The Sun.
London, England, 1863-11-30 00:00:00

THE SUN, LONDON„, MONOAY EVENING, _NOVEMBER 30, 1863.

the floodgates of,Heaven were opened. A tremen-
dous storm of thunder and lightning passed along
r a tiroonni
s
L thoeo kv
cal
ul ltl e
Mountain valleywhich t divideshed Ike
al if se sni
ionnga r
rye Ridgeve
rb f
of the thunder were tossed backward and forwards
;
from mountain to mountain, and the lightning
crashed among the trees, rending trunk and limb.
The consequent condition of the miry yellow clay
roads which surround Chattanooga may be con•
ceived. Bridges were cqrried away over Chicka-
mauga and Chattanooga Creeks—the Tennessee
river arose in its might and swept away the Federal
pontoons and trestle bridges. The position of the
Confederates, with only six or seven miles of wag-
goning from Chickamauga station, is uncomfortab:e
enough—that of the Federals, with 45 miles of wag-
goning from Shell Mound, near Bridgeport, across
Walden's Ridge to tho rear of Chattanooga, must
be irksome in the extreme. Nevertheless, both
armies continue to maintain their inactivity, and
seem as though they intended to winter in their
present lines. Unquestionably the rain which
has fallen will greatly enhance the difficulty of
extended operations in the field. But, although
I have not much faith in the inaugura-
tion of an active campaign by General Bragg,
it seems to me hardly probable that the Federal
General, strongly reinforced as he has undoubtedly
been, will abstain altogether from some attempt to
uproot his antagonist from Lookout Mountain,
which commands the railroad between Bridgeport
and Chattanooga, and impends over the river road
which approaches Chattanooga from the west. The
successful foray of General Wheeler and the Con-
federate cavalry in Rosencranz's rear, which wit-
nessed the destruction of some 800 waggons and
2,000 mules, is not calculated to increase Rosen-
cranz's good-humour. There is evidence that the
Federals in Chattanooga are greatly in want of fa-
rinaceous food, as the Yankee pickets eagerly seize
every opportunity of offering bushels of Federal
papers, or five dole. in greenbacks, for a pint of
corn meal or flour. It is a strange and unexampled
circumstance that for once the poor Confederates
should be better provisioned, as far as breadstuffs
are concerned, than the pampered Yankee. Occa-
sionally there is active shelling between the two
lines, bat the batteries are too remote from each
other to do any harm.
Altogether, I carry away with me from this army
but one grain of comfort, which arises from the fact
that the brilliant and illusive glare which, prior to
this battle illuminated General Rosencranz and his
army, has been finally and effectually annihilated
and dispelled, Admitting that the hazardous and
unsoldierlike division of his army into sections,
which Rosencranz adopted prior to the battle of
Chickamauga, was attributable to his intelligent
comprehension of the calibre of the opposing Gene-
ral, it cannot for a moment be pretended that in
the battle itself Rosencranz showed any ability or
fertility of resource. As for the actual fighting of
his men, I have only once seen anything so dis-
creditable among the Federal troops fighting in
Virginia ; I mean the behaviour of the llth Corps
of Yankees at the battle of Chancellorsville. My
belief is that the army, of which General Bragg is
now the head, is fully a match tor any which the
Federals can bring against it at presept ; but how
long it will remain so, in presence of the disheart-
ening effects of inactivity, of a winter passed in a
cheerless and unhealthy location, and increasing
dislike which exists between General Bragg and
the Geuerale beneath him, it is impossible for me to
say. It is not my province to attempt to discrimi-
nate, or to distribute praise and ,blame between
General Bragg and his Generals, but it is utterly
impossible to blind my eyes to the fact that—
'• Quiequid delirant reges plectuntur Achivi,"
and that the best interests of the Confederacy and
of General Bragg himself demand that he should
seek some position which will emancipate him from
the prejudices, animosities,and heartburnings which
now surround him on every side.

THE PALMERSTON ADMINISTRATION.

