The Sun.
London, England, 1863-10-15 00:00:00

Letter from the Southern States.

We have received a letter, dated Wilmington,
September 11, from which we make the following
extracts

--., Rsilway transportation is exceedingly difficult
to procure, the roads and rolling stock are in a
most
miserable condition, the greatest speed attain-
able is 14 or 15 miles an hour, and the filthy state
of those cars set aside for passengers is perfectly
to our sense of order. How I sigh for
distressing
the luxury of even a second-class carriage in one of
our English railroads, and to travel at the rate of
30 or 40 miles per hour, free from any apprehension
of approaching danger. Here the case is very
different; an ordinary individual like myself is
kept ill one continued fever of excitement, caused
by breaking
axles, running off tracks, and inse-
work. And then as to the oasis for
cure trestle
travellers, the fond-houses (I can't designate
them by the name of refreshment-rooms).). I
believe the name they generally go by here
are "snack houses,"
My only injunction to the
unsuspicious is never to be tempted to taste a viand
but that Which is in some recognisable form.
"I have now been in the Confederacy some
months,
and have had ample opportunity of form-
ing an estimate of these devoted people ; and the
more I see of them the more fully persuaded am I
that the object for which they are heroically strug
filing will eventually decide itself in theirs favour.
The difficulties and disadvantages under which they
labour no one, except those who have witnessed it,
can form the faintest idea of. You read and hear a
great deal about the subject, but in order to arrive
at anything like an opinion you must be amongst
and converse with them. On one thing are they
united—a
can unison which no private or political vari-
ancever mar; and that is, a thorough and
e
implacable hatred to the Yankee, which will take
ages, if ever, to bury all trace of.
"I heard an instance of the humanity of these
same Christianising Abolitionists the other day,
in Charleston, from the lips of one of the niggers
captured during the assault on battery Wagner, on
the 18th July. When the regiment to which he
belonged was ordered to advance and storm the
works, the men faltered, Which the commanding
general
that they al observed. At the conclusion of an eihor-
would conduct themselves as became
tation
men with the free African blood coursing in their
veins, as a parting piece of information he said,
, Remember there are 5,000 bayonets behind you.'
The judicious motive of that arrangement
the encomiums of the people of Charleston at the
time; for, as they observed, a
nigger serves to stop
a bullet as well as any white man. The recent re-
verses which the Confederates have sustained has
brought some of the noblest traits in their character
into view. simultaneous with the fall of Vicksburg
came the news of the defeat of Lee's plans in Penn•
Sylvania, and a threatened attack on the port of
Charleston ; but instead of depending, the people
are as buoyant as ever, and as fully determined to
seal with their blood, if necessary, their devotion to
the cause."—Manchester Guardian.

EXETER HALL.—The National Choral Society
announce the commencement of their new season,
on Wednesday, Nov. 25, when Handel's Oratorio, " Judas
Maccalseus," will be performed with a band and chorus of
700. Mr. Sims Reeves has bean engaged for the ten sub-
scription concerts to be given by this society; during the
forthcoming season. Mr. Santley will also sing in "Judas
Maccabus.'' Conductor Mr. G. W. Martin.
STEALING MONEY. CURIOUS CHARGE OF
FELONY.—Yesterday, at Manchester, a respect-
ably dressed woman, named Mary Knowles, residing at
Bolton, was charged with stealing a purse containing £2,
from Mary Henson. The prosecutrix stated that about
three weeks ago the prisoner came to her shop, at Gerald..
street, Pendleton, and produced a groser's pass-book, and
asked if it was hers. She replied that it was not, but that
she would be more likely to find an owner for it than the
prisoner, and she then left it with her. The prisoner
asked if she would make a cup of tea for her and a friend,
who, it was subsequently found, was her son.
The prosecu-
trix said that she did not generally make tea for strangers,
but would do so to oblige her. They had tea, and afteree
re-
maining some time they left. After the prisoner
i ad
she
son were gone, the prosecutrix missed her purse, which h
believed she had in her pocket, and immediately instituted
inquiries respecting the prisoner. Her residence
She imme-
nce s
r
ascer-
tained, and a police constable apprehended h
digtely produced a purse, which she gave to the police con-
stable, and which contained a sum of money of the same
amount as that which the prosecutrix had missed. She
said that after leaving the prosecutrix's house she found,
on arriving at the railway station, she had another purse
besides her own in her pocket, and she did not know
to whom it belonged.—The prisoner stated that she
was a rag dealer at Bolton,andhear
rheuspsbecatnadb,lew
ho
situation.aH s a
She
mechanic, had been in his present situation 14 years. er
sSone camewas Manchester
oa
mechanic,
filling
to make some puorcshhaespess., and in
the course of the day she visited 20 or 3
,he got to the railway station she found a second purse,
which was very like her own, in her pocket, and not know-
ing from whet shop she had taken it in mistake, she kept
the purse and its contents unbroken until some inquiry
should be made about it. When she came to Manchester
she was provided with £lO, and therefore she did not want
money. Mr. Trafford said he did not believe that a purse
could have walked from one person's pocket to another
withcut fingers, and he should therefore commit the pri-
soner for trial,