The Sun.
London, England, 1863-08-11 00:00:00

Rosecrans, and other leaders, elated with recent
success, are expected to breath a new spirit into the
councils of the irresolute Meade, and to infuse fresh
blood into the sluggish army of the Potomac. Be-
fore the contending parties are again likely to ven-
ture on a decisive contest, it is confidently asserted
that the Northerners will be more than two to one
against the Secessionists. The capture of Morgan
and the dispersion of his marauding band in Ohio,
though a necessary consequence of Lee's backward
movement, has given unspeakable relief to the
Federals. But,admitting even that these latter may
easily and speedily outnumber and thereby over-
power the Confederates, allowing that the rebellion
may be utterly quenched and the civil war at an
end, do I not hear the most sanguine Unionists assert
that then their great difficulties are to arise, and
the uses of victory will be a far more arduous task
than its attainment? The North goes down to the
South without any preconceived plan or settledprin-
cip!e. The friends and foes of abolition are further
than ever from any thinglike a mutual understanding.
Meanwhile slavery has been brcken up in many of
the invaded districts of the Mississippi, scarcely
by virtue of any law or decree, but the mere arbi-
trary act of the successful military, without any
well-matured design or avowed intention. The
negro woke up one fine morning and found himself
free. What of it ? He felt hungry before even-
ing, and went back to his master, begging to be
allowed to resume his work as a free labourer hired
for bread. The ruin of the slave owner is im-
measurable ; it remains to see to what extent the
condition of the freed man is bettered. There are
now in the North, Southern families, fugitives from
their plantations, several hundreds of whose " black
cattle" are suddenly taken from them, whose pro-
perty at one stroke has been rendered valueless.
Is the system to be allowed throughout the coun-
try ? Are four and a half millions of serfs to be
thus manumitted, and the cultivation of the South
to be abandoned to the chance of a new compro-
mise between the landowner and the menial, accus-
tomed for centuries only to work on compulsion ?
Is the land to fall out of cultivation, or is there to
be a war of extermination between the two unas-
similable races ?

The bitterest Republicans, the out-and-out Abo-
litionists have carried the day practically, but they
are yet to be called to account. Parties here have
been fighting side by side, and are now about to
conquer, without ever agreeing on any intelligible
terms. They are all Union men; the sympathies
with the Southern rebel and slave owner with
which the Democrats are upbraided are now dis-
avowed, and the successes of the Federal armies are
now matter for congratulation even for men who
were said to long for the presence of Lee at Wash-
ington or even in New York. But are they all
willing to follow up those successes to the same end?
Are they all equally bent on the extermination of
the South ? Are they all ready to disregard all
Southern claims to compensation, to grant the
slave owner no quarter, to wash out the stain of
negro bondage in the blood of the Southern whites'?
A strife between sheer Republican fanaticism and
practical sense, between ruthless partisanship and
moderate patriotism, seems to be inevitable here;
and the contest of principle is further aggravated
by factious cries, by personal antipathies, by local
incompatibilities. The feeling of many honourable
men towards the party now in power at Washing-
ton is withering contempt and relentless hatred.
Zeal for the public service, party obligations,
prompted the Central Government with a desire to
make up for want of capacity by a display of clumsy
energy, They grounded unanimity on an all-
treading despotism ; they overcame opposition by
crushing public opinion. They strove hard to
weigh down all State authority ; they encroached
everywhere on local freedom. They rode rough-
shod on individual rights, and were cheered and
hounded on by that rabid Republican party which
is only calling for "strong government" and
prompting " strong measures." The late successes
of the Federal armies, and the longing for "revenge
on the South," have given Mr. Lincoln and his
Cabinet a breath of popular favour, on which it
would be unwise for them to presume too far. The
clamour which befriended them in the heat of the
struggle will hardly bear them out in the far more
complicated task of pacification. The Demoerats
will appeal from the people drunk to the people
sober—sobered by the bitter fruits of a too bloody
victory, by their own exhaustion, by the heavy
costs they will be called upon to defray.
Already in the affair of the " draught" I should
say that the Government have been thoroughly
beaten. The conscription has turned out an egre-
gious farce. Wherever it was not forcibly resisted,
it has been eluded by the sense, the inge-
nuity, the xis inertia and passive perseverance
of the people themselves, and of the local authori-
ties. Those who cannot purchase exemption by
their own means are everywhere bought off either
by private liberality or at the public expense. None
need serve in the army, save only those who are
moved either by patriotic devotion or by heavy
bribes. Of these latter, many have come forth from
the British provinces, the scum of the Irish immi-
gration, adventurers of the worst character, most of
whom take the best opportunity to run away as soon
as they have secured the bounty. The United States'
Government will have reason to repent having re-
course to such ignoble means; nor will they have
to congratulate themselves on the enlistment of
negro regiments. They are playing with edged tools,
and will have to thank their stars if they do not end
by cutting their own throats,
In the midst of all this triumph of the Republi-
can party, it is impossible not to become aware of
an undercurrent of discontent, which may perhaps
break out when least expected. Everywhere do I
meet people who think that extreme men, both
North and South, have driven the country to this
cruel, unbrotherly war, and that they will perpetuate
it unless they are on both sides hurled from power.
"It is time," they say, " that the voice of moderate
men should be heard. The Union is to be reconsti-
tuted, not merely under new men, but on new prin-
ciples." These moderate men, however, show but
little energy and less courage. The apathy of all, or
at least of most well-to-do persons, in the affairs of
the country is something amazing, appalling. Your
rich merchant and banker is here altogether ab_
sorbed by his anxiety for making money, or all agog
with the pleasure of spending it. He is either nailed
to his desk at his counting-house, or heaping luau-
ries in his country-house, or displaying his wealth
at the watering-places. Politics is the business
of politicians—i.e., of nameless adventurers, with-
out a stake in the country. As yet no one in
these States of New York and New England
would say that a great calamity has swept over
the country, or that a strife for life or death is
raging in its bosom. The ladies' dresses and the
equipages of the rich have notaloatedofotnhee revenue
eoef
their wonted luxury. The collectors
of the readinessnever
give the most charming accounts th
with which the taxes are paid. you would
one saddle horse or a " span" of fine car
say that the arming of a million of men
one
from Broadway or the Central Park. The more
closely you look for the effects of this ruinous con-
test, the stronger becomes your conviction of the
boundless wealth and resources of this 'Western con-
tinent. The Americans knew not how well off they
Were ; they are not yet aware how seriously they
have stepped down from their astounding pros-
perity. They may, perhaps, understand it better
OY-wad-by.

SUIP -- -
TWo-MILE SWIMMING RACE FOR THE CHAMPION-
of Manchester,m
Or ENGLAND.--On Monday next a swimming
match will take
mile
andace
3,iiort.hße
Beckwith,
obfetwLoeenndolknl,r.foArlast Mather,
year by the for
and the two
merchlampion's cup, which has been held a
•
intense interest by
yalolustwhiommers throughout the kingdom.
This contest is looked forward to with
greater experience in swim!' his
While Mather has
aide, Beckwith can boast of
some time, and havingwimming,
tollraowinecgl, having been champion for
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