The Sun. — London, England, 1863-11-30 00:00:00

THE SOUTHERN CONFEDERACY. (Fro;n the Special Correspondent of the 2w es.) CONFEDERATE CAMP, NEAR CHATTANOOGA, Oct. 19. Ten days, utterly void of incident so far as these two western armies are concerned, have flown since the date of my last letter ; and before turning my face again towards Virginia, I desire to record the impression which after three weeks' residence on the spot and after much thoughtful observation the army of Gen. Bragg has produced upon my mind. There are obvious and not unfreqnent occasions when the chronicler of events on this continent, although writing for the instruction of a neutral nation which will read his words at a distance of 4,000 miles from the spot where they were penned, 1 is compelled to exercise far-sighted vigilance as to his utterances, lest the great disparity of strength already existing between the belligerents should be still further augmented to the prejudice of the weaker by indiscreet or thoughtless revelations. Such revelations, it is obvious, could not be made by anybody, however disposed to make them, who writes from the North. They usually have refer ence to such matters as shortcomings in supplies of war material occasioned by the blockade, and which, at the commencement of this war, were so grave and numerous, that astonishment as to the possibility of successful Southern resistance grows and increases in proportion to your knowledge of Southern poverty and weakness during the first 12 months of the war. Many months have now flown since the supply of saltpetre—the most important ingredient of gunpowder—became so abundant as to extinguish all apprehension in regard to the ability of the gunpower mills at Charlotte, Columbia, and Augusta, to work full time not only during the p r esent year, without a n increase of supply, but also far into the year to come. But there is a second class of revelations with respect to which ret i cence would not b e necessary were it not for the dangers which beset all such letters as this. There would be no objection to my furnishing such infor mation about the movements, numbers, and de signs (so far as the immediate future is concerned) of Confederate 'italics as would be not without in terest for the English public, were I assured that my letter would not be read in the North until its return thither from Englind. But no such cer tainty can be felt in reference to letters which have to be smuggled through the blockade, and which are liable to be overhauled and read in Wash ington within a few days of their being written. There is a third class of revelations which demand from a foreign correspondent no scanty exercise of tact and discretion—those which exhibit weak joints in the harness of the Southern Confederacy. It is hardly necessary I should state, that the stran ger who can reside 12 or 14 months in a weak and small community which is wrestling superbly with a gigantic opponent—who can witness daily traits and incidents of sublime heroism and nncomplain- ing endurance in almost every household which he visits —who is cognisant of the enormities committed by an enemy more unscrupulous than the hordes of Attila, and more larcenous than the bands of Wil liam de la Marck•—who can see the poor suffering half-starved units which compose a Southern army launched against an antagonist vastly superior in number, in equipment, and in food, yet driving him headlong from the field in nine battles out of ten — and who cannot sympathise loyally and cordially with the agony of a noble people—must be either more or less than human. But although amicus Plato, magis arnica veritas, and therefore, in the belief that an honest opinion, emanating from a not unfriendly observer, will in the end be advantageous to the Confederacy, although possibly distasteful to some whom I would not willingly wound, I will frankly state my opinion of the prospects and condition of Gen. Bragg's army, as I have now seen it. It will be necessary to carry your readers back for some months. It will be remembered that when Gen. Beauregard retreated silently and successfully, some time after the battle of Shiloh, from Corinth, leaving Gen. Halleck, who was then facing him, as ignorant of his movements as was the red of the North, he fell back with what remained of his army to Tupels, in Mississippi. Shortly afterwards Gen. Beauregard's health gave way. He withdrew to some springs in Alabama, was relieved from his command, and Gcn. Bragg took his place. Gen. Bragg found the army, which had at one time been the fittest force numerically which the Confederates ever had in the field, reduced to 40,000 men in the worst possible condition of discipline. deciminated by desertion consequent upon Beauregard's long in action at. Corinth, and swept by disease. It was an occasion for the display of many of the finest qualities of a general, as a promoter of discipline, and an organiser of imperfect or broken-down army departments; and everybody cheerfully, and most people gratefely, confesses that Gen. Bragg was equal to the occasion. He exhibited much of that firmness and indifference to popularity which are so rare among republican generals, and, acting with a lofty self-reliance, he took upon his own shoulders the odium of causing some 12 or 15 men to be shot without court martial ; and finally, by the total expulsion of whisky from his camp, and by divers otlier . salutary measures, restored his army to a higher degree of discipline and efficiency than it had o ver before attained. In the operations of t he autum n of 1862, Bragg manifested superiority over Eta able Federal commander, Gen. Buell, whom he drove o ut of Nashville and Tennessee, and whom he eventually forced up to Louisville, on the northern border Of R e strategy in Kentucky It is true that Gen. Bragg's ticisin ; b u t it has not escaped damaging cri moment Gettet:u i st not, be forgotten that at a critical General van Darn defeated the Confede rate3rn at Holly Springs, and thus the imposed upon the West the necessity army of the Confederates in back. There is abundant greund f s o l r tY th of assertion that up to the battle of Mu rfreesbor e ou ih: ith General Bragg stood high w ith his own army n the country, and had ehown himself deserving or the confidence of both. But, it seems to me, that even littl e the battle of Mur freesborough he displayed the energy and tenacity against General n a l s t e t t le er at against Gener a l anz which he had previously shown / 3 a 11 . e v e l n t n in ow e well known, and not denied,' North, that Rosencranz, after m hr must have fallen back in 24 hours h a d not in not Bragg anticipated and relieved him by bei ng the first to retire; nor can any attentive observer be blind to the fact that the spirit of the old proverb th at, , Brag is a good dog, but field fast is a better," which is sa id to be constantly in Rosencranz' mouth, strikingly animates the whole of the Federal general's s t rate gy and s.rategy and may possibly induce him at this moment to cling so adhesively to Chattanooga, in spite of th e embarrassments and discomforts of his position there. After the battle of Murfreesborough, the disaffection which had so long slumbered among the rank and file of Bragg's army, engendered by the Draconian se verity of his rule, extended to his generals of division and to their subordinates, pervaded the officers of the army, and became chronic and deep seated. It is tray'belief that from this moment General Bragg ceased to be qualified efficiently to command an army of Re publicans animated by a spirit so high and haughty as that which pervades his troops, who demand from their..... commanding general qualities and personal at tributes which inspire not only respect, but also en thusiasm and affection. It is also my belief that the motive s which led Gen. Bragg to cling tenaciously to hi s command, to al l suggestions 8 command, and President Davis to turn a deaf a for his removal, were pare and commendab le. instances they Nevertheless, I think that in both betterw were fouaded in error. Gen. Bragg would hew; oe consulted his fair fame had he P escaped from a the narrow where it was inevitable that be would convert narrow fissure which separated him from his army after Murfreesboro' into the wide and gaping chasm which now divides them after Chicaraanga. There is little difficulty in Confederate just mentioned. the gradual de terioration of the Western army be tween the two great battles lt is not that Gener als Polk, Cheet ham, Breckenridge, Cl e b ur ne, and other s, who have a lways been attached to this army, ar e one whit less valiant and patriotic, or have:lost a par ticle of their men's confidence ; but it is that the harmony, homogeneity, an d enterp r i se of the aggregate force have been constantly an the decline, by r eason of their g rowing dissatisfaction with General Bragg. The army of General Lee in