The Palmerston-Russell Administration was
formed in June, 1859, and it continued without
alteration until the December of that year. The
unexpected death of the Right Hon. Henry Fitzroy,
in his 52d year, left vacant the post of Commis-
sioner of Works, which post the right hon. gentle-
man, from his previous very successful tenure of the
Under-Secretaryship of State for the Home Depart-
ment, gave every promise of filling with credit to
himself and advantage to the public. The present
Commissioner, the Right Hon. William Cowper,
stepson ce Lord Palmerston, was appointed, and his
post, that of Vice-President of the Board of Trade,
was given to its present holder—Mr. Hutt. Early
in 1860, Mr. Fitzgerald, Attorney-General for Ire-
land, was made a judge, and was succeeded by the
Solicitor General for Ireland—Mr. Deasy—whose
place was filled by Mr. O'Hagan. Shortly after-
wards Mr. Deasy also was raised to the bench,
and was succeeded by Mr. O'lTagan, who in turn
was suceeded in the Solicitor-Generalship by Mr.
Lawson. In August, 1860, the Earl of Elgin,
then Postmaster-General, having been made
Governor-General of India, his former post
was given to Lord Stanley of Alderley, who
now holds it. In October another member of the
Government, Mr. Laing, Secretary to the Treacury,
went to India as Financial Minister, and was suc-
ceeded by Mr, Frederick Peel. On January 1,
1861, the Right Hon. Sidney Herbert, Secretary of
State for War, being in bad health, was raised to
the peerage in the hope that the easier hours of the
House of Lords might enable him to retain offiee
and recruit his strength. But, as the Under-Secre-
tary for War, the Earl de Grey and Ripon, was a
peer, it was necessary to provide a representative
of the War-cffice for the House of Commons ; so
Earl de Grey and Ripon exchanged places w;th Mr.
T. G. Baring, the former becoming Under-Secretary
for India, and the latter Under Secretary for War.
In the following summer so many changes took
place that it was thought the Cabinet would scarcely
survives° complete a reconstruction. In June, 1861,
Lord Campbell was found dead in his bed. The
Attorney-General, Sir Richard Bothell, was imme
diately raised to the woolsack, and assumed the
title of Baron Weatbury ; the Solicitor-General, Sir
William Atherton, became Attorney-General ; and
Mr. (now Sir Roundell Palmer) became Solicitor-
General. A month later two important events oc-
curred. Lord Herbert, finding himself grow rapidly
worse, resigned office; and Lord 'lcahn Russell, find
ing it difficult to maintain his position in the House
of Commons with Lord Palmerston as leader, ar-
ranged to have a peerage. But the same difficulty
that had occurred with respect to the War-office
DOW presented itself .with respect to the Foreign-
office. The Under-Secretary for Foreign Affairs,
Lord Woelehouse, was in the Upper House, and the
elevation of Lord John Russell to that House ren-
dered it necessary that Lord Wodehouse should
yield his place to a Commoner. Lord Wodehouse
was not able, as Earl de Grey and Ripon had
been, to exchange places, but was compelled to
resign, and his post was given to Mr. Layard,
the present Under-Secretary, There still remained
the War-office to be filled, and in filling this a
great number of changes took place. Sir George
Lewis was appointed to succeed Lord Herbert,
and the Chief Secretary for War being once more
in the Commons, Earl de Grey and Ripon and Mr.
T. G. Baring again exchanged back to their old
places. The Home Secretaryship was vacated by
Sir George Lewis's migration to the War-office ;
this was given to Sir George Grey; the Chancel-
lorship of the Duchy of Lancaster, which he had
• held, was given to Mr. Cardwell, Chief Secretary
for Ireland, and this last post was given to Sir R
Peel. At the same time another vacancy of infe-

rior
f
importance Mr. Bagwell ooccurredthe through
oft h e t rheet i rTerme
ae
snut r
yo
approve findingve t e course that
thehi his Irish
Government cconstituents
ittouoekn ts
respecting
did not
the Galway contract, resigned his situation. It was
conferred, nine months later, on Col. White, who
lost his seat on offering himself for re-election, and
Dwausring is
eompelele2d to find refuge in an English borough.
almost the only change that took
place was the substitution of Mr. Henry Bruce as
Under Home Secretary for Mr. Clive, who resigned
in November. The present year has seen several
alterations. The Admiralty had already lost two
of its naval Lords—Sir R. Dundas and Admiral
Pelham—who had been succeeded by the Hon. Sir

Frederick Grey and CApl. Drummond, when in
March, 1863, Mr. Whitbread, on whom devolved
the chief labour of preparing the Navy Estimates,
was compelled to resign on account of and
he was succeeded by the Marquis of ll9.rtington.

That nobleman did not continue long at Whitehall.
The death of Sir George Lewis left the post of Sec.
retary of State for War vacant the second time in
less than two years. Earl de Grey and Ripon,
who, as Under. Secretary, had displayed great effi-
ciency, was promoted, and in his subordinate post
the newly-made Lord of the Admiralty was in-
stalled, while Mr. Stansfeld suecceded the Marquis
of Hartington. Within the last few weeks there
nave been important changes in the legal depart-
ment of the Government. Sir William Ather-

ton, finding that he had neither the physical nor
mental strength for conducting the highly moment-
ous proceedings in connexion with the Foreign En-
listment Act, resigned, and was succeedEd by Sir
Roundel' Palmer, Mr. Collier taking the Solicitor-
Generalship, and the office of Judge-Advocate of the
Fleet, which had been held by that gentleman, be-
ing conferred on Mr. Phinn. Besides these changes
it may be mentioned that Sir R. Phillimore has suc-
ceeded Queen's Advocate, and that
si
Hawes,Permanent Secretary for War,
Har d ingas
has died, and that his office has been abolished. Thus
in four and a half years the Secretaryship of State
r B e Sirj
mji
for War has been twice vacant, the Secretaryship
for the Home Department once, the Lord Chancel-
lorship once, the Postmaster Generalship once, the
four posts of the Attorney-General and Solicitor-
General for England and for Ireland have each been
vacant twice, and there have been four changes
among the Lords of the Admiralty. Tho Chief
Secretary for Ireland has been changed once, the
Under-Secretary of the Home Department and
Foreign Affairs once, of India twice, and of the
War•office three times.— Western Morning News.

SPIRIT OP THE PUBLIC JOURNALS.

