The Sun.
London, England, 1868-01-15 00:00:00

THE, SUN LONDON, WEDNESDAY EVENING.. JANUARY 15, 1868.

THE EXPLORATION OF PALES 2 LYE.

The following letter from Mr. George Grove, the
secretary to the Palestine Exploration Fund, ap-
peared in the Times :
Since my last communication (in the Times of
December 21) I have received two reports from
Lieutenant Warren, R.E., dated at Jerusalem, the
12th and 21st of December. Ile is proceeding
vigorously with his researches. They divide them-
selves under three main heads :

1. The ancient double passage or tunnel running
from the so-called " Huldah-gate," in the south
wall of the Haram, below the mosque of the Aksa,
up to the platform itself of the Haram. It has
always been an object of anxiety to know whether
this was a mere tunnel, or whether it had subsidiary
passages branching from it either west or east. Mr.
Warren seems to have shown that none such exist.
At the northern end of the tunnel he has discovered
on the east a vaulted chamber, 17ft. square, and on
the west some unimportant waterducts, five feet
below the present surface, and probably connected
with a tank beneath. These ducts he believes to
be older than the Aksa mosque. The square chamber
I understand him to say is later than the mosque.
The sides of the tunnel at its lower end are about
16ft. of solid masonry, very rough on its outer face.
2. In the Tyropaßon Valley, west of the south-
west corner of the Haram. Here galleries are being
driven to discover the depth and position of the
native rock of the ravine immediately below the wall,
and the position of the pier which supported the
western side of " Robinson's Arch." The pier
seems to have been reached ; two courses of stone
were in situ, and I hope shortly to receive details of
its construction, and of the rock of the gully be-
tween it and the wall. Mr. Warren sees ground
for believing that this gully will be found to sweep
round eastward and descend to the " Virgin's
Fount," and thus to divide Moriah from Ophel—a
fact never before suspected.
3. The water supply of the ancient city.—ln this
an advance has been made. Researches at great
depth in the upper part of the Tyroprein seem to
point to the actual existence of the brook which
in the days of the monarchy " overflowed through
the midst of the land," and which Hezekiah stopped
or concealed when the city was besieged by Sen-
nacherib (2 Chronicles, xxxii. 4). This stream
would appear to be still forcing its ancient way
along its old channel, at the prodigious depth of
more than 60ft. beneath the present surface. A mile
west of the city, between it and the ancient village
of Nephtoah, Mr. Warren has explored, at ;some
personal risk, a remarkable cleft which descends
into the earth to a depth of more than 150 ft., and
which may not improbably be one of the sources of
the water supply of Jerusalem. On the other
hand, in the valley of the Kedron, a mile and a half
south of the city, and 500 yards below the " Well
of Joab," a well has been examined, apparently for
the first time, which proves to contain passages,
staircases, and other contrivances, which it can
hardly be too much to assume will be found to be
connected with the waters of the city itself.
Fragmentary as are all these discoveries, they
indicate an amount of ancient remains below the
surface which cannot but excite the hopes and
stimulate the curiosity of all concerned, and incite
us to strain every nerve to lay bare such interesting
relics.

