The Sun.
London, England, 1863-05-12 00:00:00

THE SUN, LONDON, TUESDAY EVENING, MAY 12, 1861

VANSITTART, the amendment was negatived without a
division.
On the motion that the clause as amended stand part of
the bill,
Sir A. A GNE W moved that the clause be omitted.
The committee divided—
For the clause
Against it
Majority....
—95
The clause was then agreed to.
Clause 4 was agreed to.
On clause 5,
Mr. HIBBERT moved, as an amendment, that when a
minister of any other denomination than the Established
Church discontinued his visits for 14 days, then the present
law should again come into operation.
After some discussion, in which Sir L, Palk, Sir B.
Layton, and Sir G. Grey took part,
Mr HUNT said that by this bill, when a prisoner said he
was of no religious persuasion, he need not receive any re-
ligious instruction at all.
Sir G. GREY said he believed that the Church of Eng-
land took credit for those prisoners. (Hear and laughter.)
Mr. HUNT said he believed those prisoners claimed to
be exempted from attending the religious services of the
Church.
Sir L. PALK said the bill would prevent the Church of
England from taking charge of those prisoners who repre-
sented themselves as belonging to no religious denomina-
tion. The bill would destroy all prison discipline, and
would subvert and destroy the principle they had been
endeavouring to maintain and assert for years past.
Sir G. GREY plop-,sed the addition of certain words
that would meet the objection.
After some further discussion,
The clause as amended was agreed to.
The remaining clauses were then agreed to, and the bill
was reported to the house.
CUSTOMS AND INLAND REVENUE (RE-COM-
MITTED) BILL,

The house then went into committee on this bill, and
clause 1 was agreed to.
On clause 2,
Mr. BLACKBURN moved the rejection of certain sec-
tions, the effect of which would have been to place railway
companies in the matter of assessment for income tax on the
same footing as other companies. After some conversation
between the hon. member and the right hon. gentleman the
Chancellor of the Exchequer, the amendment was with-
drawn.

Sir J. FERGUSON called attention to what be consi-
dered a grievance of the local assessors of the income tax in
the suspension of yearly re-assessments under Schedule A,
urging that the plan adopted of only paying those cfficers
when their services were required would probably have the
effect of depriving the Government of their services. He
hoped, when re-assessments were made, local assessors
would be employed.
The CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER defended
the course which had been adopted in regard to assessing
and to local assessors, and said that, if any change in the
mode of assessing was adopted, ample notice would be given
of it.

Clause 2 was then agreed to.
Lord R. CECIL then rose to move the adoption of a new
clause, the effect of which was to give to persons with in-
comes under £l5O power to appeal for surcharge to the com-
missioners for special purposes, upon due notice being
given to the inspector or surveyor within the time of giving
notice of appeal. He did so, ho said, on the ground that he
had been appealed to by small tradesmen, and had pre-
sented numerous petitions complaining of the present
mode of hearing appeals before local commissioners,
and asking to be placed on the same footing as persons
over £l5O a year, and to be permitted to lay any
case of surcharge before the special commissioners in
writing; when, if not satisfied, it would be for the special
commissioners to go to them, instead of, as at present,
their going long distances to go before local commissioners.
These small tradesmen and others, assessed to the income
tax under £l5O a year, claimed to have the same privilege
which was granted to other persons assessed under schedule
A, on the ground that they were as much interested in keep-
ing their affairs to themselves, and as liable to suffer from
the dangers resulting from the inquisitorial nature of the
income tax, as their superiors in position. He could not sit
down without expressing his opinion that there was a great
deal of hardship in the way in which the income tax was
assessed. He had heard from many quarters complaints
of the severity with which the surveyors carried on the
business of surcharging, and he could not help thinking
that those complaints made no impression at the time, or
were treated with some contempt at the Inland Revenue
Office—a state of things which would produce so deep a
feeling of discontent in regard to the tax, that the
Government would not be able to resist, The only way of
meeting this eifficulty would be by a more gentle adminis •
tration of the law.
Mr. W. WILLIAMS had heard the same complaints of
persons having to go many miles to get their appeals at-
tended to. He hoped the right hon. gentleman would con-
sent to admit the clause.
Mr. HUNT said there were two reasons why small trades-
men were anxious to have the clause introduced. First,
because they would be able to send their case to a special
commissioner instead of exposing their affairs to their nearest
neighbours ; and secondly, because they would be able to
send their appeal on paper instead of having to travel them-
selves, often many miles, to the courts of a local commis-
sioner.

