The Sun.
London, England, 1863-05-21 00:00:00

THE SUN, LONDON, THURSDAY EVENING, MAY 21, 1803.

close it may prove to have been but the harbinger
of a better and a brighter one. (Cheers.) I beg to
return you my sincere thanks for the vote which
you have passed, and to aesure you that the instruc-
tion which I receive and the practical knowledge I
derive from meeting you on an occasion like the
present encourages me in the laborious profession
to which I too am given, and satisfies me more and
more that the increasing strength and happiness of
this country will continue to be found in efforts like
this—in conscientious individual exertion, each man
striving for himself to do his duty to the best and
utmost of his ability in that sphere and station of
life to which it has pleased God to call him. (Loud
cheers.)
The proceedings then terminated.

tained, and that itis nevertheless kept up and goes
on increasing.
Yesterday, in the Municipal Council of Cracow,
M. Valery Wieloglowski questioned the Mayor as
to the circumstances under which two Prussian offi-
cers, named Annenkoff and Muchanoff, the latter,
until recently, Director of the Police at Warsaw,
had received " quarter tickets," in virtue of which
they had been living for some days at the Hotel de
Russie at the expense of the inhabitants. The
Mayor being unable to give the requisite informa-
tion the proprietor of the Hotel de Russie—or "of
the Rose" (" Roza," instead of " Rossja"), as it is
henceforth to be called—was sent for and examined
with reference to the Russian gentleman's bill,
which appeared to have been settled in the usual
manner,and quite to the satisfaction of the inkeeper.
" Quarter tickets" had really been given to them,
bit seemingly in the way of compliment, by Aus-
trian officers, and not by the municipality of Cra-
cow. Such a compliment would be regarded as a
doubtful one by officers in some parts c f the world ;
but it is, of course, all a matter of taste and fashion,
and it would appear that in these regions orders for
private rooms are freely exchanged among the mili-
tary, and that a chop-ticket may be accepted, just as
in England one accepts an opera bone. The visit of
MM. Muchanoff and Annenkoff to Cracow will
not be forgotten, either by the inhabitants or
by themselves. Their arrival was announced in
large type at the very beinning of the Czas. In
quiries have been made after them in all directions
during their brief residence here; one of the lead-
ing members of the Town Council has made a point
of asking publicly how they were lodged; in short,
no such attention has been shown by the people of
Cracow to any visitors since the departure of Mr.
Hennessy.
The Prussian vassal has also received a visit from
an emissary of the Czar. The envoy, General
Minkvitch, found a Royal carriage waiting for him
at the Berlin Railway terminus, and, instead of
being offered soup tickets and gratuitous lodging a:
a second-rate hotel, was provided with accommoda-
tion for a short time at the Palace. The town-coun-
cillor there will have no opportunity of asking im-
pertinent questions about his bill. His proceedings,
however, do not escape notice, and I learn from
a paragraph in the Czas, which bears the stamp
of authority, and is signed with the letter "R,"
affixed only to communications from a certain mar-
vellously well informed quarter, that the Russian
General spent an hour and a half with the King
and three hours with M. Bisruark, after which he
proceeded to Posen, and attended a Council of War.
General Minkvitch has now returned to Warsaw,
and it is said that, since his visit to Prussia, Prussian
and Russian engineers have been engaged together
in inspecting bridges and roads in the Kingdom of
Poland, and that the 3d Prussian Corps has been
ordered to the frontier.

countries. The Confederates, of course, have not
lost sight of this topic now that it can be turned
against Americans themselves. They speak of
inceln's hirelings" with the utmost contempt
and indignation, and call Europe to witness the
measures to which the Northern people are resort-
ing for the conquest of their freeborn brethren. We
are really almost compelled to believe their allege.
tions when we look at the temper in which the
North takes the war. It should be remembered that
the terrible battles of which we have lately been
reading were not fought in any remote province, or
at such a distance that the echoes of the fight were
lost. All that slaughter and carnage occurred close
at home. From Fredericksburg to Washington the
distance is but trifling; indeed, in one of the earlier
campaigns the wounded were actually taken to the
Federal capital for succour. Yet still no grief dis-
turbs the gaiety of New York. Scciety cares no
more for these fallen soldiers than if they had been
troops of another nation. Thf,,re is a dark side of
the war at Chancelloreville and Fredericksburg, but
there is a bright side of it in the North-Eastern
cities, and they turn their lot to good account.
Still, such things leave us with much that we cannot
understand. Certain classes of people are gainers
by the Civil War, as is the case in all wars, but, as
those gains must necessarily be counterbalanced by
losses far heavier and more extensive, how does it

