The Sun. — London, England, 1863-01-13 00:00:00

SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALS. SPECTATOR.—The description which Swedish and Norwegian journals give of the present condi tion of Finland is perfectly horrible. The chief crops, potatoes, rye, and barley, having failed in two successive seasons, three-fourths of the popula tion of the duchy are in a state of starvation, and thousands are said to have already succumbed to famine. In some towns in the interior, for instance the ancient Tayastehus, with its grand old castle on the margin of a vast lake, the formerly flourish • ing Kuopio, Heinola, and other places, all trade and commerce have come to a complete standstill, the shops being shut, and most of the inhabitants having left their houses to seek food as beggars at a distance. Hosts of wan and weary pilgrims flock in long files into Abo, Helsingfors, Kumo and Wasa; others try to creep along the shores of the Ladoga Lake to St. Petersburg; and while soma few reach the goal end find a scanty subsistence, many more perish on the road, to be devoured by dogs and wolves, who are swarming all over the country. Babies die on the breasts of their mothers for want of nourish ment ; children, with ghastly faces and hollow eyes, are met with everywhere attempting to stifle the cravings of hunger by chewing roots and the bark of trees ; and old people, helpless to move in the general ship wreck, crouch down in holes and corners to die a lingering, fearful death. While all these seenes of unspeakable distress, horror, and wretched ness are beheld on the northern shores of the Gulf of Finland, on the south side of the same inlet of the sea, the brilliant court of the Czar, surrounded by the elite of the Russian nobility, are revelling in luxury, with a display of pomp and magnifience us boundless as the misery on the opposite coast. Balls, theatricals, and fetes of all kinds chase each other ; troops of Italians i eg ers,br , ought from the far south, " regardless of expense ' delight the ears of a galaxy of princes and nobles, and the most per. sect corps ball* which even Paris could produce de has arrived to turn pirouettes, at imperial price, on the borders of the Neva. There never was such a magnificent season as the present at the Russian metropolis say all the letters from St. Petersburg. In Sweden and Norway, and particularly in Swe den, long connected in political union with Finland, the fearful distress under which the country has been suffering has excited the deepest sympathy. For the last three or four months house to house collections, in aid of the starving Finlanders, have been made all over Sweden ; the merchants on the Exchange of Stockholm have subscribed princely sums; king and court have set the example of generous charity, and everybody, down to the lowest peasant, has contributed something to the Finland Relief Fund. In fact, the people of Sweden seem to have done, comparatively, quite as much for the starving Finnish population as we for our own Lancashire pour. In striking contrast with this behaviour staas that of the Russian Go vernment. All along, scanty and tardy relief only has been sent from St. Petersburg to the adjoining province in the north; and the policy of the Home Administration seems to have been rather to sup press facts than to incite the sympathy of the gene ral public. However, it was clearly impossible to carry out this system for any length of time; and seeing it fait, a month or two ago, the Imperial Go vernment had recourse to a new method for getting rid of its responsibility in the matter. The semi• official invalid* Ruses first announced to the public, and the other more or less dependent journals successively repeated the statement, That the " Grand Ducby of Finland" was en tirely independent of the control of the central Go vernment, and that its own a dministration was alone to be blamed for the insufficiency of proper arrange ments for stemming the current of famine. To give proof of this assertion, Baron de Langenskield, the head of the department of finances at Helsingfors, was sent to London in the beginning of December to ,negotiate a loan for Finland; and, being pro perly backed by the Russian ambassador, succeeded in borrowing about three quarters of a million ster ling from Messrs. Rothschild and Ca., at the rate of ' 5 9-10ths per cent. The sum {bus *obtained was honestly applied for the alleviation of the distress. It is satisfactory to learn from the last accounts, however, from St. Petersburg that the famine in Finland has now reached its culminating point, and is visibly abating. The price of the famine,too, seems to be really secured, for there are serious preparations made for assembling the Parliament of Finland at the beginning of April. The old constitution, which is to be recalled into life after the lapse of more than half a century, dates from 1772, and is similar to that of Sweden. It provides for a Diet of four estates, comprising deputies of the nobility, clergy, burghers, and peasants, each estate deliberating and voting separately, except in constitutional ques tions, when all tour unite together. This somewhat cumbrous legislative machinery the Czar-Grand Duke intends working in a now way, by means of questions and answers. First, the Government is to ask a series of questions of each of the four Chambers, and these having been satisfactorily answered, then the Chambers in their turn are at liberty to interrogate the Government, Finally, the quintessence of all these questions and answers is to be shaped into constitutional formulas and propositions by the Governor-General of Finland, Baron Rokassowski, to be then either voted or re jected by the Diet. The new system will form a eurieus inauguration of Parliamentaxy Government in Russia. LONDON REviEw,—Thousands of crimes are an nually committed, especially those of a minor cha racter, which are never detected or published , and .i thousandsN'tct of criminals are charged to whom con n cannot be brought home. For example, we find for 1861 50 809 crimes recorded, on account of 'which only 27,174; only 16,761 were committed were apprehended. Of thes e 13,879 convicted! o for trial, and only i E ne t h lie more serious crimes, or indictable off ences, sessions and assizes, the as are tried by juries at minor vr we have seen, 50,809. o r n rer last year was, as from vagrancy and dru nken ness to theft, and oaences, ranging magistrate s , the re disposed of summarily beforea l u e were 394,717 charged, -whi c h resulted in dh in the c onviction of 263,500 perso ns . , av o ho n le f. , therefore, it appears that nearly 5 0000 fences, large and small, come annually under the cognizance of the po lice, and tha t nearly 30 0,000 persons are punished for them. Great pains have of late been taken by the authorities to ascertain and keep an accurate record of that portion of the population which is knoWn to live by crime or vag rancy, which last nearly always implies a course of petty pilfering, or of mendicancy approaching very nearly to the same character. Nearly all these class es are pretty well known to the police in their respective districts, and the returns now presented only include those whose trade is depredation, omit tingth a those 'who, though they may have been once convicted, are no w a believed to be p ursuin g a course of industry. The lis t is 1 as follows, in ro un d' person a , numbers .—Known thieves and depredators, 30 ,000 3,800 ; Suspected rson s , Vagrants and tramps, 23,000.00 ; To e 34 add the number of criminals a ctually these we must i n • P t in local prisons, 15,601 ; in convict •50n5,7,423; prison, viz. in reformatories, 3 , 190 . Making a gross 116,723, whose business an d habit it is toBprey total P of society in one form or a nother. It must be allow e d uon that the above number s constitute a ve ry consider abie and a very formidable army—one nearly as large, in fact, as her Majesty's regular troops. Let us see, now, what sort of a force we keep On foot for watching, defeating, and punishing this crowd of malefactors. It amounts to about one-fifth of the critrinals. The total is:—police end constabu lary, 21,413; establishment in local prisons, 2,334; teatablisbment in convict prisons, 1,182. That is to '',3.' ", we ha-?e 25,000 guard ians of the community to deal with 120,000 enemies of it — a p ro p ortion which, well handled, ought surely to be adequate. The rzcordo,l c ost of and . our repreSSlvo, punitive c.tis blishtnents i s a i 1,579,222 ; : followsti :—Police and constabulary, in local prisons, £542,306 ; outlay in convict a p Y ri astc; blishments abroad, 1:253731 ; cost of convict Agafost this sum we el:11'861 ; total, £2,547,120. perhaps, to set the estimato,l value of the pr g iso t :le it is so mere nn estimate thaa s' we ear e uin r g' th°l44 d h this with Inuoh misgiving. These confess we -° earnings are said to be :—ln local prisons, £35,300 ; convict prisons at home, £111,090; ditto Bermuda and Gibraltar (?), £90,000; total, £236,309. On the whole, we cannot state the cost of convicted offenders to England - and Wales at a