Mr, COLLINS, as an income tax commissioner, thought
the introduction of the mortgage column in the assess.
went paper very desirable, so that assessors might put
the question whether the property was or was not mort-
gaged, and thus do away with bringing people 10 or 15
miles to prove that their property was not mortgaged.
The CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER said that
be had always stated that any one who had a complaint to
make of the conduct of the revenue officers in levying taxes
ought to make his complaint known so as to give an oppor-
tunity of its being inquired into. He had come to a different
conclusion with regard to the conduct of these officers to
that which had been expressed. The process of extracting
money by direct taxation was like that of extracting teeth--
it never could be made agreeable to the patient. There
must be vigilance on the part of the officers if taxes of this
kind were to be collected at all, because all the world were
against them. Finding complaints against these officers
exceeding rare, he had come to the conclusion that the diffi-
culty lay in the soreness and fretting against the collection
of the income tax itself. It had always been the endeavour
of the Government and the heads of the Revenue Depart-
ment that the officers should act with prudence and mode-
ration; and he would not be doing his duty if he did not
state that the officers acted in the spirit of moderation as
well as vigilance, and that the difficulties which the tax-
payers complained of were inherent in the case. He did not
know whether or not he understood the noble lord's mean-
ing; but he might state that the phrase " £l5O a year" was
fallacious, and the case did not not apply to persons having
under £l5O a year, but persons having an income under £lOO.
When the Act of 1845 passed, the income of £l5O a year
was the limit below which exemption could be claimed ;
but since the limit was cut down to £lOO, it was only per-
sons under £lOO a-year who could claim exemption ; per-
sons over £l5O had no concern in the discussion that was
going on. (Hear.) He had some difficulty in deal •
ing with the matter introduced by the noble lord--not
that he blamed the noble lord for it, but because the
parties complaining of grievances had not laid them before
him specifically, so that he might discuss them with the
heads of the Inland Revenue department. But he sup•
posed the noble lord did not mean to press too suddenly
for a decision, and that he would give the Executive Go-
vernment time for considering what steps could be taken.
With regard to the trouble and hardship to which persons
were put who had to appear before the commissioners, he
did not think that the appeal to special commissioners would
mitigate the evil. They could not undertake to send spe-
cial commissioners to the door of every person. There would
be always a circuit; and he believed that the special com-
missioners eyelid not be brought nearer to individuals than
the local commissioners. There was another point men-
tioned by the noble lord, namely, that persons were anxious
there should be secresy with regard to the state of their
affairs. It was true that secresy was a matter of greater
importance to some persons than to others, but he could not
see how there could be secresy with regard to persons hav-
ing incomes under £ iOO a year, for the neighbours of those
persons, seeing the collector did not call upon them, con-
cluded that their incomes were under £lOO a year. All that
the income tax commissioners inquired was, whether the
income was under or over £lOO.

Lord R. CECIL had not the slightest intention of press-
ing the right hon. gentleman for a decision in the present
year.

The amendment was then withdrawn, the schedule agreed
to, and the house resumed.
INLAND REVENUE BILL.
The house went into committee on this bill.
Clause 1 (Club Licences) was expunged.
Clauses 2 to 8 were agreed to.
Upon clause 9,
Mr.AYETON moved that the tax proposed to be placed
upon the public carriages mentioned in the clause
should be "one farthing," instead of "one halfpenny" per
mile. What ground, he asked, was there for main
taining a difference, whilst Chancellors of the Exchequer
and statesmen had admitted the injustice of the inequa
lity. The only answer given to the grievance was that
railway companies used roads of their own making,
whereas stage carriages used public roads. That was, in fact,
no answer to the question, their duty being upon the gross
earnings, representing the number of passengers carried,
and not the mode of their transit. Exemption from duty
was allowed the railways where passengers were carried for
less than Id. per mile. Omnibuses did the same, and yet
they were compelled to pay 10 per cent. on their earnings.
If it was just to exempt one, it was just to exempt others
from the tax. He hoped the Chancellor of the Exchequer
would see the necessity of adopting his proposition in dis-
prietor's,
carindminating between the large omnibuses used in towns,
Z.TuiChloLpeEdYa adreravocissaktend
orfetliaexfattioon stage
w
Gethen
tsmall ones used in the country.
He gave an instance of the oppressiveworkingofthe tax in
his own neighbourhood. ouideObaeChgivporno:
The CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER said, that
for the purposes of locomotion it would be highly satis-

factory if there were no taxes, He could not acquiesce
in the motion, as it would deprive him of £70,000 per
annum, and because it only dealt with one portion of the
tax. He spoke of the injustice the remission of the tax
in favour of omnibus proprietors would be towards
hackney carriages plying in London. The latter had their

fares fixed at a reduced rate by Parliament, whilst there
was no parliamentary limit to omnibus fares. The
proposed change would act equally unjust to-
wards others connected with dm trade in the country dis-
tricts. When the tax could be parted with he should be
happy to do so.
After some further conversation the committee divided—
For the amendment
Against it
Majority —46
The clause was then agreed to, as were the clauses to 20
inclusive.
On clause 20,

