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

A Mes.gagt3 from America to 'Europe. The follo wing " circular" has been addressed by the Gover 'went at Washington to the United States Cons uls in Europe : " Department of State, Washington, Aug. 12. "Sir,—Whomever 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 m aintain 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 11th 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 is the po licy of foreign nations. The insurgents have been enabled t o 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, 1562, 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 hal 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 Irons 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 was fought 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 a ssumption of superior valour and heroism which the insurgents had brought into the contest, and had ch erished throughout its early stages, perished on that sanguinary field. The insurgent army, shattered in the conflict, abandoned the invasion of Mary land, and sought 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 Buell. 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 Murfreesborough, fortified there, and proceeded to recruit his wasted forces. " Van Dorn and Price were at the same period in com mand of very 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 Stuns 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 com mend 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 laud 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 these attempts having f a iled from physical obstacles found to be insur mountable, Gen. Grant and Admiral Porter at last put afloat ar me d 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 thief 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 d a ng er ous a passage. The batteries of Gra nd Gulf for several hours resisted a bombardment by the g unboats at short range, but they fell into the hands of the admiral as soon as Gen. Grant's forces appeared behind them. Gen. Grant, thiough a series of brilliant manoeuvres, with marches interrupted by desperate battles day after day, suc ceeded in di v idi ng and separating the insurgent f orces. He then attacked the chief auxiliary column under Johnston, and drove it out of Jackson, the capital of Mississippi. Having _destroyed_ the railroad bridges and military stores there, aim. Grant turned at once to the west, Numerous comb:A.B ensued, in a ll of which the loyal arms were success ful. Loring, with a o ff towards the south- considerable insurgent force was driven eastwnhile Pemberton, after a loss of m any GO pieces of artillery and yor Vicksburg, regained his shel ter within the fortified lines with an army now reduced to between 30,000 and 40,C00 men. During these movements the heavy batteriesord of the of the insurgents w hi c h were established near the mouth the defensive Yazoo an d which constituted were taken part of an system of Vicksburg , razed Rear- Admiral Porter, who thereu p on sent a detachment by of his fleet up that im p ortant tributar y of the m and effectually destroyed the numerous vessels issippi, stores which were fo und within a nd upon its banks. General Grant, during these brilliant operations, h a d necessarily operate d b y a movable col umn. He now re-established his communications with the river fleets above as well as below Vicksburg., invested the tow; and ignorant of the numbers enclosed within its defences, at tempted an assault. Though bravely and vigorously ma d e 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 made by the chiefs at Richmond to enable Johnston to render that assistance. They detached and sent him troops from Bragg's army on the frontier of Alabama, and from Beauregard's command from South Carolina, and in (Johns . this they endangered both of those armies. All the capable free men of Mississippi were called to the rescue of the ca pital of their State, and to save the stronehold of the trea sonableor Conf e deracy which was besieged within their limits. Never, th e b es i ege d p os t was i n th e ver y centre of the slave Populatio n of that Confederacy, and the President's proclamation of freedom would be sounded in their hearing if the stronghold should tail—but the effort required was too great for the demoralised and exhausted condition of the insargenta• Johnston did not arrive to raise the siege, nor did success attead 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 ammunition 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 upo n General Prentice, at Helena, situated en the right bank of the ma n siseippi, in the State of Arkans s, nas reputsed with the loss of many prisoners on the part of the assailants, As if the anniversary so identified with the nation's hopes was