The Sun.
London, England, 1864-05-27 00:00:00

bad taken 2,500 prisoners and 400 negroes, in•
eluding one Brigadier-General, 30 pieces of artil-
lery, 100,000 lb. of bacon and beef, 1,000 barrels of
flour, and a fall garrison outfit. The Confederate
ironclad Albemarle, which was built on tho Roan-

oaks River, and received the last plates of her
armour only a few hours before the expedition
started, co-operated in the attack, and per-
formed an important part in the reduction of the
place, having sunk two Federal gunboats, disabled
a third, and captured a small steamer. The entire
garrison, numbering about 3,000, was taken, killed,
or wounded, with an estimated loss on the part of the
Confederates of 300. The force with which General
Hoke performed this handsome feat did not exceed
the outer works he sent
isn,oaood
emme
ann. d Af
ofrt ear
scuarrrreyni
dn
egr,
but the Federal officer
declined to comply. The demand was renewed after
the destruction of the gunboats, and again an answer
in the negative was returned. An assault was then
ordered, when the men rushed forward with a shout,
cleared the ramparts at a bound, and enforced a
compliance with the demand at the point of their
glittering bayonets. The negroes were the first, as
usual, to throw down their arms and run forward
with uplifted hands to surrender. It is now impro-
bable that Hoke will push on to Washington and
Newbern, on the head waters of Pamlico Sound, the
two most important towns after Wilmington, in
that part of North Carolina.
Thus you perceive with what zeal and energy
these resolute people enter upon the campaign of
1864. In no instance since January 1 have they
struck a blow in which they were not successful,
and in no case have the Federals advanced from
their water bases that they have not been checked
or defeated. This unbroken series of successes has
the morale of the army,
had
,h
fa
rpo pmy
ae
lf eacctcoutipnot ns
was never so good as it is
at this time. It may be added here that Grn. Beau-

regard has been ordered to North Carolina, and that
he will take commani of the forces in that State
and Virginia, south et' dames River. So Gen. Burn-
side, if he should laid on the south side of the
James, will find a liot in his path.
Turning from milittry affairs to other topics, the
English reader will pardon me for saying that the
publication in Great Britain of the forged report
of Mr. Secretary Ala'erg, of the Confederate navy
department, and, espcially, the readiness, if not
eagerness, with which it was accepted as genuine
by Earl Russell when Mr. Adams sent him a copy
of it, has produced t painful impression in this
country. The domment contained internal
evidence of its spuricus character; but, if it had
not, the Confederates think Mr. Adams
said enough in the opening
paragraph of his de-
spatch to the chief of the Foreign-office to put the
latter upon his guard es to the origin and character
of the paper. The latter does not seem, however,
to have had his suspicious awakened on the con-
trary, he peruses the counterfeit report) ateepts it
as genuine, anfdorptrhoemitis eslto
naughtyremonstrateconduct. If EArl
Confederates
Russell was misled, were Mr. Adams and his
Government misled also? If not, the Confederates
are curious to know how Englishraen Will regard
such a wicked attempt to de&ive their Government,
and prejudice themselves against a people who are
engaged in a death-struggle for their lives and
liberties. And what estimate, they ask, is to be
placed u-von the character of a Government and a
MLuister who resort to such reprehensible means for
the aeccmplishment of their purposes ?
A person on this side of the Atlantic, who is
familiar with the tricks and subterfuges of the
Northern Government and its agents, is amezed at
the credulity with which their representations of
the conduct and designs of the Confederate autho-
rities are received by intelligent Europeans; but if
any one had said that the Secretary for Foreign
Affairs of the first Power in the world could have
been imposed upon by such a shallow device as that
of the clumsy forgery in pesiion, not even the Con-
federates, who have not much faith in the professed
neutrality of the noble earl, would have believed it
for one moment. So far from Mr. Mallory having
been the author of such a report as that falsely
ascribed tutsim, I have the highest authority for
saying that he has never written, much less sent
in, any report whatever to Congress. This re-

ticence on his part was the dictate of pruden-
tial considerations alone; for he could hardly
hope to commit to print the plans by which he
sought to provide his Government with a navy, or
the number and description of the vessels he was
building, or the waters in which they were to cruise,
without the information et sore time reaching the
enemy against whom they were to be used. The
propriety of his conduct in this respect finds a happy
illustration iu the history of the ironclad Albemarle,
which rendered such important services a few days
ago at Plymouth, and of the previous existence of
which the enemy had bat little, if any, knowledge.
The dismissal by the House of Lords of the appeal
in the case of the Alexandra, a bare report of which
has just been received, has given much satisfaction
in Riehmon,l. The people here say that your Go
vernro.ent aught to allow them to have the remaias
In' rams to meet the Irish recruits, whom they
allow Mrb Lincoln to have, and that if Government
will do this, they do not care whether they recog-
nise the Confederaty or tot. They may be Wellt-
ing in the fatuity of perception, but they say they
cannot see the justice of permitting Mr. Lincoln,

without let or hindrance, to replenish his wasted
and beaten armies on British soil, while the poor
Confederates are forced to run the gauntlet of all
the Courts in the kingdom before they are allowed
to bring out an unarmed ram. If the law has been
evaded in the matter of the rams, has it not been
evaded in the ttetter of the recruits also ? Is not
the evasion in the one else as bad as the evasion in
the other ? And, as an effort has been made to
stop the sailing of the rams, ought not the same
persistent Effort to be made to stop the sailing of
the recruits? These queries are propounded every
day by the people one to another, and, being unable
to answer them myself, I send them to the Times
that Government Old its friends may have an OP'
portunity to make a fitting reply to them.
The negotiations for the removal of the tobacco
belonging to the French Government have been
concluded, aid some of the vessels which are to take
it hence have already arrived at City Point, a few
miles below Richmond, on James River. The
Confederate authorities have never interposed any
objection to the removal of the tobacco, the difficulty
being on the part of the United States, which have
at last given their consent. Some of the tobacco,
of which there are nearly 6,000 hogsheads, was
bought before the war commenced, and some of it
since. The vessels taking it out will not stop at
any Federal port, nor will they pay any duties
on the tobacco.
Official information has just been received of the
capture of a Federal gunboat on the Yazoo River
by Wirt Adams's cavalry, and
her complete destrue-
tion after the removal of her
guns and stores.

BENJAMIN FRANKLIN'S
has kindly owriygmineanl porfetshse afitrmwhoifchcoßxearjnadailivnyFoireann,klin worked, Mr
PRINTING PRESS.—The
pre-
sented to the Patent Museum. This press was for many
years in the printing-office in Great Queen-street (the
printing-office of the iluilder,by the way), and it is even
believed that Franklin worked in that office, which is the
oldest established printing-house in London.—Builder.
A MILL BURNT DOWN NEAR HALIFAX.—On
Thursday morning, about 7 o'clock, a fire broke out
in the dale room of Mr Outram's mill, Greetland, rear
Halifax, and by 8 o'clock it was burnt to the ground. The
fire is supposed to have begun by some hard substance pass-
ing. through the dale, and by friction producing a spark,
he cverkpeople were upon the premises, and some of them
'mid a narrow escape, so rapidly did the flames extend. The
fire originated in the bottom room of the mill,Which was
five etoreys, and was occupied by three or four tenants. The
damage is stated to be £7,000. The building and some of
the stock are insured.

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