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

is 4(

LONDON, MONDAY, DEC. 12, 1864.

By the arrival of the Australasian we have news
from New York to the Ist of December. The chief
interest is directed to the progress of SIIERMAN in
Georgia. By the latest accounts (published), for
the authorities at Richmond very wisely divulge
only as much as can do their cause no harm,
General SHERMAN found that Macon was so
strongly fortified as to set him at defiance, and he
went on to Milledgeville, the capital of Georgia,
which he burnt, and then proceeded on his course
of devastation. Luckily the archives of the State,
and what public and private property could
be carried away, had been removed before his ar-
rival. In fact, the people had been everywhere
aroused and flew to arms. At Augusta great alarm
prevailed, according to report, but SHERmAN was
still somewhere about twenty miles off—nor was it
very clear that he would wait to attack it, for he
was anxious to get to the coast for hie own safety.,
The Governors of Georgia and South Carolina had
ordered all the population, from 15 to 55, to rise in
arms. The Governor of South Carolina had fixed
upon Hamburg as the place of rendezvous for his
Militia. Hamburg is situated on the Savannah
River, and is close to Augusta, so that immediate
assistance would be rendered to that important
quarter. Indeed, such was the terror at Augusta
that it was intended to arm the negroes at once
for the defence of the city. General BEAT:REGARD
was at Macon with General HARDEE and other
men of note, with Governor BROWN of Georgia,
making all due arrangements to meet the erne''.
geucy. The wonder was why I-loon had not been
ordered to the scene of action—but it would be
idle for these ignorant of the plan of operation
to hazard opinions or criticise the conduct of the
Executive in such a wide field of speculation.
may turn oat that HOOD was mar ceavring in Ten-
neesee so as to draw SIIEBAIAN off in that direction
from Atlanta, which had been rendered too hot for
him to hold any loagraa Bat os the course which
SHEWmAN would take is vary donbtfal, no preeaua
lion cen'd have foreseen his line of march. Perhaps,
now that all is unfolded, people Will say that it
wcs clear that STIERmAN would not go into Ten-
nessee to meet HOOD at a disadvantage, but few
supposed that he would have dared to risk the
direction of Savannah with the chance of being
engulph,d in its swamps or lost in its unknown
perplexities. As it is, he has set his fortunas on a
c tat which may. redound to his glory now and
hareafter, or wheim himself and his army in irre-

trievable disaster. The weather may prove treach-
erous to his projects, and a snowstorm might
occasion vast difficulties. Whatever may have been
the calculations of the Confederate Executive as to
SHERMAN'S operations, it is clear that now their
attention has been directed to meet the new emer-
gency. It is possible that HOOD and BRECKENRIDGE
may be ordered to converge their forces to Georgia,
so as to crush SHERMAN before he can retreat to
the south, after his repulse from the eastern shores
of the Atlantic, for we learn that not only from
Charleston but also from Wilmington and other
places, all the disposable troops have bee❑ ordered
with all speed to Georgia. It is even said that a
division has been sect from LEE'S army at once to
the scene of operations, so that unless SHERMAN
make good his way to the coast before these forces
congregate, his position will become daily more
critical.

The fat...famed Florida has at last met the fate of
the still more famous Alabama, but not in the same
gallant style. It now appears that a steamer was
made to run into the Florida as she lay at anchor
near Fort Monroe, as if by accident, and so much
damaged he: that she sank in nine fathoms, and so
closed her career by the device of her unscrupulous
captors—a device as shallow as her capture was
nefarious in the neutral waters of Bahia. But the
Yankees seem to reckon that, now they have done
for the Florida, their iniquity will be sooner got
over, and the Government of Brazil the more easily
satisfied, but they will find they have rather comb
plicated matters the more by their clumsy macceuvre,
Thus bad begins, but worse remains behind. We
may expect some more decisive news by next mail)
for the South is now more alive than ever to the
exigency of the war. The proceedings in the Con-
federate Congress are marked by a strong decision
of character, and the peoplo of the North may yet
find to their cost, that in re-electing Mr, LINCOLN
they have chosen the worst horn of their political
dilemma—not that they have lost much in
M'CLELLAN.

