The Sun.
London, England, 1857-12-21 00:00:00

HIGH WATER AT LONDON BRIDGE.

INTS DAY—Morn., 44 min. afb. 4—Even., 3 min aft. 5
To-Moßaow—Morn., 23 min. aft. s—Even., 44 min. aft. 5

these demands specie should be forthcoming, and
that Specie was withdrawn from its legitimate use
by the stringency of the Government regulation.
Besides, there was no legal tender paper of any
description. Nothing that could be offered in every
State of the Union, and which was only redeemable
at the capital, or some important point to be gene-
rally agreed on. The bullion or coin was therefore
scattered, and when a panic came few were able
to maintain their ground, however ample their
resources or unquestionable their solvency.

"The hard calculators" (for there are " hard
calculators" in every part of the world) took ad-
vantage of this grave mistake. The notes of the
Bank of one state would not be received in
another save at a heavy discount, and thus
suspicion was cast upon that which it was essen-
tial should be above reproach. We may ere long
have more to say on this portion of the Presiden-
tial message.

" The relations with other powers naturally
excite great interest," and those with Great Bri-
tain are most prominently alluded to. They are
indeed the matters in which we are most con-
cerned. Mr. BUCHANAN' alludes to the unques-
tionable, although melancholy fact that there
always has been " some irritating, if not dan-
gerous outstanding question with Great Britain,"
and that notwithstanding that it is at the same
time the desire and the interest of both nations to
be on the most satisfactory terms of friendship
and intimacy with each other. In that desire we
cordially concur. It would be truly deplorable if
the two great branches of the Anglo-Saxon
family, those who speak the same language,
iprofecis the same religion, and whose political
nstitutions are at least framed on the same models,
should be brought into angry. collision about mat-
ters of comparatively trivial importance. But we
might ask, whose fault is it that such is the case ?
There should be on both sides an earnest deter-
mination to act in a frank and straightforward
manner, not seeking to take undue advantages
the one of the other. We shall not em-
bitter the controversies that are now, we trust,
about to be permanently settled, by entering into
any of the questions at issue. The CLAYTON-
BUIWER Treaty has been eminently infelicitous,
inasmuch as directly opposite constructions have
been placed on its provisions by the contracting
parties. It would therefore, perhaps, be the wisest
course to abrogate it completely, and to enter with
all convenient speed on an en tirely new negotiation."
It is essential that the Central American difficulty
should be adjusted with all convenient speed, and
this may easily be effected, if both parties ap-
proach the questions at issue in a proper spirit,
prepared to make mutual concessions, and not
seeking to obtain undue advantages for them-
selves.

The domestic questions of deepest interest are
those relatingto Kansas and the " domestic in-
stitution," and the Mormons in Utah. On both
points Mr. BUCHANAN speaks at considerable
length. He fairly enough declares that the ques-
tion of " constitution with slavery," or " con-
stitution without slavery," is to be de-
cided by the votes of the people, the verdict
being delivered without fraud er violence. He is
not, however, so sound on the point that the
existing property (!) in slaves is in no degree to
be interfered with. If a large majority decide
against slavery, it should not be permitted
in any form to taint the free soil—to create an
abomination to every right-minded man.
We shall only refer to one other point, that of
the Mormons. There the PRESIDENT justly de-
glares that " humanity itself requires that the
rebellion—for it is to all intents and purposes a
rebellion—should be put down in such a manner
that it shall be the last." We do not understand
by this that there should be undue severity against
those misguided men, but that the force despatched
in support of the law should 'oe so powerful as to
clearlyshow the folly of resistance, and lead to speedy
submission. The Mormons, however, cling to
their " domestic institution " as resolutely as the
Planters to that in the Southern States, and both
are equally disgusting to all right-minded persons.
It will, therefore, require very energetic action to
put them down.
The Message will be found in extense in another
part of our impression, and is well worthy of
perusal, notwithstanding its great length.

At Exeter last Wednesday Mr. Justice WILLEe
sentenced a man, JONATHAN RoosE, to penal ser-
vitude for life. Those who have read the report
of the trial will say—and most thoroughly he de-
served it. He was only 21. years of age ; but he
had seduced a servant girl, of otherwise good cha-
racter, who was but 20 ; and being the nephew
of a respectable tradesman, with whom ho lived,
it was probably no difficult task to impose on
her hopes and credulity. Finding himself likely
to lose his character in his own circle by the poor
girl's making him a father, and enraged by her
refusal to fix the paternity of the child on his uncle,
or on any one but the true father, he contrived to
inveigle her into the darkest part of a garden, and
with a large stone of nine or ten pounds weight,
to " pound" her face to pieces, and beat her head
till the stone broke, and she became insensible.
A little dog, by its unappeasable barking, led the
inmates of the dwelling-house belonging to the
garden to the spot. Life was nearly extinct ; she
was removed to the dispensary ; her deposition
as a dying woman was taken ; but she survives;
her face still shattered, beyond the possibility of
recovering its natural appearance, and his victim
thus doubly and brutally ruined for life. Is it
not a lenient sentence which makes him a slave
for life ? Will any English m.ai say that the
brute who first abused au innocent young infe-
rior's confidence, and then would have killed her,
selfishly to save himself, but for the accident of
the little dog's hearing her faint moans—will any
Englishman say that such a brute ought to be
at largo again, and ought not be ruined for life
as well as his ♦ictim Death was only too good
for him !

Well—we state what we know—but the feel-
ings of the family alone preclude us from men-
tioning names—a mother and a daughter, the
former a sister of one of the most respected and
well-known ministers in England, have returned
to this country mutilated of their noses and of
their ears. We read of a second case—none of
the parties known to us—in the Bristol Mirror ;
the daughter of a much-respected clergyman in
that city, who married a gentleman connected
with the Indian service about a year since, and
has just returned terribly mutilated. The sepoys
have cut her tongue out, and inflicted other in-
juries." Oh, how many " injuries" have been
inflicted which the innocent survivors will never
forget for life ! How many of those cruel muti-
lations, which, while the cause will awaken the
aYmpathy of every beholder, will yet lead the
gentle and sensitive sufferers to bury themselves
from the view of society in the seclusion of the
narrowest circle of relatives. To them social
amusements, social visits, and even social wor-
ship, will suggest „n 1
ex-
posure. Anqther memorial
y thoughts of painful
of
Ctiwnpor©
abtryocaitfi
eesmainle-
scribed on the walls at otw
I hand, has just reached the English press.
1
"Countrymen and women, remember the 15th of