The Sun.
London, England, 1864-08-04 00:00:00

Child Murder,

Yesterday forenoon an inquest was held by Dr.
Lankester at the Elephant and Castle, King's road,
Camden-town, on the body of a male child, which
had been registered as "henry Bowen," the off-
spring of a woman named " Mary Hartley," which
was discovered dead up a chimney. The accused,
who was in custody, was produced before the
coroner's court by order of the Secretary of State
for the Home Department. She is a fair, well-
looking woman, about 28 years of age, and appeared
very weak and much affected during the proceedings.
Eliza Taylor, a nurse in the lying-in ward of
Clerken welt Workhouse, said sho knew the accused
by the name of "Annie Bowen." She was ad-
mitted on the 16th July, and gave birth to a male
child the same evening. She said it was her seventh
child, and only one was alive. She discharged her-
self and left the workhouse shortly after 10 o'clock
on Saturday morning last. The child was in good
health at the time, and left with its mother.
Eliza Scrowby, servant at the Harrison Arms,
Harrison-street, Gray's-inn-road, said that on Satur-
day morning, about half-past 10, the accused came
to the bar and asked for a glass of hot gin and water.
'fold her they had no hot water ready, and she said
she would not, as she was tired, and she went into
the parlour. Having boiled some water witness took
the hot glass of gin and water to her. Hartley
asked her to abut the door as she wanted to
fasten her drawers and she did so. Noticed that
Hartley hada paper parcel when she came in. About
five minutes after having the gin and water accused
came out with the glass in her hand and placed it
on the counter and then went away. Witness went
into the parlour and noticed soot on the hob, which
she thought strange, having cleaned the stone
about half-past nine. She pushed up the
door at the top of the stove, and saw a parcel up
the chimney. She pulled at it and the paper tore,
and then she saw a white cloth, and on touching it,
finding it wet and warm, was frightened and called
the potman.
Charles Hubbard, potman at the Harrison Arms,
deposed to being called about 11 o'clock by previous
witness, and to finding a parcel on the right side
of the chimney. It was wet and warm. He called
a man named Tolmer who was standing at the bar,
and he pulled it out. Seeing it was a child, as its
face was uncovered, he immediately went after the
woman he had seen in the parlour, and on reaching
Hunter-street gave her into custody.
Henry Telmer, 53, Harrison-street, said—About
12 o'clock on Saturday he was in the Harrison Arms
for change, and heard the two witnesses say there
was a parcel up the parlour chimney. He went,
and on putting his hand up the opening he found
the parcel wedged tight in on the right side, and
he got it out with difficulty. He then found it was
theabody of a child, with the head and shoulders
expose. It was warm, but appeared quite dead.
Police-constable Fk. White, 33 E, said—About a
quarter past 12 the witness Hubbard gave the
accused into custody, saying she had put a baby up
the chimney. Asked her if she had been at the
Harrison Arms, and she said " Yes." Then asked
Hubbard if the baby was dead, and Hartley said,
" Yes, it is dead. lam sorry I have done it now.
I wish I had taken it to the workhouse and had it
buried." 'rook her -to the station, and when the
charge was read over to her she said, " I did not
kill it." She attempted to tear up some papers, and
among the rest the registrar's certificate, which
showed that the child was registered on the 20th
July as "Henry Bowen." She tore up several letters,
but the one produced, addressed to Mrs Jacobs, 11,
Wellington-terrace, Wellington-road, St. John's-
wood," and stamped ready for posting, was saved.
The Coroner said it was a most important letter,
and read it to the jury. It was as follows
" July 29, 1861.

