The Sun.
London, England, 1868-01-13 00:00:00

THE SUN, LONDON, MONDAY EVENING, JANUARY 13, 1868

merely exchanged commands with his successor ;
but General MEADE, we may reasonably suppose,
was selected to fill General POPE'S place from his
adherence to the Presidential policy. Scarcely is
he in office, however, before he proceeds to the ex-
treme measure of removing the civil governor of the
state, and of replacing him by a military com-
mander. Mr. JOHNSON can hardly overlook so
serious an infraction of civil rights, though
the grounds on which General MEADE has
acted are not before us. Of other news we have
little that is important, though the arrival of the
Africa brings us intelligence to the last day of the
year. The whites in several parts of Virginia and
North Carolina have asked for military protection
from the apprehended violence of the negroes, and
some efforts are being made to relieve the miserable
condition of the destitute people. Mr. CHASE IS
being put forward for the Presidency in some
quarters, though luckily with little chance of
Success.

The Conservative Association at Croydon has
just been celebrating its first anniversary on Satur-
day. The speeches delivered on the occasion were
full of interest, and that of Mr. GARTH, M.P., in
proposing the toast of her MAJESTY'S Ministers,
was especially worthy of notice. He took a com-
prehensive view of politics, and expressed some of
those views which the most enlightened members
of his party have long since entertained, and the
effect of which has been the Reform Bill of last Ses-
sion. As Conservatives he maintained that they should
seek to preserve the time-honoured institutions of
their land, but meanwhile they should not slumber.
" Conservatism did not mean inactivity, either
social or political." This is essentially true, and
we are glad to find sound sense and patriotic senti-
ment put forward in so efficient a manner. A
country like England cannot stand still, if it does
not progress it must deteriorate ; but progess need
not necessarily mean a vehement change and a
direct alteration. The more gradually the work is
done the better, so long as it is effected in the right
way ani in the right direction. Whoever else may
have laid themselves open to the charge of neg-
lecting this task, certainly her MAJESTY'S
Ministers have not done so. In the several depart-
ments of the State they have displayed a zeal and
ability that have not often been equalled, and in
Foreign affairs Lord STANLEY has contrived to do
far more than his immediate predecessors, notwith-
standing that some very awkward tasks fell to his
lot. As Mr. GARTH very forcibly put it respecting
the great work of last session, " The Government
had had the courage to bring forward a measure
of Parliamentary Reform, more large, more gene-
rous, more liberal in its conception and in its execu-
tion than any measure that had ever been conceived by
what was called a Liberal Government." We quite
agree with the hon. member in his opinions con-
cerning the working-classes. It is quite a Mistake
on the part of some politicians to suppose that they
are opposed to the institutions at present existing ;
and, on the contrary, there is every reason to believe
they share with those in more affluent circumstances
in the desire to maintain them. They have in some
instances complained with justice that they have
not a sufficient share in the representation ; but that
grievance has now, happily, been removed. In
answer to the question put by some captious and
jealous looker on as to how the measure would be
received, Mr. GABTII pointed to the reception of the
Chancellor of the Exchequer in Edinburgh, " a

city not generally distinguished by its attachment
to Conservative principles," and also to the increase
of working men's Conservative associations through-
out the country.

Another significant sign might he seen in the
speeches of some " political opponents," and, in the
spleen and jealousy which were manifested in
those speeches, which told so unmistakeably a
tale of defeat and disappointment." Mr.
CLEASBY, who acted as chairman in the
absence of Mr. SUTHERLAND, the President.,
through illness, made some remarks on the subject

immediately interesting to them, namely, the asso-
ciation which brought them together. Some dis-
advantages have, no doubt, sprung up to counter-
balance in some degree the material prosperity this
country has long enjoyed, and among them Mr.
CLEASBY cited the presence among us of the " most
unscrupulous and most unpatriotic demagogues
that have ever attempted to sow discontent in
any country." When we recall the many ex-
traordinary speeches that had been made

in various directions, calling into question the
merits of the institutions under which the people of
this country have so long flourished, and remained

freer in the true acceptation of the term than any
community that ever existed, we feel tempted to
coincide with the strictures here met with in this
discourse, and to subscribe to the truth of this re-
mark. " These pigmies imagined that they alone
had done anything for the honour aul happiness of
England ; but England was the greatest country
in the world before they were able to wag their
tongues against her." This entertainment may be
regarded on the whole as a satisfactory affair, not
in a party sense, so much as under a general view
of it, for the ultimate triumph of true principles in
a constitutional manner must depend in a great
measure upon their universal recognition, and un-
less all parties in the State virtually combine, they
cannot be successful in a permanent style. Differ-
ences may exist, but, more or less, there must be
some neutral ground formed, and the country must
attain that social and political excellence upon
which its prosperity mainly depends, and which
can alone prevent strife and discord.

