The Sun.
London, England, 1863-07-17 00:00:00

LONDON, FRIDAY, JULY 17, 1863.

A fragmentary scrap of additional news in regard
to the desperate fighting at Gettysburg, enables us
to appreciate more distinctly even than yesterday
upon which side, before the last advices lett, lay the
advantage. This brief supplementary morsel of
intelligence, moreover, brings down the record of
events upon that battle-ground to the evening
of the 3d instant—clown to the very eve of the great
Republican anniversary. Again the Federal re-
porters announce the conflict to have been very
fierce in its character. Always indulging in the
very strongest language—one describes the
fight as " the most terrific," another as " the
most awful" that has yet occurred since the war com-
menced. It is curious to analyse the expressions in
which they put forward their claims to be regarded
—in this last and, if we are really for once to be-
lieve them, fiercest conflict—as having proved in
the end successful. " Our men," says a special
despatch from Hanover, "stood up heroically."
Observe, "stood up," simply—not " advanced!"
Again, " the loss on both sides was tremendous."
Not, as hitherto, in all the previous fighting, at the
earliest intelligence, before the actual statistics come
dropping in, not as hitherto, a grievous loss on the
side of—the Confederates. Now, it looks badly in-
deed for the North, when their very first claim of
the blushing honours of war upon this last day's
fighting, comes laden with the significant
acknowledgment that the loss on both sides had
been tremendous. Notwitnstanding which, the
Federal reporter—who mentions the fact of his hav-
ing left the battlefield as late as six o'clock on the
3d inst.—asserts quite confidently "We had the best
of the fight to-day." He does not say in what, he
does not name any one single advantage in parti-
cular. But in lieu of that, he follows up his boastful
claim of victory to the Federals, with this fatally
contradictory confession; "And," he continues,
" the General says that if COUCH arrives to-night,
the victory is ours beyonu a doubt." So, it all
rests—in spite of the previous declaration, " We had
the best of it to-day"—it all still clearly rests,
even then, upon a contingency ! If such and such
an event
comes to pass, "if Coves arrives to -
night"--.0 the General says that" then" the victory
is ours beyond a doubt." A pretty plain revelation,
that unlucky employment of the phrase " beyond a
doubt," in this or that contingency, that so far as
events had then gone, even in the estimation of the
over-confident Federals themselves, there was "a
doubt," Its the events actually were, about the
advantage being their's already. The immediately
preceding announcement, as of a fact beyond dis-
pute, " We had the best of tha fight to•day," to the
contrary, nevertheless, notwithstanding
Perhaps the most audacious attempt at boasting
beyond the reach of all conceivable credulity ever
yet ventured upon by any Yankee gobemouehe, in
defiance of the common sense of his fellow-creatures,
is evidenced, by the grave announcement, as of
an actual occurrence, of the following preposterous
incident—an incident coolly related as having just
transpired in the neighbourhood of Gettysburg
"Lieut. KNOWLES"—says this delightful Yankee
MUNCHAUSEN, who has a wonderful precision in
his style of narrative, it will be observed,
both in regard to name; anti in regard to num-
bers—" Lieut. nant KNOWLES, with only eight
men of Captain BOYD'S comtuan J, charged upon
ieventy:fice rebel cavalry, `man J,
twenty-two
men and thirty-three, horses. When returning to
the main eammand he was cut off by about me
hundred and AM/ mounted rebels, He had to
abandon his booty, but not his prisonerF, and cut
his way out I" Yet the narrator can quite calmly
add, while perpending this absolutely astounding
achievement, "The act was a daring and gallant one!"
Nothing more As though the charging of seventy
five horsemen by eight,and the capture by eight from
those seventy-five, of twenty-two prisoners and
thirty-three horses [one wonders how many hands
the eight Federals had amongst them ! and whether
each was a Yankee BRIAREUS!] were but the most
ordinary instance of gallantry among the Federal
troopers I To say nothing whatever of the eight
captors ot those twenty-two men and thirty-three

horses finally cutting their way out, prisoners,
horses, and all—except their booty, we for-
got to bear that in recollection, as being
the one only concession to probability—
except their booty (whatever that might have
been !)—through the serried ranks of a fresh body of
foes consisting of one hundred and fifty mounted
Confederates ! " Tremendous" fighting, indeed !
After that the phrases of the telegrams hardly read
like words of exaggeration. If Lieut. KNOWLES'S
doings are, in truth, to be regarded as a sample
of the Federal display of pluck at Gettysburg,
the contest there may reasonably enough be
spoken of, either as "the most terrific of the
war," or as the most awful of ell." Only—
somehow, after reading these latest despatches
brought to us from the Federal haunts beyond the
Atlantic—there confusedly recur to our remem
brance, thoughts of a full hour's broadsword exercise
within sight and sound of Shrewsbury clock, and
of divers doughty deeds done by certain daring
knaves in buckram !

