The Sun.
London, England, 1863-01-20 00:00:00

THE CIVIL WAR IN AMERICA.

nity of the Upper House, We have not yet seen
the whole list, but are satisfied from the names of
the two or three that hale passed current in the
clubs that the accession of these gentlemen to the
peerage will add immensely to its consideration,
while we shall have to mourn over the sacrifice
which the House of Commons will sustain when they
quit its benches. And, first, Mr. M. Milnes; what
will become of the house without that well-known
pleasant countenance—well known, for each bide
of the house has in turn seen it beaming upon
them P A more consistent (we were about to
write politician, but we ask Mr. Milnes' pardon)
—a more consistent follower and retainer no
Minister ever possessed. Seated on the topmost
back bench, he represents the cberub that aloft
watches over the Minister when he drifts into
difficulties. Ever at his post,
Cowper car. rely on his cbeer. 'There"en M Williamr.
sturdy
appearance and sturdy self-esteem
thie peneAlrrs;
Milnes
which justifies his being placed on
roll by
a an old feudal title; Lord Monekton
De Rhodesd- sou
; n di n
t rings magnificent—true metal—tbe
g r
i t
Norman conquest recalled to Ili. Talk of Christmas
pantomimes and transformations! What extrava-
ganza ever equalled this ? How the footmen at
Cambridge House will start with astonishment !
The author of "Palm Leaves" and some sonnets,the
May-fair poet, Mr. Monckton Milnes, suddenly an-
nounced as Lord Monckton De Rhodes. Shades of
tapestried warriors, companions of time-honoured
Lancaster, hail your new cousin I If Palmerston can
do this, what, in the name of our fathers, can he not
do ? We have only space at present to devote to one
more of this noble, stately band. If Lord Monckton
De Rhodes is to head it we presume Mackinnon of
that ilk is to bring up the rear. Here, again, idle
cavillers might find fault with this, and ask what
has Mr. Mackinnon done to merit this distinction.
We reply that, as Lord Russell is the great disco-
verer of abuses in the political constitution, eo Mr.
Mackinnon is the great discoverer of nuisances that
afftct the physical constitution. His name is im-
perishably associated with the Smoke Nuisance Bill,
the Dissection Bill, end the Churchyard Bill ; and
it is astonishing with how great ingenuity the hon-
ourable gentleman ferretted out all the abominations
and scented out the nuisances connected with these
uninviting topics. This is his great merit, and
suffices without any other claims for Mr. Mackin-
non to take his seat as an hereditary legislator.
Something will doubtless be extracted for him from
the history of the clan Mackinnon, but except the
member for Rye we know of no one of that name
who has illustrated the family. There was an active
relative who in former days was able, like Hervio
Nano, to crawl along the ceiling. This crawling
propensity may in part explain the popular rumour.
Lord Mackinnon of that ilk is to take his seat next
Lord Monckton de Rhodes on the baron's bench of
the House of Lords. Of course we cannot vouch
for the truth of the rumours, but—

" In the sunset of life there is mystical lore,
And coming events cast their shadows before."

In the retiring time of the present Government it
may well be that the noble Premier has determined
to obey the cry of " Largess, largess with lavish
band, and to oblige his followers, whatever preju-
dice might accrue to the House of Lords. For many
years this has been the result of Conservative self-
denial—the Whigs have made peers for both sides.
If it be true that from eighteen to twenty more
names are to be added to the Lords' roll, all we hope
is that in the august assembly, before it is too late
—indeed, the moment Parliament meets—such
questions will be put to Lord Granville as will make
the Premier pause before he trifles with the solemn
trust which the constitution has placed in the
hands of the Sovereign.

RAILWAY INTELLIGENCE.

MELBOURNE AND HOBSON'S BAY.

The half-yearly report of the directors of this company
states that the accounts show a considerable falling off in
the receipts as compared with the corresponding period of
the preceding year. The cause of this decrease are attri-
buted chiefly to certain fluctuations of commerce, which do
I not permanently affect the general sources of revenue. A
large portion of this decrease has resulted from the imports
carried over the line being upwards of 8,000 tons less than
for the half-year ending Oct. 31, 1861, which has been
caused in a great degree by the necessity imposed upon
several of the Melbourne agents of having to discharge ge •
neral cargoes at Williamstown pier, in consequence of rail-
way plant being on board for the Government. The cargoes
of several vessels would have been discharged at the com-
pany's pier during the last half .year but for this compulsory
arrangement. Another item of decrease had arisen from
the sudden withdrawal of the Brighton traffic, under the
influence of extraordinary inducements held out by another
company. Notwithstanding all those drawbacks, the balance
sheet shows a profit upon the past six months sufficient to
pay a dividend at the rate of 91 per cent. per annum, leav-
ing £l7 for the reserve fund. This result is in a great de-
gree attributable to the reductions in expenditure. The en-
gineer reports that the permanent way is in excellent repair,
and the rolling stock of the company in the highest state of
efficiency. It is proposed to connect the Hobson's Bay and
other suburban lines with the Victorian railways by a line
running along Flinders -street to Spencer-street, and car-
ried upon arches, so as not in any way to obstruct the river
traffic, and as it would pass the whole distance over what
is now unoccupied land, a handsome and capacious passen-
ger station could be erected, and the whole works completed
at an expenditure of less than £BO,OOO, being one-third of
the estimated cost of the Elizabeth-street project. The
ground set apart by the Hobson's Bay Company for the
Government portion of the passenger traffic largely exceeds
the area of the Hobson's Bay portion, which is found amply
sufficient for the arrival and departure of 50 trains daily,
carrying on an average 30,000 passengers weekly, while the
I Victorian lines only despatch 17 trains per day and convey

