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

THE SUN, LONDON, SATURDAY EVENING, AUGUST 8, 1868.

DELI OUS FIU AND ST. THOMAS
A BECKE7.

Archbishop Manning's declaration at Sal-
ford, that St. Thomas a Becket died in defence
of the law of England and of the freedom of
religion, has excited a great deal of attention,
and has drawn from the Pall Mall Gazette and '
the Times elaborate attempts at refutation.
Every one regrets that the Archbishop's speech
was so curtly reported in the newspapers, but
condensed as it was the point at issue is very
clearly stated. This point is, that St. Thomas
died for the vindication of the principle of
spiritual liberty against the excess of Royal
power. The first article of Magna Charta was:
" The Church shall enjoy its liberty." That
article, said Dr. Manning, embodied and ex-
pressed the very cause for which St. Thomas
laid down his life ; and, the Archbishop added,
that it appeared to him that the great principle
of the freedom of religion from the oppressive
interference of the Royal power was the prin-
ciple avowed by two-thirds of Great Britain
and Ireland at the present day. To meet the
fact that St. Thomas died in defence of free-
dom of religion and of the law of the land, the
Pall Mall Gazette deliberately confounds two
distinct ideas—freedom of religion and religi-
ous liberalism. Religious liberalism, as held
by the Pall Mall Gazette and the Times, was
neither the law of the land nor the principle
for which St. Thomas died, but is an abuse of
religious freedom, as repugnant to the true
spirit of religious freedom as Communism is to
the rights of property. The law of the land
was that the Church shall enjoy its liberty,
and this liberty secured to every individual
the right to practise his religion according to
the dictates of his own conscience, and in
obedience to the Spiritual Power, charged by
God, as his faith taught him, with the care
of his spiritual welfare. But this freedom of
religion was constantly jeopardized, in the
teeth of the law, by the oppressive exercise of
the Royal prerogative. As long as the Church
produced men like St. Thomas of Canterbury,
ready to resist Royal usurpations, the religious
freedom of England was maintained, but no
sooner did corruption and heresy gain the
upper hand than religious freedom was de-
stroyed throughout the entire land. With
the Tudors and the religion which was not
that of St. Thomas of Canterbury, religious
tyranny of the most oppressive sort fell upon
England. The Royal Supremacy was the seal
set upon that tyranny, and it was only by taking
up again the. principle for which St. Thomas
died—the freedom of religion from the inter-
ference of the Royal Power—that the people
of England at last regained their religious
liberty. This emancipation, then, from State
control in matters of conscience, the principle
for which St. Thomas died, is it not, as Dr.
Manning affirms, the principle avowed by two-
thirds of Great Britain and Ireland at the pre-
sent day? And is not their sympathy due to St.
Thomas a Becket, the champion of religious
freedom, and not to Henry 11., who antici-
pated the religious tyranny of the Tudor Kings,
from which we have now happily escaped ?
To avoid answering the question in the affir-
mative, the Times and the Pall Mall Gazette
raise another issue and deny that St. Thomas
a Becket held the principles of religious Libe-
ralism. But who said he did ? Not Dr. Man-
ning ! Religious Liberalism is not identical
with the freedom of religion any more than
Communism is with property. Religious
Liberalism is as much a denial of the absolute
rights of God as the Royal Supremacy in
matters of conscience was a denial of the rights
of man. Man has a right to reject every in-
terference on the part of the Civil Power
with his spiritual concerns, but has no right
as against God to claim the liberty of rejec-
ting religion. It was in vindication of this
primary right of the conscience to be in matters
of faith independent of the Civil Power that
St. Thomas died, but he would have laid down
his life as readily to resist the principle of
modern irreligious Liberalism--the right in
man to reject religion and deny God.
Protestants may, then, it seems to us,
readily agree with Dr. Manning's conclusion,
that the principle for which St. Thomas died
is the principle avowed by two-thirds of the
people of Great Britain and Ireland at the
present day. Whether they hold, in addition
to this great principle of the freedom of religion
from State control, the principle of irreligious
Liberalism, as the Pall Mall Gazette maintains,
is another question. Whether they do or not,
or how far they are contaminated with this
modern idea, has nothing to do with Dr. Man-
ning's appeal for the sympathy of England
and Scotland with the great martyr to the
cause of religious independence. We entirely
agree, we may say in conclusion, with the
Pall Mall Gazette that " the differences" be-
tween irreligious Liberals and Roman Catholics
" are deep and irreconcilable, and proceed from
contradictory principles upon the most impor-
tant subjects to which the human mind can
address itself." But in spite of this essential
disagreement, there need be no misunder-
standing as to the true character of that re-
sistance to Royal tyranny which induced St.
Thomas of Canterbury to surrender his life
in defence of the freedom of religion.—West-
minder Gazette.

