The Sun. — London, England, 1863-09-03 00:00:00

A Message from America to Europe. The following " circular" has been addressed by the Government at Washington to the United States Consuls in Europe :-- "Department of State, Washington, Aug. 12. "Sir,—Whenever the United States have complained of the premature decrees of Great Britain and France, which accorded the character of a belligerent to the insurgents, the statesmen of those countries have answered, that from the first they agreed in opinion that the efforts of the Go vernment to maintain the Union, and preserve the integrity of the republic, could not be successful. With a view to correct this prejudgment of so vital a question I addressed a circular letter to the representatives of the United States in foreign countries on the 14th of April, 1862, in which I reviewed the operations of the war on sea and land, and presented the results which had attended it down to that period. The prejudice, which I then attempted to remove, still remains, and it constitutes the basis of all that is de signedly or undesignedly injurious to this country in the policy of foreign nations. The insurp-nts have been enabled to protract their resistance by means of sympathy and aid they have received from abroad, and the expectation of fur ther and more effective foreign assistance is now their chief resource. A new effort, therefore, to correct that prejudice is demanded, equally by a prudent concern for our foreign relations, and by the paramount interests of peace and hu manity at home. In the battles of August, 1862, the Union forces suf fered some severe and appalling reverses. But they resulted in the reunion of the army which had been called in from the peninsula below Richmond with the army which had its position between that strongly fortified seat of the insur rection and this capital. The wisdom of this reunion was soon to be vindicated. The insurgent army, flushed with its recent successes, and expecting that a sympathetic interest of slavery would produce an uprising of the people of Mary land in its favour, for the first time crossed the Potomac river. Harper's Ferry, with many prisoners, fell into its hands, rather through accidents in preparing its defence than because it was indefensible. Nevertheless, the expecta tion of recruits signally failed. General M'Clellan, com manding the now consolidated forces of the Army of the Potomac, was reinforced by fresh levies from Pennsylvania and by detachments called in from neighbouring forts. He drove the insurgents from their positions at South Mountain and Crampton's Gap, About the middle of September the two opposing armies confronted each other at Sharpsburg, and a pitched battle w as fou g ht on the banks of the Antie tam and Potomac. It was well sustained on both sides. Men of one race and training directed the armies, whose rank and file were substantially of one blood, and even nearly equal in numbers. The arrogant assumption of superior valour and heroism which the insurgents had brought into the contest, and had cherished throughout its early stages, peri s h e d on that sanguinary field. The insurgent army, shattered in theca nflict, abandoned the invasion of Mary land, and soug refuge and opportunity to recover its wasted strength in Virginia behind its accustomed barrier, the Potomac. " While Lee was thus attempting Maryland, the equally bold and alarming enterprise of carrying the war through Kentucky into Ohio was assigned to Bragg, who was in command of the insurgent army on the southern border of Tennessee. He, with great rapidity, moved from Chatta nooga, turned the left flank of General Buell, and appeal ing for reinforcements to the slavery-inspired sentiments which existed in Kentucky and Tennessee, directed his forces against Louisville and Cincinnati. An uprising of the farmers of Ohio confronted and turned away the devasta tion from the latter city. General Buell followed the main column of invasion, outmarched it on the way to Louisville, and obliged it to take a direction eastward. The two in surgent columns, being united at Perryville, were attacked by General Buall. The battle, like all our contests, was obstinate and bloody. Bragg, after severe losses, retreated through a comparatively barren, region and Buell was obliged to abandon the pursuit by the complete exhaustion of all the sources of supply. The insurgent commander crossed the Cumberland Mountains, and then, marching westward, took up a position at Murfreeeborough, fortified there, and proceeded to recruit his wasted forces. "Van Dorn and Price were at the same period in com- wand of vary considerable forces in Mississippi and Alabama, and to them was assigned the third part in the grand invasion of the loyal States which the cabal at Richmond had decreed. This was an attempt, as they called it, to deliver, but, in fact, to subjugate Western Tennessee and Kentucky. General Rosecrans received the assault of those portions of the in surgent forces at Corinth, defeated them with great slaughter and drove them backward, so that they neither reached nor approached the region which they were appointed to invade. General Rosecrans, called to succeed General Buell in command of the army of the Cumberland, then en tered Nashville, which the insurgents had before invested in carrying out their general scheme of invasion. He raised the siege and prepared for offensive action. In the last days of the year he issued from Nashville, and delivered a san guinary battle at Ston3 River, which gave him possession of Murfreesborough ; Bragg retreated to Shelbyville and Tullahoma, and there again rested and intrenched. A long period of needed rest was now employed by the respective parties in increasing the strength and efficiency of their armies, but this repose was broken by frequent skirmishes and by cavalry expeditions, which penetrated hostile regions sometimes hundreds of miles, and effected breaches of mili tary connections and a destruction of military stores upon an extensive scale, while they kept up the spirit of the troops and hardened them for more general and severe conflicts. " Vicksburg then remained in the hands of the insur gents, the principal key to the navigation of the Mississippi river—a navigation which was confessed on all sides to be absolutely essential to the United States, and when re opened by them, fatal to the insurrection. The duty of wresting that key from the insurgents had been devolved on the navy, with the aid of a considerable land force, then encamped on the west bank of the Mississippi river. But new and unforeseen difficulties continually based the enterprise, and seemed to render it impossible. General Grant, who was at the head of the department and of the army of the Tennessee, at length assumed the active cone mand of the troops investing the stronghold, and these were adequately reinforced. The naval squadron on the Missis sippi, under command of Rear-Admiral Porter, was also steadily increased until more than 100 armed vessels were employed upon the river, including many iron-clad gunboats of great power, Part of the Gulf squadron, under Admiral Farragut, gallantly running the batteries of Port Hudson under a fierce fire, co-operated with the river fleets. Labo rious and persevering attempts were made to open an arti ficial channel for the river opposite Vicksburg, as had been done with such signal success at Island No. 10. But the various canals, projected and executed, failed, and only a few small steamers of no considerable power were thus en abled to pass the city. Combined land and naval expedi tions were also sent forth, which, with infinite pains and endurance, attempted to turn the enemy's works by navi gating the various bayous and sluggish rivers, whose intri cate network forms so singular a feature of the military topography of the banks of the Mississippi. All theeeattempts having failed from physical obstacles found to be insur mountable, Gen. Grant and Admiral Porter at last put afloat armed steamers and steam transports, which ran through the fires of the long line of shore batteries which the insur gents had erected at Vicksburg and its chief supports,War renton and Grand Gulf. At the same time the land forces moved down the right bank of the river to a point below Grand Gulf, where they crossed in the steamers which had effected so dangerous a passage. The batteries of Grand Gulf for several hours resisted a bombardment by the gunboats at short range, but they fell into the hands of the admiral " Boon as Gen. Grant's forces appeared behind them. Gen. Grant, through a series of brilliant manoeuvres, with marches interrupted by desperate battles day atter day, suc ceeded in then dividing and separating the insurgent forces. He attackedt the chief a u x ili ar y co l um n under Johnston, and dro ve Having d ont of J a ckson, the capital of Mississippi. out the railroad bridges and military stores there, Gen, Grant turned at once to the west. Numerous combs.' s ensued, in a inall of which th e l o y a l arms were success ful. Loring, usiderable insurgent force was driven off towards the Routh-seat, while Pemberton, after a loss of 60 pieces of artillery and within the fortified many ih prisoners, regained his shel teraoe! of Vicksburg, with an army now reduced to betwee n hea r oo o and 40,000 men. During these movements the th batteries of the