As 1 read Mr. Warren's accounts I seem to feel
the ancient city within my grasp—to know for a
certainty that its very houses and streets and water-
courses,
andco ursitess,raavllintlesie, aanrecileynitng blifeooried
fitsliskterusocintuereesn, itsenchanted
aohtiells
that Dean
solemnsaidhisTheclipersonbeneath(as
which
theineh
D otheravid trod and
h ic
h along ab
which
climbed, eAd ,t
htahlei streetsah
m,was
hurried, the catacomb of the kings of Judah, the
which
very Via Dolorosa itself, of which not even the sha-
dow of a likeness can be found in upper air of the
modern city—all these are doubtless there. Where-
ever Mr. Warren probes, let him go deep enough,
and he comes on some solid substance of a curious
and ancient kind. They start into view in a truly
magical manner, more like the Arabian Nights
than anything else. A "stone suddenly rolls away"
and reveals gtairencwa, Passages, subterranean halls
in the heart of the rock, leading to who knows what
repoitories of treasure. An almost invisible crevice
in the bill turns out to be an enchanted CAVO 150 ft.
deep, concealing the " skeleton of an infant," and
containing, perhaps, the hidden fountain of the
water supply of Jerusalem. The work has been
fairly and well begun. An explorer more daring
and disinterested, more indefatigable and intelli-
gent than Mr. Warren seems impossible. Let
us back him to the utmost. I am happy to say
that the undertaking is relieved from present pecu-
niaary anxieties. But that is no reason for stop-
ping our contributions to a work the extent and
importance of which are daily becoming more obvi-
ous. The explorations at Jerusalem may be—will
be when the fine weather returns—pushed on simul-
taneously in more places at once, and a larger force
of labourers employed. Mr. Warren seems to have
gained the confidence of every one, high and low,
Jew and Gentile, and to obtain what labourers he
likes and what permissions he desires. And outside
of Jerusalem I hope the public will not forget how
much there is to do. There is the natural history of
the country to perfect, and the geology to examine,
the ethnology to discover. The explorers are wait-
ing for the signal to be off. Without diverting a
sovereign from those urgent calls nearer home
which this inclement season brings so closely before
us—without diverting a sovereign from these, there
is ample money to be obtained for the grand and
interesting object for which I plead.
GEORGE GROVE, lion. Sec.,
Palestine Exploration Fund.
Lower Sydenham, Jan. 11.

SECOND LETTER FROM lIISTORICUS ON
NATURALIZATION.

Historieus has written another letter to the Times
on British citizenship. He shows that British law
or citizenship is an outrageous absurdity ; and that
America has no ascertained doctrine, either legal or
political. The Supreme Court has managed to
escape the various attempts made to obtain a recog-
nition of the right of expatriation in American
citizens. For 70 years their judges have asked for
laws on this subject, which as yet her statesmen
have failed to supply. Ilistoricus says :
,4 Thus much may suffice upon the subject of the
legal doctrine of expatriation in the United States.
It is necessary now to consider a far more import-
ant subject, namely, their diplomatic doctrine. I
need hardly say that the diplomatic doctrine is
conversant with a totally different aspect of the
question from that which is involved in its legal
bearings. The law has regard to the dutiesand the
rights of the citizen in respect of the State of whicl,
he is a member. Diplomacy has to do with the
duties and the rights of the citizen towards a foreign
State in which he may happen to be resident or
concerned. To speak in general .terms, the law has
to do with that which his own State can claim
against a subject. Diplomacy has to do with that
which the Government of the subject may claim in
his favour against a foreign State. Most Govern-
ments have thonght it necessary to observe some
measure and proportion between the domestic
doctrine they themselves enforce and that which
they seek to enforce against others. It would be
strange if a country which does not permit expa-
triation to its own citizens insists on enforcing such
a right in regard of the citizens of other countries
who had accepted its. naturalisation. Yet this, or
something like, it is, in fact, what the American
Government claims to do. Though there is no law
of the United States by which any citizen of theirs
could divest himself of his allegiance to his country,
they do, in fact, claim to assert against other States
a right which they have not yet admitted in their
own. While their courts declare that there is no law
by which any American citizen who should have ac-
cepted the citizenship of a foreign State can divest
himself of his allegiance to his own country, the
American Foreign-office demands on the part of its
naturalised citizens, as against other States, that
their primitive allegiance should be treated as ab-
solutely dissolved. This is a sort of game of
" heads I win, tails you lose," in which no Govern,

