The Sun.
London, England, 1863-07-15 00:00:00

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a wrd, the experiment which so signally failed
the North was the aggressor would equally fail if the
South in its turn became the attacking party. If so,.
then why is it that not only has the SolthErn
Commander-in-Chief adopted an aggressivelieilio-,
but that in the opinion of most men it is believed t.';
that policy will be crowned with success . The
answer to this question is to be found in the
peculiar nature of American institutions, and the
strangeness of the light in which the issue of
the war is regarded by one at least of the ll
bei-
gerents. However singular it may appear, there
are many in the Northern States who are perfectly
indifferent which of the contending sections of the
republic should prove victorious provided that ulti-
mately the Union should be re-established. To
these persons—and they are more numerous than is
imagined—it would matter little whether Lincoln
should dictate to the SJuthern States from Rich-
mond, or Davis to the Northern Slates from Wash-
ington. Hence it happens that the advance of the
Southern Commander-in-Chief is regarded with
!epilogs which on this side of the Atlantic it is ho
difficult to compreliend. The attempt to dictate
terms to the South has failed, and now there
appears to be a willingness to discover whether a
similar end eltinot he attained by allowing the
South to dictate ter ens to the North. To this feel-
ing must he ascribed the straege apathy with which
the Pennsylvanians, though opposed to slsvery, IC-
garde(' the invasion of Gen. Lee. To the Contede-
ing was well
rate Commanderkn;iwnn-C, hief the existence of this feel-
enterprit,e which woualdedoitth-(eirevutb-t-lcsis p7httil:ted, anh
in the extreme. Nine,menths histvlseeelalap‘seLd seitOncerutshe
tte:t period much has occurred Confederates last crossed
lree
d t
o sPotomac,
shake
eantdhe
confi-
dence of the Northern population
they
in the prowess of
ovwehrrieuhn at
eeennetire area oTthfendly
armieswould
imagined
uotahheorunldCon-federacy. But supposing that Gen. Lee LSaee
victor,aToc i
ninws
uthchaihet
de-
featw oulAdl ebaedtehaenodo
consequences
Washingtonouoeap
Again swei n
uust.revert
to the singular condition of public op
North for a reply. Would the North
a contingency as the South would have acted if
Richmond had fallen ? We are inclined to think
not. Neither strategically nor politically is the
security of Washington indispensable to the North ;
but still if it was occupied by a Confederate army we
believe the war would come to a close. The North
is utterly disgusted with the Administration which
has now for two years and a half done its best to
lead the country into irretrievable ruin. We con.
Sider that, with the fall of Washington, the Go-
vernment would equally fall, and its successors,
appointed, would command the homage of the
multitude. There is at this moment, as indeed there
has been throughout the entire war, a thorough
want of patriotism, in the European Acceptation of
that term, in the Northern States. The sentiment
expressed by the Federal officers when flying from
the first battle of Bull Run of having been " licked
into a cocked hat," has never ceased to pervade the
language in which the Northern population have
always spoken of their reverses. The people
of the free States have witnessed, without the
slightest feeling of shame, an army cross their fron-
tier and threaten their principal towns. And with
the same absence of shame we verily believe they
would see General Lee march into their capital at
the head of a victorious army, and dictate the con-
ditions which should henceforth regulate the politi-
cal system of the American Federation. Already
sanguine politicians in the North Lave begun to
speculate on the possibility of the Union being re-
, stored in its original integrity under Southern
auspices, and have gone so far as to express a hope
that, under the restoration, the North may once
