The Sun.
London, England, 1864-11-15 00:00:00

THE SOUTHERN CONFEDERACY,

serve no purpose for the Confederates to carry. The
conditions under which the war is carried on by
North and by South vary essentially in this re-
spect., If the South stands still she is every day a
gainer; with the North it is emphatically true that
non progredi est regredi. From the very first the
constant efforts of the journals in Mr Lincoln's in-
terest has been to prove that the Union troops are
always gaining ground, and:many:a general (as, for in-
stance, Burnside at Fredericksburg) has been goaded
on to hid ruin by the cry, " Defeat is better than
inaction." That Grant is no nearer to the capture
of Richmond than he was when he crossed the
Rapidan is the counter assertion of the Richmond
journals every week. With the exception of the
inevitable weariness incident to so unremitting a
campaign as Lee's troops have sustained since the
4th of May, his strength at this hour, thanks to his
careful economy and judicious handling of his men,
compares very favourably with his strength on the
first day of this year's campaign. It will be seen,
therefore, that Lee's ability to hold Richmond and
(if it seem desirable) Petersburg throughout the
winter hinges upon the two questions whether he
can supply his army as well as the inhabitants of
the two principal cities of Virginia ; and, secondly,
whether the army of General Grant during the
winter months can be reinforced to the extent of
from 100,000 to 150,000 men. Less than the for-
mer number, added to Grant's present force, will
have no chance against the earthworks which girdle
Richmond, and which I have so often described.
It is the universal belief of thoughtful men in the
South that Virginia will be the chief scene of Mr
Lincoln's efforts during the remainder of this year.
Large bodies of Federal troops have lately been
withdrawn from the Mississippi River—as, for ex•
ample, the troops in Northern Mississippi, which
have been held in check in the neighbourhood of
Tupelo and Oxford by General Forrest for the last
six months—and it was at first believed that they
would be added to the strength of General Sherman.
But there is reason now to suppose that Sherman's
force has been diminished rather than increased,
and that these reinforcements are designed for Vir,
ginia, and are on their road to Grant or Sheridan.
One result of the withdrawal of this Federal force
from Northern Mississippi will be to liberate the
ablest, most active, and most efficient cavalry cap-
tain whom the Confederate States have as yet pro.
duced. General Forrest is a rough, uncultivated
Western man, but in force of character, in promp.
titude of action, and in adaptation to the wild
and fatiguing warfare in which he is engaged,
it is doubtful whether a more formidable guerilla
chief ever drove spur into a horse's flank. It
is said that since the commencement of the
war he has had thirty horses killed under
him. I never entertained much expec-
tation of the achievements which Gen. Wheeler and
the Confederate horsemen under his charge would
accomplish, but I shall be surprised if Gen. Forrest
does not exert a disturbing influence upon Sherman's
communications.
But a point of greater interest either than Rich•
mond or Atlanta:seems likely before long to be the
very spot from which lam now writing. It is
doubtful whether any other town in Secessia, not
even Richmond or Augusta, with its contribution of
10,000 lb. of gunpowder per diem, has exercised such
an influence upon the fortunes of this war as the
insignificant little port of Wilmington, from which
before the war only one shipment of 200 bales of
cotton direct to Europe had ever been made, but
from which the sinews of war, in the guise of cotton
bales, have flowed out uninterruptedly to England
for three years past, while an amount of war mate-
rial and of supplies of all kinds has been sucked in
through this same gate to an extent of which your
readers have little conception. There is no other
port which existed in 1861 so favourable to blockade
runners as Wilmington and the mouth of the
Cape Fear River. The astonishing want of enter.
prise which characterised the Yankee navy during
the first 12 months of the war led to the disregard
of a river the mouth of which was for many
months defended only by two or three small field-
pieces, with half a deem rounds of ammunition to
each. If, instead of indulging tha spite of Boston
against Charleston, in April, 1863, the whole power
of the Federal navy had been turned against Wil-
mington, the course of this war might have been
more influenced than by burning ten cities like
Charleston, or capturing half a dozenVicksburgs. As
matters now stand, the capture at present of Wil-
mington (were it possible) would, for reasons which
it is not necessary to state, produce no result; and
secondly, Wilmington, long unmolested, has grown
into such a fortress as to defy the utmost efforts of
the Yankees from the sea. I have in vain urged
upon your readers the importance to England of
being represented by one or two of her ablest milis
tart' engineers, to learn aright the lessons of this
war; but I may mention that in constructing the
forts at Duppel a capable Prussian engineer adapted
the peculiar system of earthwork and traverses which
he had seen at the mouth of the Cape Fear River,
and proved that European military engineers may
learn with advantage from the skill of a Beauregard
and a Whiting as much as was taught them by the
genius of Todleben. Talk of the experiments in
rifled cannon at Shoeburyness! An English artillery-
man might watch the firing of the Armstrong shunt
gun, of the Whitworth, of the Brook gun, and of
every variety of smooth-bore at the mouth of Cape
Fear with the additional enlightenment which real
war confers beyond the experience gained from a
sham rehearsal.
So long as Wilmington was merely a point of
entry and of exit for blockade runners it received
comparatively little attention from that Old Man of
the Sea, Mr Gideon W elles ; but the recent exodus
from this port and the return hither of the Talla-
hassee, after playing the questionable part of Paul
Jones off the harbour of New York, seem to have
attracted hither the notice of those active spirits in
the North who have conducted this war through-
out upon the principle cf shutting the stable door
when the steed is stolen. It is universally expected
here that a formidable attack, probably conducted
by that renegade son of Virginia, Admiral
Farragut, is shortly imminent. I can promise
him that ample cheer awaits him here, and that
he has got a harder nut to crack than Forts
Morgan and Gaines at Mobile. There has been
much laughter and chuckling here about the recent
entry into this port of Captain Taylor W ood, after
his successful cruise in the Tallahassee. Captain
Wood came one dark night right through the
Yankee blockaders, and was fired upon like an ordi-
nary blockade runner. He immediately responded
by firing his broadside in the direction of the flash
of the gun which he had seen. The Federal Cap-
tain naturally concluded that he had fired upon one
of his own associates, and showed a red light
Captan Wood fired at the red light. Another
Federal captain then showed a blue light. Captain
Wood fired at the blue light. This led to a general
cannonading from the Yankee vessels all round, and
Captain Wood left them firing upon each other and
in blind and perplexing confusion, long after he
had slipped away from their vicinity and was safely
anchored under the guns of Fort Fisher.
September 24.
Since the above letter was written information
has been received that a disaster, occasioned appa-
rently by General Early's contemptuous estimate of
his enemy, has overtaken his army, which will long
be memorable as having cost the Confederacy one of
its most valuable lives. It appears that Early, hav-
ing been weakened by the withdrawal from his
ranks of that portion of Anderson's (late Long-
street's) corps which had been sent two months ago
to the Valley, continued, with very inferior forces
as compared with Sheridan's, to occupy his old lines
between Winchester and Berryville, instead of fall-
ing back to the very strong position some 20 miles
in the rear, which has long been regarded as the
key to the Valley, and which is at a piece called
Fisher's-hill, in the neighbourhood of Strasburg.
Upon the 19th inst. Sheridan, inspirited, as it is
here believed, by a visit from Grant, who was with
very heavy
army with
him on the preceding day, attacked Early in
pelted Early to retreat
iatnhd a
largeafter bfleadnyk
ei flanking
of which I have received no details, a gaavtahlerylciotmtle.
to Strasburg. The action,
pears to have
been one of the sharpest of the war, and to b
bewailed principally in connection withthes
' of General Rodes, one of the most
Generals in the Confederate service,d he
Mert
promising . ajor
It will be