ment can be expected to acquiesce. Nor, indeed,
has the American diplomatic doctrine been con-
sistent with itself at different periods. From
the time Lof Mr. Wheaton, in 1840, down
to the year 1859, the American Government
distinctly disavowed any right to interpose in
favour of naturalised citizens who had returned
to the country of their origin. The language
of Mr. Wheaton on this point you have
already cited. It is sufficiently precise. Mr. Whea-
ton thus writes to a naturalised American citizen
who sought his protection :—" Having returned to
the country of your birth, your native domicile and
national character revert, and you are bound in all
respects to obey the laws exactly as if you had
never emigrated." The same view of the reverter
of the national character upon return to the coun-
try of birth was consistently adopted by succes-
sive American Secretaries of State—by Mr.
Marcy, Mr. Webster, and Mr. Everett (vide
Senate Documents, already cited). As far as
I can make out, it was Secretary Cass, who, for
the first time, in 1859, set up on behalf of
naturalised citizens of the United States an abso-
lute right of expatriation as against the State of
their birth. In a despatch to the Minister at Berlin
he writes :—" The doctrine of perpetual allegiance
is a relic of barbarism repudiated by the United States
ever since the origin of our Government." [Query
—When and where?] "The moment a foreigner
becomes naturalised his allegiance to his native
country is severed for ever. He experiences a new
political birth. A broad and impassable line sepa-
rates him from his native country. He is no more
responsible for anything he may say or do, or omit
to do, than if he had been born in the United States.
Should he return to his native country, he returns
an American citizen, and in no other charac-
ter," &c. _ _ _

Mr. Seward seems to have followed the lead of
Secretary Cass in this matter. I ueedly hardly say
that the Governments of Europe have declined to
acquiesce in this volte-face of.the American Foreign-
office. It may be (as I think it is) expedient that
the whole of this question should be reviewed in a
candid and friendly spirit, and that the principles
on which a transfer of citizenship is for the future
to be permitted and recognised should be regulated
by international negotiation ; but it is not toler-
able that a Government should, in the phrase
of Lord Castlereagh, " turn its back upon itself,"
as the American Government have done, and
assert as indubitable rights claims which their most
eminent jurists and statesmen have for a long series
of years admitted to be unfounded. We may be
willing to concede from policy more than can be
demanded of us as of right, bat we shall take as the
basis of negotiation the law as laid down by Mr.
Wheaton, and not that improvised for the occasion
by Secretary Cass. . . Attorney-General Cushing,
in the opinion I have before cited, says—" It may
happen that by the law of a given State a person
shall be a citizen thereof and still nut a citizen of the
United States. Citizenship, whether acquired by
birth or naturalisation, is not a thing specifically de-
fined in its elements either by the Constitution or
by the laws of Union." Now, I venture to think
that, before extraordinary immunities are claimed
for American " citizens," foreign States should be
placed in possession of that which .the American
Attorney-General admits himself unable to supply,
—viz., a definition of what constitutes American
citizenship.

The following general conclusions are those at
which Historicus arrives. First, the right of expa-
triation generally should be admitted; secondly, that
right should be limited by certain conditions ;
thirdly, it belongs as much to the native State to
prescribe the conditions of severance as it does to
the State of adopting to prescribe the conditions of
naturalisation ; fourthly, it would be highly de-
sirable that the conditions on which one State con-
fers and the other severs the tie of citizenship
should be regulated by special Convention, as in the
case of extradition. This would be best accom-
plished by a general agreement ; but if this be im-
practicable, then it should be made the subject of
separate treaties.

MIXING INTELLIGENCE.

