The Sun.
London, England, 1845-11-01 00:00:00

THE OREGON QUtSTiON AND

LYNCH LAW.

14aw Yoaa, OCT. 15.—1 n regard to the question of Oregon, in.
telligent men on this side the Atlantic (and, it is thought, the cor.
responding class on the other side) are of opinion that it shoUld be
settled with as little delay as practicable. Procrastination, with the
rapid settlement of the country, will increase the difficulty of an
amicable arrangement. ,The correctness of this remark acquires
strength by a reference to past negotiations.
It is much to be regretted that a disposition to lower the standard
of this country in the estimation of Europe too often appears in
leading journals abroad. All these matters serve to irritate the
public mind here, and lessens the ability of tho,e to whom is con-
fided the management of Government affairs to sustain that friendly
deportment they might naturally desire; and hence it is that of
late so ready a conviction on the part of the mass is manifested
that a deep and settled hostility exists among European Govern
ments againsi the institutions of the United States. It is not in.

tended, by then remarks, to attach any blame to the Government.
In Great Britain, as In this country, the press is free and un.
shackled. Nevertheless it sometimes hat, as in the present instance,
exercised a most baleful inguence.

I wish it was in my power to say that the President and his
constitutional advisers are prepared to make any reasonable sacri-
fice to preserve the peace of the country—but it is not. I see no
evidence of any such disposition. Mr. Polk appears to be cau.
tiously feeling his way. He is evidently without system in regard
to foreign affairs, and will probably remain in that state until Con-
gress convenes. If south.western counsels prevails there will be
no concession or compromise on the Oregon question. Nothing
short of the 55th degree of latitude as the boundary will satisfy
that class of politicians. If they find themselves in the majority,
one of their first moves will be to abrogate the existing arrange.
anent between Great Britain and the United States, as to the joint
'occupancy of Oregon. But I still entertain a hope that this will
not be done unless it is done in a friendly way and with friendly
views. It is certain that in the present state of public feeling in
both countries great circumspection is necessary. No exciting or
irritating measure should be adopted. The friends of peace and
humanity should pour oi lon the troubled waves of discord and con.
tention. A sacrifice should be made of all false pride.
Cassius M. Clay, whose printing-effice, in which the True Arne-
rican,an abolition paper, was printed, in Kentuelcy;'has prosecuted
a number of citizens for having taken possession of his office by
♦iolence, and transported it into the state of Ohio. The parties
charged admitted the fact of taking and transporting the printing
materials, but justified, alleging that the paper was a nuisance.
After the testimony had been closed, the Court instructed the
jury upon the law of the case.

The defendants then asked the following instructions:—

_ .
1. That as the proceeding was quasi criminal, the jury were the
judges of the law and fact.

2. That the people have a right to abate a nuisance, and in its
abatement to use just so much force as might be necessary for that
purpose.

The Court gave the first instruction asked by the defendants,
with the qualification, that although not legally, the jury were
morally bound to decide according to the law given them by the
Court.

1 he eeeond instruction asked by them the Court refused.

The defendants then asked the following Instruction :—That if
the jury believed that the True American Press was a public
nuisance, and could not exist in its then location and condition
without being a nuisance, the defendants were justifiable in
abating it—which the Court gave, and the cause went to the jury.
The definition of a nuisance, as given by the best common law-
writers, was then read to the jury in the following terms :—A
common nuisance is an offence against the public, either by doing
a thing which tends to the annoyance of all the King's subjects, or
by neglecting to do a thing which the common good requires.
After full argument the jury, without hesitation, gave a verdict
of " Not guilty."

The steamer Great Britain arrived here last evening, having lost
a mast and being short of fuel.

A GENEVESE TRAVELLER.

—Times.

THE FRENCH IN ALGIERS.
(From the Paris Papers.)