(From the Times' Special Correspondent.)
WILMINGTON, NORTH CAROLINA, Sept. 22.
I have rarely essayed to lift the curtain of the
future, or to venture upon prophecies in regard to
this mighty and inscrutable conclusion, which
laughing philosophers like Mr Seward pronounced
a 90 days' emeute, which many a Southerner, be.
lieving in the kingship of cotton, regarded as a
struggle in which, before six months had flown,
the principals would be England and the Northern
States, but which may now be unhesitatingly de•
scribed as the most momentous incident of the
nineteenth century. But it needs no prophet at
this moment to announce that it is impossible the
next six months can pass without entirely altering
the aspect of the war and the attitude of the weary
and eXhausted combatants. There is universally a
sense of the critical and compromising nature of the
circumstances which surround both Governments
such as I have never witnessed before. The spring
of 1865 will have seen either the abandonment by
Mr Lincoln of his impossible undertaking, or the
capture of Petersburg, if not of Richmond, by Gen.
Grant, and the assumption of a new attitude by the
Southerners in the resistance which for generations
to come they will never cease to offer, rather than
be trodden down under a heel such as has recently
crushed the life out of Poland.
It is probable that the onward march of Sherman
into Georgia will be arrested at Atlanta. In several
of my previous letters (many of which I have reason
to believe have recently been unsuccessful in
piercing the blockade with safety) I have pointed
out the embarrassments with which Sherman was
beset when undertaking by far the most hazardous
enterprise yet attempted by the Federals in this
war. It would be gross injustice to deny to Sher-
man the credit which his success in ,capturing
Atlanta deserves—a success which is largely due
to his personal attributes, or, as they are phrased by
Northern newspaper correspondents (between whom
and Sheridan there is much such harmony as exists
between lambs and wolves), his' eccentricities." To
have conducted a campaign from a base distant 300
miles away from Atlanta, the object of his operations
—I refer to Nashville in Central Tennessee—to have
kept open for six months his communication along
this entire distance upon a single line of railway,
crossing several great rivers and numberless creeks,
and traversing a country every foot of which is in-
habited by a hostile population—to have dispensed
with all such assistance as is contributed to Grant
by the Potomac and James rivers, and to have
finally prevailed in the proximate object of the cam-
peign—that is to say, in the capture of Atlanta, is
no mean achievement. Nor is the full credit to
which Sherman is entitled less freely accorded to
him in Richmond than in Washington, whatever
may be the opinions entertained in the former city
as to the fiendish inhumanity of several of his let.
ters and public utterances. It is difficult to conceive
how a believer in the Republican axiom that Go.
vernments derive their just powers from the consent
of the governed can reconcile to its conscience such
measures as Gen. Sherman has not scrupled to adopt
towards the helpless non-combatants who lame
fallen into his hands.
But, in according to Sherman the praise which is
justly his due as an able and tenacious General, it
must not be forgotten that there is all the difference
in the world between Georgia and Virginia. In the
latter State it has never been possible for the Fede-
rals to keep open even 40 miles of railroad with a
view of supplying their army along it. If it be
practicable for Sherman to keep open a line of
railroad from Nashville to Atlanta, why has it never
been possible for M'Clellan or any of his successors
to keep open a line from Washington to Richmond,
which are divided from each other by only 120 miles ?
The distance from Acqua Creek, on the Potomac, to
Richmond, via Fredericksburg, is little more than
60 miles, with a line of railroad already in existence
at the commencement of the war, as was the case
between Nashville and Atlanta. And yet the Fe-
derals have never been able to avail themselves of
any portion of this railroad, with the exception of
the ten miles between Acqua Creek and Fredericks-
burg. The inference is irresistible that the Georgians
and Virginians are made of different stuff. I am not
blind to the fact that the far sparser population of
Tennessee and Northern Georgia than of Virginia is
an element highly favourable to Sherman; Bat 1
have long been of opinion that of the two great
armies of the Federals, their Western army is coms
posed of much finer material than their Eastern,
whereas the Confederates under General Lee have
always bz en vastly superior to those in the,West who
have successively obeyed Sydney Johnson, Beaure-
gard, Bragg, Joseph E. Johnson, and Hood. General
Grant finds it almost impossible to keep up tele-
graphic lines between Petersburg and Norfolk, and
has been betrayed into impetuous outbursts of me-
nace against the residents in those counties of Vire
ginia which are situated along the Southern bank
of the James River between City point and Norfolk,
because certain of General Lee's scouts have inter-
fered with the telegraph wires. It is obvious that
Grant might as well threaten and storm, because
General Hampton and the Confederate cavalry have
recently picked up 2,500 head of cattle behind the
Federal lines—but the wrath of the Federal General
against the inhabitants of Surrey and Nansereond
counties indicates of what stuff are the men by
which these counties are peopled. Refuges, ejected
from their homes in Northern Georgia, and turned
adrift in a desolate and uninhabited region, have not
the resources which await outcasts in a more densely
peopled territory, like Virginia, and are, therefore,
more easily terrified by a Sherman into passive ac-
quiesence in the presence of a hated foe. But, in
addition to this, there is beyond question a stubborn-
ness in the temper of men, women, and children in
Virginia which they are proud to attribute to the
fact that good English blood runs undefiled in their
veins to an extent unknown in any other State of
the old Union. When the census of 1850 was taken
it was found that out of a population in Virginia
rather exceeding one million there were only 20,000
persons who had not been born within the State,
The spirited and lofty endurance of the Old Domi-
nion throughout this war is a fact of which Eogi
land might justly claim to be as proud as she was
of the unshrinking vigour with which her sons and
daughters confronted the mutiny in Hindostan, and
triumphed over dangers and against odds which
have never been paralleled.
It is possible many of your readers, taking their
impressions from Mr Seward's recent speech at
Auburn and from the tone of the Northern journals,
may believe that Grant's army is growing from day
to day and from week to meek, while Lee is suffering
from disease, desertion, and depression to the extent
represented in the same veracious chronicles. lam
in a position to throw some light upon this subject,
and I may here remark that the extent of informa-
tion possessed by Gen. Lee as to the movements
and numbers of the enemy (and, as I doubt not,
possessed also by Gen. Grant on the same subject)
is probably unexampled since armies faced each
other in the field. This may probably be attributable
to the fact that no such war between men speaking
the same tongue has been witnessed ; and also to
the light imparted to the Governments and
generals upon either side by the journals issuing
daily from Richmond and New York, and inter-
changed almost before the ink with which they are
printed is dry, There is not a transport or war
vessel which goes up or down the James River
whose name, armament, tonnage, cargo, and (if she
carries troops) number of passengers are not approxi.
mately known to General Lee. It is not necessary
that I should state more than that Grant had last
wcoc five army corps in front of Lee. It is a
liberal computation to estimate each of these corps
at 10.000 inen._lf Lee regarded his troops as Grant
views his army, and were disposed to sacrifice them
with analogoue callousness, I do not hesitate to
concur in the opinion of most of Lee's inferior
officers that Grant would have been in full retreat
before the Ist of October. The Weldon railroad,
now held with loud F reins of self-laudation by
Warren's Federals, could, in General Beauregard's
judgment, be regained with a loss of at most 1,500
Confederates. Bat it is felt while the end of this war,
or Southern independence, is being slowly reached
by the gradual inertness of resistance which bars the
door to Richmond, it is little less than murder to
throw troops against intrenchments which it will

