The Sun.
London, England, 1863-05-02 00:00:00

THERMOMETER.

Highest since Noon yesterday
Lowest during the night
This day at Noon 5l
Wind—W. ; with fine weather.

HIGH WATER AT LONDON BRIDGE.
THIS DAY.—Morning, 12h. 56m.—Afternoon, lh. 19m,
To-mouitow.-Morning, lh. 40m.—Afternoon, lh. 57m.

11.11

LONDON, SATURDAY, MAY 2, 1863.

The attack on Charleston has brought up again
the old question between forts and ironclads, and
its result has modified the popular opinion that
we should rest our defences almost exclusively on
ships of war. The value of fortifications rightly
applied has been proved beyond contradiction,
and many advocates of vessels against forts have
changed their opinion owing to the defeat of the
Federals off Fort Sumter. It is well, however, to
adopt the medium course in this, as in most other
things, and there is no doubt that a due combina-
tion of forts and ironclads afford the best security
for the defence of the country. We have always
upheld the necessity of erecting forts at Ports-
mouth and elsewhere, which would possess a
strength never to be acquired by a vessel who has
to contend against a shifting foundation, and the
counter influences of winds and waves. Much ex-
pense and trouble might, however, he saved, if the
Government were to follow the plan tried with suc-
cess in the new railway bridge at Hungerford, and
substitute iron foundations for stone ones. The
various methcds of constructing fortifications will
probably excite as much discussion as the different
modes of building iron ships, now that the public
attention has been once more turned that way. On
Thursday evening the Earl of HARDWICKE put a
question to the First Lord of the Admiralty respect-
ing the works at Spithead. He complained that
they had been left unfinished in consequence of the
general doubt as to the efficacy of fortifications,
after the Government had expended on them nearly
£lOO,OOO. Lord HARDWICK!? himself was in favour
of their continuation, and cited many instances in
which forts had carried the day against their
assaulters. Among them he mentioned the cases
of the Pompey, commanded by no less a personage
than Sir SIDNEY SMITH, which had been beaten oft
by a single marteilo tower—of the memorable attack
on Copenhagen and of the experience of Algiers.
The noble lord also expressed his anxiety that the
summer should not be suffered to pass by with-
out profit, as if the golden months of
opportunity were allowed to slip past unheeded
it would occasion great expense next year to put
the works in their present condition. The Duke
of SOMERSET, in answer, denied that the expense
had been so great as the noble Earl supposed. He
expressed himself as fully satisfied with the situa-
tion selected, and with the general result of the
works. By a singular coincidence the distance be-
tween our forts at Spithead and the neighbouring
sandbank, is precisely the same as the distance be
tween Forts Sumter and Moultrie, The resem-
blance is still farther carried out by the
strength
of the curront and the facilities
which exist for vessels approaching within a
certain distance, and we have little doubt that the
results of an attack upon the English ports would
be found as unsatisfactory to the invader as the
famous assault on Charleston. The Duke of
SOMERSET was not equally satisfied with the expe-
rience of iron-clad ships. He reminded their
Lordships that when the American Government
built their first " Monitor" they gave it its name
as a warning to the British Admiralty, "and a
warning," added the noble duke, "it cer-
tainly proved, for the first galc that it was
caught in it went to the bottom." Recent
experiments have been more satisfactory, but
as the Duke of SOMERSET observed, there are seve-
ral points which we must learn before we can rest
satisfied with the construction of ironclads. Mean-
while the building of the forts should be proceeded
with without delay, and the erection of two forts
at Portsmouth is necessary to render the work of
protection efficacious and complete.

Tile report of the Committee that was appointed
by the Prussian Chamber of Deputies to consider
the cartel convention between ItuEsia and Prussia
vvill not be very satisfactory to Herr von BISMARK.
They have unanimously declared the convention to
be invalid, and proposed that the Government be
€ (nested to abstain from carrying it into operation
till the consent of the Chambers has been obtained.
It is most satisfactory that such a decision should
ha /e been arriied at, and it surely must ha?e some

