The Sun.
London, England, 1868-06-22 00:00:00

TILE SUN, LONDON, MONDAY EVENING, JUNE 22, 1868.

GENERAL GRANT'S LETTER.

" Washington, D.C., May 29, 1868.
" To General Joseph R. llawley, President of the
National Union Republican Convention :

" In formally accepting the nomination of the
National Union Republican Convention of the 21st
of May inst., it seems proper that some statement
of views, beyond the mere acceptance of the nomi-
nation, should be expressed. The proceedings of the
Convention were marked with wisdom, moderation,
and patriotism, and I believe express the feelings of
the great mass of those who sustained the country
through its recent trials. I indorse their resolutions.
If elected to the office of President of the United
States, it will be my endeavour to administer all
the laws in good faith, with economy, and with the
view of giving peace, quiet, and protection every-
where. In times like the present, it is impossible,
or at least eminently improper, to lay down a policy
to be adhered to, right or wrong, through an admi-
nistration of four years. New political issues, not
foreseen, are constantly arising ; the views of the
public on old ones are constantly changing, and a
purely administrative officer should always be left
free to execute the will of the people. I always
have respected that will, and always shall. Peace,
and universal prosperity, its sequence, with econo-
my of administration, will lighten the burden of
taxatioa, while it constantly reduces the national
debt. Let us have peace.—With great respect,
your obedient servant, " U. S. GRANT."

THE LETTER OF SPEAKER COLFAX.

" Washington, D.C., May 30, 1868.

" The Hon. J. R. Hawley, President of the Na-
tional Union Republican Convention :—Dear
Sir,—The platform adopted by the patriotic Con-
vention over which you presided, and the resolu-
tions which so happily supplement it, so entirely
agree with my views as to a just national policy
that my thanks are due to the delegates, as much
for this clear and auspicidus declaration of princi-
ples, as for the nomination with which I have been
honoured and which I gratefully accept. When a
great rebellion, which imperilled the national exist-
ence, was at last overthrown, the duty of all others
devolving on those intrusted with the responsibili-
ties of legislation evidently was to require that the
revolted States should be re-admitted to participa-
tion in the Government against which they had
warred only on such a basis as to increase and
fortify, not to weaken or endanger, the strength
and power of the nation. Certainly no one
ought to have claimed that they should be read-
mitted under such a rule that their organization
as States could ever again be used, as at the open-
ing of the war, to defy the national authority, or
destroy the national unity. This principle has
been the pole star of those who have inflexibly
insisted on the Congressional policy your Conven-
tion so cordially indorsed. Baffled by executive
opposition and by persistent refusals to accept any
plan of reconstruction proffered by Congress,^ jus-
tice and public safety at last combined to teach us
that only by an enlargement of suffrage in those
gt"taa .30.1.1 the desired end be att.i.eo, end that, it
was even more safe to give the ballot to those who
loved the Union than to those who had sought, in-
effectually, to destroy it. The assured success of
this legislation is being written on the adamant of
history, and will be our triumphant vindication.
" More clearly, too, than ever before does the
nation now recognize that the greatest glory of a
republic is, that it throws the shield of its protec-
tion over the humblest and weakest of its people,
and vindicates the rights of the poor and the
powerless as faithfully as those of the rich and
powerful. rejoice, too, in this connection, to find
n your platform the frank and fearless avowal that
naturalized citizens must be protected abroad, at
every hazard, as though they were native born. Our
whole people are foreigners, or descendants of
foreigners. Our fathers established by arms their
right to be called a nation ; it remains for us to
establish the right to welcome to our shores all
who are willing by oaths ~of allegiance to become
American citizens. Perpetual allegiance, as claimed
abroad, is only another name for perpetual bond-
age, and would make all slaves to the sod where
first they saw the light. Our national cemeteries
prove how faithfully these oaths of fidelity to their
adopted land have been sealed in the life-blood of
thousands upon thousands. Should we not, then,
be faithless to the dead if we did not protect their
living brethren in the full enjoyment of that na-
tionality for which, side by side with the native
born, our soldiers of foreign birth laid down their
lives ? It was fitting, too, that the representatives of
a party which had proved true to national duty in time
of war should speak so clearly in time of peace for
the maintenance, untarnished, of the national hon-
our, national credit, and good faith as regards its debt,
the cost of our national existence. Ido not need to
extend this reply by further comment on a platform
which has elicited such hearty approval throughout
the land. The debt of gratitude it acknowledges
to the brave men who saved the Union from destruc-
tion, the frank approval of amnesty, based on re-
pentance and loyalty, the demand for the most
thorough economy and honesty in the government,
the sympathy of the party of liberty with all
throughout the world who long for the liberty we
here enjoy, and the recognition of the sublimeprin-
, ciples of the Declaration of Independence, are-
,
worthy of the organization on whose banners they
are to be written in the coming contest.
" Its past record cannot be blotted out or forgot-
ten. If there had been no Republican party, sla-
very would to-day cast its hateful shadow over the
Republic. If there had been no Republican party,
a free press and free speech would be as unknown
from the Potomac to the Rio Grande as ten years
ago. If the Republican party could have been
stricken from existence when the banner of rebel-
lion was unfurled, and when the response of " Nt•
coerzion" was heard at the North, we would have
had no nation to-day. But for the Republican
party daring to risk the odium of tax and draft laws
our flag could not have been kept flying in the field
until the long-hoped-for victory came. Without a
Republican party the Civil Rights Bill, the guaran-
tee of equality under the law to the humble and the
defenceless as well as to the strong, would not be to-
day upon our national statute book. With such
inspiration from the past, and following the example
of the founders of the Republic, who called the vic-
torious General of the Revolution to preside over
the land his triumphs had saved from its enemies, I
cannot doubt that our labours will be crowned with
success, and it will be a success that shall bring re-
stored hope, confidence, prosperity, and progress,
South as well as North, West as well as East, and,
above all, the blessings, under Providence, of na-
tional concord and peace.—Very truly yours,