" Dear Jane,—l received your letter. and am very glad
!o hear the child has gone. It's better off. lam also happy
to tell you that mine is gone; so as I am empty handed I
shalt come out to-morrow (Saturday), though I am not very
well ; ,!-)ut if mine had lived I should have stayed in another
week or two, for I don't believe I shall be able to walk. I
shall be obliged to ride up by the Underground, so that it
you are out 00 Sunday I hope you will call, and pray don't
forget the gin, :or I am in a very delicate state of health at
present ; and after living on the fat of the land in the work-
house for a fortnigi,t, I shall turn up toy nose at anything
common. Tell Chart's I should have been exceedingly
obliged for his kind offer, only there is a family grave dug
at Colney -hatch for my son.—Ss as I hope to see you soon.
I shall close with my kindest love to you both, frcm yours
truly, " A. BowEN."
Catherine Prior identified this letter as one which
she saw the accused write on Friday night last at
Clerken well Workhouse, with the intention of post-
ing it in the morning when she went out. She t eard
her read that part of it about the fat of the land,
Sbe bad seen the deceased child, whioh was then
alive and well.
Me I. T. Paul, surgeon, was called to see deceased
at the station-house. It was quite warm, and to all
appearance just dead. It was about 14 days old,
and was a well-nourished male child. On making
a post-mortem examination he found under the
scalp a considerable effusion of blood. There was
an effusion of serum in the ventricles, and the chest
and lungs were much congested. There was no
sign or smell of poison. The cause of death was
suffocation.
By the Coroner—Examined the accused woman
Hartley, who admitted she had given birth to a
child, and said it took place in the grass at High-
gate on the Thursday week previous. She had a
quantity of baby's clothing sewn on the inside of
her petticoats. She attempted to destroy all papers
and writing she had, but witness succeeded in se-
curing the pieces of the torn certificate, and also
the letter which had been read.
By the Jury—l have no doubt, from the evidence
and my own observation, that the child was put
up the chimney alive.
The accused, Mary Hartley, having been eau•
tioned by the coroner, made the following state-
ment :—From the time the chili was born he was
troubled with windy spasms, and I have often called
the attention of the nurse to it, as I was afraid it
would choke. After leaving the wo.khouse on Sa-
turday morning I felt it breathing very hard and
choking with the wind. Wheal got to the Harri-
son Arms it was halt past eleven, and I was there
half an hour. The child was dead before it was put
up the chimney. This contradicted to
the statement
The witness Taylor s all
I have Ba y.
that her attention had been called to the child hav-
ing the windy spasms.
There being no further evidence,
The Coroner addressed the jury, who, after a few
minutes delation, returned verdict of " Wilful
murder againstber Mary Hartley," and the coroner at
on made out his warrant for her committal to
secwesate for trial.
The accused was afterwards examined at the
Clerkenwell Police-court, and thence also committed
for trial on the charge.

SECONI EDITION.

SUN OFFICE, HALF-PAST 4 O'CLOCK,

ARRIVAL OF THE FAIRY.

SOUTHAMPTON, AUG. 4.
The Royal yacht Fairy, Commander Prince
Leiningen, has arrived here, having on board their
Royhl Highnesses Prince Leopold, Prince Louis of
Hesse, and suite, also Earl Granville and General
Seymcur. The Royal party proceeds to Bishop's
Waltham to lay the fonndatioa-stone of the new
Inffrmary there.

SPORTING INTELLIGENCE.—This Day,

BRIGHTON RACES—Fins DAY.
(BY ELECTRIC TELEGRAPH.)
FIFTH BIENNIAL STAKES.

Durham
Olivia
CLARET STAKES. 2

Nebula
Eight ran.
LATEST BETTING.
EBOR TIANDICAP.
sto 1 agat East Lancashire (taken)

ST. LEGER.

20 to 1 agst Knight of Sao; don (taken)
Scottish Chief reported scratched.

ACCEPTANCES AT LEWES,
Da Warrenne Handicap. T.Y.O.

Age at lb Ago at lb
Cranbury ........ 3 8 10 Echo
Marigold ........ 4 8 8 Amazonian
Attraction .. 3 8 3 Olivia
Sammerside . ..... 4 7 10 Starbeam
Gallus
Deception .... •••• 4 7 10 Clairvoyant° 3 6 7
Peignoir
Rouge Crosse
Contederate
Lewes Handicap. Two miles.
Age at lb i
ge
lb
A st
ally Edmond .... 6 8 121 The Stranger
Magnum Bonum.. 5 8 4 Redcap .........
Sumnerside
Canzonette
Dr Syntax
The Clown .. 3 7 4 Jeanette ..........
Canary
5 7 2 The Sluggard ... 3 6 1
Suspicion
Portland

