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i’O linl.I.AKS IM’R ANNUM IN ADVANCE TH3 INDB?SNBENC3 OF THE SOUTH. ATHENS, CLARK COUNTY. GEO. JANUARY 15. 1862. VOLUME XXX-N UMBER 45. 'll ED WEEKLY, Ljfcixiii & geese, r.j-|. ii :-.r. Editors am! Proprietors. FK' K l l’-STAIRS, No. 7 Granitic Row TERMS : (HOLLARS PER ANNUM.IN ADVANCE •» Cli.W* v, ;nitiui^ Sl<> in a.lvnurr, »le« «ill lx- M-i't. any s l>- nil r I'usimtr to give notice ofliii* <le olodii .n.tinuc i.l' 'C.U.'criiit ion at the ex pirn- n of l!» time for v.'. ich it lias boon pniil, will lie :uidei. 1 a wishing to continue it, nml held C3 Uwi •iinliu^lv. OV" imper m ill ho riucoiitinueil (oxoept nt ' optic d the editors,} until nil •'rvtarages nre .id. RAT MS OF ADVER IIMMi. Forouo '.pi are.. ■onsbtinti «f twelve lines pmnll pe,ors;i: univalent, line llollnr or the first ertion. m l lifty fonts for etvoli weekly contiuu- ion. nade for yearly adver- ISAAO HATER. Importer of RHINE WINE, Al’Kl'STA, G A. Imported by lumseU and warranted any Comments of the British Press Upon American Affairs. told low as Pure, and House. Reorders promptly attended to. Oct £5 tf 1 at the usual rates. tVice, Five Dollars, t s have the desired upon them when U nt- published till ATHENS STEAM COMPANY It. IVIt'KERSO.X, Agent a Sip't. |AR AXt I ACTUKKRS of V i rc u 1 <■ r Maw J*" Alills, Mienin FliKiuea,,foiein^aml lift in" PUMl'S,Shifting mid Machinery; Mill Gin, and all other kind uf GRADING. Iiwn and anting :of every description. SMITH ING, Repairing and Finishing pr. .. ptly exoeu led. Scleet patterns of Iron Fencing, Ac. Terms CASH. May I t ly A. Mi WINtt, W HOLESALE amt Retail Dealer in Hard ware, Crocker, and House Furnishing Goods,one door below li.L. Bloomfield's Ulotliin3 Store. Athens, Ga. Jan.7, 185S Northern I REMARKABLE CII.VMiE 1\ PUBLIC SENTIMENT ON THE SLAVERY QUESTION. As there is much speculation at this time as to the future couise of Great Britain in regard to affairs on this con tinent, we give below copious extracts upon her other institutions which have already brought it to -the verge of ruin. But the most remarkable part of Mr. Lincoln’s speech is that in which he touches the relations of his Government with foreign countries. The fact seems, on his own showing, to be, that all foreign countries have hitherto pie- served a strict neutrality; that they have resisted all applications from the South to make common cause with it against the Ncith ; and that they have quietly submitted to a blockade which grievously injures their commerce and manufactures. These facts would have Mr. Welles’s increased navy is still but a contemptible flotilla. X ery different, however, is its forces as proportioned to the enemy with which it is immediately matched. The Confederate States have no navy a*, all. Against them the navy of Mr. Welles is as a giant against a dwarf. Within the last few months the Federal Gov ernment has had 264 ships and 24,000 men, and their enemies two or three their State papers, they are not ene will get more, we are well aware; for we do not undervalue the pow£r or energy of our rugged kinsmen if they put their heart in a matter; but he will get little “renown’’ for his department in such a cause as that he so unneces sarily proclaims, or against the antago nist he so rashly dtfies. If either the discretion of Mr. Welles or the ability of Mr. Lincoln is to be estimated by from late English papers. The Lon-, don Times, the best indicator of public ™ IIed for,h ,rou \ the chiH of ary other ' 4 n na .nvi m/\nl in flirt M’Arl/l T.rvn hlioon sentiment, ridicules Lincoln's message ; NOTICE. DIRECTORY. s -ill'll run have ail. for or..* year, l not more nt:i tor eaeb addi D URING in}' nbsi'nro from tin King is mv authorized agent lie • ' noon- All Rate, Dr. AV.m. an be toluol ut the Drug Store in the afte K M. SMITH, M. D. us. Sept. 1. F. H. LUCAS, WHOLESALE and ret nil dealer in Dry Goods, * * t,ior lories, llardw me, ila*.,Nu.it liroad st A then , Ga. ;.| B n 19. * A .M A I i conn ATTORNEY AT LAW t MACON, GEO. O M--IJT .1 of A. M. Kill Mulberry Street, over the store ksln ir Ac Co., in lloarihnaii s r.'