The Sun.
London, England, 1864-12-30 00:00:00

SCOTLAND.

Aberdeenshire—Lord Haddo became Earl of Aberdeen
December, 1860—Mr Leslie
Ayrshire—Lord Crichton Stuart died, October, 1859
Sir J. Fergusson
Banffshire—Major Duff resigned, April, 1861—Mr R.
W. Duff
Fifeshire—Mr Erskine Wernyse died, April, 1864 —Sir
R. Anstruther
Forfarekire—Lord Duncan became :Earl of Camperdown,
Jan., 1860—Hon C. Carnegie
Kirkcaldy—Colonel Ferguson resigned, July, 1862—Mr
R. S. Aytoun

Selkirkshire—Mr Lockhart resigned, Aug., 1861—Lord
Henry Scott
Sutherlandshire—The Marquis of Stafford became Duke
of Sutherland, March, 1861—Sir D. Dundas
Wick —Mr Laing was appointed Indian Finance Minister,
Oct., 1860—Viscount Bury

In confining ourselves to the changes which have taken
place in the House of Commons, we have not noticed the
re• elections consequent on the formation of Lord Palmer-
ston's Government in June, 1859. In the majority of cases
the new Ministers were returned without opposition, and
in the few instances where the seats were contested the
members of the Administration were successful, Thus, at
Bedford, Mr Whitbread, as Lord of the Admiralty, was
victorious over Captain Polhill Turner—at Hertford, Mr
Cowper, as Vice-President of the Board of Trade, van-
quished Mr Dimsdale—at Newcastle, Mr Headlam, as
Judge-Advocate-General, beat Mr Cuthbert—at the Uni.
versity of Oxford, Mr Gladstone, as Chancellor of the
Exchequer, was an easy winner over the Marquis of
Chandos—at Sandwich, Mr Knatchbull-Hugessen, as a
Lord of the Treasury,was successful over Sir James Fergus-
son—and in Cork county Mr Sergeant Deasy, as Attorney.
General for Ireland, won a victory over Viscount Campden.
The only instance in which a member of the Government
has appealed to his constituents and lost his seat was in the
ease of Colonel White at Longford, _ _

An analysis of the changes will show that of the 160
members returned by the 52 counties of England and
Wales, 26 have been elected since May, 1359, representing
6,199,329 of the population, and 160,829 electors. Of the 333
sent by the 240 cities and boroughs, 96 are new members
representing 76 constituencies, 3,634,277 inhabitants, and
248,334 electors. Total changes in England and Wales, 102
constituencies, 122 members, representing in the aggregate
9,853,606 of the population, and 379,163 electors. Among
the 64 members returned by the 32 counCes of Ireland,
there have been 11 changes in nine constituencies, whose
population at the last census was 1,937,594, and whose
united electoral roll contains 56,0.52 names. Ireland's 33
cities and boroughs return 39 members, and in 11 of these
constituencies there have been 12 changes, the population
amounting to 259,402, with 9,154 electors. Total changes
in Ireland, 20 constituencies, 23 members, representing
2,196,986 persons, with 65,196 electors. Scotland has 30
members allotted to its 33 counties, and in these there have
been seven changes, the population amounting to 874,645,
while the electors number 20,783. Distributed amongst
the 76 cities and burghs of the sister kingdom are 53 mem-
bers—only two have been :changed, the population of the
districts amounting to 40,471, with 1,537 electors. Total
changes in Scotland, nine members, representing 915,116
persons, with 22,320 electors. It will be seen that, adding
I the.boroughe to the counties, since the general election, 131

PR1CE...... ...4d.
STAMPED ....sd.

