The Sun.
London, England, 1863-12-04 00:00:00

spare for the Federal guests. Abstinence from
meat, even for a week or two, is, in itself, no very
dreadful hardship for people deprived of locomotion
and of healthy exercise, as prisoners at.= apt to be.
When the evil had reached a certain point, some of
the prisoners were released or " paroled," and their
appearance on this side the Federal lines seems to
have borne evidence of long endured martyrdom.
Many fainted and some died on the road. There is
some misunderstanding, however, in the rumour
which has been spread, that the Southerners do not
allow the prisoners to be relieved by their Federal
friends. The supplies furnished by the Baltimore
Relief Fund were, up to yesterday, going forward
regularly.
We are to'd, truly, that the same facilities were
not offered to the commissaries that offered to come
in with their stores from Fortress Monroe. But
at this place, we know, General Butler is in com-
mand, and there is little doubt that by some brutal
message, or by some inadmissable conditions, the
man " riled" the Confederate authorities, who, how-
ever, objected not to the introduction of the stores,
but only of the commissaries, in whom they appre-
hended so many spies, sent to expose the nakedness
of the land. For the rest, I think, it would be folly
to impute wanton barbarity to the Southerners, and
it is wurse than madness to try to goad the Fede-
rals to retaliation, as I hear many of the rabid
Abolitionists doing to the utmost of their evil power.
We are positively informed that such of the pri-
soners as have money are free to use it for their own
sustenance, and we are also aware that greenbacks
are exchanged at the rate of eight dollars for one in
Confederate currency. The receipt of packages frcm
the Federal lines has been freely allowed from the
first symptoms of distress. The supply of blankets
has also promptly reached its destination. There
are about 14,000 Union prisoners in and about Rich-
mond, and the distress is so great in that city that
a large part of the population had to be removed to
better quarters. Whether the Confederates ought
rather to release than to starve their prisoners might
be a debateable question, but I think it will be made
clear in the end that no greater hardship has been
inflicted on the prisoners than circumstances
rendered absolutely inevitable. Those who gloat
upon tales of horror, and strive to stir up the worst
passions of one-half of their Union" against the
other half, little consider, or perhaps little care,
what treasure of rancour and revenge they lay up
in the hearts of a people who were brothers only
three short years ago, and who will within three
years more bo brothers again, if the dearest hopes
of Yankee patriotism are to be realized.
If we may rely upon the same accounts, thedistress
of the South is only partial and local, and the
Northern blockade is as unlikely to bring the
" citadel" to surrender as the Northern army are
still far from being in a condition to storm it. The
prices of most articles are fabulously high, by which
we are to understand that the Confederate paper
money is ridiculously low. But for the rest,
" though there is an immense amount of suffering
throughout the rebel domains," we learn from very
good authority that " the Confederacy is far from
exhausted ; the crops are abundant and food is
plenty, but the rebel army is looked after first and
well supplied, and, with this and the difficulty of
obtaining transportation, little food finds its way
to Richmond." This, in a few words, we may be-
lieve to be as near as possible the real state of affairs,
and if so we can hardly believe that the Confederacy
will be " reduced by blockade in the course of this
win ter.

Tli9 papers of to-day are almost entirely filled up
by two speeches delivered by two orators as unlike
each other as it might weil bo pcy,sible for this
Western world to produce—Mr.Everett's inaugural
oration at Gettysburg, and Mr. Beecher's "Impres-
sions of the feeling in Europe with respect to the
Arnericin -War," spoken at the Brooklyn Academy
of Music.

The inauguration of the cemetery of Gettysburg
vas an imposing ceremony, only rendered somewhat
flit by the nature of Mr. Everett's lecture, and
ludicrous by some of the luckless sallies of that poor
President Lincoln, who seems determined to play in
this great American Union the part of the famous
Governor of the Isle of Barataria. Honest old Abe
arrived at Gettysburg on Wednesday evening, and
after supper was serenaded by the hand of the sth
Now York Artillery. There was a loud call for the
President. He appeared, and was loudly cheered,
when be opened his mouth and said :
" I appear before you, fellow-citizens, merely to thank
you for this compliment. The inference is a very fair one
that you would hear tue for a little while at least were I to
commence to make a speech. Ido not appear before you
for the purpose of doing so, and for several substantial
reasons, The most substantial of these is that I have no
speech to make. (Laughter.) In my position it is some-
what important that I should not say any foolish things.
(A. Voice—' If you can help it.') It very often happens
that the only way to help it is to say nothing at all.
(Laughter.) Believing that it is my present condition this
evening, I must beg of you to excuse me from addressing
you further."