more secure its previous supremacy. "We will
fetch up again on that arrangement," writes Man-
hattan, the correspondent of one of our contempo-
raries, " for we can outvote if we cannot outfight
them." But it might possibly have occurred to
Manhattan and those whose spokesman he is,
that the South has not " outfought" the North in
order to afford the latter au opportunity of after-
wards " outvoting" it. Setting aside political con-
siderations, is it at all probable that the South
would ever coalesce with a people which has laid
its territory desolate, and which would, if it had
been possible, have exterminated its population ?
The bare idea of such a contingency appears to our
mind so inexplicable that again we are obliged to
account for its being entertained by referring
to the singular condition of opinion in the North.
It is scarcely necessary to say that the Southern
States will, if they prove victorious, form
an independent league. They have learnt too bitter
a lesson during the administration of au ultra-
republican President not to profit by the moral
which it irculeates. Slavery is no doubt an odious
institution ; but for that very reason there can be
no amalgamation of States if by some it is tolerated
and by others disavowed. The separation which has
et length taken place between the free and slave
States of America was foreseen long since by Ame-
rican statesmen ; and the only cause for wonder is
that it was so long pcstponed. It is much to be
regretted that the separation was not effected, as it
might and ought to have been, in peace ; but having
occasioned a war, the bloodiest and most disastrous
with which modern history has made us acquainted,
it would be strange indeed if it was not final.
HERALD.—Lord Russell is the last man in the
world to get out of a mess with dignity. The award
of the King of the Belgians has given him an excel-
lent opportunity for abandoning the absurd position
he now occupies in respect to Mr. Christie's demands
and Admiral Warren's reprisals. Still he cannot
make up his mind act upon Sir Lucius O'Trigger's
principle, that an affront handsomely apologised for
becomes an obligation. But he endeavours to con-
ceal his defeat and his errors by the agency of the
Portuguese Minister at the Court of Brazil. Well,
we do not desire to see an English Minister on the
stool of repentance, a butt for all the jests of foreign
journalists, and we shall be heartily glad if the good
offices proffered may be made the means of restor-
ing friendly relations between the Governments of
Brazil and this country. But we cannot too strongly
speak of the perversion of facts of which our
Foreign Secretary was guilty last night, when he
accused the Brazilian authorities of refusing to
produce the bodies from the wreck, or to hold
an inquest to know what had become of them.
There is not a shadow of proof to substantiate
either charge. Four bodies were produced. The
Brazilian authorities did not refuse to produce
the remaining bodies, they simply asserted their
inability to discover them. And there is not
a tittle of evidence that would be received in any
court of law in this country to prove that it was in
their power to produce them. As to the inquest,
an investigation was hold over thebodies n
d that were
;"
drowned
discovered, and the verdict was ,
but who ever heard of an inquest onc
bodies
thath
could not be found, or an inouest tc\l bury ob-
served, at
had become of them? As Lord
served, the British Government .I)almes
had assumed at
oeat
ectur
suat
thi
0,
iser, and executioner
for more unwarranted
n be eo talh
ieg ohffit caedsdo, f
witjudge,h
p ao
rplyep
made by Earl Russell wi-
tness;noaftih.aalnsetlioseber to have bead. Atv. last night we never remem-
good offices of the 0 sincerely trust that the
Portuguese Minister may patch
up this most unseemly quarrel, and that Earl Rus-
to make some his present triumph, will see fit
which he has advances to the friendly Government
so cruelly outraged.
(e I _