.nek. Will i-raetice in llihh, Dooly, li lUHiuti, .viaenn, Twiggs, Smnti r. N"V.’i if \\ 1LLI.Y11 (i. Attorney n DELON Y, Off Knn.i and in an article which wc do not pub lish, extols that of President Davis. LINCOLN'S MESSAGE—OPINION OF T1IE LONDON TIMES. [From the London Times, Dee. 1S.| The style of the American President has fallen with the fortunes of the Re public. Instead of the jolly, rollicking periods of former days, each of which seemed to suggest at its close a stave of “Hail Columbia,” we have now got a discursive an 1 colloquial essay, ill- arranged and worse expressed. Nor does the matter ledeem the style. It is really wonderful, when we consider the present state of the American Re public, how any one placed in the position of Mr. Lincoln could have taken the trouble to produce so strange a medley, so incoroposile a rhapsody. There are several subjects on which we earnestly desire information, and on no one is it atforded. Above all things, we w int to know what view the American Cabinet takes of the af fair of the Trent, what advice it has received from its legal counselors, anil with what feelings it approaches the coming controversy. On this point T. .11. . TUI ttMV a r DIM ML, i. A XV. — Alt P N A Go N. R J 11, J. \ W. T. YIILLH VN, V I 1. \\V—Will prim W- Wi-t.-rn Circuit :i. 1.,'im au I Hai R. L. BLOOMFIELD, WHOLESALE unit Trim! Clutliing Store, VV Broad Strreet, Alliens, Ga. [May 111. T. BISHOP iV SON, W HOI.ESALE and Retail dealer* in Grocer ies. Hardware and Staple Drv Goods, No. 1 liroad St. At lions Ga. ’ |.May 1 BOLTING (LOTUS. VV I-l’C'AS keeps a full supply of tl,e 1 • best Anchor liraml C'lcths, at citv fric a. March £0 *' FAIRBANKS” SCALES. j^JDLD at Manufacturers price, T. BISHOR A SON. Alliens,October ii 1859. LUMBEB! LUMBEWA!IS" uvt) HUNDRED thousand kekt <> | measures by which the equillibrium between revenue and expenditure is to be preserved in the face of so vast an outlay. We should like to know what meas ures the President proposes to adopt with regard to the slave population ol i the Southern States; whether, with Government in the world, Republican or Monarchical, a gracious and courte ous acknowledgment of the respect and forbearance with which a nation, not remarkable for carrying either of these qualities to excess, has been treated by all other nations in its hour of trial. Nothing can be more ungra cious, more contrary to the usual con ditions of international courtesy, than the language with which President Lincoln repays the consideration ex tended to him: “These nations,’’ he says, “appear as yet not to have seen their way to their objects’’—that is, the restoration of commerce—“more directly or clearly through the destruc tion than through the preservation of the Union.” This is a broad insinuation that for eign nations are actuated by the mean est and most selfish motives, and Mr. Lincoln is content, as t c cannot deny that we have hitherto done right, to express a suspicion that we did so for reasons we cannot avow without shame, i It is not wonderful that a notice of foreign relations begun in this spirit should end in the exhortation with which we arc already familiar in the circular of Mr. Seward, to fortify the seacoast, the great lakes and rivers '6 I.umb.-r, well seasoned. ii about live mile* from A - ** tilled at short Hot ill'. I -tied at short iiot.'C : ilu-sawyer, Mr. James Gunnel* I lids* ixpericm-cd in It.o eountiv. j entire saiislio-lion. I All or-leis l.-Ii at the store of .1 ■ l Mattli- w», or hamlet to ,i. A. Will 1 be pmmptlv attended to. ! June Ci) bin. JAS. D. MATTHEWS. )D h.imi at my ■us. Any order j kits ut all kinds is one of the nd will (jive , R. .V \V. F. | .-spoon, will j and stability of the Republic depend, { not on foreign nations, but upon our- | selves.” That is perfectly true at this | moment, because foreign nations earn- j estly desire peace and to avoid all j occasion of quarrel, but it will cease to | be true the moment that America has forced I. MU.I U .lot'll in In MILLIGAN, 'iLriKaville, Ga, T til '.-V jr ” HULL &. HILLYKR, ATTORNEYS AT LAW. Ill-: on 1. 1 -..'ll--; !i vin^assooiatc-dthemst-lves toy -i.m i' ui ';-ia:'tu , <‘ ol' law, will attend o-vt r ■! t’.