insurgents which were established na : r y im e month of the Yazoo River, and which constituted an tpahoretn and razed by Rear ant part of the defensive s y s tem of Vicksburg, Were Ad m i ra l Porter, who thereupon Bent aa t the Mi ss i ss ippi, detachment of his fleet up that important tribute nurnero a nd effectually destroyed the ry vessels and s t ore s which were f ound w ithin and us upon its banks. General Grant , durin g these brilliant operations, h a d necessarily oper ated b y a movable eel now re-established his communications with the eina.er fleets above as well as belo w Vicksburg, invested the town, and ignorant of the numbers enclosed within its defenc es , at tempted an assault. Though bravely and vigorously made it was nevertheless unsuccessful. He thereupon sat down before the fortifications, to reduce them by the less bloody but sure methods of siege. Pemberton made a gallant de. fence, hoping for relief from Johnston. Strenuous efforts were ma,le by the chiefs at Richmond to enable Johnston to render that aesistince. They detached and sent him troops from Bragg's army on the frontier of Alabama, and from Beauterard's commend from South Carolina, and in doing this they endangered both of those armies. AU the capable free men of Mississippi were called to the rescue of the ca pital of their State, and to save the stronghold of the trea sonable Confederacy which was besieged within their limits. Moreover, the besieged post was in the very centre of the slave popujation of that Confederacy, and the President's proclamation of freedom would be sounded in their hearing if the stronghold s h ould fall—but the effort required was too great for the demoralised and exhausted condition of the insurgents. Johnston did not arrive to raise the siege, nor did success attend any of the attempts from within to break the skilfully drawn lines of General Grant. On the 6th of July General Pemberton laid down his arms and surrendered the post, with 30,000 men, 200 pieces of artil lery, 70,000 small arms, and a mmunition sufficient for a six years' defence. This capture was as remarkable as the famous one made by Napoleon at Ulm. " On the same day au insurgent attack upon General Prentice, at Helena, situated on the right bank of the Mis sissippi, in the State of Arkansas, was repulseal with the loss of many prisoners on the part of the assailants. As if the anniversary so identified with the nation's hopes was appointed to be peculiarly eventful, Lee, who had again entered Maryland, and passing through the State had approached the Susquehannah, threatening Harrisburg, Pittsburg, Philadelphia, and Baltimore, fell back, after pitched battles continued for three days at Gettysburg, and resumed his retreat, with an army even worse shattered than before, to his accustomed position on the Rappahan nock, "On the Bth of July the insurgent garrison at Port Hud son, 6,000 strong, after enduring a long siege with the ut most courage, surrendered unconditionally to Gen. Banks; and thus the United States recovered from the insurgents the last of the numerous posts by which for more than two years they had effectually destroyed the navigation of the Mississippi. This great river, which in time of peace con tributes relatively as much towards:a supply of the increased wants of mankind as the Nile did to those wants in the time of the Roman Empire, is now again opened to the inland commerce of the country. Steamers descend the river and its tributaries from the navigable floods to the Gulf of Mexico. It is not to be doubted that the insurgent losses in these operations cn the Mississippi amount to 50,000 men and 300 pieces of artillery, a large portion of which were of heavy calibre. Johnstone's army, which at the time of the surrender was advancing to threaten the besiegers, at once fell back to Jackson, and it was again driven from that capital by a detachment which Gen. Grant had committed to the command of Gen. Sherman. In retiring, Johnstone fired many buildings filled with munitions o f war, and abandoned a large quantity of railroad locomotives and cars, which had been detained at that place by reason of the railroads north, south, east, and w est of Jackson having been previously cut by the Government forces. " General Sherman now desisted from the pursu . it of Johnstone and returned to Vicksburg, where a portion of the army is enjoying repo se, not more necessary than well earned, while others are engaged in expelling from the Mis sissippi roving bands of th e insur g ents who infest its banks and fire from thence upon passing steamers. It is reported that Johnstone with the troops at his disposal, now said to number 25,000, has fallen back to Meridian, on the eastern border of Mississippi, 120 miles east of Vicksburg, so that the State whose misguided penile were among the earliest and most intemperate abettors of the insurrection is virtually abandoned by its military agents. " Iu Louisiana Gen. Banks succeeded Gen. Butler. After spending some months in organising the department and disciplining the new levies which constituted its force, Gen. Bankd made a rapid and successful series of marches and contests, in which he drove the insurgents out of the Atta kapas and Teehe regions, well known as the richest por tions of that very productive State, captured Alexandria and Donaldsonville, the seats of its fugitive seditious execu tive and legislative authori tniweoasu,s Rouge, nc theer o , a s idon s ndevdil invested nee h dma e aMF columnnoi ir s n s t i gH s o s Mississippi which, ha ai ßayou cahs, e S e xn a and dgingf there rvomi ckß receiving b autorngwhich glHudson, hold of the insurrection on the great river. " It will be remembered that on the 22d day of September, 1862, the President issued a proclamation requiring the in surgents to lay down their arms and return to their allegi ance, under the penalty that, in all the districts where the insurrection should be still maintained with the support of the people, he would on the Ist January then next proclaim as a military measure the freedom of the slaves. The warn ing was generally rejected and defied, but the proclamation which it heralded was:duly issued. As the national armies advanced into the insurrectionary territories, slaves in con siderable numbers accepted their freedom, and came under the protection of the national flag. Amid the great prejudice and many embarrassments which attended a measure so new and so divergent from the political habits of the country, freedmen with commendable alacrity enlisted in the Federal army. There was in some quarters a painful inquiry about their moral capacity for service. That uncer tainty was brought to a sudden end in the siege of Port Hudson. The newly-raised negro regiments exhibited all necessary valour and devotion in the military assaults which were made, with desperate courage, and not without fearful loss, by Gen. Banks, This protracted operation engaged nearly all Gen. Bank's available forces, While it was going on insurgent troops which were called up from Texas re cupied much of the south-western portion of Louisiana which he had before reclaimed. The surrender of Port Hudson, however, set his army at liberty, and he has already made considerable progress in restoring the national au thority thus temporarily displaced. " The complete occupation of the Mississippi by the na tional forces has effectually divided the insurrectionary region into two parts, and among the important features of this division, one which is of the highest practical signi ficance is that the field of military operations of the insur rection is chiefly on the eastern side of the river, while its supplies have been mainly drawn from the prairies of Ar kansas and Texas, which stretch away from the western shore. These prairies can no longer supply the insurgents with cattle for sustenance and use in the field ; and, on the other hand, arms, ordnance, and ammunition can no longer be sent from the eastern manufactories and deposits to forces employed or in garrison in the west. The value of the acquisition cf the Mississippi in this respect was illus trated only a few days since in the capture by General Grant, near Natchez, of 5,000 beeves and 2,000 mules which had crossed to the eastern bank, and at the same time many hundred thousands of cartridges and other stores which had just been landed at the western end of the same ferry, "A vigorous blockade has been maintained at Charleston ; and although fast steamers, of light draught and painted with obscure colours, occasionally succeed in slipping through the blockading squadron in the morning and even 7 ing twilight, many are destroyed and more are captured. An attack by the fleet made on the 7th day of April last upon the forts and batteries which defend the harbour failed because the rope obstructions in the channel fouled the screws of the iron-clads, and compelled them to retire after passing through the fire of the batteries. Those vessels bore the fire of the forts, although some defects of construction were revealed by the injuries they received. The crews passed through an unexampled cannonade with singular impunity. Not one life was lost on board of a Monitor. The defects disclosed have been remedied, and an attack is now in progress, with good prospect of ultimate success, having for its obj , ct the reduction of the forts in the harbour