happen that the slighter cause should determine the
aspect and policy of the nation ? How is it, in
short, that if contractors gain while America loses,
America rejoices and the War goes on ?
POST.—Aecepting the most favourable construc-
tion which can be placed upon the Federal accounts
of the recent engagements in Virginia, there can be
no doubt that the Grand Army of the North has sus-
tained a signal defeat. The object with which Gen.
Hooker crossed the Rappahannock undoubtedly
was the reduct;on of Richmond, and that object he
has failed to attain. If, like his predecessor, Gen.
Burnside, he had simply failed to force his way
through the lines of entrenchments which his oppo-
nents had thrown across his route, and had ulti.•
mately succeeded in saving from annihilation the
remnant of his army, he would, to say the least,
occupy no lower position than those Northern
generals who have already attempted, but in vain,
to secure the possession of Richmond. But there
is only too much reason to believe that General
Hooker has sustained a defeat with which in the
annals of the present war it would be impossible to
find a para'lel. In the disastrous battle of Uhan-
cellorsville, and the retreat of Sedgwick across the
Rappahannock, it is not difficult to determine the
turning point of the present war. Notwithstanding
the cloud of words in which the Northern press have
enveloped the story of the recent engagements, it is
easy to detect the plain and unsophisticated truth.
The fifth and last invasion of Virginia has proved a
failure. The Northern Commander-in-Chief has
been out-generalled,and his forces have been beaten.
Nothing could apparently have been more favour •
able than the opening which presented itself t o
Gen, Hooker. For some two or three days he had
the initiative, and was himself at liberty to deter-
mine his mode of attack. In directing the main
body of his forces towards the north-west of Frede-
rkksburg he at least gained the advantage of sur-
prising his adversaries. There is every reason to
believe that the Confederate General was taken un-
awares when he found Hooker attempting to out-
flank him. Every preparation had been made by
Lee to check the advance of his adversary across the
line connecting Fredericksburg with Richmond. In
the December campaign the calculations of the Con-