Virginia has been constantly fighting, and the reciprocal confidence of the meu and the c :11 mantl ing general in each other has never ceased to grow. In the Western Army just the reverse tie s been the case. They have hardly fought at a,!, t.nd, in con eevenee of their inaction and the frothy mendacity of the Western Federal journals, the Confederate morale has declined, and the reputation of General Rosencranz and of the men - whom he leads has gone up in proportion. You hear Western men talking complacently of the manifest necessity of 30,000 Confederates retiring without fighting when they found themselves confronted by 50,000 Fede ruis, forgetful apparently that General Lee has fought such battles as Sharpsburg and Chancel lorsville, in the former of which 35,000 Confede rates fought evenly against (by MiClellan's own confession) 105,000 Federals, and in the latter 43,000 Confederates fought and utterly worsted an army variously estimated at from 120,000 to 150,000 Federals. In consequence of the extravagant and formidable reputation of Rosecranz, General Bragg seems, when at last he ventured upcn a battle, to have had no other hope than either to crush a sec tion of the Federal army in detail, or to fight with out being worsted; consequently, the battle Chica mauga was fought without lien. Bragg's having made such dispositions as would enable him to fol low up the victory which every general who ini tiates a battle should surely believe that he is about to gain. Dozens of excuses have been put forward in extenuation of Gen. Bragg's failure to profit on the night of Sunday, the 20th, or on the morning of Monday, the 21st Sept., by the enormous victory which Gen. Longstreet had given him. To my mind, these excuses only serve to render more incontro vertible the fact that such an opportunity as has only occurred twice in the war was lamentably and inexcusably flung away. On behalf of Gen. Bragg it is said, " Oar supplies were at Dalton ; the men could not advance without food." The manifest ane swer is, "In that case, why did Gen. Bragg force on a battle ?" Another excuse is, " Our men were so wearied by incessant marching, from the morning of the 14th to the night of the 20th, that they could not pursue." The ready response is given that the whole of M'Laws's division was up on Monday morning, of which only a portion had previously been engaged ; that Jenkins's fine brigade, over 3,000 strong, came:up that day fresh and fall of fight ; that all the divisions of Longstreet and Backner,who had been fiercely engaged on Sunday, were electrified and aghast to find that they were robbed of the fruits of their grand Sunday's victory by the inac tion of Monday. Anether excuse is urged, though hardly by General Bragg himself, to the effect that he did not know on Sunday night that a victory had been gained. It is certain that other Confede rate generals knew it, and had they acted on their own responsibility and forgotten the existence of Gen. Bragg, the Federal army would not new be lying within its lines at Chattanooga. Other excuses, which have been plentifully advanced, to the effect that it was necessary to stop and collect the scattered small arms and artillery, and to bury the dead — some of whom have not been buried to this hour — are too puerile to be worthy of a moment's conside ration. The conclusion is irresistible that General Bragg failed to convert the most headlong and dis ordered rout which the Federals have ever seen since Bull Run into a crowning victory like Water loo. I have endeavoured, by using only the simplest and baldest phraseology, to avoid even the sem blance of exaggeration which might attach to warmer and more coloured expressions. That the rout was all, and more than all, that I have stated becomes more and more apparent as you ride over the ground and hear the tales of the country folk who witnessed it. One old man, who lives in a shanty close to the final stand made by the Federals on the edge of Missionary Ridge, found 15 Federal soldiers cowering in his garden, and upon his telling them that the Confederates were be tween them and their haven, Chattanooga, they stacked arms and declared themselves his prisoners. He went out to search for some Confederates, and \ upon his return in an hour or more with some of Wheeler's cevalry, he found the Federals still there awaiting their captors. Everybody who lives along , the main road which connects Chattanooga with Lafayette echoes the same story of the panic, con fusion, and terror of the Federal flight. The same -phrases were everywhere on the white lips of the fugitives—a hurried entreaty for water, and an eager inquiry as to the road and distance from Chattanooga. One enthusiastic Southern matron expressed her conviction that if the women who live by the roedside had followed closely on the heels of the Yankees upon Sunday night with loud and shrill screams, the town of Chattanooga would have been found evacuated on Monday morning. The very correspondents of Northern journals testify to the utter demoralisation of the army, and one of them—the correspondent of the Cincinnati Com mercial—openly compares the rout to Buil Run. let General Bragg lingered and hesitated at a moment when, as cannot but be apparent to every reasonable man, there was for the first time during this war a chance of terminating it finally and for ever at one blow. If the Federals had once been driven out of Chattanooga, who can doubt that, out of Itoseneranz's army of about 70,000 men, not more than one-fourth would ever have reached Nashville ? Oppressed with many such thoughts as to the immense opportunity thrown away, I rode over the field of be ttle. It is less interesting, by reason of its enormous area and the dense and tangled forest in which it was fought, than other siadiar sceens I have witnessed. And yet, as it seems to me, there is not ono reasonable and sober Northerner, how ever rabid a Unionist he may be, who could witness the arena upon which one of these bloody debates Las been conducted, and fail from that moment to abandon ail hope that the Federal soldiers will, Las i ofr an occurred whatever may be their numbers, ever vanquish their opponents cn the field of battle. Take your stand upon the ground occupied by the Federate, and face in the direction towards which they faced—you will see every limb and trunk of the trees in your front pitted with bullets, like the marks of small pox on a man's face. It is evident that a perfect tornado of iron hail must have rent these primaeval forests, and were it not that the majority of the bullet-marks tab at a height of 6ft. or more from the ground, it would seem incomprehensible that any human being could have lived and moved fur five minutes, if exposed to the pitiless pelting of such a deadly storm. Proceed next to take your stand as it were in the Confederate ranks. A few spare bullet holes, most of them excellently' aimed, tell of, comparatively speaking, a handful of troops, .firing little, but advancing rapidly with fearful howls 0 11 t e :d to yells through the woods, and striving to bring the debate to the bloody arbitration of the which their opponents are never willing mrw. 1t and submit it. It would be impossible for osunpeeortiotr a t r or Mr. Seward himself to contemplate erners fi Chickamaua, during fought, geohutr. scenes and to dispute the enormously are ° ag r e e :ferocity with which the South.. Other sights, visible on the field of , a character after the battle was the last twelve will not admit They may be conceive acter with which I have been of a months but too familiar, and conceived by to your readers. of e b o y ri,, th th e , feader of the fu mous which exhibit Alp lines in the "Siege /911 \ 2 0 1 1i:t a n on n ev it er. abnedreit ali w se a d s I observeds till two unburied,or shuddering at a sight save by one who has with regret and horror that the field three hundred bodies of Federals affording to the most revolting beasts and to the uncleanest of bi a r s ds l o li f t t t h le e oppor tunity for such a banquet expected ever to witness. The most noticeable incident that has since the date of my last letter has been the incle ment weather by which we h ave been visited. It will be remembered by some of your readers that when the battle of Chicamauga was fought the whole of the States which line the Mississippi River had been exposed to an almost unexampled drought of two or three months' duration. With the Ist of October came the much desired rain, and already we are beginning to long again for the choking dust in preference to the muddy adhesive paste which makes camp life so distasteful. I have seldom seen in any climate a more fearf u l night than that of the 14th of October. The rain, which had scarcely ceased for three days or nights, descended as though THE SUN, LONDON„, MONOAY EVENING, _NOVEMBER 30, 1863. the floodgates of,Heaven were opened. A tremen dous storm of