MR. GLADSTONE'S ELEC2IONEERING

TOUR.

Mr. Gladstone met the new constituency
to whose suffrages he has determined to ap-
peal, that of South-west Lancashire, on Wed-
nesday afternoon, at St. Helens, and was very
warmly received. The right hon. gentleman
was accompanied by Mr. H. R. Grenfell, who
has been accepted as his colleague by the Libe-
ral party in the district. In reviewing the
session just closed, Mr. Gladstone said he
thought the country might be sincerely con-
gratulated upon the adoption of a measure,
with a very general and extended consent of
different parties, which has undoubtedly placed
the liberties of the people upon a wider, and,
he trusted, upon a firmer basis than that which
they ever before enjoyed. At the same time
he could not but regret that the concessions
that have been made have been attended with
restrictions and exceptions so vexatious that
this work—great as it is—cannot be regarded
as a finished work. " It will probably be neces-
sary," he said, " before we are many years
older, that the Parliament about to be chosen,
or some other Parliament, should endeavour to
give a more consistent application to the prin-
ciples embodied in the recent measure of Re-
form, removing those anomalies with which
it is unhappily defaced." The right hon. gen-
tleman went on to express his great dissatis-
faction at the increase of public expenditure
by which the Tories had signalized their rule.
He did not refer to the cost of the Abyssinian
expedition, which nobody grudged, but he
hoped that the candidates who might oppose
his colleague and himself on the part of the
Government would be called upon to explain
why it is that after for a series of five or
six years the Liberal Government of this coun-
try, which certainly was not supposed to be
fanatically economical, had found the means
of continually operating some reduction in
the charges and burdens of the country, upon
the accession of what is called a Conservative
Government to power it is suddenly discovered
that the tide has turned, and that from month
to month almost, as new estimates are pro-
duced, every estimate and every charge is in
excess of that which preceded it." The greater
pai.t of the speech was devoted to Ireland.
If Mr. Disraeli's congratulatory remarks upon
the condition of that country at the Lord
Mayor's table were to be taken as seriously
meant, Mr. Gladstone said he could not de-
scribe his sense of the infatuation which they
betokened. Of the two questions of the
land and the Church, the Church was in the
front and the land in the rear ; to the former,
therefore, Mr. Gladstone said he would chiefly
confine himself. He quoted Lord Lytton's
words :—" We talk of Irish bulls, but the
words ' Irish Church ' are the greatesb bulls
in the language. It is called the Irish Church

because it is a Church not for the Irish."
The right hon. gentleman ridiculed the notion
of reforming the Irish Church. " You will
find," he said, "that it means one of two things
—it either means that you will take the clergy-
men out of Munster and Connaught, in order
to plant more of, them, and make them more
comfortable, in Ulster and Leinster, or else it
means, and that is the only real meaning of it,
that if you proceed to take away the abuses of
the Irish Church, why, gentlemen, there will
be nothing left." The Church was like an
old house in a rickety condition, which will
sometimes stand as long as you don't touch
it, but if you begin to repair it it comes tum-
bling about your ears. You can't take away
the pastors from people where they have no
flocks and carry the money elsewhere without
finding that, like a tinker, in mending one
hole you have made ten, and that you have a
new set of complaints you can't answer, and
new demands for reform you will be totally
unable to meet. These plans, then, are only
futile. lam told there is a scheme coining
forth from the Commission which has been
lately sitting. I don't blame the Commission ;
lam very sorry for the Commission ; I don't
know what better they could do ; you can't
make bricks without straw ; you can't take
the breeks off a Highlandman." Mr. Glad-
stone answered at some length the arguments
which identify the Irish Establishment with
the cause of Protestantism and with the Church
of England. "It appears to me," he said,
" that nothing is more idle than to attempt
to draw a parallel between the case of the
Church of Ireland and the case of the Church
of England. The duty of a religious establish-
ment is a duty to the nation at large. That
idea of a religious establishment ministerinc,
only to a handful of the people is an unnatural
and monstrous idea, and when you have arrived
at such a state of things it is time that estab-
lishment should cease to exist, as an estab-
lishment not performing its ministry for the
nation. In many parts of the country the
Church of England is the sole, and in many
other parts the principal, if not the sole, reli-
gious agency ; and even in the most popu-
lous parts where she is confronted by the
friendly competition of the other religious
bodies, still, I think that the Church of Eng-
land enters into the natural life and purpose
of the country, associated in a great degree
with the feelings, the traditions, as well as the
history of England; and there are, in my
opinion, very many who do not formally be-
long to her communion who would, with deep
regret, witness her downfall. The great dif-
ference between the two Churches is summed
up thus : that the Church of Ireland is a
Church established by law, which neither does
nor can do the work of a Church establish-
ment ; but the Church of England, established
by law also, in most parts of the country,
does the chief part of the work of an establish-
ment."