by combined sea and land forces. We occupy more than half of Morris's Island with land forces, which, aided by batteries afloat and batteries ashore, aro pushing siege works up to Furt Wagner, a strong earthwork which has been twice assaulted with great gallantry, but without suc cess. On the 17th of June the Atalanta, which was regarded by the insurgents as their most formidable iron-clad ves sel, left Savannah, and came down the Wilmington river. The national iron-clads Weehawken,Capt. John Rogers,and Nahant, Commander J. Downs, were in readiness to meet her. At 454 the Atalanta fired a rifle shot across the stern of the Weehawken, which struck near the Nahant. At 5 15 the Weehawken, at a range of 300 yards, opened upon the Atalanta, whi c h h a d t h en grounded. The Weehaw k en fired five shots, four of which took effect on the Atalanta. She surrendered at 5 50. Our lines have notchanged in North Carolina. All attempts of the insurgents to recapture the towns from which they had been expelled have been repulsed. Much damage has been inflicted upon their communications, and valuable military stores have been destroyed by expeditions into the interior. North Carelina shows some symptoms if disaffeo r tion towards the insurgent league. Similar indications are exhibited in Mississippi, Alabama, Arkansas, and Texas. " The situation on the York and James rivers has re mained unchanged since the withdrawal of tha army of Gen. M'Clellan from the Peninsula a year ago. Attempts by the insurgents to retake Williamsburg and Suffolk have been defeated, but the garrison at the latter place has been withdrawn for purely military reasons to a more defensible line. "I now return to the Army of the an end which was we nt t i o i : the first in surgent r d e c ro obliges s e d d left resting and refitting after putting invasion of Maryland. Gen. the Potomac and entered Virginia in Novembe r the invading forces under Lee to fall backward to Gordona villa, south of the Rapp ahannock. Whe n the Army of the Potomac reached Warren ton it was p lac ed under command of General Burnside. H e marched to Falmo uth, hoping to cross the Rappahannock a t Fredericksbur g , and t o move at once upon Richmond. Delays.resulting from various causes, without fault of the General, permitted the insurgents to occupy the heights of Fredericksburg; and when at length, in December, General Burnside crossed the Rappahannock, his assault upon Lee's well-fortified position failed. He skilfully recrossed the river without loss. Gen. Hooker suc ceeded to the command, and it was not until the beginning of May that the condition of the river and roads permitted a renewal of offensive operations. The General crossed the Rappahannock and accepted a battle, which proved equally sanguinary to both parties, and successful to the army of the Potomac. The heights of Fredericksburg were captured by Gen: Sedgwick's corps, but the whole army was com pelled to return to the north bank of the river. After this battle Lee, in the latter part of May and in June, withdrew his _k of the an armyfrom Gen. Hooker's front, and ascending the south bßapidan, towards the sources of the Rappahan nock, entered t empted the l fortunethe oSfhwenuarnbdyofanhvVedatnfigeyf,healnoydalonscteetems.oA severe re cavalry engagement at Beverly F or d un masked this movement • The army of the Potomac broke up its camps and marched to th e encounter. Th e m ili t i a of M ary l an d , Penney van i a' and New Yo r k fl ew t o arms , an d occu pi e d Baltimore, Harrisburg, and the line of the Susquehannah. The two arm i es met at Gettysburg, in Pennsylvania, and after a fie rce contest of three days' duration, and terrible slaughter on b o th sides, the insurgents recoiled from the position held by Gen. Meade, who h a d t h en b een only four days in command of the arm the day of the surrender of V : ic a Vicksburg, sbthe Potomac. On July 4, i ng through Chambersburg and uaulVwn to , Lee retreated, pass where the proper disposition to attack Williamsport, him was made by Gen. Meade. Deceiv ed concerning the d to be unfordable, Gen. state of the river, suppose Me ade, hourly reinforcements, delayed the attack a day too 1: expecting insurgents partly by fording and partly by floatin g b and the succeeded in withdrawing across the river by night,witlidtges, artillery and a great part of their baggage. Much of this bag_ gage, as well as of the plunder which Lee had collected, w - e ; destroyed by cavalry, or thrown ont of the waggons to make room for the wounded whom Lee carried off from the battle. field. He had buried most of his dead of the first day's conflict at Gettysburg. The remainder, together with those who fell on the second and third days of the battle, in all, 4,500, were buried by the victorious army. Many thousand in surgents, wounded and captives, fell into the hands of General Meade. It is not doubted that the second unsuc cessful invasion cost the insurgents 40,000 men. Our own loss was severe, for the strife was obstinate and deadly. General Meade crossed the Potomac. Lee retired again to Gordonsville, where he is now understood to be in front of our forces, " While the stirring events which have been related were occurring in the East and in the West, General Rosecrans advanced upon Bragg, who, with little fighting, hastily abandoned his fortified positions of Shelbyville and Tulla homa, in Southern Tennessee. General Rosecrans took, hurried retreat, has fallen back to Chattanooga . and he yet holds them, while B ra gg , with severe I lo t s i s s i o n n a . derstood that his army had been already much weakened by detachments sent from it to reinforce Johnstone, with a view to a raising of the siege of Vicksburg. h the " I must not overlook the o p erations of cavalr y . General St onem an, in connection a rapid w an it d h eif th e e oti m vo ov p e a m ss e a n g t e n th p r o o n ug Chan cellorsville, ma insurgent country, from the Rappahannock to the York river, which will be remembered among the striking achieve ments of the war. While our forces were operating against Vicksburg and Port Hudson, Colonel Grierson, with a force of 1,500 men, left Corinth, on the northern border of the State of Mississippi, and made an expedition, in which he broke military communications, destroyed stores, and effected captures through the length and breadth of the State, and finally, without serious loss, joined the army of General banks, then engaged in the siege of Port Hudson. " John Morgan, hitherto the most successful of the in surgent partisans, recently passsed through the lines of Gen. Burnside, accross the States of Tennessee and Kentucky ; moving northward, and avoiding all large bodies of our troops, he reached the Ohio river at Brandenburg, below Louisville, and seized two steamboats, with which he crossed into Indiana. Thence proceeding rapidly eastward, subsist ing on the country and impressing horses as his own gave out, he traversed a portion of Indiana and nearly the whole breadth of Ohio, destroying railroad stations and bridges, and plundering the defenceless villages. The people rallied to arms under the call of their governors. Some of them occupied the most important points, while others barricaded the road or hung upon the rear of the intruders. Morgan found no disaffected citizens to recruit his wasted ranks, and when he reached the Ohio his force was prevented from cros,iag by the gunboats and driven backward with great slaughter. His force was between 2,600 and 4,000 horse, with several pieces of artillery. Only some 300 succeeded in recrossing the Ohio and escaping into the wilds of Western Virginia. Many perished in battles and skirmishes, and the remainder, including Morgan himself, his principal officers, and all his artillery, were finally captured by the national forces. An attempt has just been made by the in sargents to invade Eastern Kentucky, which probably was begun with a view to make a diversion in favour of Morgan's escape, but the forces, after penetrating as far as Lexington, have been routed by detachments from General Burnside's army and pursued, with the capture of many prisoners and ail their artillery. " This review of the campaign shows that no great pro gress has been made by our arms in the East. The opposing forces there have been too equally matched to allow great advantages to accrue to either party ; while the necessity of covering the national capital in all contingencies has con stantly restrained our generals, and forbidden such bold and dangerous movements as usually conduct to brilliant mili tary success. In the West, however, the results have been morn gratifying. 