The Sun.
London, England, 1863-06-11 00:00:00

SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALS.

TIMES.—For the first time in the history of the
American war a long narrative of Federal victories
has been substantially confirmed. The game, it is,
true, is by no means played out. The capture of
Vicksburg, which was the object of all these opera-
tions, is not yet accomplished, nor is it at all certain
that the enterprise will not end in disaster to the
forces of the North. But it is nevertheless certain
that a Federal General has planned an ingenious
expedition against the Confederate stronghold, and
that he has advanced towards his end by a succes-
sion of victories at one point after another. This
much is now established by the reports of the Con-
federates tt emselves, and to that evidence we can
now add the authority of our own correspondent
in the South for the first chapters of the story.
The operations against Vicksburg have been so
elaborately concerted between the military and
naval commanders, that we may assume the design
to have been of some standing. General Grant and
Admiral Porter must have been patiently completing
their preparations while the attention of all people
was concentrated on the Rappahannock, and their
first n ovement, indeed, was made at the moment
when Lee was confronting Hooker in the plains
near Fredericksburg. We. now see, through the
mists of conjecture and rumour, what the Federal
flotilla was doing on the Mississippi, and why trans-
ports and gun boats were so recklessly pushed by the
batteries of Vicksburg. That city, as everybody
now knows, stands on the left, or eastern, bank of
the Mississippi, just where the river makes a deep
bend. A little above it the Yazoo runs into the
great stream, and a short distance below it the
Big Black River does the same. At the mouth
of the Y zoo stands Haines Bluff, a posi-
tion fortified by the Confederates ; at the
mouth of the Big Black River were their
batteries of Grand Gulf. Thirty miles or so east of
Vicksburg lies the town of Jackson, the two places
being connected by a rails ay which enters Vicks-
burg at its rear. All this country was in the
hands of the Confederates. The Big Blade River,
running in a south-westerly direction to Grand
Gulf, cuts the Vicksburg and Jackson Railway
about ten or twelve miles from the former city, so
that a force advancing up the stream from its mouth
would find itself in the rear of Vicksburg and on the
line of its communications with a friendly region.
To place himself in this advantageous position was
the object of General Grant in the present expedi-
tion. For this purpose it was arranged that Admiral
Porter, commanding the Federal flotilla on the
Mississippi,should force his gunboats and transports
at any risk past the Vicksburg batteries, and this
was done. The transports were empty, so that the
loss incurred was in vessels only, and when a certain
number had run the gauntlet and survived, troops
were marched across the tongue of land left by the
great river's bend and embarked in them. These
were then carried down to Grand Gulf, at the mouth
of the Big Black River, where .Gen. Grant ulti-
mately found himself in command of 40,000 or
50,000 men. The Confederate positions at Grand
Gulf and at Port Gibson in the immediate vicinity
were successfully carried, and then the expedition
advanced up the stream. With an activity which
our Southern correspondent describes as "surpris-
ing," Gen. Grant marched upon Jackson and cap-
tured the town before any successful resistance could
be organised. The Confederate forces in those parts
were divided between two commands. Within

