The Sun.
London, England, 1863-11-23 00:00:00

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LONDON, MONDAY, Nov. 23,
is
3

The diminution of General LEE'S main army to t
extent of the 30,000 men, who were known tohavo
been suddenly withdrawn from it, clearly meant,
according to the last despatches received several
days since from the American seat of war, that the
Confederate Chief was, in serious earnest, at it again!
The intelligence now received confirms this instant
impression. It more than confirms the impression.
It explains, in regard to the latest movements of the
confronting main armies of the North and of the
South, everything that in any way can be said to
have needed explanation. The key to the whole
mystery, if mystery there was, in this withdrawal
from LEE'S army of no less than 30,000 of his
troops—thereby causing the main army of the
South to be temporarily outnumbered by their
confronting antagonists, the Northern main army
na_der :or
be found in these new tid-
inthgesetzt: may be there recognised in fact at a
glance
by those
again who read running. General LEE has
bewildered and outwitted his opponent. As
in the old Stonewall" days, when that redoubtable
soldier at the bidding of his
great Leader, General
ROBERT LEE, world
;suddenly disappear from
everyone's ken, together
with several thousands
of those southern veterans,
were ever ready
under his banners to vd
evielr.s he listed—
disappearing as suddenly in this
though the ground had swallowed them way ,as
though JACKSON and his army ha'anl u —as
taken a
header and dived into the solid earth, to tr
somewhere, probably where they were the leastup
ex-
pected, certainly where they were the least welcome
—precisely in the same startling manner now
" thirty thousand" of LEE'S troops have been sprited
Way, no one knows for some time for what parti-

cular purpose, or bent upon reaching what point in
particular, as their destination. The present mails,
however, as we have intimated, explain all that
needed explanation in the last. The tidings they
bring to us, account for that notable movement of
LEE'S, by the results they relate. Gen. BURNSIDE
has been defeated—his antagonist, General BRAGG,
having been enabled to accomplish that achievement
of his defeat, by means of certain timely reinforce-
ments. Remembering how far apart the confront-
ing Northerns and Southerns under BURNSIDE and
BRAGG are from the confronting main armies of the
Federals under MEADE and the Confederates under
LEE, it will be appreciated all the more
tohreesereevaedliiltys:
even by the unprofessional observers of
how masterly again have been the manoeuvres
organised by the Confederate Commander-in-
Chief. The plans of LEE in regard to
'MEADE, and in regard to BURNSIDE, are
still to the last perfectly harmonious. By
reason of those plans being adventured upon
and successfully carried out, his main army (di-
minished as we know, and thus diminished, more-
over, for very good reasons indeed)—LEE'S main
army falls back before the collective advance of the
Federals under MEADE : an advance to which the
latter have been tempted by the above-mentioned
diminution of the Confederate forces, their diminu-
tion, that is, by the sum of those very troops de-
spatched from them in hot haste away into Ten-
nessee. The Confederates, in fact, us the result of
this astute manoeuvring of LEE'S, have fallen back
south of the Rappahannock, south of the Rapidan
They have simply withdrawn thus to their old
position south
up
of the Rapidan—the Federals in
following
so far, gaining, in effect, nothing
whatever from their antagonist, beyond capturing
about half of a small body of men who had made a
foolhardy resistance to three corps of MEADE'S
army on the north side of the Rappahannock,
While these things were occurring as to the
relative positions occupied by the main armies
of the Federals and Confederates, the latter
were signally worsting the Federals under
General BURNSIDE in Tennessee l There, at that
point, the key to the mystery is discernable. We
now learn, upon sufficiently reliable authority,
seeing that it is General GRANT who reports the
fact to the Federal Government at Washington,
that two of General BURNSIDE'S advanced positions
had been attacked by the Confederates, and that the
forces occupying them had been captured. Rumours
of the ugliest character were reported to be flying
about when these tidings left the American shores,
the darkest, the gloomiest rumours as to General
BURNSIDE having been subjected to a really disas
trous discomfiture. Rumours they appear to be,
moreover, sufficiently well founded, if only for inas-
much as they seem to be borne out by the an-
nouncement of General BURNsIDE's compulsory
resignation. Elsewhere, among our telegrams of
this afternoon, will be found a remarkably suc-
cinct and detailed narrative, from the hand
of General LEE himself, recounting, in the
form of an official report to the War
Department at Richmond, the circumstances leading
to, and attending upon, the late strategic movements
that have taken place between the Rapidan and the
Rappahannock. To this remarkable despatch we
would here direct very particular attention. It
directs a keen and vivid beam of light through a
dense and hitherto, in parts, all but impenetrable
haze of confusion.