hair.

committed that particular crime or not. This applies not
only to Seymour, but along the lino of the two roads,
and wherever our organization exists. Law and order

must pravail."
The Indians assembled at Fort Lamed on the
Arkansas river to receive their annuities, have

shown a bad temper, as they were denied arms and
ammunition on account of the recent depredations.
The spirit of outrage they manifested was checked
by the fortunate arrival of General Sully with 600
cavalry. Near Nebraska city they had attacked

and killed several drovers. The remains of Mrs.

Denville, who had been cruelly murdered by the
Idaho Indians in 1867, had been discovered and

brought to Fort Boise by a party of scouts. An

Indian pony was found decorated with some of her

The Spring field Republican says :•—" Elder Adams,
whose colony at Jatfa has dwindled down to less
than twenty persons, has gone to England with his
wife, to see if he cAnnot get a reinforcement of

dupes and fanatics ;" and, we may add, he has come
to the right place. In no other country are idiots
so tolerated and encouraged, and nowhere else have
they erected so many memorials. People see more
asylums in America because there they shut up the in-
sane, but here they are at large, ati:l take a promi-
nent part in national affairs. Whomever anything
peculiarly idiotic transpires abroad, an investigation
of the circumstances almost invariably brings to
light that it had its origin in England. Even the

great Salt Lake is an English city, and is almost
wholly recruited and kept alive by its English con-
nection. The best of the joke is, that English
writers travel to these excrescences and disouss
them as if they were the native growth of the
country where they appear. Doubtless Elder Adams,
if he is here, will succeed, and we will soon have
men in quaint attire preaching up a new religion,

and Elder Adams established as a prophet in Pales-
tine in opposition to Brigham Young.

Train; now run over 700 miles of the Union
Pacific Railway. 'The United States Commission-
ers have examined ani accepted 680 miles, and it is
expected that 900 will be finished before the year
ends, as there are 20,000 men at work on the line,
and the whole will be opened before the close of
1869. A case is reported in the London papers,
taken from an American journal, against the Di-
rectors. Au affidavit, made in the Court of the
United States, accused them of jobbing away the
land through the Credit Foncier of Americt, so as
to deprive the stock-holders of the benefit. It is

asserted that these Directors sit also on the Board
of the Credit Foncier, and while they deprive the
Union Pacific shareholders of the bountiful gift
Uncle Sam has best )we 3, they mop it all up them-
selves through the Fitianca Company. Perhaps
George Francis Train can throw some light on this
subject•, and dissipate a scandal against the greatest
corporation in the world.

The majority in Mississippi against the New
Constitution, according to General Galena's official
report, was 7,629. The General refutes the charge
of fraud, asserting that the election was as fair as
possible under existing circumstances, and that no
undue influence was exerted at the polls. Ind.ee I
the pressure was as likely to come from the Radi-
cal as the Democratic side ; and if the Rldical,
Derweese, is to be credited, even more likely. That
gentleman, who represents North Carolina, being
called upon by the House for his views on the bill
for supplying arms to the Reconstructed State Go-
vernments, so strongly advocated by S.mator -Wil-
son, made a fine expose. He declared that the De-
mocratic rebels will carry all the elections in spite
of what the new State Governments can do, unless
the blacks are armed and the Democrats kept away
from the polls ! \\ hat Mr. Derweese ought to have
said was one ti ing—what he did say was another,
and how he ought to have said it differed widely
from how he did say it, for his English was not of
the purest brand.
In Tennessee affairs do not improve. A rumour
was current at Franklyn that the negroes were
plotting to burn down the town. Jeremiah Ezell,
anxious to ascertain its truth, proceeded to recon-
noitre, and speedily fell a victim to his curiosity, for
he was killed. The bad feeling in Franklyn arose
from the lynching by the mob of a negro named
William Gustman, who was imprisoned on a crimi-
nal charge. One of the most horrible crimes, how-
ever, recorded by this mail comes from Owens.-