50,000 square miles have been reclaimed from the possession of the insurgents. On referring to the annexed map it will be seen that since the breaking out of the insurrection the Government has extended its former sway over and through a region of 200,000 square miles, an area as large as Austria or France, or the peninsula of Spain and Portugal. The insurgents lost in the various field and siege operationsof the month of July which I have described one-third of their whole forces. " Jefferson Davis, the leader of the sedition, has since proclaimed a levy of all the able-bodied men within his mili tary lines. This, if carried into effect, will exhaust the whole material of which soldiers can be made. The insurgents estimate the total number of conscripts thus to be gained at from 70,000 to 95,000. Our armies now confront the insur gents at all points with superior numbers. A draught for 300,000 more is in progress to replace those whose terms of service have expired, and to fill up the wasted ranks of our veteran regiments ; and the people, just so fast as the evi dence of the necessity for that measure is received and di gested, submit with cheerfulness to the ascertained demands. Our armies everywhere are well equipped, abundantly fed, and supplied with all the means of transportation. The sol diers of two years' service bear themselves as veterans, and show great steadiness in every conflict. The men, accus tomed to the camp, and hardened by exercise and experi ence, make marches which would have been impossible in the beginning of the contest. The nation is becoming fami liar with arms, and easily takes on the habits of war. Large voluntary enlistments continually augment our military force. All supplies are abundantly and cheaply purchased within our lines. The country shows no signs of exhaustion of money, material, or men, A requisition for 6,200 re mount horses was filled and the animals despatched from Washington ell in four days. Our loan is purchased at par by our own citiaens at the average rate of 1,200,000 daily. Gold sells in our market at 120 to 128, while in the insur rectionary region it commands 1,200 per cent. prem. " Every insurgent port is either blockaded, besieged, or occupied by the national forces. The field of the projected confederacy is divided by the Mississippi. All the fortifica tions on its banks are in our hands, and its flood is patrolled by the Federal fleet. " Missouri, Kentucky, Delaware, Maryland—all slave States—support the Federal Government. Missouri has already in convention ordained the gradual abolition of slavery, to take effect at the expiration of seven years. Four -fifths of Tennessee, two-thirds of Virginia, the coasts and Sounds of North Carolina, half of Mississippi, and half of Louisiana, with all their large cities, part of Alabama, and the whole sea coast of Georgia and South Carolina, and no inconsiderable part of the coast of Florida, are held by the 'United States. The insurgents, with the slaves whom they yet hold in defiance of the President's proclamation, are now crowded into the central and southern portions of Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, and Alabama, while the pioneer slaveholding insurgents beyond the Mississippi are cut off from the main force. On the other hand, although it is less than six months since the laws or customs of the United States would allow a man of African descent to bear arms in defence of his country, there are now in the field 22,000 regularly enlisted, armed and equipped soldiers of that class, while 50 regiments of 1,000 each are in process of organisation, and 62,800 persons of the same class are employed as teamsters, labourers, and camp followers. These facts, show that, as the insurrection continues, the unfortunate servile population, which was at the beginning an element of its strength, is being transferred to the sup• port of the Union. " You will use the facts presented in this paper in such a way as may be most effective to convince those who seek a renewal of commercial prosperity through the restoration of peace in America, that the quickest and shortest way to gain the desired end is to withdraw support and favour from the insurgents, and to leave the adjustment of our domestic controversies, exciusively with the people of the United States.—l am, Sir, your obedient servant, " WILLIAM H. SEWARD." COLT'S REVOLVERS are to be extensively intro duced into the Prussian army, and the cavalry and artillery officers are to be supplied with them immediately. A violent hailstorm broke over the town and neighbourhood of Cahors (Let) two days ago. At Bellevue, a man named Tilsac had just entered his house when the building was strack by lightning and set on fire. The owner escaped uninjured, but an umbrella which he cart ied in his hand was literally consumed by the electric fluid. The flames of the house spread so rapidly that nothing could be saved. A NAPLES letter in the Opinion of Turin gives an account of the trial now going on of the mur derers of a watchmaker, named Ruffo, who was waylaid about a fortnight back in the immediate Leighbourhood of that city. The trial excites great interest, and on the 25th August the Court was crowded, especially with cammor rists, who want, if possible, to intimidate the judges. While one of the counsel was engaged in the defense of a workman named Cherubini, who had been in the service of deceased, and was supposed to be the chief author of the murder, the report of a musket was suddenly heard, and immediately afterwards the roll of the drum, calling out the guard. Great confusion was occasioned in Court by this occurrence, the President ordered the hall to be cleared and the strictest watch to be kept over the prisoners. Soon after the cause of the disturbance became known ; a sen tinel upon guard under the windows of the prisons hard by, had fired upon one of the prisoners, who had been address ing him in the grossest and most insulting language for upwards of a quarter of an hour. The sentinel in so doing had only obeyed orders ; but most probably the prisoner was acting according to instructions received from the Ca morra, in order to create a disturbance. The trial was at once resumed, and the belief is that the persons accused will be condemned. ADVERTISEMENT.] —Avoid medicines: icines • they always aer ra t vote chronic complaints, butc Du Barry's • h R es t or ing Revalcnta Arabia Food, which saves Delicious fifty times invariably cures them, rest or i ng its cost in other remed ies, perfect digestion. strong nerv es, sound lungs, healthy li ver , functional regularity, and energy blood, i pure re f r eshing sleep, funct • We extract a few out of 60,000 Cures :—Cure No. 58, t, the most disordered or enfeebled . ~ 16 of the Marchioness de * t, wasting away for seven Brehan, Paris, of a ANTI' complain years, debility, with a nervous Pa l p itation all over, bad mos t intolerable nervous digestion, constant sleeplessness, the agitation, and dreadfully low spirited. Cure No. 1,771. Lord Stuart de Decies, Lord Lieut. of Waterford , of many years' dyspepsia.—fie. 49,832. Fifty years' indescr ibable agony from dyspepsia, nervousness, asthma, Dough, constipation, flatulency, spasms, sickness, and vomiting.—M a ria Jolly." —Cure No. 16,270. Mr. James Roberts, of Filml eY'Surrey, of thirty years' diseased lungs, spitting of blood, liver derange ment,Elizabeth and partial deafness.—Cure No. 47,121. Miss Jacobs, of extreme nervousness, indigestion, gatherings, w Jas. spirits, and nervous fancies.—Cure No. 54,816. The Rev. T. Campbell, Fakenham, Norfolk, "of indigestion and torpi dity of th e li ver, which had resisted all medical treatment.' In tins, 1 lb., 2s. 9d. ; 21b., 4s. 6d ; 51b., 11 s. ; 121 b., 225. ; 241 b 40s . —Parry Du B arry an d Co., No. 77, Regent-street, L on d o n ; also Fortnum and Mason ; and all Grocers and Chemists in every town of the United Kingdom. THE SUN, LONDON, THURSDAY EVENING, SEPTEMBER 3, 1.863. Cotton Supply Association. At the usual weekly meeting of the Executive Committee held on Tuesday a letter was read from Havannah, stating that the writer, after travelling in the United States and America for the purpose of making himself acquainted with the progress of agriculture, determined on his return to enter on the cultivation of cotton, and to prove that free labour might be introduced with great advantage to the country. He has planted about 100 acres, com prising the different varieties of soil in order to de termine which is most suitable, the plants are bear ing luxuriantly, having an average of 60 pods on each stalk, and promising to produce on an average 150 pods each. Previous planters affirm that the first year does not pay, but the plant being peren nial the second year yields good interest for the money expended. A letter was received respecting cotton cultivation in Grenada, West Indies, and reporting that formerly cotton was largely grown in the island, as is still the case in some of the small islands of the Grenadian group. Several estates are available for the cultivation. A letter was received requesting Sea Island seed for Trinidad, and reporting that cotton grown from seed supplied by the Association has been valued in Liverpool at 4s. per lb. A letter from Tortola enclosing a small sample of cotton stated that the cultivation has extended greatly in that and adjacent islands, but as hitherto there has been no direct opportunity of shipping to England the crop has been sold in St. Thomas's for the American states. Facilities are, however, now afforded for shipping to Liverpool direct, by the establishment of steamers between that port and St. Thomas's, and this, it is expected, will still further stimulate the production of cotton. A letter was read from the Haytian Minister in London, stating that his Government is doing every thing possible, by the offer of prizes and otherwise, to extend the cultivation of cotton in Hayti. A letter was read from the honorary agents of the Association at Calcutta, stating that the new crop is reported to be considerably in excess of previous seasons, and that