SPECTATORwhich has been evident
in the
k, which has produced four
ain e t —Theallth e controversy
past
wee

successive Cabinet Councils on as many days, and has led
to at least one offer of resignation, has apparently ended, and
for one result England finally declines to attend a Congress
of Paris. The great scheme for assembling Europe in coun-
cil to discuss the grievances of the world and remedy them
through a tribunal armed with the power of law, instead of
through a great faction fight, with nations for partisans and
armies for weapons, has been frustrated by English action.
Whether Russia accedes or refuses, the great South Ger-
man Power, always jealous for her last foothold in Italy,
will eagerly grasp at the pretext, and without England or
Austria no agreement having the binding force of a Euro-
pean compact can be so much as expected. The "Con-
gress," should it meet at all, which becomes more and more
improbable, will be a mere "Conference," and Napoleon
may find, as private litigants so often find, that personal
communication only deepens jealousy and dislike, The
country, though regretting a project which had in it some-
thing strangely attractive, will not, we think, refuse to
endorse the decision, will probably, rather from instinct than
argument, arrive at some such conclusion as this :—Had
England possessed at this moment what she only seems to
possess, a Minister enjoying the perfect confidence of the
people, yet familiar with all the springs of Continental
action ; able to threaten war with the certainty that the
country would follow his lead, yet resolved not to permit a
war except fcr some visibly adequate end, she might have
put her habitual distrust of Napoleon and her permanent
dread of vain speculation for once aside, and by guiding, or
checking, or doubling the immense force of France, have
secured an endurable peace for the world, As it is, the
practical difficulties are too visible, the possible advantages
too uncertain, the confidence of the country in its rulers too re-
signed, for any experiment so vast to awaken the necessary
enthusiasm. Tne project in England is given up, and men
turn from it uneasily to speculate, from data which grow every
moment more uncertain, upon what Napoleon will do next.
They see plainly enough that it is on him that all action
depends, that so long as he halts all Europe will halt, if
only out of wariness, that so long as he and Great Britain
can by any possibility keep step, wars must be limited in
area, in time, and in destructive effects. But then they can-
not decide how long he will halt, howlong he will suffer the
alliance to remain a possibility, how suddenly or in what
direction he may burst into an isolated course of activity
of which no one can see the end. It is felt rather than
known that there is war at hand, but the objects and direc-
tion of that war are still matters of feverish speculation.
Napoleon will war with Russia for Poland ; ho will fight
Germany for the Rhine ; he will finish his work in Italy :
he will settle the Eastern question with Russia for an ally—
such are a few out of the speculations gravely discussed in
papers frequently well informed within this single week.
Every new accident in Europe, the death of a petty king,
the vote of a powerless Diet, even the resolutions of princes
whose very names had but yesterday been forgotten, fur-
nish new cause for alarm; and so perturbed is the public
mind, that for the first and we trust the last time in history,
a resolve of the Saxon Duchies, whose very names politi-
cians can barely spell, has effected all European exchanges.
, Men acknowledge on all sides that everything is shifting
i visibly, that plans and speculations are equally futile till
we know what the ruler of France may intend to do in that
much dreaded future—the coming spring. One halt of all
this alarm is we believe unfounded. That the Powers, and
especially Russia, are arming fast, is evident ; that war will
come with the spring is only too probable; that any war,
however welt justified, must at first be disastrous, is cer-
tain; but this talk about all manner of wars at once can be
productive only of unreasoning panic. The people who
accept or even consider the huge mass of rumours and sus-
picions and personal stories which the exiles and the gos-
sips are tossing by cartloads into the papers of the conti-
nent, forget the first two elements in the ,question—the

character- of Louis Napoleon and the public opi

nion of France. In the long run, and on external
politics, those two elements will be found, when
rightly estimated, either to be, or believe themselves
to be, en rapport, and to estimate one without counting the
other is to calculate aberrations in the solar system with
one of the planets forgotten. The moment they are consi-
dered together whole sets of vague apprehensions will at

once be laid aside. This secret Russian allianc?, for

example, might, for aught arybody can tell, be possible to I
Napoleon. We doubt if it is, for it would involve sooner or
later that conflict with England which, except in the last
resort, when every other prospect has failed, he does not
wish to provoke. But admit that it is on certain conditions
possible to himself, there remains the question, is it possible
to France? Napoleon is no Oriental despot, no Caliph or
Great Mogul, to wage mighty wars in spite of all sections
of his own people. His role is to represent France, or where
that is impossible, as in the Italian war, then the party of
progress in France -the parry which, and not the rich, has
the courage to make revolutions. Neither of these two
powers, neither France as a nation nor the progressive classes
of Franca, desire an alliance with Russia. The Republicans
would regard it with horror, as a final breach witlisthe Re-
volution, as a menace to social advance through every part
of the Continent; the bourgeois would regard it with tremor
as leading to the one contingency they dread— a final rupture
with England ; the priests cannot see heretics exalted with •
out a pang of annoyance; the cultivated classes would sigh
over the hopes they have indulged for Russo• Poland, and
tho army would rage at a policy which, while it abandoned
the comrades who died by their sides at Borodina, would
cut off from them finally the hope of a march on the
Rhino. For the Russian Czar, unscrupulous as ho may
be, cannot abandoned the one friend who, in his extremity,
has threatened war on his behalf. The alliance with Russia
for active objects is, in the present state of French opinion,
with men's minds all ulcerated by the stories told of Gen.
Berg and decrees actually published by Mouravieff, simply
impossible, So is a direct attack on all Germany in order
wo
to gain the Rhine. Napoleon is not a gambler who stakes
immense wealth already in hand in order to gain double or
r
fiifn quits,unsuccessful,ally uann:deatti finallyht.o ugvhe a
ifs
seat
ebt blow
ss
dynasty,
thenrwaasrtyf
o Poland he must,
failureßhine might,uld a s
E
n
move with exceeding wariness, for England might not
tolerate farther aggression, and the ono object the Haps-
burgs never abandon is the hope of a German crown. They
dare not sell the Rhine, and without their consent war for
a frontier involves a contest between France unaided and
the whole Germanic people backed by the recovering Rus-
sian strength. Napoleon plays for quick and decisive wars,
and though he may, and we trust will, strike a blow for
Poland, still with Mexico on his hands, Germany sulky
and suspicious, and England ever watchful, his object will
be to limit, not to enlarge, the area and scope of his opera-
tions. War, of course, may produce any amount of unex-
peeted or undeserved results; but those results are not
planned, and it in the suspicion of possible plans, of deep-
laid intrigues for aggrandizement, which poduees such
perturbation. Of course, if Prussia, forgetting alike her
history and her treaties, with her people in open conflict
with thaiz king, and a Ministry whose best future will be
to escape the block, is mad enough to rush upon Denmark,
the Emperor of the French may have a great opportunity.
But even then annoyance of Great Britain at his aggran-
dizement, and the chance of a European coalition, which
we should not without guarantees help hip to resist,would
tend to make him hesitate before he changed a war " for
the public law" into a war of boundaries. There are rocks
enough ahead, and while Europe is subjected to the ambi-
tion of one great brain uncertainty must continue ; but it
is not by feeding imaginationa fait getting morbid that men
can clear their eyes. Every sheet in the dark looks a
ghost, and Europa is in the dark—but it is at least well to
remember the vast antecedent improbability that any
ghost should be there.
SATURDAY REVIEW.—That strong feeling has been ex•
cited by the untoward events at Kagosima is creditable to
public morality, but indignation is generally in a hurry,
because anger: is incompatible with scepticism. As the
facts of the case are only known from the reports of
Colonel Nealc_and Admiral Kuper, it is plausibly argued