lower figure than two millions and a half annually. The average cost of a prisoner in local gaols is £26 a year, in convict prisons it is £33. We believe that very few thieves and ruffians at large spend much less than 20s. a week. But we will take a more moderate estimate, and calculate their cost at 125,, or the same as their incarcerated fellows, say £3O a year. At this rate the 90,800 regis tered pilferers and rascals at large cost us not less than £2,724,000 per annum. If we add this to the figures previously given, we shall arrive at the startling but undeniable result that our criminal classes cost us—in guarding against them, in detecting them, i n p un i s hing them, and in supporting them i n idl ene ss in and out o f prison —not less than Five Millions a year, and this without including either Scotland or Ireland in the calculation. Now, £5,0 00 , 000 i s about half the sum we expend upon our navy, and about a third of that assigned to ou t r he ar tu m b y ac . co li i du s ty, about and the yield of the tea d uty, which the Emperor of the Ti s x u E ga s r ._ d T ut h y e r espectively. speechwith the French has opened the last session of his first Parliament is such as we might rather have ex pected at its close. It embodies no programme of new measures, and few anticipations of the future. Instead of these it contains an elaborate review of the home and foreign politics of France during the last five years, and undertakes to show that the re sults of Constitutional Imperialism have been con formable to its grand principles. It is not, however, on the character of his Government abroad, but on the reforms which it has accomplished at home, that the Emperor has most reason to pride himself. We have never been among the flatterers of the Imperial system, and even where the ends professed by its supporters were laudable we have often had occasion to find fault with the means. Still, though liberty in France is even now trammelled in a way which appears to us childish, we cannot help seeing how much has been gained. "It is an usual thing to suspect in the acts of Sovereigns some secret mo tive or some mysterious combination." Far be it from us to admit that the Emperor has any right to i complain of this tendency. His language has not always been so clear, or his policy so free from re serves and afterthoughts, as to justify him in claim ing the confidence due to transparent simplicity. Perhaps he has not been unwilling to profit by the reputation of profound cunning which men are wont to ascribe to those whom they hate or fear. Per haps he has slowly learnt the supreme value of plain speaking and the danger of over ingenuity in the conduct of State affairs. " Time, which changes men as well as things," and above all the conscious ness of a secure position, and the hope of leaving a good name to posterity, may have insensibly moulded his public character into a more constitu tional type. If there be still a powerful party in France which distrusts him and obstinately refuses to discern any difference in spirit bet ween the First and Second Empire, we do not blame them. lo them we leave the task of criticising this retro spect of domestic policy for the last five years. For ourselves, as Englishmen, we have no fault to 11nd. So far as he has interfered in the concerns of other Continental States, the Emperor has but followed the example set him by those Rho have reigned over France under different titles for cen turies past. So far as be has assiduously cultivated, and risked some popularity to maintain, a good un derstanding with this country, he stands almost alone. We are, perhaps, too apt to forget that until the interests of all nations can be shown to be identical a certain degree of opposition must be ex pected from the most friendly of foreign Sovereigns. Every nation has its prejudices and its favourite objects; these cannot be neglected by its rulers, and in gratifying them the vanity and even the interests of other nations must sometimes be sacrificed. When Lord Russell ;praised Lord Palmerston as pre-emi nently the Minister of England, he gave utterance to a sentiment which would probably have grated on the ears of a French audience. What he meant was no more than that an English Foreign Minister should take English, and not French or Russian, views of European questions ; that his primary duty is to this country, and that it is not his busi ness to please others at our expense. From this point of view we are bound to judge such Sovereigns as Louis Philippe and Louis Napoleon when they ascend the Throne of France. They can have no higher or more legitimate ambition than to leave France better than they found her. If this result be attained, it can hardly fail to follow, by a happy necessity, that she will be a more amicable and less suspicious neighbour to Great Britain. HERALD.—Goethe tells us "the great thing in ' life is to know on which side we stand, and where." What a pity Lord Russell does not study the pro ' found German writer; our position might not then be so very undefined as it now is with respect to all our foreign relations. Some of our contemporaries are anxious to know what possible subjects of dif ference can arise in Parliament, it must be that our ' easily-satisfied friends do not cast a glance on the map of Europe, or they would marvel how one nigh. ' should be permitted to pass, after the open ing of the session, without Lord Russell being called upon to explain his strange, incon sistent, weak, and vacillating foreign policy. When Lord Palmerston was at the Foreign-office there was no mistake about his views ; he was at least consistent in his destructive energy. The red hand was in the shield ; the revolutionary steam was kept up all over the Continent ; coals were heaped on the republican flame. He acted the part of the bold, dashing agitator, until the name of Palmerston was terrible to monarchical ears as Marlbrook to French children in the days of Blen heim and homilies. Thus we can well imagine the consternation at Broadlands at each fresh escapade of the Foreign Secietary. We all of us have laughed over the farce of " Box and Cox," and sympathised with Box, when, from dread of a dis turbance, he invites Cox into his apartments, and then groans over the mischievous, meddling, fid getty qualities of his guest. So Lord Palmerston, to keep things quiet, welcomed Earl Russell at the sagacity. mourned Of over all annoyances Foreign office, an d ever s i nce t h a t h ou r must have own want in life ff the greaterforethought said, is to have to deal with a man of whom d ill b it can be " You d o no t k now what he will be eat next." We will defy any one to ' predict Lord Russell's policy. Ordinary m en would have supposed that the time * when the heir t o th e Crown was about to marry a Princess of Denmark would have been selected f or the manifestation of a sincere and earnest interest in the fortunes and welfare of that ancient Royal house—but great minds like L or d Russell's take very different view of our relations. He is the evil , fairy of the nuptials, and writes a despatch, not only inconsistent with all he had hitherto written or expressed, but conveying opinions so injuries and insulting to the Throne of Denmark the Minister is compelled to re p ly—" That the acceptance of th e propositions made by Lord Russell would lead to the destruction of const it u tional life in Denmark, and would soon even imperil the existence of the monarchy." This is a pretty r od rap over the ~ knuckles - for Lord Russell, b ut this does not saiisfy him. Anxious to be busy at som ething, he turns to Montenegro, and here, miratle clictu, all his, theory of rightsand the of nations didappeate, stern, un compromisin g x of monarchy sprin gs t ov i ew. supponer have b,en Prince must ~ Gertkehakofrs feelings What when he rcntiv(d a f0.,0 et sentiments entirelyprinciples. Whatin°tPrelto all Lord Bussel:'s come o f tht . cause for which name sid of fort un e h. l s be d en f e ll? Wh ere are the right s of bled and Hemp of le cording to the d octr i nes professed'(4es ? " Ac- England," says the Prince, " we ought not to contest of 'Montenegro to the independence w,,l t i h i e ti g ht country has maintain e d f or a b ove a cen'tur'y that 'l unconquerable energy." This i s excellent --Lord Russell taught a lesson on conwitutional principles by a Rusii:ai Minister ; and Prince Gortschakeff does not mince the matter at all, and teals Lord Russell quite distinctly that he 3)eoi now adopted views entirely opposed to thusf) which he l'Druierly propounded. 