The Sun.
London, England, 1863-05-25 00:00:00

LONDON, MONDAY, MAY 25, 1863.

It will be with nothing less than profound and, cer-
tainly with most unaffected grief that almost every-
one who glances down our telegrams this after-
noon, will learn from them the tidings of the death
of General STONEWALL JACKSON. Among the few
great men evoked from this lamentable war in
America, he was about the very first and fore-
most. Beyond any doubt of it, he made one of
the Triumvirate of Great Men called to view by
the war—every one of the three being among the
chiefs of the Confederates. President JEFFERSON
DAVIS occupying the post of honour. General LEE
as Commander-in-Chief—coming next. General
STONEWALL JACKSON occupying the next rank,
coming third upon the list, merely out of regard to
the official order of precedence. Otherwise, view-
ing the General of Division solely in reference to
his individual evidences of greatness of character,
JACKSON stood quite upon a level with LEE
and DAVIS, his political and military chieftains.
Assuredly, the South, if it could hardly, in
HAMLET'S phrase, have "better spared a better
man"—and, according to popular belief in reference
to the dead Hero, it could scarcely have done
that, STONEWALL JACKSON enjoying a reputation
for excellence quite upon a par with his reputation
for heroism and good generalship—the cause of the
Confederates could have spared almost any one better
than the very man snatched away from them by their
last calamitous victory. General JACKSON'S death,
in point of fact, is equivalent to the loss of a whole
division. It nearly turns the recent triumphs of
the Confederates into a disadvantage, It certainly

follows up those recent successes with a disaster that
almost counterbalances the events of which they
are the untoward sequel. The most enterprising
of the Lieutenants of LEE is thus lost to the

Confederate Commander-in-Chief, at the very mo-

went when his co-operation would have proved, in-
evitably, of the greatest service. The demise of
JACKSON appears to have been the result of the
amputation rendered necessary by the severe wound
in his left arm. Within a brief interval after that
shattered limb had been removed, under the
skilled hands of the surgical operator, the Great
Captain had breathed his last. Aware before-
hand of this lamentable occurrence, one looks back
now with a pang to the immediately preceding
telegram to the effect that " General LEE claims a

glorious victory, and laments the temporary absence
of one to whose bravery they are so much indebted
for their success." Hardly has the magnetic needle
clicked that message from New York, on the thir-
teenth instant, to the homeward-boand Europa,
then upon the eve of her departure from Halifax,
when towards nightfall on that same date comes the
intimation that the absence is no longer temporary
but permanent. " General LEE," says the telegram
with eloquent brevity, "officially announces with
great grief the death of General STONEWALL JACK-
SON." That death is the worst calamity that has
yet befallen the Confederates.
Turning, from the victorious but sorrowing
Southerners, to the North, the salient points of the
news now coming to us through the agency of the

uropa, may be here rapidly epitomised. General
HALLECK is reported to be about
HtootoaKkEeßt,s hefleld
in person to super intend General
opera-
tions in the next campaign ! It is, for all the
world, like DIGGORY, in GOLDSMITH'S comedy,
helping his fellow servant to do—Nothing. For
the very first telegram flashed from New York
to Halifax, the nest morning, runs to the effect that
General HOOKER has not made a forward move-
ment, for the simple reason that, though himself
desirous of doing so, the plan for an advance had
been disapproved by General HALLECK! Mean-
while the indications of a projected advance move-
ment on the part of Genera.' LEE, seem to be
quite unmistakeable. The Southern commander,
when the last accounts left, evidently purposed
crossing the river, almost immediately, and attack.
ing General HOOKER. Elsewhere among the tele-
grams will be found the last Order of the Day ad-
dressed to his troops by the latter—one of the most
fligitious and mendacious documents tkat com-
manding officer ever had the hardihood to address
to his defeated troops, and the still greater hardi-
hood afterwards in cold blood deliberately to
publish to the world. Reading it—one might
almost suppose that General HOOKER had been
recently winning some astounding series of vie-

