, 1864-06-19

or Tu4 ARuIs1lca DECLINED
p1 DENMARK
FrASsFou7, Jaae3
The Fro. kju.!tn 1a:: Z'~tu:y Of to day pnp-
fishes \ letter fro!a London, stating thas in |
oesterdaJ's sitting nj the conference the !
sstion of the arK,is.ico, but promised. 1t the |
solicitation Of th= neutral powers, to pro- !!
cure Instructions frum'tEeir government In I
tine for the Monday meeting Of the confer
ence- In the discussion of this qucation the |
Austrian and Pruas'aa enjoys took no part,
TEE LsEz.N RAMS.
History Of the Sale nnd Purchass BIZ
tho Ea-ltsh Government.
In thr House Of Commons, on the 1Oth OF
May, Mr. flodskinson, in reference to the
Solicitor Gtncrara statement. In The Court
Of Eschequer on Thursday last, that the case
Of the Attorney General ~. Laird and othnrs,
relatirs to the seizure Of the Confederate
ra11s. had been arranged, asked the Attorney
General whether the arrangement alluded to
involved the purchase Of those vessels, aud,
If so, whether only at their lair value, or at
ZONE higher trlcc; whether the inducement
to the Grown to make such arrangement was
q doubt az to the construction nnd Applica-
tion Of the FrovisioIs OF the Foreign Enlist
ment act, with regard to equippIng and arm
Ing seescls; whether 1t was part OF the terms
OF arrangement that the alleged misdemcanor
under the seventh section OF the Foreign Eu-
lletment act should be condoncd BY tha
Grown, md that no claim for compensation
for the seizure should be made by the de-
tendlnts; and whether any legislation wsuld
be pronos~d to obylate In tuture the doubts
and difficulties attending the construction
and thus Prev .he arrangement Of the re-
eent case operating as premium to ship
builders to speculate Oh buildiB= vessels of
war Tor belligerents. =
The AT1olthEI GEtBRAL.-In auewcr 70
ito question OF tho honorable gentlemen It
WI 1.1 be Necessary C .S f91 % nc to make sott
rrobab]y aware that in the month OF Sop
1ernber-somo time before tho seizure of
these yessels-the government applied to tho
persons REPRESENTING themselves to be the
agents Of the owners Of thes: ships. er.
pressing their Willingness. If they were really
in the hands of bona f1ae owners, to treat for
the parchase of them. III that tin,e tae ouer-
tuTe 70 made BY The gtter1s,ent ssos entirely ~
eftetuai. No overture was subsequently
made BY the government, but, on tho other
hand, On offer Was made to the government
eone time ago, offering the ships in question
to the government at price named, which
in the opinion ot tho government did not
represent their fair value, but was, In fact,
much higher price. That overture WAS sim.
ply and absolutely declined. and no further
tendency to lead to an arrangement. The
same party, and may mention his ua1ua-
b. Brayay-aftcrwards renewed the sppllc1.
tton In another form. uc stated that be wns
dtsirous Of knowing whether there were
ment, on their part, would be Wiling to
offer bY means Of which the matter might bo
brought to An end, 1t being understood that
no admission WAS to bo asked from the ono
party to the ef1ect that violation OF tho
law had been committed, or from the other
rally, By the assistance they nero able to
command, asccrtained what In their opinion
would be tic fair value Of the Tcsscls. THAI
named that Valua, stating thtt they werc pro-
ptred, for the reasons assigned, 10 put nn end
to the matter en- tho terms OF paying the fair
paying any other Or greater price. That
value Tks very much less than the sum
named, and very much les. than the parties
stated they you'd be able to obtain from
anI other putchssors they could com:
mand. Ihey accordingly closed with tho
i3 ofter made hy the government. The honor
ntle gentleman further asks whether tho
inducemcnt to the Crown to make such ar
EnnEement was doubt rs to the construe-
fion and application o the provisions Of the
Foreign Enlistment act with regard to the
act with regard to the equipp'og aud armlng
OF vessels. In answer to that queaaon mar
say that the House is perfectly aods 10 judge
snbiect; but may, In reference to mis- pr.
ttcular cane, add that doutts rs 10 ~ con.