The condition of the labouring c'asses during
the winter season is generally a matter of some
anxiety and importance, especially when, as at
present, we have indications of somewhat severe
weather. We have not begun the winter very
satisfactorily in the metropolis, for we hear every
day of the large numbers who apply at the unions
for relief, as well as for nightly admission to the
casual wards. To such a height has this evil in-
creased that a regular discussion has been opened
on the subject, and the questions of district asylums,
temporary relief and shelter, and the obstacles
which exist in the way of any better administra-
tion of the Poor Laws, or any improvement in
their construction, have become matters of daily
talk and argument. We have received, too, several
painful and startling warnings of late to remind
us that our social arrangements are by no means
infallible, since men, women, and children can die
in our midst of absolute want and starvation. While
the question of how to dispose of these nightly
wayfarers is remaining under consideration there is
another point which presses on public attention, and
that is the vast numbers failure of whose employ-
ment drives them to join the band of paupers. We
shall probably be none of us much surprised to
learn that several hundreds of needlewomen are
already reckoned among them. The wearying
nature of their employment, the long stretch of in-
cessant labour which it requires to earn the barest
living, and the miserable sums earned in proportion
to the labour, have all been matters of com-
mon note since "loon sang his stirring
" Song of the Shirt." Since then needlewomen's
societies and institutions have been founded, their
cause has been advocated by philanthropists, and
helped forward by much kindly charitable labour.
One of the most considerable of these establish-
ments is located in Hip de-street, Manchester-square,
where everything is conducted in the most busin ass-
like manner, and where the managers undertake to
supply good work on fair terms. This institution
has been in existence for several years, and was at
one time very well supported. Unfortunately, such
is no longer the case, and a letter addressed by the
manageress, Miss BARLEE, to our princ'pal morning
contemporary, reveals a state of distress among the
female workers of London which is startling at this
early period of the cold season. Miss BARLEE
states that for several years the society with which
e la connected has kept several hundred women
constantlythe failure employed, but that this season, owing to
been .Of the supply of work, at least 400 have
since de l't'ved of employment. This is bad enough,
most of these
needlel women are entirely dependent
on theiror support, and affirm that they
must go to the
3IISS BARLZR's Union if that fails to keep them. But
revelations
go still further. She tells
us that, having applied t
hilfisWunpaOrers
which
he large City warehouses
for work, the answers
she received showed
as
we can
general. " We have
The
nueie question
has
the distress to be not Partial
ftosvr.i,,,e as many hands
Thousand;loafchwinomereyn
efdoer d ahaemploymentfew
pence a day." "
work." ' a great boon,
poor woman got,
a._
for each the
to make, each of .
Which took six
some holland°e coats
payment was
. boars'
IC,lhoeseinwtroordkiccatniodn
of
the sewing machine
has
et
suitable employment for
hurried on the consideration of the
always been a poor, laborious, and uncertain re_
Hun.ff
source, but it is now failing them altogether.
by its means
"
dreds who helped out a scanty income
eir
are now deprived of the acceptable addition to thort it
wants ; thousamds whose sole means of Eupp
was are now hovering between pauperism and vice. 2
Can
is to be done with them and for them -
not our active s ocial reformers devise some relief
for need so pressing, extremity so undeserved ?
The great origin oi° the evil undoubtedly is that
mistaken custom. or habit of thinking which, until
the last
living few years, forbade a woman to earn her
other than by teaching, dom etic service, or