found, I think, that Early will be strong enough to
hold his ground at Strasburg until winter makes
further operations in the Valley impossible.
Meantime, in spite of the paeans in the Northern
journals as to the vast reinforcements which are
going forward to Grant, it is the universal
opinion here that tens of thousands, not only of
men, but of efficient soldiers, will be required to
prevail against a system of defence upon which Lee
has lavished all the resources of his science. It is
hard to say what will be the result if during the
whole of next year the Federal Government can
command men by the hundred thousand who are
willing to surrender life in order that the Union
may be resuscitated ; but I see no reason to think
that there will be any change in the position of
affairs before Petersburg during the coming winter
unless it be possible that Lee may fall back to the
west bank of the Appomattox, and hold the fine
defensive position afforded by the hills which line
the left bank of that stream. There is abundant
cause for thinking that Wilmington is the great
thorn in the flesh of the Federals at this moment,
and that we shall witness a desperate attack upon
this place within the next seven weeks. It is hardly
possible that operations against it could be con-
ducted in the winter, as the coast of North Carolina
is notoriously dangerous of approach at that season.
V*4 This letter has been delayed in transmission. We
have already published letters from the same correspondent
to the 12th ult.]

Royal

ociety,

Last evening thin society opened the session for ISG4-65
at their apartments in Burlington-house. Among the com-
pany, which included several ladies, were the Duke of Wel-
lington, Earl of Cork, Lord Milton, Sir li, James, Sir H.
Rawlinson, Sir T. Nicolson, Sir A, S. Waugh, Dr Living-
stone, Sir T. Fremantle, Admiral W. 11, Hall, Admiral
CoHinson, Mr Vamberry, Mr H. Merivale, Mr Arrowsmith,
and Mr J. M. Stuart.

Sir R. I. MURCHISON, the president of the society, was
upon his entrance into the room greeted with much ap-
plause. On taking the chair ho proceeded to open the ses-
sion with the following observations, which he declined to
call a formal address, as that was only made at the anniver-
sary meeting of the society :—" Assembled as we are now
to commence the 35th session of this society, we begin, as
last year, with the consideration of those geographical pro-
blems regarding the interior of Africa which aro still in
process of solution. This is indeed a very natural course, for
while our enterprising countrymen well know thdt of all
distant regions Africa offers the widest untrodden field for
their researches, they also feel that, being the most difficult
and hazardous, the greater will be the honour and distinc-
tion gained by its successful exploration. It was this stimuli
lus that urged on the distinguished explorer Speke, who on
his return last year with his companion Grant received, not
only at our hand, but at those of the nation, a tribute of ap-
probation never to be forgotten, and which will long serve
as an incitement to future travellers. In the interval which
has elapsed since the brilliant reception of Speke in this hall
we have had, alas t to lament the loss of that gallant spirit.
The catastropo of his death naturally threw a gloom over
the proceedings of our associates at the late meeting of the
British Association at Bath. As the president of the section
of geography and ethnology it fell to my duty to transmit a
few words of condolence to his adhicted parents, as coming
from the united body of geographers and ethnologists ; and
subsequently I had the sad privilege (in conjunction with
Grant and Livingstone) of following to the grave the remains
of the undaunted traveller who had thus been taken from
us in the zenith of his career, at a time when ho earnestly
desired to win new triumphs in the
.chosen field of his re-
searches. I am sure, gentlemen, you will desire, as I do,
to honour the memory of the man who was the first among
Europeans to traverse Central Equatorial Africa from
south to north, and who, proceeding from his own lake,
Victoria Nyanza, followed its waters to the mouth of the
Nile. Imbued with this feeling, I lost no time, after his
interment, in taking steps towards the :erection of a monu-
ment to his memory, by means of :subscription—and I am
happy to find that already a number of my colleagues have
affixed their names to the list which, after the additions it
may receive in the days following this meeting will go
forth as our appeal to the public. At our next anniversary
it will be my duty to give you :a brief sketch of the life of
this devoted explorer—and in the meantime, while inviting
you to subscribe to his memorial, I may add that our ob.
ject is simply to obtain a sum sufficient to erect an obelisk