The semi-official Gazette of Florence publishes a
Circular of the Minister of the Interior to the Pre-
fect upon the internal policy of the Government.
In this we find some excellent counsel giveM to
those who are anxiously looking out for Reforms of
one sort or another. He emphatically states that
" the first essential condition for the liberty of all
is respect for and observance of the law." This
is very true, and it is to be hoped that due
attention will be paid to it, for everything depends
upon its strict observance. Equally true is the
following remark, that the object in question can-
not be attained unless the Government should
possess the necessary authority and energy. It
stands to sense that those whose bounden duty
it is to carry out those rules and regulations neces-
sary for the preservation of order should be enabled
to make their orders respected. Italy will
never secure her own liberty or the prosperity of
her people unless she can conform to these observ-
ances, which are so necessary, and which the well
being of her State imperatively calls for. A capital
illustration of the injuries inflicted upon the cause
of freedom by those who catch up the name of it
but are totally ignorant of its real meaning. In

country where any section can successfully counterac
the authority of the Government by putting them-
selves above the Parliament, as the Minister here
happily expresses it in this Circular, " there would
be only liberty for the few, depriving of liberty
all the others," What a picture is this of the
condition of some nations who have followed in
the tract of evil advisers, and lost far more than
they Lave gained. We hope and trust that
the Italians will have sufficient sense to

follow the advice thus tendered to them
in the spirit of patriotism, and to renounce

their own desires rather than compromise the gene-
ral interests and security of the community. Abso-
lutism and anarchy are alike to be avoided, but
into one of two extremes will those fall who do not
adopt the safe medium course, which may offer few
attractions to the extravagant politician, but
which is in the end the wisest and the most
secure one. The existing laws must be carried out,
no matter how inimical they may be to some unruly
spirits who advocate reform in all directions except
when it concerns themselves. There is no use in
mincing matters, and, therefore, we consider the
very decided and determined remarks in this Circu-
lar were most opportune and most suitable to the
times and the temper of the people to whom they
are addressed. " And in this sole consideration,"
observes the Minister in reference to the observance
of the law, " can the liberty of all be assured and
guaranteed, nor can the unity of Italy otherwise
attain that culmination to which the country
unanimously aspires." The best that can be hoped
for is that the Circular may receive due attention
and regard, and meet with that observance which it
so truly merits.

LATEST INTELL IGENCE.

(REUTER'S TELEGRAMS.)

AMERICA.

(BY ATLANTIC TELEGRAPH.)

NEW YORK, January 12.

The total receipts of cotton at the American ports
for the week ending Friday last amounted to
84,000 bales.

The exports during the same period were as
follows :—To Great Britain, 40,000 bales ; Havre,
7,000 ; other Continental ports, 7,000. Total stock
at all the United States ports 388,000 bales.

ARRIVAL OF THE HERMANN.

Nicw YORK, Jan. 2 (Morning).

General Canby has issued an order providing the
homestead exemption from legal seizure, and has
revoked General Sickles' order prohibiting the sale
and distillation of liquor in North and South
Carolina.

The Louisiana Convention has adopted an article
of the Constitution prohibiting distinction on ac-
count of colour in public conveyances.

Eleven of the twenty-tkree Republican candi-
dates in Alabama have declined the nomination.
Mr. Davis and wife have arrived at New Orleans.

President Johnson has assigned General T. W.
Sherman (not Lieut.-General Sherman) to succeed
General Meade, in command of the department in
the East.

It is reported that Lord Monck has received in-
structions to remain in Canada another year.
The revolt at Yucatan continues. The rebels
hold Merida.

In consequence of the revolt Juarez has issued an
order, banishing all Imperialists.
__

The North German Lloyd steamer Hermann,
from New York, arrived at Southampton to-day,
(13th January) with 40 passengers, 46 sacks of
mails for England, $1,152,371 for London, $152,172
for Paris, and $6OO and 2,526 packages of cargo
for Bremen.

NEW YORK, Jan. 2.

