The Sun.
London, England, 1863-08-17 00:00:00

THE POLISH INSURRECTION'.

ST. PETERSBURG, Aug. 1.
It really appears as if political affairs had taken an im-
portant peaceful turn within the last few days ; at least the
Ministry for Foreign Affairs here is entirely free From
anxiety respecting the replies of the three Powers, That a
more
journaisr niflcant sign is a communique published in to-de y's
de St. Petersburg, the evident object of whirl t is
to prove to the Russian public that this more favours Me
state of things has in no been obtained by yielding on
the part of the Russian Government, and thus to anticir tote
the statement to this effect which probably be made by
the foreign press. But of wcoonu:rhsewfilolceign susceptibilities
must be spared, and so this c ue is perfectly colors:-
less, as will be seen from the followingudni2 text .—" In reading
the foreign journals one is every truck by one regret-
able fact. Whether it is a desire toaLsbetterembarrassment,
informed tb.;an
they really are, or whether it is real'
irn-
creased by the necessity of judging a situationmaarfratshaemdeinifter.ntshades of which they do nut perceive, it is
which
they
daily work upon the public mind by commentsset
neither to enlighten nor tranquillise it. If the Ruhsh-''ip
Government maintains in its replies a firm and dignistilm
language, these journals complain of defiance; while if silt,
adds to its declaration a shade of politeness, changing
nothing de facto in its ideas, but rendering more intelligible
views which have never ceased to be conciliatory, these
same journals proclaim that Russia makes concessions and
yields.
" These opposite interpretations are both equally far
from the truth. They have no kind of influence on the
Russian public, which very well knows that their Sove-
reign, suppported by the energetic and unanimous opinion
of the country, is conscious of the great interests which he
is called upon to protect. But this is not the case with the
foreign public, which is excited and led into error by these
false representations. We must again warn it against this
influence. The Imperial Cabinet continues to be inspired by
a desire for conciliation and for the good understanding to
which it has been challenged by the great Powers. The
care of his Majesty the Emperor for the welfare of his sub-
jects is restricted by no geographical boundaries.
" The bearing which his Majesty has prescribed for his
Cabinet is inspired by this sentiment and by the dignity
and interest of Russia.

" Let the foreign press take these observations for their
guide in future comments."
LE3iTIERG, Aug. 12.

The Gazette .harodowa publishes some intelligence re-
specting the strength and position of the insurrectionary
forces in the palatinate of Lublin. The different insur-
gent corps are commanded by Zielinski, J enkowski, Rucki,
Wiezbicki, Krysinski, and Laski ; the whole of these corps
are under the general command of Lelewel, and are de-
signed to co-operate together. The first general movement
of these corps was not very fortunate. The insurgents en-
deavoured on the 23d July with about 1,600 men to force
the centre of the Russian force under Chruschtochew, and
drive them towards an ambuscade, but the insurgents fell
into their own trap, and found the positions they intended
to take up already occupied by the Russians, who threw
themselves on the advancing division of the insurgents, and
defeated them in detail. The victory, however, was not a
very important one, fur the Russians retired to Lublin, and
the insurgents dispersed to the forests. In the Cracow dis-
trict there are the corps of Chimelewski, and the gendar-
merie force of Bogus, who has 200 men (cavalry) under
him, besides numerous small corps of insurgents. Chime-
leweki's corps greatly distinguished itself at the battles of
Janow and Sezemin. It is about 300 strong, well armed
and equipped. Bogust lately destroyed nearly an entire
division of dragoons who had been drawn into an ambush.
KALISCII, August 12.

The insurrection becomes more widespread and violent
in our country. The commission for carrying out a general
levy has, for this reason, established its head quarters at
Warta, about 20 English miles from this place. Men be-
tween 18 and 40 years old are drafted, so that within a
month at least 100,000 men may take the field. Our town
is called upon to furnish 18,000 men. Taczanowski has
been removed from the command of the cavalry regiment,
and has been replaced by a Major Kapoernicki, formerly in
the Russian service. On the other hand, the National
Government has conferred on Taczanowski the office of civil
governor. The transmission of news through the country
has now become very difficult, and residence here begins
to be dangerous for neutrals and non-participants in the
strife.

Federal Facts and nn.Englisli Fancies.

(Front the Army and Nary Gazette.)

