The Sun.
London, England, 1863-01-01 00:00:00

dependent section of the Liberals below the
gangway. As broad a hint as ever pro-
bably was vouchsafed by a Tribune of the People to
the administrative holders of power was the one
given to Lord PALMERSTON and his colleagues by
Mr. COBDEN immediately prior to the close of last
session. Already it has told. It has brought con-
viction home to the minds of statesmen always
exquisitely sensitive, we may even with a more or
less invidious stress upon the phrase add, constitu-
tionally sensitive, of the advantages accruing to them
from the tenure of place, with its prerogatives of
power and patronage. Her MAJESTT's
Ministers
are prepared, upon mature consideration, to mode-
rate their previously expressed views in regard
to the requirements of the Government in the way
of expenditure. They will, however tardily or
reluctantli, it matters little—they will—to a cer-
tain extent—economise. As a commencement,
perhaps that
may is enough. The member for
Rochdale congratulate himself upon
adroitly he thrust in the small end
hoof wthe wedge. It rests with himself, and with
others thinking and sympathising with him, to
drive it later on fairly home. A comprehensive
change for the better in the way of economy can
only be brought about by degrees. Ce n'ese que le
premeer pas qui coute. And that pretty "pass,"
as we are fain for the nonce to spell it, our own
veteran Premier is in a fair way of being brought
to, at length, by the exigency of circumstances.
Financially, therefore, in a twofold sense, retro-
spectively viewed in regard to the returns, and
anticipatorily viewed in regard to the probable re-
duction of the expenditure, the new year begins, as
we have said propitiously.

The "North American" has brought us some
further particulars of the recent Federal catas-
trophe at Fredericksburg, and its consequences:
Notwithstanding the statements of La France, the
news just arrived indicates no lack of determina-
tion to continue the war. On the Confederate side
this is natural, and we are not surprised to read of
fresh aggressive movements on their part ; and,
apparently, of a determination to extend the area
of attack to the West and the Mississippi. But
the Federals also appear equally determined.
Though defeated, they are bent, rather on tracing
the disaster to its primary causes, and on stimulat-
ing the Government to more efficient action, than
on accepting the conclusion which Europe deduces
—that the South is not to be vanquished. On the
19th, we were told that a public meeting was to
have been called " to inform the Administration
of the people's opinion regarding their misconduct
of the war; but the Senate having ordered an in.
quiry to be made into the facts of the disaster at
Fredericksburg, the next day's telegrams inform
us that the meeting was postponed pending the
report of the Senate. Meantime the tendency of
popular opinion is to throw all the blame on the
Administration. This is natural enough. Our
Crimean war will remind us of like feeling
so recently, in England ; but we apprehend
there are far weightier reasons for dis-
content with Messrs. SEWARD and STANTON,
than there were with our Premier and War Minis-
ter at the time of the Crimean disasters. The im-
portant fact, however, for Europe, for Lancashire,
for India, and for all cotton-producing and cotton
manufacturing countries is, that the fearful repulse
of Fredericksburg affords no prospect of a termina-
tion of the war. It is surely of the last importance
that all, practically concerned, should be fully awake
to the temper of the North. While to all at a
distance it seems as if the last five months of 1862
ought to convince the North that success is hope-
less, the North refuses to be convinced. It has
had throughout the year abundant crops, and a
good trade; it has actually felt nothing of the
miseries of war, and it will go on, so far as its
temper can yet be judged of, for years, rather than
recognise Secession.

Perhaps the North may have made the best, bad
as the best is, of its losses on the 13th; yet the offi-
cial account of a military man, like BURNSIDE, is
not likely to be much wide of the truth. Ten or
twenty thousand, it will be remembered, were the
loose guesses at first. BURNSIDE makes the total
9,400, of whom 1,400 were killed. To these must
be added 800 taken prisoners. He is said to have
I resigned, but his resignation, it is added, was not
accepted. We hear nothing more of M'CLELLAN,
who by the first accounts had been sent for from
Washington. BURNSIDE has officially reported
that his retreat was a "military necessity." It
would certainly seem to have been so. The great
body of his army was exposed to the converging
fire of almost an amphitheatre of batteries. To
pierce the centre, according to the original inten-
tion, was hopeless, and had he attempted any crush-
ing movement against either flank of the enemy,
the other flank would have been ready to attack
him, almost in his rear. The best thing he could do
was to retreat, while he could, " without loss of
property or of men." The Southern journals esti-
mate their loss at only 500 killed, among them
three generals, and 1,500 wounded. LEE says 1,800
killed and wounded.
gofSteaxtpeloits
of both parties in North Carolina—theperplexing of exploits
of both parties in North Carolina—t
im-
mediately south of Virginia. The Federals, it may
be remembered, early in the war, seized on certain
coast towns in that State, and have held them till
the present time. They gained such a footing as
to justify them, they thought, in setting up a rival
Governor. We are now informed of a little fresh
activity there. The Confederates are said, by one
account, to have attacked Plymouth—a town occu-
pied by the Federals on the south side of Albe-
marle Sound, on the 9th; to have driven the Fe-
derals out of the town, and to have damaged a
gunboat lying off the town. Probably it was a
surprise, a calamity to which the Federals appear
to be everywhere liable. The other account refers
to a Federal army further south in the State, at
Beaufort and Newbern. It chiefly refers to a place
called Kingston, some way inland on a railway. A
Confederate
General first reports, with much parti-
cularity,
that on the 14th the Federals attacked
Kingston with nine gunboats and 15,000 men, but
were driven
back to their gunboats after 10 hours'
fighting ; but the Federal Government, semi-
officially, announces,
that it has heard no-
thing of this repulse. The next day's
us that the
telegrams, however, tell Confederates
have "captured Kingston, with 500 prisoners and
11 pieces of artillery." The Southern journals an-
" captured" the town,
an-
nounce that they but were
compelled to leave it on account of the injury done
by the Federal bombardment. But then follow a
much more mysterious two lines, informing us that
the Federals " were advancing fiom Kingston, in
the direction of Goldsborough and Weldon ; this
would indicate that they had left Kingston, and
their gunboats too, by a railroad direct for Rich-
mond or for Norfolk ! Before the battle on the
Rappahannock we had intimations that a move was
to be made on Richmond from the South in combi-
nation with that from the North, but it was to be
from Norfolk. Even a " Stonewall" JACKSON or
a STUART would hardly attempt such a bold and
desperate move as that now ascribed to the Federals
starting from Kingston, and that too after a defeat.
We must leave the solution to another mail.

Bat the Confederates are showing activity else-