the lines of Vicksburg General Pemberton
had a disposable army of some 15,000 men.
while outside, in the open country, was General
Joseph Johnstone with about 12,000 more, and re-
inforcements at no great distance. Grant's ad-van-
tage was that he could encounter each of these armies
in detail with a much superior force, and this advan-
tage he turned to excellent account. As he fell upon
Jackson his numbers were sufficient to keep John-
stone aloof, and though Pemberton marched out to
meet him as he turned upon Vicksburg, and bravely
contested his advance at more than one point, the
Northern General was strong enough to win battle
after battle, in short, he succeeded in planting himself
in the rear of Vicksburg and forthwith commenced his
assault upon this, the weakest, point in the defences
of the city. So far, therefore, the expedition has been
remarkably successful, and it reflects unwonted
lustre on the Federal arms. With a comparatively
small army General Grant has done more to alarm
the Southerners and threaten their most important
pooitions than ever was done by any of his colleagues
on the Potomac. He has taken his troops through
a difficult country, and in spite of all opposition, to
a point of great advantage, from which he may pos-
sibly secure the mastery of the field. The rest now
depends on the strength of Vicksburg, and the en-
durance of its garrison. The place is beleaguered
by land and water. The Northern gunboats are at
Haines Bluff and at Grand Gulf in possession of the
streams. 0 hers are just above Vicksburg, and others
again just below it, so that the town is bombarded
from the west, while Grant's eager and triumphant
army attacks it from the east. These are strong
odds against the South, bat unless the game is won
quickly it will be all lost, for General Johnstone,
who retired northward upon his reinforcements, is
rapidly collecting troops, and he can take Grant in
the rear as soon as he is strong enough to march. Ir
will be seen, too, that our correspondent's estimate
of the impregnability of Vicksburg coincides ex-
actly with the information hitherto received of the
actual siege. Four times Grant has led his troops
to the assault, and four times he has been repursed.
If Johnstone falls on his shattered army wiih a
superior force, the victories of the past month will
have led the Northern General only to destruction.
In any case, however, the expedition has been
creditable to the Northern arms. It was a bold
stroke, and has been boldly delivered.. It partook
&yen of the nature of a surprise, for though the
Southerners were aware that the Big Black River
would lead an enemy, if he did but know it, to the
most vulnerable point of Vicksburg, they did not
anticipate the expedition. It is clear that they
have been alarmed for the safety of the place,
though there is no despondency in the tone of opi-
nion. They thought it might fall, but it is felt even
in New York that little would fall with it. The
event would not insure even the navigation of the
Mississippi, while all this time there is a powerful
Southern army in Virginia which can scarcely now
be kept even nominally in check by the beffled and
broken army of the Potomac. Southern journals
are speculating on an imminent crisis, apart from
all operations on the Mississippi. Gen. Lee is
thought to be threatening Hooker with attack, and
to be concerting with his colleagues an advance on
Washington. It is curious to observe that this
critical contest at Vicksburg has been left to two
insignificant armies. The great armies of the South-
West, under Bragg and Rosencrans respectively,
are confronting each other immovably in Tennes-
see, and though Johnstone will probably summon
succours from all parts,he must double his force be-
fore he obtains even as many men as Hooker left
behind him on the field of Chancellorsville. VV hich-
ever way the siege may end, it will leave the chief
forces of thebelligerents absolutely untouched. Even-
if Vicksburg should fall, it is by no means certain
that it may not be recaptured by a stronger, army
appearing upon the scene. There are vast forces in
these countries while small armies are fighting the
battle, and Vicksburg, if taken, may prove to Gene-
ral Grant little more than convenient shelter. He
is, in fact, in an enemy's country. It was not worth
while to molest him so long as he sate hopelessly
in his infected camp, but he has now plunged into
the midet of his foes, add if he cannot carry the
long beleagured city and appropriate its defences,
he may pay for the opening successes of his expedi-
tion by a disastrous, though not inglorious close.
HERALD.—There is an old story of a naval slicer
saying of another naval officer that he was not ti
to carry offal to a bear. Upon being required to
withdraw the insulting remark he did so by ex-
pressing his opinion that the officer in question was
fit to carry offal to a bear. This is precisely the
kind of reparation made by Colonel Calthorpe for
his original accusation against Lord Cardigan in the
matter of the Balaklava charge. Colonel Calthorpe's
original statement was that Lord Cardigan, while
leading the first division at that memorable en-
counter, turned short before coming to the batteries,
on account of his horse swerving and taking fright.
On being required to amend this statement, on the
ground that it involved a charge of military failure
not supported by facts, he changed his ground, and
declared that the idea of Lord Cardigan being car-
ried away against his will was doubtless erroneous,
h:s lordship's excellence as a horseman being un-
questionab e. This remark, put in a pointed way,
and accompanied by a note of admiration to mark
the intended satire, of course made matters worse.
It declared nothing less than that Lord Cardigan
ran away of his own free will, and amounted to an
obvious impugnment of his lordship's personal
courage. This was too much for any man to bear.
The accusation of cowardice is one which a civilian
cannot endure with honour. But it affects only his
private position. In the case of a military man it
affects not only his private position, but his public
character—it involves r.ot only social degradation,
but his professional ruin. The chastity of honour
required by the military code demands that an officer
shall—like Cm3ar's wile—be sot only pure but un-
suspected. We all know how difficult is compliance
with this demand under the most favourable condi-
tions. And, for this reason, military men should,
of all others, be most chary of casting a slur upon
the character of a brother officer without the most
certain proof of the slur being deserved. But it too
frequently happens that military men are not suffi-
ciently alive to this necessity. Mr. Thackeray
says, somewhere, that if an Irish gentleman is
to be roasted, another Irish gentleman is always
found ready to turn the spit. The remark is un-
just as applied to the Irisa nation generally,