Advices from Japan, via San Francisco, to the
6th December, state that the Tycoon has resigned
the governing power to the Mikado.

The opening of the port of Jeddo is deferred
until the Ist of April.
YOKOHAMA, Dec. 6, via San Francisco, Jan. 1.

The Government of the empire will henceforth
be carried on under the Mikado, by a council of
damaios or nobles.

There are many rumours afloat of troubles at
Kiato, the metropolis of the empire. Some assert
that the death of Stotsbaski has taken place, but it
is not generally believed.
Osaca and Viogan, or the inland sea, will cer-
tainly be opened to foreign commerce on the Ist of
January, 1868.

The new port to be opened on the west coast of
he Empire is Neagala, as named in the original
.reaty ; but the harbour at that place, being unsafe
!or foreign ships coming in, that of Ebisunito, on
;he island of Sado, 30 miles distant, is to be made
.he port of entry in its stead.
This port and harbour are to be opened on the
Ist of April.

The reason for the delay given by the Japanese
is that they cannot prepare the settlements before

that period.

NCE.
ree o'clock. —The marke

FRA
BOURSE, JAN. 11, Th:
closed as follows :-
41 per Cent.
End of month... Italian Loan
3 per Cent
End of mouth_ 68 971 Mexican Loan 15i
Credit Mobilier
End of month... 163 75 Spanish Threes
Credit Foncier ...1355 Home Debt 34-1.
End of m0nth...1355 Deferred

RAILWAYS.

Account
Orleans .................................. 870
:Northern .... 1152
.....

Lyons and Mediterranean ............... 878 i
Southern..... ................................. 53G}

Western .......................................
Easturn • • 535
Sardinian

Austrian ....................................... 502 i
Lombard ....................................... 341*
North of Spain .............................. 61
Saragossa .................................... 85
Roman .......................................... 50

THE RIGHT TO MUSSEL SCALPS.—On Friday the
Second Division of the Court of Session gave judg-
ment in the case of the Duchess of Sutherland against
certain fishermen of Cromarty, affecting the right to the
mussel scalps on the shores or sands of Nigg and in the
Bay of Cromarty. Tho action was brought by her
Grace to have it declared that she had the exclusive
right to these scalps, the title on which she founded being
her infeftment in the lands of the barony of Tarbat, the
grant of which from the Crown comprised the " salmon
fishing, and power of killing and catching other fishes,
as well small as great." Immemorial possession was
also pleaded in behalf of pursuer. It was maintained by
the defenders that the Crown had no power to confer
upon an individual a public right such as that of fishing
for mussels, and that, at all events, such a right could only
be conferred by express grant. The case first came before
Lord Ordinary Baroaple, who held that the pursuer, not
having shown an express title, had failed to establish her
right. His Lordship was of opinion that the mussel
scalps, unlike the salmon fishings,whioh were patrimonial
property, could only be held by the Crown for the
public use. This judgment was reclaimed to the Second
Division, who directed written argument, after conside-
ration of which their lordships unanimously altered the de-
cision of Lord Barncaple, and found for the pursuer. Lord
Cowan, in giving his opinion, said it was impossible to read
the authorities without coming to the conclusion that the
mussel beds wore among the regalia niinera, and as such
capable of alienation and transference to a private person,
just as salmon fishings and other patrimonial property
were. He also held that the expression " with fishings,"
which would have been sufficient in the case of salmon, was
a good title to the mussels. Lord Neaves remarked that the
title of the pursuer included the right to work minerals
under the sea and all other similar rights ; and while the
right might be subject to certain public rights, such as
those of navigation, and perhaps also white fishing, the
solum or fundus of the sea still remained the property of
the Crown, and might be given out by the Crown, with all
its accessories, to a subject, so as to become private pro-
perty. He held that the mussel scalps were convoyed in
this case as ono of these accessories, the mussel being quite
as much a fixture as sea ware or any Marine plant. Tt►e
Lord Justice-Clerk and Lord Benhohno concurred, and
judgment was accordingly given against the fishermen.
THE ALLEGED LIGHTS AT WHITBUHN.—The
Whitburn fishermen have held a meeting, and expressed
their indignation at the calamities which have happened
with reference to the alleged lights. They determined
also to memorialise the Board of Trade and the Secretary
of the Lifeboat Institution, and declare that, until an in-
quiry is made, they will to a man refuse to go off in the
lifeboat.