Mr. AYRTON asked for an Explanation of the necessity
for the alterations which had taken place in clauses 21
and 22,

The CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER said that
the committee would recollect that on the last occasion of
the introduction of the bill the clause granting occasional
licences had been put in generally, That, however, had
caused much jealousy, of which the hon. gentleman him-
BM had been the principal organ. The consequence was
that the clause had been made too restrictive. Clause 21 re-
moved the restriction as to selling liquors only between sun-
rise and sunset, on such occasions as public dinners and
balls, when such limitations would be harsh. Clause 22 was
intended to remedy an error into which they had been led
by over-confidence in the hon. member's suggestions. Be-
' fore the act was passed last year, the law permitted publicans
to sell liquors at public fairs and races without a licence.
The hon. member had unwittingly taken away this privi-
lege, which clause 22 was intended to restore.
Mr. AYRTON said that those who took interest in the
matter thought that the alterations had adjusted the ques-
, lion of revenue and public morality in a satisfactory manner,
and they looked upon the change now suggested by the
Chancellor of the Exchequer as a retrograde proceeding.
It would be very satisfactory if these occasional licences
were given as in Scotland ; and that it should be devolved
upon the bench of justices to lay down general rules for the
granting of them instead of leaving it to individual justices
to grant them at their pleasure.
Mr. HUNT expressed the conviction that the proposed
relaxation in the occaional license system would give great
satisfaction.

The CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER, admitting
the inconvenience of forcing publicans in quest of an
occasional licence to travel all over the country in search of
two magistrates who were acting for the same petty sessions
district, said he was willing, in case any hon, member
would move to restrict the application to one magistrate, to
support such a proposal.

The cause was then agreed to, as were the remaining
clauses, and the bill passed through committee.
REGISTRATION OF ASSURANCES (IRELAND)

BILL.

On the order of the day for going into committee on this

bill,

The SOLICITOR-GENERAL said that in consequence
of the opposition which the Irish Law Society had offered
to the bill, and the small support which it received in that
house, it was not the intention of the Government to perse-
vere with the bill, and therefore he should move that the
order for going into committee be discharged.
After some remarks from Mr. Whiteside, Mr. Hassard,
and Colonel French,
The motion was agreed to.
CHURCH BUILDING AND NEW PARISHES ACTS
AMENDMENT BILL,
This bill was read a second time and referred to a select
committee,

SALE OF MILL SITES, &c. (IRELAND), BILL,

This bill was read a second time.
DRAINAGE AND IMPROVEMENT OF LAND
(IRELAND) BILL.
This bill was read a second time.
POOR REMOVAL (No. 2) BILL.
This bill was read a second time.

MARRIAGES REGISTRATION (IRELAND) BILL,

This bill was recommitted pro forma for the purpose of
its being reprinted.
The house adjourned at 12 o'clock.

THE CONFEDERATE STATES.

(From the Special Correspondent of the Times.)
RICHMOND, March 31.
March, like February, has rolled away without
any advantage having anywhere been gained by the
Federal, or aggressive party, and it is the opinion
of all thoughtful men that every day during
which this miserable strife is protracted is an un-
questionable gain to those who are acting on the
defensive. Still, three months of inaction and of
dexterous mendacity on the part of the hundred-
mouthed and unscrupulous press of the North have
again created a soul beneath the ribs of death, have
depressed the premium on gold in New York to less
than 40 per cent., and have persuaded the gullible
and sanguine populace of the North that the object
to attain which they have in two years spent as
many lives and millions as all Europe has expended
in two centuries, is on the eve of accomplishment.
Well may an impartial spectator, resident in the
Confederacy, rub his eyes and ask whether the un-
broken spirit of resistance which he everywhere sees
around him is a hollow delusion—a bubble which
is about to burst, or whether it portends such a
termination of this struggle as is confidently antici-

pated by every man, woman, and child whom he
meets. Let the North make the most of the lull
which winter has interposed between the savage
passions of the belligerents ; it remains to be seen
whether the third and most sanguinary campaign
of this war wilt effect more towards the restoration
of the Union than its two predecessors have done.
One thing, however, may be confidently predicted ;
i❑ the battles which are now apparently impending
there will not be such absence of great results and
critical denouements as has attended the bloodshed of

the last 24 months. The terrible apprenticeship
through which the two sections have passed, the
experience which at least on one side the Generals
have gained, will, it is everywhere believed, be
fruitful of events, and the achievements of an army
which has witnessed 100 engagements will excel