tories, instead of having been, as he has been
worsted ignominiously at every turn, subjected to
fearful loss by his victorious opponents, and driven
back by them at every point, two of his divisions in
actual route. Yet the brazen audacity (upon paper!)
of the Federal Commander-in-Chief—setting facts
at defiance—impels him to address his defeated
army in language that will render him the scorn of
all the military critics of Christendom.
Reverting for a moment to the lamentable news
of General STONEWALL JACKSON'S death, we read
with a sort of dismay (fearing lest there may be
some atom of truth in the supposition) the following
hint thrown out by the Richmond _Examiner, which,
if well informed upon the matter, would show that
the fatal wound was the result of a wofal accident.
Speaking of that wound of JACKSON'S, before
it had turned out to be fatal in its conse-
quences, the Richmond paper says—[and the words
we italicize below come as an echo, through this
latter fragment of intelligence, as a distinct echo to
words already written by ourselves above]—" We
could better spare a brigade or a division, and
our base foe will exult in the disaster to General
JACKSON; yet the accursed bullet that brought
him down was never moulded by a Yankee.
Through a cruel mistake, in the confusion, the hero
received two balls from his own men, who would all
have died for him." Should this turn out actually
to have been the case, the " accursed bullet" that
laid him low will indeed be recognized as the
fatallest shot—the shot fired by the cruellest mis-
take—yet sent to its appointed billet, since this
miserable war commenced, from the ranks of the
viciorious but afflicted Confederates.

The various telegrams that reach us from day to
day, while they throw no fresh light on Polish
affairs, still seem significant enough to attract atten-
tion, as well from their relative importance as from
their immediate interest. It must now be obvious to
the most sceptical that this insurrection or revolt in
Poland is not the mere nine days' wonder that they
were pleased to call it. It has now assumed an im-
portance in itself, and extended over so long a period,
that it must inevitably be ranked henceforth among
those events that materially affect the welfare of a
people, and rule the destinies of nations. There is
one thing certain, that we live in an epoch when it
is no longer possible even for the most despotic to
ignore completely the rights of man, and trample on
the liberties of a people, without hearing of it after
wards. No might, no majesty, can gloss over
such outrages, nor will the present age tolerate,
much less sanction, the prolongation of such
anomalous occurrences as are now taking
place in Poland. It is impossible to study thi s
question at all deeply wf;hout coming to the conclu-
sion that the act of oppressing that unhappy people
does not lie at the door of any one nation, but must
be divided among many. There can be no valid
reason adduced for the necessity .of maintaining the
strict fulfilment of the treaty to which such
constant reference is made. The motives
which led to its formation were not very praise-
worthy at the time, and it is the height of absurdity,
as well as cruelly unjust, to attempt to carry them
out now according to the strict letter of the .law.
Austria would gain in the end by giving up Gallich'
she would consolidate her sway over her undisputed
territory, and would, besides, exert an influence by
such wise concession as must tend materially to her
advantage. Prussia, for her part, must give up
Posen. The sooner her administrators make up their
minds to this the better, for as affairs are now pro-
gressing her rulers are in imminent danger of losing
more than they will ever afterwards regain. If
this high-pressure system be continued much longer
some small thing in itself will act like fuel on the
flame, and evils will be increased till a general
war must be the result. If once France takes up
arms in the cause of Poland, it will be a sad day for
Prussia. And when the provinces on the Rhine are
lost, these wise legislators who now tempt their fate
will rue the time when they acted so inconsi-
derately. It is by no means certain that, as it is,
the French may not espouse the cause of the insur
gents, and, if so, of course the whole state o
things will be altered. Tne present partial lu

should be turned to the best advantage. This
seems a golden opportunity affurded to the
interested nations to retrieve their errors before
they are involved in the horrors of a general war.
In that alternative France is sure to come off
successfully, and Poland must be benefited, but
Austria and Prussia will be the sufferers. Let
them despise the dictates of common sense and jus-
tice, but conform to the demands of right, or a
heavy day of reckoning will show them their fatal
error. A small concession,
gracefully made in
time, will do wonders ; but once let the day of grace '
slip by, and none can foresee the consequences that
may ensue. The wrongs of Poland
may yet be
redressed, and her cause vindicated, Europe that

now surveys the struggle with apparent quiescence
may suddenly be stirred up, and the various coun-
tries forced into collision with each other. To
avoid such a calamity is now the question, and
that can only be done by salutary and permanent

arrangements, No half measures will alter what

is radically wrong, but a decisive step may ensue
now, and be the herald and harbinger of brighter
times for the future. It is high time for the credit

of an age that wars of oppression and extermina-
tion should cease altogether from among us, and

hat the blessings of Constitutional Governmen

should be enjoyed by those nations who now

[ook on with envy and regret at the advantages

,hey seem never destined to obtain.