Amid the hurry-skurry of existence, and the
whirl of business, one is apt to forget what formed
the amusement of olden times and the delights of
the days that are o'er; but one thing is certain, that
holidays are every year becoming rarer, and we miss
the mirth and joviality that we are told the past
generation was wont to enjoy. It may be ques-
tioned if this is a change for the better, and it
more care to obtain respite and relaxation might not
be conducive to health and strength,and ultimately
be productive of more lasting labours than all this
forced toil and restless anxiety can produce; at all
events it is worth making the trial. The present
age is pre-eminently a hard-working one, In
every department of toil do we find the same sad
story of overwork. Not alone does the artisan sink
into the grave overdone with the exertions he has
made to maintain his family, and the sempstress
fall a victim to her monstrous exertions, but
labourers in far higher trades become the prey of
their sedulous employments, How often does the
grave close over all of genius that can parish, end
the sad cry resound from the lips of the surviving
mourners," Oh ! if he had had but rest !" The other
day, when a great artist was borne by a mourning
and sorrowing cavalcade to his last long home, it
was declared that his valuable services might long
have been spared to us, and his efforts redounded to
his achievements in the scroll of fame, had he
allowed himself rest. Surely a moral may be
drawn front all this, even as the ancient English
monarch comprehended the teaching of the advanc-
ing waves. Thus far shalt thou go, but no fur-
-1 then There aro limits to human Exertions, and
those who set them at nought will have to pay the
penalty in some shape or other. All work and no
play seems the most approved and recognized adage
of the present day, but it is a false and fatal prin-
ciple to act upon, and many withered frames and
worn •out minds have borne sad testimony
to the consequences of its application. We
are now approaching a season that is
pre-eminently one of rest and rejoicing,
and we have divine sanction as well as human
practice for the observance of a respite from toil and
a cessation from traffic. It is, then, in every sense
of the word, a calamity when it is judged necessary
to curtail the brief span set apart for h iliday mak-
ing at this time, the festival of the Christian year
from the rising of the sun to the setting of the
same. As occasionally happens, this year the fess
tival will fall on a Sunday—hence the holiday is
lost to all intents and purposes. It has been sug-
gested that Monday, the 26th, should be set apart
for a general holiday, to compensate for the dis-
appointment experienced by many, and the idea
seems a feasible one i❑ many respects, It is to be
hoped that this will be carried out effectually, and
thus those classes whose avocations are of a strin-
gent nature may not be precluded from the boon
of an extra day of rest and enjoyment. If an Order
in Council declare the Monday a holiday, it will
be a blessing to thousands, and prevent the distal).
pointment that otherwise must infallibly ensue,
There are many who have only two certain holi-
days in the year, and for the sake of these alone it
is very desirable that such arrangements should be
made ; but there is also the community at large to
be considered, and since it is certain that neglect
in this natter will occasion great disappointment,
it seems scarcely necessary to Bay more upon the
subject. Unfortunately, however, for some reason
or other, best known to themselves, our Govern-
ment do not always lend themselves with a good
grace to the desires and wishes of the people. Let
them, then, make this occasion an instance which
shall be a bright exception to their previous faulty
management, and the voice of general gladness
which will arise in a thousand homes at the men-
tion of a general holiday without restrictions will
prove a sufficient reason for the departure from
ordinary routine, and indemnify them against
the charge of sanctioning a waste of time, and
causing delay to business,

The good folks of the North are giving practical
demonstration to our political chieftains that it is
not to allow the question of Reform to be any
longer set aside. It has been very easy for unwill-
ing reformers to excuse their own negligence and
apathy in fulfilling their hustings' pledges on the
ground of the indifference of the people, but after
the recent meetings and addresses that plea will no
longer serve them. The fact is, that the people
have been so tired of empty professions, so dish
gusted with the insincerity of their self-elected
leaders, that they have paused irresolute what action
to take. They have exercised what little political
power they possess in returning a Parliament
pledged to Reform. They have seen that Parlia-
ment deliberately abandon every shadow of a P., -
form Bill, Tney trusted to the solemn pledges of
their Ministers, and to the reputation of at least
one of them as an earnest Reformer. They reckoned,
too, on the prevailing influence of that 111ancheeter
party which has pledged stself so largely to Reform,
which was not unrepresented in the Cabinet, and
whose. agency has been perceptible enough in the
direction of our national policy. All this reliance
and all these expectations having proved worse
than useless, it is not to see what the masses are to
do. If they agitate the question violently their
conduct will certainly prove a very ecnvenient plea