Welter Cup.

et. lb.
Deerfoot ll 12
Bally Edmond ll 9
Monk
Nanrico
Accident
Nebula
Disappointment 10 0
Margery lO 0
Ace of Hearts
Weights for till

st. Ib.
Plover
Portland
Prince Lee 800 .... 9 7
Ibex
Harvest Moon
Fletton
Greenland 9 0
Telscombe .. 9 0
Roseneath
Nursery Plate.

st lb
Aristocrat
Nukuheva 8 7
Attache 8 4
Vest colt
St. Vincent
Audit or
Lord Waldegrave 7lO
Gipsy Boy 7 10
Doeford
Provisor 7 7
Salliet
Vigilant .. 7 4
Spain
Simple Maid 7 4
Sisyphus
Flying Horse
Tilt 7 2
Sympathy ....
Cedrie 7 0

at lb

Tring . 7 0
Rose of Denmark.... 7 0
Herschel .. 6 12
Corporal Trim
Lovelace
Volatile ....
Ptarmigan 6 10
Little Pickles
Quil
Doublet
Imogene filly
Scylla
Victory
King of Greece 6 7
Contraband
Chesterfield .... •• • • 6 7
British Queen
II pe

A Scene in the Belfast Council Chamber.

The Belfast Northern Whig reports a quarter* meeting
of the town council, in which Mr Rea figures prominently,
and is treated after the manner in which he was dealt
with by the committees of the Houses of Parliament. Mr
Rea had made long speeches upon the various subjects
that had come before the council, and at about the middle
of the business he discoursed upon the packing of the
burgess roll, a question which, in the Mayor's opinion,
had nothing whatever to do with the subject in hand.
When the Mayor remonstrated, Mr Rea replied—" 1 tell
you not to stifle debate, and if you do, I charge you with
being one of the conspirators. (Clamour and confusion.)
You will be the first man I will put in my informations."
(Order, order.) Mr Rea frantically gesticulated, and waved
his hand as if wishing to be heard—the Mayor standing,
and the whole council room in disorder. Mr Rya shouted
away, and concluded with the words--" Perjury and subor-
nation of perjury of the foulest description. The case of
John Lytle and John Rea will last longer than the case of
the Queen against Potts and others." Mr Rea then sat
down, and Alderman Mullen got up. Mr Rea then rose
again, and said, "1 have not done yet; but I will yield
pro tempore to Mr Mullen." Mr Mullen was then pro-
ceeding to say, "After this extraordinary conduct," when
Mr Rea called to the Mayor—" I charge you with being
one of the conspirators that aided to procure the bill by
fraud; and I charge you with a violation of your oath de-
liberately committed." The council chamber was then in
confusion, and the public outside the bar were in ecstacies.
Mr Rea declined to withdraw the expression and refused to
apologise. " I repeat it," said he ; " and that you prosti-
tuted your office to it, and committed a fraud on the rate-
payers of Belfast." The Mayor rang the bell, and the two
chief constables appeared in the room. The Mayor direct ad
to have Mr Rea removed from the room. Chief-constable
Green touched him upon the shoulder and told him to go
out with him. "Touch me, and I will go ; you know by
whose orders," said Mr Rea. He then walked out with the
chief constable and was taken to an ante-room, where he
was followed by a great number of people. When he had
collected himself, he walked into the portion of the council
room allotted to the public outside the bar, and, rushing
through the people, he sprang over the barrier, his foot
caught in the rail, and he fell full length on the floor. Chief-
constables Green and M'Kittric advanced to him, and, tak-
-1 ing him by the collar, commenced to remove him. He threw
himself on the ground on his b ack, and caught the large
1 table by one hand and a chair by the other, determined to
rebel every inch of the way to the door. The council table
and the chair was taken from him, and ho was pulled along
the ground by the neck and feet until the constables arrived
with him at Mr M'Geagh's chair, which they all fell over.
The two chief constables having got to their feet, pulled
him out on his back, and delivered him to a posse of con-
stables in waiting to take charge of him.
The sceee was the most exciting ever witnessed in the
council room, and was a climax to all the outrageous pro-
ceedings which have taken place there during the last two
years.