means
unsatisfactory. special intelligence—a
The arrival of the Ifnacdti
awnhiMchaiils bbyrinngos
There is an old saying about no
news
beinggood news, which in this respect is
true. The best that we can wish for our Indian
Empire is a quiet and uneventful lapse of time,
marked only by the increase of trade and the open-
ing of fresh branches of commerce and industry.
One of these that may possibly prove of considerable
value iu the future is already indicated in the news
just received. In the small States on the Thibet
and Punjab frontiers grows a native grape, which,
it is said, promises with care to become of con-
siderable importance. The flourishing condition
of the tea trade we have already heard of,
and the present news brings us no reason to
question its steadily increasing progress. If
the present ventures at all realise the anticipa-
tions of the speculators, and there seems no
reason to fear that they will not do so, we shall
probably soon hear of the plantations spreading
over every available space of the Hill districts; at
least wherever the obnoxious restrictions, so highly
prized by Sir CHARLES WOOD, do not intervene to
check enterprise and expenditure. The neighbour-
hood of the Hills of Scinde is said to be very well
adapted for the cultivation of tea, and probably it
will not be long before the experiment is made on a
large scale. The great drawback to all commercial
enterprise unfortunately stilt exists, and in many
parts of India rich and valuable lands are now
tying idle simply because of the preposterous
regulations by which it would seem the Govern-
ment intends to keep off purchasers. We
must hope that the sight of the increasing trade and
commerce of India, and the contrast between the
busy tea gardens and cotton fields, will at length
produce their effect in mitigating those extreme and
inconsistent laws with respect to the purchase and
survey of the waste land which an hon. member
recently charitably suggested must have been
tramed as a joke. The cotton trade is rapidly
bringing in English gold to India, and the state of
the currency is satisfactory. Our able Governor-
General has recently been giving a reception to the
small chiefs who own the estates on the frontier of
the Punjab. They appear to be most amicably dis-
posed towards the Government, and the language
and conduct of Lord ELGIN are well calculated to
increase their confidence. The disturbances in
Assam are at an end, and the tax which occasioned
so much irritation has been modified. This is the
more important owing to the numerous tea com-
panies preparing to start in North-eastern Bengal.
e may hope that this new source of industry being
once fully developed the rude inhabitants of this
fertile district will be diverted from thoughts of war
and rebellion into the more profitable paths of peace
and commerce. There can be no question that all
these fresh sources of interest and occupation will
prove of valuable assistance in the civilisation and
Christianising of the Indian population. We have
already seen some striking cases in which rude and '
savage tribes, whose chief amusement, and most
profitable occupation, was war, are transformed into
peaceable and regular labourers. The greater
admixture of Europeans, too, will be beneficial, espe-
cially as the recent improvements tend to introduce
another class of Englishmen into India—men who
will not from their position keep so much aloof nor
surround themselves with a host of native servants.
Overseers, managers, and foremen must be more on
a level with the men they employ, where all labour
is free, and if these men will but remember their
moral responsibility to those below them, as well as
their duty to their masters, their presence will be
most beneficial. It will not do for them to look on
the native as the American slave-driver does on his
unhappy negroes, The Indian overseer must regard
his workpeople as men of great natural acuteness
and independence. He must avoid wounding their
feelings or trenching on their prejudices, though, of
course, without giving them encouragement. It
the Indians are made to feel that truth and justice
are the recognised principles of English daily life,
as well as the foundation of our laws, a great step
would be gained towards their acceptance of our
religion and our views. Can we honestly say that
we have hitherto endeavoured to do this?—.that
the example which exceeds all precept has taught
them to believe in the purity, the charity, the self-
denial which our missionaries tell them are indis-
pensable elements of our faith? There is room for
improvement, we fear, in the Anglo-Indian as well
as
the '
Hindoo, and the time of peace and prosperity
POW, 1t would seem,
dawning upon our Eastern
Empire, will, let us hope, enable us to practice that
private moderation and political wisdom, both of
ment towards India.
which have been too long neglected by English-