The care of the public health is a task of no slight
degree of responsibility and anxiety. The ignorance
and indifference of the great body of the people are
formidable obstacles in the way of sanitary reform;
and until we adopt the continental system of strict
surveillance, and carry it considerably further than
has ever been done, we cannot ensure due attention
to the laws of health and cleanliness. A degree of
indifference, too, is apt to spring up in the official
mind with the monotonous routine of their duties ;
and, generally speaking, all parties are content to
go on quietly in the old way without troubling theme
selves too much about sweeping reforms. Several
circumstances, however, have of late combined to
direct a little more attention to this subject. The
coronership of Middlesex is held by a vary able and
efficient man, who is apparently resolved that his
new office shall be no sinecure. Dr. LANKESTER
was already well known to the general public before
he was elected coroner, by his clear exposition of
some of the main principles of health in his lectures
at the South Kensington Museum, and by other
worke, showing talent and knowledge. Since his
accceu/ep)tieasneehe cthas
therespo w
nsibla post he no
o
distinguished himself by his
anxiety to arrive at the causes of the
efovriles borierogu,gohr,t
abtell'oeraest,hoifmtn,
eaend tiooto devise
them. means
Hhas
been especially instrumental in bringing before the
Public the startling increase of a crime which is
fearfully Common among us, the crime of infanti-
cide. Notwithstanding the number of deaths from
this cause continually brought before th. coroners
annodmmheargioaft r azs ,tiras is
f
the r ei s
a little g
r edsotue
r. T
doubt thatno thesecrecyreal
than
nich
foris maolrareosetasily anyh
obtainedoter,i
s ay
for this e
sr i mae

'eowerful incentive to its commission ; but in
these cases, above all, it adds a terrible force
to the temptations of the unhappy mother. If
detection were as likely to follow infanticide as any
other murder, the one great motive for the crime
would be removed, and, indeed, would be turned
into a powerful agent for its prevention. Dr.
LANKESTER advocates some improvements in the
Registration Act, which his experience should
comment to the notice of the authorities. One of
these is that a certificate of death should only be
given to the medical man who has attended the
deceased. He holds that the present law, which
allows any one who declares that he or she was
present at the death, to obtain the Registrar's cer-
tificate, affords great facilities for unfair treatment.
With regard to preventible diseases, and espe-
cially in reference to that increase of smallpox
which has lately been startlingly apparent, Dr.
LANKESTER proposes a novel and singular cure.
He advises that coroner's inquests should be held
on all persons dying from this class of disease, which
is mainly attributable to defective sanitary arrange-
ments. In cases of smallpox the object of inquiry
would be whether the sufferer had been vaccinated
or no, and in case of proved neglect on the part of
the parents, the law should be enforced. Although
this plan might have advantages, it would also have
many drawbacks, There would be a general feeling
against holding an inquest on persons who had con-
fessedly died a natural death, while the death of
the child, as has been truly said, would be held to
be sufficient punishment for the culpable neglect of
the pareats. It would be far better, if possible, to
detect the evasion of the law while the child was in
good health; and if this could be done, an important
step would be gained, as every fresh case of dis-
ease tends to spread the evil further. With
regard to other diseases of the preventible
class, the fault in the sanitary arrangements
frequently does not lie at the door of the
sufferers, but at that of the owners of their wretched
dwellings. The terrible drain made by rent on the
fluctuating resources of the very poor is one great
cause of overcrowding. There was recently a
case of a poor old woman who died from want of
the common neeeeearies of life. It was proved that
she was in receipt of twa shillings and ninepence
and a quartern loaf weekly, and of this she had to
pay one shilling and ninepence for her miserable
room. There are many evils which hinge one upon
the other, and thus present a formidable front to
the social reformer. Still, publicity and open dis-
cussion are the best weapons with which to attack
any enemy of the kind, however strongly entrenched
or venerable. Dr. LANKESTER is doing good service
in this way, and the public are indebted to him for
the energy and spirit with which he carries out his
duties.

