The Sun.
London, England, 1863-06-24 00:00:00

SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALS,

TIMES.—It is not improbable that the Emperor
Francis Joseph, after all cis errors and misfortunes,
may leave behind him a name honoured in history.
Fifteen years ago he ascended the throne a mere boy
in age and under the guidance of a Minister, able
and resolute, but of the most despotic instincts. He
crushed not only open treason, but the most reason-
able constitutional demands. These few short years
have elapsed, and we now find him addressing a
Message to a great Constitutional Council of his
Empire, and using the familiar phraseology which
all Sovereigns seem to have copied from the Royal
Speeches of England. True, in the meantime there
have been important events. The mighty Monarch
in whom all Conservative Governments put their
trust, and who marched his legions to suppress the
Hungarian revolt, fell in a few years after the ex-
ploit, and was only delivered by a sudden death from
witnessing the overthrow of his armies and of the
influence by which he had so long imposed on Eu-
rope. Austrian dominion, Austrian influence, several
semi-Austrian Crowns have passed away in Italy.
Everywhere the Court of Vienna sees Sovereigns
forced to regulate their actions by the wishes of
their subjects, or to prepare for a resistance more or
fess dangerous according to the spirit of the people
or the grievances from which they suffer. The
merit of the Emperor is that he has understood the
necessities of his time and has yielded to them; and
let it not be said that it is no great thing for a ruler
to see what every one else sees—to gather from the
advice of Statesmen and soldiers and Churchmen
what the t umblest of his educated subjects can
learn from his own observation or the talk of his
friends. It is unfortunately the case that Sove-
reigns usually fail to see what is glaring in the
sight of the rest of mankind,—that they hear
not the voice of the people until it swells
into the shout of revolt. It is no small
merit for the young Austrian Emperor that, brought
up in a retrograde Court and tutored by retrograde
Ministers, he has yet attained to a clearer know-
ledge of his country's needs than is possessed by the
King of Prussia, a Sovereign of twice his age, and
ruling over a people who in culture, if not in genius,
are very far superior to those of the Austrian Empire.
There has seldom been a more arduous political un-
dertaking than that of uniting the discordant and
almost hostile provinces of the Austrian Empire into
one assembly. The Emperor's constitutional leanings
have been, no doubt, encouraged by the idea that
the only way to give unity to the mass of nations and
tribes which he governs is to bring them into con-
tact in one Chamber, to make the interests of one
balance those of another, and in some sense to play
them off, each against the one to which it has been
traditionally opposed. That Germans, Hungarians,
Czechs, Galicians, and Italians, so far as they tended
to fese, would consolidate the Empire, and so far as
they retained their rivalries would increase by their
division the influence of their common head, was
perhaps the principal idea which suggested the
establishment of this Imperial Legislature. Now
that the Emperor is committed to the principle
he will, no doubt, work at the realisation of it
with all the obstinate energy which is part of his
character. Prince Schwarzenberg was not more
resolute in his plan of welding together the Austrian
federation by sheer despotic strength than are
Francis Joseph and his present advisers, includ-
ing, it would seem, the principal members of his
family, in their design of uniting the Empire by
creating a Legislature which all the provinces shall
obey, while at the same time it is open to the influ-
ence of the Sovereign. Much progress, indeed,
appears to have been already made. Although
nothing can conciliate the inhabitants of Venetia,
who still regard themselves as Italians temporarily
kept from their allegiance by a defect in the Treaty
of 1859,—although Hungary is jealous and discon-
tented as ever, yet, on the whole, a remarkable suc-
cess has been achieved, considering the state of the
