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

HIE SUN, LONDON, MONDAY EVENING', DECEMBER 12, 1864.

LONDON, MONDAY, DEC. 12, 1864.

By the arrival of the Australasian we have news
from New York to the Ist of December. The chief
interest is directed to the progress of SHERMAN in
Georgia. By the latest accounts (published), for
the authorities at Richmond very wisely divulge
only es much as can do their cause no harm,
General SHERMAN found that Macon was so
strongly fortified as to set him at defiance, and he
went on to Milledgeville, the capital of Georgia,
which he burnt, and then proceeded on his course
of devastation. Luckily the archives of the State,
and what public and private property could
be carried away, had been removed before his ar-
tival. In fact, the people had been everywhere
aroused and flew to arms. At Augusta great alarm
-prevailed, according to report, but SHERMAN was
still somewhere about twenty miles off—nor was it
very clear that he would wait to attack it, for he
Vas anxious to get to the coast for his own safety.
The Governors of Georgia and South Carolina had
ordered all the population, from 15 to 55, to rise in
arms. The Governor of South Carolina had fixed
upon Hamburg as the place of rendezvous for his
Militia. Hamburg is situated on the Savannah
River, and is close to Augusta, so that immediate
assistance would be rendered to that important
quarter. Indeed, such was the terror at Augusta
that it was intended to arm the negroes at once
for the defence of the city. General BEAUREGARD
was at Macon with General HARDEE and other
men of note, with Governor BROWN of Georgia,
tusking all due arrangements to meet the emer-
gency. The wonder was why HOOD had not been
ordered to the scene of action—but it would be
idle for those ignorant of the plan of operation
to hazard opinions or criticise the conduct of the
E,ecutiee in such a wide field of speculation. It
may turn out that HOuD was matoeuvring in Ten-
neesee so as to draw SHERMAN off in that direction
from Atlanta, which had been rendered too hot for
him to hold any longer. But as the course which
SHERMAN would take is very doubtful, no preeau.
Con could have foreseen his line of march. Perhaps,
now that all is unfolded, people will say that it
ws clear that SHERMAN WWII(' not go into Tea,
vmsec) to meet Hoop at. a disaJvantage, but few
supposed that he would have dared to risk the
direction of Savannah with the chance of being
engulph ,d in its swamps or lost in its unknown
perplexities. As it is, ho has set his fortunes on a
cast which may redound to his glory now and
hereafter, or whelm himself and his army in irre-

trievable disaster. The weather may prove treach-
erous to his projects, and a snowstorm might
occasion vast difficulties. Whatever may have been
the calculations of the Confederate Executive as to
SHERMAN'S operations, it is clear that now their
attention has been directed to meet the new ewer•
gency. It is possible that HOOD and BRECKENRIDGE
may be ordered to converge their forces to Georgia,
so as to crush SHERMAN before he can retreat to
the south, after his repulse from the eastern shores
of the Atlantic, for we learn that not only from
Charleston but also from Wilmington and other
places, all the disposable troops have been ordered
with all speed to Georgia. It is even said that a
division has been sent from LEE'S army at once to
the scene of operations, so that unless SHERMAN
make good his way to the coast before these forces
congregate, his position will become daily more
critical.

The far.famed Florida has at last met the fate of
the still more famous Alabama, but not in the same
gallant style. It now appears that a steamer was
made to run into the Florida as she lay at anchor
near Fort Monroe, as if by accident, and so much
damaged her that she sank in nine fathoms, and so
closed her career by the device of her unscrupulous
captors—a device as shallow as her capture was
nefarious in tha neutral waters of Bahia. Bat the
Yankees seem to reckoa that, now they have done
for the Florida, their iniquity will be sooner got
over, and the Government of Brazil the more easily
satisfied, but they will find they have rather cora%
plicated matters the more by their clumsy manoeuvre.
Thus bad begins, but worse remains behind. We
may expect some more decisive news by next mail'
for the South is now more alive than ever to the
exigency of the war. The proceedings in the Con-
federate Congress are marked by a strong decision
of character, and the people of the North may yet
find to their cost, that in re-electing Mr. LINCOLN
they have chosen the worst horn of their political
dilemma—not that they have lost much in
M'CLELLAN,

