The Sun.
London, England, 1864-12-09 00:00:00

THE CIVIL WAR IN AMERICA.

(From the Times' Correspondent.)
NEW YORK, Nov. 25.
Throughout the whole of the cities, towns, vil-
lages, and farmsteads of Federal America yesterday
was celebrated as a day of thanksgiving. Business
was everywhere suspended, and the people devoted
themselves to merry making if they were not very
pious, to church and chapel going if they were seri-
ously inclined, and to much eating of roast and
boiled turkey whether they were pious or the re-
verse. Thanksgiving Day answers in America to
Christmas Day in Englsnd, end is celebrated in
much the same manner, the chief difference being
that turkey and pumpkin (pronounced punkin) pie
take that place in the festive observances of the

time which in England is reserved for roast beef
and plum pudding. Although the Government, or
chat branch of it administer cd by Mr Ft-snuck°
had not been sufficiently mindful of the fact that the
soldiers of the Federal armies—many of whom have
not received a cent of pay for seven months—would
have enjoyed the annual celebration more completely

if they-tilir a few of their overdue grootabaoko in
their pockets, the Loyal Leaguers and the contrac-
tors, and the rich Northern people in general, were
more sympathetic and more thoughtful, and took
especial care that, so far as the traditional and in-
dispensable turkey was concerned, the armies in the
camp with Grant and Sheridan, if nct those on the
march through Georgia with Sherman, should eat
their fill of the national bird, and be otherwise as
merry as circumstances would allow. About 40,000
turkeys, a fcw hundreds more or less, were de-
spatched to Sheridan's army in the charred and deft
solated entrances of the Shenandoah, and as many,
or more, to Gen. Butler on the banks of the James
and the Dutch Gap Canal, and to Gen. Grant on
the Appomattox, or wherever else his head quarters
were yesterday established. And if the brave
fellows who thus partook of the liberality of
their peaceful, though sot peace loving, fellow-
citizens had anything better than the execrable
whisky of the camp sutlers to wash down the dainty,
they had no reason to complain that they were un-
remembered or shabbily dealt with. The Thanks-
giving of yesterday differed from all other previous
festivals of the kind by being both national and sec-

tional. Hitherto the Governor of each State ap-
pointed such day in November, usually a Thursday,
as suited his pleasure ; and it consequently hap.
pened very frequently that this celebration was not
simultaneous. Mr Lincoln this year led the way by
a proclamation appointing Nov. 24 as a day of Na.
tional Thanksgiving in all the States of the North.
It was competent to the several Governors of the
States to have appointed another day for the local
Thanksgiving, if they had seen fit to do so, bu
being of opinion that one such festival was suffi
cient they all agreed that the Federal and the
State celebration should be held on the same day.
Each of them consequently followed the example
of the President, and issued his proclamation to the
little commonwealth of which, according to the
theory of the Constitution, ho is the chief executive,
to enjoin the due observance of the day. It is
curious, and not uninstructive, to observe what
very different and conflicting reasons are given by
these gentlemen why the " nation"—for they will
have it that the Federal association of States is a
unit—should rejoice and pray, and offer thanks to
the Divine Ruler of the Universe. Some of them
are optimists, and see everything in the most cheery
and roseate light ; others are pessimists, and think
with Hamlet that the times are out of joint ; some
aro utilitarian in the hardest degree, and others
poetical and imaginative to a fault. Some are
literal and confine themselves to the present ;
others aspire to the prophetic and devote all their
skill to vaticieations of the future; some are grate.
ful to God on pbyaical considerations, some on
moral ;and by far the greatest number congratulated
their people on the purely selfish ground that the
evils of this horrible war have not been felt in their
fair and flourishing fields and valleys, or in the
smiling homes from which Death has not yet
snatched a member. The President, in his procla-
mation, is of opinion that the gratitude of the
American people is due to Almighty God because
"He has preserved tho national existence for
aue;her year ; defended it with his guaraian care
against en friendly designs from abroad ; and largely
augmented its free population by emancipation and
immigration." The Governor of New York is
thankful for the public health, for abundant har-

vests, and for what;,' he calls " other blessings,"
without specifying in what they consist. He takes

care, however, to prove that his heart is nut in the
war by reminding the people that in the great cities
many are threatened with want of labour, and con-
sequent want of food, and that the withdrawal of
large numbers of ablebodied men to the unproduc-
tive tud work of slaughter leaves thou-