Empire and the short time the new institutions
have existed. The Emperor had no reason to be
dissatisfied with the scene which was witnessed last
week, when the second Session of the Imperial
Legislature was opened by the Archduke Charles
Louis, who read the Emperor's Message in the pre-
sence of a large array of members. These, though
they are unfortunately far from representing the
whole Empire, are yet a support to the Throne, such
as it never had when it relied solely on soldiers and
priests. In his Message the Emperor congratulates
the Chambers on the harmony with which the
Reichsrath and the Provincial Diets work together,
thus realising the Imperial principle that " the
necessary unity of the Empire may be upheld, even
though its component parts enjoy the greatest
amount of freedom and independence of action."
Then followed a passage which was heard with
great interest, as indicating the intentions of the
Emperor on the important question which is now
being discussed between the three Powers and
Russia. Whatever may be the warlike instincts of
France or of a small portion of the British public,
we are not to expect that Austria will allow her-
self to be influenced by them at this crisis. She
has a large interest in peace, and no interest at all in
raising up a Poland which would soon demand Galicia
of her. Any improvement of the Warsaw Government
which the policy or humanity of the Czar might sug-
gest would be approved by Austria, and it is in the
hope of such a solution that she addresses him in
company with France and England. But she is
ready for nothing further. Those who thought that
the jealousy, not to say hatred, which has existed
bet ween the two Powers since the Russian war might
possibly incline Austria to an offensive alliance with
France, have underrated the prudence of the Vien-
nese Court. Such at least is the impression which
the following sentence in the Emperor's Message
has produced :—" At the close of the first session of
the Reichsrath Austria was at peace with the whole
world. She still enjoys the blessings of peace, and
it will be the stedfast aim of his Majesty's Govern-
ment that she should continue uninterruptedly to
enjoy them." In ordinary times these would be
thought mere words of course, but Vienna under-
stands them as specially applied to the Polish ques-
tion, and is probably right in its opinion. What
revolution can be greater than that a Hapsburg
should pronounce such words as these ?—" Pro-
tected by liberal institutions, the intellectual and
material development of Austria is progressing
rapidly; her power and consideration are continu-
ally increasing." But, however strange for an Em-
peror to pen and an Archduke to read, they are
strictly true. The Emperor announces the happy
results of increased freedom and economy. Tee
credit of the empire and of the paper currency has
improved, and the state of the finances is such that
the Government will not require the 12,000,000f1.
which were granted for the covering of the ex-
pected deficit. Alterations in the system of direct
taxation will be submitted to the judgment of the
Reichsrath. Draughts of other important laws
will also be ordered for consideration. " A com-
plete code of regulations for the administration of
the penal laws will be laid before you. In the
Criminal Courts there will be publicity, with oral
proceedings, and in those provinces in which the
thing is feasible juries will be established,
to which all the more important cases will
be submitted.' The proceedings in criminal cases
will be simplified and shortened, so that they may
be in better keeping with the laws for the protec-
tion of the liberty of the subject." To this point has
improvement advanced in .Austria,—" trial by jury,"
" liberty of the subject." Let not any say that the
Reichsrath is a deception, or that the Emperor is
insincere. No Sovereign who really ,wished to keep
despotic power in his own hands would pronounce
such words or propose such laws. All may not be
done at once, but it is plain that the old Austria has
passed away, never to return—that the Emperor
knows great changes to be inevitable, and wishes
to make them safe.

