The Sun.
London, England, 1863-04-28 00:00:00

THE CIVIL WAR IN AMERICA,

Now ready, at ail the Libraries, in 2 vols., 215.,
ITEROES, PHILOSOPHERS, and
COURTIERS of the TIME of LOUIS XVI.
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Now ready, in Byo , with Maps and numerous Illustrations,
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BLACKWOOD'S MAGAZINE
for MAY, 1863. No. DLXXI. Price 2s. 6d.

CONTENTS.
Wilson's Prehistoric Man.
Caxtoniana.—Part X VI.
No. 22.—0 n certain Principles of Att in Works of
Imag,,nation.
The Life of General Sir Howard Douglas, Bart.
Italian Brigandage.
Ludwig Upland.
My Investment In flto-Fax West.
The Landscape of Ancient Italy, as Delineated in the
Pompe an Paintings.
American State Papers.
The Budget.

William Blackwood and Sons, Edinburgh and London.

FRET TY POLEY, Come back to his loving
Father—Lord Clarence Eiward
"tagt, M.P.—The
Teetotal Charger, &e., &e., in " FUN his week. One
Penny.

THE ANTIQUITY OF MAN.
Tom Huckaback on Public Schools.
Po and, Sleswick Holstein, &0., .k.e.
In SATURDAY NIGHT, No. 57.
ONE PENNY.
f 0, Fleet-street.

CRYSTCRYSTAL PALACE. --FRIDAY NEXT,
AL
Mendelsso LMa I.—GRE Vl` FESTIVANCE of
y lm's ATIIALIE and the EXHIBITION OVER-
TURES by M. Auber and M. Meyerbeer.
The Orchestra, on the most magnificent sale, comprising
195 violins and violas, 90 violoncellos and double basses, and
20 harps, with adequate wind instruments, the entire Baud
and Chorus consisting of about
TWO THOUSAND FIVE HUNDRED PERFORMERS.
Principal Vocal Performers :
Mdlle. PAREPA, Miss MAR rIN,

and
Madame SAINTON-DOLBY.
Organist Mr. BROWNSMITH.
The Musical Arrangements by the Sacred Harmonic Society,
Conductor Mr. COSTA.
The Illus'rative Verses of " Athalie " will be recited by
Mr. PHELPS.
To commence at Three o'clock.
Admission on the day, 78. 6d., or by Tickets purchased This
Day or To-morrow.
The NEW GUINEA SEASON TICKET holders admitted
without payment.
Reserved stalls, numbered and Arranged in blocks as at the
Handel Festival, ss. extra.
Tickets at the Crystal Palace, or at No. 2, Exeter Hall,
where also plans of seats maybe seen, or at the usual agents.
For railway excursions on the Ist of May, see detailed ad-
vertisement in last Saturday's papers ; also special bills of
each Company.

EXETER HALL —The TICKET OFFICES
at No. 2 ExetPr are from Ten to Six d
for the ISSUE, of TICK Hall
TS for theOPEN aily
let of May, the New
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Tick ts, &c.

NoTE.—The price of admission tickets for the Ist of May
will be seven Shillings and Sixpence after To-morrow. The
Five-shilling Tickets should be at once bought.

FIVE SHILLING TICKETS for ATHALIE
THIS DAY and TO-MORROW only.

THE FARMER'S BAROMETER, 509., a
new Instrumen% by Negretti and Zambra, will cor-
rectly indicate whether the Barometer falls for Rain or for
Wind. Particulars by enclosing stamp.-1, Batton-garden
57, Cornhill ; and 122, Regent-street. ;

(From Correspondent of the limes.)