that culprits may be fairly condemned on their
own voluntary admissions—but English law generally
requires additional proof that the criminal act was really
accomplished. It is also worthwhile to recollect that, instead

of consciously confessing their guilt, the Minister and the
Admiral are complacently assuring their superiors that they

have sedulously obeyed their instructions. Their own in-
terpretation of their conduct is not to be implicity accepted,

but their accusers ought to allow that apparently confident
innocence must at least admit of an intelligible explanation.

English writers who have condemned the transaction dog-
matically assert that Lord Russell's despatch afforded no
justification for the consequences which nevertheless un-

doubtedly followed from the attempt to comply with ita

crms in the strictest manner. Colonel Neale, who had the

strongest motive for endeavouring to understand the mean-
ing of his superior, evidently believes that his own proceed-
ings are covered by his orders, and that it is even necessary
to apologise for his inabili y to exact complete satisfaction
from the Japanese. Admiral Kuper also, who must have

seen Lord I-i:ussell's instructions, is anxious to satisf} the

Admiralty that he has neglected no practicable method of

enforcing tho policy which he attributes to his Government.
Both functionaries assume that what they have not done,

and not what they have done, can alone justify them to
censure. Hasty critics may reply that the stolidity of a
hardened conscience aggravates the guilt of unavowed mis-
deeds, but the simultaneous presence at Kagosima of two
bloodthirsty and unprincipled Englishmen in high positions
requires some explanation, or perhaps even a suspension of
judgment. Whatever may have been the special policy of

;he Home Government, the Duke of Somerset is responsible

for the appointment of Admiral Kuper, and Lord Russell

for the appointment of Colonel Neale. It has not been

suggested that the Admiral has hitherto been notorious for
cruelty of disposition, and it ought not to have been for-
gotten that Colonel Neale has been repeatedly accused, by
his countrymen :resident in Japan, of indifference to their
safety and to the protection of their property, and of undue
subservience to the native authorities. gis character may have
altered, or it may have been misunderstood, but on the whole
he is entitled to a hearing before he is definitively condemned.
Lord Clarence Paget committed an error of the same kind,
in the opposite direction, when he informed his constituents

at Deal that Admiral Kuper's conduct at Kagosima was a
proof not only of gallant seamanship, but of considerate

humanity, According to this account, the destruction of
the town was caused by the unsteadiness of the English

fire when the gun-platforms were rocking up and down
with the waves under the influence of a violent gale. The
sailors of Deal are invited to confirm the statement that it is

impossible to take accurate aim in a storm, and they are
therefore expected to acquit the Admiral, who only in-

tended to silence the batteries, of intentionally setting the
town on fire. The sagacity of mere landsmen is equal to
the additional remark that a high wind has a tendency to
render a conflagration more destructive, and philanthropic
civilians might even inquire whether a battle conducted
under circumstances so anomalous might not have been
conveniently postponed until the gale subsided. It might,
indeed, be Admiral Kuper's duty to return the fire of the
batteries ; but. according to Lord Clarence Paget, he neces-
sarily missed the forts, and directed his guns on the peace-
able inhabitants of the town. If a principal in a duel were
prevented by any accidental impediment from pointing his
pistol at his adversary, the laws of honour would scarcely
require him to shoot his adversary's second. It is not alto-
gether clear whether Lord Clarence Paget's apology was
founded on conjectures of his own, or on unpublished in-
formation. His statement that Admiral Kuper expressed
regret for the destruction of the city is important, if it is not
to be understood as a hypothetical embellishment of an
after-dinner speech. It was commonly remarked that
Kuper might have escaped the greater part of the popular
censure which he has incurred if his report to the Admi-

ralty had contained the professions of sorrow which he is
now supposed to have uttered. If his private letters con-
tralict his public despatch, his humane feelings may be
vindicated at the expense of his consistency, and his absii-

nience from any official utterance of regret must be ex.
plained by the supposition that he attributed to the Go-
vernment or the Admiralty a revengeful pertinacity which
for himself, in his private capacity, he disclaimed. If, as
is possible, the Secretary of the Admiralty really knows no
wore of the transaction than the rest of the world, it would
perhaps have been judicious to withhold information until
he had himself received it.