federates in this respect proved to be correct.
Burnside marched direct south from Fredericks-
burg, and found his course arrested by intrench-
meets which he found it impossible to force.
Warned by the mishap of his predecessor, Hooker
decided on turning lines which he could not pene-
trate. His advance to Chancellorsville surprised
the Confederate Chief, though it did net find him
entirely unprepared. On Friday, May 1, the day
before the general engagement, Leo withdrew his
forces from nis entrenched lines, and drew them up
in front of the Federal battalions. The following
day a battle ensued, and on this occasion it is ob-
servable that the Southern forces were enabled to
turn no natural or artificial advantages to account.
They engaged the Northern troops on even terms,
and compelled them to abandon their position, and
entrench themselves for further security. The
judgment, promptitude, and gallantry of the Con-
federates not only saved them from defeat, but
turned the scale against their opponents. Hooker
instead,
found hoped to have outflanked Lee, and,
found himself obliged to retire in order to save his
army. The experience of preceding campaigns has
not been thrown away on the Southern Generals, and
on the present occasion they have shown a prompti-
tude whict, if exhibited on previous occasions, would
have materially enhanced the value of their vic-
tories. On the Ist of May they abandoned the
lines which they had been at so much pains to de-
fend in order to frustrate the object of the Federal
Commander-in -Chief, who, at another point, was
endeavouring to turn their position ; but, this object
once frustrated, they then concentrated their forces
and recovered the position which, to all appearance,
they had surrendered with reluctance. As a piece of
military strategy, the course taken by the Confede-
rate Commander-in-Chief in the first week in May
is beyond all praise. To abandon a position which
for months he had laboured to make impregnable
must have cost him a pang of regret ; but still he
had the genius to perceive that on the frustration
of Hooker's scheme depended the complete success
of the enterprise which he had undertaken. Strong
as were the lines at Fredericksburg, he knew that
they would be untenable if once the Federal General
was enabled to attack him in the rear, and ho had
the resolution to abandon them in order to prevent
the occurrence of such a contingency. Subsequently,
by undaunted courage, and (as there is reason to
believe) with the aid of superior forces, he regained
the position which he voluntarily abandoned. There
now can exist no doubt that General Hooker com-
mitted a fatal mistake in separating Sedgwick's di-
vision from his main body. Assuming that he could
have succeeded in outflanking the left wing of the
Confederate army, he might indeed have placed it
between two fires ; but then a failure to execute this
manoeuvre was equally certain to place him at a
terrible disadvantage. On Saturday, May 2,
.when
Sedg wick carried the dreaded heights of Fredericks-
burg by assault, he met with little resistance. Thus
far the result realised his most sanguine expecta-
tions. When, however, he subsequently attempted
to co operate with his chief at Chancellorsville, not
only did the interposing columns of the Confederate
army arrest his passage, but the arrival of addi-
tional reinforcements in the Southern camp rendered
the position ho had gained untenable. From that
time, until he withdrew the broken remnant of his
forces across the Rappahannock, General Sedgwick
was compelled to fight a losing battle. The heights
were evacuated under the'overwhelming pressure of
the advancing battalions of the Confederate Chief,
and the luckless General was oblige to retire fight-
ing his way step by step, in the vain hope of secur-
ing some shelter under cover of the town of Frede-
ricksburg. The slaughter made in the Federal
ranks in this retreat, and especially when the retir-
ing army attempted to cross the Rappahannock, we
can readily believe was unexampled on any previous
occasion. The results of these last engagements
have been so disastrous to the Federals that it is
almost an impossibility that the invasion of Virginia
can be renewed during the present summer. It is,
of course, not without the bounds of possibility that
at some future period the North, if it chooses to
persevere, may succeed in marching a victorious
army into the Confederate capital. But, judging
from appearances, we should consider the happening
of such a contingency as very remote. Five several
times have the armies of the North endeavoured to
force their way over the comparatively narrow strip
of ground which separates Washington from Rich-
mond, and on every occasion they have signally
failed. Is there any reasonable hope that success
will attend their efforts so long as the population of
the South continue sufficiently numerous to supply
armies such as those which have in succession dis-
comfited M'Clellan, Pope, Burnside, and Hooker ?
W e must reply in the negative, and every citizen
in the Northern States, unless blinded by prejudice
and vanity, must concur in that reply. It may be
very well to bluster on platforms of prosecuting the
war until the population of the Confederacy are ex-
terminated, and the Southern States made an un-
inhabited waste. But though such folly and wicked-
ness
Through
may be conceived by the human heart, it is not
permitted to human hands to carry it into execu-
tion. rough the gloom occasioned by this last and
most signal defeat of the greatest army the North
has as yet been enabled to bring into the field we
think we recognise the faint glimmering of approach-
ing peace.

HERALD.---The most difficult part of the French
campaign in Mexico, considered simply as a strate-
gic operation, will be accomplished by the reduction
of Puebla. This town, lying about two-thirds of the
way on the road from Vera Cruz to the capital, is the
chief fortified place, and about the only position of
strength in the republic. The long delay of Gen.
Forey, the many months which it has taken him to
get as far as Orizaba, and from thence to Puebla,
150 miles from the coast, are to be explained by the
real difficulties which attend on such an expedition.
The importance of securing communications, and
of guarding against any attack on the rear or
on either flank of the advancing force, the diffi-
culties of the commissariat, the trouble and delay
attending the transport of the siege train and
cavalry from Europe, and the risk of yellow fever
uear the coast in the hot season, must all be
borne in mind. In this case there does not seem to
have been added that crowning difficulty which
would have rendered the task of General Forey
well nigh impossible. The people of Mexico, a race

