The Sun.
London, England, 1863-10-27 00:00:00

SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALS,

TimEs..—The military events of which the news
has just reached us from America are certainly the
most important that have occurred since the cap-
tures of Vicksburg and Port Hudson. We are now
so accustomed to great and bloody battles, followed
by small results, that it is impossible to feel all our
former anxiety respecting the encounters which are
likely to take place on the old battle-fields to the
west of the Potomac. It may be that the next mails
witl only bring us the news of another day of boot -
less slaughter, ending in the retreat of General
Meade to some position where his enemy will decline
to follow him, or else the repulse of the Confede-
rates, followed by another cautious advance of a few
miles by the Northern forces. But even should
there be no conflict decisive of the campaign,
this sudden advance of General Lee and the expul-
sion of his adversary from the position he has so
long held will be remembered as a most remarkable
military operation. It shows that the Southern
General has been able, through the skilful combina-
tion of his resources, to resume the offs-naive and
drive the Northern army back to the neighbour-
hood of Washington in three months atter his
repulse at Gettysburg. During the autumn the exer-
tions of the Confederates appear to have been inces-
sant. The conscription has been actively enforced,
and the spirit of the population has been such
that, in spite of former losses and disappointments,
the ranks of the army have been rapidly filled.
Indeed, it is probable that the South has now a
larger number of men under arms than at any
former epoch of the war. Encouraged by a plenti-
...

ful harvest, and by their success in providing them-
selves with the materials of war, the Confederates
have raised their forces to the number called for by
the exigencies of the contest, and, concentrating
them in two great armies, have been enabled once
more to turn the tide of war. The closing months
of 1863 find the Federals on the defensive along
their whole line, and men talking of the safety even
of entire armies as doubtful. The movement of
General Lee appears to have been wholly unex-
pected. The first impression was that a retreat was
intended, and that the Confederates were falling
back to Gordonville and Richmond; but events
soon explained the reason of the movements within
the Southern lines. General Lee concentrated a
heavy force round Madison Courthouse, and on the
night of Friday the 9th and the morning of the next
day it moved out, half concealed by the forest, and
advanced northwards, so as to turn the Federal
right. A Federal force under General Kilpat-
rick was driven back upon Culpepper. It then
became evident that the intention of the Con-
federate was to get upon the line of General
Meade's communications. As soon as this was
understood by the Federal Commander, he seems
to have thought that his only safety lay in retreat.
Considering that Meade's is the chief army of the
Northern Republic, that it defends the Northern

capital, that it threatens the capital of the Con-
federates, and that it has had for the last three

months the benefit of all the reinforcements which
the conscription or volunteerint, can extract from
the Eastern States, it is certainly surprising that
the General was not able to make something more
of a resistance to this advance. But whether it be
the deficiency of men or a fear of the enterprise
and skill of the Confederate officers, certain it is
that the whole Northern army was on the 12th
hastily withdrawn from its positions. It eva-
cuated Culpepper, destroying what it could not
carry off, and during the next two days the army
was in full retreat to Manassas and Centreville.
Of the fight of the 14th near Manassas Junction we
have yet to learn the details; but as on the night
of the 15th General Meade was in line at Centre-
ville, and General Lee occupied :he old battlefield
of Bull Run, it may be presumed that the alleged
repulse of the Confederates had not the effect of
checking them in their advance. At the same time
it is stated that a Confederate corps under General
Hill had moved to Leesburg, which suggests the
idea of a raid into Maryland. The Confederates
also hold all the passes of the Bull Run mountains,
and the two armies were face to face, and so close
together that a battle was hourly expected. What-
ever may be the military events which we are to
learn by the next mails, there can be little doubt
now as to the issue of this campaign. The most
that the Federals can do will be to repulse General
Lee and maintain their own position on Virginian
territory.
DAILY NEWS.—Mr. Laird deserves the thanks
of Earl Russell and the public for the candid speech
which be has just delivered at Birkenhead. It is
admitted that the devastations of the Alabama and
the Florida have done more than anything else to
excite war between the two countries, and no
sensible man doubts that the irritation in America
has not been unreasonable. If the Mexicans had
managed last spring to dispatch an Alabama from
Southampton to prey upon French commerce, and if
the shipbuilder had boasted of its exploits in the
House of Commons and in his own borough, it can
scarcely be imagined that the Emperor of the French
would have tamely submitted to so gross an injury.
And if the steam-rams now in Liverpool had been
permitted to leave that port, it is difficult to believe
that even the American Government would have
been able to control the people. Most wisely, hew.
over, Lord Russell has given orders for their deten-
tion, and the result is that the irritation in America
against England is now allayed. Mr. Laird seems
to think that in so doing the Foreign_ver Secretary has
y
wrong has its
transgressed the law. There is no difficulty in ut-
ting this question to the test. 1;
remedy, and the courts of law are open to Mr.
Laird and every subject of the realm. If any
Government officer were to enter Mr. Laird's
house and seize his person
readiness his course would be clear.
demand to know why lle would at once
or his property,
house had been invaded,
his
eexxppriaen oa his
conduct, to
express
his
sof produce the fullest
ati
and make proof of the
perfect honesty of his conduct. As a loyal subject,
anxious to obey the law he could have nothing to
fear and nothing to conceal; and no doubt he would
obtain the sympathy of his fellow-countrymen in
resisting
an act of arbitrary power. is his
conduct t a
conduct now ? Does he venture to profess igno
rance for whom the Alabama and the steam rams

have been built ? Does he pretend to think that in
building such ships for the Confederates he did not
violate the laws of his country ? Has he the cour
ageto assert that laws passed to maintain neutrality
are mischievous, and ought not to be enforced ?
Would any dispassionate man hesitate to condemn
a nation which promises to stand neutral and then.
allows hostile expeditions to be fitted out in its har-
bours, or to blame the blind selfishness of the British
shipbuilder, who cannot discern the fatal conse-
quences to himself should his conduct be taken as a
precedent ? If Mr. Laird had boldly said that he
disapproved of the neutrality laws, and that he con-
sidered himself justified " in driving a coach and
six through" their provisions; or if he had said that,
in acting as he had done, he has been anxious to
avoid violating these laws either in the spirit or in
the letter; if he had dropped a single word to show
that he valued the peace and honour of his country
above his gains and profits as a shipbdilder, his
position would have been very different from that
which he now occupies. But he has said none of
these things. He has openly announced that the
present law can easily be evaded. Ho has boasted
of being " an old hand at fittting out secret expedi-
tions," and he has explained how it could be done
in the teeth of the Act of Parliament. According
to him nothing can be simpler. Faith, he says,.
must be placed in somebody. Mr. Jefferson Davis
has his agents in this country. They place faith in
Mr. Laird. Both parties understand each other.
No agency can be proved. Alabamas and steam-
rams are built, nohody can tell for whom. They
sail out, hoist the Confederate flag, and devastate
Northern commerce. Mr. Laird is perfectly right,
and understands his business thoroughly. If any
English shipbuilder is willing to place faith in a
belligerent Government—to conspire with the agents
of Mr. Jefferson Davis to evade th.: Foreign Enlist-
ment Act, nothing can be easier. On the other
hand, if any shipbuilder is determined to obey the
law in spirit as well as in letter, and to refuse
to build men-of-war until he has ascertained
for whom they are intended, nothing can be easier.
But Mr. Laird prefers the former course. With
him patriotism and honour are superstitions :
money-making and increase of business are the
objects of his devotion. Mr. Laird has determined
to evade the laws of the country. He has succeeded
in his design. He openly glories in his success.
The only question is, what is the duty of the Go-
vernment under the circumstances?