Amid the hurry-skurry of existence, and the
whirl of business, one is apt to forget what formed
the amusement of olden times and the delights of
the days that are o'er; but one thing is certain, that
holidays are every year becoming rarer, and we miss
the mirth and joviality that we are told the past
generation was wont to enjoy. It may be ques-
tioned if this is a change for the better, and if
more care to obtain respite and relaxation might not
be conducive to health and strength,and ultimately
be productive of more lasting labours than all this
forced toil and restless anxiety can produce; at all
events it is worth making the trial. The present
age is pre.eminently a hard-working one. In
every department of toil do we find the same sad
story of overwork. Not alone does the artisan aink
into the grave overdone with the exertions he has
made to maintain his family, and the sempstress
fall a victim to her monstrous exertions, but
labourers in far higher trades become the prey of
their sedulous employments, How often does the
grave close over all of genius that can perish, and
the sad cry resound from the lips of the surviving
mourners, " Oh ! it he had had bat rest !" The other
day, when a great artist was borne by a mourning
and sorrowing cavalcade to his last long home, it
was declared.that his valuable services might long
have been spared to us, and his efforts redounded to
his achievements in the scroll of fame, had he
allowed himself. rest. Surely a moral may be
drawn from all this, even as the ancient English
monarch comprehended the teaching of the advanc-
ing waves. Thus far shalt thou go, but no far-
ther. There are limits to human exertions, and
those who set them at nought will have to pay the
penalty in some shape or other. All work and no
play seems the most approved and recogniz,d adage
of the present day, but it is a false and fatal prin-
ciple to act upon, and many withered frames and
worn •out minds have borne sad testimony
to the cousequen ces of its application. We
are now approaching a season that is
pre-eminently one of rest and rejoicing,
and we have divine sanction as well as human
practice for the observance of a respite from toil and
a cessation from traffic. It is, then, in every sense
of the word, a calamity when it is judged necessary
to curtail the brief span set apart for holiday mak-
ing at this time, the festival of the Christian year
from the rising of the sun to the setting of the
same. As occasionally happens, this year the fes-
tival will fall on a Sunday—hence the holiday is
lost to all intents and purposes. It has been sug-
gested that Monday, the 26th, should be set apart
for a general holiday, to compensate for the dis-
appointment experienced by many, and the idea
seems a feasible one in many respects, It is to be
hoped that this will be carried out effectually, and
thus those classes whose avocations are of a strip.
gent nature may not be precluded from the boon
of an extra day of rest and enjoyment. If an Order
in Council declare the Monday a holiday, it will
be a blessing to thousands, and prevent the disap.
pointment that otherwise must infallibly ensue.
There are many who have only two certain holi-
days in the year, and for the sake of these alone it
is very desirable that such arrangements should be
made ; but there is also the community at large to
be considered, and since it is certain that neglect
in this natter will occasion great disappointment,
it seems scarcely necessary to say more upon the
subject. Unfortunately, however, for some reason
or other, best known to themselves, our Govern.
ment do not always lend themselves with a good
grace to the desires and wishes of the people. Let
them, then, make this occasion an instance which
shall be a bright exception to their previous faulty
management, and the voice of general gladness
which will arise in a thousand homes at the men-
tion of a general holiday without restrictions will
prove a sufficient reason for the departure from
ordinary routine, and indemnify them against
the charge of sanctioning a waste of time, and
causing delay to business,

