The Sun.
London, England, 1864-12-26 00:00:00

LONDON, MONDAY, DEC. 26, 1864.

The China brings us news up to the 14th of the
month, and we learn that Richmond papers assert
that SHERMAN's main army had crossed the
Ogeechee river, and was on the 7th moving towards
Savannah. If this report be correct, and the con-
flicting accounts which we have from time to time
received, makes our knowledge of his movements
uncertain at the best, it would seem that the Federal
General, anxious not to close his grand expedition
without aehieving some striking success, has
directed his efforts towards Savannah. Savannah
is strongly defended, and should he fail
in the attempt he will probably fall back upon Beau.
fort. Having got so far, he is tolerably sure to
reach the coast with some portion of his army ; but
he will leave many brave men behind him in the
swamps of Georgia. The Confederates are actively
engaged in repairing the roads in his rear, which
had been destroyed in accordance with the new
system of Federal tactics. FOSTER and DAHLGREN
with their forces left Beaufort early in the month
and advanced to Pocataligo Bridge on the Charles.
ton and Savannah, which, as we heard by the last
mail, they destroyed and then entrenched them-
selves at the spot, FOSTER succeeding in communi-
cating with SHERMAN by scouts. The latter, it was
estimated, would reach Savannah on the 7t.h, but,
when there, his work is yet to begin. He has the
first engineer of the day opposed to him, and the
siege of Savannah will not be easy. Should a pitched
battle occur, SHERMAN'S army, jaded from their
tong and harassing march, will have to confront the
Confederates on their own ground, fresh and strong
in numbers, with all the animus of patriotic indig-
nation at the desolation of their country. While
SHERMAN is thus occupied, his Commander-in-Chief
has been making a move. An expedition under
WARREN has been despatched from Petersburg,
with directions to destroy part of the Weldon rail-
road, with a view of preventing the Confederates
from receiving supplies to Stoney Creek. The ex.
pedition succeeded in destroying a bridge and 15
miles of railroad, but their success was not un-
chequered, for the Confederates were found in strong
force near Hickford, their ultimate destination.
WARREN'S men carried, it is said, the works on one
side of the Mehergen River, where the Confederates
were entrenched ; but another version throws doubt
on this. All accounts agree in stating that the
raiders retired to their old position at Petersburg,
and, it is added, that part of the force was captured.
So much for GRANT'S scheme, which has resulted
in very little. The distrust with which all Northern
versions are received in this country has been amply
justified before now, but it has just had additional
confirmation in the accounts of the losses at Frank-
lin. The truth has now partially crept out, and the
Federal losses are stated officially to have been
one hundred and ten officers and two thousand
privates in three out of the four divisions
engaged, but the losses in the fourth division, which
were heavier, are not mentioned. Sach subterfuges
and evasions are beneath a great country and are
too transparent to effect their purpose. BRECKEN-
RIDGE is endeavouring to join ROOD, and should
he succeed in doing so, they will probably employ
their united forces in the capture of Nashville,
which, as the capital of Tennessee, a great depot
for stores, and an important strategic position will
be a most valuable prize. 25,000 Confederates
under LYON have crossed the Cumberland river
into Kentucky and moved on Hopkinsville. Should
they succeed in their attempt it will probably arouse
the old State, so that the work which it has taken
the Federals tour years to accomplish, may be tine
done in as many weeks. The civil news has some
points of interest. The question of employing the
slaves is engaging the attention of the South. The
Governor of Virginia, in his message favours, the
arming of negroes without delay, which is an im-
portant combination of President DAVIS'S sugges-
tions. Both Senates have been active. The Con-
federates have appointed Commissioners to Brazil
with reference to the seizure of the Florida, while
the United States Senate has passed a bill autho-
rising the employment of six revenue cutters on
the lakes, and the House of Representatives have
adopted a resolution giving England notice of the
termination of the Reciprocity Treaty by a majo-
rity of 28. Our authorities must, therefore, be
ready on their side with a suitable fleet for the
protection of the Takes at the expiration of the
allotted period, and we trust that our own colonies,
now that they are concentrating their forces, will
also turn their attention to this very important
point. Our Yankee friends have certainly not
shown such:good faith or good will in other mat.
ters that we should rely upon their magnanimity,
and if we allow any fear of incensing or irritating
them to prevent us from showing a determined
point, we shall find that we have been very
grievously mistaken.

