The Sun.
London, England, 1863-09-29 00:00:00

liIRKC UDBRIGHT.

The fifth ordinary general meeting was held on Friday,
Mr. M'Culloch in the chair. The report stated that it was
expected the line would be opened for traffic in November.
The statement of accounts showed that the receipts had
been £45,546, and the expenditure £43,907. The line was
about 10 miles in length, and would connect Kirkcudbright
with the Dumfries and Castle Douglas, the Portpatrick,
and the Glasgow and South-Westorull,silways, The cost

of construction, it was believed, would be fully covered by the
authorised capital, and the report was adopted.

GREAT 'WESTERN OF CANADA.

It appears that the directors of this company have been
informed by their financial agent in Canada that the loss on
through traffic, collected and converted, ascertained up to
Sept. 12, 1863, amounted to 19,889d01 97c (4,086 19s 7d),
and that there remained a further sum of American funds
for conversion at that date of 14,163d01 76c. In addition to
which there were balances in account with connecting rail-
ways still unadjusted.

rear of the Federal armies, and that the encounter
must have taken place east or south-east of Chatta-
nooga, in the direction of Lafayette, in the state of
Georgia. It was reported by the last mail that
Rosecranz and Burnside had occupied Chattanooga
and Knoxville; and it is hardly likely that they
advanced so far with a Confederate force between
them. The probability seems to be that the Federal
advance from Chattanooga was continued with a view
of feeling the enemy and ascertaining his strength,
and that somewhere between this place and Lafay-
ette the Confederates encountered the invaders and
drove them back. This supposition is strengthened
by the announcement that Gen. Longstreet, with
20,000 men, had passed through Retina, in the state
of Georgia, and that a portion of his force had
actually reached Lafayette. It was known that
Bragg had retreated in a south-easterly direction,
that a division or two of Johnstone's army had
reinforced him, and that Buckner was on the
Atlanta Road with another division. If our view
be correct, their several forces have been concen-
trated in the vicinity of Lafayette, and have hand-
somely repulsed tho Federal advance, compelling
Rosecranz to resume the defensive, and even threat-
ening his communications with their superior
cavalry. We shall not be surprised to learn that
the Confederate commanders, availing themselves
of their interior lines of communication, have con-
centrated near Chattanooga a force equal, possibly
superior, in numbers to the Federal army, and that
Rosecranz's only chance is the naturally strong
position he has taken up on Checkamanga Creek, a
mile or two south of Chattanooga. By this time
the battle has been fought. It is obvious that the
Federals must fight at a considerable disadvantage,
at a distance of 200 miles from their basis of opera-
tions, and that, while a Confederate reverse will only
lose Eastern Tennessee, a Federal defeat may bring
about the destruction of Roaecranz's army. In the
meantime the Federals have made the best move
they could make under thenircumstances. Acting,
apparently, on the information that Lee's army has
been weakened by the withdrawal of Longstreet's
division, the whole of Meade's army has advanced
to the Rapidan. Lee's army may fight on the old
battle-ground, or if it is too weak to risk an engage-
ment in the open field, fall back upon the impreg-
nable lines about Richmond. The Confederates
have an enormous advantage in their railway com
munication, which enables them, as their necessities
may dictate, to reinforce their Virginian or Ten-
nessee army. It is quite possible that Lee will
act entirely on the defensive, refuse all offer of
battle, and await at Richmond the issue of the
struggle in East Tennessee. Placing the numbers
of the Confederate soldiers in the field at 300,000,
we can ace no reason why there should not be in
this quarter a force quite sufficient to account
for Rosecranz, and yet leave Richmond amply
protected. We must, however, wait for further
news before we venture to discuss Lee's move-
ments. The Federals have always been singularly
misinformed respecting the operations of their op-
ponents. It is quite likely they have been deceived
on the present occasion, and that Lee may not have
sent one man South, the object of the rumour being
to entice Meade from a et, ong position, and induce
him to become the assailant. Under any circum-
stances a battle is imminent, and the next mail may
bring us the most momentous intelligence that has
yet reached us from the seat of war. From other
parts of the Confederacy the news is decidedly
favourable to the South. Gen. Gillmore is making
little or no progress at Charleston. The Federals hag
beers repulsed in an assault upon Fort Sumter with
a loss of one-third of the attacking force in captured
alone. The besieged had mounted two enormous
Blakely guns which had somewhat awed the crews
of the iron-clads. Forts Moultrie and Bee held out
bravely; and a tremendous fire was kept up on the
Federal position on Morris Island from half a dozen
batteries. It is significant that we do not now hear
that the siege of Charleston is " progressing." The
invasion of Texas has not commenced auspiciously.
Two gunboats have been destroyed or captured at
Sabine Pass in the Gulf, and the rest of the expedi-
tion has returned. The neighbourhood of Opelousas
and the country of the Tescho are occupied by Con-
federate troops, and will offer a stout resistance to
Federal progress. We shall not be surprised to
team that here, too, the Federals have met with a
surprise and a defeat. On the whole, the prospect
is brightening for the Confederates, despite Mr.
Seward's boastful anticipations. It would be pre-