-uiis in ilit* Western Gin nil. and atu-ntion to all buainnss I WM. II. HULL, Athens, Ga. T. H. WILSON ii BROS., join: pov.-oua GUO 111 ELY UR, Monroe. Ga, Juiv 15-1}. and I, Coll. v M'reh In iALFi is, II ‘ Avenue, Athens, Ga ; one-half of his Cabinet, he is for etnan-1 cipation, or, with the other half of his ! into a war, for one of the ils of war is that a nation is by it of the control ol its own to shape its wretched privateers, and some craft fitted for inland navigation. Yet we believe that the Sumter is still plunder ing the Federal commerce, and we know that the Harvey Birch was burnt close to our own shores; we see a “sensation heading” in the last New York papers, that “ the Federals are blockading the channel of Tybee Island and Fort Pulaski,” and we have Mr. Welles’s own testimony that although his navy “continued to capture every rebel vessel which show ed itself on the Potomac,” it ceased tc do so “when the rebels erected batte ries on sundry points of the Virginia shores, and thereby rendered passage on the river dangeious!” We con fess that we are compelled to look be yond these facts to discover the rea sons for the tone of congratulation which runs through Mr Welles’s re port, and to deserve the increase of re nown claimed for the Federal navy by Mr. Lincoln. Mr. Welles himself seems to think some lurther explanation ne cessary. He urges, therefore, the onerous du ties of blockading a coast of three thousand miles in leng'h, ol the active pursuit of privateers, and of the organ ization oi naval expeditions. This is all very well, but it is necessary to show that these duties have been accom plished. The naval expeditions have indeed, reached their destination, but, as they had no enemy worth the name of an enemy to meet, the renown of the Federal navy cannot be much rais ed by whnt was little more than trans port service. The privateers have, as we sain before, not been taken. The blockade has been so notoriously a failure, that nothing but the extraordi nary scrupulousness of the European powers has allowed it to continue.— Ships have passed in and out at all times just as they pleased, and, so far as the harbors are concerned, there has Lawago^kc^.®^ j n a r tR°fi he S ! cour --e" not : by'‘its'own'will, but'by the j never been any difficulty in getting in- j part of'its length. nres greatly io be feared either in na tional or civil warfare. ENGLAND CONTEMPLATES A WAR IN ANY EVENT. IL<u:don (Dec. lit.) Correspondence of the Man chester Guardian.| The conviction forces itself upon many that the day is not far distant when the Southern Confederation must be recognized; and that recognition may be expected to bring about a fresh difficulty, in which we must be pre pared to maintain our policy. It is with this view, and as a demonstration of our intention to hold our own way, that the government are sending out 10,000 men to Canada without - any reference to the reply of the American Cabinet. If Messrs. Mason and Sii- dell landed at Liverpool to-morrow not a soldier the less would be sent out. If we are to have a war with the North,in connection with this U. States schism, there could be no more fa vorable time than the present. It would be a short and decisive war, and would have a vital influence on the preserva tion of peace and the uninterrupted freedom of commerce for many years to come, without our having to pass through the ordeal of -social and mer cantile confusion which warsasa gen eral rule entail. Our military depart ments are working double time. The clothing establishment at Pimiloo was at full work last night and the prece ding one. It is a very common anticipation among persons of Canadian experience that a war with this country is likelier to end in our acquisition of Portland than in the capture of Montreal by the Federal armies. In any case, there are rectifications of our Canadian fron tier, which can scarcely fail to follow upon war. The States frontier,as set tled by the Ashburton treaty, closely hugs the postage road—our Canadian highway from the coast—along a great E U. M. PITTMAN. ToK.VK.Y-t Law.Ji-flVrsoii, Jacksonooun- . oprompt attention tonnybu. t.i liis Jantinvv £1 — l£ui \ tils JOHN II. HILL, TTDKNl.Y A r LAW, Augusta, Ga., will 11*t• ■ 11.1 promptly to all Ihimih-ss ontru'tcil to j'S XVF.IiOPGN AM) M KITING FA , , I’llK.