4 THE BATTLE OF FREDERICKSBURG. (From the 7imes' Special I.)4riespondent.) HEAD-QUARTERS OF ri - ENERAL LEE, NEAR FREDERICA SBITRG, Dxc. 8. To pickup dropped stitches in an unprogressive web, to walk ceaselessly in a Salle des Pas Perdus—such is at this moment the lot of a correspondent immured within the limits of the Confederate States. It has just been brought to my knowledge that not one of the letters which I wrote m e m t e h n e t e f n ro e odfuNrinogvetmhebelrattwerashaslufnoefesOsfcotol b in er m an a d ki a n t g th i e ts co e m xi m t C on f e d e racy ; and such is the interest of events now passing or i m mediately imminent, that there is little temptation to endeavour to re-write such portions of the missing letters as might even now possess interest for the European reader. With two immense armies facing each other across an in significant river, and threatening momentarily to come into collision, the ear is strained to catch the report of the signal guns which will be the prelude to the thun der of 600 pieces of artillery; and there is every indica tion that not many days, perhaps not many hours, can elapse without bringing on a general engagement. Never was the Confederate army in finer heart, or better prepared for it. The interest is enhanced by the specula tions in reference to the destination of Gen. Banks, who is collecting a military flotilla of transports at Fortress Mon roe, nominally designed to enter the port of Brunswick, in Georgia, but by many supposed to contemplate a blow at a point much nearer to Richmond. The York and James Rivers, or the coast of North Carolina, are spoken of as the points of his possible attack—while by some it is fancied that the Washington Cabinet, wincing under the execra tion which General Butler's doings have elicited from the whole civilised world, is about to put General Banks in his place, and to withdraw from New Orleans a tyrant which has made Caligula or Alva seem mild and respectable, and who has added to his appalling acts of cruelty the stain which is seldom absent even in the purest Yankee natures —the lust of gold " smartly" acquired, which in European phraseology means disreputably, if not dishonestly. There is hardly a man in the Northern States bit is aware that General Butler has taken advantage of his position in New Orleans, and has engaged in every description of surrepti tious and illicit traffic, from which his gains are already. reputed to have reached a fabulous amount. The chosen instrument for conducting this masked trade is Gen. But ler's brother-in-law, once the keeperof a gambling -house in California, but now likely to issue from New Orleans a mil • lienaire more plethoric than the gaming fraternity whose fine houses and high-stepping horses are the wonder and shame of New York and San Francisco. But does any one in the Washington Cabinet, whichcanno mare absolve itself from the charge of complicity with General Butler's frauds than it could if they were perpetrated by Mr. Seward— does any one Northern individual, lay or clerical, in public or private, condemn and abhor General Butler's knavery ? " Pretty smart man, General Butler, I reckon l" When Mr. Everett, or Mr. Henry Ward Beecher, or any other public speaker of authority shall dare to tell a popular audience that there is a Divine command - ment which proclaims, " Thou shalt not steal," and which is of as stringent obligation now as it was 4,000 years ago, there will be a hope that the model Republic will cease to put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter, and that common integrity and guileless honesty will emulate the example of the precious metals on this continent, and will for the first time rise to a premium. But, in my judgment, the Federal Government cares no more for the howl of execration of which Gen. Butler is the object than it does for the expression of ineignation which has burst from every civilised nation on earth in reference to the recent ruthless murder by Gen. M Neill of ten Con federate prisoners at Palmyra, in Missouri. Gen_ Butler will probably remain at New Orleans until the bags of gold have swelled to bursting, and until he thinks proper to go elsewhere to realise. I have noticed in former letters the ominous language of the lip and eye which follows the mention of Gen. Butler's name anywhere in the Confede rate States, and does net augur well for his tranquil enjoy ment of his acquired property in any part of the world where he may choose to reside; but all this is nothing to his Government, which chuckles when Gen. Butler an nounces to the citizens of New Orleans (as he did recently) that whereas last winter he lashed them with whips, he would this winter lash them with scorpions. In one of my missing letters I mentioned a story, communicated to me by Mr. Benjamin, which will bear repetition here. Mr. Ben jamin has two sisters and a niece who reside within five miles of New Orleans. One of the sisters and her daughter are both widows, the other sister is unmarried. Recently, about 8 o'clock in the evening, a Federal officer with a down soldiers called at the house of these ladies, and in formed them that they must evacuate it there and then, as it was seized for military purposes. The ladies pleaded hard for a respite until the morning, which at last with the utmost difficulty they obtained. Meanwhile the officer told all their slaves that they were free, and in the teeth of their urgent remonstrances against this forcible emanci pation insisted upon their proceeding at once to New Orleans. The ladies were permitted to pack up a few personal effects for their own use, but, as they did so, the officer eat over them and frequently snatched from them with a jeer any object which took his fancy, alleging that it was required as a military necessity. At 5 the next morning these ladies and their boxes were turned into the road. Such is tho terror which General Butler has inspired that none of the neighbours dared give them shelter. They made their way, weary and footsore to New Orleans, where they had no small difficulty, penniless (General Butler allows no " rebel" to draw his or her own money front a bank) and on loot, in procuring a temporary asylum. Such a system of warfare, which hunts out unoffending and help less women for torture, and vents its miserable spite upon them because they have an able and powerful relative, re - quires no additional word of comment or rernare. But to return to Virginia, it seems probable that Jack Frost, who took no part last winter in the fray, will reas sert his authority this winter, and interfere not only with the Potomac, the James, and York Rivers, but also with such streams as the Ohio, the Cumberland, and the Ten nessee, from the first of which, in its present low stage, the Federal gunboats will, perhaps, be unable to make their egress before they are clutched by the icy fingers of winter. This notion is encouraged by our climatic experiences here during these last few days. On Friday, the sth, it snowed hard, on Saturday, the 6th, the snow blew off and the weather became clear and cold, and the nights of the 6th and 7th were unusually piercingly cold, the mercury falling close to the zero of Fahrenheit, with a bitter wind cutting to the bone. The ink in the carpet bag under my head froze solidly last night, and became like a lump of coal. The suffering of the army was terrible; but we are uni versally assured that, in spite of their superior comforts, the suffer ings Of the Yankees exceed these of the Confederate soldiers. There is a rumour of six Yankee pickets being frozen to death on the night of the 6th. It is a repetition of the old experiences gained in Napoleon's Russian cam paign in 1812, during which the soldiers from Italy and the sunny South bore the rigour of that merciless winter far better than the soldiers from the North of Europe. There is only one man who seems utterly un conscious that it is not July—the Commander-in- Chief; General R. E. Lee. We breakfasted this morning, according to Gen. Lee's invariable custom, in the open air shortly after sunrise, and such a starved shivering com pany, with the exception of the General himself, as gathered round his table and partook of that wintry al fresco meal, it has never been my fortune to witness before. Many were the suggestions made and discussions indulged in by the General's Staff in reference to obtaining his approval of a requisition on the Qua termaster- General for a hospital tent, in which the headquarters' Staff might take their meals. Inasmuch as the General is greatly averse from in creasing the transportation requisite for himself and his Staff, I fear the latter will have no alternative but to con tinue to shiver. It rarely happens that such cold weather occurs in Virginia before Christmas without giving warning of an unusually severe winter. The Confederates are in high spirits at the prospect, as in many ways it is likely to be of great advantage to them, and a corresponding detri ment to their opponents. The apparent imminence of a ba t t le has had its usual effect in heightening the spirits of the so ldiers, and dispos ing the camp to such gaiety as life in a pine wood and a total absence of women may be supposed to admit of. The usual frolics at Gen. J. E. B. Stuart's headquarters are of nightly recurrence, except on the occasions when the Gene ral is absent upon one of his long scouting tries, which keep him out all night, and afford a respite to " General Stuart's headquarters' band," which consists of one excel lent banjo-player and one " bones," and is thus temporarily released from serenades and the discourse of other music But