Colonel CRAWL appears likely to figure most
EY
public when he
runpleasantlyeturns.
It nowbeforea
ptpheea r Es
ritghlaibth there has been
another Mhow Court-martial. This time it was a
corporal who suffered. It has been said very often
that Colonel CRAWLEY was not responsible for tht
manner in which the imprisonment of the sergeant-
majorssentr was conducted, and as for the fact of the
y
being placed inside the apartment, that has
been also indignantly repudiated by himself and his
friends. BLARE, the corporal, whose charge it was
to
instopost the sentry, placed him outside in the first
or the seic, situ
roomppo b
s nge thatcoul nd
mt
alnianttainsufficient
s position ate ntth
guard
udaorodr
over his prisoner.
answered ill any This arrangement would have
case, but, under the circumstances,
was highly desirable, as not only Sergeant T
L
had to suffer the annoyance but alshsdying
Eje
' was in her last days harassed by this cruel interfer-
ence. This lenity did not suit the austere views 01
the Colonel, who resolved that one guilty of such
1 moderation should pay the penalty, On the sth
of May he brought the corporal to a court-martial
for "disobedience of orders," and the unfortunate
man was sentenced to forty-two days' bard labour,
and also the loss of his good conduct stripe. Surely
this is most extraordinary conduct, and the strange
thing is, that on the 7th of May Colonel CRAWLEY
made a statement to the effect that he was not
aware of the sentry having been posted inside the
room. This court-martial,, however, was entirely
Colonel CRAWLEY'S own eftsir. It is said that he
summoned the court himself, he sclected the mem
bars, and he approved the finding and beDtence,

and this was on the sth, while on the 7th of May,
ne stated that he was not aware of the position in
which the sentry bad been placed. It will not
then be possible for him in this instance to adopt
the course he has previously done of throwing the
blame on the superior officers, as he has throughout
made it his practice to do in the case of the unfor-
tunate Sergeant-Major LILLEY. Another point to
be considered is, that although the approval of the
MANSFIELD, it
accuratelydoe s nor
aaprrpeesatrwtaos
hgaivvee given
beenby S i Sir
provedW . M
that Ai'zse knew
about the affair; he may have noted for the best, as
he thought, when under erroneous impressions,
owing to the misrepresentations that had been m de
to him. When Sir WILLIAM MANSFIELD approved
of the arrest, he thought that it was only to last
two or three days. Colonel CRAWLEY ought to have
stated bow long the imprisonment was likely to
list, instead of allowieg others to infer the best,
when in reality the cuss could not have been worse,
either as regards the rigour of the sentence, or the
inexorable manner in which it was carried out. It
was not as if the affair took place in this country,
or any temperate climate. It is truly said that
" time is everything when the question is confine-
ment in an Indian casemate at the hottest time of
the year." The court-martial on Corporal BLAKE
is a very important feature in the case, and it is
earnestly to be trusted that full attention will be
paid to it at the trial of Colonel CRAWLEY. It
should be minutely investigated, and all the atten-
dant circumstances well weighed. It certainly com-
promises Colonel CRAWLEY to a very considerable
extent, and throws upon him the onus of the inside
sentry, which was a truly disgraceful pro-
ceeding, and revolting to the feelings of
any considerate individual. That any man
calling himself a gentleman could have given
such an order is hardly to be credited; but having
done so, from whatever motive, it does not improve
the baseness of his conduct nor lighten the enormity
of his cruelty to throw the blame on others. It is
even worse still to cast disgrace on a man who was
possessed of too much innate good freeing to carry
out with scrupulous exactness the orders that com-
pelled such inhuman severity. To many minds the
.ffair of Corporal BLAKE will appear nearly as bad
as that of Sergeant LILLEY. However, the one
follows on the other, and testifies to a spirit of re-
venge and a cold-blooded cruelty that makes one
indignant at their ,exhibition in the ranks of our
army. Such conduct must be put down with a
strong hand. It must terminate now and for ever,
or our country will be a byword and reproach in
those foreign lands where it was once so respected.
It is long since such a notorious case as this of
Sergeant LILLEY has come before the public, but
it is to be feared that many such cases in a minor
form have appeared. So much ought not to be
left to the discretion of one man. Such vast
responsibility is never safe ; and where the indivi-
dual entrusted with so much power does not recog-
nise justice, how can he show mercy to those who
have offended him ? Also, the higher authorities
should not be in such haste always to believe that
is a dispute the superior officer must be right, and
the inferior one wrong. Of course, discipline is of
the utmost importance, but there are things of more
consequence still. There are honour, truth, and
justice, all of which have been violated is this affair.
Sergeant LILLEY being dead, yet speaks to us of
his cruel confinement and unjust treatment alto-
gether. There are other sufferers, also, whose claims
.must be considered. However or wherever the
court-martial is conducted that is held on Colonel
CRAWLEY, the English public will not rest satisfied
unless the fullest and clearest accounts are given
and the most searching investigations instituted.
Nor will they patiently brook that on any pretence
a man sboaid be acquitted who has so injured the
fair fame of our army and cast such reproach on his
country, whose proudest boast has been that she is
he refuge of the oppressed and the champion of the
wronged.