—Tlii-se erm be i-lill xnpplieil nt re COtll 'nil ut the llookatore. Oet £3 PEOPLE’S MILL SOLD. 7 E would inform our customers that we still iJ.ui.8. V- ! 11. A. LOW 11ANCE, Resident 3>SNTIST. A THENS, GEORGIA. OFFICE—CdIIpjji} Avenue, Athens, Ga. Oct 18. IHt. WM. KING. Homo oj>ul/itr Pii//V/ei<i», O FF Hit* hi* professional services to the cit i7.0ns of Athens amt vicinity. Residence, at Mrs. Clayton's. Office*, corner of j Clayton iimlThoinn** streets. May '.i.—ly. McULESKEY, M. 1)7, crinnnontlv toente.1 in Athens,wil •ilieineainl Surgery, i cT'Kesiilenee, that recently oceitpicd by Mr. Albon Chase. Office* at home, where he may be leuml. March 8ih, IStlO. w have for sale a large amount of seasoned lumber of varieus kinds. Also, Rickets, Laths, and common fencing, at the Mill stand,and at the Lumber vani in town. For particulars, cnquiic of ' \V. R. TALMAGE, Agent. Nov. 20. tSCl. CASH! of the slaveowner. On these points our oracle is silent. * * * * It is not easy to see why Mr. Lin- should have omitted from his speech all notice of the ease of the Trent. If he means to give up the persons illegally seized, one would have thought it no unwise precaution to pre pare the public mind for such a decis ion. If he means to keep them, we cannot understand why he does not grasp at all the popularity that is to be had in exchange lor present war and future ruin, instead of allowing it to be ! picked up by obscure members of Con gress embarking in a contest whether deotsian oi war itself. OPINION OF THE REPORT OF SECRE TARY WELLES—THE BLOCKADE A FAILURE, AND THE “STONE FLEET” A C RIM E A G A1N ST Tit EI i ( MANKIND. [From tiro London Times, Dec. 17.] ********-•>::<;* We turn, then, to the report of Mr. Gideon Welles, the Secretary, to the Federal Navy, for explanation of these hollow or enigmatical phrases in which Mr. Lincoln boasts that the American Navy created since the present diffi culties began, has performed deeds \ FTER the tir?t of J sdgned will pell exclusively lor CASH ! Alliens, Jan. I, Dili. 11. M. SMITH. ISO-.*, the under- i the transcendent merits of Com. Wilkes I which have increased the naval renown GOODS SOLD ONLY Jnn 1, ISi.J. (■• L J I" A VINO pi I 1 eoniii.neth -j.r.v, tieeotMe 20 nuns. SUGAR 1 JOR sale cheap for cash, Ne ' lin Holme Building. J.m 1 , 1802. H . A !!. B. J. LONG, W HOLESALE and retail Druggists, Athens (ii . | Jan. J THURMOND &\NORTH, .A t tori toys a t Law, * \ j j |,l, practice in eo partnership in the r.min- iiut' (Murk. I Fulton. Jackson, Gwinnett, //,i.| R : ,him. White. Franklin, Ranks, Haber- •haul i,f the Western Circuit; and Hart nml Mait- ,,r .Vi rth.-'.u Circuit; and will give their ndividuiil and joint nttcutionto all business eu- .rn-ti'd to tin in. Tiio collection of debts will re- iir.nnii*. a.-.d cnrclul attention. M U R.THURMOND, r IsuigT Drug store, JOHN I!. NORTH, Jefferson, Jackson eo Oeil8 if i 11 mid R2 Frank- J. I. COLT. TO HIRE. I HAVE several negro women anil boys to hire. 1 would prefer to hire them in the country. Deo. 18, 181.1. S. R. THURMOND. €C3 V^StsS IS ET "5T A FTER NcwYenr's Day r.o accounts at the Rook Store will lie continued. N'ales will be made only for osh. Those having'iccounis hith erto willoblice by nil early settlement of die same. Dec £5 WM. N. WHITE. would be best rewarded by thanks or by a gold medal. Possibly the simple solution may be that the President has as yet arrived at no solution at all, and that, perplexed by the divisions of his Cabinet, he has been content to let the matter alone till events shall determine for him that which he is unable or un willing to determine for himself. !Ie will not have long to wait. Each successive mail brings us the report of some instance in which the American nation is, step by step, committing it self to a war policy with England, till, when challenged for its final decision, it will probably find that it has gooc too fur to have any power of retraction. The Government has received the Ad miralty, has thanked Com. Wilkes, and Congress has now given the seal I of its approbation to a proceeding so to them or getting out of them. ~ ! The Lnited States have two fortified The Federal Government has itself j ports close upon that road,which would CLOTHING. Large lot of clothing can he lound nt It- L. Bloomfield's,at very reasonable pi ice* JACKS ON vV HUTCHINS, V TTORN EYS AT LAW.