The Sun.
London, England, 1863-06-08 00:00:00

LONDON, MONDAY, JUNE 8, 1863.

If History is—as it is—a series of repetitions, it
is pretty much the same with regard to the events
periodically brought to us from the American seat
of war. Take these latest tidings, so anxiously
looked for during these last few days, and now just
brought to us in a string of rapid telegrams, via
Roche's Point per the America, under dates 26th
nit., New York, morning; 28th, by telegraph to
Halifax ; 29th, by telegraph to Cape Race—tele-
grams giving us a rapid epitome of recent events
(up to their dates) on the Mississippi. Upon out-
mina'ion it will then be found that the warlike
situation there described, and the warlike results

thereupon enumerated, are in a very great measure,
similar to those with which we had so lately be-
come acquainted as having so very recently before-
hand come to pass upon the Rappahanock. The
similiarity at any rate is immediately discernible in
this, that, after several successive days of very hard
fighting, although no decisive occurrence as the
consequence of the hard fighting has to be narrated,
the Federals have so far succumbed under the
heavy pounding they have endured at the hands
of the Confederates that they, the so boastful
Federals, who were for swallowing up their antago-
nists almost at a mouthful, or at the very least for
taking possession of Vicksburg as a matter of just
a dead certainty—have not taken Vicksburg after
all! have been four times repulsed from those for-
tifications!! have so far suffered defeat already
that they had actually, according to the last ad-
vices, begun intrenching themselves ! ! ! While the
facts are undoubtedly as we have here stated them,
it must be borne in mind, however, that the de-
fenders of Vicksburg were still, according to the
last telegrams, left :n a critical position. Yet, al-
lowing this, we can in their regard patiently await
the accounts certain to come to hand very rapidly,
telling us what may have been the result of these
last operations upon the Mississippi.
It was as far back as the 30th of April that
the Federal commander of the expedition against
Vicksburg landed at Briensburg, on the left bank of
the Mississippi with the full intention, with the firm
determination of taking it in the rear. Briensburg,
it should be borne in mind, is situated a little below
Grand Gulf upon the Mississippi : and it was at
that point that General GRANT landed his expe-
ditionary force. Instead of advancing, however,
directly up the left bank of the Mississippi—a pro-
ceeding that would have been quite obviously most
hazardous, threatening a serious onslaught by the
enemy upon the right flank of the invading army
by reason of
in
pnaseasiontholetwhe c
hole country lying eastward being
Confederates—General GRANT
h
first of all directed
march inland to the end
that he might drive back
the
Southern forces.
Setting out with this intention, the
e Federal com-
mander wouldseem to have successfully carried out
his design during the better part of a
fortnight'!
Aecoroplishirg this, at last, inasmuch as during
that interval he was steadily pushing forward
without encountering in his advance any very
serious opposition. From the landing place
at Bradensburg he marched, it now appears, almost
in a due aorta-easterly line upon Jackson. Pre-
iselr at the close of a fortnight Jackson was
reached indeed--'end thken. Previously two
een fought the
serious engagements had
Confederates under Generalb JOHNSTONE, with
the one
the starting
n
at Fort Gibson, near Benersburg,
ear Jackson,
point, the other at Raymond,
General GRANT'S first destination, Having seized
Jackson on the 14th ult., the Federal commander
. appears then to have turned poini-blahk to the
right about, and forthwith marched westward
upon Vicksburg. It was during this westward
march from Jackson (which General GRANT
had taken) towards Vicksburg (which he wanted
lo take) that the great battles, of which we now
obtain through telegrams the first brief instill-
geiace, took place—the Federals, fighting under the

ord. ers of General GRANT, the Confederates under the
cor nmand of General PEMBERTON, to whom the
de fence of Vicksburg had been entrusted by the
So ntlaern Government. Two days after the capture
of Jackson a terrible contest we learn came off at
Beater's Creek or Edmund's Station. Here the
Col ifederates were driven back. That was on the
16t h ult. But on the 17th they were again driven
back. And on the 18th ult. the Federals, under
GR ANT, formally invested Vicksburg. There, in
spite of repeated assaults—in every one of which
the Federals were discomfitted—the Confederates
(cumbering in all at Vicksburg some 15,000) still
resolutely held out when the last advices were
fl?.shed to the America at Cape Race. They held
oixt thus gallantly alt hough assailed on
the land side by the Federal troops
under GRANT, and simultaneously bombarded from
the river side by the Federal fleet under Admiral
PORTER. The Question now is—if the Confederates
can still hold out long enough to afford General
JOHNSTONE time to march up with the reinforce-
ments now rapidly being collected together at Can-
ton, or some% here in its neighbourhood. If so, the
siege of Vicksburg muet inevitably be raised—im-
mediately upon the advance of JOHNSTONE. Such
as we have here defined it to be is the actual
position of affairs in that south-west point of the
Mexican seat of war. Such, as we ,have here in-
dicated towards the close of these remarks of ours,
are the momentous tidings we shall have to await
as patiently as may through our next advices.