boro', Kentucky, though pone actVly lost

their livts. On the night of the 18th ;4 July
a hundred of the persons residing at an hotel were
poisoned. This was done to gratify the spite of a
rival milkman to him who supplied the hotel. This
rival added a liberal supply of arsenic to the usual
condiments— Kentucky milk differing so far from
that of London that it is only partially, not wholly,
manufactured by the milkman.

On the 21st July there was a riot at Savannah
originating in William Robert Hopkins, a negro
tax-gatherer, being shot dead by Lifac.ltassell, a
white man, in a gin-shop. Immediately at the tap
of a drum the negroes of Savannah assembled iu
thousands, and an attempt was made on the gaol
to seize and lynch Russell, but they were defeated
in their design. On the 23d Hopkins was buried,
being followed to the grave by vast numbers of
negroes. The affair at Millican, Texas, has not yet
ended, as the negroes sullenly maintain their posi-
tion ; a truce was established that the dead might
be buried. The reports by telegraph throw the
blame upon the negroes, but the wires being in the
hands of the whites, such reports must be received
with caution.

Mr. Seward's proclamation in a provisional way

declares the ratification of the 14th Constitutional

Amendment, as the twenty three States requisite
have sanctioned it. He carefully' avoids commit-
ting himself to the opinion whether the " Recon-
structed" are States or not, or whether Ohio and
New Jersey can withdraw the assent they gave.
It is supposed that Ohio will reverse her late deci-
sion when the Legislature meets, and whether New
Jersey can withdraw will be settled by the Supreme
Court. On the 21st July Congress passed a con-
current resolution declaring the amendment, which
runs as follows, part of the Constitution :-1. That
all persons born or naturalized in the United States
are, in virtue of their national citizenship, citizens
of the State in which they reside. 2. It forbids the
enforcement of any State law that abridges the
privileges or immunities of citizens of the United
States, and ordains absolute equality of:all citizens
before the law. 3. It apportions representation
according to population, and when political rights
are denied any class in any State it diminishes the
number of representatives in accordance with the
diminution in the number of electors. 4. It pro-
vides that the man who, having taken an oath as
Senator, Representative, member of any State
Legislature, or judicial or executive officer of any
State to support the Constitution, afterwards en-
gaged in rebellion, shall not be eligible to any office,
State or Federal, unless Congress, by a two-thirds
vote, relieves him of his disabilities.
Congress has passed a bill incorporating the
Commercial Navigation Company, to facilitate the
carriage of the mails between Liverpool and New
York. To this company is secured the postal
service for ten years, with all receipts from that
source, not in excess of $600,000, provided that the
time spent on the voyage does not exceed that
taken by other steamers on the same route, failing
which the contract will cease. The company is not
to receive inland postages after the sum secured on
the sea postages amounts to $400,000 a year, and
the Government gives further aid by authorizing
the issue and guaranteeing the bonds of the com-
pany to an amount not exceeding in annual interest
$250,000, principal and interest to be paid in coin.
But the Government retains the postages as security
for the bonds and the interest until the extinction
of the debt. The company on its part undertakes
to build within a year five first-class steamers, each
of 3,000 tons burden, and two others, making a
fleet of seven, to be officered by citizens of the
United States, and to be maintained for twenty
years. It is no wonder that Trollope failed to
secure the contract for the Cunard and Inman lines,
as it is the settled policy of the United States to
maintain its flag on both the Atlantic and Pacific
Oceans at any expense.
Nothing drives like rivalry and competition, and
we believe that the stolid and egotistical Chinese
nation is being impelled along by the progress of
, Japan. The Japanese having a better country, and

one more favourablysituated for foreign intercourse,
inhabited by an intelligent race, are likely to make
quick advances in adopting the arts and sciences of
Christian nations. All European and American
fruits and vegetables are being introduced, steam
lines est tblished, and the latest improvement comes
from Australia, as Mr. Hoyt, the well-known
coach proprietor in Victoria, has sailed for Japan
to establish there lines of fast conveyances. The
visitor to Yokohama will soon be able to take his
place on the coach-box for Yeddo, and drive through
rows of women bathing in their tubs, with a spank-
ing four-in-hand.