13,000 passengers weekly to and from Melbourne. The
capital account to the 31st of October, 1862, shows that
£500,416 had been received, and £501,115 expended, in-
cluding £113,769 on the St. Kilda branch. The revenue
account for the half 3 ear ending the 31st of October
shows that £':'5,747 had been received, and £13,005 or 36.38

per cent. expended, leaving a balance of £22,712. The re-
ceipts per train mile amounted to 10s. 71d., and the work•
ing expenses to 3s. Did., leaving the profit of working the
traffic 6s. 9d. per train mile.

(From the limes' Correspondent.)
NEW YORK, JAN. 6.
The long tide of ill-fortune that has been running
against the North seems to have turned. For the
last three days the public mind has been filled with
disquieting presentiments of evil in the South-West.
On Sunday it was reported that Gen. Rosecrans had
been defeated at Murfreesborough, and that he had
surrendered with his whole army to Gen. Bragg.
Yesterday it was asserted on better authority that
the battle had raged for five days with awful slaugh-
ter on both sides, but with no definite result. This
morning there is news from Gen. Rosecrans himself,
admitting the obstinacy of the contest, but claim-
ing a victory, purchased with the loss of from 7,000
to 10,000 men. Nashville, the prize on which the
Confederates had set their hearts, has been saved;
aid if the great Confederate army of the South-
West have not been destroyed or rendered incapable
of further offence, it appears to have received so
heavy a blow as to incapacitate it from any imme-
diate resumption of hostilities. The telegraphic
despatches represent it as in full retreat to Tulla-
homa, about 30 miles distant, on the line of the
Nashville and Chattanooga railway. One despatch
adds the words, "in disorder ;" but a careful perusal
of the two bulletins of Gen. Rosecrans loads to the
belief that Gem. Bragg saved his army as secretly
and unexpectedly to the enemy, and in as good
order, as Gen. Burnside saved his at Fredericks-
burg. When the struggle ended on Saturday night
Gen. Rosecrans evidently calculated on its renewal,
and only awakened to find, at 7 o'clock in the
morning, that the foe had escaped without ex-
citing his suspicions. Gen. Robert Mitchell,
dating from Nashville yesterday, says "The Lord
is on our side. The rebels are whipped." But
the profane supposition in the first sentence, and
the confident assertion in the second, may yet be
put to the test at Chattanooga, should General
Rosecrans pursue the enemy to that strong position
and again offer battle.
The result of the five days fight of Murfrees-
borough is not the only favourable tura in the
military fortunes of the North. A. secretly planned
expedition from the army of General Granger in
Len tucky, which started on Christmas-day, has suc-
ceeded, by a series of brilliant cavalry movements,
in breaking up a large and important portion of the
Virginia and Tennessee Railroad, by which rein-
forcements might have reached General Bragg, or
by which the Confederates might have retreated by
way of Knoxville and Bristol towards Richmond.
It is also asserted that Vicksburg has been captured,
after a desperate struggle prolonged for six days,
but, as the story only rests upon the authority of a
newspaper paragraph, and has not been officially
communicated to the Government, it is open to
doubt, even though the authority is that of a
Southern journal, which would rather give currency,
if it could, to the very opposite statement.
It cannot be said, however, that the usually im-
pulsive and easily satisfied public of this city finds
the same gratification in these military successes,
even supposing that they prove as decisive as they
are represented, as it would have done if the Presi-
dent had not issued his Proclamation of Emancipa-
tion. It is feared that this document is but " the
" beginning of the end," and that a partial revolt
of the slaves in some outlying district of the
South may lead to such measures of repression
as may disgrace the Federal authority which pro-
voked it, and cause humanity to shudder both
at the crime and the punishment. Even the Abo-
litionists and Exterminators begin to see that
the Proclamation destroys the last faint hope of the
restoration of the Union, and to find fault with it
as an incomplete and illogical document which could
have done no greater harm than it has done already
if it had gone the full length of unconditional and
immediate emancipation. If the South is to be
recognised by Europe—if the Union is virtually at
an end—if the independence of the Seceded States
is as clear a fact as the independence of any other
nation or empire in the world, why, say the zealous
foe of slavery, should not the Northern people re-
tire from the conflict with something like nobility
of aim and dignity of expression, and declare to the
loyal States still remaining in the Union that
"Slavery has ceased to be ?" This party is already