The good folks of the North are giving practical
demonstration to our political chieftains that it is
not to allow the question of Reform to be any
longer set aside. It has been very easy for unwill-
ing reformers to excuse their own negligence and
apathy in fulfilling their hustings' pledges on the
ground of the indifference of the people, but after
the recent meetings and addresses that plea will no
longer serve them. The fact is, that the people
have been so tired of empty professions, so disc
gusted with the insincerity of their self-elected
leaders, that they have paused irresolute what action
to take. They have exorcised what little political
power they possess iu returning a Parliament
pledged to Reform. They have seen that Parlia-
ment deliberately abandon every shadow of a Itt-
form Bill. Ttiey trusted to the solemn pledges of
their Ministers, and to the reputation of at least
one of them as an earnest Reformer. They reckoned,
too, on the prevailing influence of that Manchester
party which has pledged ftself so largely to Reform,
which was not unrepresented in the Cabinet, and
whose agency has been perceptible enough in the
direction of our national
and all these expectationpsolihcayv. All tbi reliance
and g p
roves
dr
worse
e
than useless, it is not to see what the masses are to
do. If they agitate the question violently their
conduct wilt certainly prove a very convenient plea

for delaying the extension of the franchise. All
they can do is to wait in patience for the turn of
the tide, and meanwhile to show to their adver•
series by their general conduct the fitness of the
better class of working men for political responsi-
bilties. One of the many difficulties attending the
matter is that the evil tends to perpetuate itself.
Those who are non electors have no means of
directly expressing their views in the Legislature,
and however sincere Reformers the great body of
the middle classes may be, there is always a large
proportion who have no mind to improve the condi•
tion of the class just below them. So that, how-
ever unsatisfactory may be the dependence of elec.
tors upon the promises of members, those who
really want Reform have no means of exacting
even these doubtful pledges. What lies within
their power they are doing, and it behoves every
genuine advocate of honest and uncompro.
wising Reform to stand by his colours,
and to give the unrepresented thousands
the oppostunity of expressing their wishes
and their requirements in language that neither
Minister nor Parliament can pretend to mistake.
Such an opportunity was given the other evening at
Bradford, when the great area of St George's Hall
was thronged with an eager audience on the occa-
sion of the meeting respecting Parliamentary Re-
form. The West Riding of Yorkshire was not
unknown of old for its advocacy of Liberal princi.
pies, and the crowded gathering of Thursday
afforded convincing proof that the old spirit has not
died out. The chief speakers of the meeting were
mostly mm who, like Sir F. CROSSLEY and Mr
BAINES, are known for their interest in the question ;
and although they said little that was actually
novel, the whole subject of Reform has been so long
and so studiously kept in the background that the
tritest arguments were welcome. The audience,
however, proved itself a discriminating critic by
mingling the hearty assent with which it received
any general enunciation of Reform principles with
decided disapprobation of an irrelevant introduction
of foreign topics. The Chairman, in the course of
an otherwise able and straightforward speech,
diverged into a discussion of the American question,
on the ground that some had unjustly condemned
Liberal principles in consequence of the great civil
war, which was said to have been produced by
them. Bat the working men of Bradford showed
that they were not to be misled by high..sounding
platitudes, but were able to exert their own common
sense and think for themselves, by greeting the
assertion that the American war owed its origin to
Northern hatred of slavery with pointed cries of
" Question." The time is past when working men of
England were ready to accept whatever was told
them without irquiry, and it is a proof of their
rapid growth in political knowledge that they
should be able at once to see through the Federal
professions, and to mistrust that fervour of abolition
which is dictated exclusively by selfeinterest. On
another point Mr FORSTER was either extremely
sanguine, or very easily misled. He had, he de-
clared, some hope from the leaders of the Liberal
party—a hope that we should imagine is shared by
a very limited number of politicians of every grade,
unless it be that diminutive section who consider
"Rest and thankful" as the compendium of political
wisdom. When he dealt with facts instead of
opinions, and with the actual state of the case
rather than with comments upon it, Mr FORSTER
was more satisfactory. He showed very clearly to
his audience the startling inequalities of the present
system of representation by a reference to the four
M P.'s then on the platform. The four constituen-
cies which they represented comprised, he said, one
million and a quarter of people, or one-twentieth part
of the population of the United Kingdom. The share
which those constituencies had i❑ the national re-
presentatio❑ was 1-80th part, and of the constitu.
encies themselves only 1-25:h part had a vote,
although oneefiftla of the population were adult
male taxpayers, so that only one-fifth part of the
taxpayers had any share in the representation. To
the great argument as to the danger or benefit of
extending the suffrage most of the speakers ad-
dressed themselves. Sir F. CROSSLEY, WllO claimed
an extended knowledge of the working man, and
who as a great employer of labour has not only op-
portunities for acquiring that knowledge, but every
reason for anxiously desiring the preservation of
social order, spoke boldly on behalf not only of the
lowered franchise, but of the ballot, Mr. BAINES,
who spoke tersely and to the purpose, pointedly
observed that no mistake which the working classes
could make nowadays would be likely to do so
much harm as the old political errors so long up-
held by the upper and middle classes. As for the
plea that the frequency of strikes should hinder the
admission of working men to their rights, such an
argument is altogether futile. If the working men
were better and more fairly represented they would
have less need of such means of protection; but so
long as the masters and manufacturers have the
framing of the laws exclusively in their own hands
the men are tempted to seek unlawful means of
obtaining redress for their grievances. Mr STANS-
FELD, very truly and forcibly, said in addressing
the Bradford meeting, " There are men of states-
manship who fear this progress, who call it demo-
cracy, and who would seek to stem its tide ; but
that democracy alone is dangerous which has its
stormy birth in days of ignorance, of bigotry, and
of oppressive rule." The experience of all history
confirms this rule, and although the English maeses
have now no recognised injustice, no oppressive
inequality under which they labour, the free grant
of political equality to every man individually
worthy of it would be the best guarantee for the
preservation of the internal tranquillity of the
kingdom. Of course there must be limits to the
franchise, and education should as much as possible
be made the test. How it is to be applied is a
question for the House of Commons to solve, but we
are still a very long way from details. Sir F.
CROSSLEY excused bis opposition to the Derby Re.
form Bill on the ground that it was what Yorkshire.
men called a great deal of cloth, but very little din-
ner. With the proposed Reform Cabinet and Re'
form Parliament, however, we have not yet got so
far as the laying of the cloth, and fear the gratifi•
cation of our appetites is a very long way off. Mr.
BAINES said he considered the measure once
sketched by Lord Jorof RUSSELL to ba a debt of
honour owed by the Government to the country,
end we are afraid that such is very much the light
in which the defaulters themselves regard it. The
fulfilment of rash engagements may often be insisted
on, and bonds indiscreetly giien may hold the cre-
ditor harmless, but the settlement of debts of ho-
nour is so entirely at the option of the culprit that
there is a very poor chance of extracting them from
unwilling debtors.