communications. The conversation between M.
DROUYN DE LHUYS and Lord COWLEY is very Sig-
nificant, and the fornier gentleman displayed great
sagacity in his remarks. He said that one thing
was remarkable, and that was, that on the day on
which the ukase of amnesty had been signed,
there had been another at St. Petersburg which put
a sequester on the property of those who joined the
insurrection. As to the institutions which they
promised in that document to maintain, he would
mention that it was under these that the conscrip-
tion.had been carried out that acts of violence which
had occasioned the outbreak. There is great fore-
sight and sagacity in these remarks, which aptly
illustrate the state of the case, and prove that the
French Minister for Foreign Affairs is well aware of
the double entendre of such affairs, and is not likely to
be easily entrapped into concurrence with a scheme
that speaks well without performing much. Lord
RUSSELL'S reply to Lord NAPIER on the subject
of the amnesty is a very good one, and is through-
out expressive of his lordship's doubts as to the
validity or success of the arrangement. He truly
states that an amnesty may be the foundation of a
peace in two cases, either when the insurgents have
been defeated or when it promises to redress the
grievances that gave rise to the insurrection.
In this instance, however, said his lordship,
neither of these ends is answered. In the first
place the revolt has not been put down by any
means, and in the second place the terms of this
amnesty hold out no hopes that will give satis-
faction to the Poles. The chief point that
is mentioned in the carrying out of the
plan is the maintenance of the institutions. Now
Lord RUSSELL aptly observes—" With those insti-
tutions in full force and vigour innocent men might
be imprisoned as criminals, or condemned to serve
as soldiers, or banished to distant countries, without
a trial, without publicity; without any guarantee
whatever. As to the promise held out for the
future, it must be observed that it is made to depend
on the practical working of these institutions, and
on the wants of the time and of the country. The
first of these conditions destroys all reasonable
hope of the fulfilment of this promise." So
that as his lordship concludes by saying
" there are wanting in this Imperial manifesto
the first elements of success, namely, a guarantee
of security on the one side, and the feeling of trust
and confidence on the other." Lord RUSSELL, in
the last passage, quotes a saying of Lord DURHAM'S
when ambassador at St. Petersburg, " There has
long been a jealousy, nay hatred, existing between
the Russians and Poles." Her MAJESTY'S Govern-
ment had hoped that the present EMPEROR had
ameliorated the state cf things in general, so that
such bitter feelings might have, in a great measure,
have subsided. But,says Lord RUSSELL, they now
see with pain that thirty years have not abated
or diminished the sentiments before exist-
ing, and the present amnesty is not likely
either t' moderate the insurrection or to give any
security to moderate patriots. M. BISMARR'S own
interpretation of the Cartel Convention of 1857
proves its extreme harshness and the comprehen-
sive nature of its requirements. It has been so
arranged that all Russian subjects who cross into
Prussia during the revolt may ultimately be sent
back into Russia—the unsuspected at the instance
f Prussia, and the suspected at the demand of
Russia. Surely this is a state of things that should
not be tolerated in a country that claims to be con-
sidered as a constitutional Government, and too
much stress cannot be laid on the importance of its
zuppression by the members of the Chamber of
Deputies. The honour of their country demands
it at their hands, and it is to be hoped that even
should the war unhappily rage for some time lon-
ger, that Polish refugees will not be subject to the
cruel treatment that is prepared for them according
to this extraordinary and arbitrary convention.
The whole tone and nature of its proceedings are
worthy of emanating from a kingdom steeped in
intolerance, and overridden by despotism, and in-
flict a lasting stigma and perpetual disgrace on the
rulers of a country that claims to rank among the
civilised States of Europe.

The Thirteenth Report of the Commissioners on
the Fine Arts, appointed to decide upon
the decorations of the Palace at Westminster,
has just been brought before the public. It
tells us that the labours of the commission are
drawing to a close. The whole scheme of decora-
tion has been finally decided on after careful con-
sideration, and as it only remains for the artists to
carry out the, designs they have undertaken, the
commissioners consider that they may with safety
and propriety resign their responsible office. It
does not appear, however, that they are sanguine as
to a speedy termination of the work in hand. In
fact in two cases they pointedly express their
hope that the artists will be a little more expe-
ditious in the fulfilment of their undertaking.
The industry of Mr. MACLISE calls forth a
special encomium, and so satisfied are they with
the achievements of his skilful pencil, that they
recommend tkat his labours should extend to other
portions of the Royal Gallery. Bearing in mind
the extent of the work, which can scarcely be satis-
factorily completed in one generation, the commis-
sioners recommend that the works, so far as is pos-
sible, should be conducted in a symmetrical manner,
that is to say, that the principal rooms and adjoining
parts should be first completed, in order to secure,
if practicable, their execution by the original artists.
With aview to this end,they recommend that the two
large compartments facing each other in the Royal
Gallery should be first brought to a conclusion, and
thanks to the industry of Mr. MACLISE, the
prospect of a speedy termination is not hopeless.
With regard to the royal statues to be placed
in the gallery and its vicinity the commission
recommend that those intended for the Robing
Room should be completed immediately after
those in the Royal Gallery and its immediate
precincts are finished. The financial statement is
satisfactory—the sum required gradually diminish-
ing. Less gratifying is the failure of all efforts t 3
ascertain the cause of the rapid decay of the fres-
co committee
laeptpoodinetteeedttotbceonesviidle, ra;n:hdelsitnitbi-1
jceocets 'h
a vTehper
this difficulty is grappled with the artisticprospects of
our Palace at Westminster ars anything but reas-
suring,. We trust, however, that all obstacles may
be smoothed away by judgment and discretion, and
that the artistic embellishment of the seat of the
Imperial Legislature may be worthy alike of the
dignity of the building and of the genius of the
nation.

The Mirror, the new sisp,:nny paper, is reported
to be under the management of Mr. Dallas, of the Times,
and to be owned by Messrs. Strahan and Co., the proprie-
tors of Good IFords,