The New York Herald Newspaper, May 20, 1869, Page 4

- acne —— NEW YORK HERALD, THURSDAY, MAY 20, 1869.—TRIPLE SHEET, EUROPE. ‘THE ALABAMA DIFFICULTY. England Still Excited Over Mr. Sumner’s Argument. ‘Present Condition of the Bri- tish Army. THE APPROACHING FRENCH ELECTIONS, The Cunard steamship Australasian, Captain Cook, from Liverpool May 8, via Queenstown the goth, and the Hamburg steamship Hammonta, Cap- tain Meier, from Hamburg May 5, and Havre the Sth, arrived here yesterday. They bring details of our cable telegrams up to dates of sailing. The monthly return of the Imperial Ottoman Bank, just published, shows a notable decrease in the issue of its note An exte! Belfast, Ireland, suspicion. linportant Fenian documents have been found on a tenant farmer named Jobn Koss, who was ar- rested at Skeen, county Sligo, Ireland. The employes of the Hotel de Ville, Paris, are on astrike, because they have been ordered vo work at it during the time of the elections. Disturbances caused by soldiers are now so fre- quent in Paris that the public demand that they be deprived of their side-arms when off duty. Baron Ferdinand Swit has just been tried at Venice for an outrage on religion and the propagation of scepticism by an article published in the Ragione, and in which he attacked the sacraments of the eu- charist and baptism. He has been condemned to two months’ imprisonment and 600 francs fine. ‘The workmen of Marseilles have written a letter to Mr. Ferdinand de Lesseps, in which they express: deep regret at his appearing as a candidate in the coming elections. The letter was presented to him at his hotel by a deputation, accompanied by about 1,500 me! The new Paris journal, Za Rappel, which has just been brougut out by Victor Hugo's sons has already incurred the displeasure of the French government, the second number having been seized for an article it contained by M. Henri Rochefort. The Cretan chiefs concerned in the late insurrec- tion, and sentenced to fifteen years’ imprisonment, were released from prison on the 6th instant. The is Patrie has received information from the Hague that satisfaction is felt there with the re- sult of the r t negotiations between France and Belgium, especially with the right the former is about to possess of sending direct trains from Paris ‘The works by which the Dutch line ted with the Belgian are proceeding e robbery of arms has taken place in Five arrests have been made on ’e Press publishes @ letter from the the Austrian Military Magazine as a pre- yet authentic explanation of the circum- urrounding the recent publication 6f a de- h of Count Bismarck, sent in cipher from o the Russian Ambassador in Paris on The letter states that this document was not made public by order of Count Beust, but Commander-in-Chief of the army, to whom a copy taken from the original telegram during on tbrough the Austrian lines had been dent draws attention to the fact Paris returns only nine members there than eleven hundred candidates in the ery prospect of the number greatly in- creasing inafew days. The explanation is that an elector 1s forbidden by law to attend any electoral meeting out of the district In which he votes, In the case of candidates, however, this prohibition is set aside Hence the number of candidates who have sudde ly come orward in Paris, most of whom, it may be ass , are merely electors intent upon evading the law. ENGLAND. The Al:bama Claims—The Momentous Ques tion The English Army —Its Present Strength~iow Disposed—Irciand no Longer Sayplying Recruits—Con England Go to War? Lonnon, May 8, 1569. At the present time, when relations between Eng- and and the Urited States are not unlikeiy to be- come more or less complicated, it may not be unin- teresting for thoxe on the western side of the Atlantic to know exact!y what is the real strength of the forces, by land and by sea, that the British goverament has at its disposal. Upon the exact- ness of the statements which I will give you your readers may re! Whether the conclusions I draw from the facts before me are just, those who under- stand the value of our defences are as competent, or more $0, than | am to form an opinion. In Eng- jand, unfortunately for us, the vast majority of men know so litle, or care 80 little, respecting the real strength of our army and navy thatit is only when an emergency arises they begin to learn from the public press what we really have at our disposal. John Bull pays tr what he believes—or what others belleve tor him—to be an army and a navy of suMicient numbers and of good enow sipline to repel any invader, and even to asmall but respectable scale upon any other nation. Every ten or fifteen years he wakes up to find that he 1s under the great- est possible delusion; and never was a coantry ina more compie ification than England now is as to the streng'h of her forces, for which she pays 80 much, Let us first begin by looking at the state of oar army. In my letter of the ist instant I mentioned that whereas w pay £ 39,979 (or say, in round pam. bers, £15,000,0.0) for an army of 16459 men and 14,116 horses, the Freach pay over £00,000 less mouey for an army of 400,000 men, @ reserve of 150,009 men and 105,090 horses, This of itself would be bad enoagl. But when, as [shall prove to you presently, for (his enormous outlay we are quite defenceless admit that a forel; and our best military engineers 1 army landed in England couid jn three days march upon London and possess itself of the very centre and heart of the empire, yon will allow that we have not much to pride ourselves upon, either in our regulars, our militia or our volunteers. Far be it trom me to say that our re- qviar army is ineMicient, I believe that, taking ‘nto consideration its paucity of numbers, it is the finest and best disciplined force in Kurope. But its strength is a mere notuing, particularly at the present day, when modern warfare demands that vast bodies of men should be massed together, and that, without a lurve batcher’s bill, even tae most complete victory is hardiy worth having. on paper the Eoglish army looks magnificent. Two regimeuts of life gaards, one of horse guards, seven of dragoon guards, twenty-one of hussars and lancers, three of foot guards, 109 regiments of infan- try, tee of West Indian corps, one of Ceylon rifles and one © Cape mounted rifes, make up together au artuy of which even a first class European Power need not be ashamed, But all these magnificent numbers form really one large sham. Our so-called regiments are. with certain exceptions, mere bat- tacons A French or Prussian regiment is made Up of three or four battations h battalion num- bering 400 or 00) or 600 men, Our English regi- teats con tat of but one battalion each, and there is hordly a battelion Inour army that can number move than seo bayonets. When you read in our papeis that a brigade of infantry has been assembled at Aldershot or elsewhere the words mean, In actual nuinbers, that thres battalions, each consisting of 800 men, have been brought together; so that an English brigade consists of about 2,200 ‘or 2,400 men, whien is just the strength of @ French or Prussian regiment. But, to enter more Into details, let me give you some idea of how the English army 18 composed and how it is disposed of throughout the world. You will then beg he ju aes mnie we could spare any, and, if any, no’ y, men for any un- pecved war, whether offensive or detensive,. Our infantry of the line—which, as in all armies, 1s the real working force of our forces—consists of 100 regiments, Of these twenty-five regiments