NEWARK.—After four days working of this mine
5,000 ounces of crude bullion were forwarded to
Belmont, Nevada, 'and were taken to the assay office
of the Manhattan mill for smelting. The bullion
was produced by the mill of the Centenary Com-
pany in the Newark district. This is considered a
marvellous result, and gives promise of a rich return
from the Newark district.
TILE SWEETWATER MINING DISTRICT.—Recent
important discovery of gold-bearing quartz lodes,
in Windriver Range of the Rocky Mountains at the
head of the Sweetwater River, Dakota territory,
United States of America; 43 degrees N. lat. 32
W. long. from Washington; 100 miles N.E. of
Fort Bridger, 60 miles N. of Hamsforks of Green
River, 30 miles N. from the route of the Pacific
Railroad.—These mines show a superiority over any
new discoveries yet made, and the developments
give ample evidence of their permanency. Ten
thousand dollars in gold (equal to £2,000) have
been extracted from the ores of the Cariza Ledge,
worked in a common hand mortar. A large quan-
tity of immensely rich ore has been extracted from
the " Miners' Delight" ledge, and from many other
lodes in the same district. There is an abundant
supply of wood, water, and grass, surrounding the
mines. The climate is healthy. In October, 1867,
there were over 400 inhabitants in the district, and
a great number of persons on the road to the mines.
At a meeting of the citizens of the Sweetwater
Mining District, held October 23d, 1867, in South
to be named Carter
Pass City (name of the settlement near the mines),
aconuenw tycrantcyou
wasnt county judge, and
two associate judges,
and other officers, were elected ; a city government
for South Pass City was formed, city officers elected,
a code of laws for the city adopted, &c., &C. Ar-
rangements were made for the starting of a news-
paper in the early spring of 1868.
The shipment of bullion from Florida mine from
Nov. 17, 1866, to Nov. 12, 1867, amounts to
$105,563 35c. It has, in addition to large and
well-arranged steam-hoisting works, about 1,000
feet lineal measure of tunnels and avenues open for
future use, a steam-engine of 50-horse power, ex-
cellent graded roads, and all the appliances requisite
for profitable mining. Although not every mine
on Lander Hill will open and work itself without
capital, the Florida, under the able and economic
management of Major A. E. Sherman, has almost
accomplished that feat, and others in all probability
can be made to do as well.

As at present the Valley District is exciting great
interest iu Nevada as a discovery of marvellous
wealth, we give the following account extracted
from the Wall-street Journal of the 28th Dec. :
" From Professor Widney we learn of the disco-
very and organisation of the district of Pleasant
Valley. The mineral bearing veins of the locality
were discovered a few months since, but the district
was organised only
about ten days ago. The new
district is situated three miles east of the eastern base
of the White Pine range of mountains, and about
10 miles east of 'White Pine District, consequently
100 miles nearly due east of Austin. The country
of the district and
neighbourhoodi2 made up of low
isolated hills of from 300 to 500 feet altitude, sur-
rounded by pretty but small valleys, which, with
the hills, are abundantly supplied with grass, while
to the west, towers the lofty White Pine range,
clothed in as dense a forest as crowns the Sierra
Nevada, affording timber and fuel for Pleasant
Valley and the districts and country surrounding.
A few springs are found, furnishing water for all
needed purposes of domestic use and steam works,
but no running streams exist in the immediate vici-
nity. The minerals, or float rock,' were first found
by Mr. A. J. Leathers, who was also the discoverer
of White Pine District. Last spring his camp at
White Pine District was visited by a herd of hun-
gry Goshutes, and during a momentary absence of
the proprietor, the Indians, unable to withstand the
temptations of a well-prepared dinner for a party of
miners, waded into pots and platters without wait-
ing for knives and forks, and were busily engaged,
tooth and toe-nail, when the indignant and incensed
cook and proprietor surprised them by returning.
Impulsively he grasped a cudgel and proceeded to
give Mr. Goshute a pummelling, but the gaunt

