The Sun.
London, England, 1863-07-29 00:00:00

SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALS,

'PINES.—The elevation or Mr. Monckton Milnes
to the Peerage by the title of Baron Houghton will
take no one by surprise. His name has more than
once been designated for this honour in rumours of
that kind which are officially called premature, and
has been favourably received by the public. Few
people would agree beforehand as to the precise
theory upon which the ranks of our hereditary.
nobility should be recruited; but there is a sort of
tacit understanding in high quarters, to which the
country is more or less privy, which generally ex-
cludes uefit randidates, if it does not always secure
the promotion of the worthiest. The popular text-
books of our Constitution inform us that the grand
prize of hereditary nobility is reserved for the
greatest ornaments of the House of Commons, the
heads of the legal profession, and officers who have
earned it by eminent achievements by land or sea.
Practically, we know that it is not so, and that in-
dividuals who have none of those titles in a trans-
cendent degree sometimes find their way into the
Upper House, and, what is more, prove very useful
members of it. Here, as elsewhere, it is a combine-
tion of qualities which is in request, and the fortu-
nate possessor of this combination not only wins
favour and success but frequently justifies it. This
is exactly Mr. Monekten Milne's case. To a high
social position and sufficient wealth he unites an
honourable literary reputation, a long political ex-
perience, and a good deal of that prestige which is
the joint result of recognised ability and character.
In what may be called the secondary questions of
politics, and in the semi-political questions which
are better discussed outside the House of Commons
than within its walls, he has taken a very active
and influential part. Until lately there were few
persons in Parliament who felt so warm an interest
in continental politics, or who had anything like
the same acquaintance with them, and very few in-
deed who had thought and written so much about
such matters as national education, sanitary reform,
and the treatment of criminals. These merits
and accomplishments are not the elements of
Parliamentary fame, but they are of great
value in themselves, and certainly contribute
to. adorn a seat in the House of Lords. Mr.
Manes does not belong to the highest rank
of poets, or statesmen, or philanthropists, or econo-
mists, but he is enrolled as a working member
in all of these classes, and has done a greater
amount of good service for the public than
many more conspicuous men. To this rather
than to any claims upon the gratitude of the
Liberal party, we must attribute the choice of the
Premier. It has no political significance whatever.
Mr. Monckton Milnes's temperament is not that
of a partisan, and his seat has been too secure
to make it necessary for him to profess uncompro-
mising adhesion to any political leader. Perhaps
his career has been as nearly independent as that of
any of his contemporaries that can be named, and
the difficulty of counting on his vote must have
given successive whippers-in on both sides a good
deal of trouble. When he was called a Liberal
Conservative he never conformed to the traditional
policy of Conservatism, and when he became a
Conservative Liberal he was constantly rebelling
against party discipline and taking up some line of
his own. When there was an open breach in the
Liberal camp between the followers of Lord Rus-
sell and those of Lord Palmerston, Mr. Mines
sided with the latter; but when a fresh issue was
raised on the Conspiracy Bill, he was found both
speaking and voting against his late chief. In his
subsequent conduct he has shown similar insubordi-
nation,especial ly on the famous measure for the aboli-
tion of the East India Company. Opinions may
well differ as to the wisdom of this course of action,
but Mr. Milnes is at least entitled to the credit of it
as a proof that he does not owe his peerage to poli-
tical subserviency. If he cannot be said to deserve
it as Wellington and Brougham deserved it, he
deserves it far better than moat of the country gen-
tlemen who have been ennobled by virtue of terri-
torial influence.