A Scoto-American on the War and War
Prices,

(Fr©m the Scotsman.)
The following is an extract from a letter from an
ex-Edinburgh man to his brother here, dated New
York, Oct. 25, 1864. The writer, who with his
family has been settled for 13 years in America, is

.n business in New York. In this country his poli-
tical views were of a Radical caLt, but he appears

o have been converted by practical experience o:

Democracy. Referring to th© war, ho says :
" It is a fearful waste of human life, and to-day,
to all appearance, as far from a settlement as it was
three years agoL lamat a loss how to account for
the coldness with which the people of this country

receive from day to day the accounts of thousands

of their friends and relations cut down in the prime
of life—and for what ? Just that one party may
rule over another, and dictate to others how they

should manage their concerns instead of attending

similar to that which was reared in honour of Lieutenan,
Bellot, who perished in the search after Franklin. On
this monument the name of John Harming Speke will
stand out as the simplest and best eulogy of his
main achievement. Apart from this sorrowful epi-
sode, the proceedings of the geographers and ethnolo-
gists at the Bath meeting were eminently successful.
I may say it with satisfaction that this section of the British
Association (a section formed on a suggestion of my own
in 1847) has now become so attractive that it is, if possible,
more numerously attended than that of geology, which
has hitherto taken the lead in popularity. A generous
and healthy rivalry like this is a sure sign that much is
common to the two noble sciences of geography and
geology, and that the cultivation of the one are effectively
throwing light on the researches of the other. Referring
you to the published reports for an account of the nume-
rous interesting and original papers which were read
before the Geographical Section at Bath, I must here
call especial attention to one portion of our proceedings.
A recommendation was proposed by our indefatigable asso-
ciate Mr Findlay, having for its object the continuation of
those researches into the depth of the ocean and the nature
of the sea bottom which attracted so much attention a few
years ago. This was considered to promise such decided
advantages to science that I had sincere gratification in ob-
taining the sanction of the association at large to the recom-
mendation, and a committee was nominated (consisting of
Admiral Collinson, Mr Findlay, and myself) for the purpose
of requesting her Majesty's Government to cause the vessels
of the royal navy to be furnished with the apparatus adopted
by Dr Wallich and used in her Majesty's ship Bulldog,
commanded by Sir Leopold ial.‘Clintock, in order to pursue
those important investigations. It is to be hoped, in the
wording of the recommendation, that the exigencies of her
Majesty's navy and the discipline of her .hips may permit
these researches to be carried out, at least to some extent,
and that the records may be forwarded to the Hydrographia
Department, and the specimens to the Geological Museum,
where they may be rendered available to the public. To
sass on to the subjects for consideration at this our opening
meeting, I have to say that the first memoir to be read is
one by Capt. Burton on the interesting subject of the drain-
age of Central Africa, particularly as regards the head waters
of the Nile ; and I have no doubt that this energetic and
accomplished traveller will so put the case as to arouse in
us the sttougest desire to see cleared up, by reucwed expe-
ditions, this great question, whickwas so ably set forth by
Dr Beke, whose views have since been supported by the
geographer Findlay, as well as by the antiquarian researches
of Mr John Hogg and Mr Vaux. It is true that one
or more of these points may probably he elucidated by the
enterprising Baker, direct news from whom we must
patiently await; for, according to the ace runts gleaned
by Petherick from the men belonging to an Arab trader,
Biker had recently visited some great lake, probably the
Luta Nsigcl, and was safe in the interior. After the
last journey of Livingstone towards the northern end of
his lake Nyassa, when he came to the conclusion that no
large water flowed into it from the north, it has become
evident that no problem concerning the internal drainage of
Africa can be more deserving of attention than the configu-
ration of the country between the northern end of Nyassa
and the southern end of the lake Tanganyika, of Burton and
Speke, an interval of about 360 miles. To fill up this void
in our maps of Africa, and to settle the great question to be
brought before us this evening, I venture to say that (with
the exception of Livingstone himself) no one is more com-
petent than his coadjutor, Dr Kirk, should he have the op-
portunity, to lead an exploring party in this direction. His
mien of varied natural history knowledge, undaunted per-
severance, and acclimatised constitution, not to forget his
conciliatory manners, eminently fit him for an enterprise
which would task the resources of most travellers. Another
communication to be laid before you this evening will be a
recent letter from M. du Chaillu, addressed to myself—one
of several which he has written to his friends in this coun-
try on the eve of his departure for the unknown interior of
Western Equatorial Africa. / doubt not this letter will meet
with approval even on the part of those who most criticised
the narrative of his former journey ; for it exhibits the ho-
nesty and tenacity of purpose, as well as the lofty aims, of
this courageous explorer. Our society may be well pleased
that it should have supplied Du Chaillu with new instru-
ments, to replace those which he had procured for himself,
but lost by the upsetting of a canoe when he was disem-
lections of natural history ob-
jects, After occupying the inter-
bvaa rl ki
ni n gaccumulatingboo
large Gan
tscnotir
which ho has forwarded to London (including large
specimens of the gorilla in the preserved state for presenta-
tion to the British Museum, and a live gorilla to be offered
to the Zoological Society), the solitary explorer has now de-
parted on his errand to reach the central watershed of Africa,
where he supposes the Congo and the western branches of
the Nile take their origin. Our assistant-secretary, Mr
Bates, has performed the useful duty of abridging, for coma
munication to this meeting,
Et portion of the voluminous
notes of the late Richard Thornton, referring to his
exploration of the snow-capped mountain of Kilimadjaro.
Mr Thornton, in the earliest and last parts of his scientific
career, acted in co-operation with Dr. Livingstone on the
Zambesi, and in the interval was the companion of Baron
von der Decken in his first remarkable expedition. The re-
sults of the labours of this fine young man, so prematurely
cut off, must bo divide I between the Geological and the
Geographical Societies; for Richard Thornton possessed
just the character which I can best appreciate..viz., that
of a man who unites in his own person the power of deci-
phering the outlines of the surface of the earth with that of
explaining the structure of its crust and the changes it has
successively undergone. Before we proceed to the business
of the meeting, let me inform you that I have received
letters from our medallist of last session, the Baron Charles
von der Decken, written from the Seychelles Islands, on his
way to Zanzibar, where, doubtless, her Majesty's Consul,
at the instance of Earl Russell, and our naval officers, by
the direction of the Duke of Somerset, will do everything
in their power to facilitate his putting together the river
steamers which he takes with him, and by which ho hopes
to ascend the Jub, or some neighbouring. river. To carry
his enterprise to a successful conclusion, this self-sacrificing
explorer will need the assistance of the Egyptian authori-
ties, as it is intended, if possible, to cross the water-shed
which divides the Eastern African rivers from the basin
of the Nile; and, possessing only a formal passport of the
Pasha, ho has applied to me to procure for him a finnan of
a more influential character. This, lam happy to say, is
in a fair way of b ins arranged, as I have obtained from Sir
H. Bulwer, her Majesty's Ambassador at Constantinople, a
promise that he will take such steps as he doubts not will
speedily procure the transmission of Zanzibar of a firman
giving to Baron von der Decken the means of obtaining the
aid he desires. Thus we may hope that from the east as
well as the west side of Africa successful explorations will
soon lay open many portions of the interior of that conti-
nent which still remain unknown. The interest which the
public and ourselves take in all questions of African explo-
ration will, lam happy to say, be kept alive through the
ensuing session by the application of Dr. Livingstone and
Mr Charles Livingstone'a narrative of the expedition to the
Zambesi and Lake Nyassa ; and also by the issue of a
volume by the gallant Capt. Grant before ho returns to
military service in India, entitled "A Walk across Africa,
in which the domestic scenes of the natives of Equatorial
Africa will bo vividly described. In concluding, allow me
to say that in describing any
African questions in which
theory is involved I trust our proceedings may be conduct ed,
as heretofore, with that mutual good feeling which has
always characterised them. Let discussions which assume
too disputatious a character bo confined to the various