Miss Vinnie Ream has bee❑ restored to her room
in the Capitol, and the best of the joke is that the
resolution wa3 offered by Mr. Stevens. it will be
remembered that the young lady was the victim of
the lanpe.tehment Trial, and we presume that Mr.
Stevens desired to obliterate the last remnant
of that proceeding, before making his way over to
the Democrats. Bader asserts that to her influence
is due the President's acquittal. She acted on Mr.

Henderson, and his vote settled the question ; but
the only ground for this is that the Senator lodges
in her father's house. A greater failure than the

peachment business and Butler's fire and fury has
rarely been witnessed. It is time that we should
drop the Fort Fisher business, about which he has
_ _

surely heard enough, and take up the Impeachment
exploit, which ended in the iexpuLion of Vinnie
Ream for a few weeks from a room in the Capitol,
at an expense to the nation of many hundreds of

thousands of dollars, and much time wasted.

The Senate confirmed, during the week ending
July 25, Reuben S. Torrey, collector of internal

revenue in the second district of New York ; An-
thony F. Campbell, postmaster at Brooklyn ; An-
drew S. Hunter, postmaster at Chicopee, Mass. ;
C. B. Prescott, at Holyoke, and Eliphalet Wright,
at Derbyshire, Mass., L Sherman at Chicago,
Samuel Kingman at Wakefield, Mass., George C.
Henry at Bedford, Mass., and H. N. Barbour at
St. Albans, Vt., and also the nominations of S
Day to be surveyor-general of California, T. J
Bowers Chief Justice of the Idaho Supreme Court,
11. 0. Warren chief, and H. Knowles associate-

justice of Montana. The most important new no-
minations during this period were Edmund Cooper
for Commissioner of Internal Revenue, William P.
Wells for Assistant-Secretary to the Treasury, C.
C. Cox (of Maryland) for Commissioner of Pen-
sions, Elisha Foot (of New York) for Commissioner
of Patents; and for the foreign missions as follows:
—Russia, John L. Dawson, of Pennsylvania ;
Spain, Gen. W. D. Rosecrans, of Ohio ; Austria,
Henry W. Watts, of Pennsylvania ; and Mexico,
Gen. John A. .M'Clernand, of Illinois. Noah
S. Jeffreys of Maryland was nominated for Com-

missioner of Internal Revenue with not much
chance of confirmation, as he is a Johnson man,
and it is asserted that the President intends to re-

move Rollins when Congress adjourns, and to place
Cooper of Tennessee in the office ad interim, and the
confirmation of Jeffreys would strengthen his hands.
There being no chance of Mr. Cooper's success he
was withdrawn, and the Senate Committee reported
against the nominations of the Ministers to Russia,
to Mexico, and to Spain, but in favour of Mr. Watts
to Austria, who, as our readers are aware, has been
confirmed. Oliver Smith Williams was rejected as
collector of the second district of Connecticut ; and
of the large number of minor nominations sent in
during the same week most, it is believed, will meet
that fate.

The. bill for the Protection of the Rights of
American Citizens Abroad was warmly debated
in the Senate. Mr. Conners, the Senator
from California, by birth an Irishman, offered
an amendment authorising the President to
adopt retaliatory measures. This Mr. Sum-
ner stigmatized as an unutterable barbarity,
to which Mr. Conness replied that the bill as
amended was an insult to the naturalized citizen,
and that Mr. Sumner's sympathy was all with the
negro against the white man. Mr. Conness was
in a hurry to reap some political capital as he feared
that the effete monarchies of Europe might be be-
fore-hand in granting everything that the United
States ask or require, but he met an able
champion in Mr, Sumner. The bill was so
far amended as to enable the President to de-
mand the release of prisoners unjustly im-

