The Sun.
London, England, 1868-11-20 00:00:00

THE ALABAMA CLAIMS.

Mr. Reverdy Johnson is now on a visit to Mr. Peabody,
at Brighton. The mayor of that town on Tuesday pre-
3ented an address to him. In reply, he spoke first of the
naturalisation questiOn which had arisen between this
:lountry and America, and explained that the theory held
'n England was one entirely at variance with the one held in
the United States. No man really could become a citizen of
another country, according to English law. England
still claimed him. "It is now setted by the protocol
agreed to by Lord Stanley and myself, and so settled that
it cannot hereafter give trouble to either Government ;
and I am glad to add that it has receives the approval
Di the executives of. each. The naturalised is
placed upon the same footing inall respects as the native
citizen." The second question Was the San Juan
question. That also had been settled. " The third, and
the only other cause of trouble," continued Mr.• Johnson,
" originated during our late domestic war. From this have,
arisen most of the claims made by your citizens upon in,
Government, and my felloWcitizens upon yours ; tho
latter known by the general name of the ' Alabam,
claims.' The convention which we have recently
agreed to (and which I have ,no doubt will be ap-
proved by both Governments) provides that these are
to be settled by a board. of four commissioners, two to be
appointed by each Government. In the event of their not
deciding by a majority for or against any claim oT
than an Alabama one, the decision is to

made by an umpire chosen by themselves. In regard to
the Alabama claims, the arrangement is somewhat
different. Before these are to be considered by the corn
missioners, the two Governments are to agree uptitf the
head of some foreign Government as an arbitrator, by
whom the decision as to the liability of your Government
for such claims is to be made, on the contingency that the
commissioners fail to come to a unanimous decision
for or against it. This arbitrator, however, is to adjudge
only the question of liability. If he rule that qnestion
against your Government. the amount due to
each claimant is to be ascertained by a majority
of the commissioners. If he rule in favour of yout
Government, the claim is to be perpetually barred. You
will thus see, gentlemen, that all the sources of trouble
have been closed, and so completely that they can never
again be opened. The two nations, therefore, have before
them an unclouded prospect of enduring peace, and of all
the advantages, material, social, and political, certain to
result from it."

M.R. HART WELL AND HIS ELECTION

EXPENSES.

On Thursday a gentleman named Macdonald attended
at the Guildhall Police-court, and requested permission to
make the following statement. He said that, observing
a report in some of the papers respecting the election
at Stoke-upon-Trent, he had felt it due to the parties
against whom such serious imputations had been made
to say that he was in possession of the agreement
under which they had received the money. He had
been requested about a fortnight since by some indepen-
dent parties to arra,nge.for the retirement of Mr. Hartwell,
who, in their opinion, was unlikely to go to the poll, but
whose candidature produced much ill-feeling and excite-
ment in the borough. Accordingly Mr. Hartwell and the
two men against whom the warrant was applied , for
attended at his (Mr. Macdonald's) office on the 13th inst.,
where the following agreement ws signed by Mr.
Hartwell, the two men,, and himself :—" Agreed that
Robert Hartwell retires from his candidature, as
far as Stoke-upon-Trent is concerned, for the present
election, and that the placards publishing the same in the
borough of Stoke-upon-Trent are issued on Saturday, the
14th inst. The costs and charges which have been
incurred, amounting to about the sum of £2SO, having
having been deposited iu the hands of —, the sum to be
paid to the aforesaid and (the two men
referred to) on Tuesday, the 17th inst." This document
was duly signed by all the parties present, Mr. Hart-
well included. Further than this, the two men had
tated, in Hartwell's presence, and without contradiction
from him, that they were, one way or other, responsible
for a considerable sum, and were to be reimbursed fgOm
the amount handed over to them. He (Mr. Macdonald)
had therefore only to say that he had dealt with them as
principals in the matter ; that they had duly received the
money from the gentleman who by mutual agreement
held it ; and that he had no reason to surpose they in-
tended to misapply or misappropriate it.
Mr. Alderman Besley, after examining the memo-
randum, and conferring with Mr. Martin, the chief clerk,
said that he should have been glad if Mr. Merriman had
been present to hear Mr. Macdonald's statement ; but it
seemed to him (Alderman Besley) to be a complete answer
to the application made to him on Wednesday.
Mr. Macdonald, having thanked the alderman for his
attention, withdrew.

EHE CHANCELLOR OF THE EXCHEQUER
ON THE ELECTIONS.

The Chancellor of the Exchequer spoke at North-
ampton on Thursday on the subject of elections. Said
he : " What I wish to impress upon you is, that we
have gained some very large and populous constitu-
encies. It used to he a reproach on the part of our oppo-
nents that the Conservatives dare not shew their faces in
those constituencies. But 'what has been the case ? The
Conservatives have gone into the very heart of the
manufacturing districts, and at Manchester our candidate
is at the top of the poll. At Salford, which is as much
a part of Manchester as the westward is of this town,
they have returned two Conservative candidates, and it is
some little consolation for the farmers of South Northamp-
tonshire to know that Mr. Milner Gibson, who was
mainly instrumental in defeating the Cattle-market Bill last
session, has lost his seat for Ashton: (Cheers, and a
Voice : `Where is the Attorney-General?') Well, I
have never yet heard that Exeter was a seat of great manu-
facturing industry. However, the Attorney-General is a
very good man, and no doubt we shall have him again for
somewhere., -At Southampton we have got in two Conserva-
tives at the top of thepoll. At Portsmouth, again, what have
we done? At Coventry we have got in two Conservatives,
and in the City of London we have got in one Conserva-
tive, and we were so near getting in another that the
Liberals did not wait until the official declaration of the
numbers who had won. Mr. Goschen told me himself that
in spite of the minority clause the Liberals would carry
all their four candidates for London ; but they have not
done it. In many of the large towns—(a Voice : Birming-
ham')—the working classes have thus shown that they are
on the side of the Conservatives. We have another triumph
in the return of Mr. Smith for the city of Westminster.
The city of Westminster is the queen of the metropolitan
constituencies, the City of London being the king ; and in
Westminster we have carried our marl at the top of the
poll. I thing we may take heart from all this. It skews
that the heart of the country is sound, that things are
corning round—in fact, that the country is coming to
its senses, a stop having keen put to revolutionary
proceedings by the rejection of the extreme men on the
j other side.

REMARKABLE INSTANCE OF PETRIFACTION.—
About six years ago Mr. Amos Broughton died at Wayne
County, and was buried there. A few days ago the
family of the deceased resolved to bring the remains of
the father from 'Wayne County, and have them deposited
in a cemetery near their present residence. In fur-
therance of this purpose the grave was opened and the
coffin exposed, but all ordinary efforts to lift it from
its position proved ineffectual. The coffin lid was
therefore removed, when it was found that the body
was in the most perfect state of petrifaction. It was
;overed with a dry mould, which, when removed, revealed
9, surface almost as white and pure as marble. The body
shewed not the least particle of decay. Every feature
n d lineament was perfectly preserved, and when placed
upright it presented the appearance of a finely-chiselled
statue. 'When Mr. Broughton died he weighed about
two hundred pounds, while the remains had increased in
weight by petrifaction to eight hundred pounds.—Quebec
Ilfeitury.