thunder and lightning passed along r a ti r o o n ni s L th o e o k v c a l u l l t l e Mountain valleywhich t divides hed Ik e a l i f s e s n i i o n n g a r r y e Ridge ve rb f of the thunder were t ossed backward and forwards ; from mountain to mountain, and the lightning crashed among the trees, rending trunk and limb. The consequent condition of the miry yellow clay roads which surround Chattanooga may be con• ceived. Bridges were cqrried away over Chicka mauga and Chattanooga Creeks—the Tennessee river arose in its might and swept away the Federal pontoons and trestle bridges. The position of the Confederates, with only six or seven miles of wag goning from Chickamauga station, is uncomfortab:e enough—that of the Federals, with 45 miles of wag goning from Shell Mound, near Bridgeport, across Walden's Ridge to tho rear of Chattanooga, must be irksome in the extreme. Nevertheless, both armies continue to maintain their inactivity, and seem as though they intended to winter in their present lines. Unquestionably the rain which has fallen will greatly enhance the difficulty of extended operations in the field. But, although I have not much faith in the inaugura tion of an active campaign by General Bragg, it seems to me hardly probable that the Federal General, strongly reinforced as he has undoubtedly been, will abstain altogether from some attempt to uproot his antagonist from Lookout Mountain, which commands the railroad between Bridgeport and Chattanooga, and impends over the river road which approaches Chattanooga from the west. The successful foray of General Wheeler and the Con federate cavalry in Rosencranz's rear, which wit nessed the destruction of some 800 waggons and 2,000 mules, is not calculated to increase Rosen cranz's good-humour. There is evidence that the Federals in Chattanooga are greatly in want of fa rinaceous food, as the Yankee pickets eagerly seize every opportunity of offering bushels of Federal papers, or five dole. in greenbacks, for a pint of corn meal or flour. It is a strange and unexampled circumstance that for once the poor Confederates should be better provisioned, as far as breadstuffs are concerned, than the pampered Yankee. Occa sionally there is active shelling between the two lines, bat the batteries are too remote from each other to do any harm. Altogether, I carry away with me from this army but one grain of comfort, which arises from the fact that the brilliant and illusive glare which, prior to this battle illuminated General Rosencranz and his army, has been finally and effectually annihilated and dispelled, Admitting that the hazardous and unsoldierlike division of his army into sections, which Rosencranz adopted prior to the battle of Chickamauga, was attributable to his intelligent comprehension of the calibre of the opposing Gene ral, it cannot for a moment be pretended that in the battle itself Rosencranz showed any ability or fertility of resource. As for the actual fighting of his men, I have only once seen anythin g so dis creditable among the Federal troops fighting in Virginia ; I mean the behaviour of the llth Corps of Yankees at the battle of Chancellorsville. My belief is that the army, of which General Bragg is now the head, is fully a match tor any which the Federals can bring against it at presept ; but how long it will remain so, in presence of the disheart ening effects of inactivity, of a winter passed in a cheerless and unhealthy location, and increasing dislike which exists between General Bragg and the Geuerale beneath him, it is impossible for me to say. It is not my province to attempt to discrimi nate, or to distribute praise and ,blame between General Bragg and his Generals, but it is utterly impossible to blind my eyes to the fact that— '• Quiequid delirant reges plectuntur Achivi," and that the best interests of the Confederacy and of General Bragg himself demand that he should seek some position which will emancipate him from the prejudices, animosities,and heartburnings which now surround him on every side. THE PALMERSTON ADMINISTRATION. The Palmerston-Russell Administration was formed in June, 1859, and it continued without alteration until the December of that year. The unexpected death of the Right Hon. Henry Fitzroy, in his 52d year, left vacant the post of Commis sioner of Works, which post the right hon. gentle man, from his previous very successful tenure of the Under-Secretaryship of State for the Home Depart ment, gave every promise of filling with credit to himself and advantage to the public. The present Commissioner, the Right Hon. William Cowper, stepson ce Lord Palmerston, was appointed, and his post, that of Vice-President of the Board of Trade, was given to its present holder—Mr. Hutt. Early in 1860, Mr. Fitzgerald, Attorney-General for Ire land, was made a judge, and was succeeded by the Solicitor General for Ireland—Mr. Deasy—whose place was filled by Mr. O'Hagan. Shortly after wards Mr. Deasy also was raised to the bench, and was succeeded by Mr. O'lTagan, who in turn was suceeded in the Solicitor -Generalship by Mr. Lawson. In August, 1860, the Earl of Elgin, then Postmaster-General, having been made Governor-General of India, his former post was given to Lord Stanley of Alderley, who now holds it. In October another member of the Government, Mr. Laing, Secretary to the Treacury, went to India as Financial Minister, and was suc ceeded by Mr, Frederick Peel. On January 1, 1861, the Right Hon. Sidney Herbert, Secretary of State for War, being in bad health, was raised to the peerage in the hope that the easier hours of the House of Lords might enable him to retain offiee and recruit his strength. But, as the Under-Secre tary for War, the Earl de Grey and Ripon, was a peer, it was necessary to provide a representative of the War-cffice for the House of Commons ; so Earl de Grey and Ripon exchanged places w;th Mr. T. G. Baring, the former becoming Under-Secretary for India, and the latter Under Secretary for War. In the following summer so many changes took place that it was thought the Cabinet would scarcely survives° complete a reconstruction. In June, 1861, Lord Campbell was found dead in his bed. The Attorney-General, Sir Richard Bothell, was imme diately raised to the woolsack, and assumed the title of Baron Weatbury ; the Solicitor-General, Sir William Atherton, became Attorney-General ; and Mr. (now Sir Roundell Palmer) became Solicitor- General. A month later two important events oc curred. Lord Herbert, finding himself grow rapidly worse, resigned office; and Lord 'lcahn Russell, find ing it difficult to maintain his position in the House of Commons with Lord Palmerston as leader, ar ranged to have a peerage. But the same difficulty that had occurred with respect to the War-office DOW presented itself .with respect to the Foreign office. The Under -Secretary for Foreign Affairs, Lord Woelehouse, was in the Upper House, and the elevation of Lord John Russell to that House ren dered it necessary that Lord Wodehouse should yield his place to a Commoner. Lord Wodehouse was not able, as Earl de Grey and Ripon had been, to exchange places, but was compelled to resign, and his post was given to Mr. Layard, the present Under-Secretary, There still remained the War-office to be filled, and in filling this a great number of changes took place. Sir George Lewis was appointed to succeed Lord Herbert, and the Chief Secretary for War being once more in the Commons, Earl de Grey and Ripon and Mr. T. G. Baring again exchanged back to their old places. The Home Secretaryship was vacated by Sir George Lewis's migration to the War-office ; this was given to Sir George Grey; the Chancel lorship of the Duchy of Lancaster, which he had • held, was given to Mr. Cardwell, Chief Secretary for Ireland, and this last post was given to Sir R Peel. At the same time another vacancy of infe- rior f importance Mr . B a gwe ll ooccurredth e through of t h e t r h e e t i r T e r m e a e s n u t r y o approve find i ngve t e course that thehi his Iri sh Government c c onstituents i t t o u o e k n ts respecting did not the Galway contract, resigned his situation. It was conferred, nine months later, on Col. White, who lost his seat on offering himself for re-election, and Dwausring is eompel e le 2 d to find refuge in an English borough. almost the only change that took place was the substitution of Mr. Henry Bruce as Under Home Secretary for Mr. Clive, who resigned in November. The present year has seen several alterations. The Admiralty had already lost two of its naval Lords—Sir R. Dundas and Admiral Pelham—who had been succeeded by the Hon. Sir Frederick Grey and CApl. Drummond, when in March, 1863, Mr. Whitbread, on whom devolved the chief labour of preparing the Navy Estimates, was compelled to resign on account of and he was succeeded by the Marquis of ll9.rtington. That nobleman did not continue long at Whitehall. The death of Sir George