When taken out, Mr Rea asked the chief constable by
whoso order he had boon taken out the second time; he
had done nothing, he said, deserving of expulsion by force,
and the Mayor would rue it to the latest day of his life. The
business of the council was proceeded with, and was quietly
got through.

At the conclusion of the business Mr Rea entered the
council chamber and demanded and obtained from the Town
Clerk copies of all the resolutions passed from the time he
was so summarily rejected. He told the mayor that serious
constquences would result from the proceedings of that day.
The mayor shortly after left with Mr Preston, and was
cheered by the crowd assembled in Police-square. When
Mr Rea appeared he harangued the crowd for a few minutes,
threatening all sorts of action for conspiracy. And thus
one of the most extraordinary meetings ever held in the
Town Hall terminated.

EAST LONDON BANK.—(TIIIS DAY.)—The first
general meeting of the shareholders of this bank
was held to.day. The report stated that the gross profits
have been £10,576 17s Ild ; against this had been charged
the current expenses of the head office End branches for
at the
of
fo
makingl,64o 6s Id ;
the half year amounting to £3,911 4s; interest on current
and deposit accounts amounting to £3,037 108 2d ; rebate
calculated
accounts,
viz,,a t t h
6e Bank
creantte.:up the
leaving an available balance of £2,057 17 gd. The
directors recommended that this sum be appropriated
as follows—A. dividend at the rate of £5 per cent.
per annum for the past half-year, free of income tax, on the
original capital (560,000), which absorbs £1,500. Interest
at the same rate, also free of income tax, on the new capital
(£10,000), from the date of calls to June 30, which amounts
to £683 6s Bd, leaving a balance (including rebate) to be
carried forward to the present half year of £2,414 17s Id.
The premium of 303 per share on the 8,000 new shares,
amounting to £12,000, had in accordance with the circular
s ei
rr
e ce t
osubmitnow
of Dec. 26 last, been appropriated to the formation of a re-
v rs fund,
would and
was
to
tinvestedthe meeting,
e e t Li
nlg, f
3, 209r6
confirmation,
console.
the
d
resolution of the board increasing the capital of the com-
pany frm £1,000,000 to £2,000,000.
•ALARMING ACCIDENT TO A BALLOON.—On Tnes.
day Captain Orton ascended in his balloon—the
"Princess Alexandra"—from Aston-park, Birmingham;
but, before doing so, an accident occurred which had well
nigh caused the destruction of the aerial machine. Some
one, it is supposed, struck a match for the purpose of light-
ing a pipe or cigar, close to the balloon, and in an instant a
flame some 12ft, high was found issuing from the valve.
With great presence of mind the aeronaut covered up the
aperture with a piece of canvass, and the flame was at once
extinguished by the stoppage of the exit of gas into the
air. Little damage was done to the balloon.
The citizens of Dublin are most anxious that the
Channel fleet, now on passage to Cork, should visit Dutlin
Bay. The town commissioners of Kingstown and Daltey
have sent memorials to the Admiralty on the subject.
There is no doubt but that such visits are very useful in
manning the navy, as they excite a desire for the service
among the young men, while entailing no extra expense on
the GOVZHIM,Lt.

TUE CONFEDEItATE STATES,

(From the Special Correspondent of the limes.)
RICHMOND, June 27:

If a man were landed here from a balloon after
six months' absence—if he were taken along Grace
or Franklin Straits in this city on a summer even•
ing, and told that two enormous armies are lying a
few miles off and disputing its possession, he would
deem his informant a lunatic. In every porch he
would see a group of gaily-attired ladies (I do not
believe that 20 rigorous years of blockade would
pale the lustre of ladies' toilet in an American town) ;
he would hear many a light laugh, many a song
issuing from open casements ; he might pass an hour
in conversation without being reminded that war is
furiously raging, otherwise than by the suggestive
boom of the faintly beard cannon ; and, finally,
when the conversation turned into its well.worn
groove, he would find that Richmond trusts and
believes in St. Lee as much as Mecca in Mahomet,
or Spain in St. James of Compostella.
That the confidence reposed in Gen. Lee's ability
is reasonable no one disputes. Do the circumstances
in which his army is placed, its morale, and num-
bers inspire equal faith ? In order to answer these
questions I must premise that two railroads feed
Richmond from the south—one the line from Wil-
mington to Weldon, Petersburg, and Richmond—
the other the railroad which comes up from Greens.
borough through the centre of North Carolina,
enters Virginia at Danville, and, running through
the heart of the State, reaches Richmond from
the south.evest. It may be at once conceded
that there
is little likelihood that the first—the
Petersburg and Weldon Railroad—can be kept open.
Grant's army lies so closely in its proximity, and
his cavalry can strike it inr so many points along
the 60 miles which intervene between Weldon and
Petersburg, as to negative its utility. It would be
a waste of power for General Lee to try and keep
it in operation. Upon the other railroad, or rather
upon the 90 miles of it between Richmond and the
Staunton river, Gen: Lee's defensive ingenuity will
ne exhausted. This railroad is, in its nearest point,
distant about 25 miles from Grant's extreme left,
and trends away from him into the interior of Vir.
ginia, so that an interval of 90 miles divides him
from the bridge over the Staunton river. Can this
railroad be kept substantially in operation ? It has
already been destroyed at intervals for 35 miles
northwards from the Staunton river by a mingled
body of Federal cavalry and infantry, bat inasmuch
as no important bridge has been destroyed, the da-
mage can be repaired in 14 days. I will at once ex-
press my conviction that Grant is not strong enough
either in cavalry or infantry to do more than dash
at this railroad and inflict from time to time light
damage upon it. Richmond can never be starved out
until these two railroads from the South as well as
the James River Canal and the railroads from the
North can be utterly annihilated, and can be kept
annihilated. As an illustration how quickly damage,
if lightly inflicted, is repaired,l may mention that the
Virginia Central Railroad, which was destroyed for
many miles by bneridan upon June 11, has for some
days past been open and running to Charlottesville,
whence it continues indirectly to Lynchburg. This
line would, in addition to the' James River Canal,
abundantly victual Richmond, although every other
line were cut. In short, to talk of Richmond being
besieged because Grant's army environs Petersburg,
22 miles away, is about as reasonable to pretend that
London was on short rations when Napoleon's army
menaced England from Boulogne in 1804. It is a
tremendous undertaking to starve out a town, even
when it is closely invested by land and water. We
ail know the historical sieges which Londonderry,
Saragossa, Genoa, and 100 other cities have stood ;
there is as much analogy between the present con-
dition of Richmond and these memorable passages
of history as between the lazy Scheid and the rapids

of Niagara.
Secondly, it is abundantly evident that Grant,
though outnumbering Lee largely, dares not spread
over too long a line, for fear of having his centre
pierced, and Austerlitz reenacted on the southern
bank of the Tames. The Federal General bas already
tried to stretch his left as far as his men could be
persuaded to go, but the past week has shown that
between the armies there is almost as much differ-
ence of morale as between Leonidas's Spartans and
Xorzc,s's Persians. Upon the 23d the Confederate
Geri. Mahone doubled round Grant's left and cap-
tured 1,600 men, who scarcely fought at all. Two
days later a body of Fedorals entrenched them-
selves upon the Petersburg and Weldon Railroad,
were attacked by the same Confederate General,
and fled at once, leaving 500 of their number priso-
ners. The inpouring of Federal prisoners into Rich-
mond these last four days has been incessant. lam
at a loss to convey to you the contemptuous tone in
which the tried and war-worn soldiers of Gen. Lee
talk of the huddled rabble of black, white, and cop-
per coloured victims (there are Indians serving
under the Stars and Stripes) who are at times goaded
up to the Southern lines. Who can wonder that men
coming en an acre deep are mercilessly massacred ?
We read with astonishment in the Northern jour.
nuts that the fighting around Petersburg has been
ter7ific. The universal account given to me in the
Southern army has been " since the battle of Cold
Harbour on June 3 we have had little but skirmish-
ing." It is safe to conclude that Grant will never dare
to spread his army over the 25 miles between its pre-
sent position and the Danville Railroad, and unless
he can encamp upon the two railroads, and lie there
permanently, he is as far from the completion of his
task as a traveller who has surmounted the Mon.
ta,nvert is from the top of Mont Blanc.