—Will practice in the i uuii'ifr-suf Gwinnett, Walton, Jack- s ni. mil ilull,of the Western,anil the county of F.iriyin of tin* Rim* Ri<lgc Circuit. AM ES JyfGKSD.N, 1 N. L. llUTCIIINS, Jr. Allienii, Giv. 1 Lawreiu'.ovillo,Ga j*. S,—During Mr. J autumn's absence from Geor gia, business letters should bo addressed to the ffrin nt Lnwreneevillo. Sept 'A't--tf Ur. R. M. SMITH, Wholesale and Retail Dealer in DRUGS, MEDICINES, PERFUMERY, PJHXTS, OILS, RYE STUFFS, yr.llllTNAI, ItitA.NDV AND WINE, &C., &C., &C. I S NOW receiving and openingu large stock of £ ^,,,, ,s, selected in tile Nor tl io I n Alarkelrt by him ,., „ it j, great cur e, a ml which he confidently recom mend. 1.) the public as being pure Athens, Jutin 9.1«59. J. F. O’KELLY, PUOTOGHAPH AM) A MB IF Tl ARTIST. R OO.TIH on Broad m d : pring streets, over the , s'oro of Join* K. itlrtUiewa, Athens, Ga. march “9 IW Gil LLF VNI), DENTIST, » INSVILLE as.reepoctfully solicit* the Rnmningc of the Mirrounding country.— -^P»*-iTTM'ac!ioli *•* ill bugiven in their profession. April at*. UR. C. B, LOMBARD. af^ENTisr,ATHENS,GEORGIA! Roomain MtM huild ng with North ofthejPost Office,Got- ALSO, A Inrge lot of boys' ntnl children's ALSOj Fax thread Military Buttons. c oth ing to GAEDEN SKEIX I AM paying cash for the following gnrJcn seed wiien l^un satisfied they are fresh and pure, until I get the supply 1 need. Those displayed aro most desired: „ ■tunrh llrnna, Boiler lira*", loir Bran., Cucumber, Egg Riant, D" 1 ®"’ •on lluiloiio,Carrot, Parsnip, lJuRlirn r« , Scarlet Radish, Turnip Radish, Sipinsb. r.nriy Cabbage, North Carolina do.. Beets. Mixed MWs ure of no use to me. WM. N. " HITt. October 9th, lKCl. GOODS JUST RE4EIVED AXI) FOR SALE. C 'lAN’riliB SOAP, a fine article; Bicarb. J Soda; Salt-Retro; Black l'cppcr- Copciaa SnutV; Blue Stone; Mnddei; Indigo, Ac. Ac. nt It. M. SMITH'S Drug Store, Dcc.ll No. 10 Broad St. Vgc Avon »«*. Feb 9— ’y. o bought of us will lie duo on delivery of the «oods. All persons indebted to up, cither by note or account, ore requested to pay up ua catty an '"wcitill have a good stock, and will sell very cheap. We tiopo our friends will give ua a caU. Jan. ), Ib’ti'v 1 . WHITE A KITC1I. deeply offensive to Great Biitain. It is hardly possible to imagine a Gov ernment sunk so far below its duties and responsibilities as to allow all this to go on and make no sign either of assent or dissent. The President is bound to lend his aid in guiding the Legislature to a true decision on a matter so nearly touching the duties and the character of the Executive.— He ought to set before it the principles involved in the question, and to give it every opportunity in his power ol ar riving at a conclusion conformable to the real interests of the country. He has done nothing of all this, and has abandoned the vessel of the State to drift helpless before the gale of popular clamor. * * * * * * * No wonder that Mr. Linuo n, luxu riating in the Paradise to which the will of an unbridled demociacy has in troduced him, and looking forward to a desperate struggle with England, brought about apparently by the same cause, should feel a pious horror of those who venture to think such expe rience not conclusive, and the existing Constitution of the United States a little short of perfection ! We have nothing to say for slavery, but if Mr. Lincoln’s description of the South is indeed true, if she is fighting to emancipate herself from the blind tyranny of a degraded mob, from the elective Judges and elected Governors, he has given his antagonists a better title to European sympathy than they have hitherto pos sessed, and thrown upon his Govern ment the stigma of fighting to impose of the U. S. No nation has less reason to underrate the renown of the Ameri can Navy than we have. Since that it