THE READER.—We do not know that Earl Russell has
been particularly prolific in memorable phrases, considering
his opportunities; but his "Rest and be thankful" of this
autumn has been a great success. It has been the phrase of
the season. Not to take account of references to it for
several weeks past in newspaper articles, it has made its
appearance this very week as a text for comment in two
such opposite quarters as Mr. Bright's speech at Rochdale
and Earl Powis's address at his mansion in Berkeley-square
on accepting the High Stewardship of the University of
Cambridge. The origin of the phrase may not bo gene-
rally known. The speech in which Earl Russell made use
of it was one delivered during his recent autumn vacation
in Scotland, when he had been enjoying Highland scenery
and probably climbing a few mountains. Now there are not
a few of the fine but toilsome mountain ascents in Scot-
land, at the top of which, when you are dead-tired, you
come upon a stone-and-turf seat, or, it may be, a shieling,
on which you read painted in rude letters, the inscrip-
tion " Rest and Be Thankful," telling you that other
wayfarers have been there before you and have
felt very much as you do. You obey the injunc-
tion, and sit down for a longer or shorter
time to recover your breath and rest your limbs;
and, if you are alone, and, as usually happens, the resting-
place is so chosen that you can trace from it all the wind-
ing way by which you have come, and let your eye range
over wondrous adjacent tracts of silent solitude lying be-
neath you, the chances are that you yield to the genius of
the spot, and have a little fit of as wholesome philosophic
meditations as you are ever likely to have. There are, we
say, not a few of these spots in the part of Scotland which
tourists visit ; and we have ourselves seen " Rest and Be
Thankful" painted on stone seats on eminences of very
easy accesss that it was plain they must have been very
very asthmetic persons indeed that had found occasion
there either for the seat or for the sentiment. But the
original " Rest and Be Thankful," from which all the
others are mean plagiarisms, is at the head of Glencroe,
through which you make your way on foot, or otherwise,
going from the top of Loch Long to the top of Loch Fyne.
That is the spot where the sighing soul of a whole district
first vented itself in a pious topographical expression of its
fatigue; that is the only "Rest and Be Thankful" to he
found marked as such on the map of Great Britain. Our
venerable Foreign Minister, there is little doubt, had been
there this autumn ; he had there probably had his brief fit
of meditation, seeing in the difficult and rocky Glencroe
beneath him—as thousands of other wayfarers have done—
an image of his life up to that moment. But, though the
actual Glencroe might be the same to all wayfarers, how
different the spiritual Glencroe which an Earl Russell
would see imaged in it from that which more private mortals
could see I At all events, the lesson of the spot remained
with him, associated with the name of the spot. 't
occurred to him that there aro moments of the collec-
tive life of nalons,' as well as in the lives of individuals,
when they should rest satisfied with what they have at-
tained and not seek for more; and it farther occurred to
him that the present, at least in respect of home politics,
may be one of these moments in the collective life of Great
Britain. And so he promulgated the lesson; and a phrase
piceed up at the head of Glencroe has gone through all the
newspapers, and been repeated in Rochdale and in Berkeley-
square. The poet Wordsworth was also once at the head
of Glencroe. It was 32 years ago ; and he also had his
little meditation at " Rest and be Thankful." It took the
form of a sonnet, as follows
" REST AND BE THANKFUL."
AT THE HEAD Or GLENCROII.
Doubling and doubling with laborious walk,
Who, that has gained at length the wished for Height,
This brief, this simple wayside Call can slight,
And rests not thankful ? Whether cheered by talk
With some loved friend, or by the unseen hawk
Whistling to clouds and sky-born streams, that shine
At the sun's outbreak, as with light divine,
Ere they descend to nourish root and stalk
Of valley flowers. Nor, while the limbs repose,
Will we forget that, as the fowl can keep
Absolute stillness, poised aloft in air,
And fishes front, unmoved, the torrent's sweep--
So may the Soul, through powers that Faith bestows,
Win rest, and ease, and peace, with bliss that Angels
share.

There is some difference, it will bo peeceived, between this
spiritual rendering of the Glencroe inscription by the poet
and that by our Foreign Minister. Earl Russell's applica•
tion of the text is that there may be times when farther
striving may be useless or unadvisable, and when the best
thing people can do is to rest satisfied with what they have
got, and be thankful that they have got so much. The poet
Wordsworth's interpretation of the text, we venture to say,
is both deeper in itself and more exact in its truth to the
circumstances,

