The Sun.
London, England, 1863-08-22 00:00:00

SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALS.

TIMES.—We need not say much in behalf of the
merits and claims of the National Rifle Association.
Everybody knows how much it has done, what
spirit it has imparted to this martial exercise, what
generous emulation it has inspired. It took us up
a nation of bad shots, and it has made us a nation
of good shots—we mean as rifle shooters. Rifle
shooting was,indeed,in its most elementary stage in
this country when the Association took it under its
patronage, encouraged the practice of the rifle, in-
stituted public exhibition days, and brought it be-
fore the country as an important exercise, gave it a
national character, and converted it into a powerful
and substantial aid to our Volunteer corps
and our military position in Europe. Our
gala days at Wimbledon were indeed the
successors of the old crossbow contests, when
our ancestors used to meet in the open spots of
their forests and aim their rival bolts at the
target. It is acknowledged that these holiday
rivalries were the foundation of a great deal of our
success in war in those days. Our crossbows shot
with deadly effect into the French ranks. It was
plain even then that the sturdy independent spirit
which was bred:by popular games and trials of skill
and strength was more than a match for mere drill
and regularity of array in armies composed of feudal
serfs who ban never been accustomed to feel them-
selves anything more than belonging to their
lords. The crossbowman was at home with his
weapon, and had the spirit of a man who had con-
tended with his equals- and knew what he could
do. We all remember the opening scene of the
Festival of the Popinjay in "Old Mortality," where
the " competitors discharged their fusees and
carbines in rotation at the distance of sixty or
seventy paces." He whose ball brought down
the mark " held the proud title of Captain of the
Popinjay for the remainder of the day, and was
usually escorted in triumph to the most respectable
change-house in the neighbourhood, where the
evening was closed with conviviality!' These were
the " Wimbledon days" of two centuries ago, when
the firearm was an improvement on the old cross-
bow, just as the rifle now is an improvement on
fusee and carbine. The appearance of the holyday
field, in the 17th century, was a great contrast to
one of our 19th century fete days, and we should
see, if we could recall the past, a great difference
between the elegant display of a Wimbledon meet-
ing and a scene in which "the Lord-Lieutenant of
the county alone pretended to the magnificence of
a wheel-carriage—a thing covered with tarnished
gilding and sculpture, in shape like the vul-
gar pictures of Noah's Ark, dragged by eight
long-tailed Flanders mares, bearing eight
insides and six outsides." But the two exhibition
days answer much the same purpose, and each is in
its own century a scene which feeds the properly
martial spirit of the country, and keeps the nation
up to the mark in the use of its weapons. And each
of the two exhibitions, moreover, does this in a way
congenial to the temper of the nation, for there
is nothing that breathes more freely than a pub-
lic trial of skill, every can doing his best, and the
world looking on to reward with its cheers and
approval. It is this kind of spirit which despotic
countries want for their armies and cannot give
them. Why is the Emperor of Russia at this mo-
ment freeing his serfs? Because, among other
things, he finds that serfs are not the stuff of which
the best soldiers are made. It is a military need
which Russia wants to supply. She finds she is
weak in war for want of the spirit of independent
free men in her armies. Her troops are perfect
in drill, and her massed columns advance upon the
field with the precision of machines, and look as
they approach like moving blocks ; but the English
soldier can fight in line without support at his back ;
the Russians cannot. That is all the difference be-
t ween an army that extends its arm and grasp and
an army that contracts it, an army that can use its
whole strength and an army that can only use part
of it. The National Rifle Association, we say, encou-
rages and fosters this free strong spirit in the coun-
try—a spirit which, without being itself military.
is the foundation of a military spirit, and forms the
basis of our armies, the reservoir which feeds and
supplies them. There must be something moving
popularly, a stir in the mass who live at home, in
order to produce the regular soldier in sufficient
quantity, and the professional spirit must flow out
of a movement and current which pervades society
at large. The Association does more than this, be-
cause it teaches the use of a weapon which is abso-
lutely essential to modern war. You may be a brave
man, a high-spirited man, but you cannot fight
unless you know your weapon. The Association
has produced that power which is the first need in
war—that of men hitting what they aim at. We are
confident, then, that this Association deserves pub-
lic support, and we are sorry to say that it now needs
it. An official statement of the finances of the Asso-
ciation, which we insert in another column, shows
