The Sun. — 1863-06-30 (London, England)

LEOPOLD I."  MEMORANDUM REGARDING THE ASSESSMENT OF COM FBNSATION IN TILE CASE OF THE PRINCE OF WALES.  On the Bth of February Earl Russell directed the Queen's Advocate to be informed that the Government of Brazil had instructed their representative in England to notify to her Majesty's Government that he was authorised to pay, under protest, whatever sum her Majesty's Government might demand in the shape of compensation in the case of the vessel Prince of Wales; and his lordship requested the opinion of the Queen's Advocate as to the amount at which that compensation should be assessed. The Queen's Advocate was at the same time informed that the responsibility of assessing compensatton had not been sought by her Majesty's Government, who had, indeed, proposed through Mr. Christie, that the question of amount should be referred to arbitration. The course pursued by Brazil, had, however, left her Majesty's Government no option in the matter. The Queen's Advocate's report is to the following effect :—The Queen's advocate states that he is of opinion that no sum should be claimed in excess of the sum mentioned in Mr. Christie's communications to the Brazilian Government; that no demand should be made on account of freight or on account of the loss of the vessel itself; that the demand should be founded on the plunder of the cargo, of the effects of the crew, and also upon the too probable murder of some or all of them. lie estimates roughly the loss of wages and effects at £290, and the compensation for possible murders at £4BO, to be paid to the families of those who were wrecked. As to the cargo, he makes allowances for probable and necessary damage, and for salvage had the inhabitants of the coast appeared as salvors in place of plunderers ; and he then roughly estimates this item at £2,360. Upon these data a sum of £3,200 was fixed by Earl Russell, instead of £3,490, the sum total of the items estimated by the Queen's Advocate. This sum was demanded by a note of Feb. 24, addressed by Earl Russell to M. Moreira, and was paid by M. Moreira on Feb. 26. Foreign-office, Jane 21, 1863.  e  PA .i: ~,__, ~,,, ti LIA . : 1314 idli;4' 7:z ) • The President governs by responsi e.. nnf see ?l 1230 A -0.1, and it seems to be just as unseemly fo4 . eesa sse3e . /Al scend into the political arena to justifjeelteipatiuy--qi' 7e as it would be for the equeen of atekte:a 44-4Aas.Asas. write an autograph letter t - seta. e o the chairman public meeting which passed rsseolutions ceiddislna-'-' air a n s tory of the policy uursued by hi.n. Government. At the present moment, however, when the Confederates are literally thundering at the gates of Washington, and when a militia is. being rapidly organised to do the work of armies wil`ch have disappeared, there is something positively ~'.udicrous in the tone in which the Chief Megistrate of te'le United States speaks of the rebellion, and gravelly' contests the various grounds on which secession cemild be justified. It is true that when the letter was written Lee's army still occupied the line of the Ral-Tahannock, and the public received daily assure:cakes thatthe backbone of the rebellion was within an jack of being broken, but still the contingency which has since occurred was not then completely absent from ' the minds of Mr. Lincoln or his advisers. We will e not follow the President through his lengthy epistle. If it satisfied its recipients, and if the population of the Northern States are content to accept his exposition of constitutional law, and consider diequisilions on the legality of secession instinctive reacin Ter we have no objections to offer. Assumir g, as Mr. Lincoln seems to assume, that the provision of the Constitution authorising the suspension of the writ of habeas corpus in cases of rebellion and invasion confers the power of suspension on the Executive, and not on the Legislature, of course he can justify his recent arrest of Mr,Vallandigham. But as the majority of persons will be inclined to think that it wasn ever intended that the President and his Minis: ters should be the sole judges of the propriety:ler , ' making arbitrary arrests, it is not probable tha '.' Lincoln's justification of a gross violation se., :, rights of citizenship in the person of Mr. litillairit e' , a, . -digham, will carry conviction into the minds-et-7' . many. . -;