PRICE-- ~.4d.
STAMPED ....sd.

16th Middlesex ; Capt. Whitwell, 3d Westmore-
land ; and Private Gould, 2d Surrey.
Notice has been given by the association that the
Duke of Cambridge's and Westicy Richard's prize
will be shot for at the 500, 800, and 1,000 yards
ranges, instead of the 500 and 1,000 yards only.
The 500 and 1,000 will be shot for to-day and to-
morrow until 11 o'clock, and the 800 only on Thurs-
day end Friday.

SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALS.

Timss.—We cannot think that the cause of seo-
nomy has gained much by the debate on the Spit-
head Forts. Those who object to our present large
expenditure on armaments and fortifications should
he careful how they descend from the high vantage
ground long since occupied by Mr. Bright to the
detailed criticism of schemes the principles of which
they are forbidden to question. There may be some-
thing to be said for reducing the whole scale of our
naval and military establishments, and preferring
the remote chance of being invaded to the yearly
reality of heavy taxation. There may be something
to be said for trusting entirely to our navy, and
keeping up such a fleet as would sweep the
Channel and drive our enemy's ships into
their own :ports at the first outbreak of war.
When Mr. Cobden recognised the reason-
ableness of our maintaining a marked naval
superiority over our neighbours, he probably
had some such idea in his mind, and believed that
with a powerful steam fleet we could dispense with
coast defences as well as with a costly military force.
We need not here discuss the wisdom of these theo-
ries, but they at least profess to rest upon principles,
and deserve for this reason to be treated with re-
spect. We can hardly say as much for the position
taken up by Sir Morton Peto and Mr. Osborne on
Monday night. These gentlemen do not openly call
in question the expediency of contemplating the in-
vasion of our shores as a possible contingency, and
taking practical steps to meet it. They do not, so
far as we understand, consider our navy an ade-
quate safeguard by itself. Whatever be their pri-
vate opinions, they meet the Government upon its
own ground. "I entirely admit the importance of
our sea defences," says Sir Morton Peto. " I
have never denied," says Mr. Osborne, " that
the protection of our dockyards against attack
should be the first consideration in providing de-
fences." To what, then, did they take exception ?
Not to floating defences in the shape of ironclad
vessels, nor even to permanent fortifications on terra
firma, but to the three forts called respectively
" Horse Sand," " No-man's Land," and " Stur-
bridge," at the entrance of Spithead. This narrowed
the issue materially, and if the opponents of forti-
fication showed bad generalship in selecting their
point of attack, they must not complain of having
been left in a somewhat ignominious minority. We
freely admit that if we had to make our option
between forts and ships, and if we were
bound to be governed exclusively by the expe-
rience of the last year, we should be inclined
to suspend our judgment a little longer. It
was thus that the subject was treated by
the most adroit supporters of Sir M. Peto's motion,
and they were able to make good use of the fact
that the vote was postponed last year till further
experiments should be tried in gunnery and iron-
plating. Since that time two remarkable but con-
flicting piece of evidence have been furnished by
the American War. Several Federal ironclads suc-
ceeded in running past the batteries on the Mis-
sissippi, while a well-equipped fleet of the same
class was discomfited in half an hour by the forts of
Charleston. It is said, on the one side, that the
former were favoured by darkness, and, on the
other, that the latter were confronted by obstacles
peculiar to Charleston harbour. For our own part,
we are quite content to set the one precedent against
the other, or rather to abstain from generalising at
all from a single case, even if it were not weakened
by a contrary instance. Unless common sense and
well-ascertained facts can guide us in this matter, it
is better to remain whore we aro and wait for more
complete information. If, on the other hand, we
have already quite sufficient materials for our dui•
sion, it would be folly to stop halfway in the execu-
tion of a great project. The first thing is to re-
member that we are not discussing 'whether forts
can take the place of ships, but whether ships can
take the place of forts, so as to make the construction
of forts, at the mouth of an important roadstead and
in front of our greatest naval arsenal, superfluous and
useless. The mere statement of the question is enough
to settle it. Forts cannot do the work ofships,because
they are available only for defensive, and not for
offensive purposes; because they cannot bring an
unwilling adversary to close quarters ; because they
are incapable of being used as rams—in short, be-
cause they are immovable. For equally cogent said
still more obvious reasons, ships cannot do the
work of forts. They cannot, even with the aid of
steam, operate independently of wind and weather ;
they cannot be mounted with guns of indefinite
weight and calibre ; they cannot be coated with
armour of indefinite thickness ; they cannot defy
the corrosive agency of sea water ; they cannot be
repaired without being sent into dock. It would be
easy to extend the list of these disabilities if our ob •
ject were to damage the reputation of ships instead
of defending that of forts. Far be it from us to pre-
dict what may be the ultimate form which the in-
genuity of man may devise for these floating for-
tresses, but as we follow with our mind's eye the
progressive rivalry between ordnance and naval
architecture till we lose sight of it in a dim vision of
Titanicencounters on the ocean,the powers of destruc-
tion always seem to have the best of it. We cannot
help believing that explosive forces mighty enough
