The Sun.
London, England, 1863-10-02 00:00:00

LONDON, FRIDAY, OCT. 2, 1863.

Hastened onward probably by a knowledge
of the importance of the tidings of which
she was the bearer, the Cunard steamer
Scotia, duo at Queenstown on this (Friday)
afternoon, arrived at her destination at cock-
crow this morning, after a passage of eight days
and a half across the Atlantic. The intelligence
brought by the Scotia is certainly, when we come to
look into it, as remarkable, almost we had said as
startling, as any that has for a long while past come
to us from the American seat of war. There were
rumours, it will be remembered, brought to us
at the close of the last mail, to the effect
that General ROSENCRANZ had suffered some severe
discomfiture. But they were only rumours. No
reliable particulars were there accompanying that
statement encouraging any one to believe it. These
vague reports,however, as to some serious disaster
having befallen the Federal force under General
ROSENCRANZ, are now,as it turns out,to the full con-
firmed and justified.: The defeat of General ROSEN-
CRANZ by the Confederate army under General
BRAGG is an event now q'ait© unmistakeable. The
discomfetted Federals, having been engaged
vigorously by General BRAGG on teVo suc-
cessive days, the 19th and 20th ultimo,
rear Chickamauga Creek, were compelled, on
the following morning, that of the 21st, to beat
a retreat to Chattanooga. The results of the con-
flict, which appears, as usual, to have been very
severe, are these—that General BRAGG has captured
from his antagonist twenty guns and taken five
hundred prisoners, the Federals themselves owning
to a total loss in killed, wounded, and prisoners of
twelve thousand men! The numerical force col-
lected together by General BRAGG belote the cona-
ntencement of this attack upon the position of
the Federals under General ROSENCRANZ cannot
as yet be estimated with anything like acouracy.
It was variously reported at New York on the
he 23d ult., before the departure of the
morning of t
astward voyage, to have been an
Scotia on her e
army of horn
"07 000 to 96,000 men. It is tolerably
certain, however, already, that before BRAGG's
movement, be ---
had been considerably reinforced by
troops despatched to him from all directions, by
LEE, by JOHNSTOYE, and by BEAUREGARD. The
withdrawal of the
-
meaning of the recent.
Confederate Cowman der-in'chief upon the Rapi
dan, becozes in this way already compre-
hensible. Every one who has watched
the strategy of that great
master of war since the
War's commeneeer,ent knew that there was, in
common parlance,
``something In ,Loe when it be-
came apparent that, instead of advancing against
had resolved
his antagonist Mrann, he upon with-
drawing to a new position, slightly to 0:13
rear of
his late headquarters, namely, to the line of the
Rapidan. One reason leading Lira to this
mcdifi-
cation of his plans, the battle of the 19th and
20th,
at Chickamauga Creek, has rendered already
apparent. That contest, as we have already noted,
having been preceded by the transmission of rein-
forcements from LEES main army to BRAGG! Other
reiclereements coining up sinaubaneouely and very
opportunely from JOHNSTONE and BEAUREGARD—
euabIing General BRAGG to seize 20 guns and 500
Prisoners as trophies of his victory over ROSEN
CRANZ—IZOSENGRANZ confirming the truth of that
victory by his retreat upon Chattanooga. "
said MANHATTAN in his very last letter, published
only yesterday, " if LEE should chance to take
Washington, we shall see gold ai 200 !" The Con-
federate Commander-in-Chief has not (yet) taken
Washington, is still (for the time being) at his
last chosen quarters on the Rapidan. It is General
BRAGG (only) who has gained a victory over
ROSENCRANZ, not within sight of Washington, but at
Chickamauga Creek, thence driving the defeated Fe-
derals beck to Chattanooga—end yet with the Capital

•
untaken, even unapproached, gold, on the first news
of General ROSENCRANZ'S defeat, in exchange went
up to 155 ! Even by the closing quotation upon the
evening of the 22d, receding only to 1511 ! And then
merely rallying so far, not because of any good news,
so to speak, but for no better tidings than that the po
sition of ROSENCRANZ was then supposed to be
slightly less disastrous or less critical than it had at
first been repented. Two fragments of the intelli-
gence brought to us by the Scotia, read rather omi-
nously, it must be confessed, so far as they tend
I to indicate the imminent impossibility of a war
between France and the Federals—one, being an
n
intimation through the New York orld, the
other through the New York Herald. The latter
stating—`` It is reported that Vice President
STEPHENS has gone to Europe with an offer to cede
Texas to France in return for French assistance to
the Confederate Government. The former asserting
that information has reached New Orleans that the
French had occupied Matamoras with 5,000 troops.
A collision is expected to take place at the mouth
of the Rio Grande between the French and Federal
gunboats on matters connected with cotton and
supplies for the Confederates." Straws—these are
not—thrown up to indicate in which direction
blows the fiery wind of war. Rather, let us say,
flickering flambeaux, telling us by the drift of their
fierce flame the one direction of its hot breath.