have each four second battalions and two A 4 men seven battalions a of some 5,000 men; the whole of the regular infantry, - and line inciuded, number 103,000 or 104,000, Had we merely to defend England, Ireland and Scotland from any foe this force would be more than ample for all we want. But when you w- member that there are in India alone fifty-three battalions, that fifteen are in Ireland, five at the Gaps of Good Hope, seven in Can and three on the West India Islands, besides others in China, Japan, Australia and New Zealand, it will be seen that our effective strength is very small indeed, and that we could not—[ have the word of an officer on high staff employment at headquarters for the fact— send a force of 10,000 troops away at tais mo- ment under @ month’s notice, and we ‘could not spare &@ man more than 10,000 if our very exist- ence as a nation depended upon it, Take, for instance, Canada. Let us suppose that country to be threatened with an invasion. Of course, a8 was the case when the Trent ‘‘dimcnity” occurred, troops would be sent there post haste, and very admirably equipped they would no doubt be. But what would te their numbers? We might, at the very utmost, spare six batcalions of 800 men each. and two regiments of cavalry, each numbering not more than 300 effective dragoons, These, with & a couple of batteries of artillery, would make up @ force of—taking the outside limit—s,000 men; and to do even this much we should nave to weaken our Irish garrisons far more than 1s prudent, and to refrain for a couple of seasons trom seuding the usual reinforcements of troops to india, where the climate alone expends European soldiers far quicker than they can be replaced from England, to say nothing of the continual petty wars in that land, by which we are ever losing men. In Canada we have at the present moment one regiment—less than 300 strong—of cavalry, at Toronto; three battalions of infantry at Montreal, two battalions in New Brunswick, one at Quebec, one battalion at Toronto, and one at Halifax. Be- sides these there are at Kingston the Canadian Rifles, and between Montreal, Quebec, Toronto, Lon- don (Canada West), New Brunswick, Halifax and Kingston there are two brigades of artillery; in all say 5,000 men, to which we could send as a reinforce- ment, at the very outside, some 8,000 additional, What would all these be to defend a vast country like Canada from an invading foe, whose basis of operations, aud whose depot of provisions were close athand? And remember that when we had done this much—when we had sent out our 8,000 or 10,000 men to defend Canada—we should have done all we could, and would be like a man who had lived upon his capital, instead of upon the interest. We could not spare—I doubt if we could even raise—a man more, Our nurseries, so to speak, of soldiers are exhausted. In Ireland we used to be able, twenty years ago, to recruit more men than we wanted, Now We can hardly get enough to fill the vacancies in our weakened ranks. There is no use mincing the matter, the Irish, a3a rule, will not enlist now. ‘They can betier themselves by emigration; they have an undefined, but stilla palpable, hope that better days are in store for them even if they remain at home; and their feeling of having suifered ted 2 av the hands of England is stronger thanever. In word, be the reason what it may, for one man among them that will take service now we used even a dozen years ago to get twenty. And in England it ts far more difticult to get recruits than in Ireland. Men will enlist for the marines because they see the soldiers of that corps returning home after a three or four years’ cruise with large arrears of pay, aud often not a little prize money in their pockets. They wul also take service tn the guards, for the guards never leave London or its immediate | Of which, however, no section nary claims of Senator Sumner, with the following conclusion:— We sins of our government, wich Speen of our maapis believes the early and not premature acknowledgment of the belligerent rights of the South to have been one. We are no more responsible for the sins of individu. alg among our people than are the United States for those who have sympathized with and egged on the Fenian movement. And before we could be compelled to admit what no fragment of the people believes to be true, and to act upon the admission, the resources of an empire, probably now as rich a8 America because uneXhausted by any recent con- fict, much more concentrated, far readier for & great struggle than the United States, nearly if not quite as populous, and containing @ much larger class avatlable for the army and navy without drain- ing away the springs wealth than the United ‘States, would have to be used and exhausted—with what ‘result neither party would be wise in at- tempting to predict. A huger and more fearful calamity to the world at largé it is impossibie to conceive than such @ Wwar—except the calamity, which would be greater still, of the los of self- respect and the respect of other nations which would be involved in such an event as any mean submission on the part of England to an act of vul- ‘ar and ostentatious intimidation by another Power. Ve do not write this because we tn the least believe that the United States mean war, but only because we do believe that there is as false an opinion pre- valent in America as to what might be extorted from us by @ threatening diplomacy as there was in England nine years ago as to what Southern diplo- macy of very much the same kind could extort irom the North. Itis important that this error of Ameri- can opinion should be rectified, or it may lead the President into steps from which he cannot draw back without a loss of self-respect to America, and the inevitable issue of which, therefore, would be the most fearful event of our century—a flerce and pro- longed war, waged not for a principle, between races of equal power and of the same blood, lan- guage and religion. ‘The London Telegraph drains a cup of cold com- fort from the manner in which the American goy- ernment is practically treating the Cuban insur- gents:— * * * American Alabamas are almost openly fitted out for Cuba at the precise moment when the Americans are demanding from England damages to be counted by scores of millions sterling for the depredations of a cruiser which we perhaps even strained the law in endeavoring to detain, and the American administration practically recognizes the belligerency of the nameless and purposeless Cuban ie ge at the very time when it affirms that England can never make sutticient atonement for recognizing the bel- ligerency of a Power which possessed a capital, regular and long settled governments, distinct inter- ests, and an undoubted military strength wherewith to maintain them. True it is that after the indul- Ceara almost the encouragement—which Mr. ohnson’s government bestowed upon the Fenian ravagers of Canada and invaders of Ireland, we did not need anything to furnish us with an effective tv quoque against the United States by which to meet their charges of failure to maintain neutrality. But the action, or rather inaction, of the Waslungton government in the Cuban affair, furnishes a still more striking instance of the extent to whict en- lightened and reasonable men can forget both con- sistency and the obligations of public law when pas- sions or ambitious desires are roused. The Weekly Register, a Catholic paper, re- views the difficulty in an off-hand manner, and speaks in a tone that cannot be very highly relished