the achievements of raw recruits as far as the
army of Toulouse excelled the army of Corunna.
The moment is It solemn and serious one,

ikely to be deeply impressive to a spectator to
whom are entrusted by dozens of officers with
whom he has contracted friendships com-
missions to be discharged in the event, so generally
anticipated by many of them, of their falling.
Never since war first desolated the earth has such
slaughter attended the collisions of mighty hosts of
men ; never have such death-dealing weapons or
such exuberance of artillery been brought into the
field. Chiefly in the terrible battles of the West,
of which only an imperfect,record has ever reached
New York or Richmond, and of which not much
more is known in Europe than of the battles of
Charlemagne, has this fearful slaughter been appa-
rent. At Murfreesborough, out of 45,000 men
whom General Rosecrans led into the field, at least
one-third lay dead or wounded at the close of those
frightful days of bloodshed. In the battles around
Richmond, and in none others, the Southern loss
was upon a similar scale; but in those battles the
Federals fought behind entrenchments, against
which storming parties of Confederates were again
and again led. But if ever again the fortunes of
war shall lead to the collision of great hosts of com-
batants in the vicinity of Richmond, let no such ad-
vantage be looked for by the North. On every hill
and crest in the neighbourhood of this city, on
every stream and point of vantage in the neigh-
bourhood of Petersburg, works and fortifications of
every description have, under the inspiration of the
best engineer officers of the old United States'army,
been elaborately prepared, and well may the confi•
dent allegation, that against such works the whole
might of Yankeedom will expend itself in vain, find
credence in the breastlof any observant spectator.
There is little apparent ground for the belief
which seems to have found favour in England, that
the greatest and most eventful struggle of this
war will occur at Vicksburg. From accidental
circumstances, and chiefly from the " sensation"
writing of the New York press, an amount
of interest has attached itself to Vicksburg
which is by no means entertained with regard to it
in the Southern Confederacy• If ever my letter from
that remote point has made its way to England, it
will have been seen that the chief strength of Vicks-
burg consists in its inaccessibility. From the river
alone can it be formidably attacked, and all the
immense hailstorms of shot and shell which have
hitherto been thrown into the little city from the
river have produced indescribably little effect. In
half a dozen different ways the Federals have tried
to flank or evade it. Apparently, the least formid-
able of all their efforts has been through what is
called the Yazoo Pass. A fort at the mouth of the
Tallahatchee River has driven the Yankee gunboats
and transports headlong back to the Mississippi ;
nor is it likely that the New York Rerald, the cor-

