THE UNITED STATES.

Lyttelton Times, Volume VII, Issue 446, 11 February 1857, Page 4

THE UNITED STATES.

(From the • Times' ' Special Correspondent.') New York, September 30. It is probable that for a time there will be a pause in • the active hostilities between the rival parties in Kansas. A kind of peace has been established by the power of the Federal Government and Governor Geary, supported by the regular United States' troops, has disbanded the armed force from Missouri, .which, on certain conditions, has consented to return home; the northern frontier of the territory is guarded to prevent any further immigration of Free State Settlers, and the leader of the Free State force Lane, has left the' district. The main incidents of the last few days of the war are these :—A body of no less than 2,400 Pro-slavery men, Missourians, with four pieces of artillery, had on the 13th and 14th September, marched on Lawrence, with the determination to attack it, and on the evening of the 14th had encamped only three miles from it; the attack was to have been made next day. ■ But at midnight it was announced that Colonel Cook, with a body of the regular Federal troops, had taken a position between the town and the advancing force to prevent the attack being made. On the loth, a conference was held leiween Colonel Cook-and Governor Geary and the leaders of the Proslavery men. The latter were informed of the determination of the Governor and the military commander to crush insurrection and suppress disorder, and told that their interposition was no longer necessary. The Pro-slavery men were not prepared to risk a colision with the regulars, which botli sides have avoided, however embittered against each other; and on the advice of their leaders consented to disband and return home, on the understanding that' the Governor would distribute a militia force over the territory to protect the settlers from " marauders and robbers." This is the Southern account of the course of events : but from that of the other side, also, it appears that the final conditions are all favourable to the Pro-slavery party. The slave code, which was the great ".'cause of the conflict, remains in activity, upheld by the Federal army. The militia will be composed of Pro-slavery men. The Free State force is dispersed; nearly a hundred persons belonging to it are prisoners, and ingress to the territory from the North is stopped. As matters at present stand quiet is restored, but the Free1 Soil cause is lost, unless the pending change in the Government give it the preponderance at Washington. The mail from Panama brings some intelli- , gence of General Walker and his Government in ! Nicaragua, which, though vague in details, | indicates that the difficulties of that potentate are increasing. By the last accounts there was a disposition among his men to desert; now there appears to be a more dangerous tendency among them to revolt, which is repressed by threats of military execution. By one report forty men had actually been shot. So far the civilising • labours of Walker have had a close resemblance to those of that extraordinary despot Dr. Francia, who some years ago ruled Paraguay by a system of terror. Shootings and confiscations have been the burdens of the recent news from Nicaragua—lirst confined to his political opponents among the natives and their property; now they are carried out against his own men and American property. He has confiscated the steamers and vessels of the ■Accessory Transit Company-of the Isthmus, which luid received from the native Government ■the privilege of navigating the rivers and lakes of the district, and transporting freight and passengers from the Atlantic to the Pacific lor a term of twenty-live years. The Company was a competitor with the Panama railroad — with what success is not distinctly known ; but it seems to have got into debt with the republic of Nicaragua, and the managers have recently shown a wish to back out of the con- ; cem and dispose of the " plant." Walker has confiscated its property,'the decree alleging that the company "for the last six months'had abandoned it or attempted to pkee it in the power .of the enemies- of the State." This property, valued at 200,000••dollars",having been thus appropriated, a second decree makes it over to other parties in consideration of a sum ot 400,000 dollars; the original company, whomever it may consist of, is thus ■effectually broken up. Taking American life ■ and forfeiting 'American possessions will scarcely increase the -waning sympathy for- Jvim. ■ If . the -native :.;ar6und him were able to make

any united attack on his army his position would be desperate, but he exists by their weakness ; the military force opposed to him, it it deserves the name, is in a miserable condition, and though there appears to be a growing sense of the importance and necessity of union on the part of the several independencies he threatens, iiottiui°- has been done to affect it. The different authorities talk much, and not unwisely, with a certain grandeur of phrase which is quite Soanish, but there: is no power of action when anything more than words is required, so Walker continues to rule. Within the last three weeks two ships carrying " emigrants" for Nicaragua have left New York ; the first batch consisted of adventurers, destitute, dirty, and for the most part drunk, of whom the ; police have a good riddance; whether they were formerly enlisted or not no one enquired. They Imd "-rants of land of 250 acres each; they made° over 100 acres of it to pay their passage, and will most probably drink out the rest on their arrival. The second lot was more reputable and, it is said, contained some bona fide emigrants. But, unless Walker has gained more recruits than we hear of from amongst: those wl:o have lately fouud San Francisco an unpleasant residence, the accessions to his army from New York will not have made up its losses from yellow fever, want, and desertion. It is not likely he will receive any aid from the American Government, and will be left to wear himself out against difficulties of all kinds, his chief advantage being in the helplessness and almost anarchy, of the miserable governments amongst whorafjie has forced his authority. If any serious difficulty now appears in the settlement of the Central American question, it will