THE LONDON REVIEW,—The aspect of the Schleswig-
Holstein dispute becomes more warlike almost every day.
Although neither Austria nor Prussia has yet made any
sign, the smaller German powers appear to be quite carried
away by the popular enthusiasm. 4t is AU obvious policy
for the petty dukes and king who aro not on too good terms
with their own subjects, to stave off inconvenient discus-
sions by fostering the national sympathy for the Germans in
Schleswig. Nor is it inconsistent in sticklers for the divine
right of rulers to protest against the sacrifice of the claims of
the Augustenburg family to the convenience and the peace
of Europe. But an obvious policy is not always a sound one,
and if Germany has once more to bear the brunt of a great
war, it is not likely that the people will again to content to
boar the sacrifices and resign, the -profit to their princes. It
is scarcely possible that the most obtuse of Teutonio sove-
reigns seriously believes that Permark will be left to main-
tain unaided her cTn integrity and the provisions of the
treaty of 186'1 But unless they can se6ure the acquiescence
of England, France, and Russia in their projects, the at-
tempt to sever Schleswig-Holstein from the state to which
it belongs must entail the risk of a contest whoSe issues and
4imensions are quite uncertain, but which will certainly
before it closes reduce every ruler in Germany to a,
it stais no
eoof
abject dependence upon his parliament. llowever,
concern of ours ifkings wl h •e
•11 imprudent and rashly kdis-
turb a status quo from which they derive more benefit than
any one else. But we cannot remain indifferent to the
threatened disturbance of a settlement under which so

lately as 11 years ago the succession to the uholo of the
Daniil monarchy devolved upon Prince Christian of Glucks-

burg. There is en end to all faith in trea*.ies if the powers
who signed the cue in question are now to set it at naught or
to remain indifferent to its execution: We can hardly thial:

;hat either Austria or Prussia will avail thfunselves of

any flimsy pretext to evade their plain obligation to re-
cognise Christian IX. as King of Denmark, including
Schleswig-Holstein. Their signature to the treaty of
1852 was given unconditionally. It was subject to no
reservation of any right which the German Diet might pos-

sess to pronounce on the succession to the duchies. It

bound them, not to Denmark, but to Europe, in whose
interest the treaty was confessedly concluded ; asid even if

Denmark has violated other stipulations entered into at the
same time, the breach of these does not release the signa -
taxies of that treaty from their mutual obligations, although
it may possibly furnish an independent ground of complaint
against the offending state. This is so clear that, in all
probability, neither Austria nor Prussia will venture to
espouse openly the cause of the Augustenburg family. The
real danger seems to be lest, while nominally respecting the

letter of the treaty, these Powers should be driven or

tempted to disregard its spirit ; lest, while recognising the
title of the new monarch, they should so far yield to the
pressure of German feeling as to push on the Federal

execution, which, under present circumstances, can only be
regarded as an indirect means of promoting, as it certainly

would promote, the dismemberment of Denmark. It is
openly avowed that the object of the professed adherents of
Prince Frederick of Augustenburg is to secure Kiel as a
German naval port; and some enthusiasts at Hamburgh
havo even gone so far as to proclaim that the duchies should
be told from Denmark whether their inhabitants are willing
or the reverse. Other Powers, whether they are mainly
anxious for the preservation of the independence and
integrity of Denmark or for the limitation of the power of
Germany, will not see with indifference any steps which tend
to the accomplishment of such designs. It rests at the pre.
sent moment with Austria and Prussia either to give us
peace or war. And while we are willing to hope the best
from their sense of the consequences which must follow
from the adoption of the latter alternative, we are compelled
to fear the worst from their rivalry for the leadership of
Germany. Upon their own heads, however, must be the
consequences if they afford France a pretext for crossing the
Rhine as the ally of the Scandinavian kingdom. However
much we might regrot such an event, we neither can nor
will assist a nation which chooses to pursue its own aggran-
disement in the teeth of European opinion and in violation
of a recent and deliberate European settlement.

TILE SOCIAL SCIENCE REVIEW.--History tells much of
the high state of civilisation which prevailed in India
many ages ago, when Europe was sunk in ignorance and
barbarism. We are inclined to think that this high culture
must be considered comparatively ; if ever it were absolute,
India must have sadly fallen from her high position, to have
sanctioned the priestcraft, the superstition, and the utter
ignorance which prevail among her inhabitants at the
present day. Nor can it be hoped that the future of India
will be materially improved unless strenuous and well-
directed efforts are made to educate the people. It is almost
impossible to suppose a lower state of education than that
existing in India at this moment. Very few persons can
read : as nearly as can be ascertained, the proportion varies
from one in 300 to 10 per cent. An official inquiry recently
instituted in Mysore, gave 2.75 per cent, as the proportion
of readers. H. Woodrow, Esq., Inspector of Schools, esti-
mates that in the richest and most populous portion of the
province of Bel gal there are about three persons in every
100 under instruction. Taking the whole of British India
into account, and including all schools which had any pre-
tensions to the name—Government, aided, and mission
schools—less than one in 400 of the population were under

instruction. For the sake of comparison, we may remark,
that the proportion in England is about one in eight. The
proportion of the people under Christian instruction is
barely one in 1,760. We have not included the indigenous
schools in the foregoing statements; they are somewhat
numerous, but from the superstitious and obscene books
generally read in them, they are in many cases productive
of evil rather than of good. In some of these native
schools the life of Krishna is the principal textbook, and
its disgusting details are dwelt upon with apparent delight
by the teachers. The influence of such a book may be best
illustrated by supposing that in ancient times the life of
Venus had been prescribed for the stu)y of Greek youth.
Efforts have been made by Government, and by various
religious bodies, to bring about an improvement, and some
good has been done. When, however, we remark, that,
for example, the expenditure by Government on account of

education in Bengal does not reach one half-penny per
head per annum, and when it is remembered that the
assistance afforded by religious bodies must of necessity be
even less, it will be seen that pecuniary assistance to the
instruction of the people is at present administered in ex-
tremely iflfinitesimal doses. It may be added that there
are in India over 30 millions of children at a school-going
age.': Still, Government is taking a prominent part in pro-
moting the education of the people, and its measures gene-
rally have a good effect. The rule professedly observed in
Government schools with regard to religion is perfect neu-
trality. There are perhaps obvious reasons why the teack-
ing of religion in the existing state of India should be ex-