respondent of which announced, with the customary
fanfares of that journal, the advance of the flotilla,
and all that it was about to accomplish, will record
its disastrous discomfiture and headlong retreat.
The canal or cut-off in the immediate neighbour-
hood of Vicksburg is more than ever considered
what it appeared to me an entire failure. Of a third
attempt—the perforation of a route through Lake
ProvEence, on the right bank of the Mississippi,
by which an entrance into the Red River has been
sought to be effected, but little information has
reached us, but the impression is that the Federals
have abandoned this enterprise. At Port Hudson
two Federal steamers—the Hartford, the flag-ship
of Admiral Farragut, and the Monongahela, have
succeeded in getting past the batteries, leaving be-
hind them one of the finest of the Federal frigates,
the Mississippi, sunk in the stream. The two ves-
sels in question have possession of the river between
Vicksburg and Port Hudson, but it is not pro-
bable that they will be long unmolested. It is
understood that they attacked a Confederate bat-
tery at Warrenton, eight miles below Vicksburg,
and after wasting their fire for several hours were
compelled to haul off without having killed one of
their adversaries. But let it never be forgotten in
England that the uninterrupted navigation of the
Mississippi from New Orleans to St. Louis, even if
ever it could be gained by the Fedcrals, would be
of indescribably little advantage beyond the gratifi-
cation of Federal vanity. It is a never ceasing ne-
cessity for the Federal press to stimulate hopeful-
❑ess, and to point to certain definite and not unat-
tainable advantages as likely to put a period to an
otherwise interminable war. An amusing narrative
might be written of the variety of expedients which
in two years have been suggested as destined to bring
an indomitable and hopelessly exasperated people
'o terms. Pressure of starvation with which the
Confederacy was at first loudly threatened is again
feebly heard of in the Northern press ; but, above all
things, the capture of Charleston and Richmond, and
the demolition of Vicksburg and Port Hudson, have
been promised to New York and Boston. Of those
places not one has yet fallen, and if reason had not
utterly abandoned every Federal brain it might be
as clearly demonstrated that the capture of all four
could make no difference, in regard to beating down
the Southern resistance and breaking the Southern
heart, as that the earth goes round the sun. But
for a correspondent addressing an English audience
from Richmond at this moment there seems to be
occasion for little else than a stereotyped and em-
phatic contradiction of the statements which are
carried to Europe on the wings of the New York
press. lam wearied of again and again repeating
t hat in such statements as the following, with which
every Northern journal on which my eyes fall is
constantly teeming, there is not one grain of truth,
not even a grain of probability. The New York
Herald lifts the hearts of its readers by the follow.
ing story :
" Secretary Stanton is confident, from information in the
War Department, that the rebels are about to fall back from
Virginia to some point in the interior of the Confederacy.
He says they are removing their foundries and machinery
for manufacturing arms from Richmond, with a view to the
concentrat:on of their forces and material in a position less
likely to be cut off by the operations of our army and navy."
If Mr. Stanton has, contrary to all probability,
indulged in such speculations, it is a pity that he
cannot avail himself of the permission which, if he
sought it, would doubtless be extended to him by
the Confederate Government. One day in Richmond
and its vicinity, one visit to the Tredegar-works
and its small-arms factories, would satisfy him that
from small beginnings Richmond has gradually
grown into a mighty arsenal, defended on every
side by works far too formidable for such soldiers
as the Federals to be ever induced to attack them,
and never likely to be evacuated until the crack of
doom. If ever it were conceivable that want of pro-
visions might make it necessary to drive out from
Richmond the non-fighting population, how much
nearer to the attainment of their object would the
Yankees be ? It is strange that there is one fact
which no Federalist or Unionist seems ever able to
discern. Death has claimed for his own since this
war commenced nearly half a million Federals, and
at least 200,000 of their opponents. Because in the
Northern States there is no more heed of their dead
than of autumnal leaves on a New England hill-
side it is forgotten that the Confederacy mourns her
fallen sons like Rachel weeping for her children. A
reconciliation with the Yankee possible! The bones
of tens of thousands of men would arise from their
graves and denounce the craven hearts which threa-
tened by such a policy to make of none effect the
costly sacrifice of their hecatombs of lives.

If Vicksburg can be turned, or in some manner
negatived, there remain hundreds of other points
round which the Confederate batteries wculd imme-
diately cluster. Such a point is Warrenton, where
the Hartford has recently been beaten off; such a
point is Natchez, where the bluffs are said to be
more favourable for defence than those at Vicks-

burg. It is not to Vicksburg, or generally to the
Mississippi River that the eyes of the Confederates
are anxiously turned, but rather to Charleston,
where the long-delayed blow must inevitably fall

shortly or never, and to Tullahoma and the army of
General Johnston. My own impression still is that
want of sagacity has been shown by the Confede-

rate Government in not strengthening the army of
General Johnston by such reinforcements as would
make the issue of the impending battle " beyond a
peradventure." It is to an ordinary spectator in-

comprehensible how on both sides the policy of a
Napoleonic concentration of troops has been neg-
lected and overlooked. It is known that many of
the wisest heads in the Confederacy, and among
them General Joseph E. Johnston, have warmly ad-

vecated the concentration of all available troops in
Southezn Tennessee, even though Texas and
Arkansas should be left destitute of men, and the
defenders of Vicksburg should be reduced one-half,

Non ita Dl's placuit. For some inscrutable reason

the strength of the Confederacy is frittered away by
squandering troops in insignificant numbers over
vast areas of territory, and by provoking such at-
tacks as recently led to the surrender of more than

4,000 Confederates at a place called Arkansas Post.
The consequence is that war languishes on without
any victory being gained by the Confederates in the

West of such magnitude as confound the mendacity
of Northern journalists, or to strengthen the hands of
that large and growing party in the North-western

States who see that out of the vast ocean of blood

which irreconcileably divides the two sections it is

not possible that peace and conciliation should have
a chance of arising.
If ever these words should meet the eye of the
English public they will be read at a moment when
for more than two full years the whole strength of
the Free States of the old Union will have been

Lavishly exerted to beat down the resistance of the

Slave States, and will have been exerted in vain.
Isolated from all direct communication with the ex-
ternal world, misrepresented and traduced by the
ingenious sophistries of Mr. Seward, admitted to no
intercourse with the Foreign-office of Great Britain,
bitterly reviled:and execrated by Mr. Bright and all
the organs which echo the clamour of Exeter-hall,
the Confederate States have, nevertheless, won for
themselves the respect of all who hold matchless
valour in honour, and thrill with electric sympathy
at the thought that the stubborn energy of their
resistance stamps them as what they claim to be—
blood of England's blood and bone of her bone. The

confident and minatory language of the Northern
press and statesmen has dwindled into a feeble ea-

pression of hope that starvation will accomplish
what force of arms has attempted in vain, while

