The Sun.
London, England, 1864-01-21 00:00:00

THE SUN, LONDON, THURSDAY EVENING, JANUARY 21, 1864.

present may be one of the occasions, for everything
confirms the fears of those who foresaw from the
first that no trifling danger was impending.

The elections which have recently taken place in
:he Confederate States of America have given occa-

sion to a very decided expression of the general

'eeling. Sufficient time has now elapsed since the

first outbreak of hostilities to submit the endur-
ance of the people of the South to a pretty severe
test. It was easy to talk of independence and

patriotism when words were the only weapons, and

resistance to Federal encroachments en, ailed only
verbal sacrifices. But to persevere in the course they
have chosen, in the face of all the loss entailed by
the blockade, of the desolation of their fertile coun-

try, of the spoliation of their luxurious homes, and

the voluntary abandonment of ease and leisure ;
to preserve their ardour, unabated by disaster

and discouragement, by the blood of thousands of
their citizens and the veil of mourning thrown over
countless happy homes ; to accept cheerfully per-
sonal sacrifice and national burdens, trusting not to
the doubtful sympathy of foreigners but to their
own internal resources, with faith undimmed by
misfortune and courage unabated by difficulties—
to do all this as the people of the Southern States
have done, proves that the Confederation is some-
thing more than a name, and that Southern inde-
pendence is an accomplished reality. Hencefor-
ward, were their subjugation possible, it must be as
a conquered State, not as a crushed rebellion. The
Union, about whose preservation the Federals
declaim so loudly, is no longer in existence. It is
numbered among the things of the past, as surely
as that older system whose last remnants expired
with the Treaty of Independence, and the attempt
to force the dominion of the Northern people on
the South is wellnigh as hopeless as the struggle
to re-establish the authority of the mother
country over WASHINGTON and his contempo-
raries. The Federals, bent on their headlong
course, refuse to recognise the strength and invete-,
racy of the Southern feeling towards them.
Greenbacks are plentiful, and speculators and
capitalists are reaping golden harvests from the
national misfortune. Trade is flourishing in New
York, and the commissariat supplies and a thousand
other fresh sources of profit make ample, though
temporary,amerds for the loss of the old traffic with
the South. Not yet have their professions been put
to so stern a test as the principles of their antago-
nists; not yet have their preachers and orators had
to support the platitudes of the pulpit or the plat-
form in besieged towns, in ravaged States, in want
of the common necessaries alike of war and peace.
Mr. BEECHER might weigh his words a little more
if they entailed six months under the care of a
Southern General BUTLER, if the Confederate ranks
could furnish such a parallel. New York might be
a little less eager for the maintenance of the Union
if it entailed the adoption of a tesoluticn like that
just passed unanimously by the Upper Chamber of
the Senate of Georgia, which orders that every able
bodied male citizen, from fifteen to twenty years
old and upwards, be immediately enrolled, supplied
with arms, and sent to actual service for the defence

of the State. This is bat a sample of the spirit
that breathes through every public address made
by the leaders of the Confederacy. The Governor
of Georgia, in his message to the Legislature charges
the people of that State by the recollection of their
sufferings in the past, and the degradation which
awaits them in the future should they be subjugated,
to lay aside all past differences and personal con-
siderations, and to gather round the altar of their
country. " While we evidently desire peace on
honourable terms, let us here again renew the
solemn pledge to each other, that, come life or
death, come weal or woe, we will never sheathe the
sword till constitutional liberty is established,
Georgia is free, and these Confederate States are
recognised by all the world as an independent
Power." 'this appeal was readily responded
to by the Legislature, the Senate passing
a resolution confirming the secession of the
State, and bath Houses conjointly declaring
their determination to persevere with the
war until the great object was gained. Still
stronger was the language of Mr. HOSCHEL JOHN.
STONE, who has been fitly selected as one of the
representatives of the State of Georgia in the Senate
of the Confederate States. There was, he declared,
no step backward ; and reminded his hearers that it
has never been recorded in history that 8,000,000
of united people resolved to be free have failed.
" We cannot," he added, in words of impassioned
earnestness, "we cannot yield if we would. Yield
to the Federal authorities—to vassalage and subju•
gation ! The bleaching bones of 100,000 gallant
soldiers slain in battle would be clothed in tongues
of fire to curse to everlasting infamy the man that
whispered, Yield l " In North and Soath Caro-
lina the messages of the governors show not the
faintest sign of hesitation or of regret. Every-
where we find the same sentiments, briefly epito-
mised by Governor BONHAM, of South Carolina,
when he says that the people " have counted the
cost, and have determined on independence or anni-
hilation." A proof of the inflexibility of the
Southern resolution stands unmistakeably before
the Northern gaze in the battered walls of Fort
Sumter. Into that dauntless little fort nearly
30,000 shot have been poured, until the very means
of attack are converted into purposes of deknee.
The long-talked of assault, which was to isplay
all the resources of Northern nav
..41 power, only
resulted in the utter disco'- -
...Anture of the assailants.
The Keokuk lies "..ader the waters of Charleston
harbour,
more thah one of the boasted Moni-
tor!, nail cause to rue the steady Are of the Confe-
derate guns. Bat though the sun has risen and
set nearly 200 times since the siege was undertaken,
his beams still light up Fort Sumter—a mass of
ruins, it is true, but ruins with the Confederate flag
floating dauntlessly above them. It is truly, as
has been said, a moral rather than a material
triumph. The fort, though comparatively value-
less as a fortress, stands as au enduring testimony
to the skill and daring of the Confederates. It is
a fit type of the cause, which may be ruined, but
will never be abandoned.