PRICE ...... ...4d
STAMPED ....5d

sands of helpless women and children without sups
port, and throws them upon the charity of the
public. The Mayor of the city recommends the
citizens to observe the day in a spirit of kindliness
and good will to all men, including, there can he
no doubt, the men of the South—over whose de-
feats and reverses he would not allow his fellow
citizens to exult at the public expense, by bonfires
and illuminations, The Mayor of Brooklyn admits
there are suffering and distress in the North,
caused by the act of " wicked traitors" in the
South; but is neverthele,A of opinion that the
North has reason to be thankful for the " brilliant
and substantial successes which through God's
aid the gallant army and navy have' of late
achieved over the armed power of rebellion." The
Governor of Massachusetts is wholly religious,
and his proclamation reads like a sermon. He
blesses Heaven for all things—for health, for pros-
perity, for abundance, for sunshine, for rain, for

life, for the hope of immortality, for experience
born of affliction, and for the patriotism of the
people, which he asserts to have been unselfishly
displayed in the cause of justice, humanity, free-
dom, sacred right, and last, not least, of " purity of
religion" such as has been vindicated by generations
of heroes and sealed with the blood of martyrs. The
Governor of New Hampshire is not so fervent ; he
merely calls upon the people, in phrase that savours
much less of the pulpit, to be thankful for abundant
harvests, exemption from famine and pestilence, and
for the signal victories with which God during the
past year has rewarded the invincible " loyalty" of
the North. The Governor of Connecticut rejoices in
victory, and more especially that God has in-
spired the people with a higher appreciation of
the-blessings-o 1 liberty and-order than they ever
possessed before. This statement may possibly be
true as regards the small State over which he pre-
sides, but when such things are remembered as Mr.
Seward's " little bill," the arrest of the Maryland
Legislature, the forcible ejection of judges from the
Bench by military authority, the career of General
Butler, the suspension of the habeas corpus, sub-
mitted to with scarcely a murmur, the suppression
of newspapers without form of law, the crowded
condition of Forts Lafayette and Warren and other
Federal bastilles, and the red-handed atrocities
committed by such ruffians as Generals Paine and
Burbridge in Kentucky, with the consent and ap-
proval of the Federal Administration, it must be
considered inapplicable to other and less favoured
districts of the United States. The Governor of
New Jersey evidently thinks that a day of
humiliation and penance would better suit the
time than one of praise and rejoicing. He directs
his people to pray that the rod of their heavy
chastisement may be removed, and that peace may
be speedily restored to the afflicted laud. The Goe
vernor of Delaware—emallest of the States, Rhode

81and excepted—is grateful for the protection of

the persons of his people from harm and for the
safety of their fields and fire-sides, for the libera-
tion of slaves, and for the prospect of peace; but
thinks that the nation suffers by reason of its
unrighteousness. From this he draws, or appears
to draw, the comfortable conclusion that Delaware
is righteous, inasmuch as she suffers not at all.
The Governor of Pennsylvania is deeply thank-
ful for victory over the enemy, and for mania
fold blessings which God has heaped upon the
Pennsylvanians, whom he penitentially declares to
be " unworthy." The Governor of Maryland, who
holds his office by the militarysufferance of General
Walllace, returns thanks, and calls upon the Mary-
landers to do the satne,bece.use " God has crowned
the labours of the industrial classes with a success
calculated almost to make them forget that a war
of that magnitude is raging around them. The Go-
vernor of Ohio is equally eetfi:h , and otders thaeks-
giving because war has tot came within hia boun-
daries. The Governor of Indiana takes the same
ground for rejoicing, and orders the people to be
merry, because they have gathered such bounteous
harvests, and been able to contribute so largely to
the war expenditure of the Government. The
Governor of Kentucky, perhaps, with the whole-
some remembrance that his D. puty•Governor has
been arrested by military authority and sent South,
for the awful crime of sympathy with the objects
of tho gonthern Confederacy, and with the fear of
the awful General Burbridge before his eyes,
thinks that God should be praised because the na•
tion still lives, and that the love of the " Union "
glows like a vestal flame in the hearts of all true
Kentuckians. The Governor of Wisconsin lays par-
ticular stress upon the absence of famine and pesti-

lance as a reason for the popular gratitude to the
Dispenser of all Blessings, and is so forgetful of the
facts of daily history as to proclaim that the free
institutions established by the forefathers of the
present race of Americans have been protected and
maintained ! As this is doubtful--to say the least
of it—the Governor strengthens his position by
asserting—what cannot be denied—that Wisconsin
ought to be particularly thankful for having escaped
the calamity which has befallen many of its
sister States the occupation of its soil by
hostile armies. The Governor of Minnesota, the
only one among them all who has responded to
the keynote struck by Mr Lincoln in reference to
foreign foes, states emphatically that Providence
has preserved the existence of the nation and " con-
founded the foreign and domestic adversaries of

is free institutions." He furthermore declares

that God has evidently " placed the brand of
His displeasure upon the atrocious rebellio❑
against the Government of the United States." The
Governor or Demi•Governcr (for he only rules over
half a State) of West Virginia thinks mainly of