The Minister of War has received several reports from Algeria;
the first is from General Lamoriciere, dated the 17th, from bivouac
of the Oucd Teiata, near Nedroma. It is as follows :
" I set out on my march from Djemma Ghazaouat on the
12th, as I announced to you I intended to do by my letter et
the 10th, in the direction of Nedroma, and the Col d'Ain
Kebira, which gives access into the country of the Traras. I
left at Djemma Ghazaouat a certain number of fatigued men,
and three squadrons of cavalry, with whom I could for the
moment dispense, being in the mountains. I marched with
about 4,500 bayonets, 650 sabres, and 10 mountain guns. On
arriving on the Oued Telata, at the spot wbere I am bivouacked
to.day, a great many of the Beni Menir foot soldiers (a frac-
tion of the Traras), and some horsemen, approached my left
flank and began to fire. Its the horizon, on the crests of the
mountains, on both sides of the Col d'Ain Kebira, I could distin-
guish a numerous body of cavalry, immovable spectators of the
battle, which the Emir had ordered the tribe to engage in with us.
I did not think it proper to suffer them to be emboldened by con-
tinuing an offensive position, I therefore formed my convoy en
masse, and sent against the assailants some battalions without their
knapsacks, with a few squadrons, which drove the enemy back into
the mountains. This engagement cost the Beni Menlo. about 15
men, and as an officer, M. Burcaille, of the 15th Light Infantry,
a non-commissioned officer of the 41st, and a chasseur of the 2d
regiment, killed. I came to my bivouac at Nedroma without being
followed for a moment. The ardour of the insurgents had already
subsided. The chiefs of Nedroma came in the evening to my camp,
to make their excuses for having, through necessity, submitted to
pay a contribution in money to the Emir, and furnishir g him with
barley and other provisions for his troops. The gates, however, re-
mained shut against him, and the inhabitants showed too much firm-
ness for him to attempt to force them, or talk of an emigration to
Morocco. 1 learned through the chiefs that the Emir,with 2,800 horse,
rested at Ain Kebira, fomenting the insurrection of the Traras,
the Grossehs, and a feeble portion of the Beni Amer Garahas,
whom, however, he could not succeed in seducing into Morocco.
All these populations were heaped together in the mountains which
fll the triangle formed by Lalla Maghritra, Djemma Ghazaouat,
and the mouth of the Tafna. All the combatants had given this
as a rendezvous for the defence of Ain Kebira, by which I must
necessarily enter the mountain. I shall ascend the Col to-morrow
morning, the 13th of October. General Cavaignac marched to
the left of the position by a path which we had perceived the
evening before. I arrived with difficulty at the height by a narrow
path on the right, proceeding from the gate of Nedroma. Colonel
Cheydesson, of the 15th Light Infantry, marched at the head of
the column with his regiment and two battalions of the 6th Light
Infantry. We perceived in front of us, and principally on the
left, the heights covered with numerous bodies of Kabyle Infantry.
A steep mound, well provided with troops, rose hi the midd:e of
the hill, lied, advancing, separated our two attacks. I directed
Colonel Gachol, of the 3d Light lafantry, to remain there with a
battalion of his regiment. I kept myself near the 44th of the line, as a
reserve at the head of the convoy. At 11 o'clock the three
columns moved forward together, and were received by a well-
sustained fire. That on the left, having to climb up, in the teeth
of a numerous force, sharp slopes, exposed in all their length to
the fire of the enemy, appeared in some danger ; but such was the
impetuosity of the 41st of the line, animated by General Cavaignac
and their Colonel, M. de 51'5Iahon, that the position was at once
carried. Many of the enemy were killed on the opposite side of the
hill. On our side, Chef.dc-Battailon Corondelet, of the 11th Regi.
meet, was grievously wounded in the head with a ball; and Capt.
Moonier, of the same regiment, was mortally wounded, as was a
solstice; five men were mom slightly wounded. The height of
Ain Kebira was thus occupied, and I established my camp there.
General Cavaignac came and joined me in the afternoon, after
having pursued to a distance all the foot soldiers that attempted to
make a stand on the neighbouring heights. A section of the 6th
battery and of the 14th Regiment, commanded by Captain
Geslin, seconded his movements by a well-dire d fire. The
cavalry of the ex-Emir was not engaged in this difficult
ground; it had at an early period evacuated the heights on
the left before being engaged. General Cavaignac had
seen it descending towards she Oued Telata, and had heard
the cries of the Traras abandoned by it. The next day,
the 14th, 1 made a movement of a league and a half only, to
encamp at the Marabout of Sidi Mohammed el Kraouen, where I
knew where to find abandoned silos, filled with bailey for my
cavalry and toy convoy. I thus penetrated into the heart of the