Lewis left the post of Sec. retary of State for War vacant the second time in less than two years. Earl de Grey and Ripon, who, as Under. Secretary, had displayed great effi ciency, was promoted, and in his subordinate post the newly-made Lord of the Admiralty was in stalled, while Mr. Stansfeld suecceded the Marquis of Hartington. Within the last few weeks there nave been important changes in the legal depart ment of the Government. Sir William Ather- ton, finding that he had neither the physical nor mental strength for conducting the highly moment ous proceedings in connexion with the Foreign En listment Act, resigned, and was succeedEd by Sir Roundel' Palmer, Mr. Collier taking the Solicitor- Generalship, and the office of Judge-Advocate of the Fleet, which had been held by that gentleman, be ing conferred on Mr. Phinn. Besides these changes it may be mentioned that Sir R. Phillimore has suc ceeded Queen's Advocate, and that si Hawes,Permanent Secretary for War, Har d ingas has died, and that his office has been abolished. Thus in four and a half years the Secretaryship of State r B e Sirj mji for War has been twice vacant, the Secretaryship for the Home Department once, the Lord Chancel lorship once, the Postmaster Generalship once, the four posts of the Attorney-General and Solicitor- General for England and for Ireland have each been vacant twice, and there have been four changes among the Lords of the Admiralty. Tho Chief Secretary for Ireland has been changed once, the Under-Secretary of the Home Department and Foreign Affairs once, of India twice, and of the War•office three times.— Western Morning News. SPIRIT OP THE PUBLIC JOURNALS. SPECTATORwhich has been evident in the k, which has produced four ain e t —Theallth e controversy past wee successive Cabinet Councils on as many days, and has led to at least one offer of resignation, has apparently ended, and for one result England finally declines to attend a Congress of Paris. The great scheme for assembling Europe in coun cil to discuss the grievances of the world and remedy them through a tribunal armed with the power of law, instead of through a great faction fight, with nations for partisans and armies for weapons, has been frustrated by English action. Whether Russia accedes or refuses, the great South Ger man Power, always jealous for her last foothold in Italy, will eagerly grasp at the pretext, and without England or Austria no agreement having the binding force of a Euro pean compact can be so much as expected. The "Con gress," should it meet at all, which becomes more and more improbable, will be a mere "Conference," and Napoleon may find, as private litigants so often fi nd , that personal communication only deepens j ealous y a nd dislike , The country, though regretting a project which had in it some thing strangely attractive, will not, we think, refuse to endorse the decision, will probably, rather from instinct than argument, arrive at some such conclusion as this :—Had England possessed at this moment what she only seems to possess, a Minister enjoying the perfect confidence of the people, yet familiar with all the springs of Continental action ; able to threaten war with the certainty that the country would follow his lead, yet resolved not to permit a war except fcr some visibly adequate end, she might have put her habitual distrust of Napoleon and her permanent dread of vain speculation for once aside, and by guiding, or checking, or doubling the immense force of France, have secured an endurable peace for the world, As it is, the practical difficulties are too visible, the possible advantages too uncertain, the confidence of the country in its rulers too re signed, for any experiment so vast to awaken the necessary enthusiasm. Tne project in England is given up, and men turn from it uneasily to speculate, from data which grow every moment more uncertain, upon what Napoleon will do next. They see plainly enough that it is on him that all action depends, that so long as he halts all Europe will halt, if only out of wariness, that so long as he and Great Britain can by any possibility keep step, wars must be limited in area, in time, and in destructive effects. But then they can not decide how long he will halt, howlong he will suffer the alliance to remain a possibility, how suddenly or in what direction he may burst into an isolated course of activity of which no one can see the end. It is felt rather than known that there is war at hand, but the objects and direc tion of that war are still matters of feverish speculation. Napoleon will war with Russia for Poland ; ho will fight Germany for the Rhine ; he will finish his work in Italy : he will settle the Eastern question with Russia for an ally— such are a few out of the speculations gravely discussed in papers frequently well informed within this single week. Every new accident in Europe, the death of a petty king, the vote of a powerless Diet, even the resolutions of princes whose very names had but yesterday been forgotten, fur nish new cause for alarm; and so perturbed is the public mind, that for the first and we trust the last time in history, a resolve of the Saxon Duchies, whose very names politi cians can barely spell, has effected all European exchanges. , Men acknowledge on all sides that everything is shifting i visibly, that plans and speculations are equally futile till we know what the ruler of France may intend to do in that much dreaded future—the coming spring. One halt of all this alarm is we believe unfounded. That the Powers, and especially Russia, are arming fast, is evident ; that war will come with the spring is only too probable; that any war, however welt justified, must at first be disastrous, is cer tain; but this talk about all manner of wars at once can be productive only of unreasoning panic. The people who accept or even consider the huge mass of rumours and sus picions and personal stories which the exiles and the gos sips are tossing by cartloads into the papers of the conti nent, forget the first two elements in the ,question—the character - of Louis Napoleon and the public opi nion of France. In the long run, and on external politics, those two elements will be found, when rightly estimated, either to be, or believe themselves to be, en rapport, and to estimate one without counting the other is to calculate aberrations in the solar system with one of the planets forgotten. The moment they are consi dered together whole sets of vague apprehensions will at once be laid aside. This secret Russian allianc?, for example, might, for aught arybody can tell, be possible to I Napoleon. We doubt if it is, for it would involve sooner or later that conflict with England which, except in the last resort, when every other prospect has failed, he does not wish to provoke. But admit that it is on certain conditions possible to himself, there remains the question, is it possible to France? Napoleon is no Oriental despot, no Caliph or Great Mogul, to wage mighty wars in spite of all sections of his own people. His role is to represent France, or where that is impossible, as in the Italian war, then the party of progress in France -the parry which, and not the rich, has the courage to make revolutions. Neither of these two powers, neither France as a nation nor the progressive classes of Franca, desire an alliance with Russia. The Republicans would regard it with horror, as a final breach witlisthe Re volution, as a menace to social advance through every part of the Continent; the bourgeois would regard it with tremor as leading to the one contingency they dread— a final rupture with England ; the priests cannot see heretics exalted with • out a pang of annoyance; the cultivated classes would s i g h ove r the hopes they hav e i n d u l ge d for Russo• Poland, and tho army would rage at a policy which, while it abandoned the comrades who died by their sides at Borodina, would cut off from them finally the hope of a march on the Rhino. For the Russian Czar, unscrupulous as ho may be, cannot abandoned the one friend who, in his extremity, has threatened war on his behalf. The alliance with Russia for active objects is, in the present state of French opinion, with men's minds all ulcerated by the stories told of Gen. Berg and decrees actually published by Mouravieff, simply impossible, So is a direct attack on all Germany in order wo to gain the Rhine. Napoleon is not a g ambl er who stakes immense wealth already in han d in order to g ai n double or r fiifn quits, unsuccessful, ally uann:deatti finally h t. o ug v h e a ifs seat e b t blow ss dynasty, the n r waasrtyf o Poland he must, failureßhine might,uld a s E n move with exceeding wariness, for England might not tolerate farther aggression, and the ono object the Haps burgs never abandon is the hope of a German crown. They dare not sell the Rhine, and without their consent war for a frontier involves a contest