" full harvests." He does not, however, forget to
be thankful that his " beloved country still holds
a place among the nations of the earth," though
he appears to be dubious whether it will continue
to enjoy that blessed privilege a year hence. The
Governor of South Carolina—that is, the military

Governor, supreme over that narrow section of the
coast and the Sea Islands which is within range of
the Federal artillery—addresses his proclamation
only to soldiers and freed negroes, and congratu-
lates the latter on the fact that they have been en-
abled to gather their crops and harvests " without
the accompaniment of the slave-driver's whip and

horn." It will be seen from this brief abstract of
such of these documents as have been published in
the North that their Excellencies the Governors are
quite as liable to the charge of sordid selfishness
as open to the praise of genuine patriotism; that
they look upon contemporary history with partial
eyes; that they do not always tell the exact truth,
but that they are remarkably unanimous in that at-
tachment to the Federal Union which is the all.
pervading passion of the Northern people, and takes
that place in their hearts which was, in the earlier
and happier days of the Republic, consecrated to
the love of liberty.

November 26.

Postscript.—New York was thrown into a state
of panic last night by the discovery of a horrible
attempt to burn down the city. Between 9 and 10
o'clock fires were discovered in eight of the prin.
cipal hotels, to two of which theatres were attached,
and also in Barnum's Museum, which was crowded
at the time with women and children. The means
adopted by the incendiaries were the same in each
instance. Some person or persons unknown en•
g gad a room at the hotels, placed phosphorus and
°ft.:r combustibles under the Inds or in the bed
clothes, set fire to them, and then retirsd, locking
the doors after them. These attempts were, no
doubt, intended to be simultaneong, but from ecme
causo not explained an interval of an hour or an
hour and a half elapsed between the earliest and
the latest. A great hotel was the worst building
in the world for the purposes of an incendiat:i , in-
asmuch as the constant liability to fire in such
crowded edifices renders extra care and caution
indispensable. And such care and caution are in-
variably employed, each establishment of any note
rat int4ining its own fire engines and other applie

ances for extinguishing _ ortu.4.
nately, in every instance, th_ 'ned be--
fore much damage was done. The questiotr as to
are the conspirators—for a conspiracy it must be—
is generally answered this morning by the-ttssertlon
that they are Southern emissaries. In my- letter or
the 21st of last month I drew attent.;oo to art".;
article in a Richmond journal which specially re-
commended that New York and Boston shoa.
set on fire in 20 places on a windy night. in r,"4-11-
liatiou for the atrocities committed by Gen. She:. 1'
dan in the Shenandoah Valley, and by other Fede-*
ral Generals in other places. It is probable that'
Confederates in the city rcted upon the advice,
though not impossible that a gang of thieves seized
hold of the idea and endeavoured to carry it into
effect with the sole object of plunder. But neither
Shetidan's acts in :the Shenandoah Vallt,y, nor the
burning of New York by political incendiaries, if
such they be, can be considered legitimate mot:es
of warfare, or anything but a shame, a scan4al, and
a disgrace to the cause on behalf of which tiwY 11"
committed.

Entry of the Prussian Tooops into Berlin,

--

BERLIN, Dec. 7.

The troops returned from the scat of war took up
their position as half-past 11 this morning upon the
old exercise ground in the '!'bier-Garten, to be re•
viewed by the King, and afterwards to make their
formal entry into the capital. The men were ac-
coutred in marching order, the generals wearing
their full decorations. The Dannebrogs taken by
the various divisions were carried by the captors
during the marching past. Numbers of the melt
had garlands and flowers given them by the citizens
in appreciation of their conduct, which they bore
generally stuck into the muzzles of their rifles.
As soon as the King appeared Prince Frederick
Charles gave orders to present arms. The bands
played the National Hymn and the men cheered.
When his Majesty had finished his inspection ho
took up his position at the statue of Prince Blucher,
surrounded by the Princes of the royal house and
the general officers, and the men marched past.
The troops were received at the Brandenburg gate)
by the authorities of the city, and Chief Burgomas-
ter Seydel delivered the following speech :

" Your Royal Highness, most Illustrious Prince,

—ln the name of the city of Berlin I greet and
heartily welcome within its walls the victoriously
returning warriors, our brothers and eons in arms,
who have added under your Royal Highness's ad•
mirable leadership fresh imperishable leaves to the
history of Prussia, already so rich in exploits and
honours.' That which has made Pussia great in
bygone days—the resolution calmly ripened in the
breast of the King, drawn from his own life, front
the duty and calling of the State, which firmly and
boldly grasps thefavourable moment by the forelock;
the nation standing ready in full warlike array at
its monarch's summons ; the severe discipline of
obedience and duty ; the joyful courage with which.
this people in arms have gone to battle and death ;
these are the tokens which have marked the recent
glorious days. And again it has been Prussia's
good sword by which the frontiers of the German
fatherland have been far advanced.