forms and piteous appeals of Lo stayed the up-
lifted club, and with full bellies and expressions of
gratitude the dusky raiders vanished, but ' The next
night, name again and showed a wondrous sight.'
Not the next exactly, as the poet has written, but
some months afterwards, bringing with them
napyas,' or pieces of quartz well filled with horn
silver, and proposed to visit the locality where
hea:p napyas' was to be found. Accordingly in
June last Mr. Leathers followed his grateful guide
to where is now Pleasant Valley, and truly found
heap napyas.' A ledge was found cropping out
about four feet in width, and for a length of 300 or
400 feet, showing ore throughout, and in places the
ore was of extraordinary richness, containing masses
of horn silver so pure and soft that a finger nail
will make a bright streak upon it. The ledge was
located under the name of Hidden Treasure, and
the party returned, keeping for the time being
their discovery a secret. Well may Mr. Leathers
congratulate himself upon the successful sale of his
dinner, and his slight punishment of the famished
forest chieftain. Nothing has been publicly known
of the district until the present. Lately it has been
visited by Mr. Widney, who aided iu forming a dis-
trict according to the custom of miners, passed laws
for its government, and elected A. J. Leathers re-
corder. A quantity of ore, choice, of course, was
taken to the Centenary Mill at Newark; assays
were made, giving from $1,600 to $2,800 per ton.
Our informant tells us that a ton could be easily
gathered from the croppings that would be worth
over $l,OOO. The specimens brought to Austin
were very choice, and would assay several thousand
dollars per ton. Although the country rock is
limestone, the ledges appear to be fissure veins, and
are traceable by their croppings in a regular course,
but no sufficient developments have been made to
disclose the casings or walls of the veins. As a
singular feature of the formation, corals and other
marine fossils are found in the veins, and sur-
rounded by ore. Some scientists would deny this,
and others would say that it is evidence that they
are not fissure veins ; but whatever it may prove or
disprove, the fact is apparent that a vast quantity
of rich ore is upon the surface, and if it extends
several thousand feet in depth, it may be regarded
as nearly as good as if it were a true fissure vein,
notwithstanding the theory of the fossils. It is un-
doubtedly an important district, rich in minerals,
easy of access, well favoured with wood, water, and
a soil luxuriantly clothed in grass, and adds ano-
ther to the many which are filling up the ' unex-
plored regions' of Eastern Nevada."
It is said a letter was yesterday forwarded to the
Stock Exchange from the office of the St. John del
Rey Mining Company, confirming the news by the
Brazil mail of a fire having destroyed the works,
although Mr. Hoskin, the managing director, on
the 9th instant announced that no information had
been received by'the company. The shares were
yesterday quoted at £4O to £45, and were even done
at £39, having fallen from £57. The loss antici-
pated is in the stoppage of the works, more than in
any outlay required to repair them.

CONGRESS.

SENATE.

Dec. 17.—Mr. Howard, from the Committee on
the Pacific Railroad, 'reported the House joint re-
solution, managing the time for the election of
directors of the Union Pacific Railroad, with an
amendment, that, after the election, in March next,
the term of office of all now claiming to act as
directors shall cease. The amendment was agreed
to, and the bill passed. Mr. Sherman, from the
Committee on Finance, reported a bill for funding
the national debt, and for conversion of the notes
of the United States. He proposed to call up the
bill after the holidays. The committee were una-
nimous in their objects, although there_was a diffe-
rence as to details. He would move to print 5,000
extra copies of the report accompanying the bill. He
also reported the House Bill to suspend further con-
traction of the currency, with an amendment, sus-
pending the power of the Secretary of the Trea-
sury to retire or cancel four millions a month until
otherwise provided by Congress. Mr. Henderso❑
offered a resolution calling on the President for a
statement of all instructions to officers of the
United States in carrying out the details of the act
of July Ist, 1862, to suppress rebellion, and punish
treason and insurrection, the amount of moneys
received from this source, the names of all persons
whose property was sold, and the names of persons
purchasing the same.—Adopted. A resolution
was offered by Mr. Fessenden, calling on the Pre-
sident for a statement of the aggregate expenses of
the Freedmen's Bureau and relief accorded to
freedmen Juno 13, 1865, excluding the expenses of
coloured soldiers. The bill exempting unmanufac-
tured cotton from tax was then taken up, and led
to a discussion, in which Messrs. Conklin, Pome-
roy, Morton, Corbett, Davis and Stewart, took
part with Mr. Yates and Mr. Terry.

