The Sun.
London, England, 1863-10-13 00:00:00

and under such circumstances it was conjectured
that the States on the right bank of the river in
their isolated position would fain acknowledge the
supremacy of the established Government. In the
latter respect, however, the supporters of the Union
aro doomed to disappointment. In the first place,
the isolation has proved by no means so complete as
was expected; and secondly, the sentiments of the
population have not undergone the favourable change
which was anticipated. An address has been issued
by the Governors of Texas, Louisiana, Missouri,
and Arkansas, to the inhabitants of those States, as
also to the allied Indian nations, inciting them to
rene wed struggles in the cause of independence.
Like the great majority of Southern manifestoes,
it is couched in a very moderate tone. The fall of
Vicksburg is admitted to have seriously interrupted
the communications between the two sections of the
Confederacy, and to have thrown each of them
mainly on its own resources. The most seri As
blows inflicted on the Southern States have, how-
ever, had the effect of compelling the population to
be more self-dependent than they had previously
been, and it is with an honest pride that the popu-
lation can point to the extraordinary progress which
they have made in the development of their indus-
trial re iowces at the same time that they have been
waging a most unequal war. The Governors of
the south-western States consequently see in the
loss of the command of the Mississippi less to regret
than they might have done at an earlier period of
hostilities. It is certainly true that in many respects
the resisting power of the Confederacy has been
much increased during the past twelve months.
Mines have been opened, and factories established,
in the Southern States, which, but for the war,
would never have been heard of. When the South
first raised its banner of independence it was com-
pelled to rely exclusively on foreign States for its
supplies of the material of war. " Now,'' to quote
the words of the address, " with our own manufac-
tories of cannon, arms, powder, and other munitions
of war . . with cotton as a basis for financial
measures, and with abundance of food, we are able
to conduct a vigorous defence and seize occasions
for offensive operations against the enemy." What-
ever may be the issue of the war, or whatever the
results to which, in other respects, it may give
rise, the Southern States will have gained a
material advantage if, at its conclusion, they have
learned the great lesson of self-dependence. The
political importance attached by the New York
press to the arrival of a Russian fleet in Ame
rican waters, and the warmth with which the
officers of the most despotic of autocrats have been
welcomed by the model democracy of modern
times, afford striking illustrations of the peculiar
character of American institutions. There is pro-
verbially no despotism so uncompromising as that
of a mob or its nominees, and it therefore seems
natural that the Government which has during the
past two years frittered away the liberties of the
American people should cordially fraternise with
the representatives of the Sovereign who is now,
after his own peculiar manner, reforming the con-
stitution of Poland. If any proof were wanting to
demonstrate how totally antagonistic to every notion
of constitutional government .is the regime which
has now for some time been established at Washing-
ton, it would be supplied by the sympathy which is
so ostentatiously manifested by the Americans for
the Russian Government. The fact that England
and Russia aro now at issue on au important matter
would in itself lead the Americans to strain a point
to do especial honour to the latter. But, indepene
dently of this consideration, we believe that those
who have done their best to carry a war of extermi-
nation into the States of the Confederacy cannot but
have a fellow feeling for the Government which has
decimated the population of the kingdom of Po!and.
We might have doubted whether it were possible
for the population of the Northern States further to
alienate,from themselves the sympathy of Europe,
but we must admit that by thus gratuitously ap-
proving of a policy which the rest of the world con-
demns as barbarous, they have succeeded in widening
the chasm which already separated them from those
States which regard religiOn, humanity, and law as
something more than empty names.
TIMES.—That some men have greatness thrust
upen them has been said often enough to be believed
without a fresh example, but our foreign letters
apprise us that the Times has recently contributed
to the very unexpected elevation of an unknown
gentleman to renown and favour. It seems that a
Mr. Apel or Appel—for the heroic syllables are
ambiguously, spelt—has been accepted on the scene
of the Polish insurrection as the correspondent of
this journal, and has found himself not a little in-
debted to the importance with which this imaginary
capacity invested him. Whoever he may be, or on
whatever errand he may be bound, he did actually
join one of the insurgent bands on Polish territory,
and in that company he went into battle. We may
hope that he conducted himself becomingly, but it
appears that at the end of an engagement he was
found, not metaphorically, but actually, "up a
tree." In that proverbially awkward position he
was descried by a Cossack, who endeavoured to
bring him down by a bullet, but who missed his
mark. Judiciously declining to risk a second shot,
Mr. Appel de,cended from his eyrie, made terms
with the Cossack below, and surrendered at discre-
tion. The predicament might have been an exceed-
ingly unpleasant one hut for his official reputation.