"6 King Frederick William 111., of blessed and
dear memory, once said, What Pi ussia acquires is
a gain to Germany.' Half a century-50 instruc-
tive years—have passed since that time, and their
lessons permit us now to say it without self-decepa
tion and presumption. That soil, latterly saturated
with our blood—that land, with the rough ore of
its population stretching far towards the North,
washed by two mighty seas, will only be acquired
for Germany lastingly and securely, and to real
profit, and restored to itself, when and as far as it
is surrounded by the shield of Prussia's protection.
and power, when it is grasped and imbued with
Prussia's stern discipline and order and State forma
ing strength.
" We rejoice in the gloriously gained peace, and
are proud of it. Great things have been attained;
but the hand still rests upon the sword. We haw
confidence in the King. He will speak the right
word at the right time. What he has begun of ilia
free royal resolu'ion for the maintenance of German
power and honour he will carry through to a good
end, to a conclusion alike honourable and fraught
with blessings to Prussia and Germany. And Prus-
sia's people—all you who live can testify as well as
all those who have died a glorious death for King
and coon try —Pruesit.'s people will never hang back
when called by honour and their King. But even
the proud and well-meant word steps modestly bask
in the presence of acts. Leaders crowned with fume,
your Excellency, valiant and skilful Generals tried
upon the field of battle and of conquest, death-
defy ing ranks or warriors, all sons of this firm and
faithful land, I bid you once more welcome to our
midst and to your homes, and tender you, in the
name of this good and loyal city, with full heart,
the thanke which the whole country, with its King,
bears towards you, and will faithfully preserve to
all future time."

His Royal Highness Prince Frederick Charles
and Lieutenant• General von Manstein replied. The
march was then continued along the thoroughfare
Unter den Linden, where the troops were greeted-
with enthusiastic cheers and waving of handkerEs
chiefs by the people. At the statue of Frederick'
the Great the parade march took place before the

King.
After the parade march the troops formed up
in the Lust- Garten, so that the storming companieg
were at the head of their respective battalions.
Officers and men who had been rewarded for arse
tieguihhed conduct during the campaign were
called to the front and addressed by the King. His
Majesty said :
It is a glorious moment for me to see a portion.'
of the army I was compelled to send to war return,
home crowned with fame and honours and enter
my capital. All have fought with devotion and.
heroic valour. I see many around me whom I wag
able to reward for distinguished exploits. The
troops of my illustrious ally the Emperor of Austria
have vied in bravery with you side by side. Vic-
tory has invariably followed the sanguinary
struggle, and an honourable peace is the reward of
such great exertions. Our thanks are due to Pros
vidence, upon which you have called in many a
decisive hour, for the visible blessing extending
to our just enterprise; but to you, also, I repeat and,
renew the Royal gratitude which I expressed in a

memorable time at Duppel, and which the coon'

try now offers you, united with myself, for having
made firm and increased the fame, the reputation,
and the power of Prussia. If the King sun-mons
you again remember the motto you all bear, and
transmit it to your children and grandchildren—
' With God, for King and country.'"

COURT-MARTIAL AT; DEVONPORT.—PLYMOUTI7IO
Dec. B.—The procaedings of the court-martial on.
Commander Broad were brought unexpectedly to a conclui
Rion this evening. lie was charged with having, by written
orders caused conferences to be entered on the journals of
the Roche's Point Coastguard station, whereas no suctz
conferences had been held. The Court determined that the
charge had been partly proven; but considering that the
conflicting opinions which exist with regard to the meaning
of the term "conference" might have led to an error ef
judgment on the part of Commander Broad, and taking int()
erßlairhigh
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f theic
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price
consideration his previous good character, they sentenced
that however
h paragraphev
hire to be admonished.
ANCIENT AND MODERN PRICES OF HORSES. A,
JEFarnceginilsci
oshnh
foptajournal,pers £7,5000, after
relative
re repeatingjntaor
kthe,silotha the
oof w
may seem, it is far below the sum paid fur horses in ancient
tutees, and states that Philip of Macedon paid 13 talents for
Bucephalus, which became the favourite horse of his son,
Alexander the Great. The talent was equal to 5,000 fr, so
that Bucephalus cost 72,8 iOfr, but as silver was at the time
24 times more value than now, the above sum was equal by
1,019,200 fr in the present day, which is nearly five theca
the ph-0 paid for 13144 Athel,

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