Dec. 18.—Mr. Trumbull, from the Committee on
the Judiciary, asked to be discharged from further
consideration of the resolutions inquiring whether
West Virginia is really a State in the Union,
whether the Civil Rights Bill is constitutional, and
whether the 13th amendment to the Constitution
was legally adopted, on the ground that these
questions had already been settled. The motion
to discharge the committee was agreed to. Mr.
Howard called up the resolution requesting the
President to transmit any correspondence between
Great Britain and the United States relative to the
joint occupation of the island of San Juan in
Puget's Sound, by the two Governments, with
copies of the agreement on the subject. In answer
to Mr. Williams, who affirmed the communication
had already been communicated, he said he had not
seen it, and asked why Great Britain was per-
mitted to occupy American territory, having no
right to an inch of that island. After further dis-
cussion the resolution was passed. On Mr.
Conklin's motion to postpone until the third Mon-
day in February the Cotton Tax Exemption Bill,
Mr. Doolittle and Mr. Wilson argued in favour of
the bill, and Mr. Chandler in favour of postpone-
ment; and the Senate again adjourned without
coming to any conclusion.

Dec. 19.--The house bill amending the supple-
mentary reconstruction acts was received, read
twice, and referred to the Judiciary Committee.
Mr. Sherman presented a memorial of citizens of
Cincinnati, including members of the City Council,
asking the adoption of measures to secure the rights
of American citizens abroad from foreign aggres-
sions, and also asking some explicit definition of Ame-
rican citizenship. Particular mention is called to
the treatment of American citizens by the British
authorities in connection with the late Fenian diffi-
culties. Mr. Conness said the President was invested
with ample power in the premises, and if it were not
exercised it was the neglect of the Executive.
Mr. Sherman said the memorial which he had pre-
sented related to three different aspects of this sub-
ject, and it had better be referred to the Committee
on Foreign Relations. We could not submit to
foreign Governments assuming to punish our citi-
zens for offences committed here, and not punish-
able by our laws ; but of course if American citizens
went into foreign countries and committed offences
within their jurisdiction they were liable to punish-
ment. The memorial was then referred to the
Committee on Foreign Relations. Mr. Morrill, of
Maine, reported from the Committee on Ap-
propriations, the Deficiency Appropriation Bill,
with amendments, appropriating for deficiency,
in extra pay of clerks of Senate commit-
tees, pages, &c., $33,804, which was agreed to.
A discussion followed, and amendments proposed
by Messrs. Buckalew, Ramsay, Fesseuden,
were disagreed to. An amendment of the committee
appropriating $8,640 for additional messengers was
agreed to ; also striking out an appropriation of
$1,600 for extra clerical labour in preparing the
History of United States Land Grants, and $5OO
for fueling. The bill having been considered in
committee of the whole was then reported to the
Senate, when Mr. Ramsey renewed his amendment,
that no allowance shall be made for stationery or
newspapers, when it was agreed to by a vote of 21
to 20. A discussion followed on the appropria-
tion for newspapers of $12,500, and Mr. Ramsey's
motion to strike out this item was disagreed to.
Mr. Edmunds offered an amendment that no money
shall be paida.by any officer of either House for

newspapers:or stationery for any member. —Adopte 1.
The bill was then passed. Mr. Morton asked to
take up the llouse bill suspending any further con-
traction of the currency. Mr. Sherman said there
was no necessity for taking up this bill until after
the holidays, and sent to the desk a letter addressed
to him by the Secretary of the Treasury, in which
the Secretary states that he will not cancel or retire
any of the notes of the United States, either during
this month or the month of January, and that he
does not propose to resume the contraction of the
currency or take any action in the matter until
fully advised of the sense of Congress on the
subject, without further action. The Senate then
adjourned.
Dec. 20th.—After some unimportant business,
Mr. Sherman called up the bill exempting manu-
factured cotton from internal tax. A lengthy de-
bate ensued, continuing up to 1.30, when the Senate
went into executive session, and after a few minutes
spent therein adjourned, in accordance with pre-
vious resolution, to Monday, Jan. 6, 1868.