The Sun.
London, England, 1863-01-14 00:00:00

SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALS.

TIMES.—The speech of the Emperor on opening
the French Chambers was expected this year with
even more than usual curiosity. It was known
that he could not help referring to the American
war, and, from the proposals made to England and
Russia a few weeks since, there was reason to be-
lieve that he would not lose the opportunity of
again counselling justice, and moderation. This
expectation has been fulfilled. The Emperor in
his speech on Monday adhered fully to the policy
of M. Drouyn De Lhuys's despatch, and more than
intimated that he should renew his attempt at
mediation. Speaking of the distress which the
war has brought on French industry, he says,—
" I have made the attempt to send beyond the
Atlantic advices inspired by a sincere sympathy,
but, the great maritime Powers not having
Thought it advisable as yet to act in concert with
me, I have been obliged to postpone to a more
suitable opportunity the offer of mediation,
the object of which was to stop the effusion
of blood, and to prevent the exhaustion of a " coun-
try the future of which cannot be looked upon with
indifference." That the Emperor would retain his
opinions on the subject of the war was to be ex-
pected, but it was not at all certain that he would
explain so decisively to his Legislature and the
world that his plan of mediation had not been aban-
doned. The speech of the Emperor is another step
in the direction indicated by the despatch of his
Foreign Minister. Again the Americans are told
n
effect that the war which the '.North is waging
against the South will be without result, that the
country is being exhausted. in a contest the evils of
which are felt more widely than those of any other
and that Europe cannot remain
of the present age,
indifferent to the barbarity which shows itself every
day more and more. There can now be hardly a
doubt that the French Emperor will take every
occasion to urge on the Federals the necessity of
bringing this war to a close. It is probable that the
United States' Minister, Mr. Dayton, has already
heard all that he can say against the enterprise in
which the Federal Government is engaged. The
deliberate judgment of Europe has been given by ,
the mouth of the Emperor, and though no formal
offer of mediation has yet reached Washington, yet
morally a most earnest interference has taken place.
The speech of Monday is but the solemn reiteration
of those opinions which the Emperor has never con-
cealed from either belligerent. It is a declaration
that the progress of the war during the last two
months has but confined him in the wisdom of his
former policy, and that the time is approaching
when a European Sovereign may fitly interpose to
stop the slaughter. What hopes have the Federals
of doing better in any future encounter ? With the
passing away of winter they lose one of their best
chances, for the difference between good stout wool-
lens and flimsy cotton, between English blankets
and bits of carpet from Southern houses, will not be
so great two months hence as at present. The more
one reflects on the abrupt close of this last cam-
paign, the easier it is to understand why the
event has caused so much consternation at the
North. It is felt that, as far as regards the main
armies, the war has been already decided. The
Federals can do nothing more than they have done
already ; any increase of the army will only add to
its clumsiness and immobility, and further confuse
commanders who, as General Burnside freely con-
fessed, do not know how to manage such large
bodies of troops. The state of affairs in the West is
scarcely more encouraging for the Federals. There
is skirmishing in plenty, and now one party wins a
victory, now the other; but it is quite apparent that
the Federals hold only the ground they stand upon,
and that no progress has been made in the conquest
of the South. Such being the condition of the war,
the French Emperor may justly ask whether Europe
is to sit still and make no effort to save a civilized
and Christian society from the miseries that are
coming on it. The exhaustion of the country and
the brutalising of the people are the only results
Which may be clearly foreseen if the war lasts, and
the Emperor will do a good work if by any wise
and temperate advances he can persuade the Fede-
rals to desist from their hopeless enterprise.