NEW YORK, April 14,
The North has suffered the most grievous disap-
pointment of the war. It had made up its mind to
two things—first, that the iron-clads, on which it
has been expending so much care, ingenuity, and
money, were irresistible; and, secondly, that it had
only to attack Charleston to capture and destroy it.
In both of these ca'culations it has been lamentably
deceived. Admiral Dupont may have had his mis-
givings that his nine iron-clads, even with the aid
of a co-operating tinny, were not sufficient for the
task he had to perform' . But Mr. Liec,ln had no
doubts; Mr. S award had ne doubts; General
Halleck had no doubts ; Mr. Stanton had no
doubts ; the Secretary of the Navy had no doubts ;
and there was scarcely a newspaper published
between Portland and Washington that was not
quite positive that the gallant Admiral would
achieve an easy victory, cover himself with glory,
level Charleston with the ground, break the scuff
backbone of the Rebellion and the war, and be for
the remainder of hia life the biggest man in the na-
tion. Goaded by the Government, which hungered
and thirsted, and still hungers and thirsts, for a
great military or naval triumph, he was told that
he had the finest fleet in the world, and that he
must "go in and win." He went in and suffered
in the short space of 30 minutes—some accounts say
two hours—the most humiliating repulse that the
Federal arms have sustained since the outbreak of
the war. But even so late as Sunday morning,
when it was known on undeniable authority that
the Keokuk had been sunk, and that three, if not
four, other iron-clads had been seriously damaged,
the hopeful people were taught to believe that the
attack was simply a reconnoissance to draw the
enemy's fire, to feel his position, and to ascertain
the real nature of the defences of Charleston
and the invulnerability of the iron-clads, prepara-
tory to a still more vigorous bombardment on the
following day. Even this morning, when every one
with a grain of common sense must coo that the
iron-clad Monitors and floating batteries have failed
to realise a tithe of the anticipations that were formed
of them, and that no renewal of the attack is advis-
able—even if Admiral Dupont had 50 Monitors at
the silly optimists at
his disposal, instead of seven the
persist in affirming--
that all things are
for the best in this hest of all possible worlds; and
that had it not been for torpedoes and other plaguey
obstructions in the channel the Monitors would have
steamed unharmed past the bristling fortress which
guard Charleston, and solved the great war problem
of our age. The "if" in this case is a monstrous
one. "If " there had been a wide channel, suffi-
cient to allow all the Monitors to pass through
abreast, and "if" there had been no such inventions
as torpedoes or such constructions as chhin•bars, it
is possible and probable that not more than one or
two Monitors would have been destroyed in the
attempt to pass Forts Sumter and Moultrie, and
that the remaineder—" if " there had been no other
forts of which to run the gauntlet, and no other
torpedoes and chains to endanger or block the way
—might have got near enough to Charleston to
batter it to the ground. But Mr. Lincoln and his
Government are both sanguinary and sanguine. A
semi-official despatch from Washington informs the
gaping public that " the Navy Department does not
regard the result of this preliminary bombardment
as decisive, or as essentially discouraging; that the
ability of the Monitors to withstand the unparalleled
concentrated fire of the batteries in Charleston har-
bour is considered to have been demonstrated, as,
notwithstanding the time they were under fire, they
were not materially injured ; and that on the whole
the department, after a careful consideration of the
published accounts and the official reports received,
is of a cheerful and hopeful state of mind."
European readers may, perhaps, consider that
some waggish opponent, some ironical Democratic
editor, is endeavouring to turn the imbecile Admi-
nistration into ridicule. But not so. The announce-
ment appears in a friendly journal, and is simply
and gravely made. Whatever may be the effect in
remote rural districts, Now York is not to be de-
ceived. It accepts the repulse as a serious defeat
which virtually relieves Charleston as well as Sa-
vannah and Mabile from the danger of any future
assault on the part of the ironclads. It acknow-
ledges at the same time that these much vaunted
vessels have fallen lamentably short of the anticipa.
tions even of those who were least sanguine of their
to attempt,
t hatafittersvosuuledi.ibbsitftoelr experience, to drively and sure destruction
them t
them past Fort Sumter; and that all that now re-
mains to 3ohe is to
have repair
speedily
as possible the
damages
received, as
and devote t
ethaeemdyu,tsygoufnsthe city
blockading at safe distances from the
which
they
were unable either
co capture or approach.
The details of the short and sharp, and in every
way remarkable, struggle will be read in England
with universal interest, proving as they do, in the
most conclusive manner, that the Federals can con-
struct no ironclad Ships which English artillery of
the newest principle and construction cannot pierce
through all their coating, however thick. They
prove also, that the machinery of the revolving tur-
rets is easily disarranged, and that these vessels
may be rendered useless for offensive purposes by
shots that are not sufficiently heavy or continuous
to destroy them.
In consequence of the uncertainty attendant
upon the Charleston attack the great " Mass" meet-
ing which was held in Union-square on Saturday
afternoon last, under the auspices of Mr. Opdyke,
the Mayor of New York, and the council of
"twenty-five" merchants, contractors, and lawyers
of this city, who have taken it upon themselves to
organise public opinion in support of the war and
the Administration, was somewhat of a failure. The
day was the anniversary of the fall of Fort Sumter,
two years ago, an event which a stranger to Ameri-
can passion might think was more worthy of
Southern than of Northern commemoration. In the
expectation. however, that while the meeting was in
progress the Government might have it in its power
to announce that the Stars and Stripes once more
waved over the rebellious fort, and that Charleston
itself, as over-ardent patriots pray, had been sub-
jected to the fate of Sodom and Gomorrah, every
arrangement was made to make the meeting one of
the largest and most enthusiastic ever held in the
city. But the fragmentary and incomplete news
that arrived from Charleston in the morning threw
a thmper upon people's spirits. The enthusiasm
which might have boiled over if Fort Sumter had
been captured or destroyed, was not to be excited to
fever heat by announcements, however delicately
and carefully worded, that only one of the iron-
clads had been destroyed. There was a presenti-
ment that the whole truth had not been told ; that
the expedition from which so much was expected
was a failure, and that Charleston was still entitled
to cell herself "invicta.'' The meeting was adver-
tised to commence at four.o clock. Six stands were
erected—three on each side of the square. Ech
stand had its chairman, or its appointed speakers,
as well as a band of music to strike up " Yankee
Doodle," or the "Star spangled Banner" whenever
any superabundant prosiness had been exhibited by
the orators of the day. General Sigel was advertised
to speak at one stand, General Fremont at another;
and Mr. Montgomery Blair, Mr. Liucolu'a Post-
master-General, at a third. At five o'clock there
were about 4,000 people in the square. A calcula-
tion of the number of auditors round the stand
where General Fremont was speaking showed less
than 400, and as none of the stands was
more crowded than that the real audiences of
the several meetings numbered at that time less
than 3,000, the other thousand being composed of
ambulatory spectators R ho went from stand to stand
as curiosity dictated or as the superior importance
of a speaker might attract them. Th 9 usual traffic
of the street wue in no Way disturbed ox interfered