It is painful to think what might have become of
plain Mr. Appel, taken with arms in his hands, but
" our own correspondent" was reserved for a diffe-
rent treatment. The distinguished captive was
escorted with especial ceremony to the town of
Lublin, and there brought into the presence or the
Russian Commander, by whom, instead of being
handed over to a file of soldiers, he was invited
to dinner. That he should drink the health of
the Emperor Alexander was, under such circum-
stances, perhaps, a pardonable proceeding, but we
trust it is untrue that his politeness induced him
to abuse and malign the cause of his late comrades.
However, we have only now to say that Mr.
Apel or Appel is not, and never has been, any
correspondent of ours. No such person has any
connexion with this journal. We have no know-
ledge of the man whatever. We are much obliged
to General Chrnstcheff for the attention which
he showed to a supposed representative of the
Times, and we ought to acknowledge, we presume,
the complimentary terms in which the "interesting"
prisoner was introduced to the notice of the Russian
public by the journals of that country, but the
simple fact is that their politeness has all been
thrown away. Whether Mr. Appel did really de-
scribe himself as our correspondent, or whether, as
we ought perhaps in charity to presume, his
actual connexion with some other employers was
magnified by popular imagination into a special
mission from the 7imes, we can but say that the
whole story is a delusion. He may be a correspon-
dent of some kind, bat he is no correspondent of
ours. We are not accountable in any way whatever
for him or his doings, and the Russians must dis-
abuse themselves of the idea that they have caught
a correspondent of the Times, and impressed him by
their magnanimity and deference. Mr. Appel
will
soon be owned by somebody, we dare say, but he is
no property of ours. We suppose we must not com-
plain of such accidents, but it would be well ii
foreigners would be at the pains to verify such
claims as were set up on behalf
of Mr. Appel. The
representatives of the limes in all parts of the
world are always properly accredited, and little
difficulty will be found in authenticating their posi-
tion. It is intelligible enough that pretensions
should be occasionally made to such a character
without foundation or warrant, but the imposture
could not be easily maintained. We do not say that
in the case before us there was any imposition at all.
We have as yet no exact information about the
facts, and it would not be very surprising if some
species of newspaper connexion had, in Mr. Appel's
case, been translated by rumour into a connexion
with that newspaper of which foreigners hear most.
We place the truth of the matter before the world
because we do not choose to be misrepresented, or
to allow the doings of an unknown person to be
fathered on the Times. If it is imagined either at
St. Petersburg or Warsaw that Mr. Appel was sent
into Poland by us, or that he enjoys any connexion
of any kind whatsoeNer with this journal, the idea
must be at once discarded. We have never heard
of the man until this moment. For his proceed-
ings, whatever they may have been, he must bs
accountable either to some other employers or to
himself alone.

THE ANNAMITE AMBASSADORS.--A banquet,
followed by a display of fireworks, took place the
evening before last, at the residence of the Annamite Am-
bassadors, in honour of the birthday of 'their Sovereign.
Numerous invitations had been issued to persons in the
official world. Although females in Cochin China
hold but a secondary rank, and never sit, particularly in the
higher classes, at table with their husbands, Phan-Tang-
Giang departed from the usual etiquette, and invited Mme.
Vannier, the old Annamite lady,formerly married to a French
officer, and her daughter to the banquet. They presented
themselves in splendid Annamite costume, and the ambas-
sador,
feeling grateful for this mark of attention, departed
from the customs of the East, and paid them a well-turned
compliment on their politeness. On the company taking
their seats at table, M. Aubaret, the officer who acts as in-
terpreter, presented the first ambassador with a letter from
M. Drouyn de Limp, in which the hon. Minister testified
to the delegates of Tu-Duc his sympathy in the fete which
was then being celebrated. The letter expressad in the most
friendly terms the desire of the French Government that the
treaty concluded at Hue, between France and the Empire of
Annam, might lead to a durable union between the two
countries. Phan-Tang Giang received the letter with every
mark of respect, holding it for a short time in both hands
over his head, and then said to the persons present, " I also
offer up the most sincere wishes for the long uuration of the
friendly relations which now unite the two greatest nations
of the 'West and of the East,"