The Sun.
London, England, 1864-07-26 00:00:00

has become, what Mr. Lincoln said in 1861 that it
wid become, if the Southern people were wholly
in earnest—not a mere blunder on the part of the
North, but a positive crime. But the Americans
are not to be comprehended. They (I) not under-
stand themselves, and do not admit that any one
else can ; so it may happen that all these indica-
tions are uncertain, and that the accident of a day
may again render the North as warlike as it was
three years ago before it had tasted the bitterness
or paid any portion of the penalty of strife.
However this may be, the present symptoms are,
if there be not speedily some sort of compromise
with the South, some little return towards reason
after the furious paroxysm of madness which has
possessed the governing party for the last three
years, that the old question of State rights, the
discussion of which in the matter of slavery pro..
yoked the war, will break out in another form
and lead to a conflict of powers—, serious enough of
be entitled to the name of a new rebellion. Governor
Seymour, as will have been noticed in his proclama-
tion for calling out the militia, adheres to the prin-
ciple of the sovereignty of the State as equal within
its own sphere to that of the sovereignty of the
Union, and foreshadows the day when it may be ne
cessary to vindicate it by force of arms. The great
case which is to test whether the courts of law and
the people are of the opinion of the Governor, that
of the State and people of New York against Gene.
ral Dix and his military subordinates, came on ror
argument before Judge Russell on Saturday. it
was urged on behalf of General Dix that having
acted under the express orders of the President in
arresting the editors of the World and Journal of
Commerce, and in suspending the publication of
those journals, he ought to be discharged from
custody, inasmuch as the President is not only ex
officio Commander-in-Chief of the Federal army. but
that he had been specially empowered by Act of Con-
gress to take such measures for the public 'safety in
time of war as he should deem expedient. It was
contended, on the other hand, on behalf of the State
of New York, that the Act of Congress in question
is null and void, as being contrary to the Federal con-
stitution—that it conferred and could confer no such
special authority as that alleged; that the State of
New York is in profound peace and tranquillity, and
therefore exempt from the operation of martial law ;
that the constitution of the State especially pro•
vided against the imprisonment of any citizen with-
out legal process; and against any restriction of the
liberty of the press ; and furthermore, that if it be■
comes the duty of the President in the interest of
the public safety to abrogate temporarily the ordi-
nary jurisdiction of the Courts, it is no less his duty
to proclaim the fact before; that he had not done so in
this in3tance, and that for all these reasons the de-
fendants were guilty of the charge laid against
them' and liable to the punishment in that case pro-
vided. The judge, fally impressed with the vast
importance of the issue, tcok time for consideration
and adjourned the further hearing till the Ist of
August, allowing General Dix and his codefendants
to be at liberty in the meanwhile on paro:e. The
case is full of peril if Mr Lincoln be as obstinate as
his letter to General Dix would imply; and may
lead to complications unpleasant at any time, but
especially dangerous at an hour like this, when the
near approach of the Presidential election is letting
loose a flood of passions, in addition to these prca
duced by the war, and calling into controversy every
one of the principles by which the American Revos
lution was justified, and on which the Union itself
was founded.

Mr Fessenden arrived in New York on Sunday
to consult with the leading bankers and men of
business on the aspects of the money market, the
financial condition of the Government, and the
means to be adopted to bring down the premium on
gold and maintain the credit of the country. He
yesterday met them by appointment, and listened
attentively for several hours to such advice and
hints as they had to give him, and such ex.
positions of the state of affairs as they chose
to make ; but said not a word in reply
which could afford the acutest among them the
least clue to his own opinions and intentions. He
had another long interview with the same gentle-
men to-day, and made an equally good listener as
he did the day before. Having heard all they had
to say he made a speech to them of an hour's dura-
tion, avowing his disinclination to announce any
definite line of financial policy at a time of such
public peril as this, and asking for a loan of fifty
millions of dollars, to be repaid by the Ist of
September. It. was understood from his speech
that he will not imitate the example of Mr Chase in
favouring the erection of new national banks, and in
endeavouring to concentrate in their hands all the
financial affeirs of the country to the detriment of
the State banks, which at the outbreak of the war
vied with each other in sustaining the credit of the
Government. It was also understood that in addi-
tion to the loan of fifty millions, which if he procure
it, will only pay the expenses of the war for about a
fortnight, he will come upon the market for a loan of
two or three hundred millions on the best available
terms, sad that if this second loan succeed according
to his wishes he will print offno more greenbacks—
at least for the present. The Republican journals
favour the popular loan, and will call upon the Go-
vernment to offer it to the people in small sums, so
as 10 enlist the greatest postitle numbers of the
waiting classes, the farmers;-the shopkeepers, and
the poorer order of provincial people in the sta-
bility Ate government. The Tribune sees salva-
tion in this c,aty,se alone and argues that if the
people do not a4equately support the Secretary in
this emergency "the war must stop, and the Go-
vernment go down." It was supposed that the in-
vasion of Maryland and the danger of the Federal
capital would have sent up gold to a premium of
200 per cent. to-daT, but it has not reached a higher
point than 176, being arrested in its upward ten-
dency, it is thought, by a rumour which is not likely
to be well founded, that General Grant had captured
Petersburg. There are, however, so many rumours
afloat—some of them absurd, some contradictory,
and some so utterly impossible to be true, that the
one helps to neutralise the other, and to keep specu-
latien somewhat less rampant than it might bee—'-
if no more and no less than the truth were stated,
however unpleasant the truth might happen to be.

JULY 13.

As anticipated, the rumour of the capture of
Petersburg turns out to be false. Nothing is known
positively this morning of the events that have hap-
pened to the north of the defences of Washington
since Monday evening, when a battle was still raging.
It is not known who commands at Washington on
the part of the Federals, though it is supposed to be
Gen. Augur, while it is surmised rather than known
that Gen. Early, and not Lee, commands the Con-
federates. Telegraphic communication with Wash-
ington continues suspended, and the only news that
reaches this city comes from Philadelphia, tainted
more or less by its Federal or Confederate parentage.
To give a tithe of the rumours in circulation would
but perplex and confuse the European reader, and I
therefore refrain from repeating them. Grant, it is
asserted, will not abandon the attempt upon Rich-
mond via Petersburg; and the loyal people are
told to expect a movement in that direction which
will fully make amends for all that the Confe-
derates may do, or attempt to do, in Maryland and
the district of Columbia.

FATAL AFFRAY BETWEEN SOLDIERS.—At the
Aldershot petty sessions yesterday, before Capt. Nowcome
and a full bench of magistraits, George Barlow, private of
the 75th Regiment, was charged with killing and slaying
Thomas Hutchins, a private of the same regiment, on the
previous Saturday evening. It appeared from the evidence
that the deceased had been drinking with the prisoner and
some other soldier at the Royal Duke public-house, near
tho north camp, when some words ensued between them,
and the prisoner struck the deceased with his fist behind the
ear, which caused him to fall over some rails, and he did not
again speak or breathe. The prisoner, when taken into
custody, admitted the charge. 13e was committed for trial.
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