that a warlike Democracy is incompatible with free-
dom, and that a military despotism grows as surely
from such a root as an oak from an acorn. Per-
haps, however, the warnings of Generals Halleck,
Batler, and Milroy will not be utterly wasted upon
that portion of the thinking people of America who
are not led away by preachers and exterminators,
or interested in war contracts. The light may Sawn
upon their minds that the South is battling for the
freedom of the North; and that the utter subjuga-
tion of the Southern people would be the greatest
calamity which could befal those Northern people
who are still so disloyal as to love constitutional
liberty better than they love their Government, and
so rebellious as to think that it would have been
better for America if Mr. Lincoln, General Halleck,
General Milroy, and men of such opinions as they
attempt to carry into action, had never been born.
The clamour against Great Britain has not sub-
sided. The repulse at Charleston is so damaging
to the Administration that orders have been given
to keep up the anti-English outcry with unabated
strength, in order to distract public attention from
the imbecility, or, at all events, the ill success of
the Government. The unanswerable speech of the
Solicitor-General on the question of the Alabama
and the Florida, and the warning speech of Lord
Palmerston on the danger of infl internationalcati
animosities for the purpose of creating " political
el cm!
nvective
capital" have excited a furore of unfavoura.
went in the RQpublican press, in which invective
takes the plat© of argument, and every possible.
form of the suppressio yeri and the suygest to fatsi
is unscrupulously employed. At the Union-tquarc
meeting on Saturday a number of the speakers dwelt
particularly upon the alleged entntly of Great Bri-
tain to the Republican Government of the United
States, but none so violently as the Hun. Montgo.
mery Blair, the Postmaster-General. British aris-
favourite aversion,"
tocracy is the "
or bete-noire
of the most ignorant of the many ignorant stump
orators of this country, and when Mr. Blair, who
from his position ought to have known better, de-
clared "that the proud aris!oeracy of England were
arming the slave drivers of Richmond with kw.-
clad ships to strike down the freedom of the North,"
he touched a sympathising
chord in the hearts of his
ignorant, or prejudiced audience and elicited tumul-
ble-
-41"18 cheers. 41
We," he aid, " are the real