constituencies in the United Kingdom have sent 154 new
members to Parliament, representing a united population
of 12,265,718, with 466,679 electors. But, dividing the
boroughs from the counties, the changes in the three
kingdoms give these results :—ln the counties—consti-
tuencies, 42—members, 44—population, 9,oll,s6S—elec-
tors, 237,654. In the cities and boroughs—constituencies,
89—members,110—population, 3,953,150-,-e1ect0r5,229,925.
For the vacancies which have arisen .in England and
Wales there have been 72 contests-5 3in the boroughs
and 9in the counties—in Ireland, 7-5 in the boroughs
and 2in the counties—in Scotland 3, in the counties only.
Thus altogether there have been GS contests in the be.
roughs of the ULitcd Kingdom, and 14 in the counties ;
total, 82. 49 constituencies have therefore been uncon-
tested in returning their new members. Of the changes
which have taken place there were 16 in 1859, 33 in 1860,
2S in 1801, 25 in 1502, 34 in 1863, and 18 in the year now
closing, Of the causes which have led to these 151 vacant
cies, 61 members have died, 51 have resigned consequent
on ill health, old age, or promotion to appointments involv-
ing the loss of their seats; 26 have become peers, either by
succession or by creation ; 11 have been unseated, and two
new seats have been made.

Liberals were succeeded by Liberals in 55 of the consti-
tuencies—eight counties and 47 boroughs. Conservatives
were succeeded by Conservatives in 41 places--22 counties
and 19 boroughs. In 22 constituencies Liberals have been
replaced by Conservatives-8 counties and 14 boroughs,
while Conservatives have been returned for the two seats
which have been created, Birkenhead and South Lanca-
shire. This would make a total Opposition gain of 24 seats
in the following order :—Aberdeenshire, Ayrshire, Biver-
Icy; Birkenhead, Boston, Brighton, Bucks, Cork (county),
Coventry, Devonport, Exeter, Great Grimsby, Harwich,
Her's, South Lancashire, Leicester, Londonderry, Oxford-
shire, Southampton, Taunton, Tynemouth, Wakefield,
South Wilts. and the North Riding of Yorkshire. On the
other hand, Conservatives have been replaced by Liberals
in nine constituencies—three counties and six boroughs.
namely, Belfast, Berwick, Bodmin, North Durham, East
Kent, Montgomery, Plymouth, Roscommon, and Whitby.
The net gain to the Conservatives since the assembling of
the present Parliament is therefore 15 seats. At Lincoln
the gain to the Liberals through the substitution of Mr
Seely for Major Sibthorp was subsequently counterba-
lanced by the victory of Mr Chapman over Mr Heneage.
In like manner at Pontefract the Liberal gain through the
election of Mr Childers in the room of Mr Overend was
afterwards nullified by the succession of Major Waterhouse
to the seat which Mr Monckton Milnes had held for a quar-
ter of a century.— Western. Morning .Nezes, Dac, 29.

The War in America,

(From the _lndex.)

The last mail from America bore, on the face of
the telegram, about the heaviest news that has been
received from the Confederacy this year, Happily
we are in a position to assert with tolerable confia
dente that one half is false and the other half so
highly coloured as to deprive it of the painful
importance at first attached to it. The two great
features of the news arc the alleged capture of
Savannah and the reported defeat of Hood.
It is strange that they should have so
easily deceived the English public. We will
take the Savannah canard first. It originated
with a paper published at Baltimore, on the strength
of a report furnished by a nameless individual at
Fortress Monroe, from a transport which left
Charleston Bar on the 141 inst. This can hardly
be considered very satisfactory evidence, even if un.
cintraaicted. But the Richmond papers publish
news up to a later date than any intelligence that
could have been received at Charleston Bar on the
14th, and in their columns not a word is said as to
the capture of Savannah, or even its attack. What
facts the Richmond papers do give decidedly nega-
tive the assault and capture, for they report the
storming and capture of Fort M'Allister, 16 miles to
the south-west of Savannah, on the Ogeechee River,
on the 14'h inst.; and it is absurd to suppose that
Sherman would have marched with his whole army
15 miles away from Savannah for the capture of a
solitary fort, and march 15 miles back and then
capture SAvannah after eight hcurs' lighting, in the
course of 24 hours. Slvatinah is a strongly fortified
town, standing on a very easily defensible site. Its
communications with Charleston, and therefore with
Virginia, are intact. Its garrison is said to consist
of a
.force numerically equal to S To
suppose that he would attack such a town with his
j idLd troops is to suppose him mad ; and to believe
that in eight hours, without siege artillery, he had
compelled General Hardee with 10,000 men to sur-
render, is to display an amount of belief hardly to
be expected, even in this age of eager credulity.
All that is certain is that Sherman has reached the
sea, aad opened communication with Dahlgren's
fleet; that he has obtained a point of egress; and
that what is left of his army is safe. Safety and
not conquest was his first object. The former he
has in all probability attained by the capture of
Fort M'Allister; the latter, we venture to assert,
he will not be in a position to achieve for some time
to come.