looking up to Gen. Butler as its future leader in the
place of Gen. Fremont, and has not only invited
him to a public dinner in New York, but has re-
commended that he should take the command of a
negro army—with which it is to be supposed he
will endeavour to exterminate a people whom it is
impossible to conquer, and head the crusade against
negro slavery in all parts of the Union. The negroes,
in their bondage, are looking for the " Moses" that
is to deliver them. Their free brethren in the North
pray in all their churches for the coming of the
great chieftain and lawgiver who is to lead them
out of " Egypt," and have been taught to believe
that failing a man of their own race, of full negro
blood—or even a man with an admixture of white
blood, like Mr. Frederick Douglass—they cannot
do better than place themselves under the command
of the unconquerable Butler, to give them freedom
and social equality within the limits of the United
States; or, if that be impossible, to lead them out
of it en masse within the walls of some New Jeru-
salem in Central America, where they may dwell in
peace and grow cotton for the world.
The Rev. Dr. Cheever is delighted with the Pro-
clamation as far as it goes. He prayed in New
York last night to a mixed assembly of black and
white men at the Cooper Institute that the " soul"
of the late John Brown, which, according to the
popular hymn, has been " marching on" at the
head of the Northern armies to lead them to vic-
tory, might animate the councils of the President,
declaring at the same time that the soul in ques-
tion was "big enough for an 7 twenty of the Fede-
ral Generale," Butler and Fremont, of course, ex-
cepted: He also blessed the name of God for hav-
ing so humbled the nation that it was compelled
as a military necessity to ask the aid of the negro.
The Rev. Henry W. Beecher, suspected of design-
ing to make a similar attack on the social prejudices
of the white race, was, if the morning papers of to-
day may be believed, not quite so fortunate as his
clerical brother. Having been invited to lecture last
evening at Elizabeth, in New Jersey, the people de-
termined that he should not be heard. A mob ga-
thered at the railway station where he was to alight
on his way from this city and made such demonstra-
tions of hostility, that, by the advice of the police
and special constables who had been sworn in to
preserve order, he decided not to endanger the peace
of the town by persevering in his attempt, and re-
turned to New York with his lecture undelivered.
It is but right to add that this statement is contra-
dicted by one who says the lecture was delivered,
and that he heard it. But, independently of this
little incident, the report and denial of which only
confirm hew difficult a thing it is to arrive at the
truth in the present temper of the public mind, it
is well known by this time all over the world that
the negro is not, and never was, popular in these
latitudes. As the pressure of taxation combined
with the high price of all the necessaries of life
begins to be seriously felt, the unpopularity of the
race increases. It is alleged that the war is carried
on entirely upon account of the negro, that the Go=
vernment has no less than 150,000 runaway slaves
on its hands at this moment, whom it is maintaining
in idlenesslet an average daily cost of 30 cents each,
making 45,000 dols. (1.;9,000 sterling per diem), or
' £3.285,000 per annum; that while this sum is
wasted upon black men, who would have been hap-
pier and more useful cultivating the cotton, the rice,
and the sugar of their Southern masters, the pep of
the army is several months in arrear, and that Mr.
Chase has to issue another 50,000,000 dole. in irre-
deemablepaper to meet the pressing demands of
armies in
n actual service, who, if justice were done,
would not he allowed to wait a week for their money.
es.
1 They furthermore allege that the Government has
CURIOSITY IN A DYING MAN.—It was a bright I introduced the new eletrent of pauperism into the
thought that, of Smithson, the founder of the Smith-1 many difficulties that beset the State—pauperism of
sonian Institution, when he was dying of an unknown
complaint. Smithson had had five doctors, and they —the
' a worse and more hopeless form than ,
and aggressive
would not have been reduced to this helpless
and de-
At thatof England
hod bun unable to discover what the disease was. ,
length they told, the patient that he must die.
Calling them all around bin), he said ;—" My friends, pauperism of an alien and inferior race, which
graded condition if it had not been for the ignorant
after I die, make a post-mortem esirnination aryl philanthropy of Raritan agitators.
find out what ails me; for, really, I have heard such long It is easy from these and a variety of other iudica-
and learned discussions on the subject, that lam dying to tions to see that the Proclamation will lead to many
know what the disease is myself." serious complications and embarrassments which