pointed to bo 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 uncmditionally 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: ributes 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 on 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. Sh-rman. In retiring, Johnstone fired many buildings filled with munitions of 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 west of Jackson having been previously cut by the Government forces. " General Sherman now desisted from the por tion of p urs uit of J o hnstone and returned to Vicksburg, where a the army is enjoying rep ose, not more necessary than well ' earned, while others are engaged in expelling from the Mis sissippi roving bands o f the insurgents who infest its banks i and fire from thence up on p assing steamers. It s 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. " In Louisiana Gen. Banks succeeded Gen. Bntler. After spending some months in organising the department and disciplining the new levies which constituted its force, Gen. Banks made a rapid and successful seres 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 authorities, crossed the Mississippi at Bayou Sara, and there receiving an additional column which was ascending from Baton Rouge, invested Port Hudson, which, excluding Vicksburg, was the only remaining strong hold of the insurrection on the great river. saitlnuhBn insurrection ug2ep l r:e er t nutoe w htncpset i dl il to Po, rn b lirl rememberedetaseehhys would eiodduopentdnai solbetstnyhu stilleethidtheir arms e t aahl that,rpas maintainedn it t ri the o o saje n aalaannlrolud aat rrh 2 t eyi 2 eot day w d utndhiriinreshent fitiotnuc o heti tfersxhirequiring gprhpr September, etpoahrolcelelreattgi ihnomi 13.. f. iawnshgai wasc m h i it gt heraldedae r n y er m al e l a y s u lwe r ai e es e t , . d h t eu e di y freedom edfi. of c d A t , h bs e ut s th l a te hvee nationals p . r oTehlae proclamation n 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 acme 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 occupied much of the south-western portion of Louisiana which he had before reclaimed. Tho 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 of 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 ana 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 ing twilight, many are destroyed and more are captured. An attack by the fleet made on the 7 t h da y 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 Fort 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. of ite Weehawken, h At e 4s a l w th k e en A, whichtala Atalanta fi s r t e r d ue a k nrifleeasr the het Nahant.acro A across the 5 15 the Weehawken, at a range of 300 yards, opened upon the Atalanta, which had then grounded. The Weehawken fired five shots, four of which took effect on the Atalanta. She arLinea surrenderedeshave 55 e 0 t 50. O changed in North Carolina. All attempts of the in surgents to recaP ture the towns from which they had been exp e ll e d h ave been repulsed. Much damage has been inflicted upon their communications, and valuable military stores have been destroyed a expeditions into the interior. North Carolinas hows nl a e b a a g m , prpie, A t l Ark some!ymptoms of disaffeo etixohnibtiotwedaridnstihiessiinsasuig Similar a indications are "The situation on the Y or k and Jamnessas,riavnedraThexaassr.e. mained unchanged since the withdrawal ag. Attempts of th e army o f o Gen. M'Clcllan from the P en i nsu l a a year 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 Potomac, which was left res ting and refitting after puttin g an en d to the firstin surgent invasion of Maryland. Gen. M'Clellan recrossed the Potomac and en tered Vir g inia in N ovember,and obliged the invading forces under Leo to fall backwar d to Gordons ville, south of the Rappa hannock. When the Army of the Potomac reached Warrenton it was placed under command of General Burnside. He marched to Falmouth, hoping to cross the Rappahannock at Fredericksburg, and to 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 heightc of Fredericksburg were captured by Gen. Sedgwipk'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 army from Gen. Hooker's front, and ascending the south bank of the Rapidan, towards the sources of the Rappahan nock,eayThe army ent ere d t h e Sh enan d oa h V a ll e y, an d o nce more e tempted sever cavalry the fort une o f war by i nva di ng th e l o y a l States. A engagement efth a e t Beverly Ford unmaskedbForredkeupite campa this movement, and marched to the encounter. The militia of Maryland, Pennsylvania, and New York flew to arms, and occupied Baltimore, Harri s b urg the line of the Susquehannah. The two armies met at and Gettysburg, in Pennsylvania, Bud after a fierce cont es t of three slaughter on bath sides, the insurgents duration, and