though the quality of cotton as yet come forward is not above the average a lar g e quantity of superior quality is said to be on the way to market. The use of New Orleans seed is extending ; Dr. Bontrria of Lucknow, who is eending to the committee some beautiful specimens of cotton, is desirous of sowing 200 acres in the Oude district. Letters were read from Buenos Ayres advising the shipment of eight bags of cotton of Entre Rios, and stating that a quantity of Sea Island and Georgian Seed has been presented to the Argentine Government with a view to extend the cultivation in the Republic. An honorary member of the asso ciation, who is indefatigable in his efforts, adds — "The advantages of cotton planting are so manifest that I am convinced the natives only require a little good example and encouragement, which I am re solved to lend them to the best of my power." A letter was read from Corrientes, River Plate, stating that the cotton question has excited there the warmest interest, and that it was proposed to form a Cotton Plantation Company, the Government of the State being at the bead of the project. The climate and soil are most f av ourable and the native quality is expected to r i va l the New Orleans and Mobile varieti es. T he p l an ting is between August and October a n d t h e crop is gathered after January. From the nurabar of p er sons establishing p l antations the next crop may be estimated at 2,500 " pa ke A letter was read from the CommendatoreDe-vin cenzi, Turin, announcing that the Royal Italian Commission, of which he is President, has decided to hold an E x hibi t i on o f I ta lian grown cotton, and also of gins, ricultural impl ements o f w hich English and other presses, ploughs, and other cotton a g_ foreign manufacturers are invited to become exhi bitors. The Exhibition will beheld during the month of January next, and will, it is expected, greatly stimulate the growth of cotton in Italy. With respect to the Calcutta Agricultural Exhi bition, to be held in January next, the honorary agents of the Association at Calcutta, Messrs. Mosley and Hurst have generously offered to receive and superintend the exhibition of gins, presses, ploughs, and other implements, free of all charges be 3 and actual disbursements. Makers who intend to exhibit may see a list of prizes at the rooms of the Associa tion, and obtain any information they require. THE OVERWORK OF MILLINER, The committee of the Ladies' Sanatory Association on Dressmaking have issued an address on the system of the overworking in ill-ventilated rooms to which many of this class annually fall victims, whilst the constitutions of others who survive are permanently injured. They describe the system as follows:-- " The girls in the large London houses are, with a few exceptions, thoroughly respectable. Chard cter is required by the managers, and is maintains d in their establishments. This is a great point, for itlany of them are orphans, often well educated and well connected, to whom character is dearer than life. In a good house of business they are able to socnre protection. A girl is usually sent to the business at the age of 13 or 14, and bound for about three years. A premium of from £2O to £5O is mid on entrance, and she receives board and lodging cluiring the time of her apprenticeship. At the end of that time she becomes an improver' for one year or tnore, receives her board and lodging, but is still depen dent on her own resources for her other wants. By this time her little capital is generally exhausted, and she begins to earn a salary varying according to her abilities from £l2 to £5O a year." Not one in a hundred, they add, passes through the o rdeal with unimpaired health ; and, after touching more minutely on the evil effects, they say :—" All this occurs in a trade which is in itself perfectly healthy. And whose fault is it ? We cannot help it,' says the employers, ' for ladies will have their dresses to the day, ; they give short notice and take long credit, and it is hard to pay our way and please them'if,' say the ladies ; we are w i llin g to give a cannot goodhelp price for good work, but . ' W e we cannot take charge of work and work-rooms.' We cannot help it least of all,' say the poor girls, for we must keep our situations or starve—or worse." The committee, after consideration of the subject, offer various suggestions to mitigate, and, in the end, they hope to remove the evil. To ladies they recommend the duty of ascertaining whether the employees of the house they give their custom . to are treated with consideration, of refraining from unreasonable demands, and of paying their bills. To employers they urge that no overwork is really profitable. "By securing sufficient out-door assistance in the early part of the season, so as to avoid beginning the lais-hour system, the skilled inmates would be kept up to their highest energy and efficiency, and the result would, we believe, be found equally if not more profitable in the long run. A wholesome atmosphere would also powerfully conduce to the same end." To the workwomen, they say there can be no thorough change till the work women combine among themselves to demand what is right, and they urge parents and guardians to protect their young girls from overwork and over crowding, suggesting that if such protection is im practicable in this trade they should seek other trades. " There are many trades, especially those which minister to the wants end tastes of their own sex, for which women are more suitable and as com petent as men, into which young girls might enter, if able to secure th e n ecessar y e d u cation and train ing. The power to write well, and to keep accounts, would open to them many of the lighter and better paid situations i n s h o p s; and such easy feminin e trades as ladies' hairdressing would naturallyftlll into their hands if they could gain the requisite skill. Indeed, even among needlewomen skill is much wanted, and will always secure better remu neration and position. There are plenty of workers —too many ; but good workers are rare, and till the competition for situations in which healtl3, is sacrificed is less ene d, f ewer w ill be able to rise into , the rank of skill e d wor k ers, an d d e mand a fair aay s wages for a fair day's wo-k." The committee. conclude by saying sympathy, and it may be Legislative en9ctitient, would aid them, but they indicate one way in which . that public they think public support might aid largely aiA . n the most legitimate way, viz., "by encoure.ging and patronising the establishment of h . oust's of business on the principle of partnership 01. skill and industry, co operation." By combining the capital of their there is nothing to hinder d t ess makers from becomin , r, to a gr eat extent, their own employers, if ladi es would be induced to pay ready money, or not take more than three months' cri3dit. They might also aid in the task of opening fresh employm en t s to women b y as king for their set 'vices in preference to those of men in such things as at tendance in shops, hairdressing, &c. It is only by efforts thus c om bi ne d , an d by attention to the laws which regulate work and wages, that the condition of dressmakers can be permanently improved. We hope that such an effort will be made before ano they season has added its victims to a system of c rael and unnecessary over gork Treas.—The American war has presented the most remargable contrasts to all the features of for mer warfare, but not the least extraordinary of its characteristics has been the voluminous correspon dence with which the Foreign Secretary has de luged the Governments of Europe. The long letter from Mr. Seward which we publish this morning is only one of a mass of similar productions which we have had to read since the opening of the war. Week after week, and month after month, Mr. Seward has despatched to his representatives in this country the same incessant commentary on every event of the war, the same monotonous strain of assertion that the rebellion is on the eve of failure, the same plaintive appeal for sympathy and moral support, and the same ever-recurring bur den of complaint against our fancied aid and recog nition of the insurgent States. The remem brance which we have of Mr. Seward's former let ters induces us to read his present letter with a less anxious feeling than the source, the purpose, and the character of such a letter would otherwise evoke. We fancy we have heard it all before, and know that it is worth little for either good or harm. We have, in the first place, the same extraordinary misrepresentation of recent events in the war. The earlier events, we are glad to see, are at length properly appreciated. This letter contains the tardy admission that "in the battles of August, 1852, the " Union forces suff ere d s ome severe an d appalling reverses." When we remember the tone of easy unconcern in which these " appalling reverses" were treated in Mr. Seward's despatches at the end of last year, we cannot help receiving all his explanations and songs of victory in this circular with a very considerable discount. His perpetual assertion weakens the force even of the facts which are undeniable. When he has the audacity to give it as a full account of General Burnside's disastrous repulse at Fredericksburg, that " his assault upon Lee's well-fortified position failed, and