I am satisfied that General Grant will make no
more onslaughts upon Confederate breastworks. He
knows very well that neither Petersburg nor Rich-
mond will be taken by fighting. It is a question
of subsistence, and if Grant lies in his present lines
through the summer, Richmond's poorer classes
may see hard times before September, and for the
twentieth time the Confederate army may be for a
few weeks on half rations. But, if it is imagined
that the earnestness of these Southerners, proved
in the furnace of three years of suffering and afflic-
tion, and stimulated by such acrid hatred as eye has
not seen nor ear heard before, is unequal to the
occasion, England must be as ignorant about this
struggle as she is held hero to be indifferent. In
the meantime, Grant's difficulty in holding his posi-
tion on Bermuda Hundred and close to City Point
will be enormous, putting aside all question of fight-
ing. He is constantly being reinforced by raw,
green troops, who are absolutely worthless as fight-
ing material, and who are destined to fringe the
River James with their graves from CityiPoint
half-way to Fortress Munroe. The marshes of the
James in August and September are as deadly as
Weicheren or Terracina. There is
the swamps of
some nonsense talked in Northern papers about
Grant's occupying a fine, healthy, rolling country.
It is notorious that Bermuda Hundred is one of the
most pestilential spots on the river, and the night
fog which arises from City Point, and spreads over
half the Northern army, tells its tale to all who
are not7wilfailv blind. General Lee has exacted
heavy toll between the 3d of May and the 3d of Jane
—the James river will assist him in August and
September as much as that memorable night of frost
in 1812, in which 20,000 French horses perished,
aided the Russians.

It is impossible to resist speculating upon the
question whether, after a review of the campaign
of the last two months, it is reasonable to pros
nounce Grant a great General—to put him on the
same platform as Lee. I will at once avow my own
conviction, which is shared by every one worth
listening to in Secessia, that not one of Grant's pre.
denessors in Virginia has shown one tithe of the
tenacity, energy, celerity, and resolution which the
recent campaign has set down to Grant's credit.
APUel!an, Hooker, Pope, or BurnFiide would have
gone bier after the battle of the Wilderness, and
wo.a:d never have got such an effort as was mad© at
spottsylvania Court-house out of a beaten army.
But, after giving cr Grant due credit for vigour in
handling his men, and kt'eping them compactly
together (which is the greatest difficulty a Federal
General encounters), I am unable to see that his
an was able, though it
er,nception of the c narpal.
incompetency
mast be confessed that the strange
of Butler made half of Grant's plan a fiasco before
it rris contrnPnced. Certain it I.s th,"At if in The firm..
inatlEca he !jug landed 200;000 men on the York

River or James River, and had not sacrificed the
bone and sinew of his army in fighting hia way to
the White-house, which he might have reached by
water without losing a man, his position now would
be very different. Weeks and weeks will probably
pass without amending his prospects before Peters-
burg. In the meantime diversions, which will dis-
tract him terribly will be pretty sure to change the
aspect of civil and military affairs in the North
before September has passed. Grant is one of those
sledge-hammers of war of the same stamp as Suwar-
row, whose spirits rise with danger, and whose
courage borders upon brutality. Lee is his equal
in celerity and endurance, his superior in foresight,
prudence, and sagacity,
_ _

July 5.