to stave in the side of anything that can navigate
the sea will be discovered, if they are not already in
existence ; but it does not follow that such engines
can be carried on shipboard. On the contrary, the
presumption is that the ship of the future will be
Impregnable to the assaults of any similar antagonist
and will be vulnerable only by guns planted upon
the solid earth. After all, we need not carry our
calculations quite so far as this. The sum voted for
these works, considerable in itself, is absolutely trifl-
ing compared with that which would be required to
provide an equal armament if the alternative of ships
were adopted. Ships must be built of perishable ma-
terials, their screws will always be tearing the stern
to pieces, their armour-plates will always be working
loose in spite of fastenings, their bottoms will never
cease to corrode, their crews must be composed of
skilled men and kept in a state of constant efficiency,
and as soon as they prove inferior in speed or sea-
going qualities to some new model they must be cast
aside. Forts, if massive and well built, last for ever,
and no change in the art of war can ever make them
worthless. Placed on the shoals around Spithead,
they would shelter our merchantmen as well as ourdockyards, arsenal, and garrison, and would enab.
our navy to operate effectively at any porn
where it might be most wanted. It is true that in
the present state of gunnery it would be just possi-
ble for a hostile ship of war which might have
slipped through our Channel fleet, and which should
be steered with such admirable precision as not to
deviate by a hair's breadth from the mid-channel,
to run between them without being sent to the bot-
tom. To get out again it must run the same gaunt-
let, and in the meantime our gunboats and shore
batteries must be presumed to be doing nothing.
Such are the conditions required by Mr. Osborne's
own showing to illustrate the inutility of these
forts. The -moment Mr. Whitworth or Sir W.
Armstrong produces " a gun which Will pierce a
vessel in motion 1,000 yards," he Confesses
that his
argument is gone," and that we may n build the
forts at once." The advocate who admits
_ as much
as this in a case where
puts himself out of court, delay may be dangerous,
POST.—The tide of invasiont having been rolled
backwards by the armies of h
racy, and the latter having in turn assumed the
e Southern Confede-
racy, an n
observer is naturally led to inquire
into the probable results of what at first sight may
well appear a hazardous course of proceeding on the EDUCATION.—From 1839 to the close of 1862 the
part of the weaker of the
belligerents. 'We possess Government grants made to echonls connected with
no precise inforniat'on respecting the comparative
strength of the Northern the Church of England amounted to £4,039,333; to schools
.wlern and Southern armies ; but connected with the British and Foreign School Society to
mud itutor:"ln'gumlll General Lee has at his cool- £.5b7,`,79 ;to Wesleyan schools to £308,113; Roman
e ous f nee than 111sade, the lately
appoint etlFeder Catholic schools (England and Wales) to £288,110; to p-
into the
scale, al general, there met still be thrown
rochin,l union schools of £75,677 ; to schools connected with
of t he inadeaas egninst t he South, the population
the Church of Scotland to £406,185 ; to schools connected
States. Regarding the inhabitants
of a eca • with the Scottish Free Church to £322 778 ; to sehonN con-
lntry the raw material out of which its
arnai•3
C. !Are formed the ,North pm,srsses, in the mime - netted with the Scottish Episcopal Chnrch to £34,..164; and
cal superiors y of its population, an immeasui able . 'on administration,
adv to the Scottish Roman Catholic Poor School Committee to
.ClB 793 Including charges for inspect' ,
antage over the Southern Confederacy. If the ' '
inhabitants of the
Northern Border States viewed '' R 39 to 1862 amounted to £6,710,863. The
the advance of the Confederate army with the same Education from 1..
lk.e the total expenditure of the Commtttee of Council on
feelings that the Southern population regarded the
orders "
" &c." included £20,036 for " poundage on Post-office
invasion of M'Clellan, Pope, and Hooker, it is ANIES.—Not less than 297
JOINT-STOCK COMP
needless to say that the Confederate army would
experience no less difficulty in approaching wash. joint
istered in England in the first half of the year 1863.
-stock companies, with limited liability, have
ington than the grand army of the North did in
Tbehieneyre!
three of them are banking companias, but one of
attempting to enter Richmond. The States
IT
these has already registered a resolution dissolving the emu.
,-,any, and others mayprobably have come to nothing. The
Maryland, Pennsylvania, Ohio, and New York ?
with ease supply 150,000 militiamen who, corabe!nsuryd
nominal capital proposed for there banking ,-;ornpani„
wrvi
with the army of the Potomac, would certainly
suffice to stem the stream of Southern invasio • In more than .08,000,000.

Foreign Mail Packet List.

MAILS DUE.
AuFlralia and Mauritius, via Southampton July 19.
via Marseilles July 13.
klrazil and Cape Verde by British packet.
, 1 Aug. 4.
Cape of Good Hope, Ascension, and St. Helena July 29.
China, Penang, and Singapore, via Southampton July 19.
via Marseilles July 13.

Falkland Islands
Gibraltar, via Southampton July 11.
India (Calcutta), and Ceylon, via Southampton July 19.
via Marseilles July 13.
India (Bombay), via Southampton July 11.
via Marseilles July 20.
Aug. 4.
Portugal....
via Southampton July 11.
via Marseilles July 13.
Newfoundland .. July 22.
Oporto and Vigo ..........
U. S. and British N. America, Ly Brit. packet.... J uly 16.
by U.S. packet....

bi Canadian packet. July 10.
V.C. of Africa, Madeira, find Tenerifle July 10
13ahatuas, via New York July 30.
Mexico.,
All parts of West Indies, including Chili, Pru,
je
California. and British Columbia..