, etIuction OF tho act In regard to It hid
no considerable place In the motives
which Influenced thu Crown to enter into the
arrangement to which I hare referred.
Ihe motives of tho Crowa wero rather
these. "hen the question before the courts
Was one Of fact - well "a Of law, It would
not hare been In accordance with the exoa-
riepcc Of thoeo acquainted With the uncer-
tatnty attending the administration Of justice
t9 assume with q too absolute confidence
tEat the verdict, however strong The Grown
might feel In the goodness Of It's caso. would
necessarily be in its favor, more p.r1isularly
IN matter In wlie1, to say the least Of ii,
political feeling might exercise an influence
on the result. The Crown could not, there.
tore, take 1t for granted that thcy woul i. as
matter OF conrse, be successful; bpt am,
at tie tatnc time, hound to say that II waa
not auy doubt in tEa mind of tue law Officers
OF the Crown that they had good case in
which they might hopo to succoed5tnat In
duesd them On their std- to enter Into this
arrangement Besides the advantage 30 the
which, and not for the sake Of intl,cting any
loss OF forfeiture upon Individuals. the seiz-
ures bad been made, these considerations
operated on the mind Of the Grown. In tho
hTst Place, there certainty had been prevail
Ing grnat and considerable uncertaintv ' in tho
pubic mind as to the extent to which a sab-
1ect might 60 in the way of bufs5tng or
cqulppiue ships for bclligcrents without In
trlngipg the law. II IVES well knows that
before these seizures took place, opinions
bad been giren By alch individuals might
have been encouraged to believe thst they
Wc1e safe in acting on = view Of
the law contrary to that On which the
Government might he advised to act Cun-
sequently there Werc grounds for believing
that nentEs1s in this country had offended
That theJ were not doing 50. Then tho
Crown had the case Of the pampcro iu Scot
land In view In which they had recently m4da
arrangements upon tho hamc-7s I venture
10 think hem-liteEal principles ltbad a1-
lowed tic ship to remain In the hands OF the
but upon the terms that security should be
gtyen sgntnet Its be1ligerent employment.
In this particular case the. ehips are rood
chips, which 1t is worth the while OF The NJ
tion to possess At their fair and legitimate
possession Of the ships BY Fho nation would
be moEe completssand satisfactory security
against their esSp1oy mcnt for be1llSerrnt puf-
poses than any other engagement Into which
1t was possible to enter. Under these cir
cumstances, the Grown not cariEg to mike
money OF t OF the transaction or TO Iutiict pc
cuniaty loss on the individuals concerned,
it's law advisers thought they were 1t llbeEt3
to deal With the defendants In this ID they
had tone in another case or course these
defendants throughout lnsisted, and still in-
=. kfst, that they were guilty Of no violation OF
the law, and no arrangement was made with
them which entitlcn any one to say that they
were guilty Of any such vio1stiou With re-
gard to the. next question my nnewcr Is that
no euch condonatltsn as that which It indl-
Gates was pau Of the terms Of the
arrangement Tho Crown was mot prose-
cutting for misdcmearor; IT, was only
proceeding against the ships. .As regards
the question Of the Claim for compensation
for the scizure,. I can only eay that sit
Is quite Impossible that any such claim ean
be made on the footing On which the arrange
ncnt proceeded. may 7ad, In reply to the
last question, that I hope It viii no. BE-
found necessary to propose any nc4 leEisla-
tten on the subject. The Government CONT
IDENTIFY trust that all parties VIII proft By
what hes taken place, and that there may
be no occssion for further Iexisla1loa OF prose-
tut3one; but undoubtedly tho Government
are ~ much prepared and determsBed u
ever to n ainsasn the law as they understand
and still understand It to he, II any tuture
irftaction Of 1t should be attempted. They