DM PARIS.

CORRESPO
(FROU nUR OWN connEsroNttrr.)
PARIS, SUNDAY, Jan. 12.
A batch of ten only of the journals originally named
is to be prosecuted for the comments on the proceed-
ings in the Corps Legislatif. They are the Constitutionnel,
Journal des Debats, ()Pinion Nationale, Temps, Avenir
National, Journal de Paris, Union, Sicle, Interet Public,
and Glancur. The Presse, Epoque, Patric, Gazette de Paris,
and .12evue Nationale have obtained a happy deliverance,
the autlaorities feeling that there was no chance of a case
being =tie out against them.

Yesterda the petition presented by M. Charles Baudin,
French Minister Plenipotentiary at the Hague, and M.
Alphonse Baudin his brother, complaining that the new
boulevard projected by Baron Haussmann would cut off a
corner of the Montmartre Cemetery, and pass so near
their father's tomb as to render it liable to desecration
hereafter, was adopted in the Senate by 50 against 33
votes. The debate was very lively, and Baron Haussmann
got severely handled.
In military circles there is much talk of a new gun-
poyedei, which has been invented by M. Schultze, until
lately a captain in the Prussian Artillery. The powder
has been submitted to the Minister of War here, and I am
told that the experiments which have been performed have
been most successful. The new material contains neither
saltpetre, charcoal, nor sulphur, and possesses immense
projective force. The fact that it leaves no residue will
render the poudre blanche, as it is called, very suitable for
use in rifled guns.

The action brought before the Civil Tribunal of the
Seine by the cabman Schumacher and his wife agains
their daughter the Marquise d'Orvault, for an alimentary
pension, to which I drew attention some time since, will
not have been forgotten by your readers. The court has
now decided that the Marquise shall pay for the future to
Schumacher and his wife I,ooof. a year for life, the said
sum to be reduced on the death of one of them to 700 f. a
year. The court, at the same time, blamed the -applicants
for the scandalous disclosures which they had so uselessly
been the means of bringing before the world.
Much more has been made of the Emperor's fall on the
ice than the nature of the accident demanded. The only
injury his Majesty received was a slight bruise on the
forehead. Having been assisted to rise, the Emperor
rested in a cafe for a few moments, and then drove back to
the Tuileries.

A collection for relieving the need of the poor during
this time of bitter cold and dire distress has been made
on the skating-ground of the Cerelc des Patineurs.
Tile Emperor, Empress, and Prince Imperial subscribed
1,500 f., and the members of the club and other persons
present 3,000 f. The vicinity of the Hotel de Ville is
besieged nightly with immense crowds of starving labourers
clamouring for food or work. Bread tickets are distributed
by the command of the Emperor.

The condition to which the East of Prussia and the
North of Russia have been reduced is described as being
very sad. The correspondent of a Paris paper says that
in the town of Gumbonnen, close to the Russian frontier,
a horrible disease, the " typhus of hunger," has just
broken out. At Memel mobs of starving wretches assail
the bakers' shops and the merchants' counting-houses,
claiming food and money.

The constitution of the present Prussian Parliament is
curious and varied. It contains 4 Ministers in office and
7 without office, 41 functionaries from the higher spheres
of civil administration, 41 " landrathe," 2 provincial
administrators, 22 bourgmeisters, 7 State contractors, S
attorneys, 1 prison director, 51 judges, 13 barristers, 1
railway director, 7 Catholic ecclesiastics, 4 Evangelical
ministers, 98 noble and 84 ordinary landed proprietors, 12
independent gentlemen, 32 manufacturers, millers, pro-
prietors of mines, merchants, publishers, and bankers, 4
doctors, and 19 professors, librarians, newspaper editors
and writers.

The Provincial Government of Crete has convoked a
National Assembly, to which all the provinces of the island
are sending delegates, for the purpose of giving public ex-
pression to the wishes of the population and of establishing
the Cretan Government upon a permanent basis. One of
the most influential and wealthy Turks, a resident in
Crete, has recently joined the cause of the Provisional
Government, upon the ground that there is more liberty
and safety and less taxation and vexation under the Chris-
tian than under the Mahommedan rnlo. The Provisional
Government is daily gaining in strength, and entertains
strong hopes of a speedy recognition as a de facto Govern-
ment by foreign Powers.

