The Sun.
London, England, 1863-01-20 00:00:00

THE SUN, LONDON, TUESDAY EVENING, JANUARY 20, 1863

Mr. Lincoln never dreamt of when, with the blind
faith of a new convert, he promulgated it to the un-

willing people. It is simply impossible that he can

limit its operations to meet the military necessity

which he declares to have alone dictated it. The

slaves in the loyal border States have as much na-
tural right to their freedom, and as much love for it

as the slaves can have in the rebellious Cotton States.
The one cannot be incited to obtain their freedom

without inciting the other to imitate their example.

And, according to both the letter and spirit of Mr.

Lincoln's measure, it is possible that the Federal

armies may on the same day be engaged in the two
contradictory duties of aiding one set of slaves to
escape and of returning another to captivity. Already
a difficulty has arisen in Norfolk in Virginia, a town

and district that arc " loyal" by virtue of their occu-

pation by a Federal army, and in which, as a conse
quence of Mr. Lincoln's war measure, the slaves
are not entitled to their freedom. In anticipation of
a bcon not accorded to them the negrocs assembled
on New Year's Day, to the number of about 4,000,
and marched in military procession, four abreast, to

.he headquarters of General Viele, who made them

a speech, wished them a happy new year, and
recommended them to be peaceable and orderly

—which they were. But when the proclamation
reached these poor men two days afterwards they
learnt that its terms did not apply to them, unless

they could prove the disloyalty of their owners.
Hence, in American phrase, " there is trouble" in
Norfolk. The Federal forces will have to act as

oppressors rather than as liberators, if the negrces
insist upon their liberty with arms in their hands.
As affairs now stand they have nothing for which
to thank the President but a fallacious hope—and

a trick as scurvy as that which the witches played

Macbeth.

The Cheevers, the Beechers, the Sumners, the
Fremonts, and to these must now be added, it ap-
pears, the T,ineolns and the Butlers, do not repre-
sent the American miud on the question of the

negro. America is not ripe for emancipation—even

were the feat as easy as it is difficult. Philanthropy
is not fashionable—least of all the philanthropy
that would look upon the black man as a brother.

The one passion next to the passion of gain in the
American heart is the passion for extended empire.
They want to eclipse, overcome, and bully England.
They want to stand at the head of the Anglo-Saxon
race, and to allow no gun to be fired in any part of
the civilized world without their consent. They do
not wish the negro and his rights to stand in the
way. Nay, more, they do not even wish their own

liberties to interfere with the realization of the
splendid vision. So dear, for these reasons, is the
Union to the Americans, so essential does the great
West believe it to ba to its future growth' and pros-

perity, and so little do people of all parties in the
North—the Puritans of New England and New
York excepted—care for the negro or his freedom,