eluded, but grave doubts are entertained by many who see
the working of the system, whether the evils of this exclu-
sion do not more than counterbalance its advantages.
Perfect neutrality, however, is not observed—although the
use of the Bible is not allowed, even permissively, in
Government schools, a book known as " Timil Mioar
Poets," published by the Madras Direction of Public In-
struction, and extensively used in schools, contains an in-
vocation to Gausea, and advocates the worship of Vishnu
and of Liva, besides encouraging pantheism, fatalism, and
transmigration. This is not as it should be. A Govern.
ment which jealously excludes the Bible from its schools,
and which would dismiss any teacher who taught his
scholars the worship of Christ, is certainly bound by its
own rule of neutrality to see that only expurgated editions
of the native sacred classics aro allowed in the schools. This
would be a great benefit to the country, for by encouraging
only such editions, in a few years even those issuing from
native presses would lose much of their obscenity and
superstitious idolatry.
COURT JOURNAL,—There is nothing more calculated to
inflame the prejudices and wrath of a common man than to
tell him that he is crushed under the iron heel of a cor-
rupt and tyrannical aristocracy, and that he ought to rise
up and secure those privileges to which nature entitled him
and which would place him far beyond the power of the
Crown, the Lords, the Church, and the landed gentry.
These are the especial objects of Mr. Bright's hatred, and
it is his constant study to instil that hatred into the breasts
of the uneducated and ignorant artisans and labourers, who
are but too common in manufacturing towns like Rochdale
and Manchester. His speech the other day, even more
than that of Mr Cobden, was a studied attempt to excite the
populace against the political and religious institutions of
the country, to cause them to decry and distrust both Whig
and Conservative—any party, in fact, that is safe and mo-
derate—and, above all, to hold out the glorious Republic
of North America as the faultless model of a great and free
country—one far superior to his own in every respect —and
one which we shall never equal, unless we abolish the
Monarchy and the Lords, adopt universal suffrage, vote by
ballot, and an increased income tax, antihilate the Church,
or place it on a level with Dissent, destroy our fleet, make
cotton operatives of our soldiers, send back our volunteers
to the counter, the desk, or the plough, and hand over our
colonies to France and the United States, before whom we
are bound to humble ourselves on every occasion whatever,
If these are not the sentiments of Mr. Bright the repeoe:thg
system ought to be done away with, for it rir4st have
treated him with singular injustice during tte last 15 or 20
years. The modesty of these two ger`.,lemen is scarcely
less remarkable than their moderation, Mr. Bright takes
all the honour of Reform; Mr. Cobden, according to him-
self, is the impersonification of Free-trade principles.
"Now," exclaimed Mr. Cobden, conscious of his own
greatness—" now I carry a flag wherever I go, when
I travel abroad—whether in France, America, Austria, or
Russia. 1 at once become the centre of all those who have
strong convictions and purposes with reference to free-trade
principles." How is it that this King—apostle of free trade
—ignores the right of the Southern States of America to
enjoy its advantages whether they becovae an independent
nation or remain part and parcel of the United States ? Yet,
spite of this glaring inconsistency, Mr. Cobden is still
firmly convinced of the great blessings which every people
would receive by the adoption of the system, and is just as
convinced that free trade must be desirable under every cir-
cumstance as is Mr, Newdegate that free trade has failed in
its object, and that in Ireland, more especially, it has been
the source of innumerable evils and discontent. Both men
are honest and sincere, yet it is difficult to say which holds
the more extreme opinions: but there is this distinction—
that whilst Mr. Newdegate's doctrines are rather safer than
brilliant, those of Mr. Cobden are more brilliant than safe.
Both Mr. Cobden and Mr. Bright touched upon a variety
of topics, but with everything but " the Great Republic"
were they discontented and disgusted. Mr. Cobden very
properly expressed his horror of the English proceeding in
Japan, and the most unwarrantable and inhuman destruc-
tion of the town of Kagosima, " with its 150,000 of rich,
prosperous, commercial people," but he said nothing about
the shelling and attempted burning of Charleston, the capi-
tal of the great agricultural State of South Caroline. Mr.
Bright indulged in the grievances of Irelarel.;' denounced
the Irish Church as a "scandal not eealy to legislation, but
to Christianity," ascribed as!, the evils to the faulty and
venal system of En
:j:ish Government, and, as might have
been "Picted, ended by pointing out to Irishmen the inesti-
mable advantages to be derived from the citizenship of
United States, not telling them, however, of such petty
and small-minded objections as the suspension of the
Habeas Corpus Act, the continual proclamation of military
law, the slaughter of half a million of men, and the enforce.
meat of the conscription, which gives every Irishman a fair
and impartial chance of being added to the list of those
dead, dying, or captive. But then his starving family will
have the satisfaction of knowing that he fought for the
maintenance of " an instructed democracy." Mr. Bright
ventures to say " that if the United States of America were
to send transport ships to Ireland, and to offer to carry
every Irish man, woman, and child free of cost to the United
States, and to send them to the lan:ls of the West, he is
not certain that there would be men enough left in Ireland
at the end of one year to cultivate one half of its soil,"
Yes; and if at the end of throe years the census of those