for delaying the extension of the franchise. All
they can do is to wait in patience for the turn of
the tide, and meanwhile to show to their adver-
saries by their general conduct the fitness of the
better class of working men for political responsi-
bilties. One of the many difficulties attending the
matter is that the evil tends to perpetuate itself.
Those who are non electors have no means of
directly expressing their views in the Legislature,
and however sincere Reformers the great body of
the middle classes may be, there is always a large
proportion who have no mind to improve the condi•
tion of the class just below them. So that, how-
ever unsatisfactory may be the dependence of elec.
tors upon the promises of members, those who
really want Reform have no means of exacting
even these doubtful pledges. Wnat lies within
their power they are doing, and it behoves every
genuine advocate of honest and uncompro.
liaising Reform to stand by his colours,
and to give the unrepresented thousands
the oppestunity of expressing their wishes
and their requirements in language that neither
Minister nor Parliament can pretend to mistake.
Such an opportunity was given the other evening at
Bradford, when the great area of St George's Hall
was thronged with an eager audience on the occa-
sion of the meeting respecting Parliamentary Re-
form. The West Riding of Yorkshire was not
unknown of old for its advocacy of Liberal princi.
ples, and the crowded gathering of Thursday
afforded convincing proof that the old spirit has not
died out. The obief speakers of the meeting were
mostly men who, like Sir F. CROSSLEY and Mr
BAINES, are known for their interest in the question ;
and although they said little that was actually
novel, the whole subject of Reform has been so long
and so studiously kept in the background that the
tritest arguments were welcome. The audience,
however, preyed itself a discriminating critic by
mingling the hearty assent with which it received
any general enunciation of Reform principles with
decided disapprobation of an irrelevant introduction
of foreign topics. Ties Chairman, in the course of
an otherwise able and straightforward speech,
diverged into a discussion of the American question,
on the grcued that some had unjustly condemned
Liberal principles in consequence of the great civil
war, which was said to have been produced by
them. But the working men of Bradford showed
that they were not to be misled by highesounding
platitudes, but were able to exert their own common
sense and think for themselves, by greeting the
assertion that the American war owed its origin to
Northern hatred of slavery with pointed cries of
" Question." The time is past when working men of
England were ready to accept whatever was told
them without it quirt', and it is a proof of their
rapid growth in political knowledge that they
should be able at once to see through the Federal
professions, and to mistrust that fervour of abolition
which is dictated exclusively by self-interest, Oo
another point Mr FORSTER was either extremely
sanguiec, or very easily misled. He had, he de-
clared, some hope from the leaders of the Liberal
party—a hope that we should imagine is shared by
a very limited number of voliticians of every grade,
unless it be that diminutive section who consider
"Rest and thankful" as the compendium of political
wisdom. When he dealt with facts instead of
opinions, and with the actual state of the case
rather than with comments upon it, Mr FORSTER
was more satisfactory, He showed very clearly to
his audience tho startling inequalities of the present
system of representation by a reference to the four
M P.'a then on the platform. The four constituen-
cies which they represented comprised, he said, one
million and a quarter of people, orone-t wen tieth part
of the population of the United Kingdom. The share
which those constituencies had in the national re-
presentation was 1-80th part, and of the conetitu•
encies themselves only 1-25th part had a vote,
although oneefifth of the population were adult
male taxpayers, so that only one-fi*th part of the
taxpayers had any share in the representation. To
the great argument as to the danger or benefit of
extending the suffrage moat of the speakers ad-
dressed themselves. Sir F. CROSSLEY, who claimed
an extended knowledge of the working man, and
who as a great employer of labour has not only op-
portunities for acquiring that knowledge, but every
reason for anxiously desiring the preservation of
social order, spoke boldly on behalf not only of the
lowered franchise, but of the ballot. Mr. BAINES,
who spoke tersely and to the purpose, pointedly
observed that no mistake which the working classes
could make nowadays would be likely to do so
much harm as the old political errors so long up-
held by the upper and middle classes. As for the
plea that the frequency of strikes should hinder the
admission of working men to their rights, such an
argument is altogether futile. If the working men
were better and more fairly represented they would
have less need of such means of protection; but so
long as the masters and manufacturers have the
framing of the laws exclusively in their own hands
the men are tempted to seek unlawful means of
obtaining redress for their grievances. Mr STAN S -
FELD, very truly and forcibly, said in addressing
the Bradford meeting, " There are men of states-
manship who fear this progress, who call it demo-
cracy, and who would seek to stem its tide ; but
that democracy alone is dangerous which has its
stormy birth in days of ignorance, of bigotry, and
of oppressive rule." The experience of all history
confirms this rule, and although the English maeses
have now no recognised injustice, no oppressive
inequality under which they labour, the free grant
of political equality to every man individually
worthy of it would be the best guarantee for the
preservation of the internal tranquillity of the
kingdom. Of course there must be limits to the
franchise, and education should as much as possible
be "made the teat. How it is to be applied is a
question for the House of Commons to solve, but we
are still a very long way from details. Sir F.
CROSSLEY excused his opposition to the Darby Re.
form Bill on the ground that it was what Yorkshire.
men called a great deal of cloth, but very little din-
ner. With the proposed Reform Cabinet and Re-
form Parliament, however, we have not yet got so
far as the laying of the cloth, and fear the gratifi-
cation of our appetites is a very long way off. Mr.
BAINES said he considered the measure once
sketched by Lord JOHN RUSSELL to be a debt of
honour owed by the Government to the country,
and we are afraid that such is very much the light
in which the defaulters themselves regard it. The
fulfilnecnt of rash:engageraents may often be insisted
on, and bonds indiscreetly given may hold the cre-
ditor harmless, but the settlement of debts of ho-
nour is so entirely at the option of the culprit that
there is a very poor chance of extracting them from
unwilling debtors.

TUE EMPEROR NAPOLEON'S '6 VIE.DE CIESAR,”
we are assured, will be issued in Paris about the 15th inst.
The Emperor was anxious to postpone the publication until
both volumes were ready, but M. Plon, the printer and pub-
lisher, suggested that it would be best to issue each volume
separately, and convinced the author. It has not yet been
decided whether the price ehall be six or eight francs.
THE ROPE-JUGGLERS should make their hay
while the sun shines on them, according to the Atiunaum,
for, not only is Donato coming, but also Petropoli. Petro.
we hear from an Italian friend, is surnamed "Il Elas-
tie° " and, among other contortions, puts a glass of wine
upon the sole of his foot, and drinks it off; and, when
making hie bow of adieu to the spectators, slaps the back
of his head, also, with the sole of his foot. Haste, gentle-
men, clear the way 1