terrible ze rgents re coiled from the posit ion held by Gen. Meade, had lie t t Le h em e e n ae b . e en on on j ly ul four , days in command of the army of the anclHagertown tol% the day of the surrender of Vicksburg, retreated, , pass ing through Charabersburg where the proper disposition to attack him w il s liam a s d r P i e o b rt y , Gem. me , j e . Deceived concerning the state of the rn supposed to be unfordable, Gen. Meade, hourly expectvinr, reinforcements, dot yoc.l the attack a day too long, and the g insurgents partly by fording and partly by floating bridges, succeeded in withdragiving across the river by night, with their artillery and a great part of their baggage. Much of this bag. gage, as well as of the plunder which Lee had collected, was destroyed by cavalry, or thrown out of the waggons to make room for the wounded whom Lee carried off from the battle field. Ile had buried most of his dead of the first day's conflict at Gettysburg. The remainder, together with those who fell on the second Find 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 =sue- cessful invasion cost the insurgents 40,000 men. Our own loss was severe, for the strife was obstinate and deadly. General Meade crossed the Pctomac. 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, and he yet holds them, while Bragg, with severe loss in a hurried retreat, has fallen back to Chattanooga. It is un 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. "I must not overlook the operations of cavalry. General Stoneman, in connection with the movement upon Chan cellorsville, made a rapid and effective passage through the insurgent country, from the Rappahannock to the York river, which will be remembere(i 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 croszing 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'e army and pursued, with the capture of many prisoners and all 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 bo 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. _ . " Jeff-rsOn 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 tothe 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 ♦eterans, 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 aims, 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 all in four days. Our loan is purchased at par by our own citizens 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. ,4 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, exc.usively 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 (Lot) two days ago. At Bellevue, a man named Tilsac had just entered his house when the building was struck by lightning and set on fire. The owner escaped uninjured, but an umbrella which he carried 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 Opinione 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- Hats, who want, if possible, to intimidate the judges. While one of th e counse l was engaged i n t h e defen - ...e of a workman na me d C herubini, 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 s 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 b create a disturbanc e . Th e tr i a l was at once and the belief is that the person s accuse d will &void medicines: they always ag• gra . but Du Barry's Delicious Health Restoring Revalcnta Ara Ta te chronic compla ints, Food, which saves fifty times its cost in other remedies , b resumed, escuom condemned. . ned invariably cures them, restoring A DV EI2 TISEMENT.,I— pure blood, refreshing sle e p , We extract a few out t,) the most disordered or enfeebled. 21 perfect digestion, strong nerves, sound lungs. healthy liver,uncti o nal regularity, and energy of 60,000 Cures :—Curt No . 58,6 of the Marchioness de Brehan, Paris, of a liver complaint , all over, bad years, debility, with a nervous palpitationintolerable most nervous digestion, constant sleeplessness, the i_ away for seven agitation, and dreadfully low spiri ter of many years' Stuart de Decies, Lord I.ftut. of Waterford, indescribable a.,ony dyspepsia.—No. 40,8:32. "I illy years' o ,_ cons tipatioo, wasting e ure N 0. 1 from dyspepsia, nervousness, asthma, cou,it • ' Maria Jolly." ,771. Lora flatulency, spasms, sickness, and voniiting. derang,e tElizabeth —Cue e No. .16,270. Mr. James Roberts, of Frlmley , Surrey, of thirty years' diseased lungs, spitting of blood, liver ment, and partial deafness.—Cure No. 47,121. Miss _ ow Jacobs, of extreme nervousness, indigestion, gatheringa , 1 spirits, and nervous fancies.—Cure No. 54,616. The Rev. Jas. T. Campbell, Fakenham, Norfolk, "of indigestion and torpi dity or the liver, which had resiste ' all medical treatment.' In tins, 1 lb., '2B. M. ; 21b., 4a. 6d ; Mb., lls. ; 121 b., 228. ; '4lb 40s.