Irishmen were taken, we fancy that a third of those who ti
went out would he found to have been killed by the sword \
or disease, a third ruined, and the remainder only too glad to
return to the "old country," in spite of the rotten and effete
institutions I

LAW TIMES.—A meeting of the Bar has been invited for
Wednesday evening next, to take into consideration the
Reporting question. It is the old struggle between the
Ins and the Outs. The would-be reporters who are not for-
tunate enough to procure employment on the existing reports
are very clamorous for the establishment of some new
reports, on which they hope to be engaged. They hope to
secure handsome salaries out of the public purse, or to pre-
vail upon Parliament or the judges to create a monopoly of
reporting, and endow themselves with it. Their zeal, there-
fore, is sufficiently explained, nor can it well be blamed ; we
but demur to the profession of disinterested regard for the
public or for the profession with which the demand is put
forth. We object also to he coolness with which the Outs
propose to ruin the Ins. They talk with admirable calm of
ousting probably one hundred and fifty existing reporterrs
from their incomes, and these may be transferred to their
own pockets. They propose to destroy properties, worth at
the very least fifty thousand pounde, probably nearly one
hundred thousand pounds, that they may build up their
own fortunes upon the ruins. With the sublime indifference
of men who are dealing with the properties of other people,
they repudiate compensation to those whom they are striv-
ing to destroy, not by fair competition, but by the creation
of a monopoly. The pretences for it are wholly unsubstan-
tial. There are but three desiderata in reports—accuracy,
rapidity, cheapness. We assert confidently that all of these
are secured by the existing reports: We defy a monopoly
to bring them out more rapidly, or to sell them for a We
price, than now. We assert that the monopolists would not
report so faithfully as do the existing reporters, who have
learned a difficult lesson by long practice. Moreover, there
is another consideration, which they have not thought of.
Suppose the reports reduced to the coveted monopoly—ell
but themselves annihilated—whence are to come the future
reporters ? In what school is the art of reporting to be
learned ? Unpractised hands could not be employed upon
official reporting, and there would be no minor reports, as
now, to be a school in which the apprentice might learn
his profession. A monopoly of reports would do for re-
porting what a monopoly of counsel would do for the Bench.
There would be no material for future judges. Then again,
all experience proves that paid officials never work so well
and heartily as those who are subjected to the stimulus of
rivalry; but ruin all the existing reports, and leave the
monopoly report in possession of the field, energy would soon
begin to flag, the officials, secure of their salaries, would work
upon official principles. Surely, neither Parliament nor the
judges would sanction such a step backwards in civilisation
as the creation of a gigantic monopoly in this year of grace
1863.

ASSIZE INTELLIGENCE,

NORTHERN CIRCUIT,-NEWCASTLE-ON-TYNE,

Nov. 28.

This was the commission day for holding the Winter
Assize at Newcastle.

The town calendar contained a list of four cases for trial.
It is not usual to sit and try prisoners on the commis-
sion day, that day being considered devoted to travelling to
the assize town and opening the commission. Mr. Justice
Wightman, however, having arrived last night, caused the
town grand jury to be summoned for nine o'clock this
morning. His lordship at that hour opened the commis-
sion, and charged the grand jury immediately after. His
lordship then proceeded to the church to hear prayers,'
which were over in some 30 minutes, and returned and Bat
for the trial of prisoners at 10 o'clock. The prisoners is
two of the cases pleaded guilty, tha third man, charged
with a forgery, was undefended, and the last prisoner is
the calendar, charged with manslaughter, was put on his
trial by halt-past 11. This man,

Terence Quin, aged 33, was indicted for the manslaughter
of Martin Linski, at Newcastle, on the 3d of October last.
Mr, Davison and Mr. Headlam appeared as counsel for
the prosecution; Mr. Blackwell defended the prisoner.
It appeared that the prisoner on the night of the 3d of
October last was going home through the streets of No"
castle about 7 o'clock, with a friend, who was carrying
clock under his arm. The prisoner was carrying a.bunaer
in which he had some groceries and butter, which he had
been purchasing for his family. Both men were sober,
but the prisoner chanced to run against the deceased
Linski, whom he met, and who was accompanied by one °r
two other men. The prisoner said, " I beg your pardon, I
thought you were an acquaintance ;" when the deceased
man Linaki immediately knocked him down, and Linski'e
companions proceeded to kick his bundle into the street,
scattering the groceries and butter in the kennel.
prisoner got up and attacked Linski immediately, and
while fighting with him one of Linski's friends attacked
him behind and gave him several blows on the head. 1110
prisoner then drew his knife, and as Linaki was apparentlY
about to strike him stabbed him in the neck with it. Linski
was immediately taken to a chemist's shop in the neigh'
bourhood, and soon after died of his wounds. _

The defence set up was that the prisoner believed that 110
was attacked for the purpose of being robbed, and WaS driven
to use his knife in self- defence.
His Lordship, iu summing ap, told the jury that the
prisoner was not justified in defending hiMself with hie
knife unless he was driven to the last resort, and believed
that he had no other means of protecting himself from
jury. If they thought, from the nature of the 'attack 00
the prisoner, that such reasonably was his belief, they ought
te acquit him.

The jury found the prisoner not guilty.
---
OXFORD CIRCUIT—OXFORD, Nov, 28.
Mr. Justice Crompton opened the commission here 10'
day, The calendar contains the names of 25 prisoner?, who
will be disposed of in 13 cases, of which seven are arson,'
one forgery, one manslaughter, one concealment of birth,
and the rest minor offences.