"rom the whole of united Europe ascends a voice

proclaiming that the subjugation of the Confederate
States is an idle dream. Still recognition of their

independence, or such moral intervention of diplo-
macy as could not fail to command attention at
Washington, and to stop an effusion of blood which
scandalizes civilization and outrages humanity, is
stubbornly denied to them, and the whole strength
of the North continues to be hopelessly exerted to
attain an object which Europe, by her silence, en
courages them to believe that she deems them not
incapable of attaining. It is not in the vain ex-
pectation that any words of mine will assist in
moving England from her attitude of passiveness
that I now Write; but in the belief that the very
pride and vanity of the North forbid her taking the
initiative in recognising the South,l venture to ask
whether England has maturely weighed the conse-

quences of abstaining from the use of her moral in-
fluence in stopping this sanguinary war. It is idle
o search for precedents for inaction with " Histo
ricus" when inactio❑ commends itself to the instinct
of every thoughtful man by its material advantages;
but there are moments when the moral responsibili-
ties of nations at the head of civilisation outweigh
material considerations, and such a moment is un-
doubtedly at hand. Where is there on the Conti-
nent of Europe an intelligent human being who
thinks that the thousands of lives which are about
to swell the vast aggregate of the last two years of
slaughter will produce the slightest change in the
present attitude of the two sections ? How, then,
will posterity regard England and France if, with-
out a murmur of remonstrance from them, this great
sea of unnecessary blood is poured forth like water
when it is incontestably in their power to stop it
by a word ?
It is said that because New Orleans and Nash-
ville are in the Federal grasp Southern independ-
ence cannot be recognised by Europe. Was it any
bar to the recognition of American independence
by France that Philadelphia, New York, Charles-
ton, and many other leading cities were in British
possession ? Why sophisticate as to the mode of
recognition ? When, in 1820, Henry Clay was
warmly arguing in the House of Representatives et
Washington in favcar of the recognition of the
South American provinces, he was asked to enume-
rate the particular States whose independence he
acknowledged. His answer was remarkable :
" Suppose the French Minister had asked of Benjamin
Franklin what number of States he represented ? Thirteen,
so please you,' Franklin would have replied. But, Mr.
Franklin, will you tell me if Pennsylvania, whose capital is
in possession of the British, be one of them ? What would
Dr. Franklin have answered ?
Two years earlier, speaking in favour of the recog-
nition of the American Republic of these same
Spanish provinces, whose independence Mr. Canning
was eventually the first to acknowledge, Henry
Clay laid down arguments which he little thought
would ever be quoted against his own darling Re-
public :

" I maintain that an oppressed and dissatisfied people are
authorized, whenever they can, to rise and break their
fetters. This was the great principle of the English revo-
lution. It was the great principle of our own. Vattel, it
authority were wanting, expressly supports this right. Our
revolution was mainly directed against the mere theory of
tyranny. We had suffered comparatively but little, we
had in some respects been kindly treated, but our intrepid
and intelligent fathers saw in the usurpation of power to
levy an inconsiderable tax the long train of oppression that
was to follow. They rose, they breasted the storm,
they achieved our freedom. I am no propagandist. I
would not force upon other nations our liberty if they do
not want it. But if an abused and oppressed people will
their freedom, if they seek to establish it, we have right, as
a sovereign Power, to notice the fact, and to act as our in-
terest requires. Moreover, if Spanish America be entitled
to success from the justice of her cause, we have no less
reason to wish her success from the horrible character
which the Royal arms have given to the war. Ho who has
looked into the history of the conduct of this war is con-
stantly shockel at the revolting scenes it portrays—at the
refusal to treat, on the part of the Royalists, on any terms
with the other side; at the outrage of women, the violation
of flags, the instigation of slaves to rise against their
owners ; at acts of wanton and useless barbarity. .
• • . I will next inquire what course of policy it
becomes us to adopt. I answer, one of strict and impar-
tial neutrality. It is not necessary for their interests, or
expedient for our own, that we should take part in the
war. It is compatible with this neutrality, it is required by
it, that we should recognise any established Government,
if such there be, in South America. Recognition alone,
without aid, is no just cause of war. There is no com-
mon tribunal among nations to pronounce upon the
sovereignty of a new State. Eash Power does and must
judge for itself. It is an attribute of sovereignty so to
judge. A nation in exerting this incontestable right
takes no part in the war. It gives neither men, ships, nor
money. It merely pronounces that so far as it may be
necessary to institute any relations, or to support any inter-
course with the new Power, that Power is capable of main-
taining those relations and authorising that intercourse. In
our own revolution it was not until after Franco had given
us aid, and determined to enter into a treaty of alliance
with us, that England declared war against her. Holland,
also, was charged by England with favouring our cause, and
deviating from the line of strict neutrality. And when it
was perceived that she also was about to enter into a treaty
with us England declared war. Even if it were shown that
a haughty and powerful nation like England had made war
on the ground of a mere recognition, the single example
could not alter the public law or shake the strength of a
clear principle. But what has been our uniform practice ?
We have constantly proceeded on the principle that a Go •
vernment de facto is what we can alone notice. So far as
we are concerned the Sovereign de facto is the Sovereign
de jure. Our own revolution stands on the basis of the right
of a people, even on apparently capricious grounds, to change
their rulers. I do not maintain that every immature revolu-
tion, every usurper, before his power is consolidated, is to
be acknowledged by us; but that, as soon as stability and
order are maintained, no matter by whom, we always have
considered, and ought to consider, the actual as the true
Government. Gen. Washington, Mr. Jefferson, Mr. Madi-
son, all, while respectively Presidents, acted on these prin-
ciples."