between France unaided and the whole Germanic people backed by the recovering Rus sian strength. Napoleon plays for quick and decisive wars, and though he may, and we trust will, strike a blow for Poland, still with Mexico on his hands, Germany sulky and suspicious, and England ever watchful, his object will be to limit, not to enlarge, the area and scope of his opera tions. War, of course, may produce any amount of unex peeted or undeserved results; but those results a re not planned, and it in the suspicion of possible plans, of deep laid intrigues for aggrandizement, which poduees such perturbation. Of course, if Prussia, forgetting alike her history and her treaties, with her people in open conflict with thaiz king, and a Ministry whose best future will be to escape the block, is mad enough to rush upon Denmark, the Emperor of the French may have a great opportunity. But even then annoyance of Great Britain at his aggran dizement, and the chance of a European coalition, which we should not without guarantees help hip to resist,would tend to make him hesitate before he changed a war " for the public law" into a war of boundaries. There are rocks enough ahead, and while Europe is subjected to the ambi tion of one great brain uncertainty must continue ; but it is not by feeding imaginationa fait getting morbid that men can clear their eyes. Every sheet in the dark looks a ghost, and Europa is in the dark—but it is at least well to remember the vast antecedent improbability that any ghost should be there. SATURDAY REVIEW.—That strong feeling has been ex• cited by the untoward events at Kagosima is creditable to public morality, but indignation is generally in a hurry, because anger: is incompatible with scepticism. As the facts of the case are only known from the reports of Colonel Nealc_and Admiral Kuper, it is plausibly argued that culprits may be fairly condemned on their own voluntary admissions—but English law generally requires additional proof that the criminal act was really accomplished. It is also worthwhile to recollect that, instead of consciously confessing their guilt, the Minister and the Admiral are complacently assuring their superiors that they have sedulously obeyed their instructions. Their own in terpretation of their conduct is not to be implicity accepted, but their accusers ought to allow that apparently confident innocence must at least admit of an intelligible explanation. English writers who have condemned the transaction dog matically assert that Lord Russell's despatch afforded no justification for the consequences which nevertheless un- doubtedly followed from the attempt to comply with ita crms in the strictest manner. Colonel Neale, who had the strongest motive for endeavouring to understand the mean ing of his superior, evidently believes that his own proceed ings are covered by his orders, and that it is even necessary to apologise for his inabili y to exact complete satisfaction from the Japanese. Admiral Kuper also, who must have seen Lord I - i:ussell's instructions, is anxious to satisf} the Admiralty that he has neglected no practicable method of enforcing tho policy which he attributes to his Government. Both functionaries assume that what they have not done, and not what they have done, can alone justify them to censure. Hasty critics may reply that the stolidity of a hardened conscience aggravates the guilt of unavowed mis deeds, but the simultaneous presence at Kagosima of two bloodthirsty and unprincipled Englishmen in high positions requires some explanation, or perhaps even a suspension of judgment. Whatever may have been the special policy of ;he Home Government, the Duke of Somerset is responsible for the appointment of Admiral Kuper, and Lord Russell for the appointment of Colonel Neale. It has not been suggested that the Admiral has hitherto been notorious for cruelty of disposition, and it ought not to have been for gotten that Colonel Neale has been repeatedly accused, by his countrymen :resident in Japan, of indifference to their safety and to the protection of their property, and of undue subservience to the native authorities. gis character may have altered, or it may have been misunderstood, but on the whole he is entitled to a hearing before he is definitively condemned. Lord Clarence Paget committed an error of the same kind, in the opposite direction, when he informed his constituents at Deal that Admiral Kuper's conduct at Kagosima was a proof not only of gallant seamanship, but of considerate humanity, According to this account, the destruction of the town was caused by the unsteadiness of the English fire when the gun-platforms were rocking up and down with the waves under the influence of a violent gale. The sailors of Deal are invited to confirm the statement that it is impossible to take accurate aim in a storm, and they are therefore expected to acquit the Admiral, who only in- tended to silence the batteries, of intentionally setting the town on fire. The sagacity of mere landsmen is equal to the additional remark that a high wind has a tendency to render a conflagration more destructive, and philanthropic civilians might even inquire whether a battle conducted under circumstances so anomalous might not have been conveniently postponed until the gale subsided. It might, indeed, be Admiral Kuper's duty to return the fire of the batteries ; but. according to Lord Clarence Paget, he neces sarily missed the forts, and directed his guns on the peace able inhabitants of the town. If a principal in a duel were prevented by any accidental impediment from pointing his pistol at his adversary, the laws of honour would scarcely require him to shoot his adversary's second. It is not alto gether clear whether Lord Clarence Paget's apology was founded on conjectures of his own, or on unpublished in formation. His statement that Admiral Kuper expressed regret for the destruction of the city is important, if it is not to be understood as a hypothetical embellishment of an after-dinner speech. It was commonly remarked that Kuper might have escaped the greater part of the popular censure which he has incurred if his report to the Admi- ralty had contained the professions of sorrow which he is now supposed to have uttered. If his private letters con tralict his public despatch, his humane feelings may be vindicated at the expense of his consistency, and his absii- nience from any official utterance of regret must be ex. plained by the supposition that he attributed to the Go vernment or the Admiralty a revengeful pertinacity which for himself, in his private capacity, he disclaimed. If, as is possible, the Secretary of the Admiralty really knows no wore of the transaction than the rest of the world, it would perhaps have been judicious to withhold information until he had himself received it. THE READER.—We do not know that Earl Russell has been particularly prolific in memorable phrases, considering his opportunities; but his "Rest and be thankful" of this autumn has been a great success. It has been the phrase of the season. Not to take account of references to it for several weeks past in newspaper articles, it has made its appearance this very week as a text for comment in two such opposite quarters as Mr. Bright's speech at Rochdale and Earl Powis's address at his mansion in Berkeley-square on accepting the High Stewardship of the University of Cambridge. The origin of the phrase may not bo gene rally known. The speech in which Earl Russell made use of it was one delivered during his recent autumn vacation in Scotland, when he had been enjoying Highland scenery and probably climbing a few mountains. Now there are not a few of the fine but toilsome mountain ascents in Scot land, at the top of which, when you are dead-tired, you come upon a stone-and-turf seat, or, it may be, a shieling, on which you read painted in rude letters, the inscrip tion " Rest and Be Thankful," telling you that other wayfarers have been there before you and have felt very much as you do. You obey the injunc tion, and sit down for a longer or shorter time to recover your breath and rest your limbs; and, if you are alone, and, as usually happens, the resting place is so chosen that you can trace from it all the wind ing way by which you have come, and let your eye range over wondrous adjacent tracts of silent solitude lying be neath you, the chances are that you yield to the genius of the spot, and have a little fit of as wholesome philosophic meditations as you are ever likely to have. There are, we say, not a few of these spots in the part of Scotland which tourists visit ; and we have ourselves seen " Rest and Be Thankful" painted on stone seats on eminences of very easy accesss that it was plain they must have been very very asthmetic persons indeed that had found occasion there either for the seat or for the sentiment. But the original " Rest and Be Thankful," from which all the others are mean plagiarisms, is at the head of Glencroe, through which you make your way on foot, or otherwise, going from the top of Loch Long to the top of Loch Fyne. That is the spot where the sighing soul of a whole district first vented itself in a pious topographical expression of its fatigue; that is the only "Rest and Be Thankful" to he found marked as such on the map of Great Britain. Our venerable Foreign Minister, there is little doubt, had been there this autumn ; he had there probably had his brief fit of meditation, seeing in the difficult and rocky Glencroe beneath him—as thousands of other wayfarers have done— an image of his life up to that moment. But, though the actual Glencroe might be the same to all wayfarers, how different the spiritual Glencroe which an Earl Russell would see imaged in it from that which more private mortals could see I At all events, the lesson of the spot remained with him, associated with the name of the spot. 