rests almost entirely upon the cap ture of the three or four English frigates under circumstances of extraordinary disparity, and seeing also that its vic tories were gained entirely by English sailors who had been seduced from our service by a disparity in the rate of wages, which, if our Admiralty is not absolutely insane, will never again oc cur, we have the best possible reason for respecting that renown. Our diffi culty is to discover how that renown has been increased by the events of the civil war. That Mr. Gideon Welles has used a certain industry in the de partment under his control, we are quite prepared to admit. He tells us that on the 4th of March last the effective American navy con sisted of only forty-two vessels of all classes, carrying 555 guns and about 7,500 men—a very small navy for a power which proposes to defy all the navies of the world and to take liber ties with the commercial ships of all nations. He says that at the date of his report he had increased this small naval force to two hundred and sixty- four vessels and 24,000 seamen. This is creditable to Mr. Welles as an official man, but the result is not exceedingly terrible, especially when he proceeds to tell us how this has been accom plished, by hiring all sorts of commer cial vessels anil gathering together every floating thing that would eariy a gun. These figures represent ajnaval force which would be very terrible to Piussia, which might alarm the fleet of Italy, and which would cell for an ef fort from Spain, but which France could easily destroy, and England can not but hold exceedingly cheap. This is not the navy of a first-class Power, it is enough for a people who desire to be at peace, hut it is ridiculous for a people who insist upon being quarrel some. A little man who holds his own against a big man who is trying to bully him has every bystander’s sympathies in his lavor, but nothing is more con temptible than a little man who is noisy a:nl offensive only in reliance upon the impunity which he expects on account of his own weakness and the generos ity cf those whom he insults. To sustain the pretensions of Federal statesmen to insult all neutral nations, emphatically admitted the failure of their naval blockade, by an act of bar barity which is unparalleled in the his tory of national wars. They have ac tually endeavored to undo what Co lutnbus had done—to shut up from all mankind forever the ports which the great discoverer opened to the human race, and to destroy by artificial impe diments the gates by which men of all nations enter and pass out of some millions of square miles ol fertile and productive lands. This is a crime against all human kind. If it does not call down universal opposition, it is only because the enterprise is believed to be impossible as its design is exe crable. We have nearly exhausted the deeds of the American navy during this event ful year. One act, however, yet re mains unnoticed,and it is just possible that it may form the staple of Mr. Lin coln’s general and very guarded allu sion to the great additional renown so recently acquired. This is the act which has made the Mayor ot Boston and the Governor of Massachusetts eloquent with exultation, and which lias excited even the House of Repre sentatives to gratitude. This act is have to be taken at the outbreak of a war, as well as Cape Rouse, (which they have been lately strengthening,) within thirty miles or so of Montreal. The London Observer, of the 22d of December, (ministerial organ,) says that England wishes for peace, but that she will gain by war, as it will enable her to rectify American fron tiers, open the ports of the South, and give a lesson to the United States. THE DRAMA OF THE OCTOROON IN LONDON—REMARKABLE CHANGE IN RUBLIC SENTIMENT. Mr. Dion Bourcicault,the playwright, had his Abolition drama, The Octo roon, lately produced in London.