In mercy to the reader I forbear further quota-
tions from the speech in question, and from another
in favour of Greek independence, delivered by Mr.
Clay in-1824. Every line of these speeches, every
sentiment that they breathe, prove that the tradi-
tional policy of the American Union has been to
hald out a hand swiftly to all struggling nationali•
ties, and to do upon very slight grounds of justifi-
cation that which they so deprecate Europe's doing
when justice, humanity, and reason call for her in-

terference in trumpet tones. Can it be pretended
that stability and order have not been maintained
in the Confederacy since its secession ? In a resi-
dence of six months, in journeys throughout the
length and breadth of the Southern States, I have
encountered but two Unionists, Mr. Pettigrew, of
Charleston (who was sorely shaken in his faith be-
fore his death a few weeks ago), and Mr. John
Minor Botts, of Virginia, who is unmolested and

left at liberty, though utterly disloyal to the Con-
federacy. Again, can it be pretended that this war
has been so conducted by the Federals as to win the
sympathy of England to their cause P The tale of
its atrocities will some day be told, and if anywhere
during the last 100 years so black a page of plun-
der and cupidity, and ravage, and outrage of de-
fenceless women can be shown, it has not yet been
my fortune to light upon it. These things are told
to prosperous and thoughtless England, and pro-
duce as little impression as did the narrative of
Sepoy outrages in this once happy country. But
here on the spot, face to face with persons who re-

peat to you incidents far too horrible and shocking
for publication, and bring such evidence of the
truth of their report as to extort belief from the
most incredulous, it would be strange if the lowest
depths of a man's nature were not stirred with "a

certain fearful looking for of judgment and fiery
indignation."

The growing frequency and boldness of the skir-
mishes which the enterprise of Confederate cavalry
officers in the West has lately brought on, gives
indication of the approach of that desperate battle
in the West which nothing but the tenacity of the

mud in Tennessee has so long deferred. It will pro-
bably have transpired, in spite of the distorting haze
through which the truth has to percolate, that
recently General Van Dorn pounced down upon a
Federal post at Franklin in Tennessee, and carried
away with him 2,200 prisoners. On the 26th inst.
General Forrest attacked a Federal garrison at
Brentwood, nine miles south of Nashville, destroyed
the railroad which connects Nashville with Colum-
bia, and walked away with 800 prisoners and 35
officers, and a large supply of stores. Brentwood
lies thirty miles to the rear of General Rosecrans'
advanced pickets, and that able general takes no
pains to conceal his mortification at these rids of

,he enemy Within his lines. It is probable that
,he advance Which he seems desirous of undertak-

ing by the route of Columbia will be delayed by
General Forrest's handiwork. It is strange that
. .

n the exchange of prisoners the balance should, as

regards rank and file, be largely in favour of the
Confederates; as regards officers, slightly in favour

of the Federals. The Confederates have taken

nearly 15,000 more privates than they have lost ;

he Federals have an excess of about 150

officers in their favour. I know not whether the

explanation which is here commonly given of this
fact is the correct one; but it is asserted that with