The news from Nashville does not rest on so
debatable a basis, but it is evidently exaggerated.
According to the Federal accounts, General
Thomas on the 15th made an attack upon the
Confederate line, had captured vast quantities of
materiel, 16 guns, 1,000 prisoners, and driven
back the left wing of Hood's army some eight miles
with the loss of 500 men. The weight of the attack
appears to have been directed against that portion
of the army which blockaded the Cumberland River
west of Nashville ; and here, no doubt, the Federal
gunboats obtained a success for Gen. Thomas's army.
But it must be observed that no mention is made of
a general attack, so that there is no reason to believe
that the position of the centre and right of Hood's
army was in any way endangered. The whole affair
seems to have been rather a successful sortie than a
great battle, and it is evident that if another en-
gagement took place on the subsequent day it would
come off under very different conditions. The Fedex
rale would lose the aid of their gunboats, and they
would have to assault and carry earthworks defended
by veteran soldiers. Moreover, a few hours would
suffice to recall Forrest with his cavalry and give the
Confederates a vast superiority in that arm. Gen.
Thomas has not often had occasion to make inde.
pendent reports to his Government. But we have
invariably noticed that when he does write a de.
spatch it is highly inventive, and we quite expect
that the arrival of the Cunard steamer will show a
very different version of the matter. It cannot be
denied, however, that Hood's position was a weak
one. He must have occupied a line some seven miles
in extent. He had despatched one division and all
his cavalry to Murfreesborough, another division had
gone northward into Kentucky. The force with which
he had partially invested Nashville could not have
much exceeded the command of Gen. Thomas, and
we question the prudence of holding such an extended
line with his greatly reduced strength. Of the sub-
sequent battle of the 16th we cannot speak with
certainty. According to unofficial reports, Thomas
had gained a great victory, bad driven Hood from all
his intrenched positions, captured 3,000 prisoners and
30 cannon, in fact, routed the Confederate army, The
story is improbable, to say the least of it, but it
Hood's intrenched positions have been taken,it must
have cost the Federals too dearly to admit of a very,
active pursuit of Hood's army, and Forrest's supe-
riority in cavalry will prevent any disaster. A
battle will have been lost, and Nashville will have
been saved ; but Northern Georgia and Northern
Alabama will not the less have been rescued from
the invader. As to General Canby's flourish of
trumpets about the severance of Hood's commu-
nications with Mobile, it is simply absurd. Hocd
drew neither men nor material from Mobilo any
more than he did from Richmond, and General
Warren might with almost as much reason have
boasted of cutting his communications with Peters-
burg. But Canby's despatch is a fair specimen of
Yankee brag. We are not without hops that
) Thomas's victory of the 16th will turn out, like
Sehofleld's triumph at Franklin, a very doubtful
affair. The public has so often heard of Con.
federate armies "routed and demoralised," which
a week afterwards have struck a vigorous and
succcessful blow at the enemy, that it will be
slow to believe in the pleasing prospect held up
by a Federal organ in this country of General
Thomas reoccupying Southern territory as far
south as "the Etowah river."