The Sun.
London, England, 1863-07-23 00:00:00

HIGH WATER AT LONDON BRIDGE.

ruts Dom;.—Morning, 6h. 30rn.—Afternoon, 6h. 50m.
To-frfounow.-Morning, 7h. 15m.—Afternoon, 7h. 39m.

7•Z'
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LONDON, THURSDAY, JULY 23, 1863.

As usual the previous news from America turns
out to require very considerable revision. Instead
of the immediate future of the Federals being, as
we were told by themselves, 80 very couleur de rose,
they prove, on the contrary, to be exceedingly
blood-coloured, General LEE'S army, so far from
being in full retreat, is now, we learn, in stronger
force than ever in the invaded territory, and in a
far stronger position than that occupied at the last
encounter between the belligerents at Gettysburg.
His rumoured retreat across the Potomac into Vir-
ginia is found to have been no retreat whatever
from the soil of Maryland. All that he has done in that
way he has done manifestly with the utmost prudence
and deliberation. Getting his sick and wounded
out of further harm's way, he has certainly had
them quietly conveyed across the river in the direc-
tion of Martinsburg, sending thither, together with
his invalids, very large supplies, end vest quantities
of booty, the fruits of his daring raid into Penn-
sylvania! Otherwise, true to his fame for consum-
mate generalal.ip and for heroic determination, he
has kept his whole army well together, and having
coolly selected the strongest position he could very
well have chosen anywhere in those parts, he has
there, upon a line almost parallel with the sweep
of the South Mountains, though upon the opposite
side of the Antietam river, drawn up his forces in
the utmost state of preparedness for his antagonist.
His front, extending altogether over a distance of
some half a dozen miles, stretches almost due North
along the western bank of the Antietam from
Bakersville to—(O name of dreadful omen)—Fanks-
town ! Five miles in the rear of this position, he
holds, completely at his command, an easy passage,
to and fro, across the Potomac at Williamsport. At
any moment, upon any emergency, under any
circumstances he can retreat with his whole army,
not hurriedly, or precipitately in a disastrous panic,
but quite calmly and deliberately, into Virginia.
Thither, already, as we have said, having prudently
passed over the whole of his unneeded supplies, and
all the enormous booty he has contrived to carry
away from Maryland and Pennsylvania.
Meantime, what, it may be asked, is the actual
situation of things with the Federals ? And, as
easily as it can be asked, it can be answered. The
enemy at the gates, to begin with 1 And that
enemy in greater strength than ever—LEE having
been reinforced not only by BRAGG, but by BEAU-
REGARD. New York the scene of a formidable riot!
Confusion at the Council Board, where Mr. SEWARD
is stated to have abruptly evidenced an inch-
nhation to transform the whole policy of
te Government suggesting, among other
sensation" changes, the proclamation of a general
amnesty, the suspension of the Confiscation Act,
and the revocation, by the PRESIDENT, of his
notable act in respect to emancipation. So that, in
that case, the whole braggadociose talk about the
" ninety days" would have at once to "cease and de-
termine!" The Confidence of the South would have to
be directly appealed to I The utter and ignominious
failure of the entire series of military arrangements
entered upon by the North, since first the war com-
menced, would virtually have to be acknowledged
Government.
ty the Federal
tTohpeoor Blittntlee
nauseating "humble pie" recommended
JOHNNY by Doctor BELGlUM,thecurrent number
of er
a
wr
aceording to the
u
whimsical cartoon in
of Punch would have to be consumed, with as
face, we might be certain, by that unfortunate Old
ABE ! Yet actually, while such are the
propositions seriously talked of, over the coun-
cil board at Washington, a popular newspaper
at New York can evidence the extraordinary
effrontery, extraordinary even fur a Federal, discern-
able in so consummate a specimen of tautological
bounce, as where it is actually observed " in view of
the fact that the work of putting down, the rebellion
may be said to be substantially accomplished, the
question arises what policy should be pursued to
accomplish the speedy and harmonious restoration of
the Union !'rhis, with General LEE, strengthened
by the reinforcements recently sent to him by
BRAGG and BEALTREGARD, awaiting the perillous
advance of MEADE in a position of the Confederate
General's own choosing With the confidently-
reported capture of Vicksburg, still, even by
these last accounts, in no one particular
borne out ! With a Federal General and '
his staff captured outside the lines of the
Northern force at New Orleans, and New Orleans
itself in some jeopardy ! With the position of the
besieging force under General BANES, in front of
Port Hudson; becomieg every succeeding day more
and more precarious! With ail Indiana startled
into an alarm almost amounting to a panic, by a

sudden and daring invasion of it, by some six thou-
sand adventurous Confederates ; an invasion so
unlooked for, that the Governor of the State
(MoRToN) was clamouring, when the last accounts
left, for 50,000 men to repel the invaders ! While
all these things are going on flagrantly, undeniably,
disastrously all around them,and in the very midst of
them, the above quoted braggart organ of the more
infatuated believers in the cause of Federalism, can
coolly babble about the completion by the North of
the triumph now already (according to its absolutely
ludicrous phrase, under the circumstances) "sub-
stantially accomplished !" How substantially, may,
perhaps, be a trifle better understood, when the next
advices from America acquaint us more distinctly
with the actual propositions recently sub-
mitted by Mr. SEWARD to the Cabinet
Council at Washington with the result
of the late formidable riot at New York
—with the response vouchsafed to Governor
MORTON by the alarmed citizens of Indiana—with
the precise situation of General BANRS'S besieging
force, last heard of as rather critically placed in
front of Port Hudson—with the determination of
the uncertainty as to the capture, or not, by the
imminent o
Federate, of Vicksburg—above all, with the upshot
of the great battle, known to be onthe
13th instant, between the army of the North under
MEADE, and the army of the South under LEE,
somewhere between Williamsport, and Boones-
h.