HERALD.—It has been announced with a very
great flourish of trumpets that at the close of the
current financial year Mr. Gladstone will find him-
self in the possession of a handsome surplus. It is
computed that, thanks to this surplus, to the in-
crease in the revenue which it indicates, and to the
saving of some two millions on the estimates, the
Chancellor of the Exchequer will have four or five
millions to the good, and be in a position to make
a sensible reduction of taxation. Already half a
dozen interests are astir. That there is a boon to
be granted they have the assurance of the whole
Ministerial press, and even the Saturday Review,
Which has always pretended to criticise Mr. Glad-
stone from a very superior economical elevation,
and to rate him as a brilliant talker but no
financier, gives its opinion that, thanks to the
surplus this year, there will be with the economies
'four millions to dispOse of in the next. It is very
disagreeable to dispel these pleasant anticipations,
but for the sake of those disposed to indulge in them
we must do it. Mr. Gladstone, according to all pre-
sent means of judgment, so far from having a hand-
some surplus on the current year, will have a serious
deficit; and even should he be able to present esti-
mates reduced by a couple of millions will not have
more than a million at the most to devote to the
remission of taxation. These coleur-de-rose antici-
pet:ees of the Mieisterialists rest upon a stupid
blunder. Our liberal contemporaries have made a
ludicrous mistake, and upon it have built up their
asaurances of a surplus,. The revenue returns issued
On the 31st of December show an excess on the
quarter, compared with thet in the corresponding
year, of rather more than thirteen hundred thou-
sand pounds; the year closing at the same date
shows an excess over the corresponding one of nearly
two millions four hundred thousand pounds. Upon
these figures is founded that assurance of a surplus
which must have annoyed Mr. Gladstone
intensely
and filled him with the utmost contempt for his
zealous but ignorant admirers. The comparison be-
tween years and quarters does not afford in itself
the slightest indication of the correctness of a Mini-
ster's calculations. It does not even supply any test,
except when the year taken is the financial 3 ear, of
the buoyancy, as it is termed, of the revenue; and
not even then unless all the circumstances calcu-
',Jed to affect the results are carefully eliminated.
":lie quarter, for instance, which ended on the 31st
a last month, shows a large comparative excess, be-
cause the collections of revenue in the corresponding
quarter were e.vceptionally small. An apparent
increase upon the amount of receipts for the current
Year, even if appearing on the 31st March, would be
n°
Proof of an actual increase of revenue, inasmuch
as very large sums.—about a million in oll—are this
year for the first time carried to the credit of Iklis-
‘ellane°ll9 revenue, and disburse under the bead of
army expenditure, the having account previously
been settled by a balance entry for a small sum.
The only way to test the accuracy
ndo
pa his
ft 6 estimate the
a Chancellor
of the Exchequer's
fincaonme
chances of a surplus or a deficit,
is to
if
we ut l
dre
state_
estimates of revenue as given in his
went with the actual receipts. And
with Mr. Gladstone, we shall find that there: u
this
returns, so far from proving his soundness and pro-
wising a surplus, convict him of inaccuracy and
t h reat c n a considerable deficit. Upon some branches I
of revenue he has received more than he calculated,
but the balance is vary heavily against him. 'thus
he obtains from Customs just £650,000 more than
from the Excise a million and a
he expected, but f
qurtz.:‘,. less. Stamps and assessed taxes give him
X 550,000 more, than he calculated, but Property
Tax £900,000 and
Miscellaneous revenue a quarter
of a million less, the net result being that the re-
ceipts for the thre,) quarters of the year are a mil-
lion and a quarter less than three-fourths of the
estimates of revenue. The a cs k ward enthusiasm of
his partisans has done Mr. Gladstone ill service.
By promising a surplus they have made his task of
apologising for a deficit all the more difficult. It
will be remembered when he rises to perform that
task that he was warned again
and again by the
Conservatives that his estimates, in the face of the
already extending distress, were extravagant, and
that his surplus was altogether insufficient to pro-
vide for any such mistakes. In spite of these warn-

ings, Mr. Gladstone persisted in assuring the house
that his estimates were quite safe. The house was
compelled to accept his assurances, and it will have
to tell him again that his statements have, as before,
proved utterly untrustworthy. He cannot excuse
himself by the Lancashire distress. It was inevit-
able when he proposed his budget.