to their own. That has been the cause of all the
fearful waste of blood and money; and now I am
confident it has come to a point that there can be

no settlement unless iu separation. This great coun.

try used to be the boast of all lovers of man, as an
example of man's being able to rule himself. This
is at an end, and I am also convinced that the South

will not be the only part that will separate—other

sections will break off to save themselves from the

pit the war has dug. You at home cannot imagine
how the people are grumbling at the heavy taxa-
tion that is pat upon them. It was their boast that

in this free country there were no taxation and no

tax.gatherers, as in the old country. However, I
very soon found out the difference. If the taxman
did not come to your door once a-year, as at home,

I found the landlord or hie agent on the first o

every month. At home the tenant pays the local
taxes according to rent; here the landlord pays
them all and puts it on the rent; and
the great democracy thought they paid no taxes,

and were quite well pleased, and voted in the
Scum of society as their rulers; they, of course,
rose from street-sweepers to rule over a
great and a free people. I have often looked with
surprise to see men put up for office when, if they
had had their desert©, they would have been serving
the State in a very different way. But, as I have
said to you before, this all arises from universal suf-
frage ; the thing don't work. If there had been a
clause in the constitution compelling men either to
hold property or pay a certain amount of rent, there
would have been a very different class of men sent
to represent the country; and if I mistake not, this
war would have been avoided, and the country

would have gone on prospering.' Bad and corrupt
rulers will destroy the best country ever the sun
shone upon ; and such is the fate of this. lam
sorry for it, because it was a good home for the poor
man, and one where, by industry, he could make
a comfortable living. lam afraid that is at an end.
. . . Sinca this most unnatural war commenced,

only one class of men has made money, and thal
class must have influence to get army or navy work,

An honest man h:z.s no chance whatever—and never

was there a people EO shamefully robbed with their
eyes open to it ; but the thing is so universal that
they think nothing of it, You would listen with
surprise to hear them sometimes in my store talking
over their acts of villany ; and those that listen
smile and put them down as devilish smart fellows.
Everything in the way of housekeeping is three
or four prices, and clothing is out of the question
for a peer man. I paid for James last week for
a pair of bled: pants 15 dols., or £3 of your money ;
last night he had a pair of boots footed, 71-i dols., or
£1 103.-90 you see money don't go far. You can't
get a good overcoat this winter short of 80 do's.,
or £l6; so you can judge how the man with a small
income can get along; and provisioes are in keeping
with the above. Coal, that used to be about 5 dols.
in the fall of the year, sold at 143 dole. this. Flour
has more than doubled. Tea, sugar, coffee, &c.
the same. Even vegetables, a small cab-
bage-stock, which used to cost 3c., is now
15c. But how can it be otherwise ? Everything
is taxed, it don't matter what it is ; even lucifer
matches, I have bought them for Bc. a pack-36
small bundles in a pack, Now, each bundle has to
have on it a one-cent. Government stamp—so be-
tween 36 stamps, the rise otherwise, the Bc. packs
age that used to be is now charged 50e. Everything
is tax, tax ; all to assist one section of a Republic to
force the other to their views, just or unjust. It
would make your heart sick it you were obliged, as
I am sometimes, to listen to soldiers who have re-
turned from the seat of war describing what they
saw—of wilful destruction to thousands of once
happy and comfortable families—whole sections of
fine country laid desolate with fire and sword. To-
day, I heard a captain who came home last night
from the Shenandoah Valley. The account he gave
me was heartrending, although, apparently, he did
not think so. The Valley is the garden of the State
of Virginis, rich in farming lands—in fact, the beat
in the South. Grant gave the order some weeks
ago that, wherever the Federal army went, they
should destroy everything; and they have faith-
fully fulfilled his commands. The captain told me
to-day that for miles the eye could see nothing but
smoke from the burning farm-houses, barns, hay
stacks, flour mills, &c. Nothing left that was likely
to support man or beast. Those possessed of cattle
of any description had it taken from them and sent
to the Federal lines. flow long will this continue ?
And this is the way one party of men thinks to get
the other into the Union. No, those men have lost
their all—their homes destroyed ; fathers and
brothers killed fighting to defend them—mothers
and sisters gone to their last account, broken-
hearted I What have they to live for, let me ask
you—you, a father of a family ? The answer is, I
know, Revenge. So long as God gives me strength
to wield a sword or carry a musket.' This is, in my
opinion, the sentiment of the Southern people."