that the annual income is something above £2,000,
while the annual expenditure is above £B,OOO.
" The difference, happily, has hitherto been made
up by prize entries, pool and sighting targets,
and by admissions to the enclosure at Wimbledon."
But, as these gentlemen go on to say in their
appeal, " these are at best most uncertain sources
of income." They add, "we venture to think that
an association such as this ought not to be left thus
dependent on chance for its continued existence;
and that, having been established to give per-
manence to the Volunteer force and for the promo-
tion of rifle shooting, it ought not to be compelled,
as now is the case, to extract by all manner of de-
vices from those who come toWimbledon the money
necessary for its support." We entirely agree in
this statement, and think it only due to the great
services of this Association that its support should
rest upon a more regular and stable footing than
it does now. We are apt to forget when consider-
able effects are produced, and effects upon which
we congratulate ourselves, that there is an organi-
zation underneath which is expensive. But we are
confident Lhat the appeal of the National Rifle As-
sociation, now that it is openly made, will be
liberally responded to, and that the public will see
the claims of the Association in their true light.
HERALD.—If the people of New York are sanguine
as to the prospects of the war, it appears that the
generals of their armies do not share in their antici-
pations. Who can have confidence in men who have
no confidence in themselves ? And how can the sol-
dier fight with a good heart under the leaders who
are ready to turn back in the day of battle P When
Lee advanced to the Potomac General Hooker sent
in his resignation. Now that Lee is concentrating
his forces on the Rappahannock General Meade,
the more fortunate successor of Hooker, thinks it
is high time that he also should retire from the
scene. When Perseus held up the head of Medusa
his enemies were turn-d into stone. There must be
something very awe.inspiring in the proximity of
this stern Confederate soldier. The Northerners
catch a glimpse of him across the river—their
hearts turn into water, their knees knock together,
and their courage oozes out at their fingers' ends.
We are told that Gen. Meade has twice tendered
his resignation, and now insists on its acceptance,
What is, in sober earnest, the meaning of this? Is
an officer, who has hitherto shown much determi
nation as well as capacity, and who has been well
spoken of both by friend and foe, to be supposed so
distrustful of his powers that he dares not try again
the issue of battle, so despairing of his country's
cause that he will not again bare the sword in her de-
fence? Or is he to be accused of the unsoldierly mean-
ness of fear ? Perhaps an explanation of this sin-
gular circumstance may be discovered, which will,
to some extent, transfer the blame from his
shoulders to those of his superiors. When the
armies met at Gettysburg the Federals had all the
advantage of a friendly country, of sure communica-
tions, of a position chosen by themselves. After all,
the result of the three days' fight was a drawn
battle, in which the losses on both aides were
pretty equal. If this was the case on Northern
soil, the balance is likely to be against the Federals
when the scene is once more transferred to the old
battle-ground of Virginia. The Federal army of
the Potomac is reported to be disorganised and de-
moralised. How do the Northern administrators,
Mr. Stanton and General Halleck, propose to re-
cruit it ? They are making a thorough rearrange-
ment of the commands, which will probably set all
the regiments at sixes and sevens. They are
filling up the plates in the ranks by drafted men
and substitutes, who are so new to the business
that they hare yet to learn the manual exercise.
The absurd proceedings of these naera, who think
they can conduct the war from Washington much
better than their general in the field, their
interference with his plans, and their method of re-
cruiting his army, may be the causes which have led
to Gen. Meade's threat of retirement. It is supposed
that his place will be supplied by Gen. Grant, the
hero of the Mississippi, very popular just now at
New York, with the same kind of reputation as that
which led but a few months since to the promotion
of " fighting Joe Hooker" to the et id command. II
the lsrge reinforcements which have been sent to
Charleston have been wi:brirawn from the army of
the Potomac, it, will serve still further to weaken it.
The Confederate army, which lines the Rsppohans
neck and the Bespidsn from Fredericksburg to
Gordonsville, is being reinforced by return troops
from Riche:wad and from the army of Bragg,
While Federal iron-cads and big guns are ex-
hausting themselves in the attempt to reduce the
Atlantic stronhold, Gen. Lee may be Watching
his opportunity of crushing the army or the Poo_
mac, when Washington will be at his mercy.
Meade has been startled by the omens which have
preceded every victory of the Confederate army.
The tsuerillas of the enemy are scouring the country
in his rear, and Mosby rides about unchalleaed
between Alexandria and F•Arfax. The dis g
rasitiana

