The Sun.
London, England, 1863-07-27 00:00:00

THE SpN, LONDON, MONDAY a E,VENING, JULY 27, 186

SPIRIT OF TEE PUBLIC JOURNALS,

SATURDAY REVIEW.—The reported capture of
Vicksburg, with the repulse of General Lees army,
has, in the case of the leading Federal statesmen,
revealed the inherent. vulgarity and insolence of
coarse and ungentle natures. In conformity with a
usage which it is difficult for the European imagi-
nation
eh res
rwe
neer
ne ,t iNt
os er et
hmesr,n "vsi eo rt eo nt
iaeds erde,
nation to realise, Preaident Lincoln anal his Minis-
a" c wh
ehde nWt ah
se h
ne
gwt so
no t,
by a mob with a brass band, and had to open their
windows and make speeches in honour of the occa-
sion ; and of those speeches it is not too much to say
that they offensivelyexhibit every vice
which is most
un worthy of the responsible rulers of a great country
in the crisis of its destinies. Vainglorious bo •
eating
is the keynote of them all; while profanity, cant,
flippancy, levity, party spirit, and personal self-
seeking distinguish, in different ways and degrees,
the variations which each particular speaker per-
formed on the common theme. Not one of the orators
from the President downward, is reported to have
uttered a word of regret over the hecatombs of
human slaughter which constitute the price of the
late dear-bought successes. Not a syllable was
breathed of sorrowing tribute to the bravery of the
thousands of dead and wounded who had been
struck down during a series of battles lasting through
three days. Not the faintest aspiration for peace is
recorded to have passed the lips of any one of those
shepherds of the people. One and all, they are full
of their own small selves—their own official achieve-
ments and their own party triumphs. The President,
with characteristic dignity and propriety, insults
the defeated enemy, and tells a gratified auditory
how the Southern army, which only he and his like
Would venture to brand with cowardice—" turned
tail and ran away." Mr. Secretary Stanton has the
satisfaction of thinking that all is over now with the
Northern advocates of peace, and that the same vic-
tory which has all but " crushed out the rebellion"
and annihilated the " rebels," has been equally
fatal to the " Copperheads." General Halleck
does not forget to make a little political capital
for himself at the expense of his own colleagues,
As he delicately hints, it was all his doiug that Gen,
Grant was retained in command when others would
have removed him, and consequently he may credit
himself personally with that commander's achieve-
ments. Mr. Seward's first thought is to improve
the occasion by furbishing up his unfulfilled pro-
phecies, and explaining how it was other people's
fault that the " ninety days" have so frequently ex-
pired without witnessing the predicted " crushing
out ;" and his second is to say an unpleasant word
to " foreign nations." Altogether, it is a pitiful ex-
hibition of mental poverty and moral pettiness.
Here are men who, for two years and more, have
been wielding the powers of a mighty State, direct-
ing the movements of colossal armies, and struggling
with the forces of a vast revolution, who yet have
learned nothing of the sobriety, the reserve, the de-
corous self-possession and self-respect which the
world expects from the actors in great events, and
have forgotten nothing of the small vanities and vul-
garities which they brought with them into office.
An average Marylebone vestryman would probably
have acquired in the time something of that dignity
of demeanour, if not of charaeter, which responsible
conduct of war and policy on the largest scale has
wholly failed to impart to Federal statesmen. Mr.
Lincoln's address to the serenaders, apart from the
grotesque oddity:of a style in which civility is carried
to the last extreme of homeliness, ischiefly remark-
able for a rather clumsy piece of effrontery. He has
the assurance to pretend that the war of North
against South is, and all along has been, a war on
behalf of the immortal and "self-evident" Fourth
of July doctrine that "all men are created equal."