he skilfully recrossed the river without loss," we are unable to know where to trust him, or how to understand a writer who can indulge in such an evasion. These errors of honesty or judgment are the more discreditable because they are wholly unnecessary. Mr. Seward has had an ample supply of undoubted facts to support his song of triumph, It could not be disputed for a moment that the Federal arms have had signal successes in the course of the last few weeks. The fall of Vicks burg and Port Hudson, the failure of General Lee's attempt at invasion, and the gradual pene tration of the Confederate country by the Union forces offered sufficient opportunity for self•assertion, and even for prophecy, without a resort to the old methods of extenuation which the reverses of lase year excused. Great as the Fede ral successes undoubtedly are, their effect is weak ened, and not strengthened, by Mr. Seward's recapitulation of them. He protests too much. He used just as strong language last October, when the Federal forces had recoiled from the strongholds of the Mississippi, and the Army of the Potomac had been driven home in ignominious de feat. Besides, after all, to what purpose does Mr. Seward reiterate these successes ? Why does he snatch at the first favourable opportunity to entreat our forbearance and to implore our patience? If he has been so successful as he says, there ought to be no need of his vaticinations and explanations. When the ports of the Southern States are open to ordinary trade, when the population are re suming their old industry, and we are re ceiving again the productions upon which so much of cur population has depended, those facts will compel our recognition far better than volumes of diplomatic assertion. There will be no doubt about them, and no need to assure us of their reality. There is, however, one point on which we do want some assurance, and on that Mr. Seward gives us none. We want to know what chance there really is not merely that the President will be able to raise a suf ficient number of conscripts and negro troops to in flict further disasters upon the South, to spread a wider devastation, and to destroy another third part of the Confederate forces, but what prospect there is that this process of slaughter and extirpation will bring about our old trade with the South, and relieve our distressed manufacturing population. Mr.Se ward directs the representatives to whom his circular is addressed to "use the facts presented in this paper "in such a way as may be most effective to con vince those who seek a renewal of commercial pro sperity through the restoration of peace in America that the quickest and shortest way to gain that de sired end is to withdraw support and favour from the insurgents." We do not know what facts there are in this paper which could be used for such a pur pose. Mr. Seward represents that the Federal Go vernment has regained possession of a region of 200,000 square miles —an area as large as Austria or France, or the peninsula of Spain and Portugal. Can he show us one single advantage which has been gained to commerce by this subjugation ? We were assured that as soon as New Orleans, or even so pal try a place as Port Royal, was opened to trade vast supplies of cotton would flow to us. We have scarcely received a single bale. So far as we have any means of judging, the area which has been conquered by the Federals has been rendered useless for all pur poses of trade or cultivation. We were assured that in all the States which Mr. Seward enumerates as for the most part recovered to the Federal Govern ment there was a large Union party, held down by a violent minority, end that the victory of the Union arms would be followed by an immediate return to peaceful commercial pursuits. Where has this Union party been discovered ? We confess we ar e unable to see the very smallest instalment of the advantages which Mr. Seward is perpetually assuring u result from the complete success of the Federalsswould in their course of conquest. If Mr. Seward really wishes to explain to Europe the pr os p ects of_ the United States in the event of the success of Government, this is the point which he oughtf to have dwelt upon. We should like to have been told, for example, in a calm and statesmanlike paper, what are the intentions and the expectatious of f _ the Federal Government as to th e administration by the revolted provinces. We see them conqueredlio extraordinary exertions of force, and held e sub jection by enormous armies. We k of these subjugated districts the country that in some ntr has been so ruined that the populatio n are obliged to exist upon rations furnished to them by the Federal of the Federal armies. If thin is to be the result victories everywhere, we see no chance of any renewal of commercial prosperity through the continued pro secution of the war. On all this Mr. Seward's letter gives us no information whatsoever, and therefore, even if his arguments could persuade us of the ulti mate success of the Federal arms, they would not lead us to hope for any of the advantages of peacefrom the res ult. If, too , this letter is ie its main characteristics a mere repetition of former flourishes , and if it fails to relieve the anxiety of Europe as to te probable conse quences ofr thios. s e struggle in its, it is entirely needless The persons to who m it i s address udirPected to use the facts contained in mained are P it for the purpose of convincing the Governments of Great Britain and France that the quickest and shortest way to the rest oration of their t r ade is "to w ithdraw support and favour from the insurgents, an d to leavethe adjustment of our domestic contro versies entirely with the people of the United States." S o far, at is least, as this country is concerned such an a ppeal entirely without meaning. The insur ave received neither support nor favour from g enes h o ur Grc;vernment. They have got absolutely nothing from this country but such supplies of arms and necessar ees of life as they could smuggle a bloc k a de which we have scrupulously respected. The Americ ans, of all people in the world, ought to know that trade is entirely impartial. There are plenty of merchants in New York who are perfectly r eady to sell anything to anybody any where if they can get the money for it, and they will always send it where they can get the most money. It is just be cause we have left " the adjustment of the domestic controversies" of the United States exclusively with the people themselves that the South has been able to attract from this country the supplies which have so exasperated the Federals. If we had done as M r . Seward would have desired, and, at the demand of the Northern States, prohibited by special legis lation any export to the Southern States, we should have interfe,-ed in the most direct manner pos sible with the domestic controversie of the United States. We have left them to fight out their own struggle in their own way, and we have not the slightest intention of doing anything else. If we have " accorded the character of a belligerent to the insurgents," we have only yielded to a plain fact, and are supported by the authority of the Fe derals themselves. We have, to the best of our ability, preserved a constant and complete neutra lity, and we shall certainly continue to do so. If the insurgents " have been enabled to protract their resistance by means of sympathy and aid received from abroad," we can only say they require very little foreign help; and, if'` the expectation of fur ther and more effective foreign assistance is now their chief resource," Mr. Seward will find little difficulty with them. As addressed, at least, to this country, any such exhortations are perfectly unne cessary. It might determine our sympathy if Mr. Seward could show us that there was any hope of the success of the Federal armies being followed by a renewal of the peace, prosperity, and trade of the South. But we are unable to see any hope of this sort, and Mr. Seward's long exercitation fails to throw one ray of light on the dark prospect. HERALD.