The Sun.
London, England, 1863-06-24 00:00:00

rity upon the subject, that they may be induced to
trust so far to the peaceful dispo 3ition of Europe, as to
try it beyond what it will bear. We have been fre-
quently reproached with cruelty towards Poland,
in exciting her population to continue an insur-
rection which looked hopeless, when we had no
intention of giving them more substantial assist-
ance than that which they might derive from
a barren sympathy ; but it is as unfair to
Russia to allow her to suppose that it will
be impossible for her to force Europe into war for
the sake of Poland. All experience has shown that
the most certain way of being dragged into war is
to set out with the loudly-expressed declaration
that under no circumstances will it be undertaken.
Thus it was that in 1853 Russia was encouraged by
the tone of the Cabinet and the press of this country
into acts which excited the public to such a pitch
that a war became inevitable. However much we
should deplore the recurrence of such a contingency,
it is as well that Russian statesmen should bear in
mind their last bitter experience, and should not
place too much reliance in the imperturbability of
spectators more or less interested in watching the fate
of their fellow-men. In England the final appeal
must ever be to the public feeling of the greet mass
of the community ; and however earnest may be the
desire of the Government to control the national
impulse, there is a point beyond which it is power.
less, and is compelled to carry out the will of the
people it represents. We do not mean it to be sup-
posed that there has been as yet any popular expres-
sion of sentiment which should justify our antici-
pating a contingency so much to be regretted as a
European war in which this country should take
part, bat we do deprecate the announcements we
occasionally see made in leading journals that any
such contingency is impossible. We are too anxious
to avoid drifting into war to make any such dan-
gerous declaration ; and we warn the Russian Go-
vernment that, by a policy of savage vengeance in
Poland, and of contemptuous indifference to remon-
strances addressed to it from without, it may excite
public feeling in England to an uncontrollable
pitch. As to the motives which might impel either
France or Austria in the same direction, the re-
presentatives of Russia in Paris or Vienna are
as well qualified as we are to instruct their
Government upon the subjeet. They can estimate
at its true value the force of French public opinion
and the nature of those political considerations
which may influence the Emperor towards an active
intervention. They can perhaps penetrate farther
than we can into the views of Austrian statesmen,
and judge of their tendencies in the same direction.
We would merely take the opportunity of impress-
ing upon the Cabinet at St. Petersburg, while con-
cocting their answer to the notes now under their
consideration, not to overtax the patience and good
nature of Europe if they desire as earnestly as we do
the pacific solution of the Polish question. The fact
that the Polish debate has been postponed until the
arrival of the answer from St. Petersburg, is most
fortunate in this respect, that it will force the Rus-
sian Government to respond without delay if they
desire to prevent a very loud and angry expression
of opinion in the House of Commons. Had the de-
bate already taken place those opinions might still
have been expressed, but the storm would have
blown over, and Prince Gortschakoff might have
taken his time. As it is, the storm is brewing, and
will increase in violence just in proportion as it is
pent up. Every day new facts come out to add to
the combustible materials already collected. In our
impression of yesterday we published the original
instructions issued by the Government of the Czar to
General Mouravieff, upon the appointment of that
officer to the chief military command in the revolted
Polish provinces, in which, says his Imperial
Majesty, "his excellency should take every oppor-
tunityof acqUainting the peasants with the paternal
intentions of the Czar towards them, and of demon-
strating that the landowners are their enemies and
oppressors, if his excellency considers it ad-
visable, he can also furnish arms to those
among the peasants who are attached to the
Czar and to Russia." The effect of arming a peasant
after you have instructed him to consider his master
as his enemy and oppressor it is not difficult to
imagine. How are we to believe the denial by the
Russian Government of atrocities committed by the
peasantry, when we have this proof of the Imperial
instigation ? Again, " his excellency should oppose
certain demonstrations of the women, and for their
hindrance will even adopt severe measures against
them." It is true that the punishment of the knout
is abolished in Russia, but the punishment of
flogging with other instruments than those made of
thongs of sharp leather is in full force; and when
the Government denies the truth of the proclama-
tion attributed to Mouravieff, it may do so con-
scientiously so far as the knout is concerned; but we
should be glad to know what the severe measures
alluded to by the Emperor and snforced by Moura-
vieff are if one of them is not the old established
punishment of flogging. However, we do not re-
quire to go into the region of conjecture to find
fresh instances of Russian barbarity and treachery.