THE EMPEROR NAPOLEON'S " VIE. DE CXSAR,"
we are assured, will be issued in Paris about the 15th inst.
The Emperor was anxious to postpone the publication until
both volumes were ready, but M. Pion, the printer and pub
lisher, suggested that it would he hest to issue each volume
separately, and convinced the author. It has not yet been
deci ',ed whether the price shall be six or ei;ht franc',,
TIIE ROPE-JUGGLERS should make their hay
while the sun shines on them, according to the Atlanaum,
for, not only is Donato coming, but also Petropoli. Petro.
poll, we hear from an Italian friend, is surnamed "Il Elas-
tic° ;" and, among other contortions, puts a glass of wine
upon the sole of his foot, and drinks it off; and, when
making his bow of adieu to the spectators, slaps the back
of his head, also, with the sole of his foot. Haste, gentle-
men, clear the way

The Rev. Mr. Bellew's " Blount Tempest,"

The following admirable argument in favour of
opening freely to the public on Sundays our
various Natnal Gardens, Museums, Galleries,
and Institutions generally, we transfer to our
columns from Volume I. pp. 286.290 of the
Rev. J. C. M. Ballew's new novel, " Blount.
Tempest::" a work—Mr. Bellew's maiden work, we
believe, as a novelist—published only within the
last few hours by the Messrs. Horst and
Blackett. The particular passage here selected
for quotation from "Blount Tempest" is
transferred by us to the columns of The
Sun with peculiar satisfaction seeing that
we ourselves have so often, in this journal, during
years past, advanced the self-same argument
in favour of what is distinctly an Anti.. Pharisaic
and not an Anti-ItAigious movement. We would,
moreover, Fail to the extract with especial ear-
nestness as our own Enquiry—.