POST.—On the first day of this year President
Lincoln signed the formal death-warrant of the
condemned United States. His proclamation of a
servile war must extinguish the last hope that lin-
gered in the breast of his most enthusiastic sup-
porter. He has proclaimed the freedom of the
slaves in twelve States, and has invited them to take
military service against their masters. The recom-
mendations to them to labour for wages, and to ab-
stain from violence, unless in self-defence, areab-
surd, since he knows that wages will not be given
wtohtilichemh,e abneds t
otwh es
odna i ltyh e
mi n f riasc toifo ni t
soefl
ft
ah es u bcei
er tnyt
violence in self-defence. The
warrant, if they so choose to interpretit,for actswoluocf
proclamation
be a terrible act were it not sure to be wholly in-
operative.Litnoctohlne 'spedoepclreeeof is as
some other
as if
it were
addressed Njr.
con-
tinent. It is in vain for him to raise the voice of
authority when his broken sword is as of little power
as the goosequill with which he signs his name. The
pen is his only weapon, and he uses it for the utter
violation and destruction of the social pact which
he has struggled to maintain. Secession has al-
ways been a fair debateable question, with two
sides to it. The seceding States have ever urged
that the Constitution allowed of the step which
they chose to take by virtue of their individual
State Sovereignty. But no one can pretend
that the President has not acted in direct
contradiction to the written and simple words of
the United States Constitution when he assumes to
set free the slaves and to partition States. The
admission of Western Virginia as a new State is an
act of high treason to the Constitution, so also is
the Decree of Emancipation. There is no longer
any pretence of legality. The war is one of
Despotism, aiming at Empire. These last and
desperate measures appear to be the offspring of an
impotent rage. The Federal arms are paralysed.
Their manhood is beaten. Their legions are too
numerous and too huge to be destroyed, and the
remnants are therefore rejoicing in a degree of
" safety." It is pitiful to see a generalissimo of
defeated grand armies losing the attributes of a
Christian, a warrior, and a man, and shrieking with
feminine passion for the aid of slaves, invoking
servile massacre, and the " gracious favours" of that
God who has been appealed to as the " God of bat.
tles," but who never yet was blasphemed as the
Providence of crime and the dispenser of murder.
Mr. Lincoln's proclamation will no doubt strike all
neutral observers. as very wicked and very silly.
How are his " military and naval authorities to
maintain "the freedom of the slaves?" Where are
his grand armies ? How far have they advanced
upon the soil for which he presumes to dictate laws?
Twenty millions of white men cannot conquer the
South—can hardly make an impression on it. It
is hopelessly impregnable. How ridiculous, then,
for the foiled besieger to issue laws for the regula-
tion of the interior of the fortress. The intelligence
from the scene of war conveyed to us by the same
mail which brings the news of Mr. Lincoln's de-
plorable decree is of the usual uncertain description
when fighting is concerned. A great battle, lasting
three days, has been fought at Murfreesboro'. The
Federals claim the advantage, as they always do.
They admit their losses to be enormous, four regi-
ments being mentioned as having lost half their
men. Experience teaches us to wait for a few days
before forming any conclusion as to the result. As
there is no bragging of victory, we shall probably
be soon informed of the real extent of the defeat.
Fighting has taken place at Vickskburg, on the
Mississippi. The Federals appear to have assaulted
the place on three successive days, and to have been
repulsed on each occasion. In Virginia nothing has
taken place except the successful return of General
Stuart to the south side of the Rappahannock, after
having ridden round General Burnside's army, and
having cut his telegraph lines, and accomplished
other &image. Commercial men do not seem to like
the aspect of affairs, if we may judge by the rise of
the preminm on gold to within a fraction of thirty-
five. The war is reaching a crisis at which some
effort will, we trust, be made to put a stop to it.
The thinking men of the North, utterly deceived in
their expectations, will surely at last lend an ear
to the suggestions of peace.