Federal officers it is the fashion to say to their
men, " Go on ;" with Confederate officers it is
the fashion to say, " Come on !" Be this as it

may, there is in the Confederacy a growing dis-
satisfaction at the want of straightforwardness
and integrity in the policy of the Washington
Government and their representative, Mr. Com-

missioner Ludlow, with regard to the transfer fro
the North of rebel prisoners for whom Federal pi
soners have already been given in payment. An
:her circumstance, which does not seem to ha
suggested itself to Mr. Charles Sumner, is like
hereafter greatly to embarrass the negotiations 1
an amicable exchange of prisoners. Recently, to
for the first time in this war, two negro soldie]
dressed in uniform, were taken prisoners in Nor
Carolina and sent to Petersburg. The abject tern
of the unhappy wretches, their urgent entreaties
be allowed to go to work on a Southern planted°
their bitter penitence for having been induced 1
the Federals to take up arms, would have seem
ludicrous had they not been pitiable. It is probe
that Mr. Sumner and his associates will strive
insist that nrgro prisoners shall be regarded,
white prisoners, and exchanged for white men.
this it is my impression that the South will lacy.
consent. But it is im?ossible to resist the coo"!
tion that every day of continued strife increases°
probability of the abandonment of all usages of ei.,l
lised warfare ; that the utter want of faith in Fe"
ral honour is inducing many calm and temPele
men to advocate the most desperate and bloody sty
of warfare as the true policy of the South; and thl
in addition to all the frightful miseries which u.
Sumner and his fellows have brought upon this COI
tinent, it is but too probable that they will necces
tate such measures as the indiscriminate slaught;
of all combatants, or, in other words, the refusal '
take any prisoners.
There will, of course, be a howl of indignation i
England at the mere suggestion of such a possihilitil,
The South will be called barbarians, brutalised
slavery, lost to all sense of shame or of Christiallp
at the bare notion that they should deliberatei,
adopt so obsolete a policy. It is not necessary t
stop and inquire whether, in the event of Eng°
being invaded by the French,there would not be bell
dreds of voices heard in favour neither of giving /3.„°,
asking quarter, and to Virginians the old Domini.'
is at least as dear as his own beloved island to an
lishman. But in justice to the South it may be 04%
what are they to do ? Two Confederate prisoner,
both of them officers, are confined together in sett!
Federal prison in the same room, and are sleir,
taneously exchanged in the place of two Fecioe vi
prisoners, who are at once sent to the North. ii
of the Confederate prisoners comes to Richly:l9o
asked after his companion, and answers that be t
iE
him, say in Camp Chase, in Ohio. A complaiebei
at once addressed to Mr. Ludlow, who answers tti3Bl
he will inquire. In a few days he reports At
there is no such officer in Camp Chase. Some We to
after, haply the missing officer arrives and relloo
that he has been in five or six prisons, that be
ol
been marched, to inflame the rage of the Federbe
mob, through city after city, that all that could
done to break his spirit has been unsparingly ebe
ployed, that he has been told that he is never t°lll
exchanged. The Southerner is sensitive and big to
strung, and in many cases his heart, imperviceethe
craven fear on the battle-field, sinks under
f
pressure of hatred and of captivity. Ia this too
Federal vengeance is constantly gratified. l'eabot
not be said by some flippant Northern writer;
es,
there is no truth in these aspersions. Facts, °a
osei
dates, and fullest particulars of a dozen such clottl
have been laid before me; if necessary, they 13
all be communicated to the English public. ee.
Meantime, in Secessia still more than in Yangt
dom, the rapid and incessant manufacture of Pecior
promises to pay continues to depreciate the
rency from day to day, and it is idly fancied 10
dva
York that no nation which is giving 5 dols. a l
ice
for coffee and 75 dols. a barrel for flour (its P,,,r po
Mobile) can long protract its resistance. iltiter,
effect are the Yankees told that never was a de
mined nation checked by depreciation of its P; 4
Board in the hotels, which six months ago I.vie
dols. a day, has risen to 8 dole.; the scarcity 0' civ
plies, and still worse their uncertainty make it lilitior
possible for hotelkeepers and owners of board to
houses to furnish food for their guests. But not
eciet
moment let it be thought that scarcity Will e tho
ascend to famine, that a nation which is more 00
equal to its enemy in the field will yield tc:,,co
gaunt dictates of a monitor who, if necessityof
would be resisted as Massena resisted him at Gebt
and the indomitable Protestants of Ireland fee° 0
him at Londonderry. Everywhere
evidence
offered to prove that no such necessity can or bo
lu(fl
everywhere it is admitted that three short
ind it ed
will carry us over the pinch. Desperate dup
must be the cause which requires to be bolstere
by any other hopes than those resulting tio,
honest fighting. I have confidence that in the dfr
etiooo
grapple now imminent between the tviu se
i ed
success will still attend the efforts of a high'tthe
race, which adds to superior fighting qualltw-oifts
inestimable advantage of fighting on the de the
but which may possibly be compelled to carry
o tea
neighbourbefore of the arms into the rich provinces owl
neighbourbefore this sorely stricken and distill
land shall again know rest.