—Barry Du tarry and Co.. No. 77, Regent-street, London ; also Fortnum and Mascn ; and all Grocers and Chemists in every WWII of the United Kingdom. Cotton Supply Association, At the usual weekly meeting of the Executive Committee held on Tuesday a letter was read from Havannab, 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 large quantity of superior quality is said to be on the way to market. The use of New Orleans seed is extending ; Dr. Bonavia of Lucknow, who is eending to the committ ee some b ea utiful specimens of cotton, is desiro us o f sow i ng 200 acres in the Oude district. Letters were read f rom B uenos 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 :o 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 head of the project. The climate and soil ar e most f avoura bl e and the native quality is expect e d to r i val t h e N e w Orleans and Mobile varieties. Th e p l ant i ng i s b e t w een August and October and the crop i s ga thered after January. From the number of p ersons esta blishing plantations the next crop may be estimated at 2,500 " paks." A letter was read from the Commendatore Devin cenei, Turin, 'announcing that the Royal Italian Commission, of which he is President, has decided to hold an Exhibition of Italian grown cotton, and also of gins, p r esses, ploughs, and other cotton ag ricultural implem ents o f w hi c h English and other foreign manufacturers are invited to become exhi bitors. The Exhibition will beheld during the month of January next, and will, it is expected , g reatl y stimulate the growth o f 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 gener ous l y o ff e red to receive and superintend the exhibiti on o f g ins, presses, ploughs , and other implem en t s , f ree of allcharges beyond actual disbursem en t s . M a kers who intend to exhibit may see a list of prizes at the rooms of the Associa- I tion, and obtain any information they require. ME SUN, LONDON, THURSDAY EVENING, SEPTEMBER 3 ISM THE OVERWORK OF MILLINERS. 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 a.— " The girls in the large London houses are, with a few exceptions, thoroughly respectable. Character is required by the managers, and is maintained in their establishments. This is a great point, for many 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 secure 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 paid on entrance, and she receiv es board and lod g in g during the time of her apprent iceshi p . At the end of that time she becomes an improver' for one year or more, 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, she t a o nd her begin to ea rna t salary s varying according abilitiessfrom £l2 o 0 a S ear." Not one in a hundred, they add, passes through the ordeal 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. We cannot help if,' say the ladies ;' we are willing to give a good prise for good work, but 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 f 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 late-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 and 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 the necessary education and train ing. The power to write well, and to keep accounts, would open to them many of the lighter and better paid situations in shops ; and such easy feminine trades as ladies' hairdressing would naturally fall 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 health is sacrificed is lessened, fewer will be able to rise into the rank of skilled workers, and demand a fair day's wages for a fair day's work." The committee; conclude by saying that public sympathy, and it may be Legislative enactment, would aid them, but they indicate one way in which they think public support might aid largely and in the most legitimate way, viz., "by encouraging and patronising the establishment of houses of business on the principle of partnership or co operation." By combinieg the capital of their skill and industry, there is nothing to hinder dress makers from becoming, to a great extent, their own employers, it ladies would be induced to pay ready money, or not fake m ore than three months . ' credit. They might also aid in the task of opening fresh employments to women by asking for their services in preference to those of men in such things as at tendance in shops, hairdressing, 8:c. It is only by efforts thus combined, and by attention to the laws which regulate work and wages, that the condition of dreestnalters can be permanently imprered. We hope that suchen effort will be inude hel'ore another season has added its victims to a system of cruel and unnecessary over work. SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALS. TimEs.