The succeeding telegrams and various ac-
connts that arrive from Germany, and bear
reference to the schemes on foot in divers
quarters, do not furnish ue with very flat•
tering intelligence concerning the succeEses of
the arch-conspirators, as the two German Powers
may well be called. Any check or counterpoise in
these ventures will be felt with particular force by
PfUSEIO, which country has become so deeply in
volved in plots and devices to secure her ends and
snatch a large portion from others, both friends and
toee, to serve her turn and glory in her prey. It
may be confidently affirmed, ho?7,ver, that the

prospects that loom in the future are not very
favourable to the views of the schemers. Herr TON
BISMARK has led, or sedulously followed, his So-
vereign in all the attempts on liberty at home and
attacks on freedom abroad; but they may both
live to rue the day when they gave up the prin-
ciples to which they were pledged, and set them-
selves to work to undermine the Constitution of the
land, instead of fixing its foundations more deeply
and strongly in the hearts of the people by wise
relaxations and prudent reforms. Even now, while
to all intents and purposes the couree of events run
smoothly in respect to the furtherance of their
plans, how little security can they feel, and how
small an amount of satisfaction must they •enjoy.
'To them may well be applied the tenour of the
reflections of that King of SHAKSPERE, who de-
clares that Heaven knows by what by-paths and
crooked ways he won his crown, and he himself
can tell how uneasily it sits upon his head. Doubt-
less, were all known that relates to the policy of
German councils we should be scandalised by the
dark record presented to our view, and it is also in.
contestably certain that the prosecution of their
much coveted desires does not conduce to either
strength or security in so much as comes to notice
in the position of the Prussian rulers. Since
the outset of the unfortunate Danish affair
there has been one report after another
relative to doubts, difficulties, and disturb-
ances in the smaller principalities and middle
States of Germany. Whether from a prescient
sense of danger in perspective, from a jealous no-
tion of slighted interests, or from a desire to take
advantage of a change of effeirs, or from all three
ideas combined, it is certain that a most uneasy sen-
sation has prevailed and is prevailing in these small
States. No doubt a keen sense of disappointment
must be felt by them in regard to the failure of the
plans set on foot last year to establish their inde-
pendence and to render their position more secure
in strength and elevated in dignity. Little did
they foresee, when they so eagerly hailed the meet•
ing at Frankfort, the doom that was hanging over
them and closing in dark shadows around. It must
by this time, however, have become impossible for
the most sanguine or short sighted discerner of
events not to mark the peril which surrounds these
principalities, and regard the coming struggle alp
those do who know that on the issues wait freedom
or extinction. Wisdom has little or nothing to do
with the councils of Russia, and Austria seems to
share the delusion of fatuists to a c easiderable ex-
tent. In short, both nations appear to illustrate
most effectually the truth of the portentous adage,
" Quern Deus vult perdere prim dementar n their
thoughts, words, and deeds. How much more pru-
dent and politic it would have been to have endea.
voured to conciliate the smaller States instead of
treating them with undieguieed contempt, covert
sneers, and latterly such open defiance. What a
spectacle dues Germany now present to the eyes of
observant beholders, rent with factions, and torn by
internal divisions. It is indeed enough to point a
moral, if not to adorn a tale. It exhibits to the
world a powerful instance of the insufficiency of
schemes which are only devised by greed and pro-
pelled by deceit. The Conference at Bamberg is
very significant just now, and affords us a striking
proof of how far matters have progressed. It is
sometimes difficult, if not impossible, to separate
the real from the apparent in cases of rumoured
disagreements, and he must be, a cute observer who
can tell where exaggeration ends and truth
begins, bu: it cannot be doubted for a moment in
this instance that great events are on the gale, and
that all must prepare for a storm who are mixed up
and interested in German affairs. The proposal
to divide Germany into three Powers—Austria,
Prussia, and the Middle States—seems a very fair
and desirable one, and it is to be hoped that there
will be a chance of the project being put into exe-
cution ; bat, of course, many obstacles will be in the
way, and various hindrancea obtrude themselves.
It is not to be supposed that Prussia will quietly
acquiesce in the formation of these plans, but it has
yet to be shown if her opposition will succeed in
preventing this independent arrangement. The
very heat and virulence which Herr VON BISMARK
has displayed in his late communications to the
offending principalities have been weapons against
him, and greatly militated against the prospect of
a satisfactory settlement, and an adjustment of dis-
puted pcints. It is evident at this time that the
prevailing notion and deep_laid policy of Prussia
has been to monopolise all power and gradually to
take possession of these States to swell the list of
her territories, and augment the grandeur and
greatness of the Court of Berlin. We have yet to
learn whether the wily course of proceedings which
has distinguished Herr VON BISMARK'S career will
succeed, but if they do it will only be a temporary
triumph, and by no means un fait accompli that we
behold. This generation will not pass away and
leave German affairs in their present position ; all
tends to show the contrary. Those who have so
ardently promulgated the doctrines of peace at the
price of honour, the expense of truth, and the sac-
rifice of right, will find out their mistake too late,
and at all events others will find it out for them.
Had a wise course of policy been pursued, and a
firm tone been adopted in dealing with the German
Powers, Prussia in particular, they would never
have came to such a pass, but the tame and timorous
plans so much in favour at headquarters have ruined
many, and been provocative of peril to those that
they affected to serve. It would have been the
best service to have rendered Prussia to have
checked her procedure in the mischievous course in
which she has embarked, and to have pointed out
the way to safer and more honourable pursuits if
she sought an increase of power and position.
With the plea and the pretext of this Danish war
the Cabinet of Berlin has sedulously continued to
do a great deal, and now these small States are to
be next victims. Before, however, they are offered
up as the new holocaust to the ambition of Prussian
rule, they will make a desperate stand for their
defence, and it will be no easy matter to circumvent
them. It may well be asked what is the object of
all this manceavring on one hand, and machinations
on the other ? Some nations that at the com-
mencement of the century were far in-
ferior to the German states in position
and opportunities, have now put themselves
in a much more desirable condition than any that
is presented by the once vaunted Germanic Powers,
but a lessen may be learned from their disgraceful
and deplorable condition, and a warning is held out
to those who allow their golden opportunities to
slip by, and thus what should be their advantage
becomes to them foolishness and stumbling-blocks.