Lord Palmerston told the House an anecdote on
Monday night to which we might venture to point
the moral. It would seem that near Wilna one
hundred and twenty Polish insurgents, finding
themselves surrounded, laid down their arms and
surrendered as prisoners of war, when ninety of
them were slaughtered then and there by order of
the Russian officer commanding. How are we to
expect, in the face of such an experience that the
Poles can trust in any armistice? What guarantee
can Russia offer the Powers that the act of treachery
perpetrated by the Russian officer on a small scale
might not be applied to the nation at large when
once it had consented to rely on Russian honour P
So far, then, as public opinion is concerned the
sooner the reply is sent from St. Petersburg and
the debate comes on the better for Russia, for every
day that passes only makes the case against her
stronger.

HERALD.—The telegraphic accounts from America
have for some time past been pointing to a result
which is anything but encouraging to those who,
presuming on the certain triumph of the Northerner.g
in the present campaign, have bid us prepare for
the reconstruction of the broken Union, the realisa-
tion of the dream of a united America. Bit by bit
the scheme has broken down, and the edifice faded
before our eyes like an unsubstantial pageant. no
plot was well imagined. A series of vigorous and
well-directed attacks being levelled against various
exposed positions of the Confederacy at nearly the
same time, there seemed a fair chance that by divid-
ing the forces of the South they might all prove suc-
cessful, while it appeared inevitable that one at least
of these determined assaults would carry all opposi-
tion before it, and by breaching the fortress, pave
the way for the full accomplishment of the pro-
gramme. The territory at present defended by the
Southern armies may be said to be three-cornered,
and each of these corners is more or less open to
attack. One of them is in Virginia, and is repre-
sented by Fredericksburg, on the Rappahannock.
Another is on the Atlantic seaboard, where Charles-
ton and Mobile constitute the chief points of con-
tact between the Confederacy and the Eastern world.
The third is on the Mississippi, where Vicksburg and
Port Hudson, with the stretch of river between them,
represent the claim of the South to the territories of
the far West, and the right of the South to command
the communications between the North-West and the
Gulf of Mexico. These positions have been manfully
held by the Southern chivalry. It is already mat-
ter of history how the Northern squadron of iron-
clads dashed itself in vain against the forts of
Charleston, and retired discomfited from the
defences of the Mobile River. The Northern army
has been beaten back disastrously in its headlong
onset against the defenders of Richmond. Two of
the angles of this position of strength having been
thus assailed in vain, it remained to be seen
what impression could be produced by a concentra-
t;on of land and naval force against the positions in
the west. The iron squadron succeeded in forcing
the river, and rode up and down insultingly between
Vicksburg and Port Hudson. One powerful and
seemingly irresistible army crossed the river under
their protection, and fought its way onward till it
arrived beneath the walls of Vicksburg, with a far
better prospect of success than the expedition which
so rashly attempted the same enterprise last year.
Another army, after ravaging the fertile country of
Western Louisiana, crossed the river too, and pro-
ceeded to assault Port Hudson, Generals Grant
and Banks have been equally unfortunate. After
having had the cup of Tantalus presented to their
lips, it has been rudely snatched away from them
just as they were cunnting upon its enjoyment. The
only object which can excuse the sacrifices of this
campaign is the capture of Vicksburg and Port
Hudson, one or both of them. The fall of either
would in all probability involve the surrender of the
other. But Grant, successful up to that point, has
failed egregiously before Vicksburg. Banks, boas t-
ing of his numberless victories, finds that he can
make no impression on Port Hudson. When Grant
retires from Vicksburg his other successes will be
found as bitter and as unsubstantial as the apples
of Sodom. When Banks retreats to New Orleans
he will leave behind him scarcely a record of his
victories: The country of the Bayou Teche has
been already re occupied by the Confederates.
The eountry between Jackson and Vicksburg, as
far as the Black River, is swarming with
Southern battalions, which are gradually closing in
on the rear of Grant. The Federate here are the
besieged instead of the besiegers. There is neot.
a Southern division at Miliken's, Bend, 20 miles
above Vicksburg. If so it may won placeindnvanigeer.r
the communications of Grant by the Yazoo
There are Confederate troops below Vicksburg, be-
tween Grant and Warrenton ; Johnstone is gradu-
ally accumulating his forces behind him, and Ban-
berton is well able to hold out in front. The position
of Gen. Grant and his army is already one of immi.