To hear him, it is a war of abolitionism against
slavery, and never was anything else. Considering
Mr. Lincoln's personal antecedents, as well as the
notorious facts of contemporaneous history which
he so audaciously travesties, that is, to say the least,
cool. Not three years ago, he was elected President
of a slave-owning Confederation. A little more than
two years ago he swore fidelity to a Constitution
which recognised and protected slavery, and which
recognises and protects slavery still. It is only
within the last few months that he has shown the
slightest inclination to call in question the domestic
institution which he is bound by oath to maintain ;
and his illegal and futile Emancipation proclama-
tion was avowedly resorted to with extreme reluc-
tance, and only as a military expedient. It is all
very well,lo,step out on a balcony in dressing-gown
and elippers and tell thegentlemen with the trom-
laones thatthe Northern war for empire is a great
moral crusade for universal human equality ; but a
more shameless fiction was never broached by
the humblest village politician that ever went on
the stump. " This is a glorious theme, gentlemen,
and the occasion for a speech ;" and it is only to be
regretted that the glorious theme has not a word of
truth in it. For the rest, we have little to say of
President Lincoln and his speech, except that, as
usual, the characteristic graces of his diction defy
and disarm criticism. His concluding sentence, in
particular, may be confidently pronounced un-
matched for simple dignity in ancient and modern
oratory. " Having said this much, gentlemen,
I will now take the music. It is always interest-
ing and instructive to note how great
speakers perorate on great occasions. The
chief magistrate of the model Republic, in a speech
delivered at one of the most solemn and exciting
moments of his life,- with thousands of his country-
men lying unburied on the battle fields, winds up
with telling the band to play " Yankee Doodle."
The only serious word which it is possible to say
about this unseemly and degrading exhibition of
American statesmanship is that the North is emi-
nently unfortunate in its public men. Not one
among them has a head to stand, success—even. a
success bought at eo,terrible a cost, and so dubious
in its remoter issues, as that which was achieved in
the first three daya of July. At a crisis of the na-
tional fortunes which, it might have been thought,
would sober the most frivolous of politicians and
impose a decent self-restraint on the vainest and
emptiest, the President and his Ministers break out
into a perfect, Saturnelia of vulgar rodomontade.
SPECTATQR.—We trust Earl Russell is satisfied
with his diplomatic success. The result of i his
labour of months, of a combination including half
Europe, of warlike whispers to Baron Brunow and
peaceful speeches made in the Lords, of a formal
appeal to the faith of treaties, and a still more for-
mal repudiation of the, means by which treaties are
supposed to be ultimately enforced, has been to
elicit from Russia a despatch full of a calm and
polished disdain. So loud has been the talk of the
clemency of the Czar, so carefully has excitement
been cooled by rumours of conciliatory counsels
at St. Petersburg, that the public scarcely yet un-
derstands the import of the reply. From end to
end there is not-in it-one trace of conciliation, or
compromise, or moderation, or fear, nothing but
sovereign pride—a determination to refuse all con-
cession, which ;is only the more immutable because
it can permit itself officially to appear to discuss.
Even that discussion, however, has its carefully-
defined limit, if the Powers should begin talking
of promises made by Alexander I.—promises which
Prince Gortachakoff defines as a "passing inclina-
tion of the Emperor which he did not accomplish"
—and ask -anything net confined to Congress
Poland, discussion is at an end. " This question,"
says the Foreign Minister of Russia, " must
be excluded, even in an interchange of ideas made
within the limits of the treaties of 181.5," though
those treaties were notoriously drawn up by, the
light of the Emperor's avowed designs. " We must
exclude," he says, still more definitively, in the re-
ply to France, " even from an exchange of friendly
ideas, every allusion to portions of the Russian
empire to which no special stipulation of any inter-
national act applies." It is Congress-Poland alone
of which Russia will even speak; and let us see
what she concedes to the demand on Congress-Po-
land. Simply this, that if Poland submits at dis-
cretion, the Czar will accept her submission. -The
armistice is blankly rejected. "Desirable as it may
be speedily to place a term to the effusion of blood,
this object can only be attained by the insurgents
throwing down their arms and surrendering them-
selves to the clemency of the Emperor." Negotia-
tions aro to terminate before they can begin,, and
the Poles, whose whole case is that by treaty they
are not subjects of Russia, are to acknowledge sub-
jection, and then see what interpretation the Azar
'lllaees on treaty rights they will have themselves
surrendered. Till then not only is armistice inapos-
Bible. b t his Majesty to his faithful aieny,
u owes
which'
struggles for the maintenance of order, to the
d
peaceful majority of the Poles, who suffer from these
epl orable
paitrations, and to Russia, on whcmithey
to terminate
u sacrifices, to take energetic menures.
e e
Mouravieff, as the &eels. has

said, is the avowed as well as the intended reply to
demands, fer boiaciliation. Even when " energetic
measures" have produced a peace or a desert, Russia
does not intend to place t tie constitution of Poland
under any European guarantee. '`lf the measures
in question," i e., apparently, the emperor's gracious
designs,
which ' have already been decreed" are
" sufficient for the pacification of the country a
conference would be without object," if not, " there
would result, a direct interfetence of foreign Powers
in the /beet intimate details of the Administration
-a-an interference that no great Power could ac-
cept!' The conference, therefore, on Poland is re-
fused; but Prince Gortschakoff will not appear co
elm the door finally on every mode of discussion.
