The Sun.
London, England, 1863-10-22 00:00:00

LONDON, THURSDAY, OCT. 22, 1863.

The principal news just received from America
may be summed up in three announcements. An
important flank movement on MEADE'S right—
reported at New York on the 12th, as having been
effected by General LEE! An attack upon the
Federal fleet before Charleston, apparently by Con-
feder4 te ironciads, causing considerable damage
among the vessels of that fleet tend great alarm
amongst them as to their safety ! The continued in-
terruption of all communication between ROSEN-
CRANZ'S bas 3 at Nashville and his main force at

Chattanooga! In those three announcements we
have the gist of all the tidings brought to us yester-
day and to-day by the Bohemian and the
Glasgow—the gist at least of those portions of the
tidings relating to the warlike operations at the
three chief points of interest, on the Tennessee, on
the Rapidan, and at Charleston. Simultaneously
with the receipt of these fragments of intelligence
we have vague intimations from the North, as to
certain mysterious plans for a pacification lately
submitted (with what result, if any, we are not in-
formed) to Mr. LINCOLN'S Cabinet. And from the
South a frank expression through the Richmond
Engraver, of the gratification of the Confederates at
having the Trench for neighbours in Mexico, the
Confederate journal remarking that " the South
would willingly make an alliance with France to
prOtect French and Southern interests in America."
The lachmond _Examiner, at the same

time, denouncing all peace propositions, as
craven hints not for one moment to be scriousl3
thought of ,
in effect, it has been manifest here
on the R
aiaropeans. e of the Atlantic ever since the
successful
a accomplishment of NAPOLEON'Soccupation enter-
prise for the
of Mexico—it has been
perfectly manifest
to every unprejudiced observer
of event; as Been from this side of the Atlantic,
that the one inevitable 1e sequel to that successful
occupation of Meujco
13 y.Prench troops, would ne-
cessarily be the
bringing together, sooner or
later, in intimate alliance, offensive and de-
fensive—of the French and the Confederates.
Tile proclivities of
France,
have been to the South. If there is one
froin
the first,
European personage who is regarded by the North
a it is the
with especial repugnance and
nab:a ttaon, l
French EMPEROR,
His Maasraw°t
generous
but ill considered and atterly futile
bring about a reconciliation between
the bellige-
rents have estranged the faelings of one portion
least, of these belligerents against him and his 'at
Go-
vernment, more and more earnestly than ever,
i
This estrangement, it saeuld be
this antagonsm, a
tailed, has been completed, has been perfected, Bo to
speak, by the knowledge, all but unendurable to the
North, that Mexico—that Mexico so often coveted
by American Republicans—has fallen completely
into the possession of the Emperor of the FRENCH.
So completely that his i\IAJEsTY can cooily offer, as
he has offered,the conquered republic to the Austrian
Archduke MAXIAIILTAN for transformation into a new
Empire. Later on, the result is sufficiently obvious
of its kind. Franca must fall on the one hand into
more direct antagonism with the Federa!s, and into
more intimate and cordial alliance on the other
hand,
with the Confederates. Triumphing
over
theirantagonists, even when unaided from without,
the
Southern veterans would infallibly be heartened
on to Yet more doughty feats of arms by a con,.
aciousness that there was already avowed sympat by,
and that there might
deemed in
on,v be eventually, if such should be
of
the French
dvisable, actual co-operation
on the part
there,
in
mezi:nch troops, as near neigh-
bours,
here in
troops, of the Confe-
derates. Meanwhileeas
be in.Engiand the popular
feeling, whatever
Earl
itusasi:l
popular .,i,t t.
o
antdh the contrary
the ot hen:.
the one hand by
feeling here in
by Mr. BEECHES, the
England is every day becoming
more and
unmistakably Southern or Confederate. more
atOinc?, in Exeter-hall, a body 'oei peopleA packed
got together (no
matter how large and noisy)
there
for a set purpose, to listen open-mouthed to
the
rhetorical ravings of a man of such exceedingly
bad taste and vile paae:ons as the Ray. WARD
BEECtIER, and to applaud him to the echo, can be
accepted in no way as evidence of What in reality

are the popular feelings, sympathies, or predilec-
tions. A day's journey upon any railway, a day's
sojourn in the coffee-room of any one of
our large hotels, will tell a very different
tale, indeed, as to the direction in which
the sympathies of the English people tend, in this
fierce and terrible struggle between North and
South for supremacy. France and England so
sympathising—the one through her people, the
other through tier Government—with:the cause of
the Confederates, it would be difficult to believe
otherwise than that that double sympathy must
" tell" upon the fortunes of the belligerents.