all other entertainments of the camp have for the moment been thrown into the shade by the perfor mances enacted two nights ago by General Hood's Texans, and which by particular desire will be repeated tonight. General Hood, a tall, sinewy, eager-looking soldier, is a.a, tty and i a f the palm n universally a d m i tte d to h ave l e d hi s T exan brigade into so me o f the hottest places which co Id b e found throughout e o this cuuldb tl y e nto be ot war,voted d to n e ' yonebrigf valouradethere is little doubt that Virginians, Louisianians, and every other State would combine in acknowledging the superior and para mount claims of Hood's fighting Texans. General Hood, who is much beloved by his men, knows that listlessness and want of interest and occupation in camp are final ob stacles, when the dory for action comes, to efficiency in the field. He has been at the pains, therefore, to encourage the or, cr.,ini-al ion among his men of a b and of .2E hiopian nrin stfel 10 or 12 in number, wh.) on Saturday night dis c, ureiel very eloquent- wtusic and elicited raptur ous app l ause ,ity- one soldier, success ully dr,ssed up as a d n sow, Rod conspicuoty, for a remarkably neat foot and abide. Ihe tang preparation which such parlor m inc , _s exact, th e '. which they sub•equently awaken, i n terest of the digctv;st , 71. E J 1( 1.11 ' of camp life, and very are great incidents in the ra, disposed to listless apathy as healthy stimulants to n ieu so stioned that the the S out h ern soldier. It c tunot h qi s banj o , the national musical instrument of flee Sou hens • • the amusements of sol- C onfederacy, is a great a Id' t ton to sol diers on a campaign, and would be beneficial in spit away some o f t h e h" 1 spleen dullness of the er Bri tish sold'tcamp Add to t in proverbial his the natural a p titude for . music which makes every negro a ma , sician a nd ready for dance and s ong, and there are elements of en t edaihnient which cannot be found in connexion with any Eu ro p ean army 41. the Ael d and I are no slight circumstances us ipflu- encing and elevating the spirits of the dejected, tatterde malion, lack-lustre, half-starved scarecrows who are nobly conducting this brilliant , struggle for independence, which it is obvious to the least far-sighted observer they are on the eve of bringing to a successful issue. Fur, in spite of the ineradicable bluster of the Northern journals, what is the true situation of affairs? For nearly three months those vast hosts which the North is never weary of parading have declined to attack their insignificant and exhausted foe, and are at last threatening General Lee in a position which they cannot carry without superhuman valour and the loss of 50,000 men. In the West, where the failure of Gen. Bragg has unquestionably deferred the inci pient gravitation of Kentucky towards the Confederacy, the appointment of Gen. Joseph Johnston to the supreme com mand, a successful dash of Gen. Morgan, and the visit of President Davis to the West have restored public confi dence, while the enormous natural obstacles, which must continue to baffie much greater efforts than the North can set in motion, puzzle the will and dishearten the enterprise of leading Unionists. Even if Vicksburg is taken (and it must not be forgotten that Vicksburg was bombarded for six weeks in June and July by one flotilla of gunboats above the town, and by another flotilla below it, and that all that was compassed by this costly and protracted fire was the death of 15 Confederates), and if the navigation of the Mis sissippi from St. Louis to New Orleans is reopened, how will the North and its commercial interests be benefitted thereby ?It is true that iron-clad gunboats will then go up and down the stream, but a single 6-pounder on any one of the bluffs will be a fatal bar and check upon any trading vessel. Until the North can change the whole heart and saul of men, women, and children in those States which are lost to Abraham Lincoln and his successors for ever, trade between New Orleans and St. Louis can no more be re op ned than it can between Tyre and Sidon. For, even if trading vessels could be sent down the stream, with whom would they trade and what money would they accept P Barter of cotton in exchange for Northern commodities would be declined by nine- tenths of the Southern popula tion, and frustrated by guerillas if ever it were attempted. It is marvellous thet the North continues to blind itself to the fact that the compulsory restoration of the Union is as impossible of accomplishment as the subjugation of the in habitants of the planet Jupiter. The only other arrow in the Federal quiver, in addition to the defeat of Gen. Lee's army and the reopening of the Mississippi, is the destruction or occupation of Charleston, Mobile, and other seaboard cities. Not a day but strengthens the defences of those cities,and, if public rumour speaks truth, the Federals will have difficulty in maintaining their blockade after next spring. No glimmer of light is anywhere discoverable on the Federal horizon, and the indifference which is here ma nifested on the subject of that European intervention once so eagerly courted by the South, but now believed to be more zealously craved in secret by the North, is an earnest of the amended circumstances and growing confidence of that nation and army which has sprung into life, and main tained its existence through 20 months of unparalleled hard ship and difficulty. Das. 11. A hurried visit to Richmond, which has served further to disclose to me the great difficulties, far exceeding any thing that I had anticipated, of successfully transmitting letters from the Southern States to England, has prevented my continuing this narrative until to-day, and I resume it under the increased excitement which the loud boom of great guns in the neighbourhood and the commencement of that engagement which has long been ardently desired by the Confederate generals have universally diffused around me. At a very early hour this morning information was brought to Generals Lee and Longstreet that the Federals were engaged during the bright moonlight of Wednesday night, the 10th, and in the early morning of the 11th, in throwing pontoon bridges across the river at Fredericksburg and at a creek called Deep Run, which flows from the south into the Rappahannock a mile and a half below the town. No opposition was directed by the Confederates against the builders of the pontoon bridge at Deep Run, because the valley south of the river is in that spot bare and wide and flat, and entirely swept by th e F e d era l ca nnon on the Staf ford heights. Th e b r i dge at Deep Run was therefore thrown without impedime n t across the stream, and was comp l eted by noon on Thursda y, The town of Fredericksburg was held by two companies of one of Barksdale's Mississippi regiments, serving as pickets, who opened a brisk fire upon the bridge-builders, and drove the survivors i n con f us i on back to the nort h ern bank. Instantly more than a hundred of the h eavy Federal guns on the n• rth bank of the river ga ve t h eir response to the h an df u l of Confederate sha r p s h ooters on the southern b an k, b y opening furiously upan the doomed city of Fredericksburg and endeavourin g ; to make the whole of it too hot to shelter a single Southern rifleman. A second time the Federals ventured out upon the pontoons and were a second time driven back by Barksdale's Mississippi Brigade, which had now come to the assistance of the two companies that originally held the town. It was not until many of the buildings in Fredericksburg had been battered down along the river bank, and until a hailstorm of shot and shell from the Federal guns on the heights, and of musket-balls from the Yankee sharpshooters along the bank, had riddled every plank and brick in the town that the Federals succeeded, abort 5 o'clock in the afternoon of Thursday, in throwing their pontoon seeress the river, a feat the accomplishment of which they celebrated by shouts that made the hills vocal, and were taken up again and again by the mighty host of men whose tents whiten every crest on the northern side of the river, and give colour to the repeated allegations of Federal prisoners that 300,000 men are under arms and obedient to the command of General Burnside. It will be remarked that the building of the bridges was only opposed cn one spot, and that on that spot it was only opposed by the musketry fire of a single Confederate brigade. The onfederate batteries on the Spottsylvania heights looked grimly down on the bloody work proceeding below them, but did not reply to the deafening cannonade of the Federal batteries, nor betray their exact position by opening fire. The sun dropped behind the hullo, leaving 150 men of Barksdale's Brigade dead and wounded in the town, the town itself riddled from cellar to garret, battered down in many places, and burning in others. The resistance this day offered by (general Lee to the passage of the river by the Federals seems to confirm the opinion that it was his design to damage the enemy as they crossed, but