Information has been received in America that the
Stockholm newspaper, the Vial)late, advises the Swedish
Government to follow the example of Denmark by selling
to the United States its West India Island of St. Bartho-
lomew. This is regarded in official circles, says the
New York Herald, as another indication that European
monarchies are retiring from this continent under the
influence of the Monroe doctrine. •

According to the Times correspondent the Crown is
placed in a very undesirable position in Australia. Sum,.
time since it made an application to the Assembly for a
temporary supply of £500,000. This was voted, but the
Council has refu,sed to confirm the vote. The consequence
is that the Crown is without supplies, and is being sued by
public servants and contractors by thousands, under the
Crown Remedies Act. The Government. having no de-
fence to these actions, either at law or in equity, are com-
pelled to allow judgment to go by default. The Governor
has made an appeal to the country on the subject in dis-
pute between the two Houses.

The Argus, in a manner which is plain, if it be not polite-
directs the attention of the Royal visitor to the colony, to
the condition of things which exists. In a solemn leader
the Duke of Edinburgh is informed " that for the very
billiard-table on which he amuses himself after the labo,
rious pleasures of the day, his Royal mother has been sued,
and has even 'still, notwithstanding the prothonotary's
certificate, omitted to pay." It is said, however, that his
Royal Highness shews a callous and even cheerful in-
difference to the harrowing situation of " his Royal
mother" as a defendant in-the Supreme Court of Vie-
t(); h.

The working of the protective tariff in Victoria has dis-
appointed its friends and advocates. It has called no new
manufactures into existence, while it has strangled soi :e
which were previously flourishing. It has seriously injured
commerce, diminished employment, raised the price of
almost every imported commodity, diminished the ex-
changeable value of gold, in spite of a reduction of one
shilling per ounce in the export duty, led to a serious
falling-off in the traffic returns of the Government railways,
and occasioned a progressive decline in the general revenue,
indicative of a diminishing power of consuming dutiable
goods on the part of the people. We are glad to learn by
the present mail that some of the supporters of this anti-
gusted. system in the colony have changed sides, and az)
now hostile critics.

It was lately stated that Sir Edmund Lacon, one of the
last members for Yarmouth, would be nominated for the
north-cast division of Norfolk in the Conservative interes
at the next election. The Daily News characterises the
statement as at least premature, and hints at the proba-
bility of Sir E. Lacon's political career terminatin j with
the dissolution of the present Parliament.

Professor Blackie has been lecturing at Gal:: sLic's cn
" Government." The learned gentleman discussed such
abstract questions as the fundamental principles of
government, the best form of government, and the
dangers of democracy ; and more practical questions, such
as the soundness of the principle of voting by majorities,
and the Reform Bill of 1867, which the lecturer character-
ised as a flagrant piece of mismanagement.

In the course of his speech for the proprietor of the
Irishman, who has been sent for trial on a charge of having
published seditious libels, Mr. Heron, Q.C., referred to
Some evictions which are shortly to take place on tl: e
estate of the Marquis of Sligo, near Westport. It is esti-
mated that between five and six hundred persons will be
turned out of tenancies occupied by themselves and their
fathers for generations. The decrees of ejectment were
obtained on notices to quit; no rent, it is said, being due.
The object is supposed to be, to consolidate the holdings
into one large farm.

In reply to the objection urged against permitting more
local government in Ireland, that it would lead to diffe-
rent systems of law in different parts of the empire, Mr.
Boyd Kinnear, in a letter to the Daily News, points out
how many systems of local law are found in England.
Surrey has a legal system of tenant-right; Lincolnshire
has a different one; the weald of Yorkshire has a third.
What would the farming interest of any of these counties
say if Parliament were to interfere with its own customary
law against the expressed wish of its own representatives?
Middlesex and Yorkshire have a system of compulsory
registration of titles, which no other county has. Kent
refuses to acknowledge the very fundamental point
of aristocratic institutions, and insists on retaining
the law of gavelkind, or equal division of landed property,
instead of that of primogeniture. Mr. Boyd Kinnear
asks what sound objection there can be to our respecting
in the wide and more distinctive fields of Scotland and
Ireland the local laws or feelings which we habitually re-
spect in every English county in which they exist. He
denies that Scotch loyalty is due simply to the increase of
prosperity since the Union, inasmuch as the Highland
population have not shared the prosperity. They are
loyal in spite of starvation and evictions. The foundation
of the national loyalty is that practically we have developed
a system which permits Scotland to be governed by and
for Scotsmen,