of degenerate half-castes'and Indians, are indolent,
apatkets.c, and good natnred. They do not seem to
be ill-disposed to the French, According to Gen.
Forey they welcome them with open arms. Not
that they go oat of their way to hail them as deli-
verers, or anything of that sort. The poor imbe-
ciles are not conscious that they have anything par-
ticular to complain of,or from which to be delivered.
It requires French perspicacity to discover that.
Juarez and Forey are very much the same to these
Indians. They like the look of the uniforms and
the sound of military music. If the new comers
will conduct themselves innocently, pay for the pro
visions which they consume, and desist from rob-
bing and murdering them, they are delighted to
trade with them and house them comfortably. Gen.
Forey has not, then, to make war against a nation
in arms, against a people every man of which is
jealous of the national honour and burning for the
destruction of the inveder. There are no raids upon
his stragglers, no murders of solitary soldiers, no
attacks upon the baggage or sumpter mules. He
has nothing to fear but from the men who make a
trade of arms, and the military adventurers who
lead them. Even some of these are on his side, and
Mexicans fight against Mexicans under the banner
of France. To have marched thus far towards a
point 300 mil's in the heart of a hostile country
would have been a task of immense difficulty To
have accomplished as much, in spite of a few thou-
sands of halt disciplined troops commanded by men
whose only experience has been in the irregular war-
fare which prevails among savages, is an achieve-
ment which does him credit, but which be might
reasonably have been expected to perform. The
dispositions of Gen. Forey seem to have been skil-
fully made. His little army has advanced in three
columns, at some distance apart, one led by
General Douay, another by L'Heriller, and the
third or centre by Forey himself. General
Neigre, leading the reserve, kept up the uom-
misaiiat arrangements, and watched over the
villages where there were flour-mills. From
Orizaba, the last place where there was any fight-
ing, the army of General Forey commenced its
march about the end of February. On the 16th of
March it had arrived before Puebla. Marquez and
his Mexicans were sent on another route, in order to
divert, if possible, the attention of the enemy. Some
opposition was looked for at a place called Amozoe,
but on the news of the approach of a French column
the place was promptly evacuated, and no enemy
was met with in the various towns and villages be-
tween Orizaba and Puebla. On nearing the latter
place the news was heard that Juarez had been
there, reviewing and haranguing some 18,000 troops
who formed its garrison. Comonfort was in its
neighbourhood with 3,000 regular troops. He in-
tended, doubtless, to throw himself into Puebla, but
the French were too quick for him, and when he
came up at last he found the city invested. Juarez
himself, fearing perhaps that he might fall into the
hands of the invaders, returned to Mexico before
their arrival at the second city of the republic.
Puebla, formerly called the City of Angels, is built
in a fertile plain at the foot of a wooded hill. The
r ousel are large and built of stone, the churches and
convents numerous, and the cathedral is thought to
be the handsomest edifice in Mexico. There are
80,000 people in Puebla, and the population at the
time of the siege must have been swelled by the
garrison. General Forey hoped to have been able
to capture Puebla by March 16, that he might pre-
sent it as a birthday gift to the Prince Imperial. He
was to be disappointed in this. He had just arrived
before it on that day. The investment was com-
pleted on the 18th, and the first trench opened on
the 23d. The general appears to have been ill-in-
formed as to the strength of the place and the deter-
mination of its defenders. He has to batter fort after
fort, and to fight for each house with the bayonet.
His soldiers were picked off by riflemen in the belfry
of the cathedral, and French guns were pointed
against the sacred edifice. By last accounts the siege
had gone on for nearly a month, and yet Puebla was
not taken. From the 18th March to the 12th April,
the French had been eontending fiercely with the
defenders of the Mexican stronghold, who really
seem now to fight with much bravery. The outlying
forts had been captured, and three of the suburbs
occupied. The walls of the houses were riddled with
cannon balls, the rooms blown open to the air and
blackened with gunpowder, the thresLolds stained
with the blood of their late inmates. We do not
share in the fears which are expressed in Paris for
the success of General Forey. To take Puebla, at
whatever cost, has become now a point of honour
with him, although it cannot be done without a great
sacrifice of the lives of his brave soldiers, fighting
in a distant country in an ambiguous cause. Tnat
Puebla will fall, however, and that Mexico will be
open to his army, we have no doubt. The military
triumph will, we donbt not, compensate for the un-
popularity of the enterprise. But the real difficul-
ties will begin when the French army has no more
cities to take or enemies to fight. If, after defeat-
ing their army in the field, the French Emperor be
able to induce the Mexicans to form something like
a settled government, be will have achieved much
for France, for Europe, and for civilisation.