With en adroitness which it is hard for simple men
to distinguish from impudence, be declares that
general principles alone can concern the parties who
signed the treaties of Vienna, that " at present it is
not a question of these general principles but of ad-
minis/ tative details and ulterior arrangements," and
that these latter have always been settled between
" the Courts of Russia, Austria, and Prussia, among
which the traditions of history, a permanent con
tact, and an immediate neighbourhood created a
strict solidarit6." The appeal of the robbed man not
to be murdered is to be discussed by a tribunal com-
posed of the robbers ! Nay, even that is hardly the
truth, for the police are bidden to stand aside till
the robbers have settled the 'expediency of such
details as the mode of murder to be adopted. Even
the thieves must not, however, be consulted too soon.
There are thieves and thieves—thieves who are
troubled with remorse, and thieves who have in
their hearts a fear lest retribution should arrive at
last, and it is dangerous to wake up those lurking
sentimentalities. Russia prefers to complete the
murder first, and confine the discussion to the tex-
ture of the victim's shroud.
LONDON REVlEW—OniMonday the inhabitants of
Birmingham enjoyed the rich treat of seeing a
woman killed before thousands of spectators who
had assembled at Aston Park for a day's holiday.
The occasion was the fete'in aid of the funds of the
Order of Foresters; and, as in the present en-
lightened state of the public taste there is no attrac-
tion so sure of " drawing" as the chance of seeing
a fellow-creature break his or her neck, the pur-
veyors of the day's entertainments were fortunate
enough to find a Madame Geneive, who, since
the collapse of the Female Blondin at High-
bury Barn, had picked up the title which
that unfortunate woman had dropped, and an-
nounced herself as " the only real and legitimate
performer of Biondin's great feats, walking the rope
shackled in chains, feet in baskets, blindfolded, en-
veloped in a sack, &e." To make the matter more
shocking, and therefore more attractive, Madame
Geneive was far advanced iu pregnancy ; and an
additional touch of domestic horror was imparted
into the performance by the fact that the prepara-
tions were under the superintendence of her hus-
band, and that it was his loving hands which were
to place the shackles on her feet. But great as was
the fascination of all this, there was something even
more delightedly terrible in the exhibition. The
rope was unsafe it had been recently spliced ; it
was so worn and attenuated that one of the officials
declared it was one " on which he would not allow
a dog to go ;" and it appears that the woman her-
self had a presentiment that it was not to be trusted.
We fear this seas not publicly announced. At 7
o'clock Madane Geneive made her appearance at
the landing place, amid the cheers of the crowd;
and, her husband having handed her the pole and
"chalked her hoots," the band struck up a lively
air as " the only real legitimate performer'' stepped
cautiously and with hesitation upon the rope. "This
frail cord," thepapers tell us, " was about 30 yards
in length, was suspended between two trees at the
altitude described (ninety. feet !), and fastened round
the trunk of each tree. One extremity of the rope
was carried over a trestle, on which was a resting-
place for the petformer ; midway between this and
the tree to whioh the other end of the rope was
attached, another trestle was placed. Both ends of
the rope (which seemed to be about an inch and a
half in diameter) were secured by others fixed to
stakes driven firmly into the ground." Madame Ge-
neive's first exploit was to walk half
the length of the rope, kneel down,
stand on one leg., and then return to her resting-
place. This she did successfully, and no doubt to the
rapturous delight of the ancient order of Foresters,
their wives and children. Then came the second
stage of the performance. The lady's husband
stepped gallantly forward and attached a couple of
steel chains to Ilia wife's ancles and wrists, and
again she set out "evidently in no spirit of confi-
dence," and walked slowly along the entire length
of the rope, reaching the opposite landing place safe.