Among the numerous maps and charts published
annually for our instruction and guidance, there
is perhaps none which has so strong a claim upon
our notice as the small and unpretending map
yearly set before us by the National Lifeboat In-
stitution. If it be well that we should be
able to track the steps of discoverers in distant and
unknown lands, to realise the vicissitudes of war
by following the course of a campaign, it is un-
doubtedly also desirable that we should know the
perils lurking round our own familiar shores, that
we should not be ignorant of the spots close to us,
where courage and skill are as nobly shown as even
on a field of battle, where bravo men laid down
their lives in the struggle with tho elements. Such
information the Wreck Chart freely gives us. It
startles us from our fancied security and boasts of
progress to learn that, so far from diminishing, the
statistics of our naval disasters show a decided in-
crease, not only in number but in ratio; that is to
say, not only the actual amount of shipwrecks has
been greater, which might be owing merely to
increased traffic, but that a larger number were
wrecked in proportion to the voyages made. One
wreck out of every 201 ships was the average,
whereas the chronicles of the year just past show
one wreck for every 147 vessels sailing. During
the twelve months of 1862 no less than 1,827
wrecks and casualties occurred on the shores of the
United Kingdom alone, accompanied unfortunately
by the loss of 690 lives. There is some consolation
attending the last item, seeing that the average of
deaths from these casualties has been 800, and that
consequently the exertions of our lifeboat institu-
tions, and other means, have been rewarded with
increased success. The Wreck Chart plainly tells
us that the experience of the past year is very
unfavourable. It therefore becomes us as a
maritime nation to inquire closely into the matter,
and to ascertain by what means such catastrophes
may be diminished in number, if they cannot be
prevented. The number of vessels which entered
inwards and cleared outwards from different British
ports last year was 268,462, and it is estimated that
these ships had on board more than a million and
half of men. It is, therefore, only reasonable to
believe that a large number of casualties and dis-
asters must eventually occur under the most
favourable circumstances. It remains to be seen
whether the number that does actually take place
exceeds the inevitable average. In the first place,
it is worthy of note that a large proportion of the
vessels lost were the ordinary coasting colliers,
which are mostly ill-found, ill-manned vessels,
whose owners take very insufficient precautions to
ensure their safety. Tne ages of some of these
ships would certainly not improve their credit at
an insurance office. A collier sloop, which foun-
dered last December off the east coast with the loss
of all hands, was 71 years of age! Another, which
went down under very similar circumstances, was
still more venerable, being 99 years old. The want
of good ground tackle and sailing gear, the reckless
and indifferent manner in which these vessels are
sent to sea, is quite enough to account for the fact
that " the destruction of hundreds of them, even in
moderate gales, is now reduced to a matter of cer-
tainty." Nearly 800 out of the 1,800 vessels that
were lost were under 300 tons, a fact that is not
I surprising, when we remember how numerous are
the vessels of this class round the coast. We
may hope for some improvement in the fitting out
of these vessels, as many of the large shipowners are
interesting themselves in carrying out the project
brought forward by Mr. LAIRD, of submitting an-
chors and cables to a regular test before a ship can
be insured. Were this plan once fairly carried out
we should hear of fewer wrecks on our coast, and a
better and higher spirit would be infused into the
trade. That the whole of the wrecks must not be
laid to adverse elements is proved by the fact that
23 vessels were wrecked perfectly calm weather ;
28 in light airs ; 56 in light breezes ; 48 in gentle
breezes ; 110 in moderate breezes; 187 in fresh
breezes; 195 in strcng breezes; all which grada-
tions are reckoned below the degree of " moderate
gales." Only 321 of the wrecks were under the
command of masters holding certificates of compe-
tency ; while, as a proof of the necessity of some
change in the equipment of vessels, 25 of the total
equipments,wre cks wer e lo
vi,
hil set 66 fromy a defects
r t,
edthe their
cables
anb
Itchsec
radhripagsgeodr
their anchors. The need of additional harbours of
refuge on some of the more exposed parts of our
coast is forcibly demonstrated by the Wreck Chart
—a fact fully appreciated by Lord RavEsswoant,
when, before bringing on a motion on the subject
in the Upper House, he caused a large copy of it
to be suspended in their lordships' library. The
number of vessels lost and damaged by collisions,
which frequently occur in daylight and clear wee.
tiler, is so great that we must certainly class a large
proportion of them among the preventible disasters
We must hope for some change for the better in
this respect from the new regulations just issued
by the Board of Trade. The valuable services ren-
dered by the lifeboats and the bravo sailors who
man them, bare long been recognised by the public,
and additional proof is afforded every year of the
e fficacy of its exertions. Within six years life.
sad life-es eing apparatus have been the means
, ed lines. During the past year the)
besides saving 21 vessels. Tht.
,ci 8 lives,
given by the society for
oil::: iscatutiv: ii g3', - ()
of rewards
its formation is 13,220, and
saving
ger
life
since
it has expended upwards of £75,000 oe
es It must be re-
lifeboats and their allilialle--
ineenberel, too, that the
are often true heroes, well deserving
men whomof
tiht
eh employs
highest
rewards t
rewards that can be offered them. As is justly
remarked in the current number of the "
chill's
Lifeboathil
Journal"—" The relief of a wreck is no mere
a
play : it often occupies hours of hard ,dangerous,
,
and unremitting toil. It is no mere sudden flash
of generosity that is rcquired—no enthusiasm burp/
out as soon as kindled—but that steady, undaunted