THE BRIG o' Tunic HOTEL.—tiro regret to learn
that at a late hour on Thursday a moat destruc-
tive fire broke out in the Brig o' Turk Hotel, situated some
two or three miles from Loch Katrine, and known to all
tourists in Scotland. It commenced about the upper parts
of the building, and was not subdued till nearly the entire
building was burnt down, Owing to the exertions of those
in the neighbourhood a good deal of the furniture was
saved. We aro glad to hear that the furnishings, valued,
it is said, at about 22.,000, are covered partly by insurance.
The house was the property of the Earl of Moray, but we
have not yet heard whether any insurance was effected on
it. It will be recollected that the Prince and Princess of
Wales not long ego t o;)le up their residence at the hotel-
-22 apart ments havin ET been engaged for the loyal party and
suite,—Caledoniax Mercury.
[ADVERTISEMENT.] --Holloway's Pilis,--E nfeebled
Existence.—This medicine embraces every attribute re-
quired in a general and domestic remedy ; it overturns the
foundations of disease laid by indigestible food and impure
air. In obstructions or congestions of the liver, lungs,
bowels, or any other organ, these pills are especially ser-
viceable and eminently successful. They should be kept in
every family, as they are a medicine without a fault for
young persons, and those of feeble constitutions. They
never cause pain or irritate the most sensitive nerves or
most tender bowels. Holloway's pills aro the best known
purifiers of the blood, and the best promoters of absorption
and secretion, which remove all poisonous and obnoxious
particles from both solids and fluids.

THE SVN, LONDON, TUESDAY EVENING, ISOVEMBER 15, 1864.

periodicals open to such contributions, where the contend-
ing parties may find full space to advocate their respective
views. Exciting as these topics are, and valuable as they
often prove in leading to great discoveries, their real im-
portance must be determined by the testimony of such
patient observers as Livingstone and others now happily
present in this room, whose well-defined observations are
recorded in the volumes of our society. Lastly, let me con•
gratulate you on our increasing prosperity, as testified by
the cheering fact that at this the first meeting of the session
no less than 37 candidates are desirous of being enrolled as
Fellows of the Royal Geographical Society."

Before resuming his sea 7.. Sir R. MURCHISON announced
that the Emperor of Brazil had been elected that morning
one of the five honorary members of the society, and that a
telegram had been received, stating that the African steamer
Calabar brought word of the safe arrival of Dr Baikie from
exploring the Niger and adjacent territory.
Capt. BURTON then read a paper entitled "Lake Tan-
yika, Ptolemy's Western Lake Reservoir of the Nile." This
treatise, which was of considerable length, and which was
illustrated by frequent references to a huge map of Africa,
suspended on the wall, professed to be a purely geographical
notice of a paper by Captain Spoke, " The upper basin of
the Nile from inspection and informations." It entered
into a great variety of geographical details, combating the
late Capt. Speke's theory in reference to the source of the
Nile. The view taken by Capt. Burton may be generally
conveyed by quoting the few last sentences of his paper :--
"I believe Ptolemy's Niger to be not less exactly laid down
than his Nile, and that he knew more about it than Europe
did before the days of Richard Lander. And in confidence
of his sagacity I cannot but believe the Tanganyika to be
the western lake reservoir of Father Nile. The word
'source' is expressly avoided, in the belief, with Mr
M'Queen, that a lake unless it be a more ' eye' of water,
cannot be taken as the head of a river, though the river may
issue from it. Lake Baikal is not the bead of the Yenessei
River, Lake Tsana is not the head of the Blue Nilo, Lake
Geneva is not the he'd of the Rhone, Lake Lausanne is not
the head of the Rhine, Lake Superior is not the head of
the St. Lawrence, nor Lake Winnipeg the head of the Sas-
katchewan, and so of other rivers on this globe. I will
conclude with a statement, which to some may appear para-
doxical—namely, that the real sources of the Nile, the 'great
Nile problem,' so far from being ' settled for ever' by the
late exploration, are thrown further from discussion than
before. They are not, we have been told, in nubibua, but
they elude our vision. The exploratory labours of years,
perhaps of a whole generation, must be lavished before
even a rough:survey of the southernNileotio basin can treat
the subject with approximate correctness of detail. litais
les sources du Nil, sont elles decouvertes ? inquires our fellow
labourer in the field of geographical science, M. V. A,

Malte-Brun, Avis no le croyonspas. No geographer does,
no geographer can, believe in the actual settlement of the
Nile sources. That the Tanganyika is the western top
head of the great Nile, and that the Bahiri-Ngo, which
supplies the Tubiri, is the eastern, I have little doubt. But
the Arcanum Magnum of Old-World Geography has not
yet been solved. It still remains to this generation, as to
its forefathers, ' Caput quabrere Nili'—to close the Canon
of geographical discovery."
After a brief discussion, in which Dr Livingstone, who was
warmly applauded on rising to speak, took part,
Sir R. Muntellisox read a letter from Captain Grant,
testifying to Capt. Speke's accuracy of observation during
his journey, and explaining that the " Mountains of the
Moon,", as they were drawn in the original maps, were
merely an exaggeration of the engravers, originating not
with him, but in some foreign map made by a German for
his rough sketches. The President of the society then con-
gratulated the company on the tone in which the discussion
had been conducted, and said nothing had fallen from the
eminent author of the paper which they had just heard read
which could for a moment divert them from the intention of
subscribing for a moment to that distinguished traveller,
Captain Speke; for whether Captain Burton were entirely
right and Captain Spoke wrong, at any rate Captain Speke
was the first to traverse Equatorial Africa from the south to
the north. As to the great question under discussion, no-
thing but the investigation of travellers could decide that,
and he had received a letter from M. Du Chaillu mention-
ing his intention to follow the line of the equator as far as
possible, until he met some river flowing into the Nile. M.
Du Chaillu added that he had sent to the British Museum
seven gorilla skeletons and six gorilla skins preserved in
salt, and among the live stock, he added, would be found a
live gorilla. (Hear, and laughter.)
Captain BURTON observed, with respect to the statement
relative to the Mountains of the Moon, that they were dis-
tinctly marked in the map which Captain Speke first sent
over.
The meeting then broke up about 11 o'clock,