sumptuous to attempt to forecast the issue of the
grave results now pending, but at least there is no
reason to despair of the fortunes of the South.
TIMES.—It is now some time since a long vaca-
tion speech has been directed to questions so im-
portant and interesting as thosejust discussed by
Lord Russell at Blairgowrie. In the fearless and
candid address which we yesterday reported his
lordship explained without reserve the foreign policy
of the Government, and, though we derive from that
exposition much assurance and much satisfaction,
we see also by how slender a thread the peace of
Europe may at any moment hang. The Russian
question, serious as it is, we may at once dismiss,
for, though Lord Russell intimates that the recent
acts of the Imperial Government may entail weighty
consequences, he repeats the declaration that Eng-
land will not go to war with Russia for Poland, and
it is tolerably certain that Russia will not go to war
with England for anything else. The Mexican
question, too, may be safely put aside. As we are
not proposing to interfere with the Mexicans in one
way or the other—either to constitute a Govern-
ment for them, or to protest against any which we
may find constituted and accepted—we can hardly
incur any serious obligations in that quarter. But
the case is, unfortunately, different when we come
to the belligerents of America. Both Federals and
Confederates are dissatisfied with our neutrality,
both discontented with the position which they oc-
cupy in our eyes, and both angrily desirous of some-
thing which we cannot give them. The letters of
our correspondent in the Southern States will have
prepared the public for the question of which Lord
Russell now speaks as raised between the British
Government and the Confederate authorities. It
was an important question beyond a doubt, and none
the less so because it involved a principle of great
interest to ourselves. The blockade which now
closes the Southern ports forms the most effective
engine in the hands of President Lincoln and the
most formidable obstacle in the way of President
Davis. The possible interruption of this blockade by
one of the Powers of Europe has been the dread of
the North and the hope of the South ever since the
war began. At length the Southern Government
made a formal protest, and demanded of us that,
in pursuance of doctrines to which this country
bad assented, the blockade should be declared
ineffective. President Davis alleged not only
that the blockade, as a matter of fact, was con-
stantly eluded, but that it must in itself, as pro-
fessing to extend over 3,000 miles of coast, be prac-
tically unsubstantial and imaginary. Now, here
again, as on many occasions during the American
war, we found ourselves confronted with one of the
old questions which in times past we had discussed
at the cannon's mouth, It was the interest of a
maritime belligerent such as Great Britain to
stretch the privileges of blockaders, and to put the
greatest possible stress.upon an enemy at the least
possible cost. It was the interest of neutrals to
limit these privileges, and to reduce the system of
blockade to the dimensions of strict reality. It
could not be allowed, they said, that a maritime
Power should merely proclaim a port blockaded. She
must actually blockade it, so that access is rendered
almost impossible, and that obligation would con-
veniently curtail her power of interfering with
neutral conimerce. We had recently adhered to
this doctrine, and the Confederate Government
accordingly challenged our judgment on the actual
effectiveness and consequent legitimacy of the Fede-
ral blockade. Lord Russell's exposition of the
principles maintained by Government will certainly
satisfy the public. He did not deny that a blockade
of 3,000 miles of coast must at intervals be imper-
fect, but he took the. common sense view of the
case in pronouncing it a good and effective blockade
according to the spirit of international law. If, in-
deed, it were not so, it would follow that no exten-
sive blockade could be possible at all. The Federal
States have satisfied the reason of the case by throw-
ing their whole energies into the operation, and the
exceptional instances in which the blockade is
eluded are only sufficient to prove the rule of its
reality. There followed another question of more
present and visible importance. The Government
of Washington complained of the escape of the
Alabama from a British port, and were threatened,
it is said, with war in case any more vessels of a
similar character were sent to sea from this country.
Within the last month her Majesty's Government
has ordered the detention of two vessels lying in the
Mersey, and destined by report for the service of
the Confederates ; so that while the law of the case
is doubtful, and even the fees uncertain, it might
seem that England had been shaping her course
rather by a sense of fear than a conviction of right.
That idea, however, Lord Russell's speech strives
to dispel. We cannot say that we think the law on
this point so plain as the advisers of the Crown
seem to suppose, and Lord Russell's exposition of it
is the me weak part of his remarkable speech. It
appears from his lordship's words that the perplex i-

_ .
ties of the Government in the matter have arisen
not so much from the obscurity of the law as from
deficiencies in the evidence of facts. The law officers
of the Crown, we are informed, did say that the
Alabama could be lawfully detained, but not until
it was too late to detain her. In like manner Lord
Russell now states, as beyond dispute—though
many are inclined to dispute it—that if we allow
any vessel to depart armed from our ports and
attack a foreign belligerent, we are virtually taking
part in the war. In the case of the suspected
vessels in the Mersey there is a new and curious