—The American war has presented the most remarxable 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- uged the Governments of Europe. The long letter rom 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 fi yrnpathy 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- :ers induces us to read his prescrit 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 suffered some severe and 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 Genera Lee's attempt at invasion, and the gradual pone 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 las: year excused. Great as the Fede ral successes undoubtedly are, their effect it weak ened, and not strengthened, by Mr. Seward's recapitulation of them. He protests too much. He used just as strong languege 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 suecesses ? 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 went 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 ofpeace 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, and 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 are unable to see the very smallest instalment of the advantages which Mr. Seward is perpetually assuring us would result from the complete success of the Federals in their course of conquest. If Mr. Seward really wishes to explain to Europe the prospects of the United States in the event of the success of his Government, this is the point which he ought to have dwelt upon. We shculd like to have been told, for example, in a calm and statesmanlike paper, what are the intentions and the expectations of the Federal Government as to the administration of the revolted provinces. We see them conquered by extraordinary exertions of force, and held in sub jection by enormous armies. We know thatin some otthese subjugated districts the country has been so ruined that the population are oblig ed to exist upon rations furnished to them by the Federal armies. If this is to be the result of the Federal victories everywhere, we see no chanc e renewalofany of commercial prosperity through the continued pro secution of the war. On all this Mr. Seward's letter gives us us no information what soever, and therefore, even if his arguments could persuade us of the ul mate success of the Federal arms, they would not lead us to hope for any of the advantages result. If, too, this letter is a in its of peace from the s g main characteristics former a mere repetition of fEurope o as to the probableurishe;, and if it fails to relieve the anx iet y o consequences of this struggle , it is entirely needless in its main purpose . The persons to whom it is addressed are directed f to use the facts con t ai ned in it for the purpose 0 donvin that the quickest and s h or test way to the restoration the Governments of Great Britain and ds f Francet ora tion of 1 heir trade is " to w i t hd ra w support and f a vour from the insurgents, and to leave th e adjustment a of our domestic contro versies entirely with toe people of the United States." So far, at leas t, as this country is concerned such an appeal is en tirel y without meanin g. The insur gents have received neith er su pp ort nor favour from our Government. They have got absolutely nothing from this country but such supplies of arms and nec essaries of life as they could smuggle in through a blockade which w e have scrupulouslywld, ought respected. The American s, of all p eo p le the or to know that trad e is entirely impartial . There are P l en ty of merchants in N ew York who are perfectly ready to sell anyt hin g to anybody any where if they c an get the money f or it, and the y will always send it where they can g et the most money. It cause we have left " the adjustment of the domestic con t ro versies" of the United States exclusively with the people themsel ves that the South has be en able to attract from this country the supplies which have so exasperated the Federals. If we had done as Mr. Seward would have Desired, and, at the demand of the Northern States, prohibited by special legis lation a ny export to the Southe rn S ta t es, we shoul d h a ve interfered in the most direct manner pos sible with the domestic controversie of the United States. We have lett them to fight out their own struggle in their own way, and we have not the slightest intention of doing anything else. If w e 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 moan of sympathy and aid received from abroad," we (au 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 axe perfectly unne cessary. It might determine our sympathy if Mr. Seward could show ns 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 w e a r e un able 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 effect us personally, that, of course, roekes a difference. When our own interests are not iuvo, red we can listen with a becoming amount of piiilosopniom 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 ho were to read in his morning paper that the whole empire of China had been swallowed up by an earthquake. Probably many persons will near, 