By the ordinary channels of information we have a report
of the proposal made by General Scott to Governor Douglas for the joint occupation of the island of San Juan. The General pro- poses that each party shall place a small guard of . Infantry, Riflemen, or Marines, exclusively for the protection of their re- spective countrymen, without in any way prejudging the sove- reignty of the island. And Governor Douglas has frankly re- plied that no obstacle exists to the completely amicable and satis- factory adjustment, pending the diplomatic discussion and settling of the question. We felt confident, as soon as General Scott's appointment was announced, that his instructions and his abili- ties would lead to this pacific arrangement.
Fotm the other side of the Atlantic, also, we have a curious address delivered by Governor Wise to the Legislature of Vir- ginia. It is intended as a declaration against those who are inclined to sympathize with men of Captain John Brown's tenets, and amounts to a conditional threat of war against the party ,of the North. Anything more impolitic, because less justified ))3, the state of events, we have seldom read. The fate of John Brown might have told Governor Wise, not only that his de- fian was wicked, because wanton, but that at it was caloulated,to arouse enemies to the South who would otherwise have been staunch upholders of justice, and therefore the suppressors of any aggressions upon law like that at Harper's Ferry. But a man, especially when he stands in a position of authority, who wantonly arouses enemies in one part of the community against another, is himself less a friend of equity or justice than an enemyto the commonwealth.