country of the Beni Ouersous, the most host hostile fraction of the
Traras, that which fought, on the 22d or 24th of last September,
two desperate combats with General Cavaignac. 1 drove before
me towards the sea all the populations in my way, and I began to
block up for them the roads to the west. The object of my move.
merit then began to be seen by the Arabs. The tribes understood
the consequence of it, and, in the evening letters were brought
ins on the part of the chiefs of the Beni-Ouersous and the
Grossils. I combined my movement on the morning of the 15th,
and established myself at Souek-Ouled.Aloui. The rocky cliffs
which surroundedlthis kind of funnel were covered with armed men,
who prepared themselves to receive us. General Cavaignac, who
was the first to go out from the inextricable defile, which leads
to Soutk-Ouled-Aloui, had kept up a brisk fire with the Kabyles,
among the rocks of Bab Messmer, a passage which leads
from the Beni Ouersous to the Beni Missei. I formed my
convoy en masse, and as soon as Colonel Chadeyson had arrived
with the oth and 15th light infantry, I put it in movement by the
right to attack the positions, while Gen. Cavaignac advanced on
the left. The principal resistance took place on this point, where
the enemy showed himself in force. The battalion o: the Zouaves,
which formed the head of the column, with the squadron of the 4th
regiment of Chasseurs, under Captain Vernon. did not act less well
than the 11th had done on the 13th, and were more successful.
Only a Zouave was wounded. More than 40 dead bodies of the
enemy were left on the spot, and our only losses during the day
were whilst the fusillade was going on which preceded the princi-
pal attack to the left. A non commissioned officer of the 41st
was then killed, and four soldiers wounded. This affair dis-
couraged the Traras, and on the morning of the oth I commented
my march towards the Peak of Tadjera, drawing nearer
and nearer to the sea. The chiefs came to meet me, accom-
panied by the Caids of the Grossils, and those of the fractions
of the Beni Amers. All these tribes were at my discretion,
being between my camp and the sea, from which I was only a
league and a half distant. I could have sent into the frightful
ravines, into which they had plunged without having the means of
escape, some battalions of infantry, which would have taken com-
plete vengeance for this insurrection, but in the then disposition of
our troops this vengeance would have been too severe perhaps. I
was very anxious to regain the plain, and to draw near to Nedroma,
in order to watch the movements of the Emir, whose camp was
visible at Ain Kebira, at a short distance from us, but separated by
rocks and inaccessible precipices. I granted the pardon that was
solicited, and came here this morning from Hadjera. I have pre-
scribed; to the Grossils and the fractions of the Beni Amers to
remain shut up in the mountains of the Traras, or in those of the
(Masses, until the security of their plain shall be sufficienily re-
established. It is already a result to have closed this fortress
against the Etnir. lam now in a condition to follow him in the
plains if he should attempt to hold out there."
The report concludes with an eulogium on the troops engaged,
and with a mention of the persons who had most eistinguished
themselves. General Lamoriciere incloses a letter from M. Courby
de Cognord, chef d'escadron of the 2d Hussars, who was supposed
to have been killed in the affair of the 23d ult. ; but who, after
having been severely wounded, was taken prisoner. Ills letter,
giving an account of the affair in question, and which differs in no
material point from what has already been published, was sent to
Ger eral Lamoriciete by Abd-el Kader. The following passages,
however, will be read with interest :
" Colonel de ISlontagnac, who had just been wounded, gave
orders to the company of Captain Chargere to charge the enemy,
who was pursuing Us in great numbers. In an instant he was
surrounded, and entirely decimated. A part of the id company
remained with me; the other part, commanded by !Anent,
sub-lieutenant, followed the movement of the first, and
met with the saint fate. Isl. Lazzaret received two
wounds, and was made prisoner. M. de (Imogene
and his lieutenant, M. de Raymond, were killed in the
charge. Finding myself now the only officer, in rallying all the
men who remained, my second horse was killed under me by the
, Kabyles, who pressed closely upon us, and it was at this moment
that Colonel Montagnac gave up the command to me, his wound
not permitting him to act any hiller. S. eing, at a little later pe-
riod the critical position in which we were, the Colonel ordered
Marichal-dee-Logic Barbut, who was performing the duties of
adjutant to me, to desire Commandant Froment Cosle to hasten
to our relief with one of the two companies remaining at the
camp. This non-commissioned officer hastened to perform his
Mission, but unfortunately it was already too late, for the force
' that enveloped us was constantly increasing, and in a few in-
; 'tante we were imrroundtd by between 4,000 and 5,000 men, Ano.