prisoned, to withdraw the Ministers until justice
be done, and after an ineffectual demand for re-
lease, to use such means as may be within his power,
other than acts of war, to compel the release, But
who is to judge as to the justice of the imprison-
ment? If the President will not accept the decision
of the Courts of the country, is it likely that the
foreign nations will accept the decision of the Pre-
sident against the judgment of their Courts? Con-
gress ought not to permit itself to be driven on in
a hurry,which cannot facilitate an international set-
tlement of such a question.
The Hon. Thad. Stevens made a speech on the
Funding Bill, which created an excitement in the
House. He declared that sooner than see his con-
stituents taxed to death for the benefit of bloated
speculators he would vote for even worse men than
Seymour, although coupled with a Frank Blair.
The astonishment of the Representatives, although
accustomed to the hon. gentleman's vagaries, may
be imagined, remembering that many of them heard
the speaker on that floor when the Government
Bands were first offered to the public, declaring that
" A dollar in a miser's safe, unproductive, is a sore
disturbance. Where could they invest it ? In
United States Loans at Six per Cent.—redeemable
in gold in 20 years—the best and most valuable
permanent investment that could be desired." Of
course Thad. had not long to wait before that speech
came flying hack, hurled at him from the mouth
of Mr. Garfield, whose answer was able and straight
to the point. Mr. Stevens felt the sting, and replied
by two personal explanations, even denying the
correctness of the report, but in vain. The record
against him is too strong, showing that in 1862-63
he fiercely attacked Congressmen who even sug-
gested doubts about payment in coin. There never
was a more shameful exposure or one more in-
jurious to the reputation of the House of Repre-
sentatives—not that the people sent there such a
man, but that the Representatives should have
erected him into a leader.
Another movement was made at Washington by
the Southern members to impeach the President.
They affirm his action regarding the new State Go-
vernments to be sufficient ground, and they urged
Congress to remain in session to pass Impeachment
resolutions, and to protect the South until after the
Presidential election. They met in caucus on the
27th July, Representative Whittemore, of South
Carolina, presiding, and unanimously adopted re-
solutions to the above effect. When the Senate's
recess resolution was discussed in the House, Butler
said the Representatives ought to sit again to im-
peach the President, whereon Mr. Randall sarcas-
tically observed that Butler had already got the
glory out of Impeachment, to which Ben rejoined
with a back-bander, telling Randall that he would
remain long in that House before he obtained any glory
whatever. When the Republicans felt convinced that
the advocates of Impeachment were working for a
postponement to introduce new charges against the
President they changed their minds, and agreed to
the Senate's resolution of adjournment which they
bad before rejected.
General Meade bas issued an order handing over
the State Government to the civil authorities, and
declaring the supremacy of the law in Georgia, and
on the 22d July General Bullock was installed and
delivered his inaugural address. He congratulates
Congress and the Republican party, and predicts
a glorious future for the State. The House of Re-
presentatives passed a resolution favouring the re-
moval of the political disabilities of the white in-
habitants. In the Senate of the Statj the Com-
mittee of Investigation had reported that none of
the members were ineligible, but in the house two
were declared to be so.
The Seuate adopted resolutions expressing sym-
pathy with the Cretans, demanding in the interest
of religion, civilization, and humanity, the close of
the contest, and directing the President to instruct
the Americas Minister at Constantinople to join
the representatives of other Powers in effecting this
end, and to communicate the resolutions to the
Government of Turkey. In secret session the
treaty with China was ratified. Several important

~,,. r..~-~

treaties were also before the Chamber, among
them that with tlif Sandwich Hands, wherein it is

proposed to exchange, free of duty, the most im-
portant articles produced in either country.
The intelligence appears to have been an error
that the blockade of Mazatlan by H.B.M.'s ship
Chanticleer hal been raised, nor has it been con-
firmed that the Admiral had ordered Capt. Bridge
to report at Panama. The correspondence between
the British Captain and the Mexic iu Genera}
Corona has been published, as well as the procla-
mation of Captain Bridge and the letter of the
United States Consul. The paymaster of the vessel
refused to obey the summons of the Mexican autho-
rities to appear before a civil court. On the 2 )th
June a demonstration was made by the Chancticleer
manning and arming the boats, when Gen. Corona
drew up his force ; but as the seamen were net
landed, the anticipated contest did not take place.
The Herald appears to approve the British captain's
high-handed proceedings, and to hold them up as
an example to Americans ; but Captain Bridge, un-
less he cm show strong grounds in justification)
will find that his Government view the matter is
another light. Doubtless he can ; for he would ba
mad, except under the strongest provocation, to
proclaim the blockade of a port and threaten the
bombardment of a town.