not be on account of Walker and his filibusteri in(» expedition, but from the growing hostility , of° the native x>opulation to the Americans, I deepening rapidly to a hatred which does not 1 distinguish between invaders and travellers. The wealth constantly crossing the Isthmus is always a- perpetual temptation to plunder. The last accounts describe a state of feeling very likely to produce a repetition of the outrage of April last. ■" The American Government will be compelled to take some measures in-' si ring the safety of the traffic, though they may fall short of the complete occupation .recomm< nded by its commissioner, Mr. Corwine. It would ba well to provide for the necessity -before the negotiations are closed, that no inconvenient "difficulty" may spring from it hereafter. • - , ' ■ '1b.3 Supreme Court of New York has just decided that " coloured persons" cannot legally be excluded'from public carriages plying for lure by any rule of the proprietors. The case thus decided was tliat of a black woman who was refused a seat by the driver of one of the Empire line of omnibuses, for which refusal ■ damages j were demanded. The defendant pleaded his inI structions, and the regulation of the proprietors I that no coloured person should be admitted into their carriages, "as unfit for the association of white people." Judge Whiting ruled that colour is no disqualification, and that common carriers are bound to take all persons presenting themselves and tendering the usual fare, unless they are drunk, filthy in person, or of bad character. There were certain reasonable grounds of exclusion, but mere colour is not one of them; and coach proprietors cannot set up any rule contrary to the general law. The plaintiff, was' awarded 12 dollars damages. Regulations that f exclude the coloured race are, therefore, illegal I in the State of New York; but, though not j rigidly enforced in all cases, this exclusion is so I much a custom that the decision is not likely to 1 abolish it. . j No philanthropist oua;ht to withhold his pity I from the driver of a NVw York omnibus; he | would gain considerably by being included in I the act that protects his an'mals. It may be j doubted whether any negro in the hardest work--1 ed ganw of a southern plantation has to undergo J such toil. There is no conductor; and he has 1 to look out for hailing passengers, to stop at the J will of twelve insides, to open an shut the door 1 wr them, to take the fares and give, change, I sometimes for dollar notes, seldom to be accep- | ted without inspection, for they may be real | notes of a defunct bank or the counterfeits of one I existing, in either case worthle?s. He. has to do all this^ driving the while up and down a street three miles of which are as crowded as LudgateDill at noon. He has some ingenious arrangements to aid him; he is connected with the «oor by a strap, and holds it closed; by the

same strap he is pulled or tugged as a signal to stop ; and behind him is a hole in the roof, like a miniature prompter's box, through which he receives the money; he has to manage whip, reins, and horses with one. hand, give and take cash with the other, control the door with his leg, and thus, with hardly a limb unemployed has to reckon cents, divide, subtract, and work perpetual sums in arithmetic. There are many busy avocations, but that of the omnibus driver must be the most harassing of out-door employments. Mrs. Stowe might give him a niche in her next tale without digressing from the theme of slavery.

Two of the persons implicated in the recent extensive embezzlement of shares of the Northern Railway of France have just been arrested here by the New York police, assisted by Goddard, a London detective, who had followed them to this country. Their names are Grelet and Parot,the latter a broker, who disposed of the stolen shares. Another principal culprit is also here, but has not yet been arrested; about 70,000 francs were found on the parties captured. The agent of M. Rothschild, Mr. Christmas, was engaged in tracing them out by. the aid of the police, when by a kind of fatality, Parot walked into the lion's mouth ; lie came to the office of Mr. Christmas to cash 30 notes of the Bank of France, of IOOOf. each, giving the name of Debud. By the watch set on him the residence of Grelet was discovered, and both were apprehended* It is yet somewhat doubtful whether by the terms of the treaty between France and America the parties can be given up to the French authorities.