax.
In the first place it is eminently uncertain. No Finance
Minister can ever calculate within a very large sum
what the duty will bring in. It gave Mr. Laing
a surplus twice, but it has exposed Mr. Massey to
a large deficit always. Then, again, the duty is
most uncqw.l in different parts of 1:1.1wa
opium exported from Bombay amounted to £2,128,025 net,
at a ccst of only £3,258 ; Behar and Ilenares opium gave
almost 41 mUlons net, but at a cost of over £1,891,000.
The differenc,, is very remarkable, and the lesson it teaches
very instructive when we come to inquire further into the
matter. In the last-named districts opium-growing is a
Gov ernmeL t monopoly ; in the first-named it is open to
everybody, but the Government levies a very high duty,
viz., £6O upon every cwt. exported. There is no reason
why a heavier duty even than this should not be levied.
Anyhow, it is clear that Government ought not to engage
in farming, for it is an eminently unprofitable employment
when so undertaken. There is this further advantage in
the Bombay system, that by merely taxing the opium as
high as it will possibly bear, Government is free from the
moral stigma which affixes itself to opium cultivation.
It is expected that Colonel Lake, who was formerly
Financial Minister of the Punjab, will be appointed Presi-
dent of Hyderabad. Mr. William Grey, the new Lieutenant-
Governor of Bengal, is winning golden opinions. He
desires to have a council, like the Lieutenant-Governors of
Bombay and Madras. Mr. Daly will probably go to the
Court of Gwalior, and Major Hutchinson to Oodeypore.
Dr. Macleod has had a most hearty welcome from all
persons and sects. The dinner given him at the Calcutta
Town Hall was the most influential ever known. Sir John
Lawrence spoke on that occasion, and referred to the
dangers of popularity. The Times correspondent says that
"Dr. Macleod's singular receptive power has enabled him
to take the measure of both men and policies here with a
rapidity and accuracy I have never seen equalled in a new
corner."

Lord Chancellor Cairns has just decided that Sir M. Peto
cannot vacate his seat until after the expiration of twelve
months from the date of his bankruptcy. In connection
with this point the following quotation from Sir Erskine
May's Practice of Parliament may be useful :—" By the
52nd George 111., c. 144, whenever a member shall be found
and declared a bankrupt, he shall be for twelve monde,
incapable of sitting and voting, unless the commission be
superseded, or the creditors paid or satisfied to the full
amount of their debts. At the expiration of twelve
months the commissioners are required to certify the
bankruptcy to the Speaker, and the election of the mem-
ber is void." The stewardship of the Chiltern Hundreds
is an office, although a nominal one, under the Crown, and
is scarcely likely to be conferred on an uncertificated
bankrupt.
At the same time, cases have arisen in which a bank.
rupt has certainly applied for and obtained the steward-
ship of the Chiltern Hundreds. In March 1842 the
banking firm of Wigney and Co., of Brighton, stopped
payment and became bankrupt. One of the lartners, Mr.
Isaac Wigney, had been elected member for Brighton at
the general election of the previous year. Within two
months of his bankruptcy he applied for and obtained the
Chiltern Hundreds, and a new election took place early
in May, when Lord Alfred Hervey was returned in his
stead. In 1858, on the bankruptcy of Mr. John Townsend,
one of the members for Greenwich, that gentleman actually
voted in the House after the fiat in bankruptcy had been
issued. A resolution was, therefore, carried that he was
incapable of voting, but no new writ was issued, and the
borough remained with one representative until the disso.
lution of Parliament in April 139.
The thirty hon. members who on Wednesday afternoon
made a last effort to retain compulsory church rates were
Sir W. Bagge, Sir Brooke Bridges, Mr. Corrance, Mr.
Dimsdale, Mr. Hart Dyke, Colonel Dyott, Colonel Fane.
Mr. Feilden, Mr. Greene, Colonel Gray, the Hon. T. De
Grey,Mr. Hovel Gwyn,Mr. Gathorne Ifardy,Mr. J. Hardy-,
Mr. Horsfall, Mr. Kendall, Mr. Keown, Mr. Gore-Langton,
Major Windsor Parker, Sir W. M. Ridley, Mr. Schreiber,
Mr. Scourfield, Mr. Abel Smith, Mr. Sackville Stopford,
Colonel Taylor, Mr. Treeby, Mr. Turner, Mr. Vance,
Mr. Wise, and Mr. ,T. Reginald Yorke. The tellers were
Mr. Newdegate and Mr. Henley. S Conservatives.
the Solicitor-Genei-al amongst their number, voted in the
majority with Mr. Gladstone.
In a recent discm;:ion between Mr. Odg€rs, of the
Veform League, and a gentleman of Manchester, on the
question of tracks unions, the former said (quoting Mr.
Mill) that machinery had not les3ened the toil of the
working man, and yet he received no share, or one not
worthy of consideration, of the vast profits made by this
agency. "A Hertfordshire Incumbent" writes to correct
what he thinks to be the fallacy
of this expression.
Taking agriculture as an example, he shews that if a
farmer lays out money in machines, he certainly expects a
proportionate return. He obtains more profitable results
from the land, and the makers of machines, the importers
of guano, and indirectly the nation at large, have been
benefited. Not only so, but the scale of profits having
risen, capital is attracted, the consequence of which would
be a greater demand for land and for labour, and of eouoe
a yitA Intgaz,

LATEST INTELL EGENCE.

(REUTER'S TELEGRAMS.)

RUSSIA.

ST. PETERSBURG, March 11, Evening.

Lieutenant-General Count Baranoff has been
re-placed in the post of Governor-General of the
Western Provinces by Adjutant-General Potapoff
Ataman, of the Cossacks of the Don.

QUEBEC, March 11.
The Allan steamer St. Andrew has arrived out.

PORTUGAL.

LISBON, March 12.

The health of Queen Maria-Pia is better, and it
is said that her Majesty will proceed to Italy in
about three weeks on a visit to her father, King
Victor Emmanuel.