— The lollowing letter from him to the London Times, affords cheering evi dence of a remarkable change which is taking place in the public mind of England in regard to the institution of slavery. In your criticism on my drama, The Octoroon, it is stated that the reception of the 5th act, in which the slave girl commits suicide in order to escape the embraces of her purchaser, contrasts thus dealt with by Mr. Gideon Welles: “Capt. Chas. Wilkes, in command of the San Jacinto, while searching in the West Indies for the Sumter, received information that James M. Mason and John Slidell, disloyal citizens and lead ing conspirators, were with their suits, to embark from Havana in the Eng lish steamer Trent, on their way to Europe to promote the cause of the in surgents. Cruising in the Bahama channel, he intercepted the Trent on the 8th November, and took from her these dangerous rnen,whom he brought to the United States. His vessel hav ing been ordered to refit for service at Charleston, the prisoners were retained on board, and conveyed to Foit War ren, where thty were committed to the ! custody of Colonel Dimmick, in com mand of that Fortress. The prompt and decisive action of Captain Wilkes on this occasion merited and received the emphatic approval of the depart ment; and, if a too generous forbear ance was exhibited by him in not cap turing the vessel which had these reb el enemies on board, it may, in view of the special circi mstances, and of its patriotic motives, be excused ; but it roust by no means be permitted to constitute n precedent hereafter for the treatment of any case of similar in fraction cf neutral obligations by for eign vessels engaged in commerce or the carrying trade.” There is no disputing the boldness of this act, nor, indeed, the boldness of this threat; but whether it is likely to increase the renown of the Federal navy, future events yet must show.— Mr. Welles will want more then 24,- 000 men to make good these foolish words. That he can get more and strongly with the enthusiastic applause which had accompanied the first four acts of the play. The question involved in these few words is not one of merely the craft of the playwright. I candidly admit that your estimate of public sympathy, as expressed last night, is as just as it is inexplicable. Since the Uncle Tom mania, the sentiments of the English public upon the subject of slavery have seemed to be undergoing a great change; but I conless that I was not prepared to find that change so radical as it appeared to be when the experi ment was tried upon the feelings of a miscellaneous audience. May I claim your attention to this view of a subject fraught with much serious interest. A long residence in the Southern States of America had convinced me that the delineations in “Uncle Tom’s Cabin,” of the condition ol the slaves, their lives and feelings, were not faith ful. I found the slaves, as a race, a luppy, gentle, kindly-treated popula tion, and the restraints upon their lib erty so slight as to be rarely percepti ble. A visitor to Louisiana, who might expect to find his vulgar sympa thies aroused by the exhibition of cor poreal punishment and physical torture, would be much disappointed. For my part, with every facility for observation, I never witnessed any ill-treatment whatever of the servile class; on the contrary, the slaves are, in general waimly attached to their masters and to their homes, and this condition oi things I have faithfully depicted. But, behind all this, there are fea tures in slavery far more objectionable than any o! those hitherto held up to human execration, by the side of which physical suffering appears as vulgar detail. Some of these features are, for the first time, boldly exhibited in the Octoroon. The audiences hailed with every mark of enthusiasm the sunny views of negro lile ; they were pleased with the happy relations existing be tween the slaves and the family of which they were dependent, and the heartiness with which the slaves were sold, and cheered the planters who bought. But when the Octoroon girl was purchased by the ruffianly over seer, to become his paramour, her sui cide to preserve her purity provoked no sympathy whatever. Yet, a few years ago, the same public, in the same theater, witnessed with deep emotion the death ofUncle Tom under the lash, and accepted the tableau of the poor old negro, his shirt stained with the blood from his lacerated back crawling across