neighborhood, unless some urgent foreign war cails tor their services (1 speak here of the Foot Guards, tor the Life Guards and Horse Guards—the “House- hold Brigade,” as they are called—have never been out of England since 1516). But then no man is eulisted in either the marines or the guards unless he has a good character, and the “ioafers,” who as e seek for service in the army, are not overbur- with much of that article. The real pith of the country, the great middie class that forms the bulk of every other army in Europe, 1s kept out of our service by this purchase system, by which those only who can command a certain sum of money are eligible either to commissions in the army or to promotion when they have got commissions. But this purchase systeni—the standing curse of our army—must form the subject of another letter. Deduct from our army, as it now stands, 5,000 men with that to reinforce Canada, and add to our iris garrisons as many more, we should then have ab- sorbed all our resources, and we should not have a soldier to send to any r colony, nor a man with which to replace the continual deaths among our troops in India. In a word, We stiould be at ihe mercy of any foe who liked to invade the land. Then comes the question as tw leaders. With the single exception of Lord Strathnairn, better known by his former title of Sir Hugh Rose, we have not a single general officer who is capable of commanding @ large army in the field. Of brave men we have enough and to spare. If pluck aud courage were hat was required of a )eader our army would be well commanded as any in the world. But Lord Strathnawn was born in 1503, and at sixty-six years of age an officer Who has seen a great deal of actual service ta ail countries, and has resided several years in India, 1s no longer young. No joubt a campaign or two would imake seve- ral good generais—that 1s, it would turn men who are at present without experience into experienced lers, and teach them what was required of t in the feld, But in these days no government can afford the time in which to edu- cate its generals. A war is now always short, sharp and decisive. Our English ge! 3 still believe in the maxims and tactics of the Crimea, Some even Jouk upon the Peninsular experiences of Wellington in England. The article in the Register proposes to deal with the question as itis, and not reopen the question as to whether the federals_ or Confederates were in the right, and to which side it was the duty of England to lean. The real explanation of our conduct, says the Register, in the matter we hold to be this:—That no matter im what country rebellion rises, England sides with that rebellion, and shows her sympathies with the rebels. If, during the civil war in Ame- rica, sides conid have been changed, as in a game of cricket—if the Confederates had been the established government of the country and the federals had risen against that government—our sympathies wouid have been with the North and not with the South. Just as if, at any future day, it could be possible that the government of Rome was in the hands of a secular power, and the clerical authority, headed by the Pope, was to rebel against that power, England to*a man would be Papisticai aud Catholic im her sympathies, Thus, and only thus, can we account for the mania which possessed almost every man and nearly every newspaper a few years ago. We had not then had— and it 1s to be hoped that we never shall have—occa- sion to feel what it 1s for a so-called friend!y nation to heip as far a8 possible a revolt against the consti- tuted authorities of the land. If Ireland was in open rebetlion, and if the American government at once deciared the Irish to have all the rights of bel- ligerents; if piratical cruisers manned by Americans and sailing under the Irish flag, but which had never anchored in Irish waters, were looked upon as re- gular men-of-war, although they did nothing but prey upon our commerce upon the high seas; if we and our merchants lost millions by the culpable negligence of the American government; then, and only then, would we fully understand what we did to foster the disitke and hatred of America, which has now attained its head, and which constitutes our present most serious American difficulty. But it is useless to look to the past. Let the dead bury their cead. ‘The question now is how is this didiculty to be overcome? What are we to pay for the bygone pleasure of subbing America when she was at her weakest? ‘There can be no doubt but the present crisis is one of no mere child’s play. In as their text book. They might just as well adopt the old flint musket as the Weapon with which to arm their troops. Your readers will, I trust, be good enough to look upon this letter as merely a preface or preliminary chapter to the account lam going to give them of our English army, bavy and fortitied places. By the next mati | hope to enter into more details. Let me conclude, in order to show that [am not singular in iy opinion respecting the present condition of our army, by quoting the words of Field Marshal Sir John Burgoyne, an engineer officer, who began his military career sixty-two years ago, and who has fought against almost every foe that England has had during that period. ‘Sir John 1s justly re- garded throughout England as the greatest author- ity in all matters connected with his branch of the service, and here is an extract from a letter he wrote to the Times a few days ago:— T tully believe that we could mot go to, war at preent with any of the great Powers without being subjected to humilia- ‘and losses which the high spirit of thi brook for a moment, and of which guid fall chiefly upon the unfortunate pened to be in high command at the coms titles. To provide for such an event wi quired is some means, without unduly burdening the coun- try, of increasing our means of defence when war broke out, tliat we shouid not be exposed to sudden danger. The Comments of the English Press on the Alabama Claims, The Saturday Review of the 8th devotes & two column editorial to the relations between England and America ut the present moment, as reflected by Mr. Sumner’s speech:— The menacing language of Mr. Sumner, who is unanimously accepted as the exponent of American policy, renders it necessary calmly to consider the contingency of a rupture with the United States, * bd Ld ‘The power of the United States to infilet exceptional injury on England begins and enas with Canada and the West Indian colonies. The islands would probably be defensible, though in some in- stances they might be exposed to danger; and per- haps it might not be impossibie to hold Nova Scotia, Vancouver's Isiand and British Columbia are within easy reach of San Francisco, which will in a few weeks be connected with the Atlantic ports by rail- road. It would be impossible to offer any resistaace on the Pacitic seaboard; and the only question as to the principal part of the Dominion would relate to the disposition of the colonists themselves. If their undoubted repugnance to annexation were strong enough to induce them to defend their inde- pendence with vigor, it would be the plain duty of Eugiaud to devote all her resources to their aid. It is true that a population of four millions, supported by all the availapie force which could be detached from Engiand, must ultimately suecump to the un- scrupulvus efforts of an enemy numbering thirty-five millions; but it is doubtfal whether the American people Would persist in a profigate enterprise when it became futly evident that success was only to be attained