DAILY NEws.—Simultaneously with the proro-
gation of Parliament is announced the death of a
Peer who of late had taken a conspicuous part in
its deliberations. The Marquis of Normanby will
not be remembered as a statesman. He, however,
filled a number of the most important offices in the
State, and obtained the distinctions which we are
accustomed to consider the reward of eminent pub•
lie merit. He was in succession Governor of
J maica, Lord Privy Seal, Lord-Lieutenant of Ire-
land, a Secretary of State, and Ambassador at Paris;
and as marks of the favour of his Sovereign he re-
ceived the Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath and
the coveted Garter, besides an accession of rank in
the Peerage, having inherited only the title of an
earl. The circumstances and interests in connexion
with which the late Marquis is best known to the
majority of the newspaper readers of to-day are so
different from those amongst which be established
his title to the gratitude of the Whigs, acknow-
ledged in his honours and promotions, that some
explanation is necessary to make his possession of
them intelligible. There can be no doubt that at
Dublin, where he was able to make himself very
popular—being accepted. on O'Connell's recommen,
dation, as " the best Englishman Ireland ever
saw"—he was exceedingly useful to the Government
of the day. In no other position, however, can it
be said that ho achieved any remarkable success ;
and it is only on the supposition of personal merits
greater than any which can be submitted to the
vulgar judgment, but nevertheless known and ap-
preciated by those who guard the fountain of hon-
our, that the favours accumulated upon him can be
accounted for. On this high and mysterious ground,
however, our readers can have no desire to trespass.
The noble lord's early Parliamentary career was
promising. He was the ardent advocate of Liberal
measures in the unreformed House of Commons, and
stood up manfully for Catholic Emancipation and
Parliamentary Reform when to do so was not an
idle pastime. The declension which made him in
his latter days the equally earnest advocate of the
deposed Princes of Italy, and of that Prince under
whose yet remaining throne the marauders of
Naples find shelter, is a political phenomenon too
common among our noble Liberals to deserve
special reprobation.
POST.--Yesterday's American mail brings us no
tidings of importance respecting the movements of
the Federal and Confederate armies in Virginia.
Lee has proceeded unmolested in the direction of his
old camping ground to the rear of Fredericksburg,
and the line of the Rappahannock is by this time
once more defended by a Southern army. Meade
has not yet followed his opponent across the Poto-
mac, and some weeks, if not months, may probably
elapse before the rival armies once more meet on
the battlefield. I❑ New York, the riots which oc-
casioned so serious a sacrifice of life and so great a
destruction of property, have not yet been brought
to a close. In Staten Island, in the vicinity of the
city, the depot and water-station have been de-
stroyed, the negro shanties have been burnt, and
many of the occupants slaughtered in cold blood.
Between the military and the citizens several colli-
sions have taken place, in which many lives were
lost on both sides. On the morning of the 17th
inst. quiet was said to have been restored, bat, as it
would appear, mainly through the instrumentality
of a large military force which had been despatched
to the assistance of the civic authorities by the Go-
vernment at Washington. The direction which the
course of the war in Anrerica has recently taken
makes it more difficult than ever to speculate on the
possible period of its termination. The final result
is as little enveloped in doubt as it has hitherto
been. The Southern Confederacy has made a more
successful if not a more gallant stand against
Northern aggression than even its warmest friends
at this side of the Atlantic at first anticipated. As
for ourselves, we admitted that the Southern States
might be overrun by the armies of the North, though
we denied the possibility of holding in military sue-
jection a population of six millions spread over so
vast an extent of territory as that comprised within
the area of the seceded States. The success which
has attended the Southern efforts to secure indepen-
dence has been so great as to be well-nigh inexplica-
ble. At every point of its extensive confines the in-
fant Confederacy has gallantly, if not in all cases suc-
cessfully, resisted the numerous and well-appointed
armies employed to invade it. With ports blockaded
by a hostile fleet, and with but slender means for
providing from its own resources munitions of war,
the South found itself obliged to equip gigantic
armies. It was not, however, daunted by what to
many would Lave seemed a hopeless task. It SUS-
ceeded ; its armies took the field, and, in almost
every instance in which they came iu collision with
the more numerous and better appointed battalions
of the North, the former proved victorious. With-
out a navy the South has succeeded in retaining
possession of its fortified seaports, and has with
but two or three privateers inflicted considerable
damage on the Northern mercantile marine. Until
three weeks since, a Confederate garrison retained
possession of a town on the banks of the Mississippi
against the combined operations of a large army

and an efficient fleet. In the south-east, Federal
armies' have been unable, f or upwards of two years,
to do more than effect loeg rnents on the coast which.
have been unproductive of any practical advantages.