The Electoral College Bill was passed over the
President's veto by 45 to 8 in the Senate, and on
the same day by 131 to 30 in the House. The
Tariff Bill has received its quietus for this session, not-
withstanding the efforts of the lobbyists. The Pre-
sident signed the Tax Bill, with a protest attache&
as the bill gives power to a subordinate officer to
remove tax assessors and collectors. The bill fixing
the military peace establishment has also been
passed. The army is now to number 30,000 men,
consisting of 30 infantry regiments, cavalry 8, and
artillery 4. It contains a clause to which many of the
Southern members strongly objected, providing for
the distribution of arms to the Militia of the South.
Most of the Southerners condemn the issue of arms/
saying that they prefer the U. S. army and dread
the arming of neighbours against each other. gr.
Hendricks asserted that the object was to control
the election by force, which Senators Morton, Nye,
and Howe indignantly denied, affirming that the
protection intended was against the rebels. It led
also to a warm debate in the House, where some
leading Republicans—Mrs Washburne, for instance
—disapproved the measure.
The Supreme Court will settle the question
whether a State has a right to withdraw its assent
when once given to a Constitutional amendment,
as the case of New Jersey is to be tried. Reverdi
Johnson, Curtis, O'Connor, affirm the right, as d°
many other constitutional lawyers. But the opPo''
site opinion is held by men with names as strong,
and it can only be decided after argument before
tha Judges. The question is now connected with
the 14th amendment to the Constitution, which has
been ratified by Congress, and declared to be part
of the Constitution of the United States. Practi-
cally it embodies the plan of reconstruction firsb.,
proposed by Congress, and so obstinately refused
by the Southerners, who would neither confer suf-
frage on the negroes nor consent to be deprived of
the three-fifths vote admitted by the Constitution
on behalf of the blacks when slaves.
To what height the flight of Republican genius
may eventually soar before it succeeds in seating
Grant in the pi esidential chair we may faintly c 01";
jecture from the announcement of the Secretary 0'
the National Republican Committee, W. E. Chand-
ler. He forwards a plan, approved by 33 Senators/
headed by Ben Wade and a legion of the Repre-
sentatives, among whom we se2 many distinguished
names, to organize a Society of Singing Soldiers,
each minus a leg, or an arm, or otberwis°
disabled is the late war for the Union, t°
take part in the coming campaign: Special
contributions are invited to defray the expenses
of organizing, drilling, and sending on excursions
the maimed bowlers, to be forwarded to florae°
Greeley, Tribune office, New York. If it were note
for election tim?s, and for the great names who°
owners say they heartily approve of the suggestion,
we would suppose the scheme a Democratic 'wag to
take a " rise " out of the Republican party ; btlt
as it is the practice, this adaptation of it may prOY3
an effective dodge.
The time fixed for opening the Troy and Green,'
field Railroad, from Shelburne Falls to the tunnel'
is the 10th of August, when festivities will tabu
place along the line, and the usual speech-makil
and prophesying will come off. On the 12th 0
August the contractor's bids for the $5,000,000 ap-
propriated this year will be opened, and the con It
cil will proceed to make a contract, if they can. 4,
is very doubtful if suitable guarantees for the fah",
mint of shch a contract can be given, and it 03°I,
be that the further squandering of the State's nolleif.
will be stopped on this account.—Springfield Rep"
licun.
Colonel Edmund Rice, formerly of the 19th gas;
sachusetts Regiment, and now of the 40th United Staea
Infantry, has been ordered to Springfield to superilltar
the manufacture at the armoury of 200 bayonets of a
ecn
pattern of his invention. Colonel Rico's bayonet has 17,,e0
favourably received at the War Department, and hay,,ed
strongly recommended by many of the most distinguls',o,
officers of the army. It is extremely novel in dosiaie
and proposes to meet very different uses from at
traditional long shall slender weapon first introduce gel
the siege of Bayonne. The bayonet invented by ColTio.
Rice is, in fact, a steel trowel, 9in. long, and 3in. or
wide. It certainly is not as imposing as the old fas1:1100
but claims to be more useful. It is designed to e‘nloit
troops to cover themselves very rapidly. In the lasibilleit
the troops did this with knives, spoons, fingers, and op
bayonets, with which, however, they could not scoot/10r
the earl h. This provides them always with facilitiesilo
entrenchment. Colonel Rice estimates that a line c°,oit
throw up twenty inches of dirt in ten minutes, 0:60
troops need never be caught out of shelter. Th" -ota
weapon would not answer all the purposes of tholigt
bayonet must be admitted ; but it is urged that
weapon is now obsolete • that not a hundred 'tile
were killed by it during 'five years of war ; thstuor
rebels persistently threw theirs away, and that tt;ely
were kill* in the hands of the troops only by Put.ittl
ing those who lost them, and charging them with
the expanse of new ones. That if this was s° er
muzzle-lbaders—the old bayonet will be still less
sity with the breech-loader ; while at the same WO the
urgency of being covered will be vastly increased I?,ropet
deadli& efficiency of the new arm. Colonel Rice's b%tb
is intended to be worn habitually in the sheath ad the
,
side ; the guns are to be stocked at the ramroad, os•e'
bayonet will only be fixed on guard, &c. This 11,0
weapon certainly makes a good case for itself at first
.sTry
and, however the Ordnance Department may comet weor
gard it, we have no doubt officers of infantry g
rally look on it with favour.—Springfield Republican. 00
Charles W. Lowell, just elected speaker cf
Louisiana House of Representatives, was born at Farm gio
ton in 1834, was educated at Bowdoin College, and 1/41,r in
the Maine Legislature in 1861-2. He served in the IV
Ullinan's Brigade, in the Department of the Gulf. re-
Lincoln University, at Oxford, Connecticut, V
cently conferred the degree of Master of Arts upon tired
Bassett, principal for 13 years of the Waterbury c°1:1:),‘,4•01
high school. This is the first instance that such litjyite'
has been conferred upon a coloured man in the
States. ti
At the recent commencement of Hobart —°
a class of eleven were graduated, the honorary deVi;,, of
LL.D. was conferred upon Professor John Brocicellfgb
Trinity College, Hartford ; that of D.D. upon the
Rev. William H. H. Bissell, Bishop of Vermont, the J'ectel
0. R. Howard and T. S. Rumsey. The trustees !'llO, od
as president the Rev. James Stone, son of Dr. Si t,',ap
Brookline, -Massachusetts, a graduate of Harvl-81yearci
lately professor in Kenyon College. He is only ter all
old, but a man of great culture and force of charade
much is hoped of him in his new position. frog
William Warren has been chosen Senator
Alabama for the term ending in 1871. nd
Gail Hamilton leaves America for Europe
this month, to be absent a year.