" SCHUYLER COLFAX."

Senator Grimes has replied to the scandals circu-
lated in the West arising out of his vote for ac
quittal, and his plain, straightforward statement is
worth recording :
" Washington, May 26, 1868.
" It is not tree that I have now, or ever had, any

hostility to Mr. Wade. I never had the slightest
misundorst anding with him in my life. It is not
true that. .1 have ever sought to be, or ever desired
to be, a candidate for Vice-President, or President
pro term; bore of the Senate. It is not true that Chief
Justice Chase sought to influence my judgment in
the Ito peo.chment trial. I never had a word of
conversation with the Chief Justice on that subject,
nor on the subject of a new party or of any
political party, nor did he ever mention the subject
of the Presidency to me. I have not been in the
house of title Chief Justice for more than two years.

"It is :not true that 1 have ever been dissatisfied
with the, :Reconstruction plan of Congress. So far
from it, -was one of the seven Senators who were
members cf the joint Committee on reconstruction
and signed the report. I was Chairman of the Sub-
Committee on the State of Tennessee, and it was
upon my :recommendation that that state was so
early rest.ffel to the Union.
" It is :not true that I am now, or ever was, either
directy or indirectly, interested in the Chicago
7 rapine nftwspaper. Ido not know, nor ever have
known, hoer the Tribune corps is organized, what is
its capital, who are its stockholders, or the value of
its stock. :Nor have I ever sought to influence the
course of that paper on any measure, public or
private. lam sorry to be compelled to add that
the story so circumstantially related and published
that the wife of the editor of that paper is my
daughter is not true.

"It is nob true that I ever had the slightest
sympathy with the general policy of Mr. Johnson's
administration. I have had no personal intercourse
with Mr. John son for two years ; never asked him
for a favour, and never received one from him.
"It is true that when I took an oath that in all
things appertaining to the trial of the Impeach-
ment of Andrew Johnson I would render impartial
justice according to the Constitution and the laws,'
I ceased to act in a representative capacity. I be-
came a judge, acting on my own responsibility,
and accountable only to my own conscience and
my Maker ; and no power could force me to decide
in such a case, contrary to my convictions, to suit
the requirements of a party, whether that party
were composed of my friends or my enemies.

" JAMES W. GRIMES."

MISCELLANEOUS NEWS.

(From the Anglo-American Times.)

The Senate has passed a bill creating a new Ter-
ritory of Wyoming, which consists of portions of
Idaho, Colorado, and the Lilian territory. The
attempt to name it Lincoln was frustrated by those
who desired to preserve the Indian name. On the
sth June the Chamber also passed and sent to the
House a bill providing that contracts for payment
in ;gold shall hereafter b valid ; an enactm-ent of
great importance to commerce, as traders may now
legally base such operations as they choose, on a
gold medium. Before this Act such contracts could
not be enforced, they were a mere matter of honour
between the parties ; and in case of dishonesty, of
bankruptcy, or of death, such agreements were
worthless in law, greenbacks being a legal tender
for the amount. Oar readers may remember that
Thad. Stevens quoted an instance in approval of the
action in his celebrated letter, recommending repu-
diation, wherein a person who had expressly stipu-
late) to pay in gold paid in greenbacks, and in this
was supported by the court. It is thought that th!E
law will greatly lesson the practical inconvenience
of an inconvertible paper currency, but it may
thereby retard the rerurn to specie payment. This
is, however, a mere conjecture, for if a large por-
tion of the mercantile transactions of the country
be based on gold, it may facilitate the change. A
bill of great importance has come up from the Re-
presentatives, which allows imports to pass direct
to the interior posts of the country, making St.
Louis and Cincinnati ports of entry for collection
districts, &e.