't occurred to him that there aro moments of the collec tive life of nalons,' as well as in the lives of individuals, when they should rest satisfied with what they have at tained and not seek for more; and it farther occurred to him that the present, at least in respect of home politics, may be one of these moments in the collective life of Great Britain. And so he promulgated the lesson; and a phrase piceed up at the head of Glencroe has gone through all the newspapers, and been repeated in Rochdale and in Berkeley square. The poet Wordsworth was also once at the head of Glencroe. It was 32 years ago ; and he also had his little meditation at " Rest and be Thankful." It took the form of a sonnet, as follows " REST AND BE THANKFUL." AT THE HEAD Or GLENCROII. Doubling and doubling with laborious walk, Who, that has gained at length the wished for Height, This brief, this simple wayside Call can slight, And rests not thankful ? Whether cheered by talk With some loved friend, or by the unseen hawk Whistling to clouds and sky-born streams, that shine At the sun's outbreak, as with light divine, Ere they descend to nourish root and stalk Of valley flowers. Nor, while the limbs repose, Will we forget that, as the fowl can keep Absolute stillness, poised aloft in air, And fishes front, unmoved, the torrent's sweep-- So may the Soul, through powers that Faith bestows, Win rest, and ease, and peace, with bliss that Angels share. There is some difference, it will bo peeceived, between this spiritual rendering of the Glencroe inscription by the poet and that by our Foreign Minister. Earl Russell's applica• tion of the text is that there may be times when farther striving may be useless or unadvisable, and when the best thing people can do is to rest satisfied with what they have got, and be thankful that they have got so much. The poet Wordsworth's interpretation of the text, we venture to say, is both deeper in itself and more exact in its truth to the circumstances, THE LONDON REVIEW,—The aspect of the Schleswig- Holstein dispute becomes more warlike almost every day. Although neither Austria nor Prussia has yet made any sign, the smaller German powers appear to be quite carried away by the popular enthusiasm. 4t is AU obvious policy for the petty dukes and king who aro not on too good terms with their own subjects, to stave off inconvenient discus sions by fostering the national sympathy for the Germans in Schleswig. Nor is it inconsistent in sticklers for the divine right of rulers to protest against the sacrifice of the claims of the Augustenburg family to the convenience and the peace of Europe. But an obvious policy is not always a sound one, and if Germany has once more to bear the brunt of a great war, it is not likely that the people will again to content to boar the sacrifices and resign, the - profit to their princes. It is scarcely possible that the most obtuse of Teutonio sove reigns seriously believes that Permark will be left to main tain unaided her cTn integrity and the provisions of the treaty of 186'1 But unless they can se6ure the acquiescence of England, France, and Russia in their projects, the at tempt to sever Schleswig-Holstein from the state to which it belongs must entail the risk o f a contest whoSe issues and 4imensions are quite uncertain, but which w ill certainly before it closes reduce every ruler in Germany to a, it stais no eo o f abject dependence upon his parliament. llowever, concern of ours ifkings wl h • e •11 imprudent and rashly kdis turb a status quo from which they derive more benefit than any one else. But we ca nnot remain indifferent to the threatened disturbance of a settlement under which so lately as 11 years ago the succession to the uholo of the Daniil monarchy devolved upon Prince Christian of Glucks- burg. There is en end to all faith in trea*.ies if the powers who signed the cue in question are now to set it at naught or to remain indifferent to its execution : We can hardly thial: ;hat either Austria or Prussia will avail thfunselves of any flimsy pretext to evade their plain obligation to re cognise Christian IX. as King of Denmark, including Schleswig-Holstein. Their signature to the treaty of 1852 was given unconditionally. It was subject to no reservation of any right which the German Diet might pos- sess to pronounce on the succession to the duchies. It bound them, not to Denmark, but to Europe, in whose interest the treaty was confessedly concluded ; asid even if Denmark has violated other stipulations entered into at the same time, the breach of these does not release the signa - taxies of that treaty from their mutual obligations, although it may possibly furnish an independent ground of complaint against the offending state. This is so clear that, in all probability, neither Austria nor Prussia will venture to espouse openly the cause of the Augustenburg family. The real danger seems to be lest, while nominally respecting the letter of the treaty, these Powers should be driven or tempted to disregard its spirit ; lest, while recognising the title of the new monarch, they should so far yield to the pressure of German feeling as to push on the Federal execution, which, under present circumstances, can only be regarded as an indirect means of promoting, as it certainly would promote, the dismemberment of Denmark. It is openly avowed that the object of the professed adherents of Prince Frederick of Augustenburg is to secure Kiel as a German naval port; and some enthusiasts at Hamburgh havo even gone so far as to proclaim that the duchies should be told from Denmark whether their inhabitants are willing or the reverse. Other Powers, whether they are mainly anxious for the preservation of the independence and integrity of Denmark or for the limitation of the power of Germany, will not see with indifference any steps which tend to the accomplishment of such designs. It rests at the pre. sent moment with Austria and Prussia either to give us peace or war. And while we are willing to hope the best from their sense of the consequences which must follow from the adoption of the latter alternative, we are compelled to fear the worst from their rivalry for the leadership of Germany. Upon their own heads, however, must be the consequences if they afford France a pretext for crossing the Rhine as the ally of the Scandinavian kingdom. However much we might regrot such an event, we neither can nor will assist a nation which chooses to pursue its own aggran disement in the teeth of European opinion and in violation of a recent and deliberate European settlement. TILE SOCIAL SCIENCE REVIEW.--History tells much of the high state of civilisation which prevailed in India many ages ago, when Europe was sunk in ignorance and barbarism. We are inclined to think that this high culture must be considered comparatively ; if ever it were absolute, India must have sadly fallen from her high position, to have sanctioned the priestcraft, the superstition, and the utter ignorance which prevail among her inhabitants at the present day. Nor can it be hoped that the future of India will be materially improved unless strenuous and well directed efforts are made to educate the people. It is almost impossible to suppose a lower state of education than that existing in India at this moment. Very few persons can read : as nearly as can be ascertained, the proportion varies from one in 300 to 10 per cent. An official inquiry recently instituted in Mysore, gave 2.75 per cent, as the proportion of readers. H. Woodrow, Esq., Inspector of Schools, esti mates that in the richest and most populous portion of the province of Bel gal there are about three persons in every 100 under instruction. Taking the whole of British India into account, and including all schools which had any pre tensions to the name—Government, aided, and mission schools—less than one in 400 of the population were under instruction. For the sake of comparison, we may remark, that the proportion