by no means vigorously to oppose their passage. DEC. 12. Those who were unacquainted with the delays which invariably attend the movements of very large armies, especially when an attack upon a strong and elaborately chosen position of the enemy is contemplated, con fidently looked for the momentous collisi on b etween the Confederate and the Federal armies this morning at day break; but, as was a nticipated by more experienced heads, the day wore away without developing a Federal onslaught upon the Southern lines. The preceding night was employed busily in throwing dense masses of Northern troops across the pontoons at Fredericksburg and Deep Rim, and one or two other bridges thrown across at other points. So numerous were these bridges alleged to to that busy rumour, hardly less imaginative and sugg es ti ve among the C on f e d era t es than among their opponents, estimated them variously at from 15 to 30. I believe, that in reality they did not exceed three or four. But as the bright and waim sun broke cheerfully from the heavens and dispelled the thick mist which for many hours brooded over the plain and interceeted the view of objects distant not more than three or four hundred yards, it became more and more ob vious, even to the least experienced eye, what a magnificent position was occupied by the Confederate army, and how wisely and sagaciously the ground had been chosen byGen. Lee. It must have been a moment of proud gratification to Gen. Lee, and those captains who under him have gained ever-increasing distinction, when they realised be yond all question that the enemy was t'beut to force an at tack under circumstances which would have insured defeat had the onslaught been made by the bravest disciplined troops of Europe, and which reduced the rout of the dis heartened and loosely coupled troops of Gen. Burnside to an absolute certainty. As the observer stood on the range of hills which impend over Fredericksburg on the south, and glanced his eye down upon the town, and right and left, along the low swelling ridges which extend from the river on his left, and, forming the arc of a semicircle, strike the river again about six miles below on his right, he might have challenged the most deeply read student of military history to prsduce any precedent in which battle has ever been delivered uneer circumstances more unfavourable to ' the assailing party, or upon ground from which any great master of the art of war wou'd more naturally have recoiled had the initiative remained with his own option. The Rap- I pahannock, in its course from west to east, is skirted, just at the point where Fredericksburg stands on its southern bank, by low crests of hill, which on the northern bank run parallel and close to the river, and on toe southern trend backward irons the stream, and le tve a semicircular plain six miles in length and two or three in depth, enclosed within their circumference before they again approach the river in the nt ighbourhood of Massaponax Creek. Imme diately above the town, and on the left of the Confederate position, the bluffs are bold and bare of trees ; but as the hills in their eastward course recede from the river they be come lower and are densely woodsd, while low , purs covered with copeewood run down at right angles to the range of hills into the plain, behind and between which spurs the centre and right of the Confederate army was posted, stretching for a distance of six miles from the extreme left, and ending in the immedi a t e neighbourhood of Nlassaponax Creek, which joins the Rappshannock some five irides be low Frederickeburg. It will apparent eree, ,ieri e t k o s b t u h r e g r o e: c d t er t hat the left of the Confederate army, portion of it sta tiosed not more than 400 star ds f rom b pied a much stronger position than the centre and right. There was nut sufficient room for the Federal troops destined for the attack of the nearest Confedet ate batteries to deploy and form, except under a deadly Confederate fire; whereas the Federal troops who attacked the Confederate centre and right had a large pl a i n on which to deploy and had much fewer disadvantages o f ground t o contend with, in asinuch as they advanced egainst 1 wer hills and had the long spur s o f copse t o assist Ultra as points of attack, cal • culated to, pro' cot and serve as points cl' appui to the Fede ral troops If they co u ld once have succeeded in carrying and holding them. B u t even in its weakest points the Confederate line possessed great advantages of position; and it is no wonder that ever,. South ern er, from the Com mander-in-Ohief down to the younstest drummer-boy, un derstood and appreciated the strength of the ground, and contemplated the coming shock of battle with serene eon • fldence and composure. In describing the ground upon which the battle subsequently took place, I should not omit to add thekt the railroad track from Frederipk6burg to Rich mond runs diagonally through the semicircular plain described above, and crosses the Confederate line of battle three and a:half "miles from Fredericksburg, at a point called Hamilton's Crossing. This point was strongly held by a part of the Confederate right, and it is manifest that against this point and along the railroad track it would have been wise if the weight of the Federal attack had been directed. It will be understood in conclusion, that the heights on the northern or Stafford side of the Rappahan nock, which for miles touch and impend over the stream, were surmounted by a long line of heavy Federal rifled cannon. Similarly, along the whole Confederate line of battle, nearly 300 pieces of artillery were in position or in reserve. There is no recorded battle of history in which anything like so many pieces of artillery took part (of course in this assertion I do not include sieges), and the reader will at once realise how inadequate language is to describe the thunder of so vast a number of cannon, or the deadly pelting hail of such al aggregate of the projectiles which modern ingenuity has succeeded in devising. It remains briefly to notice the disjosition of troops along the Confederate line. It may be motioned summarily that the Confederates are divided into two large corps d'armso, and that on this occasion General Longstreet's corps was on the left, and General Stonewall Jackson's on the right. Bur, as the hot test work of the battle fell upon particular divisions and brigades, it should be further stated (although the position of each brigade cannot, for want of time, be given) that the Confederate divisions, starting from the left of the line and proceeding towards the right, were posted as follows the extreme left the division of General Anderson ; next to it the division of General Ran som ; next to it that ofGeneral M'Claws ; next to it that of General Pickett; and next to it the division of General Hood. Proceeding now to General Jackson's corps, the ground be tween General Hood's right and the railroad at Hamilton's Crossing was held mostly by the large division commanded by that excellent officer, Gen. A. P. Hill. Behind the line of General A. P. Hill the division of General D. H. Hill was held in reserve. To the right of General A. P. Hill, the division once commanded by General Ewell, who lost his leg (if I mistake not) at the second battle of Manassas, but nowcommandecl by General Early, held at woods right up to and across the railroad at Hamilton's Crossing. In front of General Early the powerful artillery of Col. Walker was thrown forward, to fire, as was expected, into the enemy's flank. Across, or to the east of, the railroad, on the extreme Confederate right, General J. E. E. Stuart, with his cavalry and horse artillery, covered the flank of the Confederate line, his rear almost resting upon Massaponax Creek. As regards the disposition of the Federal troops, nothing more is known than that the three great bodies of troops were commanded, that on the Federal right by General Sumner, that on the Federal centre by General Hooker, and that on the Federal left by General Franklin. It is estimated that not less than 40,000 troops were engaged in the attack directed by General Sumner, and that 50,000 were employed on the Federal centre and left. Friday, the 12th of December, was employed by the Fe deral Generals in arranging and massing their troops for the next day's attack. Ac'ive skirmishing was kept up by the pickets on both sides for several hours, and in the after noon, with a view to feeling the Confederate position, the heavy Federal guns thundered across the river, and were only feebly replied to by the batteries on the Confederate left. The solemnity of the immediately approaching battle cast its shadow over the scene, and that earnestness and tranquillity of demeanour which, on the eve of momentous events, overtake even the most garrulous and thoughtless, reigned unmistakeably upon every countenance. At night as the pickets of the two armies were stationed within 100. yards of each other, the Confederates could hear the ear nest and impassioned speeches of Federal orators, rousing the spirit of their troops, and