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 intrcst 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 _ . he 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 thug be a matter of congratulation to all of us. We escape, in the first piece, 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 taller 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. Acon- stitutional Poland in the midst of an absolutis Russia would be an anomaly, an impossibility. I was for this reason that the magnanimous pro. gramme of Alexander I. broke down. It was on this account that the constitution 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 fr . Om its incubus. Russia is to be constitutionalised, 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 less 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 no more tyranny. The pure life and tho 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 or 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. So long as she will keep quiet Russia is in little danger from other powers. Her territory, vast as it is, does not tempt them. 'l'uey 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 Conetantinople. 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 arms. During the seven years' war the Empress Elizabeth g a in e d vic tories against the Prussians, whose power was then in its infancy. Catherine subdued Poland, and wrested much territory from Turk e y i n th e bloody campaigns of her lieutenants, Potemkin and Suwarroff. It was not Alexander, but the elements, that drove back a F renc h army i n 1812 . The Russians were defeated at Borodino—as be fore at Austerlitz—when side by side with Au tria. The Polish r e v o lt, an d the Hungarian s-re volt, were successively put down by Nicholas ; but he 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 co ac h- a nd-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 aro 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 time, and consi dering that September is the month least congenial of all the twelve to that purpose, we may not do . amiss in sumrs arising in few words the purport of certain antecedent Acts of Parliament to which the provisions of the supplementary Act passed in the session juat concluded refer. It would not be far wrong were the assertion made that, prior to 1848 and 1849, the science which is inadequately trans lated into English by " public health," had n o le g i s lative and public recognition amongst us. B . cyond the provisions of q uaran tine (in respect of which there are good reaeces for believing they have done more harm than good) and of vaccination, the ex. Vernal circumstances effseties; public health were taken less cognisance of by the State here than o n the Continent. At the same time no injusti ce should be done to the provisions of municipal enactments ; the fact, indeed, being that the post ponement of imperial legislation is doubtless in some measure attributable to , the circumstance that municipal an d therefore local ---Ser e . sight has lessened the need of Parliamenta r y inter vention. T The Nuisances Removal and Disease Pre vention Acts were passed under the immediate psi ti s an') Of that terrible epidemic, the choler a . N o grea. marvel, therefore, if tney were not Line 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 certain 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 being 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 from 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 neceseary parenthesis that a connection by no means occult might once have been traced and established be t ween 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. Travellers 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 ing 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 S ession. 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 meat." The gist of amendment fur nished by the new act consists in making the proof that inculpated articles were not exposed or de- I 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 pessession, or on whose premises, the objectionable articles are found is rendered liable to a penalty not exceeding 120 for every animal carcase, 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. .1•- NEWARK—WEDNESDAY. A moderate supply of wheat at our market, and prices 6d 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 32s Red do. 43s to 45s Oats, old, .. 2ss to 303 Old white 44s to 49s New do 22s to 27s Red do. 41s to 44s 1 Beans.. 40s to 44s Barley, malting.... 35s to 40s 1 Beans, new.. —s to —s HULL-TUESDAY. The wheat trade during the past few days has been de cidedly firmer. At to-day's corn market there 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 47s Od to 50s Od Old red Neir white .. 