whose members certainly support one another
with at least equal enthusiasm. But it will apply,
we fear, to a great extent, to military men, who
habitually show to one another less mercy than
civilians pilaw to their class. At military clubs, at
military messes, one of the principal social amuse-
ments appears to be the pulling down of reputations.
A civilian suddenly launched into the society is
astounded to hear how great battles have been won
by nobody in particular, how great honours have
been conferred upon the wrong men, and how great
names are associated with small things ! The ensign
mind may perhaps be pardoned for forming rash
conclusions and contributing them to the harmony
of the evening. But the same conduct in senior offi-
cers is less excusable, and more especially when
they put their accusation into print. Of the latter
offence we have seldom heard of a more gross in-
stance than the accusation made by Colonel Cal •
thorpe again Lord Cardigan with regard to the
Balaklava charge. Lord Cardigan's account of the
manner in which he was cut off from his division
after entering the batteries, and had to fight his
way back as he best could, is as clear as need be. It
is supported by satisfactory testimony, even suppos-
ing the presumption to be justified that his lordship
has a natural turn for untruth, and that he must be
considered guilty until he manages to prove himself
innocent. Such a presumption we do not venture
upon in judging the most atrocious criminals, and
it might be supposed that in a case involving a
question of honour it would be still less applicable.
Colonel Calthorpe was well aware of the explana-
tion Lord Cardigan had to offer. He must have
known how uncertain—to say the least of it—was
the accusation which he made in point of proof. One
would have thought, then, that considering the de-
licacy of the discussion involved, the honour of
the service as represented by one of its most con-
spicuous officers, which might be considered at
stake, besides the possibility of doing an act of indi-
vidual injustice, that Col. Calthorpe would, upon
Lord Cardigan's first representation, have with-
drawn the scandalous charge. Such reparation
would not only have been consistent with
the character of a gentleman, bat it may
be considered to have been demanded by
the requirements of the case. But instead of
taking this straightforward course, and owning
his error, Colonel Calthorpe descended to a worse
insinuation, and gave to what might have been con-
sidered an act of public duty the aspect of private
malice. This reparation might have been made in
a graceful and even magnanimous manner at the
time. It has been made at last, for Colonel Cal-
thorpe now withdraws every insinuation affecting
Lord Cardigan's personal courage ; but it has been
made too late, as far as Colonel Calthorpe is con-
cerned. The recantation, as regards both fact and
opinion, has been extorted from that officer not by
appeal to his chivalry and sense of justice, but by
the rough expedient of legal proceedings, and the
apparent imminency of a criminal prosecution. Col.
Calthorpe stands, therefore, in this position : he has
either made a fa'se charge, or ha has declared to be
false a charge which was true. The admissions
which he has made through his counsel fully justify
this conclusion, to say nothing of the destruction of
the books containing the offensive matter. It re-
mains for him to clear himself with society as he
best can. With regard to Lord Cardigan's conduct
on that terrible day at Balaklava, no doubt ca
i n re-
main in unprejudiced minds. From the first t was
admitted on all hands that to have gone any way
with that brilliant advance required daring of no
common description. And even some slight short-
comings might have been pardoned is the bravest
man upon so thoroughly exceptional an occasion—
in, an operation of which it has been said—e est
magnifique, mais ce n'est pas la guerre. But there
was no shortcoming upon Lord Cardigan's part.
The fact is established upon evidence as upon hon-
our. It has been admitted by the accuser himself.
An impartial tribunal—nearly the highest in the
land—after carefully weighing the conflicting state-
ments, has decided that Colonel Calthorpe's charge
was " a most serious libel," and it has refused to
sanction criminal proceedings upon a technical
ground, marking, moreover, its sense of the merits
of the case by dismissing the rule without Costs,
Nothing could be more clear and patiently impar-
tial than the judgment of the Chiet Justice of the
Court of Queen's Bench, and the result,was the
complete vinnication of the character of the accused.
He must be a bold man who ever revives the old
Balaklava scandal.