Mr. Seward soon afterwards spoke rather more
to the purpose, urging that the cause of the war was
slavery, and that the war would end in the removal
of its cause. He had hoped to see slavery die by
peaceful means, but he was destined to see it die by
the fates of war. The after-supper speeches of
Wednesday, however, were hardly to be looked upon
as a prelude of the great sayings and doings of the
ensuing day. Yesterday tho proceedings were
opened by the Rev. Mr. Stockton with a long and
impressive prayer, followed up by the dedicatory
address by the President, got up in a somewhat
different style from his extempore effusion of the
eve, when at last the time came for the orator of
the day to open his MS.
The Hon. Edward Everett is a lady's orator. I
remember conversing with fair enthusiasts who sat
under that gentleman's pulpit on his debut as a
Unitarian minister in Boston, and who had not,
after many years, recovered from their rapture at
the "solemn, handsome, inspired, countenance,"
the "stately bearing," the "deep, mellow voice"
of the youthful preacher, and especially at the
" graceful wave of the dazzling white hand.' as
it followed the cadence of his well-rounded periods.
On all occasions where words are wanted—not
thoughts—where feelings are to b© tickled—not
roused—nothing can be more refreshing or pleasing
than to hear and see Mr. Everett. Here, however,
mere rhetoric was out of place, and whatever effect
the lecture may have had on the fernieine part of
the audience, which mustered rather strong on the
spot, there is no doubt that it reads tame beyond
belief; and is such a performance as would scarcely
win the prize for camposition over the common run
of undergraduates. Mr. Everett begins by high-
Hounding allusion?, to Athens and Marathon; he
tiai ttttv'ery minute description, or say circuinstan-
great 0
.. ,
Q more than technical report, of the three
at 'ttle-days of Juiy, 1863, then launches forth
that, a 0 aa
ll_
airy into
tt tht9.lt,try into the causes of the war, proving
I and rehelliotttle began it," that the rebels are rebels,
vtiity Of
wheilth.e most hideous crime man can be
bnedet,llo-let:e_aaanrcere effaced b time and
Qt)vainas at the overturn of the best
! of all possible
tilt:Tents. lie added that division
1 ithiheatilti e:dhl,wea:winYotslt: the very
I or" all communities, but
political dissensions soon
calculated to call fzeohrotihhiirsdsfteherilpt
I inttanced the case of England Y ,
, and those of Germany,
, the wars of the Roses,
1 the rebellion and revolution
Italy, France, &c. Anything moredull and com-
fastidious taste, the most unwearied
lessemotions, it would sot be easy
omr°lnivPellayceo)raulaYsTiinngg
by the most
indup.try, and the most consummate
without a soul wit tO prodeee. Mr. Ward Beecher:a
address was gotpthing different,auldtiisneneotsioce
the
appeatatie before 4 Brooklyn
po?ular preacher got homes but he was awfully
sea-sick during his voyage, and his qualtniah
efforts to speak before his full recovery
must not be taken into account. Llst evening
he was in the vein, and being addressed by
a brother preacher, Mr. S toil's, who praised him for
"having literally taken the Britisti lion by the ears,
and drawing it with so dexterous a gentleness, and
so wise a firmness, that the Royal beast roared in
approbation of the treatment," Mr. Beecher an-
h 20 r
da
it
de
som e estimateg o oodn
wh ihs
esreervvei
re e
he
,e" tshpooukgeh.
swered,o modestly enough, that " he out no mama -
"he
Thobeeli;jveee4l:
owfhhicihs
Cspeech
lassesawnads tor point out to his countrymen
in favour of the parties of the English public were
N Ala cause, and whieh sy9., ;