that there is scarcely any sacrifice of dignity or of
principle that the majority of the North and Wesi
would not make at this moment if they could induce
the South to come back again—slaves and all—and
govern the Union as before. Were Mr. Jeffer-
son Davis, at the head of a conquering army, to
march into Washington, depose Mr. Lincoln, as-
sume the Presidential chair, and call a general eons
vention of the people to consider the terms of Re-
union, and the amendment of the Constitution, I
firmly believe that the North would go wild with
joy, and hail Mr. Davis as a second Washington and
the regenerator of his country. It is a favourite
theme at this moment among Anti-abolitionists, and
all who consider the Union as the first blessing and
the first necessity of America, to speculate on the
possibility of a reconstruction which should either ex-
clude New England, or hold it as a military de-
pendency.
.They are not daunted by the difficulties
in the way, and prominent members of the Demo-
cratic party are fond of asserting that come what
may, New England must be punished for the
offence of exciting the war by her meddlesomeness
and intolerance, and that once for all there must be
an end of the question of slavery in Federal poli-
tics. The Legislature of the several States, which
will deal with it when and how it pleases them, is
alone, they allege, the machinery by which the
question can ever be touched with safety, and if New
England persists in meddling with it, and stirring
up strife, thesooner New England secedes the better
for herself and the Union which she imperils.
The loss of the Monitor, though it both startled
and grieved the public, did not startle those who
were acquainted with her bad sea-going qualities.
Lieut. Worden, her late commander, declared in
March last, after his attack on the Merrimac in
Hampton-roads, that the sea voyage from New York
to Fortress Monroe was the most perilous part of
his achievement, and is said to have warned the Go-
vernment a few weeks ago of the danger of subject-
ing her to the chances of a winter storm in the At-
lantic. Her fate but confirms the prevalent belief of
engineers and sailors, as well as military men, that
an iron clad
capable of being safely navigated in a
has yet to be invented, and that all
suchs tOCi 1 Ivye s oceanselsas are now in existence in this hemi-
sphere are of little use,except for service on the coast
and in the rivers. They may supersede stone forts
at the entrance of harbours, and they may, if towed
within easy distance of the shore, be made available
either for the attack or defence of maritime cities;
but as at present constructed they are not likely to
supersede the navies of the world in mid-ocean. But
the mechanical genius of this country is so prolific
and so confident that the loss of this favourite vessel
will but direct the energies of engineers and inven-
tors to the subject of improvement in the construe-
rafts and cheese boxes," like the Moni-
ttioorn,aorfesnuoth ships. Ultimately, perhaps, it may be
found that"c
the proper combination to insure safety
for
distant their navigators
and that with power of offence against
the Warrior and the
Gloire, and not the Monitor or the Merrimac, pre-
sent the real models for imitation.
ant enemies;adgators
The bad conduct of the mercenary armies of the
North—whether they were Irish,German, or native-
born Americans—has as long been notorious as it
has been vehemently denied. The doings of the
ruffians who, under Turchin, disgraced the name
of soldiers—the plunder committed by the Ger-
mans under Bleaker—the wanton destruction of
property
e o.
fortes city of Fredericksburg,
whenn made bonfires of pian
hand committed other acts of
B in u
r i
nn
the
sitd
streets,
ees unhappyl
rism
wanton and disgusting Vandalism, were all com-
mented upon in private with befitting indigna-
tion, but received no word of reproof from the
press of this city. But, as all these acts were duly
chronicled in the South, and tended to strengthen
every Confederate's hand, and embitter every Con-
federate's heart, making an army of 50,000 men
worth 250,000, for concentrated hatred and deter-
mination, it has at. last become apparent to the au-
thorities at Washington that a more strictly mili-
tary system ought to be introduced, if it were only
to preserve the good name of the North iu the esti-
mation of the civilised world. A civil, next to a
servile, war is the worst in which any nation can be
but even ahcuimvialniwtyar,
amnausthubneesetoyn,duuncdteedr
the heavy penaltyimpossible,andthedecency, of exciting more hatred than
time can ever allay,
excit o
rendering future amity difficult,
if no
exciting, what tr
great
countryenmity canand
safely bear, the disapproval
court of nations. "We know," says the New York
Times, that wherever our troops have been, houses
are wrecked, fowls and pigs killed, horses carried
off, fences burnth
andar
hardly
the
avoid people made
s—the country, in fact, laid waste,
bitterly hostile. . . We can
the
affairs and G conclusion that for this state .of
Government are responsible; that, in
short, there is some stronger reason for the demon-
strations of detestation
with which our troops are
constantly greeted than mere political alienation."
It is late iu the day for this confession—perhaps too
late to repair the evil which has been done ; but ii
the Federal Government will make a few signal
examples of
plunderers and of officers wh9 connive
at or excite the evil passions of their soldiers, the
Administration will stand better in the world's
opinion than it does now, even though it may be
hopeless to attempt to regain the ;good opinion of
the Border States and the amity of the South. The
Germans have been especially to blame. Their
notion of war seems to be derived from the tradi-
tions of a hundred years ago ; but the world has
advanced Since those days, and if the Germans have,
been left behind in the march of decency or of in-