making vehement appeals to the sanctity of the " old flag." , " The old flag is played out," shouted the Confederates in reply. " Some how," remarked one of the Confederates to me, "there must be a want of grit among the Yankees, otherwise they wouldn't want all this talking to." It is impossible not to contrast the spirit of the two armies—the Confederates, so calm, so resolute, so satisfied with their generals, so suffer ing, yet rejoicing to suffer as long as hardship is the price of liberty; the Federals, lashed into the field by the thong of golden bounties, and in the field lashed against the enemy by the invectives and appeals of able spokesmen, so dis trustful of their generals and each other, so pampered and yet so dissatisfied. The aurora borealis which overspread the heavens, and darted blood-red tongues of fame swiftly from the meridian down to the horizon, was accepted by the Confederates as the cross outlined on the sey was accepted by Constantine—an earnest of assured victory. DECEMBER 13. The mor n i ng o f t h e 13th of December—a memorable day to the historian of the Decline and Fall of the American Republic—broke still and warm, while, as on the preceding day, a thick haze enveloped the town of Fredericksburg and the circumjacent valley, and delayed the opening of the tare by• the antagonistic batteries until the sun had been up some three or four hours, It was strange to contrast Saturday, the 13th of September, with Saturday the 6th, and to com• pare the intense cold of the earlier Saturday with the spring -like warmth and calmness of the latter. The day which I am describing was one of those outbursts of that Indian summer which lingers long and fondly in beautiful Virginia; the morning haze which shrouded heath, and plain, and forest, was the ordinary prelude to the warmth and glow of the sun at noonday. As the fog lifted about 10 in the morning, and the sun burst through the clouds, the long lines of the Federal army, which had passed the whole preceding day in deploying and preparing for the attack, were distinctly visible in the plain, and gave awful indications of the amount of the Federal host which had crossed the river. The Confederate army, wholly undaunted by the extravagant stories about the strength of their foe, wai ed calmly, drawn up for the moat part within the fringe of the woods, confident in their position and in the valour which has never failed them. And here it may be as well finally to dispel those illusions under which it is the custom of the Northern press to veil the disgrace of defeat, when the fact itself admits of no denial, The whole number of the Confederates in the field this day did not exceed from 80,000 to 90,000 men. Of these, some 25,000 men, taking the very highest estimate, took part in the fight. By the urgent entreaty of several of the leading Confederate generals, it has long been sought rather to keep down . , than to swell the numbers, of the Southern army . It is well known to the sagacious Gene rals of the Confederacy that such en army as obeyed Gen. Lee's command this day, if well handled and imbued with a fine spirit, is more than a match for any number that can be led against them. The stetemplets of the Federal Sec reetary of War, to the effect that he has 800,000 men at this moment in his pay, carry comfort rather than dismay to the hearts of the Cenfederates. Sp cumbrous end nu wieldy a machine as the Federal' army but break down by its own weight and by the vast amount of transport which its pampered soldiery requires; and, in addition to many other testimonies to its immobility, the statement, of the Prince de Joinville, that one railroad is not sufficient to supply such an army as General M'Clellan led against Richmond, will carry conviction to the Raropean public, It is impossible for me to describe the position of each of the numerous Confederate batteries which stretched along the length of their six-mile line of battle. It will suffice if I indicate the batteries which were most hotly engaged,and bore the brunt of the action. By tat the most important position was occupied by the Washington Artillery, com manded by Col. Walton, of New Orleans, and posted on the heights in the immediate neighbourhood of Fredericks burg, not more than 400 yards from the town. These heights, which are precisely of that altitude which is most favourable for the play of artillery, are sur mounted by a brick house, now riddled by round shot, belonging to Mr. Marye, and are commonly called Marye's Heighta. At their base a road winds, protected on ono side by the hills, and on the other by a solid stone wall, about four feet is height, over which a brigade of Confederates, themselves perfectly sheltered, poured the deadliest and most effective of fires. A little fur ther back, to the south-east of Marye's Heights, stand, another and higher hill, from which the most commanding view of the entire field is obtainable, and which, as it is the lusual station of the Commander-in -Chief, is now known as Gen. Lee's hill. From this hill during a large portion of Saturday, a 3 0-pounder t'arrot gun, cast at the Tredegar Works in Richmond, poured a destructive fire into the Fede rals. Suddenly, about 3in the afternoon, on its 37th dis charge, this gun burst with a dreadful explosion, but hap pily did no injury to any of the bystanders. At the moment of its explosion Captain Phillips, of the Grenadier Guards (favourably remarked this day for his behaviour under fire), Major Venablea, of Gen. Lee's staff, and Major 'Haskell were conversing within a few feet of the gun. Their escape without injury was little less than miraculous. As the Confederal e line treads away to the right, the batteries of Gen. Ilobd's division were actively engaged against the advancing columns of Pennsylvanians; but next to the batteries on Marye's Heights and Gen. Lee's hill, I should say that the artillery commanded by Col. Walker took the most effec tive part in the action, as it poured a flanking fire into the enemy's left.. One other battery deserves favourable men tion, which it obtained in the short and modest report of the battle which emanates from the pen of Gen. Lee. On the extreme right of the Confederates, in front of the posi— tion occupied by Gee. Stuart'e cavalry, a few batteries of Stuart's Horse Artillery were thrown orwaid, to flank the Federals, between Walker's Ar illery and the river. Gen. Stuart ordered Major John Pelham, his Chief of Artillery, to advance one gun considerably towards the enemy, and to open upon him. Major Pelham obeyed, and pened the fire ct a 12-pounder Nappleop eau with great precision and deadly effect into the Federal flank. The galling discharge s of this gun quickly drew upon it the flee• of three Federal field batteries, while from across the river two other heavy batteries js,ined in the strife and made Major Pelham and his gun their target. Vet' hall's, not less than 30 Felerel canteen strOVe tP 019Uce Major Pelbem's popgun, and strove in virin. The unyielding and undemonstrative courage of Major Pelham, his composure under the deadli est fire, have long made him c inspicuous, but never were his noble pplities t)lo Subject of more glowing eulogy than upon this occasion. General Lee exel timed, "It is inspirit ing to see such glorious courage in one so young" (M a j or Pelham is not more than 22); General Jackson remarked, " With a Pelham upon either flank I could vanquish the world." At half-post 8 a.m. General Lee, accompanied by his full staff, rode slowly along the front of the Confederate lines from left to right - , and took up his station for a time beyond Hamilton's Ciessing, and in rear of the batteries on_ the ex treme Confederate right, It would be presumptuous in me to say one word in commendation of the serenity, or, if I may so express it, the unconscious dignity of General Lee's courage, when he is under fire. No one who sees and knows his demeanour in ordinary life would expect anything else from one so calm, so undemonstrative and unassuming, But the description applied after the battle of Alma to Lord Raglan by Marshal St. Arnaud, and in which, nolicipg Lord Raglan's unconsciousness under fire, he speaks of his "antique heroism," seems to me so applicable to General Lee that I cannot forbear recalling it here. At a subsequent period of the day General Lee assumed his sta'i n on the hill which takes its name from him, and thence, in company with General Longstreot, calmly watched the repulse of the repeated Federal efforts against the heights on which he stood. Occasionally General Jackson rode up to the spot and mingled in conversation with the other two le &rig Generals. Once General Longstreot exclaimed to Lim, " Are you not scared by that file of Yankees you have be fore you down there ?" to which General Jackson replied, " Wait till they come a little nearer, and they shall either scare me or I'll scare them." The battle opened when the sun had let in enough light through the mist to disclose the near proximity of the Federal lines and field batteries. The first shot was fired shortly before 10 a.m. from the batteries in