DAILY NEWS.—Moral force occupies so large a
space in the political discussions of our times, is
credited with so much efficiency, and forms so con-
siderable a part of the reliance of statesmen, that it
is exceedingly important to know what is the nature
of the agent, and what are the conditions under
which it may be expected to succeed. We take im-
mense, tut not excessive pains to prove our new
artillery, and are not satisfied until we have ascer-
tained what strain the guns will bear, what range
they will command, and the amount of resistance
they will break down and overcome. Moral force is
one of the favourite weapons in the armoury of the
liberal statesmen of modern times; and it is very
desirable that we should know under what circum
stances it may be depended on to do effectual ser-
vice. No one can have failed to notice that in our
ordinary discussions two very different things alike
receive the name of moral force. The first admiral
who was sent by the Emperor of the French to
Mexico with an imposing squadron was ordered to
approach with his ships and prefer his demands,
" relying entirely on the moral effect of his rank
and mission." Admiral Napier, as once described by
Lord Palmerston, toiling along under the sun dressed
like Robinson Crusoe, and taking a fortress in the
Peninsula by simply delivering a letter, was said to
succeed by moral force. In both these cases, how-
ever, material force was the efficient cause of success.
The careful abstinence from threats which a strong
Government sometimes observes fcr political reasons
makes no difference to the fact. The threat is real,
though tacit, and although more is left to the dis-
cernment and sagacity of the party than when the
menace is expressed. The same kind of in-
fluence is also exercised in different degrees
whenever one Government in any way inten-
tionally gives another Government reason for
believing that a particular course of conduct will
convert it into an enemy. And although our
fathers did not care to give a pretentious designa-
tion to influence of this kind, there is nothing
absolutely incorrect in styling such an appeal to
fear and self-love as a resort to moral force. It
is not in this semi-material sense, however, that
English statesmen are most accustomed to under-
stand either the phrase or the thing. Theirs is a
nobler, because a more generous and far reaching, if
less immediately practical appreciation of moral
force, such as might be expected to be made in a
land of settled liberty, where no station or office is
so high as to exempt its occupant from the influence
of cultivated and freely expressed public opinion.
The theory of our leading politicians is, that of the
various objects which men pursue, there is none
which they more eagerly desire than the good opi-
nion of others. The hatred and contempt of the
public are supposed to be intolerable even-to Czars
and Sultans, who feel extremely solicitous about the
opinions even of those by whom it is impossible that
they should ever be in the slightest degree injured
or benefited. We may suppose that it was a con-
viction of this kind which led Earl Russell, after
observing on a recent occasion that "That which is
taking place in Poland has been carried by quicker
roads of conveyance than were known in former
times to all parts of Europe, and the conscience of
Europe has been roused by seeing the religion of a
people trampled under foot, by seeing their nation-
ality despised, by seeing the arbitrary measures dis-
posing of the lives and limbs of the brave youth of
a brave and celebrated nation "—to say, "Depend
up.-‘n it that public opinion expressed at the present
time by t`li sree of the greatest and moat powerful
monarchiesof Europe, will be backed and sustained
by all minor
power:. and in every nation where men
can read, think, and fee'l
with regard to the woes of
Poland "—and to invite ti
fellow Peers to rely,
th,;t: public opinion of
Europe which, you may depend upsn it, the Empe-
ror of Russia, autocrat as he may be, will not
neglect." There can be no doubt of either the, reality
or the strength of public opinion in shaping the
course of the greatest rulers in the world, Bu'
we greatly fear that a misconception of the cir-
cumstances which limit the operation of this force
is misleading many Englishmen just now, and pre
paring great disappointments for our countrymen.
It may be remarked, by the way, that the influence
of the opinion, as such, of a nation so well provided
as ours with the means of speaking its mind, is not
increased by the formal representation of that
opinion to the State to which it is adverse.
Although only the Government can pronounce the
national will, it is not the only or even the chief, ,
and not always the true, expositor of national senti-
ment. If Prince Gortchakoff, after satisfying him-
self as to what the English Government means to
do, still feels any curiosity as to what the English
people think, it is to the debates in Parliament, the
discussions of the press, and the language of meet-
ings and petitions, and not to the despatches of the
Foreign Secretary, that he will look for its satisfac-
tion. Now, whatever reason there may be for sup-
posing that the Russian Government takes note of
English feeling respecting Poland, there is none
whatever for imagining that a mere desire for our
good opinion forms the ground of its solicitude. If
that Government can be assured of our strict neu-
trality, it will resign itself to do without our moral
approbation for a time. There is no instance on
record of a Government engaged in a conflict which
it regards as ene necessary for self-preservation,
giving way before the public opinion of a neighbour.
The people of the free States of America have shown
themselves most anxious for our good opinion, but