the stage, and dying in slow torture. In the death of the Octoroon lie? the moral and teaching of the whole work. Had this girl been saved and the drama brought to a happy end, the horrors of her position, irremediable from the very nature of the institution of slavery, would subside into the condition ot a temporary annoyance. While I admit most fully the truth of your statement that the public was disappointed with the ‘ennination of the play, and would have been pleased with a happier issue, I feel strangely bewildered at such a change of feeling. Has public sentiment in this country veered so diametrically on this subject, and is it possible that this straw indi cates that the feeling of the English people is taking another course? Yours, respectfully, Dion Bourcicault. Hereford House, Nov. 19. From the New Orleans Delta. Bourcicanlt’s Discovery. Dion Bourcicault, the playwright, who has assiduously cultivated the faculty of adapting his dramatic colors to time an.l place, for the purpo8e of popular captation, as the chameleon changes its hues for better chances ot fly-catching, has suffered a grievous miscarriage in an effort of this kind before a London audience. The oc casion was the performance of his play, purporting to he a picture of Southern plantation life, entitled The Octorcon. His English audience, to his unspeak able amazement, betrayed an icy in sensibility to that portion of the play which wns especially designed to pro duce a sensation. The central senti ment, the moral of the play, is in the fifth act, where The Octoroon commils suicide to escape the dishonoring love of an overseer who had become her purchaser. Here a stab is aimed at the morality of Southern slavery ; here a pathetic appeal is made to the sym pathy of the audience ; here if they have tears to weep they are expected duly and copiously to shed them.— But this was precisely where the play- broke down before an audience of Englishmen. Bourcicault mistook his own countrymen. In New York, about two years ago, he succeeded better.— Though on the former occasion men of sense and taste despised his prosti tution of the drama to propitiate anti slavery 1 igotry, his play, in the jargon of New York criticism, was a capital hit, a triumphant sensation, a brilliant success. But with those English, Bourcicault’s countrymen, who, he reasoned, it they had a pronounced weakness on any subject, had a pro nounced weakness on the subject of slavery—with that audience io which he looked for the culminating glory of dramatic appreciation, his hit was a miss, his sensation was a collapse, his success an obscuration ot splendn. The London Times noted the fact, and Bourcicault in a letter to the Times acknowledged the correctness of the observation, and expressed his amaze ment at the change of English senti ment in regard to slavery. It appears to him pertectly inexplicable. It »s quite evident Irom this that Bourcicault is no political philosopher. Had he studied political philosophy as diligent- as he searched into the merits of French plays which he transferred in the disguise of a new name to the English stage, he would have known that political events and moral senti ments act and react upon each other. Tracing the operation of this pr nciple in England, he would have seen a mor al change coming over the English peo ple on the subject of slavery, in pro portion with the growth of a national resentment against the North tor the injury it was inflicting on commerce by its insane and wicked war upon the South. Straws projected into the air will tell us'the course of the wind. Bourci- cault’s play ol The Octoroon may be, in itself, a very light matter. But cir cumstances have educed from it an ex tremely pregnant sign. Its miscarriage shows in what direction the popular breeze of England is setting. A western paper says : ‘-When you see a girl so lazy that she can’t swoop her own seven-by nino chamber, nml then goes to a shindy and dances all night with the power of a locomotive, make up your mind aho is ‘got up’ on bad principles. The sooner you take your bat and depart the better. Such sort of calico has boon the ruin of ma ny a man.