•WHY NOT ALSO THE CRYSTAL PALACE?

And, in putting this query, we would suggest as a
fitting superscription to be placed on all Sundays
over each of the garden entrances to that Palace
of tho English People--Pops's recommendation to
us all, In immortal verse, that we should—

"Look thro' IVature up to IVaturis God."

Mr Bellew writes as follows in the eloquent pas-
sage we are thus desirous of at once extracting from
" Blount Tempest"

Thank heaven I there is one day in the week which in
England can be called a day of rest. Were the observance
of Sunday nothing more than a political institution,:it would
be one of the dearest possessed and enjoyed by the people.
All estates of men look forward to it as a day of repose, and
specially of domestic comfort and happiness. However
humble may be the enjoyment attainable, there are none so
poor among us but desire to attain some particular indul-
gence and gratification for themselves and their children on
a Sunday, that may make it happy. Puritanism marked
the day with an austere observance, of which the spirit
partially survives ; but time and progress are smoothing
down the edge of such austerity, while the good work that
the Puritans enforced remains. Our English Sunday is
not a day of toil. How would the Roundheads wonder if
they oould contrast Sunday at Hampton Court such as they
knew it when " stout Oliver" was there, and a Sunday at
the same place in the reign of Queen Victoria ? No expe•
rimont of the Government has ever proved more satisfactory
than that of opening the galleries and gardens of Hampton
Court to the public on Sunday afternoon. It would be im-
possible for the most acrid and severe sectarian to contem-
plate the crowd of homely, toilsome artizans, with their
wives and children, passing through those galleries—all
orderly and cleanly and good-humoured, and respecting
the lroperty they are allowed to enjoy—without acknow-
ledging that the spectacle is impressive and encouraging.
It is encouraging because it strengthens the hands and
hearts of those who aro the true friends of labour (and not
the ostentatious would-be patrons of the humble and the
lowly),—and it gives them a 7rov arc° in the
urging upon the Government of the oountry an enlarged
and nationally developed scheme, for granting the sons of
toil in every crowded house of business an opportunity of
refreshing both mind and body upon God's good Sabbath.
The unctuous Sabbat4rian no doubt exudes with holy anger
at the thought of any public gallery or national institution
being open on the afternoon of England's day of rest
" Why not open all your places of amusement ?'' saith he,
" ' With fiddling, feasting, dancing, drinking, masking,
And other things which may be had for asking.'
Why not make ours a continental Sabbath f"

Oh, well-to-do Pharisaic Gospeller,
" Broadcloth without, and a cold heart within."

—is there no difference between the places which are open
for gain, four speculation, for trade, and those which yield no
gain except to the visitor, whose feelings and thoughts are
elevated, chastened, or instructed by the beauties of nature
or of art ; those which make the mind busy with no
speculations except such as lead us in wonder and delight to
recognise the sfiiuence and love of our Creator-Father;
those who have no relation with trade, except in reminding
the craftsman that he enjoys a day of blessed rest once a
week; when he can shake off the dust of work, and be the
peer of the noblest in a dearly earaed repose ?
Oh I well-to-do Pharisee, in softly cushioned pew, corn•
fo, tably partaking the consolations of thy profession at mid-
day, and in still more softly padded chair at a later hour
ruminating and digesting both meats and doctrines together,
lubrieat d with the choices wine—art thou amongst thy
"fine old masters" and thy valued specimens of the modern
school, thy inlaid cabinets, thy S4vres, and Chelsea, and
Dresden, thy damask draperies and velvet pilo, thy shaven
lawns, and shady avenues, and emerald fields—art thou a
righteous judge in Israel, a fair dictator to decide and to
proclaim which limner's art the poor man shall not see be-
cause it is tho SS.bbath ; which. National Gallery or which
British Museum he shall not enter, because it is the Sab-
bath ; what gardens, parks, or palaces he shall not visit,
because it is the Sabbath !