they have not been moved from their purpose by
the fact that, so far as the bu k of our influential
classes are concerned, our good opinion has been
withheld. Speak of raising the blockade, however,
and they are all attention. So it is in Russia, where
the most powerful instincts and passions are on both
sides in full and deadly exercise. The povetr
of opinion finds there no field, no voice, no ear.
Not only is European opinion unable to influence
the general policy of the Russian Government to-
wards the Poles, but it is incapable of restraining
that Government within the rules of honour and
humanity in its mode of conducting war. We do
not refer to excesses of the soldiery, but to the
deliberate acts of the commanders. If there was
one thing more than another in which deference to
the opinion of the civilised world might have been
expected to be discernible, it was the treatreent of
the insurgent chiefs when the fortune of \a ar places
them in the hands of the enemy. But the conduct;
of the Russians in this respect is marked by all the
old Mascovite barbarism. When an honourable
opponent falls into their hands he is murdered in
cold blood. Podlewski, after exciting universal
admiration for his skill and courage, was shot the
other day at Plock. He was plied with offers of
advantage if he would embrace the Rusian cause;
but on rejecting them he was shot. Kononowicz
has just been captured by a stratagem, and it is an-
nounced that he is to be shot immeiately. It would
cost the Russians nothing to save the lives of these
gallant enemies ; their execution outrages the feel-
ings of every honourable man ; but they are never-
theless shot. The all-important question with the
Russian Government is, not what Europe thinks,
but what Europe is ready to do, and whether it will
do anything before the Imperial arms have fashioned
that god of the statesman's idolatry, thefait accom-
pli. If the statesmen of Russia attach importance
to our sentiments it is becauee they know that deep
in human nature there lies that which is stronger
than cabinet theories, and which before now has
led England and France to terrible measures of
retribution which did not originate in the policy
of statesmen. So far as the Russian Government
is persuaded, by whatever means, that it incurs no
danger of that kind, it will continue to follows its
own instincts and passions, which are also those of
the Russian nation, heedless of all mere verbal
remonstrance.

COUNTRY MARKETS.

-

NEWARK,-,WEDNESDA.Y.

White wheat new, 49s to 54s
Red do. 448 to 49s
Old whito —s to —s
Red do. —s to —s
Barley, malting —s to —s

Barley, grinding 28s to 33s
Oats, old, .. 26s to 30s
New do 20s to 24s
Beans.. 40s to 46s
Beans, new 36s to 40a

Peas,•• • •

40s to 445.

MELTON MOWBRAY-TUESDAY.

The following were the currencies :—New white wheat,
47s Od to 53s Od ; new red, 44s Od to 48s per 36 stone ;
beans, 36s to 40s for old ; new sorts, 34s to 39s per 38 st. ;
barley, 35s to 39s for malting, and 29s to 31s per qr. for
grinding; oats, 24s to 30s Od per 24 stone.