In the report at the meeting of the Mendicily
Society it is curious to notice the department con-
cerning begging letters. During last year 3,726
were received. The most searching inquiries were
made to ascertain the truth or falsity of these appli-
cations, and some of the revelations are strange
enough to peruse. In the first place two persons
have made it their business to go from house to
house among the poor and suggest that they should
apply for aid for them; then they touch up the facts
of the case, in order more vividly to impress the
public. It is feared that nearly all the proceeds of
this plan, if successful, go to these designing men.
One man assumes various names in his melancholy
epistles. He is sometimes " a lady's maid obliged
to leave her situation owing to a bad ancle," and
again, " a young man in great difficulty through
being out of a situation, and hoping to regain one
if he can get a few pounds to obtain clothes." He
was absurd enough to give as a reference a clergy.
man in the city, who, however, on being applied
to, anew nothing of his name. Another applicant
pretends to be connected with a " Society for pro-
moting National Edacation." He uses the
names of some distinguished persons as patrons,
but nearly all withdrew their sanction. This man
has before been detected, and the managers of
the society have warned the public against him,
but still he continues to obtain large sums in places
where he is not known. I. G. persuaded his cor-
respondents that he was an unfortunate man of a
respectable class, whereas he had deserted his wife
and daughter, and left them on the brink of starva-
tion, while he mixed up with the worst of charac-
ters. Hie wife obtained a divorce, and afterwards
went to Australia, while his daughter died, her
health failing from the privations to which she had
been subjected. This man was a PROTEUS in the
various characters he assumed. He was formerly
an officer in the army, then he took to literature,
afterwards obtained a good situation in a public
establishment that he lost by immoral coe duct.
Subsequently he had a commission as captain in the
Turkish contingent in the Crimean war, then be-
came editor of a religions periodical. This is certainly
a strange kind of existence, and hardly merits that
persons of affluence should come to his relief when
his long career of sin fails in producing sufficient
means for devising new schemes of deceit, and sup-
porting him in a career of infamy.
The following extract shows yet another mode of
proceeding:—“-- was brought up a solicitor.
He cohabits with a woman who for twenty years
has been known to this society as a writer of beg

ging letters. The man has also adopted this pur

suit for the last six years. They have shown some
ingenuity in swindling, first taking expensive
houses, and then ordering the goods, by which
means they have defrauded an upholsterer out of
£l5O, and an industrious sempstress on another oc-

casion out of £3OO, which had been left her as a
legacy. This poor women had an aged mother

wholly dependent on her, end now with her thus

reduced to poverty. This man's appeals are at pre

sent written in the Quce.n's Bench Prison, where he
has been imprisoned for the last two years, and of
which his reputed wife has also been for some time

an inmate. Their appeals are dated from Trinity

square." These instances sufficiently testify to
the base schemes that continually are set afloat

by designing characters in order to extract money

Yet in the face of all these warnings people wil

give large sums to these petitioners.

Nothing

can be more unwise, in a social sense, than to

encourage swindlers ff this class; while, in
a practical point of view, it is hard upon the

deserving, who are suff:ring perhaps in silence

some of the worst ills that flesh is heir to. The

sums that can be sparci ought to be their portion ;

and it must add tenfold to the burden of their miser-
able lives to learn that the amount that would re-

store them to health, that would enable them to re-

sume their employment, or that would relieve them
from the overwhelming pressure of petty debts, has

been squandered upon sharpers and thrown away

upon swindlers.

The remedy against this

great evil of begging letters is to be careful to
institute inquiries as to the reality of the st)ries

brought forward, or if it be not possible to do this,
to insist at least ou some suitable reference being

given, before bestowing any considerable sum upon
strangers. It is a duty we all owe to society
to prevent the success of this nefarious system by

every means in our power, and the triumph of such
characters as these impostors is a scandal in every
community, the discovery of their pilfering system
tending to discourage people from besto wing sums
on the really deserving and necessitous.

LATEST INTELLIGENCE.

(REUTER'S TELEGRAMS.)

AMERICA.
(Per the Europa.)

NEW YORK, MAY 12 (Morning

The Federals, under Generals Keyes and Peck;
estimated 12,000 strong, have occupied West Point
on York River, and destroyed the bridges in the
neighbourhood of White House.
Considerable excitement was caused here on Sa-
turday and Sunday last by false reports that this
force had captured Richmond.
Reports, lacking authenticity, have been carrent
since Saturday, that General Hooker had recrossed
to the south side of the Rappahannock.
General Lee has issued further official reports,
dated the sth inst., saying—" At the close of the
battle at Chancellorsville, on Sunday, the enemy
was reported advancing from Fredericksburg upon
our rear. General Mac Laws was sent to arrest the
enemy's progress, and repulsed him handsomely.
Learning that the enemy's forces consisted of two
corps, under General Sedgwick, I determined to
attack him, and marching back united with General
Mac Laws, and drove the enemy across the river,
We have reoccupied Fredericksburg. No enemy
remains upon the south of the Rappahannock, or in
the vicinity."
The _Richmond Enquirer considers Chancellors-
ville the most desperate battle yet fought, and esti-
mates the Confederate loss at 8,000 to 10,000, and
that of the Federals at 25,000 to 30,000, including
8,000 prisoners.
Southern journals assert that the Confederates
have captured 39 pieces of artillery.