by conquest. In the war with the South- ern confederacy the national conscience was satisfied at first with the duty of preserv- ing national unity, and afterwards with ihe emancipation of the negroes; but an invasion of Canada must be consciously undertaken in the exclusive pursuit of revenge and ambition. American statesmen would probably sooner or later reflect on the inconvenience of having an injured and disaffected race atthe northern as well as the southern extremity of the federal territories, It is impossible to form a confident judgment before- hand either of Canadian resolution or of American policy. It ts only certain that aggression on English rights will be neither costiess nor bloodless, unless ludeed the character of the nation has rapidly a generated with the change in the spirit of ria institutions. It has not been generally found that democracy, with all its defects, has tended to spiritiess repudiation of burden- some rights and duties, In such @ quarrel there Wil be no moral ancertainty, as the aggressor will be wholly and wilfuily in the wrong. Mr. Sum- ner’s wi nerons quotations from the speeches of Mr. Cobden, Mr. Bright and Mr. Forster imp, an erroneous belief that ardent sympathy wit! America tuvoives disioyalty to England. He will be disappointed if he hopes that, should he force on a ‘war, he will be aided by a disaffected faction. The London Spectator once more enters the breech, and in an editorial, evidently written with care, ex- presses regret for that miscarriage of English law which led to the escape of the Alabama. That was miscarriage, says the Spectator, and a precedent of evil omen, and, having thus acknowledged the evil, all that remained was for the government to pay for such part of the losses caused by this act of negligence (that is, as regards the individual depre- dations of the Alabama herself) as could not be fairly ascribed to the negligence of the American navy in watching for the Alabama, or even, to stretch a point, for all the losses caused by that ship, but not for those of any of her consorts, The argument of the Spectator continues in this strain for some length, and then it sandwiches in Jonn Bright, and what he would and wouid not do regarding the oxtraordl- 8 this the correspondent of every paper, to say no- thing of every private letter from the States, fuily concurs. The Pall Mall Gazette, for instance, ts a paper that all throughout the conflict favored the South, and still continues todo so. Yet how does its American correspondent write, and that corres- pondents take their views from the papers they work for is well known:— Our people have not (writes this correspondent) forgotten uated oureuemy wast ourthroat and our ite seemed at his merey, your leading men and your leading journals did more than cheer him on. They spoke of us, wrote of us, treated us as dogs fighting their natural masters. Nay, we were vermin—loathsome vermin—not even of a pure breed of vermin, but spawned upon ho man knew when or how. That shaft rankles and stings to-day; for we know now, as we knew then, that it was prot by @ most sin cere joathing. It is = “sentimental” wound-—ihat worst of all wounds—that hurts us, Here is a brief but true statement of the case; and, as the same authority states, “Mr. Sumner’s speech has been well recetved by the country as a expression of the prevalent feeling on the sub- ject.”” What that speech was all readers of the daily ‘papers must know full well. The question remains, bod are we to get Out of the diificulty we nave got to? ° The Relations Between England and America. The following letter has been aadressed by Mr, Goldwin Smith to the editor of the London Beehive:— SiR—The information respecting the prospects of English emigration, which I was requested to procure, had been col- lected to the best of my ability, and I was about to send it for publication in your columns; Dut the speech of Mr. Sumner a effect in reviving American hostility in ontinuance of friendly relations between appears at this moment to be in such peril, tbat I fear the promoters and organizera of Engliah emigra’ tion cannot for the present prudently turn their thoughts in this direction. from what I know of th I temper of tl an people, and from the languny ting Mr. Sum- peech which I bear held in antion, I should # would be no rupture; bat, at the same time [ hold myael ther prepared for a turn of affairs which would oblige English rest- Yours, &c., dents to leave this country. ‘ GOLDWIN suITH, Boston, April 18, 1969. The Confederate Government and Its Agents. The Liverpool papers of the 6th mst. contained the following:— Vice Chancellor James had before him yesterday morning the case of the United States of America va. Meitae, in which the government of the United States called upon Mr. Colin J. McKae, who, during the American civil war, was the agent in England of the Confederate government for large quantities of goods and money, which, it was said, had peen sent to him by the Confederate government, and were in his jon on the conclusion of the war. Coun- sel for Mr. McRae said that this suit was founded on the hallucination that large sams of money were in the hands of the Confederate agents tn this coun- try at the time of the dissolution of the Confederate government. Every line and syllable of the cor- respondence between the government and its agents breathed the utmost desperation as to means. The correspondencegdid not show that Mr. McKtae had in & solitary instance received a remittance from America. He was sent to this country simply to carry on mt ions for @ loan of £3,000, 000 to the Confederate government, and to see that interest was paid to the contractors of the loan in accordance with warrants issued by the Contede- Tate Secretary to the Treasury. As the correspond- ence showed that at the conclusion of the war Mr. McKae had notin his ion any property be- longing to the Confederate government, tt would be idle for the court to order accounts to be taken which would involve a cost of between £2,000 and £5,000, Sir R. Palmerand Mr, Wickens were counsel for the plaintiff, and Mr. B. BE. Kay, Mr. Martin and Mr. Benjamin for the defendant, ‘The Vice Chancel- lo id that with reference to the main question in on it—namely, whether any m or goods of “f nt, rg distinguished the the plaintiffs in their own from the right of successor to the Confederate gov- ernment, had ever reached the hands of the d ant—there waa not a tittle of evidence. The tifl’s case, therefore, in the judgment of the = Wholly failed, and the bill must be dismissed with costs, FRANCE. Elections=Views of a Cans didate. The following excellent letter has been addressed by Prevost Paradol to the electors of Nantes, The writer has been invited once to become a candidate, and on the occasion of the second request by his townsmen he expressed himaeif, in acceptation of the invitation to represent the city There is one question which rit others, which calls for immediate solutions “Bvery etfors moet oy France since 1769 bas been with the object of Serateaend esbdeg rents tate {one means of acoompl ‘oat aoe oe frutit has een for ts G re re the reason ‘and heart of cs, electoral Lo a of Nantes pernonal soreratpens to-day Seeding ia aldah of ust Borett of parliamentary guar May electors, Whatever be personal ferences, danger. Among the candi- Pit Dot lose aizht of this danger, Among the condi. inscribed on Bovéroment in the rst rank of my duties, and ite Gaal down- in our country will always be my dearest hope, Tho Election Furore—A New Suggestion to