POST.—While we are speculating on the nature
of the answer which the Russian Government will
accord to the collective notes, it is natural that the
statesmen at St. Petersburg, should be engaged in
a series of conjectures with reference to the temper
of the Powers by whom those notes were addressed.
There can be doubt that they will be guided in fram-
ing their reply by the accounts which they receive
from their diplomatists abroad of the degree to
which public opinion in foreign countries may have
been excited. Considering the present internal con-
dition of the empire, it must be the first object of
those who control its destinies to stave off all risk of
a European war, but it is possible that the tone of
the foreign press, no loss than of the Cabinets of the
Great Powers, may have lulled them into such s(ru

rity upon the subject, that they may be induced to
trust so far to the peaceful disposition of Europe, as to
try it beyond what it will bear. We have been fre-
quently reproached with cruelty towards Poland,
in exciting her population to continue an insaur-
rection which looked hopeless, when we had no
intention of giving them more substantial assist-
ance than that which they might derive from
a barren sympathy; but it is as unfair to
Russia to allow her to suppose that it will
be impossible for her to force Europe into war for
the sake of Poland. All experience has shown that
the most certain way of being dragged into war is
to set out with the loudly-expressed declaration
that under no circumstances will it be undertaken.
Thus it was that in 1853 Russia was encouraged by
the tone of the Cabinet and the press of this country
into acts which excited the public to such a pitch
that a war became inevitable. However much we
should deplore the recurrence of such a contingency,
it is as well that Russian statesmen should bear in
mind their last bitter experience, and should not
place too much reliance in the imperturbability of
speckators more or less interested in watching the fate
of their fellow-men. In England the final appeal
must ever be to the public feeling of the great mass
of the community ; and however earnest may be the
desire of the Government to control the national
impulse, there is a point beyond which it is power-
less, and is compelled to carry out the will of the
people it represents. We do not meau it to be sup-
posed that there has been as yet any popular expres-
sion of sentiment which should justify our antici-
pating a contingency so much to be regretted as a
European war in which this country should take

part, but we do deprecate the announcements we
occasionally see made in leading journals that any
such contingency is impossible. We are too anxious
to avoid drifting into war to make any such dan-
gerous declaration ; and we warn the Russian Go-
vernment that, by a policy of savage vengeance in
Poland, and of contemptuous indifference to remon-
strances addressed to it from without, it may excite
public feeling in England to an uncontrollable
pitch. As to the motives which might impel either
France or Austria in the same direction, the re-
presentatives of Russia in Paris or Vienna are
as well qualified as we are to instruct their
Government upon the subjeet. They can estimate
at its true value the force of French public opinion
and the nature of those political considerations
which may influence the Emperor towards an active
intervention. They can perhaps penetrate farther
than we can into the views of Austrian statesmen,
and judge of their tendencies in the same direction.
We would merely take the opportunity of impress-
ing upon the Cabinet at St. Petersburg, while con-
cocting their answer to the notes now under their
consideration, not to overtax the patience and good
nature of Europe if they desire as earnestly as we do
the pacific solution of the Polish question. The fact
that the Polish debate has been postponed until the
arrival of the answer from St. Petersburg, is most
fortunate in this respect, that it will force the Rus-
sian Government to respond without delay if they
desire to prevent a very loud and angry expression
of opinion in the House of Commons. Had the de-
bate already taken place those opinions might still
have been expressed, but the storm would have
blown over, and Prince Gortschakoff might have
taken his time. As it is, the storm is brewing, and
will increase in violence just in proportion as it is
pent up. Every day new facts come out to add to
the combustible materials already collected. In our
impression of yesterday we published the original
instructions issued by the Government of the Czar to
GeHeral Mouravieff, upon the appointment of that
officer to the chief military command in the revolted
Polish provinces, in which, says his Imperial
Majesty, "his excellency should take every oppor-
tunity of acquainting the peasants with the paternal
intentions of the Czar towards them, and of demon-
strating that the landowners are their enemies and
oppressors. if his excellency considers it ad-
visable, he can also furnish arms to those
among the peasants who are attached to the
Czar and to Russia." The effect of arming a peasant
after you have instructed him to consider his master
as his enemy and oppressor it is not difficult to
imagine. How are we to believe the denial by the
Russian Government of atrocities committed by the
peasantry, when we have this proof of the Imperial
instigation ? Again, " his excellency should oppose
certain demonstrations of the women, and for their
hindrance will even adopt severe measures against
them." It is true that the punishment of the knout
is abolished in Russia, but the punishment of
flogging with other instruments than those made of
thongs of sharp leather is in full force; and when
the Government denies the truth of the proclama-
tion attributed to Mouravieff, it may do so con-
scientiously so far as the knout is concerned ; but we
should be glad to know what the severe measures
alluded to by the Emperor and enforced by Moura-
vieff are if one of them is not the old established

punishment of flogging. However, we do not re-
quire to go into the region of conjecture to find
fresh instances of Russian barbarity and treachery.
Lord Palmerston told the House an anecdote on
Monday night to which we might venture to point
the moral. It would seem that near Wilna one
hundred and twenty Polish insurgents, finding
themselves surrounded, laid down their arms and
surrendered as prisoners of war, when ninety cf
them were slaughtered then and there by order of
the Russian officer commanding. How are we to
expect, in the face of such an experience that the
Poles can trust in any armistice? What guarantee
can Russia offer the Powers that the act of treachery
perpetrated by the Russian officer on a small scale
might not be applied to the nation at large when
once it had consented to rely on Russian honour ?
So far, then, as public opinion is concerned the
sooner the reply is sent from St. Petersburg and
the debate comes on the better for Russia, for every
day that passes only makes the case against her
stronger.