It strikes us that there is an unusual mode
adopted by most of our public writers and journal-
ists in dealing with the course of events in the Ame-
rican civil war. The question moat important to us
here in England is of a military and political, not
of a philosophical and metaphysical character.
Whether the Americans lose or recover their liber-
ties—whether they destroy or preserve State rights
—whether they respect or annihilate the consitu-
, tion, is for them a vital problem ; but it does not so
much practically concern us in Great Britain at the
present moment, however curious 'and interesting
for historical students it may be to study the words
and acts of the model republicans. Great Britain
is much more intimately concerned in the hard
facts of the terrible war than in speculations as to
greenbacks, habeas corpus, martial law, arbitrary
arrests, taxation, and the like. She is most deeply
interested in trying to discover whether the North
is about to become a great military and naval power,
with an overwhelming and triumphant army, and
a fleet of great strength in their own waters. What
use, then, is there in prophesying or speculating, in
view of the facts before our eyes ? These facts are,
the retreat of Lee to the neighbourhood of Rich-
mond, after a disastrous attempt on Pennsylvania,
founded, it appears, on a miscalculation of the re-
sources of the Confederate Government in men, and
the consequent reoccupation by the Federals of the
Shenandoah Valley and the line of the Rappahannock;
the ccniplete possession of the Mississippi by the
Feaerals, so that, contrary to our expectations, trade
has commenced between St. Louis and New Or-
leans; their solid establishments in Tennessee, and
their less tranquil, but not less secure sway over
Kentucky; their undisputed dominancy in the State
of Mississippi itself; their approach to the frontiers
of Georgia and Alabama ; their grip of the sea-
board tightening gradually ; their strongholds es- ,
tablished along the coast of North Carolina and
South Carolina and Florida ; their effectual sever-
ance of the States of Texas and Arkansas from the
rest of the Confederacy ; and their undisturbed hold
of Missouri. Add to this catalogue the danger very
imminent to Charleston, Savannah, and Mobile, of
destruction or capture by the Federal forces, and
the increasing stringency cf the Federal blockade—
the vast losses of men not to be replaced on the
part of the Confederacy, and the constant spread of
Federal conquest ; and it requires philosophy,
metaphysics, historical parallels, and immense faith
to believe that the South car. continue her resistance
to the North in the field, or preserve her States from
the sway of Washington pro-consuls. On the other
hand, there is said to be dissension in the North—
there certainly have been riots in some Northern
cities—the people will not enlist, and will not suffer
conscription to be enforced. They will all be ruined
by a financial crisis. The war is only carried on by
"shoddy contractors"—very gallant must taeyail;
—and politicians, and clergy—very numerous and
FO
very valiant must they be too. Toe countryTheNorth
vast that it cannot be conquered or
held
is not in earnest, or is tired of the war, or is cor-
rupt, or, cowardly, and only fights with Irish and
any longer—in
German hands, which won't
strikewishi to which has certainly
not yet taken undo the knot
fact, something is to take
place
place, and which
of facts accomplished which is just now pressing
under the Southern ear.
let us stick
s continue— now to our hard
faeLtset
1861, atter the battle of Bull Run,
the boundary of the Southern Confederacy, as
drawn by their bayonets in actual line, ran Lhrough
the line of the Potomac, the centre of Kentucky,
and the centre of Missouri. Tae Confederates held
the Green river, had camps at Columbus, from
which they threatened Cairo, and encamped higher
up in Missouri, held St. Louis itself in alarm ; they
had possession of every seaport south of Baltimore;
they had a blockade of the Potomac. Fort Pickens
was tko solitary standpost for the Federal flag in
Southern seas. Thu line has now receded far in-
deed, and to it have marched up the advancing
Federals. This has been accomplished, we are told,
at the cost of an actual debt, on the Ist of July,
1863, of 1,097,274,356 dollars, or, in round numbers,
of £219,600,000. Gold stands at 24 premium in
New York; in Richmond it is 1100 premium.

TUE LITTLE MISERIES OF HUMAN LIEE.--A
sedulous female correspondent who crosses her letters, says
a Saturday Reviewer, a man who bores you with raptures
about his angel, stupid parties, and wet pic•nies, are tribu-
lations which may be comparatively minor, but yet fill a
grievous space in the average life of man. The writer ob-
serving in another part of the same whimsical argument,
that a permanently soured disposition may infallibly be en-
gendered by the continuous action of linen invariably over-
starched, shirt-buttons always neglected, and trains con-
stantly missed.