—Political events that used to be con sidered wonderful may now occur once a week, or every day, without exciting any particular atten tion, if they are of such a nature as to affect as personally, that, of course, makes a difference. When our own interests are not involved we can listen with a becoming amount of philosophical sang froid to the story of doings which make for the weal or woe of millions of human beings. A great wit who is dead once observed that it would not spoil a man's appetite for breakfast if he were to read in his morning paper that the whole empire of China had been swallowed up by an earthquake. Probably many persons will hear, without any sort of emotion, that seventy millions of men are on the eve of political enfranchisement, and see before them the commencement of a new era of prosperity and greatness. It may not seem to concern them much that the Emperor of Russia is about to grant a magna charta to his subjects. But in reality it does concern them, and that very nearly. A war means to an Englishman so many pence in the pound added to the income tax; such and such an increase in the price of the necessities of life ; so much taken from the provision for wife and children. However small the interest he feels in foreign politics, he knows that they may take a turn which must involve the country in war. He would not avoid that war, if it should seem necessary to the maintenance of the honour and influence of his country, but he knows that he must pay his share of it, and that may press upon him heavily. The prospect of a constitutional reform in Russia should thin be a matter of congratulation to all of us. We escape, in the first place, the possible war which we might have been called upon to wage in behalf of Poland. Had Russia continued to behave herself in the high-handed manner of those who will consent to no compromise and make no concessions, had she suffered us to believe that she was fighting, not simply for supremacy, but with a view to the utter subjugation of an unfortunate people, it would have soon been more than the feeling of Western Europe could have borne. But, if we are rightly informed, the Russian Government is prepared to grant more than the Western Powers have asked of her. On the one hand, she is about to concede to Poland an autonomy more complete than was promised to her in 1815 under the collective gua rantee of Europe. Poland is to have her National Diet, her national army, her separate courts of law, her separate Polish administration, and an Impe rial Viceroy. We do not know what more even Polish patriots can desire, and we are sure that fuller concessions than these have never been dreamed of by any of the friends of Poland. But you cannot mend an old garment with new cloth with any expectation of its wearing well. A con stitutional Poland in the midst of an absolutist Russia would be an anomaly, an impossibility. It was for this reason that the magnanimous pro gramme of Alexander I. broke down. It was on this account that the canstitution granted, three years since, to Poland, could not possibly be carried out by Russian statesmen. A free Poland would be a reproach to the rest of Russia, a continual cause of disquietude, a centre of revolt, unless the rest of Russia is to be free also. Since the accession of the wicked and ambitious Catherine 11. the world has looked on with much discomfort at the spectacle of the gradual growth of the great military despo tism of the North. We are now to be relieved from its incubus. Russia is to be cbnstitutionalised, de centralised, governed by local parliaments, and a central representative chamber, in imitation of the system which is working so well in Austria. As a self-governed country is invariably found to be lees aggressive, less mischievous, and more amen able to reason than a despotic monarchy, we may hope that the charter granted to Russia may save Europe from many future wars, and the world from much unnecessary misery. The emancipation of the serfs was the baptism of the regenerated Russia. The proclamation of a representative system for this vast empire is as the right of confirmation which admits it into the family of civilised nations. Up to this time Russia, though ranking in military strength as a power of the first order, has been at the best a barbarous and heathenish country. The revelations of the private life of her nobles and pea sants have made the ears of mankind tingle; the tales that have been told by her court have horrified the world. She has turned over a new leaf. There is no more slavery in Russia ; there will be eo more tyranny. The pure life and the virtuous example of Alexander 11. and his Empress have cleared the precincts of her palaces from the harpies and vul tures that once frequented them. 'We shall hence forth find no more parallels among Russian princes to the Neros and Agrippinas of old. The empire has yet much to do to recover from the fatal memory that her greatness dates chiefly from the infamous thirty-four years of Chatherine 11. The future of this empire, based on such a happy open ing, may be expected to outdo its past. The num ber of its population and the vastness of its terri tory have been the sources of the peculiar strength and the peculiar weakness of Russia. Other nations of Europe had hardly a fair chance with the poten tate who could bring, by a single ukase, two millions of men into the field. Nor was it possible to over run by any army that could be launched against it a territory of such vast extent that it comprises one quarter of the globe, and that the most inclement and the most inhospitable. On the other hand, a country so spread out is wanting in power of con centration, and is in some respects hardly a match for a people of one quarter its number if confined within narrow limits. Soong as she will keep quiet Russia is in little danger from other powers. Her territory, vast as it is, does not tempt them. They are quite content that the trackless plains of Northern Europe and Asia, where no one else will live, should be peopled by this Sclavonic hive. All the wars in which Russia has been engaged have been provoked by her own desire to lodge herself in more comfortable quarters. To some extent she has succeeded, but not to her wishes. She has obtained a footing on the Baltic, and on the Black Sea. She has laid her hand on a thriving people of Central Europe, and even now is con testing with them their meadows and corn-fields. She has failed in her great ambition of trans ferring the seat of her empire to Constantinople. It is worthy Of note that the triumphs of Russia have been obtained over second rate powers, and that she has generally been worsted by powers of the first rank. Peter the Great, the founder of modern Russia, prevailed against the Swedes after many , disasters to his arm s . D ur i ng the seven years war the Empress Elizabeth gained vic tories against the Prussians, whose power was then in its infancy. Catherine subdued Poland, and wrested much territory from Turkey in the bloody campaigns of her lieutenants, Potemkin and Suwarroff. It was not Alexander, but the elements, that drove back a French army in 1812. The Russians were defeated at Borodino—as be fore at Austerlitz —when side by side with Aus tria. The Polish revolt, and the Hungarian re volt, were successively put down by Nicholas ; but be succumbed to the Western alliance in the memorable campaign of the Crimea. It is foolish to make a bugbear of the Russian power, as some people seem inclined to do. That power is no menace either to us or to France. There is no reason at all why we should not be on the best of terms with it, not for state reasons merely, or as a question of the balance of alliances, but in the interest of the 70 millions that are under its rule, who have yet in great part to be edu cated and civilised, who have a work before them which will last for centuries, in the conquest and cultivation of the soil which they people but thinly. This vast dominion cannot solely be ruled from St. Petersburg. Its inhabitants are to be called upon to take their share in its govern ment. We wish all success to the plan--all pros perity, present and future, to the Emperor, his simple-minded people, and their " Holy Russia." POST.—According to a certain proverb, no British Act of Parliament was ever yet drawn up and passed, through which a coach-and-four might not be driven by a law-breaker of sufficient courage and ingenuity. The presumption is somewhat bold, but, like many other towering figures of speech, it rests upon a solid foundation. Our friends across the Channel, with their fondness for abstract prin ciples and tendency to analytical neatness, may vaunt codification, smiling at an Englishman's need of acts of consolidation, of explanation, and amend ment falling thickly upon each other session after session. Nevertheless, by that means, clumsy though it may seem to our neighbours, we gene rally manage to carry our point in the end. " The Nuisances Removal Act for England (Amendment)," which passed on the 28th July, is a case in point. If scanned with moderate attention, in sequence with other acts to which it refers, the metaphorical carriage-drive which its provisions are intended to bar will at once be obvious. Inasmuch as there are more agreeable occupations than the perusal and study of Acts of Parliament at any lime, and consi dering that September is the month least congenial of all the twelve to that purpose, we may not do amiss in summarising in few words the purport of certain antecedent Acts of Parliament to which the provisions of the supplementary Act passed in the session just concluded refer. It would not be far wrong were the assertion made that, prior to 1898 and 1849, the science which is inadequately rens lated into English by " public health," had no legis lative and public recognition amongst us. Beyond the provisions of quarantine (in respect of which there are good reasons for believing they have done more harm than good) and of vaccination, the ex ternal circumstances affecting public health were taken less cognisance of by the State here than on the Continent. At the same time no injustice should be done to the provisions of m un i c i pa l enactments; the fact, indeed, being that the post ponement of imperial legislation is doubtl ess i n some measure attributable to the circumstance that municipal and therefore local fore sight has lessened the need of Parliamentary inter vention. The Nuisances Removal and Disease Pre vention Acts were passed under the immediate pres sure of that terrible epidemic, the cholera. No great marvel, therefore, if they Were not more