The remedy of abuses is probably a very slow
taste, but it might have been expected that in a

country like cur own, a source of public danger and
annoyance would be immediately inquired into
and the risk removed as far as possible; more
especially when the danger referred to particularly
affects that class of interests which are so power
fully represented in England—those who from
commercial or other reasons are in the habit of
trusting life and propecty to the care of the seas.
Yet incredible as the fact may seem a great and
recognised danger has been allowed 'to remain in
existence, in spite, not only of arglanaent And re-

monstrance, but of actual practical demonstration
of its perils. Daunt's Rock, situate near Cork har-
bour, still rears its unmarked head above the water
right in the pathway of every vessel that enters the
harbour, although the City of New York was last
April totally wrecked upon it, the City of Washing-
ton with 500 souls narrowly escaped a similar fate,
and other ships so constantly run the same risk that
it is hardly thought of as long as they escape. Just
now Mr. MAGUIRE, the indefatigable Mayor of
Cork, has another disaster to record in support of
his constant expostulations with the dilatory and
supine authorities. A trig laden with sugar, bound
from Manilla to Cork, struck on the rock, though in
tow of a steamer with a pilot on hoard. There was,
very possibly, some mieman4gment in the case,
since the pilot should have known the locality welt
enough to give the rock a wide berth, but that does
not alter the fact. With the greatest difficulty the
ship was brought into harbour, much damaged, and
the cargo, valued at £lO,OOO, was destroyed.
Happily there was no life lost, but had the ship
not been in tow the result would have been very
different. Mr. MAGUIRE, in telling the story, is
justly indignant with the three Boards who, be-
tween them, cannot settle this matter—no great
effort for them, although so important to the ship-
ping. After long delay, and protracted contro-
versy, as to the extent of their respective obliga-
tions, the Board of Trade, the Trinity Board,
and the Ballast Board agreed to place a bell
beacon on Daunt's Rock ; but although Mr.
MAGUIRE had an interview with the President
of the Board of Trade iu October, and he was
then informed that the necessary sanction had
been given six weeks before Mr. MAGUIRE'S ap-
plication to the Ballast Board a month later, (ably
produced the answer that tenders had been called
for. So much for official despatch. The real way
to settle the case would be to destroy the rock, and
the Government should at once undertake the
duty, arranging the details of expense afterwards.
We suppose that the loss of life and property
will reckon for nothing until a ship of the line—
say the Prince Consort, for instance—goes down
on Daunt's Rock, or, on SYDNEY SMITH'S prin-
ciple, a member of one of the indifferent Boards
makes a practical examination of its dangers under
water. Mr. MILNER GIBSON has not shown
much of the Reformer or of the Liberal in this
business, and we should recommend him to prepare
for a little, cross-questiouing on the subject.
"ißetween two stools," says the old adage, ''you
come to the ground," but between three Boards,
where red-tapism reigns supreme, you are likely to
arrive at a worse conclusion.