The affair of the poor street
stall-keepers
Westminster, which was supposed to vi e
qie t
liyn
settled, appears to be in anything but a satisfactory
state. It will be remembered that these stall-
keepers were summarily removed from their
old haunts and forbidden to follow their accus-
tomed trade. Like OTHELLO, their occupation is
gone; and, unfortunately for them, their livelihood
goes with it. These humble market-places are by
no means regarded by their occupiers with the con-
temptuous indifference with which they are
treated by the police authorities. They appear to
have been held for the most part by steady, respect-
able persons, who each had their regular position,
and some of whom boasted of having held the same
stall in their families for thirty years. Many of
the stall-keepers are aged Fersons, unfit for any
more laborious occupation, and the hardship is con-
sequently much increased for them. Their removal
was owing to a resolution passed by the Westmin-
ster Board of Works, from the laudable motive of
preserving the thoroughfare of the parish from in-
terruption. It had been represented to some of the
members that these stalls created confusion, and
interfered with the legitimate trade of the neigh-
bourhood. In both these pleas it appears that the
complainants were mistaken or misinformed, as
plenty of persons have since come forward to
declare that, instead of producing any inconve-
nience, the stalls supplied a public want, while a
very convincing proof of the sentiments of the
resident tradesmen was afforded by their active
exertions to obtain the rescinding of the resolution.
A number of the regular shopkeepers united in
forming a committee to secure the return of the
stalls to their old position. Their efforts were
strongly seconded by the general feeling of the
neighbourhood, and the result was that the West-
minster Board were induced by their representa-
tions to rescind the original motion. Great were
the rejoicings of the poorer classes at this
supposed victory, and hearty their grati-
tude to those who had laboured so suc-
cessfully in their cause. The members of the
Board proved that they had been actuated by no
prejudiced or personal motives by their ready
admission, that their former resolution had been
based on a mistake, and by their willingness to
retract it. Some of the members who had been

foremost in passing the original motion came pro-
minently forward in the subsequent discussion to
declare the change in their views, and it was confi-
dently anticipated that a very few days would see
the stalls restored to their old position. All these
pleasant expectations were, however, premature.
Sir RICHARD MAYNE was absent on the continent,
and therefore the matter had to be left in abeyance
until his return. Patience was the motto, and no
more was heard of it beyond the immediate vicinity
until very lately. Sir RICHARD MAYNE, whose
original proceedings were taken upon the represen-
tation of the Board, has again appeared on the scene,
I but declines to comply with the present wishes of
the instigators of the mischief. In spite of public
dissatisfaction and private exertion, notwithstand-
ing the distress of the poor and the expostulations
of the wealthy inhabitants, the Chief Commissioner,
'rota some reason or other, refuses to give permis
sion to the stall-keepers to occupy their old ground.
It is difficult to understand why Sir RICHARD
MAYNE should act with such unwonted severity.
There is no apparent reason why stalls, which are
permitted in Tottenham-court-road, in the -Borough,
in Clare street, and a dozen other busy and populous
places, should be especially objected to in West-
minster. If they obstruct the thoroughfares, the
inhabitants have the first right to complain, and so
long as they stedfastly maintain the contrary,
there can hardly be much need for interference.
It seems that a deputation from the acting
committee in this matter waited upon Sir
RICHARD MAYNE last week, and represented to
him that the permanent removal of the stalls would
entail great privations on many of the poorer in-
habitants of Westminster, and urged upon him
that the resolution on which he had acted had been
rescinded by the local Board of Works. In answer
to these arguments the Chief Commissioner stated
that he had no alternative but to enforce the law.
He further said that be understood the stalls were
the resort of thieves and bad characters, and that if
a market was really needed in Westminster it could
be opened in due form. Upon this another meet-
ing was held in the Temperance Hall, Broadway,
to which Sir RICHARD MAYNE'S decision was com-
municated. The discussion was earnest and ani-
mated, and that the assembly did not restrain the
expression of their sentimenta may be seen from the
terms of the resolution, which was carried with
loud applause :—" That this meeting, having beard
the report of the deputation, is of opinion that the
Chief Commissioner had entirely and most unjusti-
fiably set at naught the wants of the neighbourhood,
the necessities of the poor, the requisition of the
Board of Works, and the general business of the
district; and that the traffic of Strutton-ground,
Great Chapel-street, and the Broadway was not
obstructed by the stallkeepers, and that the Chief
should
Commissioner had acted on his own caprice rather
than on the principles of the law of the land." We
hope some compromise may be arrived at, as
it is scarcely probable the respectable inhabitants of
the district
would have taken up the cause so
warmly
if the Stalls had been the resort of dis-
orderly persons; andl if they were conducted in a
decent and reputab
e manner, giving occupation to
many poor persons in
ieyginter time, and supplying
the wants of the
beaver classes of the neighbour-
hood, there can
on the establishme no moreor reason for insisting
upnt Et marketsufrer
ethere n than
remain n
other localities where they are
unchallenged.

Mr. BEECHER is determined not
Certainly,
_
opportunity of appealing to the t° lose any
sympathies of the English prepieBbentments
and
that he reckons without his host, a' edut
after all the
t may be
excitement and enthusiasm excited by h.
the question will remain where it was. ratory,
on Tuesday evening, he tried all that ingenuity
can
devise, and bold assertion can effect, to make his
cause appear the only true and laudable one, and
to induce his audience to believe that the party of
which he is a shining ornament is greatly maligned
and often misrepresented in this country. Mr.
BEECHER certainly possesses one merit as a speaker
—he is straightforward and consistent. He boldly
lays down his line of argument, and unflinchingly
asserts his views, without a shadow of hesitation or
a Particle of mystery. In the first p ce he endea-
vours to fix the limits of the point at issue to the
question of
slavery. He denied that they would
wake slavery Worse by meddling with it, rind did