In contemplating the desoluting struggle which
hes drawn upon the American Republic the eyes of
civiliaed mankind, no one can fail to marvel at the
weakness, querulousness, and frothiness which have
marked the deliberations of the representative as-
semblies of either belligerent. In the North, while
all the fiercest passions of mankind, disengaged by
the supreme peril of the nation, have been at sea
without rudder or compass, we have simultaneously
seen Congress roaring like a sucking dove, vapour-
ing about the Monroe doctrine, jobbing and recrimi-
nating, and occasionally imitating the example of
the Lower Empire,which, hemmed in by barbarians,
vented itself in abstract discussions while the bat.
tering ram thundered at the city gates. Similarly,
it is impossible to point to any debate in the
Southern Congress which has risen to the height of
the great argument before it ; and it is my belief
that in three years of discussion at Montgomery and
Richmond only one speech delivered in Congress
will hereafter arrest the attention of the historian.
I mean the remarkable effort of Mr Wigfall in
favour of the temporary suspension of the bill of
habeas corpus. If, however, the normal temper of the
two representative bodies at Washington has been
less steadfast, less dignified, and unshrinking than
has been the case at Richmond, it seems to me that
Washington has contributed more speeches that
will live. It requires no stretch of fancy to picture
that the speech which earned for Mr Vallandigham
the honour of expatriation, and likewise that the
speeches of Mr Long of Ohio, and Mr Voortrees of
Indiana, are likely to be quoted at many a fireside
when the rabid diatribes of Messrs. Sumner and
Lovejoy have been long forgotten. But, anyhow,
when we recall the remarkable ability displayed in
the Revolutionary War by such civilians as Alexan-
der Hamilton, Benjamin Franklin, Madison, Galla-
tin, and Jefferson, it is difficult to believe that the 20
millions in the Northern States should in their hour
of agony have produced not only no great soldier,
bat also no eminent administrator in any depart-
ment of civil life. It may fairly be questioned
whether any other Northern civilian has shown such
tact and ahility as have been displayed by Mr.
Adams at his delicate post in London.
If, on the other hand, there is in the Southern
Congress no Patrick.llenry, it cannot be denied that
the joint resolution which it put forth before expir-
ing, and which may be read in another column, is
worthy of the occasion. It is understood that this
manifesto is from the hand of Mr. Rives, formerly
United States' Minister in Paris, and at present a
member of the House of Representatives at Rich-
mond, in which his long experience of public life,
and his worth and uprightness of character, procure
for him high consideration and respect. It has often
been alleged that the Confederate States have done
little or 'milling to submit their cause temperately
to the intelligent judgment of the civilised world.
It will be seen at once that in the accompanying
manifesto some such attempt has been made by Mr.
Rives, Not forgetful of Tallyrand's warning against
an excess of zeal, Mr. Rives states without exagge-
ration the wellknown principles which the Southern
States have always maintained as to the separate
independence and sovereignty of States. It is im-
possibie to look around you here in Richmond, or to
go 20 miles away to Petersburg, or converse with
the general officers, the subalterns, or the rank and
file of the Confederate army without acknowledg-
ing the truth of the following words :

" For ourselves we have no fear of the result. The wildest
picture ever drawn by a disordered imagination comes short
of the extravagance which could dream of the conquest of
8,000,000 people, resolved with one mind to die freemen
rather than live slaves, and forewarned by the savage and
exterminating spirit in which this war has been waged upon
them, and by the mad avowals of its patrons and sup-
porters of the worse than Egyptian bondage that awaits
them in the event of their subjugation."