Candidates. M. Emile Olhvier publishes the following letter, addressed to M. Bancel, in the Liberté of the evening of May 4:— plONsiRR—1,075 electors of the third ctreumscription of ‘aris, whose names I do uot know, have proposed you a candidate against me on the ground that I have proved worthy" or the conidence of democracy. You have accepted this offer. In so doing you have taken upon yourself to reproduce in my presence and to justify the ac- cusation of “unworthiness” which is the reason for your candidature, 1 hereby publicly call upon you to, fulfil this engagement. Send me two of your friend’ to confer with two of mine. ‘They together will select a large place for uceting, natn ‘a preaident, gage shorthand writers, When these preliminaries have been arranged we will both present ourseives before a public mecting. user, wil speak first, and support your allegation of ta worthiness. I will answer, Our speeches will be reported, and the next day Paris and France may pronounce between me and you. I beg you to excuse me for writing to you through & newspaper, as Ido not Know your address. Accept my salu- tations, «ic. EMILE OLLIVIER. a9 Itue Sa! + Guillaume, Paris, ‘The challenge to an oratorical duel, as proposed by M. Ollivier, has been decimed by M. Bancel, ‘The French Press on the Alabama Question. The Opinion Nationale of Paris of the 5th has the following comments on the above topic:— The interminabie affair of the Alabama still keeps the public mind in suspense in England; and the highly irritating tenor of certain American Journals caunot fail, in the long run, to set the public feeling on edge. However pacific may be tie temper of our neighbors, however they may be disposed to avoid a conilict that would entail serious trouble upon their commercial interests, is must be borne in mind that reserve and prudence have their limits, In one word, it cannot be said that England fears a war with the United Statea, although she endeavors, in every way compatibie with the honor of a great nation, to avoid it. ‘The Times takes up the more than violent speeches that have been uttered in Congress and the Senate at Washington, tending to prove that nothing but a war @ outrance with Great Britain can solve the difficulty, unless she agrees to relinquish Canada to the United States. The city organ suggests that these speeches must not be consitered serious, It cannot, however, be doubted that they will cause an irritaung impression with our neighbors. AUSTRIA. The Austro-Hungarian Union and the German Press. The union between Austria and ee kd is be- coming closer, The government of Vieuna has shown @ careful consideration for Hungarian sus- ceptibility, and at the present day the greatest con- fidence subsists between the empire and the king- dom. This intimacy seems to be displeasing to Prussia. The North German Gazette would appar- ently be glad to see adivergence between Vienna and Vesth, and it therefore endeavors Lo sow discord be- tween tue two Ministries. The Pesth Lloyd replies to the Prussian journal in remarkably clear lan- guage. It says:— The Hungarian Ministry is satisfied with theshare of the executive which the law allows it with respect to foreign aifairs. [thas used ita right and will continue to do so within the limits traced out by the Lexisint But as long as the Andrasay Minisiry and Count de Be ail remain in power Hongary and Austria will form but one State in presence of foreigners, Prussia must needs resign herself tu that state of things. The Pesti Naplo expresses the same idea in a lead- ing article. In the optnion of that journal the con- tract Which attaches Hungary to tle throne of the Hapsburg dynasty is delinitely concluded. ‘The last elections, {t says, hate proved tae fact, and the majority commanded by the Deak party in the Diet of Pesth is, it thinks, a sure guarantee of the truth of its assertion. GERMANY. The Fuston of North and South Germany. The Constitucionnel of Paris of the 6th states that the fusion of South Germany with the Confederation of the North becomes less probable every day. A combigation of this nature may indeed have been proposed to the former, and the Baden government, more disposed than the population of that country to Yield to Prassian influence, may possivly have con- sented to make itself a medium for ihe realization of such a project; but neither Bavaria nor Wurtemberg would consent toa measure calculated to place them, even though indirectly, under Prussian control. ‘the old German miittary Commission is tadeed an effete institution. NORWAY AND SWEDEN. Revision of the Act of Union. The two Chambers of the Swedish Diet have just discussed the royal proposition relative to the revi- sion of the Act of Union between Sweden and Nor- way. This suggestion was intended to realize the idea, constantiy pursued by King Charles, of draw- ing closer the ues which unite the two Scandinavian kingdoms and to assimilate their legisiation, the differences of which are essential, from @ political point of view. Norway, enjoying democratic tn- stitutions and an almost absoluve autonomy, ex- periences, a3 may be conceived, the greatest re- oe ce to sacrifice the slightest portion of er privileges for a union tue advantages of which do nol appear very clear. In Sweden, for other reasons, the proposition aiso encounters # per- sistent opposition. In the Upper Chamber the com- mittee charged with the examination of the affair advocated the postponement of the question as in- volving a reform of tue fundamental law, and that course, in spite of the instances of the government, was adopted by a large majority. The Lower Cham- ber pronounced still more emphatically in the same sense. The matier is, therefore. put off till the Diet of 1870, but it will certainly be again postponed, be- cause it cannot be considered by the Norwegian Storthing til i871 (the annual meeting of that Assembiy then commencing), and the decision has been adoped to treat the question simultaneously tn bota counties. THE LOSS OF THE BRIG OMAHA. Varticulars of the Disaster—Statement of the Captain—Names of Those Lost. Key West, Fia., May 12, 1969. ‘The survivors of the crew of the brig Omaha, John Toothaker, master, from Key West bound to Pensa- cola, which was lost on the 1st inst., have arrived here, The following is Captain Toothaker’s state- ment of the disaster:— We got under way at Key West harbor at nine o’ciock Thursday moraing, April 29, with a fine breeze from the south-southeast and pleasant weather. The weather continued fair and the wind light, and nothing spectai happened until the morn- ing of the ist of May, when the wind began to freshen. At half-past seven o'clock furled royal and gaff topsail. At half-past eight the weather had a slight appearance of being squatiy. Called all bands to shorten sail. I did not at that time think we should have more than a short rain squall, bat commenced taking in sail, clewea- up fore topgallantsail and hauled down the main top mast staysail. At a quarter to nine o'clock was struck by tne most terrific squall or tornado I ever experienced. I immediately let go the fore topaail and main halyards. Both sails came down, but im- mediately went to pieces. In the meantime the main topaatl and foresatl got aback and gave the vessel a violent sternway. She soon fell off and the sails got full. We were at this time taking in the foresail and had got one clew hauied up when another fearful gust of wind strack the vessel and threw her on her beam ends, when she immediately turned keel up. When we endeavored to save our. selves by