perfect than first acts—those initiating a series—usually are With all their shortcomings the acts in question did good service. They dealt a heavy blow at a e,rtaln stolid fatalism to which we English were practically addicted, however strenuously we might have denied. it in theory. Henceforth the laws of causation —of antecedents and their consequents—were destined to be applied to the conditions of public health. By a consolidation and emendatory act, passed in 1855, Parliament made a still farther advance in the path of hygienic legislation, section the 26th bring parti cularly conspicuous for the powers with which it invested sanitary inspectors in their mode of dealing with diseased food. These officers are empowered " at all reasonable times to inspect and examine any carcase, meat, poultry, game, flesh, fish; fruit, vegetables, corn bread or flour exposed for sale, or in the course of, or in the way to slaughtering , dressing, or preparation for sale or use, or landed froni any ship or vessel in any port in England : " We will come to the penalty by and by, pausing in the career of recital to intimate by way of necessary parenthesis that a connection by no means occult might once have been traced and established be tween fall of barometric mercury and fall in the prime cost of certain English-made sausages. A period of stormy sea travelling is not conducive to the longevity of such pigs and calves as may be subjected to that ordeal. Travellera by steamer may be confidently appealed to for their experience in this matter ; and further they may, in the in terests of truth, be questioned as to whether they severally ever witnessed the ceremonial of commit ting to the deep one solitary porcine or bovine victim. As for the rest, imagination can fill the gap ; suffice it to say, that the Consolidation Act of 1855 enacted, " That the person to whom such carcase, meat, poultry, game, flesh, fish, fruit, vegetables, corn bread, or flour belonged, or in whose custody the same might be found, should be liable to a penalty not exceeding £lO for every carcase, fish, or piece of meat, flesh, or fish, or any poultry or game, &c., so found." Apparently, the section just quoted is adequate both in stringency and perspicuity to secure all necessary practical ends. Experience, however, having demonstrated the reverse, the Amendment of Removal of Nuisances Act was brought in and passed last session. The preamble to this act states that the provisions of the Consolidation Act of 1855 are defective " with regard to the inspection and seizure of diseased and unwholesome uswat." The gist of amendment fur nished by the new act consists in making the proof that inculpated articles were not exposed or de posited for sale, or intended for the food of man, rest with the party charged, and in a considerable in crease of penalty. At present the person in whose possession, or on whose premises, the objectionable articles are found is rendered liable to a penalty not exceeding £2O for every animal carcase, Sae., so found ; or, at the discretion of the justice, with out infliction of a fine, to imprisonment in the com mon gaol, or house of correction, for a term of not more than three calendar months. COUNTRY MARKETS. V.- - NEWARK.-.WEDNESDAY. A moderate supply of wheat at our market, and prices 6( 1 to is per qr higher. Malting barley a fair show, at former rates. Oats 6d lower. Beans a ready sale. White wheat new, 43s to 48s ' Barley, grinding.. 29s to 325 Red do. 43s to 45s Oats, old, .. 2ss to 30 4 Old white 44s to 49s New do 22s to 27 0 Red do 4ls to 44s 1 Beans.. 40s to 445 Barley, malting 35s to 40s ) Beans, new —s to --4 SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALS. HULL-TUESDAY. The wheat trade during the past few days has been de', cidedly firmer. At to-day's corn market th ere was a small supply of new English wheat, which was taken off by local millers at fully the prices of last week. Foreign was firm at late rates. A good inquiry for grinding barley at rather less money than last Tuesdey. Beans oats, and peas were each at last week's prices. Sales in linseed limited, and at rates in favour of buyers. Wheat.... Old white per qr. 478 Od to 50s Od Old red 71 Nev white • • ,/ New red .... „ Barley.... English malting 36s Od to 37s Od Grinding 26s 6d to 28s Od Saal and Oderbruck Holstein and Danish 3os Od to 318 Od Grinding 2Bs Od to 31s Od Oats English, old Archangel and Riga, per st osl2id to 13 , Friesland and Dutch oBl3d to 0,3131 1 1 Swedish and Danish oBl2ld to Os1; 5 c; Beans ....English, old, per qr. 43s Od to 458 °a , C New pigeon 42s Od to 44 5 o d New tick. 4os Od to 42 5 6 a Egyptian , 33s Od to 34 5 o d Peas Foreign boilers .. . Grinding Tares ....Spring. —s Od to --,'s Od lndian Corn Linseed, feeding crushing Linseed cakes (Hull) £lo 0 ot o £0 n Foreign Bl5 oto 9 0 ;", Rape cakes 6 0 oto 0 0 " Bones .. 5 5 oto 510 0 LYNN—TUESDAY. At this day's market there was only a moderate show of new wheat, which met a ready sale at the full rates of last Tuesda). Fine old more active, and rather dearer. Neal making barley in limited supply ; grinding sorts were 111 favour of buyers. Beans and oats unaltered. White ..47s to 48s Barley . 3Bs to 40 0 Red.. 44s to 46s Grinding ..30s to 325 1 Beans .3Bs to 40s Oats New —s to —s 1 P eas _2 2 —s to t t oo 260 0 COAL 11 Prices of Coal per Ton a Alia ET. the close of the market. s. d. North Felton Gas l3 6 Carway and Daffryn Malting 2O 0 Grey's West Hartley 15 atker Primrose 12 9 Eden Main ... 16 6 byass's Bebside West B. Cl. Hartley - ' ' -- .: - .1.6 3 Walls End. Russel's Hatton 16 9 Ships at mark, Walls End. Hartlepool.. l7 6 , South Hartlepool 16 ,v, East Hartlepool 17 Trimdon Hartlepool 17 `,.; K elloe Hetton 18 0 Stewart's 17 9 South Hetton 18 0 Cassop l6 9 Heugh Hall 16 9 )t, 36 ; sold, 33. Foreign Mail Packet List. MAILS DUB. Australia and Mauritius, via Southampton .. Sept. 1 8 ' via Marseilles Arazil and Cape Verds, by British packet. Oct. 0 ,, Cape of Good Hope, Ascension, and St. H e l ena Sept. -4S B ' . China, Penang, and Singapore, via South am pt on Sept. 1 via Marseilles Sept. 1' Falkland Islands.. 0. Gibraltar, via Southampton Sepv 4. . 1 India (Calcutta), and Ceylon, v i a S ou th am pt on Sept. LB, via Marseilles Sept. .I,' . India (Bombay), via South am pt on S e pt. lu via Marseilles Sept. 4. Portuga1.... Malta, Egypt, and Aden, via Southampton Sept. J o, via Marseilles Sept. l l ' Newfoundland .. Sept. ll' Oporto and Vigo U. S. and British N. America, ty Brit. p ac k et.... S ep t. li' by U.S. packet.... by Canadian packet. Sept. 4. W.C. of Africa, Madeira, and. Teneriffe .. .. Sept. 10. 4. Bahamas, via New York ................. . . 9 ... Sept. - Mexico.. ..S e pt. , 1 - - g All parts of West Indies, including Chili, Peru, 1 Sep t. 14* California, and Briti s h C o l um b ia.. 1 [ADTERTISEMENT.]—HoIIoway's Pills, for the cure o f Biliousness, Liver and Stomach Complaints, and Gene ral e Debility.—This medi c i ne i s so we ll k nown in every par t ox the world, and the cu res e ff ec t e d b y it are so won d er f u l thtit it now stands in no need of public eulogy. Its pre-eminen ce as a remedy for bilious and liver complaints, and disorder° of the stomach and cbest, is no longer a matter of dispute or doubt. In these diseases the beneficial effects of thes e invaluable pills are so permanent and extensive thatt h whole system is renovated, the organs of digestion strengs ll ' ened, a free and easy respiration promoted, and both phYs i ' cal and moral energy are increased. Plain directions Pr the use of this admirable medicine, at once so mild and eig' cacious, are affixed to each box. Holloway's pills o re always safe, and act as gentle aperients. Births. Davis.—On the 2d inst., at Highgate •rise, the wife of 13 ' Goodwin Davis, Esq., of a son. LUARD.-0a the 31st ult., at Wi t h am, Essex, the W i l e ° f Captain Luard, R.N., of a sm. MILDMAY. — On the Ist inst., at 68, Park-street, Gr 0611 3• v , nor-square, the Hon. Mrs. Hervey St. John Milclo 36l " prematurely, of a daughter—stillborn. , 0 4 SOANES.— On the 2d i nst , at Upminster, Essex, the • 0 of Temple Soanes, Esq., of a daughter. Marriages. DI CK -I ACKINTOBII.-011 the Ist inst. at at St. , k St Kenningt on , R o b ert Sh er i ff Dick, Esq:,, to Mary Au only daughter of the late Colonel John Mackintosh. LAUGHTON—Hni, —On the 2d inst., at Holy TriL' l • l o : Camden-town Geolge James Laughton, Esq., to gar_ l e , eldest daughter of the late Edward Hill, of Ashbou w D...lbyshire. Deaths. BARNEY.—On the 31st ult., at Southampton, Miss M ill Barney, aged 85. CHA_ITIELD.—On the Ist inst., at 9, Brixton-rise, 011 Frances Chatfield, formerly of Chichester, aged 86. 4 , GOUNDRY.—On the 28th ult., at Herne-bay, Eliz 3be' Goundry, widow, aged 92. v 13 , Horxrics --On the Ist inst., at Torquay, Lieutenan t Hopkins, R.N., aged 37. • Griffi th MANSFORD.—On the 31st ult., at Bath, John ffi liansford, Esq., aged 77. MAINWARING.—On the 28th ult., at St. Helier John Popham, eldest son of the late Lieut.-Col. Ire . V re Mainwaring, 59th Regt. PAYNE.—On the 31st ult., at Wimbledon, Charles I leD q . Payne, Esq., of the M iddl e Temple, barrister -at-la P aged 72. - ------- London : Printed and Published by WILT lA3I AN iv , of No. 112, Strand, Printer, at TILE SUN Offic e N° ' Strand, in the Precinct of die Savoy, in the County Middlesex,— Thursday, September 3, 1861