HERALD.—The telegraphic accounts from America
have for some time past been pointing to a result
which is anything but encouraging to those who,
presuming on the certain triumph of the Northerners
in the present campaign, have bid us prepare for
the reconstruction of the broken Union, the realisa-
tion of the dream of a united America. Bit by bit
the scheme has broken down, and the edifice faded
before our eyes like an unsubstantial pageant. The
plot was well imagined. A series of vigorous and
well-directed attacks being levelled against various
exposed positions of the Confederacy at nearly the
same time, there seemed a fair chance that by divid-
ing the forces of the South they might all prove suc-
cessful, while it appeared inevitable that one at least
of these determined assaults would carry all opposi-
tion before it, and by breaching the fortress, pave
the way for thii full accomplishment of the pro-
gramme. The territory at present defended by the
Southern armies may be said to be three-cornered,
and each of these corners is more
or less open to
attack. One of them is in Virginia, and is repre-
sented by Fredericksburg, on the Rappahannock.
Another is on the Atlantic seaboard, where Charles-
ton and Mobile constitute the chief points of con-
tact between the Confederacy and the Eastern world.
The third is on the Mississippi, where Vicksburg and
Port Hudson, with the stretch of river between them,
represent the &aim of the South to the territories of
the far West, and the right of the South to command
the communications between the North-West and the
Gulf of Mexico. These positions have been manfully
held by the Southern chivalry. It is already mat-
ter of history how the Northern squadron of iron-
clads dashed itself in vain against the forts of
Charleston, and retired discomfited from the
defences of the Mobile River. The Northern army
has been beaten back disastrously in its headlong
onset against the defenders of Richmond. Two of
the angles of this position of strength having been
thus assailed in vain, it remained to be seen
what impression could be produced by a concentra-
tion of land and naval force against the positions in
the west. The iron squadron succeeded in forcing
the river, and rode up and down insultingly between
Vicksburg and Port Hudson. One powerful and
seemingly irresistible army crossed the river under
their protection, and fought its way onward till it
arrived beneath the walls of Vicksburg, with a far
better prospect of success than the expedition which
so rashly attempted the same enterprise last year.
Another army, after ravaging the fertile country of
Western Louisiana, crossed the river too, and pro-
ceeded to assault Port Hudson. Generals Grant
and Banks have been equally unfortunate. After
having had the cup of Tantalus presented to their
.lips, it has been rudely snatched away from them
just as they. were counting upon its enjoyment. The
only object which can excuse the sacrifices of this
campaign is the capture of Vicksburg and Port
Hudson, one or both of them. The fall of either
would in all probability involve the surrender of the
other. But Grant, successful up to that point, has
failed egregiously before Vicksburg. Banks, boast-
ing of bis numberless victories, finds that he can
make no impression on Port Hudson. When Grant
retires from Vicksburg his other successes will be
found as bitter and as unsubstantial as the apples
of Sodom. When Banks retreats to New Orleans
he. will leave behind him scarcely a record of his
victories. The country of the Bayou Teche has
been already re occupied by the Confederates.
The country between Jackson and Vicksburg, as
far as the Black River, is swarming . with
Southern battalions, which are gradually closing in
on the rear of Grant. The Federate here are the
besieged instead of the besiegers. There is news of
a Southern division at Miliken's, Bend, 20 miles
above Vicksburg. If so it may soon place in danger
the communications of Grant by the Yazoo River.
There are Confederate troops below Vicksburg, be-
tween Grant and Warrenton ; Johnstone is gradu-
ally accumulating his forces behind him, and Pem.
berton is well able to hold out in front. The position
of Gen. Grant and his army is already one of immi-