oe guy 4d the channels we were washed off several times. be washed off and drowned. The vessel this position about an hour and @ hall | ag! turned on her beam ends, and wo seamen on the wreck with me. I saw Mr. Jones, the second mate, on the yaw! boat, which was bottom up, wa a yards from us. The boat drifted to windward until aig out of sight, when ihe boat on her bot- tom, after much hard labor brought her along- side the wreck. The boat was badly stove on sides, one gunwale tad been torn and she was full 4 von ae aes po ey oe time was 26 degrees nutes an 4 minutes. Rain began to fail during the squall apd continued falling at intervals throughout the day. The full force of the squall lasted about an hour. At about five P. M. saw a brig steering to the southeast. She came near enough for us w see her hull, but she did not notice us. Sunday, May 2, at sunrise,saw a bark steering to the southeast. She also came near enough fo rus to see her huli, but she did not notice us, During the day we succeeded in picking up some boxes of canned meats had no water, and sutured extreme and at a we suffered very much ym the cold. ness of air, for we were wet all the time and see Deere) cae en The clothing we had on at tho time the squall was mostly thrown off to enable us to reach the wreck alter being washed away. On Monday, May 3, the wind began to moderate during the forenoon, and tho sea getting smooth we to get the boaton the wreck and to we put of meat i Ww the coast ‘and no water, to uy seventy-five miles distant, mine whole oar, two broken ones, and a small piece of canvas for sail and @ boat hook fora We steered as near as we could an east-north course, We had no compass, We haa remarkably favorable Weather, and reached the coast on Thursday, the 6th, m the afternoon, I think near Cape Roman, where we were fortunate in fi fresh water. After refreshing ourselves and securing all the fresh water We could we again started and endeavored to reach Key West, But on Saturday morning our water again gare out, We landed on @ key to procure more, when we saw a lighthouse to the eastward. Not finding any water on the key we started for the hghthouse, but tly exhausted we made very little progress, fe finally reached the light- house about five o’clock P. M. it proved to be the Dry Bank lighthouse, where we were welcomed and soon made comfortable by its gentlemanly keeper and his assistants, The names of the survivors are John Toothaker, master; John G, Jones, second mate, and Michael Cullen and John May, seamen. The names of those who were drowned are West Drinkwater, mate; John Tuompsap, cook; W. Scott and B. Benjamin, seamen, and John Toothaker, cabin boy, who was the captain's son. There was also a passenger lost het) nae 8 unknown, ‘he Omana had on board an assorted cargo of about 300 barrels taken on board at New York. THE EIGHT HOUR LAW. Senator Wilson Before the Charlestown Navy Yard Workmen. CHARLESTOWN, Mass., May 19, 1869, During the past three or four weeks the working- men of the Charlestown Navy Yard have been in- dustriously engaged in agitating the Eight Hour law of Congress and the manner in which it has been applied to them by the Secretary of the Navy. They have held no less than half a dozen meetings to con- sider their grievances and devise means of relief, and atthe last one a committee was appointed to wait upon Henry Wilson, one of the Massachusetts Senators, and invite him to address them upon the all-absorbing topic. Mr. Wilson accepted the invi- tation, and appeared before the Navy Yard employés this evening. He was warmly received, and during his address was frequently interrupted by applause. Having been introduced, Senator Wilson remark- ed that it was barely possible that his views might not accord fully with those of the workingmen; for he could utter no word tending to perpetuate and deepen the apparent antagonism between capital and labor, the employers and employ¢s, the rich and the poor. Capital and labor, he believed, were not necessarily antagonistic to cach other. Inspired by justice, philantropy and the religion of Jesus Christ they would be co-operative forces, The laws of human nature, the spirit of Christianity, that teaches the fatherhood of God and the brother- hood of man perpetually proclaimed that “labor has its rights as well as its duties; capita! has its duties ag well as {ts rights.” Neither could he join in the now fashionable prophecies, predictions and lamentations touching the men of their country. To dilate upon the men of the nation had become a morbid passion. He had heard of persons who had dyspepsia, but he thought it conscience. Some men had schemes that in their selfishness became so ab- sorbing that they thought that all the world was go- ing the way of their perishing bantlings. In spite, however, of the fears of timidity and the morbid imaginings of disappointed selfishness, the country was now moving right on with majestic strides in expansion, settlement, development, wealth, power, grandeur. HKapid as had been the increase in popu- lation, wealth had increased far more rapidly. Forty years ago the wealth of the nation was about one hundred ana fifty dollars for each person; now it averages more than six hundred dollars tor each person, bemg more than a fourfold Increase. The country had never increased in material prosperity, in the means of culture, more rapidly than during the past seven years, Annually the nation was adding more than a thdusand million dollars to its accumu- lated capital. He had faith in the continuance of indi. vidual and pasional pecans for the eiements and instrumentalities of individual and national pros- perity everywhere abounded. While other nations had men of @ higher culture than could be founda in the United States the nation had more cultivated in- tellectual forces in her masses, more aspirations for individual improvement and higher hopes for na- tional advancement than any nation ever possessed. More persons in the United States were striving in that hope and that confidence which assured success for national improvement and social advancement than could be found in any nation beneath the sun, Nor could he echo the cry that “the rich are growing richer and the poor poorer.” There was not, he added, the semblance of truth in that ‘flippant utterance of ignorance, or distrust, or demagogism, The rich were growing richer, and the number of men who counted their possessions by tens of thou- sinds had largely increased, and was rapidly in- creasing. But the poor were certainly rapidly grow- ing in Knowledge, in property, in power and social influence. The world had never seen such progress in the means of material, moral and intellectual power, social comfort, enjoyment and influence as the workingmen had made in America during the past forty years. Then the weaith of the nation averaged but a small sum for each person. Men of large wealth were few in number, farms and houses were generally encumbered with debt, and the houses of workers for wages possessed few of the comforts and none of the luxuries. Now hundreds of thou- sands of farms were freed from debt, and the homes of the workers for wages were in possesston of com- forts not dreamed of by manual laborers forty years ago. Then few were the carpeted floors in the homes of farmers, tradesmen, mechanics, workingmen, and in few of those homes was heard the music of the piano. Now carpets covered the floors of the nomes of the masses, at least in the oldest States of the North, and there were more pianos than music. In the newer sec- tions