the Federal centre, and was directed against General Hood's division. The Pennsylvanian Reserves advanced boldly under a heavy fire against the Confederates who occupied one of the copse wood spurs, and were for a time permitted to hold it, but presently the Confederate batteries opened on them, and a determined charge of the Texans drove the Yankees out of the wood in a confusion form which notning could subse quently rally them. Simultaneously a heavy fire issued from the batteries of General A. P. Hill's and General Early's divisions, which was vigorously replied to by the Fe . detal field batteries. The only advantage momentarily gained by the Federals in this quarter, and which is noticed in General Lee's report, was on the occasion of the oal lapse of a regiment of North 'Carolina conscripts, who broke and ran, but whose place was rapidly taken by more in trepid successors. The cannonading now became general along the entire line. Such a scene, at once terrific and sublime, mortal eye never rested on before, unless the bombardment of Sebastopol by the combined batteries a France and England revealed a more fearful manifestation of the hate and fury of man. The thundering, bellowing roar of hundreds of pieces of artillery, the bright jets of issuing flame, the screaming, hissing, whistling, shrieking projectiles, the wreath of smoke as shell after shell burnt into the still air, the savage crash of round shot among the trees of the shattered forest, formed a scene likely to sink for ever into the memory of all who witnessed it, but utterly defying verbal delineation. A direct and endiading fire swept each battery on either side as it was unmasked, vol ley replied to volley, crash succeeding crash, until the eye lost all power of di•tinguishing the lines of combatants, and the whole plain seemed a lake of fire, a seething mass of molten lava, coursed over by incarnate fiends drunk with fury and revenge. Twice the Federals, gallantly led and encouraged by their officers, d shed against the forces of General A. P. Hill and General Early, and twice they recoiled, broken and discom fitted, and incapable of being again rallied to the fray. The eager Confederates drove them with horrid carnage a mile across the plain, and only desisted from the pursuit when they came under the fire of the Federal batteries across the river. Upon the extreme Confederate right General Stuart's Horse Artillery pressed hotly upon the fugitives, and kept up a fire subsequently understood to have been very effective, until after dark. Upon the Con federate right, where the antagonists fought upon more level terms, the equality of loss upon both sides was greater than on the Confederate left; but even here the Federal loss in officers and men far outnumbered that of their op ponents. General Bayard, the best cavalry officer in the Federal service, fell dead almost on the eve of the day which NI as to have witnessed his nuptials; General Jack son, of Pennsylvania, shared his fate. Many other gene ral officers were carried to the Federal rear, grievously wounded; whereas of the Confederates only one officer of rank—General Gregg—fell upon the right ; and only one— Genet al Cobb—upon the left. Meanwhile, the battle, which had dashed furiously against the lines of Generals Hood, A. P. Hill, and Early, was little more than child's play, as compared with the on - slaught directed by the Federals in the immediate neigh bourhood of Fredericksburg The impression that the Con• federate batteries would not fire heavily upon the Federals advancing in this quarter for fear of injuring the town of Fredericksburg, is believed to have prevailed among the Northern Generals. Hew bitterly they deceived themselves subsequent events served to show. To the Irish division, commanded by General Meagher, was principally com mitted the desperate task of bursting out of the town of Fredericksburg, and forming, under the withering lire of the Confederate batteries, to attack Marye's Heights, lower ing immediately in their front, Never at Fontenoy, at Albuera, "or at Waterloo, was more undoubted courage dis played by the sons of Erin than during these six frantic dashes which they directed against the almost impregnable position of their foe. There are stories that General Meagher harangued his troops in inaphasioncd language on the morning of the 1341, and plied them extensively with the whiskey found in the cellars of Fredericksburg. After witnessing the gallantry and devotion exhi bited by his troops, and viewing the hillsides for acres strewn with their corpses thick as autumnal leaves, the spectator can remember nothing but their desperate courage, and regret that it was not exhibitod in a holier cc use. That auy mortal man c nlcl have carried the position before which they were wantonly sacrificed, defended as it was, it seems to me idle for a moment to believe. But the bodies which lie in dense masses within 40 yards of the muzzles of Colonel Walton's guns are the best evidence what man ner of men they were who pressed on to death with the dauntlessness of a race which has gained glory on a thou sand battle-fields, and never more richly deserved it than at the foot of Marye's Heights on the 13th day of DeceLa ber, 1862, An opportunity of sending this letter, with an encourag ing prospect of its reaching England, compels me to defer a further account of the gallant defence on the Confederate left of the town of Fredericksburg and of the battlefield until a subsequent letter. But it is important to add that, even at this early date, there are abundant evidences that the Confederates, themselves sustaining a loss of about 1,800 killed and wounded, have inflicted upon their enemy a defeat from which it will take him months and months to recover. Such was the demoralisation this evening of the ederal troops as they ran through the streets and cowered in the cellars of Fredericksburg, that hundreds of soldiers exclaimed, " You inv shoot us down, may hang us, or do what you like, but back there," pointing at Marye's Heights, "we will never go again." I forbear to state the estimates of the Federal loss, which place it at an appalling figure, and yet are believed not to be far from the truth. It is not likely that the full details of this battle will be generally known in the North for weeks and weeks ; but if, after the failure of this last and feeblest of all the Fede ral attempts to reach Richmond, with the Northern army unnerved, demoralised, and starting asunder like a broken bow, the Irish and Germans are again tempted to embark in so hopeless a venture, then is the conclusion irresistible that, in addition to all the shackles of desp,tisin which they are alleged to have left behind them in Europe', they have left also that most valuable attribute of humanity, which is called common sense, . • „. RESPITE OF MARY COX.—On Saturday morning Mr. Green, the governor of Durham Gaol, received a communication from Sir George Grey, the Home Secre tary, ordering that Mary C, x should be respited until fur ther signification of her Majesty's pleasure. The prisoner, it will be remembered, was convicted along with her hus • band, John Cox, at the last urham assizes, of the murder, of `an old woman, Mimed Ann Halliday, at a place called Broadmirea, near the city of Durham. John Cox Was:executed on the 23d ult., but the sentence on Mary Cox was ordered to be deferred until after her confinement, a jury of matrons having declared her to be pregnant. The decision of the Home Secretary was made known to the prisoner by the ttev. Provost Platt, Catholic priest, who has been in attendance upon her since her condemnation. STATUE OF LORD COCKRURN.--A statue to the late Henry Cockburn, the eminent scotch barrister and judge, has just been placed in the Parliament-house, Edinburgh. Though comparatively little known south of the Tweed, Cockburn is a name familiar to every Scotch. I man. He was through ou t hi s l ong lif e c l ose l y associated with Francis Jeffrey, especially in the institution of the Edinburgh Review, and in the early movements in Scotland for political reform. When Jeffrey became Lord Advocate on the Whigs coming into office in 1830, Cockburn was ap.. pointed Solicitor-General of Scotland, and held that office till his elevation to the bench in 1834. As a pleader his displays of forensic eloquence are regarded as among the most striking and persuasive ever heard at the Scotch bat, and his judicial decisions are looked back to with high admiration and respect. . But it was as a patriotic and kindly Scotchman, deeply attached to his country and his countrymen, that his Memory is most revered in the North. As the biographer of Jeffrey, whom he survived four years, he produced one of the most interesting books in Scottish literature. The statue, which is erected by subscription, is from the chisel of Mr. W. B. Brodie, R.S.A. It is a full-length figure, in the robe of Solicitor- General. The likeness is remarkably truthful and vivid, and the attitude very faithfully represents the placid but dignified deportment of the man. The work is undoubtedly the finest this able