The Sun.
London, England, 1863-08-20 00:00:00

those untrodden heights the magic glasses were set
to work, and the icy monsters were reproduced to
a stonish the eyes of the lower world. The part of the
Trigonometrical Survey yet remaining to be done is
t!ae country round Vizagapatam, the Central Provin-
ces, Berar, British Burmah, and part of the coast.
The Revenue Survey is being pressed forward with
more vigour, owing to the increased interest which
is now taken in Indian affairs, and the demand for
' waste lands which has lately arisen, owing to the
improved prospects of the tea and cotton trade. It
is, however, disappointing to find that only two of
the numerous surveying parties are working in re-
ference to waste lands, such as are wanted for tea
plantations, &e. At this rate, and with Sir
CHARLES WOOD'S strict regulations on the matter,
it will be long, indeed, before merchants and capi-
talists get what they want. The task is not a light
on; and considering its vast importance, the auth-
rities would do well to encovage a larger experedi-
ture, if by its mean 3 they could expedite its, pro-
gress. The surveyors are said to be underr,aid, and
if so, this is a great mistake, since if European
labour be necessary for the organising and taking
charge of an exploring party, it must be paid for
at a rate proportioned to its value. If really
capable men are required, they
will always be worth
paying for, and this is sTirely a case in which eco-
nomy is altogether a fetid saving. The valuelonf
the
information collected is often very great.
last three seasons upwards of 65,000 square mitlees
have been accomplished, the survey showing
general features of the country, the territorial
sub-division, and, in some instances, giving the
fac similes of the villages. It is conjectured
that the Trigonometrical Survey has accom-
plished about half its business, and the
others about one-third of theirs. The Indian
Surveyor-General has now a lithographic establish-
ment which in three seasons has issued 199 maps
from the work of the survey, besides plans of vil-
lages and statistical information. The visitors to
our Exhibition have already seen some specimens
of Aoglo-Indian industry in the lithographic atlas
which received a prize medal. The mass of informa-
tion collected by these various parties will probably
be of immense service, and we shall be glad to see a
greater stimulus given to the undertaking, espe-
cially so far as regards the survey of the waste lands
on the hill slopes. Matters are improving so much
in India that we may hope for a little more rapid
progress than could have been looked for a few
years ago. The accounts brought by the last mail
of the expenditure upon branch roads is most en-
couraging. The want of proper means of transit
and communication is greatly felt to be a serious
drawback to the development of trade. When these
cotton roads, as they are termed, are terminated,
the whole aspect of affairs will be changed. In
the last two years, we are told, half-a-million ger-
Hug has been spent on cotton roads, and the present
year will show the same rate of expense. A few
years of such an outlay will alter the whole face of
India, and will render the grand system of railways
now developing a practical benefit to the whole
population. Since the days of the Romans the im-
portance of road-making has been recognised by all
civilised nations, and we cannot more effectually
assist India in her onward progress than by im-
proving and extending her means of internal com-
munication.

President DAVIS'S address, recently issued,
appears to be spirited and yet moderate in its
tone. He says that the enemy continue a struggle
in which " our final triumph" must be inevitable.
This has long been the opinion of many lookers-on
of the struggle, but circumstances have lately
damped the hopes and darkened the expectations
of those who fancied that the end of that struggle
was near. President DAVIS does not deny the
adverse aspect of affairs at present, but confidently
declares his conviction of a speedy adjustment of
their difficulties, and, a happy termination to their
long and arduous endeavours. -" The enemy," he
observes, " elated with recent success, imagine that
temporary reverses can quell your spirit or shake
your determination. In pursuance of this idea, im-
mense masses are being collected, and thus success
is sought for by desperate plans." President DAVIS
eloquently expatiates on the full meaning of that
term. The enemy's meaning, he declares, is nothing
less " than the extermination of yourselves, your
wives, and children—to destroy what he cannot
plunder, to parcel out our homes as the spoils of
victory, to incite servile insurrection." This is
certainly a sad picture to sketch of a war carried on
by civilised nations, but experience has proved that
it is only too true in its delineation, and that, dark
as the description may be, the reality might be even
far worse. In truth, it would be difficult to say
to what lengths a Federal army might not go if
they were excited by triumph, and desperate, to
prove that they had the power to act as they
pleased. In another passage further on, President
DAVIS alludes to the disingenuousness of the con-
duct pursued by the Federals in their declining to
enter upon any terms, or even to consider the pro-
priety of so doing. " Conscious of their inability
to prevail by legitimate means, and not daring to
make peace lest they should be hurled from power,
the men now ruling in Washington refuse
even to confer on the subject of ending outrages
disgracing the age, or listen to any suggestion for
conducting the war according to civilised usages"
That such a statement should be
made, and such. a
charge preferred against a State calling itself civil-
ised is a great disgrace, and as such it will be con-
sidered by all excepting themselves. The actions
that will not boar inspection, the policy that. can-
not bear the light of day, and the men who refuse
to act according to the recognised rules of honour
among combatants, are unworthy of belonging to a
people that once was so distinguished for great
it The fact is that the FederalGoviteernwmaernm
poGovernment
igsufaaletis.
losinge its hold, and the good opinion of those
whoup wererters. onceMistakes
its
firmcer
adherents,and
in the rule and
m ayou
s
management of a State, and misrepresentations
be made to a very considerable extent, but yet both
sides may "agree to differ," as it were, and carry
on their contention in an honourable style ; but the
war in America has been characterised from the
outset by a series of deliberate and desperate out•
rages on the part of the Federals. It is, therefore,
not the language of exaggeration that the President
of the Southern States adopts when he stigma-
tises the ruling spirit of their opponents, and
denounces the whole teuour of their actions as
unworthy of a civilised race. Often in these ad-
dresses and proclamations it is necessary to make
allowances for the excitement under which the orator
and
to take for granted that at least half
of the matter set before us is composed for a purpose
but in this instance it is not so. President DAVIS
is borne out by facts in all he says, hints at, and
infers. He concludes by
necessity of self-reliance and sted-
strongly impressing upon
his hearers the
fastness. "No alternative is left you but victory
utter ruin of your-
or subjugation, and the
selves, your families, and your country. Vic-
tory is within your grasp ;
you need but
stretch forth your hands to seize it."
It would
have been difficult to find words at once so atirring
and so imprvsive. J-i shqwa the danger to be
horts them to use the only means of
avoided, and ex
averting s downfall trona wlaiela time) will be no