There aro many passages of warlike history which
reveal such excesses of systematic and callous bru-
tality towards non-combatants as have drawn down
upon them the common execration of mankind.
The merciless ferocity of Tilly in the Palatinate, the
Dragonnades of Louis XIV., the conduct of war by
Cromwell in Ireland, of the Duke of Cumberland
after the battle of Culloden, are among the instances
which occur to everybody. The military student
will, perhaps, recall a more modern instance in the
retreat of the bellied Massena from before the lines
of Torres Vedras, and will remember the ruthless.
nese towards peasants, villages, and convents which
wrung from Wellington the remark that, "It has
seldom been equalled and never surpassed." I do
not believe,",however—and I say it advisedly—that
any of these infamous passages, in regard to which
lapse of time serves but to increase the asperity of
our indignation, surpasses in atrocity the system of
Federal warfare in the Southern States, and notably
in Virginia. In burning words of eloquent censure
Mr. Motley has held up to our loathing the hor-
rible cruelty of Alva and the bigoted tyranny of
his master. Yet Mr. Motley is the complacent and
contented servant of a Republic which, in the name
of liberty, encourages enormities as repugnant to the
civilised warfare of the 19th century as were Philip
-IL's outrages, in the name of religion, to the moral
sense of the 16th. I do not mean that throats are
cut indiscriminately as they were by Alva, although
many a dark tale of cupidity and assassination has
issued from the forests and byways of Virginia.
I could, were it not as distasteful to me to write as
it ia to your readers to learn such gloomy horrors,
accumulate evidence substantiating the occurrence
of many such murders of civilians in cold blocd be-
yond refutation. Nor, again, do I assert that women
are stripped and forced to run races in the presence
of a licentious soldiery, as in the days of the brutal
Duke of Cumberland. But I do mean to assort—and
I challenge contradiction of this statement—that
ontrages such as my pen must seek a periphrasis to
describe, and of which white women are the object,
have repeatedly occurred ; that in a special degree
the country called the northern neck of Virginia (ly-
ing between the Potomac and Rappahannock rivers)
has witnessed them again and again ; that the Afri-
can savage, stimulated by those white agents who
give:effect to Mr. Sumner's and Mrs. Beecher Stowe's
theories, is the perpetrator, of them, that I am in a
position to mention not less than ten horrors, which
during the last three months, have occurred in the
county of Westmoreland alone, and which are un-
surpassed in atrocity by the most loathsome records
of modern or ancient warfare. After this statement
it is a relief to turn to the mere details of plunder
and cupidity. Your readers can scarcely be igno-
rant that through every portion of Virginia Fede-
ral raiders have circulated, have killed every four-
footed or feathered animal, except the horses which
have been carried off, have stripped lonely women
surrounded by children of every vestige of food,
have pillaged ladies' clothing and every portable
article of value, have burnt barns and houses at will
wherever their lust of plunder has been baled.
Will it be pretended that this is civilised war-
fare ? Can it be alleged that the Federals are
merely retribution for similar deeds of the
Southerners
enactingthernersi n Pennsylvania ? I apprehend no such
defence will be attempted. Tho truth is, that for
the first time in modern warfare we are contem-
plating an army which is at once republican and
undisciplined. We see officers who in many cases
are more debased than their men, and who impose
upon those men none of the restraints which strict
discipline and organisation extracted from the Re-
publican levies by whose agency Napoleon domi-
neered over Rome, Vienna, Berlin, Moscow, and
Madrid. The consequences may be imagined. I do
not deny that among the Federal officers are occa-
sionally hgh-minded and honourable men., such as
General Meade or General Kelly, end I believe I
may add General Grant, who would scorn the im-
putation of plundering Vic as they would

scorn committing a burglary in peace. But if the re-
publicanism of their troops admitted the possibility
of truth being told, these exceptional Generals would
be the first to confess that they are too few and
feeble to leaven the mass of officers around them, or
to exert the smallest influence on the loosely-coupled
and undisciplined rank and file.
The situation of affairs in front of Petersburg re-
mains the same. I do not myself believe that Grant
will maintain his present position much longer. It
is the opinion of those who understand the South
best, it would have been wiser for their opponents
to have assumed everywhere, in the present cam-
paign, a defensive attitude, and while strong lines
were held in Virginia, Georgia, and Louisiana to
have lured the Southerners on to some rash step
like the invasion of Maryland, or Pennysylvania, or
Tennessee. By assuming the aggressive the Fe,-
derals have drawn down upon themselves the grave
disasters which have overtaken General Banks in
Louisiana, and the unpromising prospects which
seem to await General Grant before Richmond.
The Confederate army cannot be disposed of until
it has weakened itself by some aggressive move,
and after such a move, to which the well-known
impatience of the Southern character would infal-
libly prompt, the way to Richmond would be, so
far as it ever can be, uncovered. As matters now
stand, with Grant baffled and arrested, I see no
other course for the Federals to pursue than, by
acting on the defensive, to let the weight of the uti
possidetis principle tell, and when any talk of nego.
tiations arises to ask the Confederates, " What have
you in exchange for New Orleans, Pensacola, Key
West, Morris Island, Port Royal, Beaufort, New-
bern, Norfolk, Fortress Monroe, Western Virginia,
and the State of Tennessee to give, and how can
you talk of peace unless you give us payment for
each of these cities and regions, or, failing that,
allow these cities and regions to remain in our
hands ?"