The Sun.
London, England, 1864-11-11 00:00:00

in their adhesion to LINCOLN and anxious for a ter-
mination of the war, most assuredly the inhabitants
of the Southern States are not very eager for his re•
election. They have nothing to hope for from him'
—neither justice nor mercy, neither compromise nor

iurrender, but with the reins of Government in a

different hand, abler voices might be heard, other
influences might gain the day. In his animated

address to the people of Columbia, the South Caro-
linian capital, JEFFERSON DAVIS boldly states that
here is but one means by which they can hope for

peat-, and that is by the vigorous and triumphant '
prosecution of the war. Their attempts at negotia-
tion have been, he says, repulsed with insolence;
the long hoped for intervention and recognition by
foreign States has proved an ignts fat vis. "There
is then," he adds, " but one means by which you
can hope to gain independence and an honourabie
peace, and that is by uniting with harmony, energy,
and determination in fighting those great battles
and achieving those great victories which will teach

the world that we can defend our rights, and the
Yankee nation that it is death to invade them.'

With a quiet irony, perhaps unintentional, Presi-
dent DAVIS assures his audience that the European

nations will recognise and lend them friendly media
ation whenever they are assured that the Confede-
racy can sustain itself without their help. The one
point which he especially impresses upon the people
is the necessity of replenishing the army. If every
_ .

man capable of bearing arms will enrol himself
in the ranks their success he believes is cer-
tain. He denounces those who would shrink
from the ditty and escape on trifling pretexts from
the obligation to serve. "Is this a time," he in-
dignantly inquires," to ask what the law demands
of you—to inquire whether or not you are exempt
under the law, or to ask if the magistrate will take
you out of the enrolling office by a writ of habeas
corpus? Rather is it not the time for every man
capable of bearing arms to say ' My country needs
my services, my country shall have them.' "
Ie
reminds them that when their forefathers of the
Revolution fought in the great war, their armies
were not gathered by asking who could be forced
into the field, but who were able to fight ; no
man was too old and no boy too young to serve
his country if he had the capacity to bear arms.
Mr. DAVIS is sagacious enough to know that if
he can infuse a zorrespouding spirit into the peo-
p!e, the force so gathered will be worth tenfold their
number gathered by enforced conscriptio❑ and kept
together solely by the threat of the deserter's
death. It is noticeable that he says nothing about
arming the slaves, though that movement is said
to be in immediate contemplation. Within the next
thirty days much is to be done ; let, therefore, all
absentees and idlers go promptly to the ranks.
Such is the moral of his address; and still further
to stimulate their energies, he informs them that
the army of Tennessee, which was supposed to be
the quarter in which their arms were least pros-
perous, is full of hope and confidence, General
HOOD, he says, hopes soon to have his hand upon
SHERMAN'S line of communications; and if but
half the men to whom the service has a right will
tend him their aid, there is no alternative before
SHERMAN bat a defeat or a disgraceful retreat.
Bat with the true spirit of a brave and high-spirited
ruler, he admits that reverses may come—he does
not let them shrink from the prospect. "In that
event we shall have reason to anticipate from all
brave men a conduct becoming the occasion, and
shall look to you to redress your misfortunes, to rise
in the face of disaster, and resolve to succeed, deter-
mined that you will live or die free." This is the
true spirit that should animate a patriotic people,
and, so long as it fires the Southern armies, the
Federal troops may gain a temporary victory, but
they will never succeed in crushing out the national
existence of the South.

S. Idom have the details of a more startling catas,

rophe been brought us than that which has jus

desolated the chief city of our Indian Empire. In
its nature, in its extent, and in the alarming con-
sequences which are apprehended, as well as in

,he terrific destruction of life and property, it de.

serves to rank with those exceptional disasters
which, like the earthquake at Lisbon, are chronicled

'or centuries. Fortunately the loss of life, so far as

,s yet known, bears no comparison to that which

decimated the Portuguese capital in 1745, although
among the natives it has been very great, and will,
it is feared, be still greater from pestilence. Of all
the elements, perhaps, air would be the least
feared in its immediate action, but the results of
the hurricane of the sth of October proves that its

dangers may be under-rated. 0 n that day a cyclone,
which for violence was unequalled in the recollec-
tion of any of the inhabitants, visited Calcutta, and

raged for five or six hours, producing a degree

of ruin and disaster, which those on the spot pro.
fess themselves quite unable to pourtray. Houses
and churches were unroofed, while the miserable
little huts of the natives fell like cardbouses before
a breeze. Trees were everywhere destroyed, being
tither uprooted and thrown down, or snapped off,
and their branches whirled away with the all-
mastering wind. The telegraph wires were, of

course, interrupted in every quarter, but the great
scene of the storm fiend's triumph was the river.
The damage done to the shipping is incalculable.
Of 200 ships in the harbour not a dozen have
escaped serious injury. So far as had been ascers
tiined when the mail left 12 or 14 have foundered.

The quiet Hooghly was converted into a stormy
sea, which swept everything before it, and the
violence of the gale may be guessed when it is
remembered that three of the disabled
vessels were the five large steamers of the Penin-
sular and Oriental Company, one of which, the
Bengal, was carried high and dry on shore, while
the Hindoetan, formerly in the same service, lately
used as a hulk and hospital, sunk outright.
LLOYD'S agent at Calcutta, in describing the_out-
iines of the catastrophe, says the cyclone caught
the vessels full broadside on with a force no moor-
ings or tackle could resist. The scene of confusion
was still further complicated by the vessels drifting
against each other and becoming entangled, so that
those that might have weathered the storm were
destroyed by their less fortunate comrades. Thus,
the Grappler, a large vessel, rode out the gale in
safety till fouled by the Princess Royal, when she
parted her chain. She was brought up again, when
five other vessels drifted on and swept her away.
Fier after tier of vessels broke adrift, in some cases
taking moorings, buoys, and tackle with them, and
drove about in clusters of four, six, or eight, ent-
tangled together, and carrying with them ships at
anchor in the stream, and everything else with
which they came in contact. Men were powerless
to contend against the dang.r:r, and often the hor-
rorbut strickentheir sympathy spectators on shore could give no help
to the men who went down with
the vessels. The Lldy Franklin went down when
the cyclone was at its height, the men taking oft
and waving their shirts as signals of distress, but in
vain, for no assistance could be given, and the state
of the river rendered them unable to attempt to save
themselves. The Lady Franklin sunk, and left no
trace, not a mast being visible. Another large ship
which foundered, the Govindporei was the scene of
one of those acts of heroism which do honour to
hu nanity. Nine men were on board the sinking
vessel, and Mr ROBERTS, who was tc, the ghat,was