The settlement of the long-vexed Greek question
is a matter of general satisfaction. The successive
failures which had attended the various attempts to
supply the vacant throne had not only disheartened
the Greeks themselves, but had almost given rise
to an impression that the vacant throne would never
be filled. All well-wishers to Greece, and, indeed,
all who desired to preserve the peace of Europe, re-
gretted very deeply the prolonged delay and sus-
pense which wes reducing the Kingdom to anarchy,
and was only too likely to disgust the people with
constitutional Government. The revolution, so
long foreseen and so easily accomplished, seemed
profitless to them—worse than profitless, if they
were to become the prey of some unscrupulous and
aggressive Power. All felt that it was an oppor-
tunity that might never recur for the resuscitation
of Greece, and her rise in the scale of nations as a
contented, well-governed, and united people. But
after the first great disappointment, when
Prince after Prince refused the offered Crown
—offered, that is to say, by diplomatists and nego-
tiators, not by the Grecian people—the prospects at
first so bright became gradually dim and doubtful.
The weakness of the Provisional Government, the
difficuly in dealing with the lawless soldiery, and
the disastrous effects always produced by long con.
tinned uncertainty and irregular authority have,
after a trial of seven months, nearly exhausted the
patience of the Greeks. In Western Europe each
successive refusal, though some of them were little
to be regetted, seemed to render the prospects of
Greece more gloomy, when, by a sudden turn of
the wheel of Fortune, a solution has been found to
every difficalty. We may probably thank the aus-
picious marriage of the Prince of WALES for first
suggesting the name of Prince WILLIAM of Den-
mark to a statesman who is not always so felicitous
in his schemes for the benefit of foreign nations.
The choice appears to combine every requisite.
The Prince is young, unfettered in policy, and be-
longs to a decidedly constitutional family. He is also
closely connected with England, and w ill probably be
ready and willing to profit by her example. Of
his personal character as yet nothing is known.
We have only to hope that he will prove equal to
the responsibilities of his new position, and that he
will be as successful in gaining the affections of his
people as his sister has been in winning all English
hearts. There is no doubt that the ready accept-
ance of the Prince by the Grecian people is mainly
due to the constitutional principles so resolutely
maintained in Denmark. The choice, as Admiral
KANARIS justly observed at the interesting cere-
monial of Saturday, " is as much an act of homage
to the Sovereign to whom it has pleased Providence
to entrust the destinies of Denmark as a proof of
confidence in the talents of the young Prince." The
reply of the King to the proffer of the crown was,
of course, in the affirmative. The most interesting
part of his speech was the brief address to Prince
WILLIAM, which comes with peculiar interest and
significance from a monarch who is still engaged
in a protracted and perilous struggle for the pre-
servation of his constitutional rights :—" Before
you leave this spot I give you this heartfelt and
well meant advice. Let it be your constant endea-
vour to gain and preserve the love of the people.
Without boasting, I speak from experience when I
say that in this consists the true happiness of a King.
Adhere firmly to the constitution of the country ;
strive constantly to procure its recognition ; watch
that it be maintained intact—if you make this
your rule you and your people will prosper."
It must have been an interesting moment when
the King of DENMARK conducted the young
PRINCE to the highest step of the throne and
gave him his solemn benediction on his enterprise.
The youth who but a few months since seemed
destined to an uneventful and comparatively insig-
nificant career has now stepped into the circle of
European monarchs, not indeed occupying the
foremost rank but still as the ruler of a country
which must always retain a strong hold on the
imaginations and sympathies of all civilised races.
The very name of the veteran who proffered him
the crown in the name of the Grecian people
awakened recollections of those stirring days when
Europe thrilled with interest and excitement at
the struggle between the Moslem oppressor and
the old Hellenic people, and the glorious news of
Navarino filled every Englishman with pride and
delight. "It is with profound emotion," said the
new King, " that I have heard the greetings of
the Greek people from the month of the man
whose name is linked with everlasting fame to
the regeneration of Greece." Let us hope that the
new reign will inaugurate another and a fuller
regeneration, and that a long course of peace, pros-
perity, and unity may repay the Grecian people for
heir protracted perplexities and misfortunes.