of the country tens of thousands of log cabins had disap) and homes of beauty and refne- ment taken their places. Churches, schoo! newspapers and libraries had wonderfaliy multip! to instruct and bless, The learned professions had failed during the past third of a century to retain vheir once commanding power and influence. The farmers, the mechanics, the builders of buildin and telegraphs, the merchants, the workers to the varied industries had risen in power and political influence, Even the great land owners of the South— that aristocracy of capital that gave law to the nation—and their slaves (four millions of workers and held as property), had ceased to be capital and had = join the workers for wages. Surely the republic of the United St with its millions of square miles and billions of acres; its long lines of sea coast, lakes and rivers; its illimitable public do- main and e: lesa mines; its churches and ite free schools; ita libraries and presses; its ballot, and its highest honors open to all—with all these, the incitements to endeavor for personal improve- ment and national advancement rendered this coun- try the workingman’s earthly paradise. No wonder that the hopes of humanity centred upon it. No wonder that it annually drew to itself a quarter of a million of the workingmen of the foremost nations, He pitied that man who cou'd not see amid the tri- als, the weaknesses or follies of the age, the giories of the country—the man who did not hear amid the nolsy clamors of the hour the majestic tramp of this advancing nation. Mr. Wilson assured the working- men of Charlestown that he was not uamindful of the hard lot of toiling men in this country and in this age. The lot of that man or that woman that eats bread earned by the sweat of the face was hard indeed, but in the United States that lot was easier in the nt generation than in the past id to illustrate this he referred to the experiences and recoilections of his boyhood. Poverty sat by his cradie; want was often an un- bidden guest in the home of his youth. At ten years of age he went forth to earn his bread, served an apprenticeship on afarm for eleven years and re- ceived for three years of hard toll eighty-four dol- ny a lars—a sum less than jassachusetts mechanic had recetved for his last month's work. ‘That was within eighty miles of Charlestown. The money. He was not the m aggregate, of the amount of ten joi until he became of gg Canny he bad not spent the amount of one dollar his birth to bis majority. When he became of age he hired himself fora month, drove team, cut wood, worked from tweive to fifteen hours per day, and ail for six dol- by ee Ry poh ee for seven months on ® farm nine dol @ month and aiterw: walked for di to several oo! ghd facturing villages low men leave to toll. Being unsuccessful he put nis upon his back and tramped from Ris native town, a distance of one hundred miles, to his present home, to learn a mechame's trade. On his way he passed through Charlestown, and although footsore and weary he turned aside for a few moments to gaze Pay the heights of Bunker Hill, He had worked in the field on long summer days, hoeing and mowing with some of the best men who ever handled a hoe or swung a scythe, and they people then had but little the |. He had seen young women do milk cows, spin and weave for fifty cents and four shiilings a week. Such, he added, were the rewards of lavor forty years in this section of the country. Then the div industries that have now opened #0 many avenues for the oi men, ined idleness was = far least in New a then ‘The diversification industries, factories and the various mechanic arte licraita had given steadier employment to totlers of the present 7. Discriminating duties in favor cre, Products of American capital, labor contributed somewhat to diversify the which workingmen had s0 largely @ had recently yseen earnest appeals from very excelient ‘to the Workingmen to repudiate the policy of discriminating in tho asgess- ment of duties in favor of American capital and labor, but he trusted the workingmen would be in no haste to overthrow a system that had opened so many new avenues to labor, Littie was said forty years ago about the hours of labor, co-operative societies or lavor movements. The labor movements of the past twenty years were not born of ij bon signa Nd necessity. senna fapvemen i. 1008 came ot progress . erence of workinginen, of re Tae apa My rights, interests and powers. Be ‘vellous inventions rouuctive rulflcatious of industries, schools, chinery, the dive: rewards to wo came to feet that the pips productive forces of machinery should be s! and enjoyed by labor as well aa by capital. Skuled laborers and workers tn milis and shops came to see that health and social enjoy- ment, and moral and mutual improvement woud come by the reduction of the hours of totl to tea hours, even if the rate of w: could not be main- tained, Ten hours came and brought blessings and benefits to all, The hours of labor had, since he be- came of age, been reduced from two to three hours daily, and wages bad been increased from three to fourfold, He could demonstrate that the hours of labor in the free States had been reduced at least one-sixth, and the wages had been increased at least threefold. During the past ten years the application of ma- chinery to productive industries had wonderfully increased the productive forces of workingmen. The farm, the mull, the workshop, showed the wonderful braries and presses, had given opportunities and nd that hey linprovements in the instruments of labor, By the improved forces aud tools of labor the workingman in many industries could do as much in one hour as he could formerly in ten hours, Increased forces, powers and enlarged experience had brought many workingmen to the conclusion that eigut hours should be established as a day’s work, They realized that the ten hour movement, so generally acquiesced in, had been a most marked success, They believed that eight hours would be more in accordance with the moral, mental, physical and social interests of workingmen, ‘Yo raise men aud Women With healthy bodies and sound minds wss a far higher object than the addition of miliions of dollars to the accutnulated anita of tie world, Congress was asked by the workingmen to muke eight uours a day’s work in the navy yards, arsenals and workshops of the United States. The House, under the lead of General Banks, their rep- resentative, passed a bill to accomplish that object, With slight opposition. On motion of Mr, Conness, of California, who, like Geueral Banks, had been @ nic in his younger days, the bill was taken up, considered and passed, Every Senator supposed that elght hours was vo be a day’s work for mechanics and workilugmen in the service of the government—a day’s work that was to bring aday’s wages. There were Senators who voted against it avowedly because at secured that object, No man thought otherwise, ‘To have passed the biil for any other purpose woud have been keeping the promuse to the ear aud break- ing it to the hope. ‘To have passed the bill with any other intention would have been to make Congress a set of tricky demagogues. As the governmeut had put another construction upon the law, the House, in the closing hours of the session, passed, without a divigion, a deciaravury resolution, He had striven to get 1 through the Senate, but could not get the Senate to vote upon it in the pressure of the last hours. Finding that the matter was coming up for consideration in the Cabinet he addressed a letter to the Secreiary