Births. et
Vig ti
KEIISETT—On the 6th inst., at Tilgate Forest igt
Crawley, the wife of the late Charles Kennett" scil
Hussars, of a son. Ovgt°ll:
SELFE—On the 6th inst., at St. John's Villas'
0, pall
road, Brixton, the wife of J. Henry J. Selfe, 6
ter. Pe
t
~r Go ,11'
WYNDHAM —On the 6th inst., at Southov—, daily
Lewes, the wife of Charles Wyndham, Esql '
ter.

Marriages.
the Very Rev. Dr. Boyd, Dean Doslt'
BOYD—DENNY -On the 7th inst at St. Janies%4l:.-nA
relict of the late Rev. E. Denny,D - ' 1 Sir
,oNb_arpt.lTTs.... brother o
CLDine'nETr'.y.r. On the Gth to
Plymouth, John Henry Cleverton, Es.q-, R'l"
second daughter of Thomas Pitts, Es=l-
- Willi''rii
ANDREWS—On the 6th inst., at South Hackney', opergt
Andrews, E
-sq., many years of New City Cb 3
finsEt ,"a7Stilir:dl:;a;
at Di°
London, aged 79.
BALMAI—On the 7th inst., Joseph Balrnain, •E',(qt3,
%1
residence, 181, Prospect-place, Maida-hill, agcu 5,0
BEARD—On the Gth inst., at St. Michael's, Loves/
Edward Bead, Esq. age 70. W.C.'
Tuomsox—Onr the 7th, inst ,d at 13, Compton-street'
Mr. John Thomson, aged 48. ~..---
-------,xS,
_______ ___ —-
A A ,IDSS 1 .
London : Printed and PubliEhed by WiLLI-„:" A'
'll'
No of
of No. 112, Strand, Printer, at TUE SUN 'Jll°3'o3o:l -
Strand, in the Precinct of the Se voy, in the
Middleses.—Saturday, August 6, 1868.