In Virginia, and on the Northern frontier, the
operations of the Southern armies have been most
and successful. The capitals of the two
Federations are only 12 ,0 miles apart, and on the
intery g ground hay a been fought the most ter-
rib s ba,etles of the preset et war. Over chat narrow
strip r to 'rritory the am lies of the North have never
yet bee, u. ble to force their way. Four different
times, under
as many different generals, h, s the
attempt been le lade'
but always with the same
success. Nor he s the South been content with sim-
i..on. Twice have its forces crossed
"and furnished themselves with
tphlye Northern re
peiling ifurovnu 'tie
supplies from the Nor, 'kern States. Within the last
montiz has a Southern a. etny penetrated many wiles
to the rear of Washington . and, after having fought
vs a bloody though un-
eluting three consecutive cia,
decisive battle with the picke,l army of the North,
retired laden with spoil, and afloat entirely unmo-
lasted by those who in irony alone'
could be termed
its pursuers. That Gen, Lee will .enee more
place
himself on the defensive, and content himself with
covering the asenroaches to Richmond, .irse‘re can be
little doubt. It is, however, oy no mean's c.'ear that
the Federal Government will be in a conditio, ito re-
new with any prospects of success the invas,'on of
Virginia. The Northern population has now been
pretty well drained of ail those whom love of excite-
ment or desire for plunder could it, duce to join the
Federal ranks_ Although the respective numbers
of the populations of the North and ,South are vastly
disproportionate, still the refusal of the former to,
submit to a conscription, vehich has been long since
assented to by the latter, places then; on nearly
equal terms. The Northern President has by this
time enrolled as many soldiers as he is likely to
obtain, whereas the Chief Magistrate of the South
can with ease fill up the vacancies which recent
losses have occasioned in his rank's. General Aleade
will not without reinforcements be able to do 'more
than make a feint of invading Virginia. The cur•
render of Vicksburg will enable General Grant an
employ his army elsewhere, but then it must he'
recollected that a large number of the regiments
composing it have alinoet eemp'leted their period of.
service, and will, at the expir teflon of that time,
demand their discharge. The same remark applies
to a considerable portion of the troops composing
the Army of the Potomac. It is not probable, there-
fore, that the Federal Government will be able to
turn their successes in the West to practical account,
so the prospect of annihilating the Southern armies,
or of subjugating the Southern pcpulation, must be
considered as remote as before. We ite'e now its
the third year of the war, and, except where great
rivers have afforded access to fleets of gunboats, the
North has made but few territorial acquisitions
within the limits of the Southern Confederation.
The border State of Virginia still remains in pos-
session of the South, and the Potomac now, as two
years since, marks the boundary line on the north-
east between the Federal and Confederate territory.
Those who still fondly cling to the belief that the
North is warring for the abolition of elavery would
do well to mark the incidents which ottended the
recent popular demonstrations in New York. The
negroes, wherever met, were indiscriminately
sacrificed to the fury of the mob. On the 15th of
the present month not a coloured man was to be
seen in the commercial capital of those States which
we are told are exhausting their treasure and the
lifeblood of their citizens in order to effect the
emancipation of the negro race,. But why' were
they not visible ? They had fled and concealed
themselves through a not unfounded apprehension
of being massacred by their friends. The instieu-
tion of slavery may in one sense be considered Ulf)
cause of the present war ; and as the citizens of the
North curse the war, they equally curse those who,
have been the involuntary cause of it. The Free
States have emancipated their slaves but they have
never stripped them of their servile character. In
theory, a negro in New York is as free as an Anglo-
American, but in practice he still remains no better
than a attire. The negroes who were slaughtered
in the streets of New York were identified with, and
accepted as the representatives of the slaves of the
Southern States, and treated as the latter would be
treated if the North was in the ascendent—that .ie
to say, got rid of. We do not suggest that the
Federal Government would slaughter the coloured
population of the South—but they would deport
them to Liberia or elsewhere. " The question," par
excellence, in America is how to dispose of the negro
population. This question in the South admits of
easy solution. There, a negro is a slave, but he pos-
sesses a recognised status, and has the strongest pos-
sible claims to care, and attention at his master's
hands. In the North, on the other hand, a negro is
free; but in the best of times he is the pariah of so-
ciety, and at a period of commotion is hunted to
death like a beak of prey. Should the accounts of
the recent riots in New York reach the plantations
of the South, we doubt extremely if a slave in the
latter would willingly exchange his condition for
that of a free citizen in the commercial capital of the
Union.