in England is about one in eight. The proportion of the people under Christian instruction is barely one in 1,760. We have not included the indigenous schools in the foregoing statements; they are somewhat numerous, but from the superstitious and obscene books generally read in them, they are in many cases productive of evil rather than of good. In some of these native schools the life of Krishna is the principal textbook, and its disgusting details are dwelt upon with apparent delight by the teachers. The influence of such a book may be best illustrated by supposing that in ancient times the life of Venus had been prescribed for the stu)y of Greek youth. Efforts have been made by Government, and by various religious bodies, to bring about an improvement, and some good has been done. When, however, we remark, that, for example, the expenditure by Government on account of education in Bengal does not reach one half-penny per head per annum, and when it is remembered that the assistance afforded by religious bodies must of necessity be even less, it will be seen that pecuniary assistance to the instruction of the people is at present administered in ex tremely iflfinitesimal doses. It may be added that there are in India over 30 millions of children at a school-going age.' : Still, Government is taking a prominent part in pro moting the education of the people, and its measures gene rally have a good effect. The rule professedly observed in Government schools with regard to religion is perfect neu trality. There are perhaps obvious reasons why the teack ing of religion in the existing state of India should be ex- eluded, but grave doubts are entertained by many who see the working of the system, whether the evils of this exclu sion do not more than counterbalance its advantages. Perfect neutrality, however, is not observed—although the use of the Bible is not allowed, even permissively, in Government schools, a book known as " Timil Mioar Poets," published by the Madras Direction of Public In struction, and extensively used in schools, contains an in vocation to Gausea, and advocates the worship of Vishnu and of Liva, besides encouraging pantheism, fatalism, and transmigration. This is not as it should be. A Govern. ment which jealously excludes the Bible from its schools, and which would dismiss any teacher who taught his scholars the worship of Christ, is certainly bound by its own rule of neutrality to see that only expurgated editions of the native sacred classics aro allowed in the schools. This would be a great benefit to the country, for by encouraging only such editions, in a few years even those issuing from native presses would lose much of their obscenity and superstitious idolatry. COURT JOURNAL,—There is nothing more calculated to inflame the prejudices and wrath of a common man than to tell him that he is crushed under the iron heel of a cor rupt and tyrannical aristocracy, and that he ought to rise up and secure those privileges to which nature entitled him and which would place him far beyond the power of the Crown, the Lords, the Church, and the landed gentry. These are the especial objects of Mr. Bright's hatred, and it is his constant study to instil that hatred into the breasts of the uneducated and ignorant artisans and labourers, who are but too common in manufacturing towns like Rochdale and Manchester. His speech the other day, even more than that of Mr Cobden, was a studied attempt to excite the populace against the political and religious institutions of the country, to cause them to decry and distrust both Whig and Conservative —any party, in fact, that is safe and mo derate—and, above all, to hold out the glorious Republic of North America as the faultless model of a great and free country—one far superior to his own in every respect —and one which we shall never equal, unless we abolish the Monarchy and the Lords, adopt universal suffrage, vote by ballot, and an increased income tax, antihilate the Church, or place it on a level with Dissent, destroy our fleet, make cotton operatives of our soldiers, send back our volunteers to the counter, the desk, or the plough, and hand over our colonies to France and the United States, before whom we are bound to humble ourselves on every occasion whatever, If these are not the sentiments of Mr. Bright the repeoe: thg system ought to be done away with, for it rir4st have treated him with singular injustice during tt e l ast 15 or 20 years. The modesty of these two ger`.,lemen is scarcely less remarkable than their moderation, Mr. Bright takes all the honour of Reform; Mr. Cobden, according to him self, is the impersonification of Free-trade principles. "Now," exclaimed Mr. Cobden, conscious of his own greatness—" now I carry a flag wherever I go, when I travel abroad—whether in France, America, Austria, or Russia. 1 at once become the centre of all those who have strong convictions and purposes with reference to free-trade principles." How is it that this King—apostle of free trade —ignores the right of the Southern States of America to enjoy its advantages whether they becovae an independent nation or remain part and parcel of the United States ? Yet, spite of this glaring inconsistency, Mr. Cobden is still firmly convinced of the great blessings which every people would receive by the adoption of the system, and is just as convinced that free trade must be desirable under every cir cumstance as is Mr, Newdegate that free trade has failed in its object, and that in Ireland, more especially, it has been the source of innumerable evils and discontent. Both men are honest and sincere, yet it is difficult to say which holds the more extreme opinions: but there is this distinction— that whilst Mr. Newdegate's doctrines are rather safer than brilliant, those of Mr. Cobden are more brilliant than safe. Both Mr. Cobden and Mr. Bright touched upon a variety of topics, but with everything but " the Great Republic" were they discontented and disgusted. Mr. Cobden very properly expressed his horror of the English proceeding in Japan, and the most unwarrantable and inhuman destruc tion of the town of Kagosima, " with its 150,000 of rich, prosperous, commercial people," but he said nothing about the shelling and attempted burning of Charleston, the capi tal of the great agricultural State of South Caroline. Mr. Bright indulged in the grievances of Irelarel.;' denounced the Irish Church as a "scandal not ee a ly to legislation, but to Christianity," ascribed a s !, the evils to the faulty and venal system of En : j :ish Governme nt, and, as mi g ht hav e been " P icted, ended by p ointing out to Irishmen the inesti mable advantages to be derived from the citizenshi p of United States, not telling them, however, of such petty and small-minded objections as the suspension of the Habeas Corpus Act, the continual proclamation of military l a w, the slaughter of half a million of men, and the enforce. meat of the conscription, which gives every Irishman a fair and impartial chance of being added to the list of those dead, dying, or captive. But then his starving family will have the satisfaction of knowing that he fought for the maintenance of " an instructed democracy." Mr. Bright ventures to say " that if the United States of America were to send transport ships to Ireland, and to offer to carry every Irish man, woman, and child free of cost to the United States, and to send them to the lan:ls of the West, he is not certain that there would be men enough left in Ireland at the end of one year to cultivate one half of its soil," Yes; and if at the end of throe years the census of those Irishmen were taken, we fancy that a third of those who ti went out would he found to have been killed by the sword \ or disease, a third ruined, and the remainder only too glad to return to the "old country," in spite of the rotten and effete institutions I LAW TIMES.