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

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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. But a
more significant sign is a communique published in to-day's
Journal de St. Petersburg, the evident object of which is
toprove
stateof to the Russian public that this more favourable
things has in no way been obtained by yielding on
the part of the Russian Government, and thus to anticipate
the statement to this effect which will probably be made by
the foreign press. Bat of course foreign susceptibilities
must be spared, and so this eon tee is perfectly colon:-
less, as will be seen from the followingn:tq text :—" In reading
the foreign journals one is every
toalresbtruck by one regret-
able fact. Whether it is a desire to
embarrassment,
informed than
they really are, or whether it is reaalsi in-
creased by the necessity of judging
aron the different
shades of which they do not perceive, itfact that they
daily work upon the public mind by comments which help
neither to enlighten nor tranquillise it. If the Russian
Government maintains in its replies a firm and dignifiedsia
n
language, these journals complain of defiance; while if it
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."
LEMBERG, Aug. 12.

. _
The Gazette Aarodowa 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, Jenkowski, Rucki,
Wiezbicki, Krysinski, and Laski ; the whole of these corps
are under the general command of Lelewel, and aro 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 meu 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, for the Russians retired to Lublin, and
the insurgents dispersed to the forests. In the Cracow dis-
trict there are the corps of Cbimelewski, and the gendar-
merie force of Bogus, who has 200 men (cavalry) under
him, besides numerous small corps of insurgents. Chime-
lewski'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.

KALISCH, 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 raen. 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 Taczanowaki 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 tui-English Fancies.

(From the Army and Navy 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 clvil war. The question most 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-
lion, 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
ShenandoahValleyand the line of the Rappahannock;
the complete possession of the Mississippi by the
Federals, 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, had
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 can 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 they be
—and politicians, and clergy—very numerous. and
very valiant must they be too. The country is to
vast that it cannot be conquered or held.
The North
is not in earnest or is tired of the war, or
is cor-
rupt, or, cowardly, and only fights with Irish and
German hands, which won't strike any longer—in
fact, something is to take place which has certainly
not yet taken place,
and which is
15
just now pressing to undo the knot
of facts accomplished which l
under the Southern `letoe us stick now to our hard
Let us cantle
facts. In Je,Y, -
; 1861, atter the battle of Bull Ruh,
of the Southern
the boundary Confederacy, as
drawn by their bayonets in actual line, ran through
the line of the Potomac, the centre of Kentucky,
and the centre of Missouri. The 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 the solitary standpost for the Federal flag in
Southern seas. The 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.

THE LITTLE MISERIES OF HUMAN LIEF.—A
sedulow female correspondent who crosses her letters, says
a Saturday Reviewer, a man who bores you with raptures
about his angel, stupid parties, and wet picnics, 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 th© 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,