rent peril. The attack upon Port Hudson on May
21 by the troops of Gem Banks seems to have been
characterised by as much impetuosity, to have re-
sulted in a failure as eertziplete, as that of Grant's
army upon Vicksburg about the same time. We
meet here with a melancholy apist.,,de in the fate of
a negro regiment of slaves, who have oZ"eil snatched
from servitude and hounded against their' masters
by the cruel policy of the North. These nogroes
re sent on to storm thealmost impregnable defenceaar
of a forlorn hope. The poor demi-savage sprang o
like tigers, gave no quarter, received none, and whew
dying fought with their teeth in a frenzy of despair.
Six hundred out of 800 of the Second Louisiana
blacks were put to the sword, 200 escaped by leap-
ing over the battlements. The negroes in arms are
treated by the Southerners as traitors, every one
of them taken alive being immediately hanged,
We can hardly find fault with these persecuted
whites of the South for endeavouring, by sharp
and stern measures, to avert from their country
and their homes the horrors of a servile war.
The news which we expect every day of the
raising of the siege of Vicksburg, and the precipi-
tate retirement from before Port Hudson of the
army which has lost one of its leaders in the deatl
of General Sherman will complete the picture whicht
we have long since drawn by anticipation of the
utter failure of the Federal campaign of 1863.
Triumphant on all quarters against an insolent
enemy who bad been reckoning on the overthrow
and dividing the spoils of the South, the Confederate
leaders may not rest content with a defensive atti-
tude, but may think that their turn is come to as-
sume the aggressive, and act upon the suggestion
of their countrymen that it would be well to trans-
fer the war to Northern soil. An invasion of
Maryland, Pennsylvania, and Ohio would bring the
evils of war more home to the feelings and con-
sciences of the men of the North. It would be their
fields now that would be wasted; their villages that
would be burned ; their hearths that would be made
desolate. Such an invasion would add to the disaffec-
tion that has already placed the States of the North-
West in an attitude of hostility to the Government ;•
it would suggest a wish for peace even to the trucu-
lent and unfeeling democracy of New England.
There seems every reason to suppose that Gen. Lee
is preparing for an advance upon Washington or all
invasion of Maryland. He is said to have received
such large reinforcements that his army is now
far more than a match for that army of Hooker's
which was defeated at Chancellorsville. A part of
Lee's army has been moved to Culpepper, between
the Rappahannock and the Rapidan, Gen. Stuart
being there with a strong force of cavalry. A Fede-
ral reconnoisance, under Pleasanton, was pushed
across the Rappahannock on Tuesday, June 9, at
Beverley's and Kelly's Fords, north of Culpepper,
but had to recross in haste after a smart engagement,
in which it was very severely handled. Far to the
north, at Leesburg, a party of Confederate cavalry
has crossed the Potomac and terrified the inhabi-
tants of the town of Poolesville, in Maryland. If
any considerable portion of Lee's army should march
in this direction, it will necessitate the hasty retreat
of Gen. Hooker upon Washington, or the capital of
the old Union, attacked in the rear, would become
an easy prey to the Southern invaders. The tidings
from America, however satisfactory to us, are be-
coming almost monotonous in their tenor. On the
part of the nation with which our Government will
persist in maintaining the meat cordial relations,
and addresses as if it were sole mistress and arbiter
of the destinies of America, these tidings tell us of
one defeat after another, of disappointment heaped
on disappointment. We hear of victory after vic-
tory won by the great people of which diplomatists
take no more notice than if they lived in Central
Africa near the Mountains of the Moon, a nation
which having passed through so long an ordeal,
and for nearly three years maintaining its freedom
by the sword, has not only a claim to our sympathy,
but a right to demand our recognition of the fact
of its existence.

COUNTRY MARKETS.

J,
LEEDS-TUESDAY.

The weather here is splendid. To-day there was a
small supply of fresh English and foreign wheat, which
sold at about the rates of the previous week. Spring corn
firm.

LYNN—.TUESDAY.
Wheat has shot into ear in this neighbourhood, and is
looking most luxuriant. Barley, oats, and beans also look
very satisfactory.
White 45s to 50s I Barley. . ' 32s to 340
RQd.. ..44s to 45s Grinding ..26s to 300
Beans .36s to 38s, Oats .2os to 24a
New —s to —s I Peas —s to —s