Here an attendant removed the shackles, blind-
folded her, and placed a bag over her head. Once
more she cautiously " put out her feet to feel her
way." She took one step—two—three !---and all
was over! The rope snapped and down she came
with a smash, which brought her and her exploits
to an end. She never stirred or breathed after-
wards. Our readers would naturally imagine that
when a fellow-creature had been killed in the midst
of a scene of festivity, the thousands who witnessed
her death would have felt that the day's amusement
had come to a terrible end, and that they would
have departed to their homes saddened by the
dreadful occurrence of which they had just been
spectators. They did nothing of the kind. We talk
of the moral impsovement of the working classes,
of their progress in enlightenment, humanity, and
civilisation. What was the proof of it on this occa-
sion ? The entertainments went on. Within sight
and hearing of the room where the dead woman
was lying there was (sic) drinking and dancing,
music, feasting, and revelry, This disgraceful scene
was carried on till midnight, when the day's fun
with a grand display of fireworks.
was wound up
It appears, indeed, to have been for a moment a
question with the committee who got up the fete
whether it should be continued. Eut this only
makes the matter worse, They consulted, and de-
termined to go on with the programme omitting the
dangerous parts. Their brutality was therefore
-
deliberate. With their eyes open to the
impropriety of proceeding further in their rejoic
ings after such ao event, they gave full swing to the
general appetite for pleasure with a confidence in the
heartless elasticity of their friends' spirits which
was not misplaced. Here, then, is another death ;
another victim to the appetite for these horrifying
spectacles. 'Where are we to stop ? By and by,
accidents of this kind will have no more effect upon
us than " another death from crinoline." What is
worse, the " people'' will begin to expect them, and
perhaps become dissatisfied with an acrobat who
escapes without a startling casualty. In morals
there is no standing still. We must advance or
rs trogade. And surely with the details of this
Foresters' fete before us, there can be no doubt in
which direction we are progressing. But if the
popular appetite is to be held so sacred that we dare
not meddle with it even though it were to cost us
the life of an acrobat every week, is it not possible
to place these electrifying amusements under some
sort of regulation? Might we not, for instance,
require that the soundness of the rope on which the
acrobat is to perform should be tested before an ap-
pointed authority ? Would the public be very
angry if we forbade women who are near their Con-
finement from risking a life which is not their own ?
Would it be a tyrannical interference with their
liberties if we stipulated that when they have been
thoroughly electrified by a sudden death, they
should let well alone, and refrain from draining the
cup of pleasure to the dregs ?
EXAMINER.--Austria, seldom prompt and vigor-
ous in resolve, has this time risen superior to her
traditions, and has taken a step without waiting
for solicitation or suggestion from London or
Paris, which will no doubt equally surprise and
disappoint the crel cunning of St. Petersburg.
Count Rechberg is said to have lost no time in
sending a preliminary answer to Prince Gort-
schakoff, absolutely refusing to entertain the sug-
gestion of a triple Conference between the three
partitioning Powers, and declaring the fixed
determination of Austria to adhere to the under-
standing and concert subsisting between her, Eng-
land, and France. If this news prove true there is
a break in the clouds. Let us pray that it be
widened. What reply will be sent to the insolent
message of Prince Gortschakoff, who laughs in the
face of our diplomacy, and tells it that it does not
really understand what it would be at ? It is to be
hoped that henceforth our language will not merely
be intelligible but unmistakeable, The proposal
o.
to
reconstruct a semi-dependent Government for 13
land, identical with that which failed before, oughtl
now to be laid aside. Grapes we are warned
not grow from thorns, nor can the attempt ever
11
succeed to cultivate the fruits of freedom by a etumsy
graft on the barren stock of barbarism
and oppres-
sioo. As the compromise of 1815 has been broken,
and every remonstrance of Christendom
against that
henceforth
breach has been set at nought, let us
that
wash our hands of innocent blood, declarings
Poland is by the law of nature and
of
u recog-
niseationen-
titled to be free, and that we can no longer This does
not necessarily imply a resoit to arms. Ott the her lawless detention in bondage.
con-
trary, there is good reason to believe that it is the
surest mode by which a continental war may be
averted. Her title to free nationality having been
acknowledged by Western and Southern Christen-
dam, Poland could never again be subdued. The
Russia would not dare
would be irreversible, and
the time emphati-
to provoke a war. Now is
decree of public opinion in favour of her restoration
tcwaloly.alliPesruossniawahniedh the United States, the only
she could otherwise depend,
aro neither of them in a condition to lend her
hely or aid. Now, therefore, is the time
for peaceful but positive and plain recognition of
Polish rights. It is not necessary to ask our Go-