7 , _ _ New red .... ;; Barley.... English malting 36s Od to 378 Od Grinding 26s 6d to 28s Od Saal and Oderbruck Holstein and Danish 3os Od to 31s Od Grinding Oats English, old 26s Od to 28s Od Archangel and Riga, per st osl2id to 13d Friesland and DutCh . - osl3d to Osl3ld Swedish and Danish osl2id to osl3d Beans ....English, old, per qr 43s Od to 45s Od New pigeon 42s Od to 44s Cd New tick Egyptian .. 33s Od tc 34s Gd Peas Foreign boilers .. 36s Od to 388 Od Grinding Tares .... Spring. —s Od to —s Od Indian Corn Linseed, feeding crushing Linseed cakes (Hull) £lo 0 0 to £0 0 0 Foreign Bl5 oto 9 0 0 Rape cakes 6 0 oto 0 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 Tuesday'. Fine old more active, and rather dearer. New malting barley in limited supply ; grinding sorts were in favour of buyers. Beans and oats unaltered. White ..47s to 48s j Barley . 3Bs to 408 RQd.. ..44s to 46s I Grinding ..308 to 32s Beans .3Bs to 40s I Oats.. New —s to —s I Peas —s to —s COAL AI Prices of Coal per Ton at ARK ET. the close of the market. s. d. North Pelton Gas 13 6 Carway and Duirryn Malting 2O 0 Grey's "West Hartley 15 9 ‘valker Primrose 12 9 Eden Main 16 6 Byass's Bebside West Walls End. a. d. Hartley -- .. 16 3 Walls End. Russel's Hetton 16 9 Ships at mark, Hartlepool.. l7 6 South Hartlepool 16 6 East Hartlepool 17 9 Trimdon Hartlepool 17 6 fi elloe Hetton lB 0 Stewart's 17 9 South Hetton 18 0 Cassop l6 9 Hengist Hall 16 9 36 ; sold, 33. Foreign Mail Packet List. MAILS DUE. Australia and Mauritius, via Southampton. Sept. 18. via Marseilles Sept. 12. Brazil and Cape Verds, by British pachet. Oct. 5. Cape of Good Hope, Ascension, and St. Helena Sept. 28. China, Penang, and Singapore, via Southampton Sept. 18. via Marseilles Sept. 12. Falkland Islands Gibraltar, via Southampton .. India (Calcutta), and Ceylon, via Southampton Sept. 18. via Marseilles Sept. 12. India (Bombay), via Southampton Sept. 10. via Marseilles Sept. 4. Portugal .... Oct. 5. Malta, Egypt, and Aden, via Southampton Sept. 10. via Marseilles Sept. 4. Newfoundland .. Sept. 17. Oporto and Vigo • U. S. and British N. America, by Brit. packet Sept. 11, by U.S. packet by Canadian packet Sept. 4. W.C. of Africa, Madeira, and Teneritle Sept. 10. Bahamas, via New York Sept. 24. Mexico.. All Ca plifornia. an arts of Wedst Brit Indiesish , Columbia including . Chili, Peru ' 1 Sept. 14. [ADVERTISEMENT.I—HoIIoway's Pills, for the cure of Biliousness, Liver and Stomach Complaints, and General Debility.—This medicine is so well known in every part of the world, and the cures effected by it are so wonderful that it now stands in no need of public eulogy. Its pre-eminence as a remedy for bilious and liver complaints, and disorders of the stomach and chest, is no longer a matter of dispute or doubt. In these diseases the beneficial effects of these invaluable pills are so permanent and extensive thatt h whole system is renovated, the organs of digestion strength.. cued, a free and easy respiration promoted, and both physi cal and moral energy are increase d. Plain directions for the use of this admirable medicine, at once so mild and effi.- cacious, are affixed to each box. Holloway's pills are always safe, and act as gentle aperients. Births. son. De.vis.—On the 2 d inst., of aat Highgate - rise, the wife of B. O Goodwin Davis,; the Esq., L TAI D 31 s t ult.,. at Witham, Es sex , th e w if e o f Capta i n Luard, R.N., of a S3ll. MlLD3fey.---On the Ist inst., at 68, Park-street, Grosve nor-square, the Hon. Mrs. Hervey St. John Mildmah prematurely, of a daughter—stillborn. S OA NES.— On the 2d inst, at U pm i ns t er, E ssex , th e w ife o f Temple Soanes, Esq,, of a daughter. Marriages. DICK—MACRINTOSII.—On the Ist inst., at St. Mark's, Kennington, Robert Sheriff Dick, Edq., to Mary Anne, only daughter of the late Colonel John Mackintosh. LAI T GIITON — HILL.—On tho 2d inst., at Holy Trinity, Camden-town, Geotge J ames Laughton, Esq., to Maria, eldest daughter of the late Edward Hill, of Ashbourne, Del byLthire, Deaths. BARNEY.—On the 31st ult., at Southampton, Miss Ann Barney, aged 85. CRAITIELD.—On the Ist inst., at 9, Brixton-rise, His% Prances Chatfield, formerly of Chichester, aged 86. GOUNDRY.—On the 28th ult., at Herne-bay, Elizabeth Laundry, widow, aged 92. HOPKINS.—On the Ist inst., at Torquay, Lieutenant E. B• Hopkies, R.N., aged 37. MANsrouD.—On the 31st ult., at Bath, John Griffith Manslord, Esq., aged 77. MAINIVARING .-Or. the 28th ult., at St. Helier's, Jersey, John Popham, eldest son of the late Lieut.-Col. Fredli. Mainwaring, 59th Regt. PAYNE.—On the 31st ult., at Wimbledon, Charles Moll, Payne, Esq., of the Middle Temple, barrister-at-kW , aged 72. London : Printed and Pii!: , !islied by WILLIAM ANDItEII, of No. 112, Strand, Printer, at 'TIE SUN Office No. 112 ' Strand, in the Precinct of the .savoy, in the CountY Thurts , jity, rSepteinher 3, thti3. t