It will be with a feeling of great indignation
that the public generally will peruse the details of
the disgraceful transactions regarding Major
LILLEY. Mr. FORTESCIJE is entitled to great
credit for bringing the subject before the Hcuse,
butitis
apltorbeeyyery much regretted nat so unsatis-
factorywas given to his remarks. The
affair is rendered still darker as concerns Colonel
CRAWLEY, from the fact that these men, whose
crael case was brought before the Hoase, w:ereTcon-
the Colone
con-
demned en a charge against
were important witnesses as to 'whether or not he
had been absent from the monthly musters of the
regiment. For several weeks they were confined in
close, arrest and the result was that "One of them
was transferred to a hospital a raving maniac, and
that he died in the course of a few hours." Mr.
FORTESCUE tru y observed that if too late for re-
dress it was not too late for puni.i went, The
Marquis of FIARTINGTON'S remarks were most un
satisfactory, and he stated tha, Colocel CRAWLEY
could not be brought before a court martial, be-

cause he was covered by the sanction of a supe-
rior officer. The prestige of tee English army will
soon be lost if wanton acts of cruelty are to
pass by unnoticed because advantage is taken
of some trivial circumstance to give a plausible
excuse of superior authority sanctioning the ques-
tionable affair. From what has been said of the
occurrence it is quite evident that Col. CRAWLEY
is most unfit for his position, and no considerations
whatever ought to stand in the way of dealing con-
dign punishment to such an offender. Order and re-
spect will be subverted if it is once known through-
out the army that superior rank is in future to be
the shield for those who commit what in a lower
grade would be called a "crime," and which, put-
ting aside correctional powers, is a grave error in
the sight of all honest men. The memorandum of
the Commander-in-Chief is very condemnatory of
the affair—and he truly sums up the case by stating
that in Col. CRAWLEY, unfortunately, he did not
select a man who, as an officer," was gifted with
the special talent which unites with the
firmness of command the tact which inspires con-
fidence and creates good will." This is doubt-
less the cause of the angry contention that
gave rise to such sad events, bat his
Royal Highness goes further and says that the
conduct of Colonel CRAWLEY was reprehensible and
injudicious in the address he made to the officers and
men. The chief circumstance is thus alluded to :
" His Royal Highness alludes to the confinement,
under arrest, of certain non-commissioned officers
during the trial, under a charge of conspiracy,
which was never attempted to be proved against
them, and for which there seems not to have been
a shadow of foundation. Under these circum-
stances nothing but the high opinion expressed
of Lieut.-Col. CRAWLEY by tne general officers in
immediate command has induced his Royal High-
ness to continue him at the head of the regiment, and
he does so only upon trial, and under the hope that
for the future he will be able to carry on discipline
without outraging the feelings of the gentlemen
under his command."

Certainly nothing could be stronger than these
words of reproach and condemnation, but his Royal
Highness did not follow his evident wish and dis
place the Colonel from a position for which he has
proved himself so manifestly unfit. It will not be
surprising, however, if even now Colonel CRAwLEY
has to resign. There must be so much open and
covert feeling of dislike for his conduct that he will
not find his position very pleasant. It is long since
such an occurrence blackened the reputation of an
officer in the army, and it is more to be regretted
that it should have taken place in India, where
nananimity ought especially to prevail among our
forces. In a letter to the Times of this day there
is reference to this subject, and the writer very aptly
remarks that the general officers in command who
have testified to the worth of Colonel CRAWLEY " are
the very individuals who, by their approval of his
conduct, have so sheltered him as to render the con-
dign punishment of an offence, the gravity of which
is fully admitted by the military authorities at
home, almost impossible." This will bear conside-
ration, and altogether this affair seems to have been
about as ill-managed as it is painful to dwell upon
and derogatory to the character of those immediately
implicated in it.