The Sun.
London, England, 1864-05-28 00:00:00

ttemptee. to borrow seventy millions of dollars for
any purpose whatever, and he expresses the hope
that all questions pending between the two Go•
vernments will be amicably settled, and winds up
by saying that senor Salazar, in leaving Lima, has
left in his note a motive for deep feeling on the part
of Peru, attributing to the Government a bad dis-
position to enter into a settlement with the Govern-
ment of Spain, that Spaniards were receiving every
protection according to law; that they were the con-
stant object of a sincere and cordial hospitality;
that they should receive no injury either in person
or property, but that they should be left in full
exercise of their occupations unmolested, and that
these privileges were not granted them by any fear
of tie threats of Senor Sale
This is all we can find as having officially tran-

spired.
Oa the 16h, after news was received of the
seizure of the Chinehas, the President of Peru issued
a proclamation, of which the following is a transla.

,oc :--

"Au eminently scandalous act has just been
perpetrated in the waters of the Pacific by the
Spanish squadron under command of its Admiral,
11. Luis H, Pinz3n. Our guano islands have been
occupied by foreign forces which have seized a na-
tional vessel of war and hoisted, as well on shore
as at sea, the flag of Castile. Such an act, executed
without any previous declaration of whr, without
any legal motive that would authorise it, makes its
authors aggressors of the territory of our country,
violators of international law, and gratuitous
despoilers of foreign property.
" The arrival of a pretending Spanish diplomate,
with the character of commissioner, whose title
alone was an outrage to the dignity of Peru, charged,
as is believed, with exaggerated reclamations, has
been the signal of this unjustifiable proceeding which
I, fulfilling an austere duty, make known to the
Republic. The Government has fulfilled its mission,
defending the honour of the country against the pre
tensions of an envoy who has answered to the regard
shown to Sim with outrages to the nation, the laws
and the Government. All the documents of this
affair will be published at once, in order that you
may judge of my and my cabinet's behaviour, which
on this occasion, as always, has been worthy of the

nation's confidence.
" I believe that the Government of Spain is
foreign from these aggressive acts of its deputies
on the shores of Peru ; but if they should, unfortu-
nately, be authorised by it, wa will never consent
to the humiliation which those same people want
to iinpose upon us, who in Ayacucho did not know
how to fight, nor had the courage to defend the
possession, held for centuries, of the conquest.
The Government is taking those measures of secu-
rity which the critical circumstances we find our-
selves in do require, and seeking means to vindicate
the national honour and to save our treacherously
and violently robed riches. Still fresh are the
memories of the war of independence in which I
was an actor, however small. I will repeat those
old services, not excepting the sacrifice of my life,
which belongs entirely to the generous country that
to me who not deserved it gave its votes to occupy
the first post of the nation.
" JUAN ANTONIO PEZET.
" Callao, April 16, 1864."

A Southern View of the Battles in Virginia.
(From the index,)
Lee's programme is sufficiently plain. It is to
compel his enemy to become the assailant under the
most disadvantageous conditions, to fight him where
his superiority of numbers will help him the least ;
to drag him through an unfamiliar country, away
from his supplies and his base of operations, to hus-
band his own strength for the day of final struggle,
and then, if strong enough, to close upon the enemy,
exhausted and bleeding from his frequent wounds.
From the first it will be seen that Lee has
adopted very different tactics from those which
he has ordinarily pursued. His is an obstinate
defence. It is like the retreat of Wellington
before Massens, and will end with another
Torres Vedras. Grant's hardest fighting has
to come ; and it has yet to be decided whether
the Federal army or the city of Richmond is in the
mere imminent danger. If, as we believe, General
Lee has been husbanding his resoneces for a final
struggle before the walls of Richmond, saving the
lives of his men, and hoarding his supplies, so as to
be enabled a given moment to resume the offensive,
the next few weeks may witness such a series 01
blows to the Northern armies as will well-nigh
shatter the Union to pieces.
11,

And now let us take the other supposition. Let
us assume, for the sake of argument, that the great
Captain of the South is defeated by overwhelming
numbers, and the bulldog pertinacity of the
Northern commander. Let us further assume
that Grant not only defeats Lee, but takes
Richmond, though the one does not in the least
involve the other, for under M'Clellan an army of
greater numbers, and certainly of equal discipline,
was driven from a strongly fortified position so
near to Richmond that the outposts could hear the
chimes of the city bells. What follows ? Would
the Confederates lay down their arms ? No, for
they are not engaged in a war of aggression. Like
the Netherlanders, like the revolted colonists of
Great Britain, they are fighting for their homes,
for liberty and independence. They know what
submission means ; they know how diabolically
cruel ale the tender mercies of England ; they
know that the vile miscreant who insulted the
women of New Orleans is the favourite offs.
car of their enemy ; they know what
M'Neil, Turchin, and many such have done ;
they know what Dahlgren tried to do. Their
burnt towns, their desolated villages, the inhuman
treatment of those who have fallen into Federal
hands, forewarn them of the indescribable horrors
of submission. The pulpit and the press of the
North have clamoured for their spoliation and ex-
termination. In the halls of the Federal Congress
resolutions to deprive them of their property, and
to reduce them to political serfdom, have been re-
ceived with acclamation. Therefore, if their case
were ever so desperate, they would fight on to the
bitter end. No Northern victory can subjugate the
South. Before that can be accomplished the whole
male population must be killed or captured.
The capture of Richmond would indeed be a
triumph to the Northern arms, and a painful catas-
trophe to the South, but it would not help the North
materially in its work of conquest. New Orleans
has long bean under the Federal yoke, yet
Louisiana is not conquered, and though Richmond
fell, the war in Virginia would not be over. In
a military point of view, Nashville, the arsenal of
the South, was a greater loss than Richmond would
be, but the the South was not crippled by the taking
of that town. The fall of Vicksburg was regarded
as a gnat misfortune, but the South was not dis-
couraged, and took measures to deprive the North
of all the fruits of that victory, and until this
day prevents the Mississippi river from being
an outlet for the commerce of the West.
After every misfortune the Confederates have come
forth in greater strength. At the outset
of every campaign they have manifested
an increased power of resistance, and at the
commencement of the fourth year of the war
have proved themselves stronger than ever by
recovering much of the territory that the North
had taken at a tremendous cost of life and treasure.
the truth is, so far as resources are concerned, the
Confederates cannot be exhausted. The blockade
that was to be the means of their subjugation has
made them supremely independent. Luxuries they
have abandoned without a sigh, and they grow
and raise food to supply the army and people
abundantly. Shut out from the markets of
Europe, they manufacture their own clothes.
they make their own guns and gunpowder, and
the siege of Charleston is evidence that Confe-
derate artillery is a match for any artillery
that can be purchased for Federal gold through
the agency of Messrs. Baring and Co. But the
most noted instance of their ingenuity and resources
.s the construction of an ironclad fleet. 'We say
nothing of the brilliant success of their ironclads,
but refer only to their skill in obtaining and
fashioning the materials. When the war broke
out there was not a foundry or a rolling mill in