The accounts from the manufacturing districts for the
past week have in some instances been satisfactory. At
Manchester there has been a lair inquiry for cloths and
yarns for the Indian markets, and prices have shown an
upward tendency. The woollen trade of Leeds, Bradford,
and Huddersfield, however, has been dull, while at Leices-
ter and Nottingham only moderate transactions have taken
place in both hosiery and lace goods. In the hardware
districts of Birmingham, Sheffield, and Wolverhampton

there has been little change of importance.
A MONSTER GUN.—A 201 n. Rodman gun was re.
cently tried with success at New York. The Hemlci
says :—" Though this gun has already been described in
the Herald it will not be out of place here to say that it

weighs nearly 117,0001 b. Its diameter or thickness is nearly
6ft at the breach, and its bore is 20in. The solid shot it
throws is 1,0301 b in weight, and the regular charge of pow-
der is 100 lb, which may be increased to 1251 b. It is calcu •
lated that there are few armoured ships afloat whose sides
this monster would not crush. The gun was first loaded

with the regular charge of powder-100lb —a blank car.
tridge, and fired amid the applause of the spectators,
The report was not louder than that of a 10-pounder

Parrott loaded wish solid sho', nor was it near so shr

Probably it did not create so great a concussion of the
atmosphere, and could not be heard so far. On examining
the monster to see the effect, it was noticed that it had only
deigned to roll itself back disdainfully about two feet. The
air was sulphurous for a considerable distance around it.
This time the " big fellow" was loaded with 501 b of powder
and a solid shot weighing I,oBolb. The shot was driven 600
or 800 yards, when it dropped in the bay, ricocheted two
or three times, knocking up splashes of spray as large as a
ship in full sail and twice as high, and finally disappeared in
the water. On examining the gun after this discharge it was
found to have moved on its carriage just enough to show that
it knew how to work and to work easy. The final trial was by

far the most interesting and important of all that preceded
it. Great impatience for the result was manifested by the
spectators. A heavy concussion of the ground as well as
the atmosphere was now looked for, and there was just
enough of anxiety for the safety of the giant, who was now
become a pet among those who were not familiar with its

COAL M
rrloem of Coal per Ton at

powers, as to lend the additional charm of excitement to the
interest hitherto felt. The gun had now in a full charge of
1001 b, of powder, and I,oBolb. ball, At length it was loaded,
and it Iwas announced that the fuse was about to be fired,
Every one rushed out of the way, and many took shelter
behind the redoubts of the fort. The fuse hissed and flamed,

s. d.
Baddle'slirest Hartley 20 3,
Cowpen Hartley 20 3
Bower's West Hartley.2o 3
Eden Main 22 0
West Hartley 20 3
Tan.field Moor 16 9
Hastings Hartley 2O 3
Ships at mark)

but while all waited breathlessly for the flash, it only turned

with tt'
successor, lest such right might be abusetnai. 131
object of making his own reign PerPe•ngs
they did not foresee a condition of thilisita
which a President could at pleasure R0,7°1000
tial law, and under the plea politicalrotec.Vdfl
zone in the exercise of their p righ,' 110,0
chise every political opponent. The infneToor.,
of the several States composing the UninlicotOn
the keystone of the arch of the American ricolt6-1
tion, but curiously enough it has been the PAcooti.
object of the attacks of the Administration Ice re
ing to the letter and the spirit of the law, Les esdri
lation of the election in each state entirely
bee
sively on the State officials, and is entir:elta,
the control of the authorities at Weell'li'supra
the conduct of the present election this iejota,
canon of the constitutional law is entireildiSatet
In Tennessee the Governor (who is nafiv
dt
Vice-Presidency), by an excess of autbo.ri
would be simply ludicrous if it was not 'swot!
mitted to, required that every voter shuntodooo,,
support the existing Administration, arc sublef gs.t
right to take part in the election ofupos
strate whose title exclusively depends ett
suffrages of the entire people. On ePPeahe 0010
the supreme executive, the manifesto of t of
nor of Tennessee was confirmed, altbouge4edie,!
same time it was admitted to be a clever elect;
to give the victory at the approachlo
to the person who devised it, and tn pptirtil;
so solemnly approved it. In tion °s/`
which though nominally forming a por
Union, is in truth a State in the military °,O to
of a conqueror, the purity of election W bootit4
secured by bodies of soldiers at the Polling; t)°11,
whose duties would consist in affording., foot,'
whom Mr Lincoln calls loyal citizens ever/n,
for recording their votes, and in proven% of 10
whom he terms rebels defeating the witlhe,,rtiaj
more exemplary fellow-citizens by suPPent
candidate who seeks to supplant the Prthiel ,0
of the Administration. In Louisiana, " stso
Federal Government effect to have subi,lthen
same tactics will be employed, and even '" deal'
of New York the Military Commandant has deal'
that the elections should take place undermbett
vision. Unless, then, a collision has arisen, ootola
the civil and the military authorities, anu,,,d,
tb
the elections been postponed or iavalideon
can be no reason to doubt that those N4°116141'4
upon themselves to hold the ballot boxee 0,5
that their contents respond to their wishesidtrj
Lincoln has been re-elected, we cannot On bor
ing that the means by which his election
secured will so thoroughly alarm his fellovito
that his rule will be of short duration. 1%00,V,:t
have not yet quite forgotten the traditl'speti
though they are, of their national historltd,l
scarcely be prepared to abandon the Pio 101:if
principle upon which their Republic 1" rty
namely, that the sovereign power reelueima
hands of the people. if indeed atlY,:woo.,i
faintest, progress was being made in thek
al
whose accomplishment they. have made op'
sacrifices, they might still be induced to eio„,
forbearances, could not exist for a single;lol,l
even sanguine Unionists must fain confeclbe
all practical purposes the subjugation n' 001
is as far distant today as it was four deptii
when a triumphant Republican majorititot
reins of power to Mr Lincoln. The feig4ora
which separate Washington from Itiobill,;011.,
not yet been traversed ; and within the rott
night one of the best appointed and 00341/0
armies which the Federal Government Riee,sll
enabled to send into the field has bell oeffi
tempted to force even those outer linee %tot°,
which, at a distance of a dozen mile°, °The r,
approaches of the Confederate capital. thed
disunion which has already rent in to'n,„.',lll
ginal Republic even now threatens to P" ter
results in that portion which boasts t° coo,
the whole. Mr Lincoln may be able t° we 0
a majority in the electoral college, bn,to o°ll
much if he will be sufficiently powerful :0 tot,
the daily increasing ranks of his opponen,pitle
an abject submission to a rule which tRa" Of
and whose tyranny is not distinguishe
redeeming feature:

COUNTRY MARPETS•

COLCHESTER—NoT, 12.
We had a fair supply of wheat on offer at r.
to-day, and previous quotations were generallYloterd
Fine barley in demand, and saleable at full/800
other sorfl difficult of sale, at less money. 13,0 e,
in short supply, and sally maintain their va'sii
Wheat, white .•40s 46s Beans,Mazsg
red 36s 42s middle Sic ,D'r
Barley
28520 a 26s35 Peas, white.
ite:::::
Oats

GLOUCESTER—No Y. 12' t tofdi
There was a good supply of English wle3-f
Porefdi
our market, which sold freely at late prices. -aorlw
in limited demoud, at about former rate'
and beaus you &U. •

NORTHAMPTON—Nov.'°'h schetil
There was a seasonable supply of Engl,fis,qlo,4lY,
condition of which was rather improved.
fully late rats were made. Barley was tinetitT(366,„"
—White wheat, new, 40s to 42s ; nevi re'mVs'"l9
old, 37s to 40s per or. Barley, new maltig, poilto
other sorts, 266 to 3os. Old oats, 28s to 340; ,360
26s per 21 stone. Beans, 35s t0,40e. Feast
per qr.

. _
---
CHELMSFORD--Nov. 11. efrivi
1)
At this corn exchange 'o
-day the supply of sy t 4
plentiful, but we again had a dull trade, and 104
quotations were barely maintained. Spring coil), 1
a slow sale, with no r ivance in prices. 0 f
Wheat, old white...4os 45s Yuas, Partridge.....o
new ..473 41s White ....... 0 sso I
old red.... 39s 40s Boiling ....... "31J1
new 37s 40s Dun .....•• 0... 0./$ 1
l
Barley ..25s 32s Ditto new ..•'s4s
Chevalier .......26s 33s Beans, Tick, od t"39
'',‘
Grinding .... 20s 28s nev
Ticlo
Ma1t..... 61s 67s Harrow tle,y
•. " 1
64s 68s ..
Chevalier
Oats 2os 26s Mazagan .."'
- 1

KIRKCALDY GRAIN—N°/' 0.01,
We had fair supplies of all descriptions °'•
and prices were much the same as last Wes.'
Osts•a
Wheat. Barley. 160 6
First....36s Od I 24s 6d I ,/g
Od
Second ..38s 6d 25s Gd od
Third....4os Od 27s 6d ""--

the close of the
Wails
,f
Soeuutghliel
ti h Ham'''
Tunstall .• .•
Haswell.. ••••
South Hetton
Hartlepool .....
)t, 41 ; sold, 39,

Foreign Mail Packet 111

MAILS DUE.
..,.14011!
14
Australia and Mauritius, via Southampton"' ~.00 I
via Marseilles ...............
Brazil and Cape Verds, by British packet...l6'olol,o
Cape of Good Hope, Ascension, and St. ton'/4p'
China, Penang, and Singapore, via Southal), Po
~,o-via
via INlaroil'e
s.. y
Falkland Islands
Gibraltar, via Southampton ............. .to o'.loll'
India (Calcutta), and Ceylon, via SouthanW
via blar00030::090
India (Bombay), via Southampton .......
via Marseilles ...........

. .."0
Portuga1....
Malta, Egypt, and Allen, via Southampton'. ..1
via Marseilles .. •

Newfoundland ..................... ....... .., 11'
Oporto and Vigo
......... .. F
U. S. and British N. America, by Brit pacpacest
t....orpfli
by U.S. 10° of
by Canadianlo6o'
~, )
IS
All parts of West Indies, including Chili,
California. and British Columbia. ...........
Pi
Births. do ii
ARGYLL.—On the 11th inst., at Edinburg'' iju'
of Argyll, of a daughter. , Ibot'PrAlc
ALDERSON.—On the 14th inst., at 21, ".01;. dower
nell-park, N., Mrs. Douglas Alderson, 0` -pife
e 1
Fox.—On the 12th inst., at Blackheath, til 01
Fox, Esq., of a daughter. IP t4ff,
V.ERNET.—On the 12th inst., at Fairfield, ra
of H. Vernet, Esq., of a son, 1
Al

Marriages. Cliq
5 , at fi.c;iii
ARTHUR—EAMONDS..--011 the 10th 1011,7 t,„ o•„0,
ward, younger son of Wm. S. Arthur, Ps:trate 3
park, Clifton, to Agnes Evelyn, youngest' free
late Henry Edmonds, Esq., of West°l:4 )1
Ditton, Surrey. 4. clie,iY
HILLMAN—BAYLY.—On the 10th inst., 9' "Ili
W. Hillman, EN , of Lyme Regis' Doll f 3,401,
nette, daughter of the late Char ton 13°7,,t 4 Of Y
R.N., and niece of Gen. Sir Henry 134'. fi°

I sEr
ini‘Esin.
aitr
cyc
ih.
aged
91. Dinseta.,thart:.
Lower cloPt°' j
BIKES.—On the 12th
Sikes, Esq.,
QC
rru EA EL Sarah,l —On 0
nOtehns
es theol2tlh3t hi
tn. s, t . inst., agedvi ,5001,36:1741
Queensberry, gerc-ogv-4,
HEBsonallincTkit,oEr,dinburgh, Charles Charnel°, "I's 'letit"
GE.—On the 11th inst., Ge"ge fli
Furnivars-inn, aged 66 pill Of
HA_NNAY.—On the 11th inst at Islingt,°l/:artf'
Esq., formerly of Carlinwa.rik House, ''""
e 15491
cudbright, aged 70. ~,r 00-'
JAILES.—On the 11th inst., at 17, SC4fil'--1 e,•4
B EmEaClili, . —WOMII. thei. jloatmhesinEsts.,q.a' tag7,ellsi9leriallel .
Beech, aged 66.

1j4,4. 171;it
London : PrinZed and Prl,itshed DY
of No. 112, Strand,Printer, at I
oP
SIV 01)
Strand, In the Precinct o the S tloi."
Middlesex.—Tuesday, voenber 15,