General " Stonewall" Jackson's left arm has been
amputated below the shoulder, and a bullet was
passed through his right hand.
Gen. Grant is reported to have invested Jackson,
Mississippi, and that the Confederates have no
means of getting out of Vicksburg except by cut-
ting their way through the Federal troops.

The Southern journals, however, contain a de-
spatch, dated Jackson, the sthl inst., saying that the
Federals were repulsed on the 4th upon Big B lack
River, after four hours' severe fighting.
Gen. Bragg officially reports that Gen. Forrest
has captured Col. Straight's Federal cavalry, num-
bering 1,600, at Rome, Georgia. Col. Straight was
making a destructive raid through Alabama and

Georgia.
Gen. Bragg's infantry still confront Gen. Rose-
cranz at Murfreesboro. Upon the Bth Rosecranz
issued an order that the season for active operations
had arrived.

The death of Gen. Van Dorn is officially reported
to Richmond. He was shot during a private alter-

cation.

The Federal General Beaufort has made a raid
Along the Alleghany ridge of Western Virginia, de-
stroying the supplies intended for the Confederates
in the south-west.

Heavy Federal reinforcements have been sent
into Western Virginia, and the Confederates are
reported to be moving from the line of the Western
Virginia railroai towards the south-west mountains.
The Confederate movement appears to have been
made principally to capture horses, drugs, and
stores.

During Mr. Vallandigham's trial at Cincinnati
he protested against the legality of the military
commission. He also demanded that Fernando
Wood should be compelled to produce before the
Court the letter he received from Richmond relat-
ing to the terms offered for the return of the
Southern senators to Congress, and President Sin-
clair's letter declining to entertain the proposition.
Mr. Vallandigham declared himself a constitutional
unionist. After the trial the Court submitted its
decision to Goneral Burnside, but the purport of
the decision has not yet been made public.
Au attempt was made to procure Mr. Vallandig-
bam's release by habeas corpus. Military were
sent to Cincinnati, fears of an outbreak being enter-
tained.

The New York Democratic Association has held
a special meeting, denouncing Vallandigham's
arrest. The New York llerald thinks the arrest a
gross wrong to individual rights.
The Congressional Committee of the Confederate
Congress has issued a report declaring that the
Federal war is a war against the public and private
property of both sexes, and all classes of society ;
against w'aat has ever been deemed sacred and in-
offensive, and exempt from hostility by all civilised
nations. Its full purpose is to subjugate the bodies
and souls of the people, or to exasperate and exter-
minate them.

In the case of the prize vesse: Springbok, the
judge of the New York District Court has decided
that where a vessel is suspected of carrying contra-
band goods, even if she had not attempted to run
the blockade, her cargo may be examined to deter-
mine whether it is contraband or not.

NEW YORK, MAY 9 (Evening)

General Grant officially reports he met the
enemy 11,000 strong four miles south of Port
Gibson on the Ist inst., and engaged him all day,
entirely routieg him, with a loss of many killed and
500 prisoners. The Federal loss was 100 killed
and 500 wounded.

The Confederates retreated towards Vicksburg,
destroying the bridges behind them.
General Grant repaired the bridges and went in
pursuit. Four field pieces were captured, besides
heavy artillery, The victory was complete, and
the Confederates thoroughly demoralised.
General Grant also reports that General Grierson
has destroyed numerous railroad bridges, locomo-
tives, and stores throughout northern Mississippi,

creating great excitement throughout the State.

(By telegraph latest to Halifax.)

DEATH OF GENERAL "STONEWALL"
JACKSON.

NEW YORK, MAY 13 (Evening).
The Richmond papers of the 11th inst. announce
the death of General " Stonewall" Jackson from the
effects of amputation and pneumonia.

Twelve hundred wounded, who were left on the
southern side of the Rappah innock, have been sent
across. Some of the Federal wounded were burnt
in the woods around Chancellorsville, the woods
having been fired by the shells of both armies.

NEW YORK, MAY 13.
On the 6th inst. General Hooker issued the fol-

lowing extraordinary document :
HEAD-QUARTERS, ARMY OF THE POTOMAC
MAY 6.