IVe regret to see by the report that the Panama,
New Zealand, and Australian line of steamers does
not pay. The revenue for the year was £296,107,
And the disbursements £326,991, exclusive of
£21,428 for interest on debentures, leaving a total
deficiency of £55,315, which, with the former ad-
verse balance of £9,581, raises the sum at the debit
of profit and loss to £61,893. This unsatisfactory
result is at least in part attributable to the fear of
yellow fever in the Nock Tn,lios lacit autumn, and
to the bad reputation for salubrity of the Isthmus,
people not being able to overcome the dread
that they may by some ae,;id,ent be detained
there. If the company can hold on for a year
or two more they will be all right, for their
port then, whether they like it or not, must be San
Francisco; and they will undoubtedly, when the
Union Pacific Railroad is completed, carry all the
more wealthy New Zealand and Australian passen-
gers. If they would amalgamate with the New
Zealand Steam Navigation Company, and make
their terminus San Francisco, they might have a
great future ; but whatever may be the fate of this
company, nothing can prevent :the eventual esta-
blishment of a line between the Australias and
California. Perhaps the American Government
might aid the company if they made this change in
their port of departure.
General Sanborn, President of the Indian Peace
Commission, concluded a treaty with the principal
chiefs of the Sioux on the 25th May, and he was
about to conclude others with chiefs then waiting at
Laramie. He thinks there will be no further diffi-
culties this summer along the Union Pacific Rail-
road, nor have there been any during the past four
weeks. The pending treaty with the Osage Indians
in Kansas had been completed, by which the re-
maining land is ceded to the Government, and the
tribe removes to the Indian territory on increased
annuities. Two of the tribe were arrested, and are
to be tried, for murdering two white men in Butler.
county, Kansas. The Indians in New Mexico are
still very hostile, and several settlers have been
killed, and. others have petitioned General Grant
for the protection of an efficient mounted force. In
Para rise Valley, California, Captain Munson, with
fifty men of the 9th Infantry, defeated a party of
Indians, killing an 1 wounding several.
In the sitting of the North German Parliament,
on the 13th instant, the bill for the institution of
the decimal system of weights and measures was
adopted. The metre is to be the basis of measure-
ment, and the mile, as a measure of distance, will
consist of 7,500 metres. The law is to come into
operation on the Ist January, 1872. The bill intro-
duced into Congress to bring the Unite I States into
the system, as regards International Coinage, has been
amended, sO far as to secure its adoption, and bring
it into harmony with that already so widely in
force over the European Continent. The two are
intimately associated, as there is no such measure
and no such weight as coin, and that adjusted all
others will quickly be made uniform. The diffi-
culty of assimilating the gold currency of the Union
to the system recommended by the Convention held
last year in Paris was in compensating creditors for
the depreciation of about three per cent. in the
value of the gold coinage. This has, we believe,
been overcome, and America is in a fair way to
enter the system.

There has lately been a strange Convention held in
Missouri. It consisted of editors of the Republican
party, who met to pledge themselves to express only
their own thoughts on political questions, and not to
accept the thoughts forwardel from Congressional
politicians, nor to advocate everything sent to them
by the caucases in Washington. However ridiculous
it m ly appear, if the principle sprea Is, and is re.illy
acted on, it will work a great revolution. The
party power in America is so strong, because it is ad-
mirably organized, the leaders being narrowed down
to a few individuals, who give the ideas on which
nearly every one must work, with a despotism which
would be tolerated in Tut few other countries.
Thenceforth, were the Misnari " platform " gene-
rally adopted by elitors, Vie party woll.l be held
together by a few grand Finciples an I objects, and
individuals might differ freely on minor points. Then
it would not be easy to direct the whirlwind against
such men as the " recreant" Senators, for the editors,
when they thought out the subject for themselves,
would not be likely to condemn the course, while a
luau who really behaved badly could look for but
little countenance from the Press. The number of
Republican newspapers who supported meu like
Trumbull and Fersencleu ahowa how many there