Foreign News by the Steamer Scotia

NEW YORK, May 21.

The steamer Scotia arrived at one o’clock this p.m.

The Sumter remained at Gibraltar.

Mr. Longard stated in the House of Commons that as far as the Government knew, Mr. Mercier’s visit to Richmond was without instruction from France, and was attended with no practical result whatever.  The Paris correspondent of the New Confederate organ, the Index, asserts that M. Mercier was under instructions to ascertain certain points, and will report in person to the Emperor.

The Independence Belge asserts that the object of Lavelette’s recent visit to London was to induce England to consent to a common intervention in American, and England agreed, on condition that the Roman question was first settled.  The French government gave ear to this, and it has led a conference relative to intervention.

Mr. Layard, in announcing the conclusion of a slave treaty in the House of Commons, said its conditions gave every person hope that the traffic will effectually be suppressed.

Mr. Bright said Earl Russell’s late statement, that he hoped in a few months the Northern States would allow the independence of the South, had paralyzed business in Lancashire for the time being, and showed how little he knew of the sentiment of the north.

The Times editorially speaks of the distress in Lancashire, and says it is for the honor of the nation that this distress be known, that the world may see the sacrifices made in the cause of neutrality.

The Times regards the new slave trade treaty as the first fruits of secession, but says it is not a blow at the South but a victory over the North.

The Paris correspondent of the London Herald says it’s beyond  a question that the recognition of the South is seriously contemplated by the French government.

The Bourse was flat – 70 to 80c.

Rumors of the approaching solution of the Roman Question are getting more general.  It is reported that the Papal government is prepared for sudden departure.

LONDON, P. M., May 10th. – Consols further declined, closing to-day at 92 1-2a29 3-4; Ill C. 49 1-4a46 3-4 discount; Erie 32 1-4a32 3-4.

– Published in The Davenport Daily Gazette, Davenport, Iowa, Thursday Morning, May 22, 1862, p. 1