of Lee's army seem to us to indicate that be is about
to assume the offensive ere long, and we may hear
by any mail the tidings of a battle that has revived
once more the drooping spirits of the Southerners,
and sent down to zero the overweening confidence
of the enemy. The army of the Northern republic
which, in February, 1862, was reckoned at nearly
a million of men of all ranks, in August, 1863,
amounts to scarcely 350,000. Its loss amounts, by
the confession of Northern writers, to the amazing
sum of 600,000 men in 18 months. If we search ter
causes of this terrible diminution of strength, we
find, them in the wide-spread operations of this war
of subjugation, not only in the great battles in
which 20,000 or 30,000 men have fallen at a blow,
but in the multitudinous skirmishes and petty en-
counters, the losses in fatiguing marchings, the
malaria of a hostile climate, dye are the less sur-
prised at the total sum when we hear that it cost
the North just 70,000 men to take Vicksburg, a
little Alississippi town, where a garrison of 15,000
were taken prisoners. Daring the last 18 months
the North, at an enormous sacrifice, has not even
kept up the balance of success on its side—it has
certainly failed in its attempt to subjugate the
South. Supposing that no great disaster occurs to
arrest the progress of its arms—supposing that its
exchequer is not exhausted by the war expenditure
of 250 millions sterling annually, it will yet take
several years to break the spirit of its antagonist,
and put an end to all resistance on the part of the
South. Bat can the men be found to do it P—that
is the question. The fighting population of a State
is reckoned at one in six of the whole population.
As there are 18 millions of people in the North we
may suppose three millions of pessible soldiers who
would recruit the army for six years, supposing
the loss to be half a million annually, the pre.
sent rate. But of these three millions, at least
two-thirds are occupied in trade and agricul-
ture. If we take away more than a third of the
able-bodied men of a nation the result will be a col-
lapse of some branch of industry, the ruin of thou-
sands of families, and a sensible loss to the revenues
of the state. It appears to us, then, that the Nor:,h
is already near the end of its recruiting power.
This result is seen in the universal opposition to the
draft, the serious effect of which is felt now that
the idle and supernumerary population has gone to
the war, and substitutes are only to be procured at
a price so enormous, that most of them who are
drawn must leave their homes or be ruined. There
has been an exciting correspondence as to the le-
gality of the conscription between Governor Sey -
mour, of the Strite of New York, and President Lin-
coln. The people of this State have forced their
governor to this protest, and the resolution of the
President, if persevered in, may lead to a contest
between the Central and State executives, which
will shake to its foundations the insecure edifice cf
the republic. Volunteering, it seems, does not serve
to make up a tithe of the losses of their armies.
Mr. Lincoln wants men to conquer the South, these
men are not to be had, and the Southern recruits,
whom the Federal soldiers have driven from their
homes to take part in a desperate war, threaten now
to make up a host which will press upon the
Northern remnants with irresistible force.

COUNTRY MARKETS.

10--

LIVERPOOL-FRIDAY.

At this day's market there were few buyers, and all
classes of foreign wheat have been exceedingly unsaleable
even at a decline of from 2d to 3d per centat on the prices
of last Friday. Flour a slow trade, and must be quoted
6d psr barrel and sack lower. Barley and peas steady at
former rates. Oats id to Id per bushel cheaper for Irish.
Oatmeal is down 6d per load. Beans have advanced 6d
per quarter. Indian corn unaltered in value from Tuesday.
The market closed depressed.