"He shall live a man forbid," thou sayest, Draco of the
pulpits and the pews I
And there once was One who with his disciples walked
through the fields, while they plucked ears of corn upon the
Sabbath day I
In opening Hampton Court Palace and gardens to the
public on Sunday afternoon, the Government has paid the
first Instalment or a debt long due to the working classes of
the metropolis. llampton Court, however, in a pecuniary
sense, is as much beyond the reach of the poor in London
as Holyrood, geographically. How much longer a Chris-
tian country will persist in supplanting clauses to the
Fourth Commandment, as far, and so far only, as that com-
mand can be made to press upon the poor, it is hard and
grievous to speculate.
Is it not a mockery of humble industry to say to it that
our clubs and parks may be crowded by the upper ten thou-
sand on the Sabbath. and that they shall be free to indulge
in every gratification and luxury, but that the poor man
shall have no resource or gratification save such as the
"public" offer him ?
Dives in Belgravia shall be free to feast his eyes, his
tastes, his senses on the seventh day, but Lazarus at the
Seven Dials, or Clare-market, or Shorediteh, shall not so
much as lift his eyes to contemplate any nobler work of art
than a public park I

We may here add that "Blount Tempest"—so far
as a perusal of the first of the three volumes oan yet
enable us to judge of the merit of the work as a
whole—gives promise, we cannot bat already
think, of proving a very brilliant success as
in his newly-assamed
shall receive our
ac theaapr ecaistuiashors attention, aNt firss
Novelist.
iorskntlt a
our examination of it
as a work of art shall havo been completed.

LATEST INTELLIGENCE.

[RETJTER'S TELEGRAMS.]

THE BANK OF FRANKFORT.

FRANKFORT-ON-MAINE, DEC. 12.
The Bank of Frankfort has reduced its rate of
discount from 51 to 5 per cent.

ITALY.
TURIN, DEC 10 I(Evening.)

Th© Senate of today voted the bill for the in•
3cription on the Book of the Public Debt of a sum
of 1,067,000 f. Rente in favour of the City of Turin.

The bill authorising industrial and commercial
companies to establish their chief offices elsewhere
than at Turin was also passed, as was also a bill for
the transfer of the Court of Cassation from Milan
to Turin,

r.........e

SPAIN.
MADRID, DEC. 10 (Evening.)

The Correspondencia announces that the Queen
has accepted the resignation of Senor Llorente, and
adds that the motive for this step on the part of
the Minister was a simple question of expediency
with regard to the order of introduction of certain
bills in the next Parliament.

Senor Antonio Benavides, nominated Minister of
Foreign Affairs, in place of Senor Llorente, has
taken the oath of allegiance to the Queen.

TEE WEST COAST OF AFRICA MAILS.
LIVERPOOL, DEC. 12.

The Royal Mail steamer Athenian, with the
above mails, has arrived here. She brings 21 pas.
sengers, 1,6620 z. of gold dust and £5,110 in specie.
Her dates are as follows :—Benin, Oct, 24 ; New
Calabar, Nov. 7th; Bonny, itn; Lugue, lotti ,
Accra, 12th ; Cape Coast Castle, 14th ; Cape Palmas,
16th; Sierra Leone, 21st ; Bathurst, 25th ; Teneriffe,
Dec. 1 ; and Madeira, Dec. 3.
Dr Baikie had arrived at Lagos en route for
Era gland.
Trade was totally stopped at Benin.
All other news unimportant.