sculptor has produced. The following is the incription on the pedestal :—" Henry Cockburn, born October 26, 1779 ; Solicitor-General, 1830 ; Senator of the College of Justice, 1834 ; died, April 26, 1844," The figure is placed a little to the right of Itoubillac's famous statue cf Lord President Forbes. The old Parliament house of Scotland (which has been since the Union an ad junct to the law courts) has now a series of, seven statues, those of Lord Jeffrey, and Lord President Boyle, by Steell, being (excepting Cockburn) the latest additions. The Colliery Accident in Shropshire. A The adjourned inquest upon the bodies of the twelve men and boys who were recently killed by being precipitated down the shaft of a pit belong. ing to' the Lilleshall Company, at Prior's Lee,' Shropshire, was held yesterday at Okengates, a small town a short distance away from the scene of the accident. The first witness now called was Mr. John Lloyd, who stated that since the com mencement of the inquest the broken side of the spring-box having been tested by an hydraulic press had been fonnd capable of bearing a strain of 30 tens. A letter had also been received from the maker, in which it was asserted that the iron of, which i.be box was constructed was of the Low Moor descriniee, which had been always considered as the quality cf metal calculated to bear the greatest sir `i r. Witness knew that there were in existences acv , 1 contrivances for securing a coveys's:in the event of a breakage of the spring-box. inasmuch as such contrivances were usually complicated and and easily liable to derangement, no one of them was in use at this pit. Had one been employed on the present occasion, and had it been in perfect re pair, there was every probability that the accident would have been prevented. He could assign no reason for the breakage of the iron in this instance. John Marrion 'again stated that a careful ex amination of the drawing apparatus had been made about a fortnight before the occurrence of the acci dent. No fracture of any part was visible. Sup posing that the cage had on any occasion been overdrawn, it was probable that a fracture of the spring-box would have been the result. Nothing of this kind had, however, occurred at the, pit in question. Unless by a sudden jerk, no reason was apparent for the fracture by which the accident was caused. Mr. Wynn, the district inspector of mince,' de-. posed that by one of the colliery rules the banksman: was prohibited from sending down the shaft of a . pit more than eight persons at a time. Respecting: the cause of the fracture of the box he could give no,J positive information. As an opinion, he thought the reason might possibly be found in a sudden snatch of the cage from the bottom of the shut,' through injudicious hurry on the part of the engi-' neer on the surface. The safety contrivance before alluded t 3 should, he thought, be applied in all cases. He had known many instances in which its use had prevented an accident, and had such a pre-I caution been taken at this pit there could be no , question but that the lives of the deceased would have been saved. • A verdict of accidental death was ultimately de- livered, accompanied by an expression of opinion that sufficient attention had not been paid to the examination of the box and other apparatus in -use' at the mouth of the pit. ~. COUNTRY MARKETS. 1. , COLCHESTER —JAN. 10. . • . • Best samples of wheat may be quoted Vire turn in favour of the seller. Fine barley was again scarce, and is over last week's rates. Beans and peas Were not plentiful, and sold slowly at last week' s ra t es . Wheat, white 46 s 52 8 . B eans, Mazagan .. 30s 335 . red 42s 48s middle & 5ma11.353 42s Barley Oats . ...... 20s 26s gray 35s 38s GLOUCESTER—JAN. 10. To-day there was a goed supply of English wheat, which sold at luly th e same rates as last week. Foreign in brisk request. Malting barley also in request, and in some in stances advanced is per qr. Beans were dull. Oats were rather firmer. CHELMSFORD-J&w. 9. A fair supply of wheat, and a few dry samples realised Is per qr advance ; other sorts were about the same. Good qualities of barley also may be noted is over the previous week's quotations. All other spring corn unaltered. Wheat, old whito...37s 54s i t eas, Partridge.. 40s new 1 7s ls White 39s 408 old red....42s 450 s Boiling .. 40s 438 new ...... 38s 48s Dun 358 388 Barley ............ 2's 36s Ditto new .. --s Chevalier ..28s 39s Beans, Tide, 'old ..348 395. Grinding........ 228 31s new..—s Malt. ......... 61s 676 Harrow Ticks ..35s 403 Chevalier . ..... 64s 69s new..—s —Bl Oats . ..20s 28s Mazagan .......30s 38s . KIRKCALDY GRAIN—J4x. 10. A moderate supply of wheat and barley at market, but good of oats. Sales not very ready, but prices were much the same as last week for wheat, and 6d to is per quarter advance for barley and oats. Wheat. Barley. Oats. Od I 22s Od I 188 6d Second ..40e Od 26 s 6d 21s Od Third....—s Od —a Od —s Od COAL A erioes of Coal per Ton a 8. d. AILKET. *tliiefose of the market. Walls End. Byass's BeWide West s. d. Hartley....l6 3 I HettOn l9 0 Carway and Duffryn 1 Tunstall Malting Do. Anthracite.. 20 6 Caiadoe Lambert's We s t Hart ley ; Hough Hall 17 3 16 0' Hadley . 17 0 Wylam ifield M00r..... 16 3 Framw e ll g at e 17 6 fa t... 13 6 Hartlepool. lB 6 Hal astings Hartley ....16 3 South H art l epool 17 6 liywell 16 0 Briddyll'a Hatton 18 3 Edon p1ain....., .....17 3 Burn. ........... . l7 0 H aswell ........ 19 0 Keiper Grange.... ..17 9 Stewart's 18 6 Cassop 18 0 Wang End K elloe South Kelloe . 17 9 imd on. Hartlepool ..17 6 Ships at market, 83 ; sold, 81. Foreign Mail Packet List. MAILS DUE. Aus - aalia and Mauritius, via Soutlr..mpton. ..... . Jan. 18. via Marseilles.. Jan. 12. Brazil and Cape Verds,, by Bri 4 .ish packet. Feb. 3. Cape of Good Hope, Ascensiu, and St. Helena.. Feb. 1. China, Penang, and Singapore, via Southampt on .j an . 18. Falkland I s la n d s ...... via Marseilles ...J an , 12. Gibraltar, vi a S outhampton .... Feb. 3. J 10 India (Calcutt a ), an d Ceylon, via Jan. Southampton lB.. - lndia via Marseilles Jan. 12. (Bombay), via Southampton Jan. 10. via -Marseilles. .. P0rtuga1....... Ja. 20. ......................... Feb. 3. Malta, Egypt, • and Aden, via Southampton Jan. 10. Newfoundland ......... via Mars e ill es Jan, 12. .... Jan. 21. Oporto and Vigo .............. . 'U. S. and British N. America, by Brit. packet J an . 15. by U.S. packet b Canadian packet Jan. 18 W.C. of Africa, Madeira, and T y eneriffe Jan. 10.. Bahamas, via N ew Y or k Jan 16. Mexico . All parts of W es t I n di es, i ncluding Chili, Peru,....Jan. 28 }Jan. 13. California, and Briti s h Columbia.. [ArATEß,Tisnisirtt 3—Holloway's Ointment and Pills.-- Scarlet Fever.—Thousands are daily falling around us pre maturely cut off by this fearful scourge, This ointment frequently and perseveringly rubbed upon the throat, will stimulate the vessels of the skin to throw out the bright scarlet rash, and to keep out till the dangerous crisis has passed. Holloway's pills should be taken with discretion, at the same time; they ditninish the attendant fever, reduce, the quicken e d pu l se, cool the hot skin, and promote sleep.' ,The patient, thus treated, will safely get through this afflic tion. This ointment at once strikes a death blow to the inflammation which threatens the throat with destruction,: whose ravages often leave behind an incurable deafness terminable only with life itself, Births. COCHRANE.—On the 11th inst., at Swakeleys, Middlesex, the wife of Captain Thomas Cochran, Royal Navy, of a son. CONSTABLE—On the 11th inst., at liirkdale, Sydenham, Mrs. George "W. Constable, of a son. D'OTLY.—On the 9th inst., at 15, Gloucester-place, Port man-square, the wife of the Rev. Charles J. D'Oyly, of a daughter. Marriages. BLA .CIIBURN—SANG.—On the 11th inst., at St. Mary's' Hampstead, J.W. Vernon Blackburn, Esq., ban ister-at law, eldest son of John Blackburn, Esq., coroner for the borough of Leeds, to Elizabeth Johanna Margaret, eldest daughter of F. Sang, Esq., of Leigh House, Hampstead. PRIOR—HADAWAY.—On the 20th Nov., at Saint Mary's Church, Poona, E. 1., Lieut.-Colonel Prior, 6th Innis killing l Iragoons, to Nina Jessie, eldest daughter of S.. M. Hadaway, Esq , Deputy Ins pector-General British Forces. Deaths. BODDINGTON.- -On the Bth inst., at Burcher, Hereford shire, Reginald Brook Boddington, Esq., aged 53. BRENTON.—On the 9th inst., at Brigham Vicarage, De von, Harriet, Lady Brenton, aged 74. DAWSON —On the 10th inst., suddenly, at Great Munden Rectory, Herts, the ktev. Henry Dawson, rector of the parish. FELL —On the 9th inst., at Clapham, Edmund Fell, Esq., aged 42. IMRIE.—On the 10th inst., at Claremont, West Derby, Liverpool, Wm. Imrie, EA . ., aged 67. PECRELL.—On the 10th inst., at Liverpool, su dd en ly, Augustus Pechell, E sq . , aged 72. TAlLOR.—Hagedenry Taylor, Es q ., 17 , Clement's-inn, barris• ter-at-law, 43. London c Printed and Published by WILLIAM ANDREWS, of No. 112, Strand, Printer, at THE SUN Ofnee, No. 112, Strand, in the Precinct of the Savoy, in the County ItUddlesex,-,quesclay, January 13,1883.