—A meeting of the Bar has been invited for Wednesday evening next, to take into consideration the Reporting question. It is the old struggle between the Ins and the Outs. The would-be reporters who are not for tunate enough to procure employment on the existing reports are very clamorous for the establishment of some new reports, on which they hope to be engaged. They hope to secure handsome salaries out of the public purse, or to pre vail upon Parliament or the judges to create a monopoly of reporting, and endow themselves with it. Their zeal, there fore, is sufficiently explained, nor can it well be blamed ; we but demur to the profession of disinterested regard for the public or for the profession with which the demand is put forth. We object also to he coolness with which the Outs propose to ruin the Ins. They talk with admirable calm of ousting probably one hundred and fifty existing reporterrs from their incomes, and these may be transferred to their own pockets. They propose to destroy properties, worth at the very least fifty thousand pounde, probably nearly one hundred thousand pound s , th a t th e y ma y b u ild up their own fortunes upon the ruins. With the sublime indifference of men who are dealing with the properties of other people, they repudiate compensation to those whom they are striv ing to destroy, not by fair competition, but by the creation of a monopoly. The pretences for it are wholly unsubstan tial. There are but three desiderata in reports—accuracy , rapidity, cheapness. We assert confidently that all of these are secured by the existing reports: We defy a monopoly to bring them out more rapidly, or to sell them for a We price, than now. We assert that the monopolists would not report so faithfully as do the existing reporters, who have learned a difficult lesson by long practice. Moreover, there is another consideration, which they have not thought of. Suppose the reports reduced to the coveted monopoly—ell but themselves annihilated—whence are to come the future reporters ? In what school is the art of reporting to be learned ? Unpractised hands could not be employed upon official reporting, and there would be no minor reports, as now, to be a school in which the apprentice might learn his profession. A monopoly of reports would do for re porting what a monopoly of counsel would do for the Bench. There would be no material for future judges. Then again , all experience proves that paid officials never work so well and heartily as those who are subjected to the stimulus of rivalry; but ruin all the existing reports, and leave the monopoly report in possession of the field, energy would soon begin to flag, the officials, secure of their salaries, would work upon official principles. Surely, neither Parliament nor the judges would sanction such a step backwards in civilisation as the creation of a gigantic monopoly in this year of grace 1863. ASSIZE INTELLIGENCE, NORTHERN CIRCUIT,-NEWCASTLE-ON-TYNE, Nov. 28. This was the commission day for holding the Winter Assize at Newcastle. The town calendar contained a list of four cases for trial. It is not usual to sit and try prisoners on the commis sion day, that day being considered devoted to travelling to the assize town and opening the commission. Mr. Justice Wightman, however, having arrived last night, caused the town grand jury to be summoned for nine o'clock this morning. His lordship at that hour opened the commis sion, and charged the grand jury immediately after. His lordship then proceeded to the church to hear prayers,' which were over in some 30 minutes, and returned and Ba t for the trial of prisoners at 10 o'clock. The prisoners is two of the cases pleaded guilty, tha third man, charged with a forgery, was undefended, and the last prisoner is the calendar, charged with manslaughter, was put on his trial by halt-past 11. This man, Terence Quin, aged 33, was indicted for the manslaughter of Martin Linski, at Newcastle, on the 3d of October last. Mr, Davison and Mr. Headlam appeared as counsel for the prosecution; Mr. Blackwell defended the prisoner. It appeared that the prisoner on the night of the 3d of October last was going home through the streets of No" castle about 7 o'clock, with a friend, who was carrying clock under his arm. The prisoner was carrying a . buna e r in which he had some groceries and butter, which he ha d been purchasing for his family. Both men were sober, but the prisoner chanced to run against the deceased Linski, whom he met, and who was accompanied by one °r two other men. The prisoner said, " I beg your pardon, I thought you were an acquaintance ;" when the deceased man Linaki immediately knocked him down, and Linski'e companions proceeded to kick his bundle into the street, scattering the groceries and butter in the kennel. prisoner got up and attacked Linski immediately, an d while fighting with him one of Linski's friends attacked him behind and gave him several blows on the head. 1110 prisoner then drew his knife, and as Linaki was apparentlY about to strike him stabbed him in the neck with it. Linsk i was immediately taken to a chemist's shop in the neigh' bourhood, and soon after died of his wounds. _ The defence set up was that the prisoner believed that 110 was attacked for the purpose of being robbed, and WaS driven to use his knife in self- defence. His Lordship, iu summing ap, told the jury that the prisoner was not justified in defending hiMself with hie knife unless he was driven to the last resort, and believed that he had no other means of protecting himself from jury. If they thought, from the nature of the 'attack 00 the prisoner, that such reasonably was his belief, they ought te acquit him. The jury found the prisoner not guilty. --- OXFORD CIRCUIT—OXFORD, Nov, 28. Mr. Justice Crompton opened the commission here 1 0 ' day, The calendar contains the names of 25 prisoner?, who will be disposed of in 13 cases, of which seven are arson,' one forgery, one manslaughter, one concealment of birth, and the rest minor offences. COUNTRY MARKETS. I NORWICH—SATURDAY. There was a better supply of wheat to-day, and th e t sales made were in favour of the seller. A good shoal barley, and late prices were fully maintained. Flour unaltered, Other articles as before. White wheat. 44s to 4.6 1 Red wheat 4 Malting barley ...36s to 37 s 1 Chevalier barley 3046 to s t O43 P. Distilling d 0..... 30s to 32s 1 Oats.. 24,. to 2 10 Flour, 295,6 d to —s Od per sack from the miller. NOTTINGHAM—SATURDAY. White wheat, from 41s to 45s ; red wheat, 38s to 42' 5 ' Barley—malting, 32s to 40s ; grinding, 28s to 31s. Ot , ! ° old, at 248 to 31s Od; new, 20s to 255. Beans sold at 3°' 4 to 43s per qr. ; new, 37s to 388. LEICESTER—SATURDAY. There was a good show of wheat to-day, with a fair sa,lf f i 3 but no advance upon last week's prices. B ar l e y in tole?" show at fully late rates. Oats held at about late Pri ce l6 --New white wheat, 40s to 44s ; red 36s to 41s per stone. Old red, 39 s t o 4 1s per 36 stone: Barley, d oats, new, 33s to 38s per qr.; grinding, 29s to 325; 25s to 30 s; new oats, 22s to 25s per 24 stone. old, 38s t o 42 s per 38 stone ; flour, 30s to 35s per 20 btoue • GRANTHAM—SATURDAY. Old White wheat, 42s to 458; red, 39s to 42s pe barley; new White, 40s to 445; red, 378 to 40s. Malting 330, to 36s per qr ; grinding, 27s to 30s ; oats, old, 240" As; new, 20s to24s; beans, 40s to 42s ; peas, 348 to 400. NORTHAMPTON—SATURDAY. There was about an average ehow of wheat toady; —White wheat, 40s to 445; red, 35s to 42s ; fluet oos . to —s per qr. Barley, 35s to 39 s — gr i n ding, 28s to Oats, 28s to 32s per 24 stone. Be ans , 38 s to 42e. r ec— ' 34s to 40s per qr. YORK— SATURDAY. We were supplied with a fair quantity of wheat to-dall and former rates were fully supported. Wheat, red 3 40 68 s tA) to 4 3 5 9 : White do Barley .27s to 32s I Peas .............—s to --'' O t a ea ts n . s . .. .. ....... .. ........ Is t t o o 2 4 0 0 ; , Malt, 62s to 64s per qr.; rye, 30s per qr.; flour, 30 0 to 32s per sack. Horniman'e Tea is choice and strong, mo d e rate in price, and wholesome to use. These advantages hay ° secured for this Tea a general preference. It is sold if; dackets by 2,280 Agents. Births. -- BECK—On the 26 th inst., at U pper Holloway, the Wife of Ri c hard Beck, of a daughter. GODDAII.D.—On the 25th inst., at Th e L awn, Swindon/ inst., at B r i ghton, Mrs . I Ho w wL ife • B o wlett, of a daughter, :T f T th o d e d 2 a 7 r t d h , Esq., M.P ., of a son. Of . On WAND.—On the 27th inst.; a t petersham -terrace, Soutl2# Kensington, the wife of John F. Ward, a °l' d, Esq., o . _ Marriages. Vlli tifjj BRIGGS--110DSON.—On the 28th inst , at DenhY, A ,— i o za Charles B r i ggs, Burton-on-Trent . Esq., to Maria, w e suit' daughter of th e l ate John Hodson, Lon gtorli fordshire. Edinburgh,' BRAMLY--41700DFORD.—en the 26th inst. pat de r Henry Jennings Bramly, Esq., 42d It o) al IlighiarlorclP to Harriet Louisa, only daughter of Edward li cv Ea q . 3 LL.D., H.M,'s Inspector of Schools. . Deaths. iinoOKs.—On the 26th inst., at Netherton; Berko/ 141.:11(s Brooks, aged 81. th° PITZHERBERT.—On tho 25th inst., at West Far'e i g ht Dowager Lady Fitzherbert, aged 81. „171vI (no t* 11 MAYIIIV.—CIa the 26th inst , at his residence, 8/ l' hill-place, Vassall-road, Brixton, T. Percival gaY"- Esq., aged 80. 4 Nutt, NUTT.—On the 28th inst., at 270, Strand, Mr. Davi‘• aged 53. Til Or OGILVIE.—On the 26th inst., at Richmond-road, -wa bury, Fred. W. Ogilvie. sonar SNODGRAE4.—On the 26th inet,, at Millbrook, near - as* ampton, Be. Lieut.-Col. Archibald Campbell Suodgr late 39th Regt. 303 00 TETLEY.—On the 27th inst., at St. John's-wood, Remington Tetley, Esq., aged 83. "-: London : PrinZed and I'ubilshed by WILLIAJNIA -0.---1 1 ' io. 1 of No. 112, Strand, Printer , at Tum B us Office era Strand, n the Precinct o f the 'Savoy. n the 1413 iiiiddieSe2L—Monday , November 80, ow. 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