of War to show what the workingmen asked for and what Congress intended to give, Ten days after the letter was placed in General Rawlins? hands the Attorney General gave his 1egal coustruc- ton of the act, which was adverse to the wishes of the workingmen, who petitioned for the measure and asked for what Congress intended in passing the bill, ‘his construction of the Attorney Geueral would stand and the governinent would act upon it unless 1. Was set aside by the President or by Con- gress. He had hoped the President would do so; he Was contident that Congress would at its next ses- sion. The House dectaratory act, which was in- troduced by General Banks, was pendin, 1n the Senate, and he had faith that that body woul vindicate the iniegrity of Congress. As it had been determined to act upon the construction of the Attorney General, Senator Wlison said he trusted that the workingmen in the service of the government wouid work the ten hours, and look to Congress to deciare the meaning of the act. Con- fidence In their cause and faith in the intention of Congress would gtve strength to their cause and friends, It might not be that the time had come to reduce the hours of skilled labor to eight hours day, but it was sure to come through the application of the marveilous forces of machinery to production, He thougit there were other causes tending to bring about that result, The erection of wareiouses, mills and shops in the cities tended to force the laboring population of the cities into cellars and garrets, The reduction of the hours of labor would enabie mechanics and workingmen to go further from the centres of the cities, and they will thus secure healtaier homes for their families. There seemed to him to be another reason for the reduction of the hours of labor. The tendency was to send young men into cierksbips or professions, or into anytiiag rather than tuto trades, Even mechanics struggled to get their sons into other employments, as though they themselves were ashamed of their callings. These tuings had @ most pernicious infuence upon the country. Would not a reduction of tie hours of labor tend to draw young men into the trades and to make trades more attractave? He hid long thought that corporations, mauufacturers ant mechanical companies and firms should stiive to induce workingimen to take interests, however small, in the business in which they were engaged. So believing, he made etfort in the Legisiature more than twenty years ago to bave the stock of all manufacturing companies made into one hundred dollar shares, with a view to induciig working: to take an interest in the companies for which they worked. He believed that 1t wouid be better for capital and labor if workimgmen were tuduced (o take an interest in the companies for which tuy toiled, and would dignity labor and produce great F care, industry, Unrift and temperance, and develop personal responsibility. Co-operative associauons amopg workingimen should be eucouraged, though they often failed, Co-operative action in which men are engaged of capital and business relations and experiences would, he thought, be far more suce*s3- tuland sater. A business firm of noble men had recently entered upon an experiment which he jooked upon most hopefully, Having more thin @ hundred men 1n their employ, they voluntarily pro- posed last year to divide with them ten per cent of the profits of the year. The men thought litte of it as they expected little from it, eAt the close of the year they cailed their men ther and paid them the ten per cent of the profits, which made to each man one half hour’s each day. 8 was to the men @ grateful surpri ‘They then told them that this year they would pay twelve and a half per cent of the profits, if any, and expressed the wish that, a3 they ail had an interest in the results, each one should be careful and see that nothing shouid be wasted, and they hoped that all would strive to be temperate men, a8 drinking tended to impair their strength. In a few days ninety-seven out of the 100 workingmen voluntarily brought to the firma piedge of total abstinence. So far that experiment had brought forth glorious fruits. Such action, tnsp.red by such lofty purposes, by capitalists and business men, would douptiess render lasting benefits to the empioyers and the employed, to capital and to labor. Massachusetts was loon soreinri @ manufacturing, mechanical and workingmen’s State. It was tho destiny of her people to toil—of large portions of them to labor for w: Here ital and labor, the employer and the employed, the rich and the poor, should walk hand in hand, guided by the sense of justice and the spirit of the divine Master, Then would an perform its highest and truest bovine then would labor “look up,’ ta the words of Daniel Webster, on yonder heights, “and be proud in the midst of its toul."” THE VOICE OF THE PEOPLE. More Police Outrages. “TI, J. Hy" a stranger, who has recently arrived here from England, complains of a brutal assault made upon him by @ policeman as he was quietiy and soberly proceeding to his lodgings, between the hours of eight and nine o'clock a few nights ago. His offence consisted in refusing to answer the im- pertinent inquiry of the policeman as to his name ‘and business, He was carried to the station house, locked up, fined ten dollars next morning ana had to pay two dollars additional to a@ runner to goto Wall street and get the amount of his due from his bankers. A Question for Mr. McGregor. “Constant Reader” would like to know by what authority Mr. McGregor, Superintendent of Public Buildings, allows the Erte Railroad Company to transgress the fire ‘aws of this city by. erec a large frame building at the foot of West Twenty-third street and another at the foot of Duane street, A Base Ball Nuisance. «J. BY 1a decidedly opposed to the practice of boys playing base ball in the streets, and as an un. fortunate victim of the nuisance, having had both eyes blackened, by & vagrant ball tn Varick street, calls for remedial measures in the premises, ‘The Administration of the Poor Laws. A gentieman residing in the Nineteenth ward, and Apparently well acquainted with the manner in which the poor laws are administered by the De- partment of Public Charities and Correction, pre- sents quite a lengthy list of complaints against the manifold shortcomtngs and evident partiality shown by the Commissioners, and particularly in regard to the poor living in the upper portion of the city, He says that of the ten “Visitors of the Poor" appointed, eight are designated to that part of the city below Fortieth atreet. For the whole Twenty-second ond stretching from Fortieth to Kighty-sixth street from Sixth avenne tothe North river, there is but one visitor, and for the whole of the Nineteenth and ‘Tweifth wards together there i but one visitor onduty. ‘These two districts are so extensive that 16 is hag og for the visitors to’ be just to the poco see their ne relief where it the immense rate of Nineteenth ward our suggests of bond as a dis. lng ® visitor for it. He by @ reference to the fact tora in the southern part of the any ore it for the work offering, needing no asdistance even amid the severities of winter; but each of tho two remaining visitors for the Tweltth waean uamintanh viaivors to chose o> ear ave whe montis of January,” February Sad March, which fact speaks plainly in favor of our correspondent’s suggestion, and recommends it- self strongly to the consideration of the depart. And socially the Chief Justice was not Sgrecable than oMcially.—Aichmond Whig, May 18,