boroug

If any hope lingered in the minds of some that
Russia would finally listen to the voice of mediation
and conform to the wishes of the Three Powers, so
far as to moderate the course of policy that she has
adopted, that hope will be dispelled on perusing the
Russian reply to the French despatch. Prince
GORTSCHAKOFF appears to have cast to the winds
all idea of conciliation in his remarks, and to have
studied only to give vent to the just expression of
his own indignation concerning the wrongs of
Russia. He even turns round and accuses France
of being one of the causes of this revolution that
now engages so much attention. Thus he expresses
himself :—" The Polish emigration, taking advan-
tage of its social relations, has there organised a
vast conspiracy destined in one direction to mislead
public opinion in France by a system of defamation
and calumnies without example ; in another to
foment the disorders of the kingdom, either by the
tenor of a secret committee, or by inspiring a
belief in an active external intervention in favour of
the most violent ideas of the insurrection." This
paragraph exhibits a tolerable amount of assurance
even for the Russians. In the first place, if the re-
presentations that are made and the reports circu-
lated are calumnies, why do not the Cabinet of St.
Petersburg contradict them openly and disprove them
effectually ? It is patent to the world that these
sad details of suffering, these scandalous accounts of
persecution, are all unfortunately too true. Why has
no official despatch appeared contradicting the man-
ner in which the conscription for the army was
taken ? Because the circumstances were as they
were recorded. The terror of a secret committee
referred to so emphatically can hardly equal the
terror of Russian rule, and no forfeiture can be
more severe than the penalty exacted by the indig-
nant conquerors of Poland in case of offences com-
mitted. The allusion to an " active external inter-
vention" is simply impertinent, and will no doubt
be received as such by the French EMPEROR and
his Ministers. It is quite enough for the Emperor
of all the Russias to exercise unlimited sway over
his own dominions without attempting to extend
that arbitrary rule over foreign nations. He is now
issuing his imperial decree, and sending forth his
august mandate to France. From henceforth her
cities are not to afford a refuge for the Poles who
are driven from their own land, ner are her rulers
to take any interest or exercise any interference
with the political prospects of Poland. This would
seem to be the gist of the voluminous dispatch that
has been forwarded to the Cabinet of the Tuileries.
What effect it will have there remains to be seen, but
the spirit of the French nation will not be
faithfully represented by its rulers, if a tame reply
be given to so arrogant and unwarranted a corn-
munication. The temperate tone in which M.
DROUYN DE LHUYS made his remarks has been
totally ignored in the dispatch, and he is distinctly
told to look at home for the cause of the conflicts
of which he affects to deplore the consequences.
Prince GORTSCHAKOFF says that the French in-
fluence is the "moral cause that tends to prolong
the painful state of things of which the French
Government expresses a wish for an early cessation
in the name of peace and humanity. We are
strongly disposed to believe that it will not permit
its name to be abused to the advantage of revolu-
tion in Holland and Europe." These are strong
terms in which to address a friendly state; they
are disrespectful ones to a country like France, and
the style in which the dispatch is written is un-
worthy of a great Power like Russia. It would
seem as if she gloried in retrograde movements, in
going back to the days of barbarity and savage in-
tolerance, from which PETER the GREAT did so
much to rescue her. It seems to make Prince
GORTSCHAKOFF indignant that it should be sup-
posed that Russian policy can be judged by the stan-
dard of other countries, French, English, and Aus-
trian. Russia is to go on unmolested in her course,
conquering and to conquer, the terror of all who
oppose her sway, and the exterminator of all who
impede her progress. There seems no hope of any
good being effected by mediation, when we find
such sentiments as these expressed in the despatch.
Alluding to the measures adopted with regard to the
improvement of the social condition of Poland, it is
said, " Experience has proved to demonstration how
illusory it would be to rely on the efficacy of these
combinations for the moral pacification of Poland,
before material order and respect for authority have
been re-established." This is quite conclusive as to
the mode in which the Russian Government intend
to proceed. It means that they will tread down
the country beneath their feet with the iron heel of
conquest, they will crush all aspiring hopes of inde-
pendence, and then will amuse themselves by talk-
ing of remedial measures for the people of Poland.
We hear that the Emperor of RUSSIA has reserved
hisde;ciaesihcl means,o7otnlater
n developments of these mea-
suresplainer terms, that they are
put aside for consideration sine die. The "provi-
sional pacification" is wholly rejected, even in idea,
and Prince GORTSCHAKOFF altogether repudiates
the notion of it. He says the French Government
themselves could not define the character of such a
negotiation between " a legally constituted Govern-
ment, supp rted by a regular army, and a secret
committee, based on terrorism, proceeding by
crimes, and served by bands of rebels dispersed in
the forests."
There is no argument in this ; be-
cause all nations, from h
to the most savage, can understtaned mostperf civilised
perfectly what
is meant by a cessation of hostilities,and
itis
strange tl:at, in this instance, the difficulty would
seem to rest with the " legal" and " regular" deci-
sion of the combatants. We are told that the
necessity of order, the dignity of the EMPEROR,
and the sentiments of the Russian people, can allow
only one course—that is, " the submission of the
insurgents." It is most deplorable that so unwise
and unfitting a reply should be given to a request
that was made in good part, it Dd merited a better