The Sun.
London, England, 1863-04-28 00:00:00

THE SUN, LONDON, TUESDAY EVENING, APRIL 28, 1863

NEW NOVEL BY THE AUTHOR OF " MARGARET MAITLAND."
Now ready at all the Libraries, in 1 vol.,
HEART AND CROSS.
By the Author of "MARGARET' MAITLAND," &e.
Hurst and Blackttt, 1?, Great Marlborough-street.

Now ready, at all the Libraries, in 2 vols., 215.,
JIEROES, PHILOSOPHERS,
COURTIERS of the TIME of LOUD XVI.
" This work 's full of amusing* and inte-esting anecdote,
and supplies many links in the Lsreat chain of tvents of a
most rem3rkab!e petiJd, which hitherto have been over-
looked."—Examiner
Burst and Blackett, 13, Great Marlborough-street.

and

Now ready, in Svo , with Maps and numerous Illustrations,
frs.,
PERSONA I, NARRATIVE OF THREE
YEARS' SERVI' E IN CHINA.
Including Journeys to Tar'ous parts of China hitherto
unexplored.
By Lieut.-Col. FISHER, C. 8.,
Royal Engineers.
Richard Bent'ey, Publisher in Ordinary to Her Majesty.

BLACKWOOD'S MAGAZINE
for MAY, 1863. No. DLXXI. Price 2s. 6d.

CONTENTS.
Wilson's Prehistoric Man.
Caxtoniana.—Part XVI. •
No. 22. On certain Principles of A't in Works of
Imag nation.
The Life of General Sir Howard Douglas, Bart.
I:alian Brigandage.
Ludwig Uhland.
My Investment in the Far West.
The Landscape of Ancient Italy, as Delineated in the
Pompe,an Paintings.
A merican State Papers.
The Budget.

THE ANTIQUITY OF MAN,
Tom Huckaback on Public Schools.
Po and, Sleswick holstein, &0., &c.
In SATURDAY NIGHT, No. 57.
ONE PENNY.
£ 0, Fleet-street.

CRYSTAL PALACE. --FRIDAY NEXT,
j May I.—GRE A.T FESTIVAL PERFORMANCE of
Mendelasohn's ATHA LIE and the EXHIBITION OVER-
TURES by M. Auber and M. Meyerbeer.

The Orchestra, on the most magnificent sale, romprisino.
198 violins and violas, 90 violoncellos and double basses, and
20 harps, with adequate wind instruments, the entire Band
and Chorus consisting of about
TWO THOUSAND FIVE HUNDRED PERFORMERS.
I'rincipal Vocal Performers :
Mdlle. PAREPA, Miss MARLIN,

and
Madame SAINTON-DOLBY.
Organist Mr. BROWNSMITH.
The Musical Arrangements by the Sacred Harmonic Society.

Conductor
Mr. tOSTA.
The Inas' rative Verses of " Athalie " will be recited by
Mr. PIiELPS.
To commence at Three o'clock.
Admission on the day, 7s. fid., or by Tic Lets purchased This
Day or To-morrow.

The NEW GUINEA SEASON TICKET holders admitted
without payment.
Reserved stalls, numbered and arranged in blocks as at the
Handel Festival, ss. extra.

Tickets at the'Crystal Palace, or at No. 2, Exeter Hall,
where also plans of seats may be seen, or at the usual agents.
For railway excursions on the Ist of May, see detailed ad-
vertisement in last Saturday's papers ; also special bills of
each Company.

EXETER HALL —The TICKET OFFICES
at No. 2, Exeter Hall arc OPEN from Ten to Six daily
for the ISSUE of TICKETS for the Ist of May, the New
Guinea Season Tickets, Art-Union Tickets, Flower Show
Tick• ts, dm.

NOTE.—ne price of admission tickets for the Ist of May
will be even Shillings and Sixpence after To-morrow. The
Five-shilling Tickets should be at once bought.

FIVE SHILLING TICKETS for ATHALIE
THIS DAY and TO-MORROW only.

THE FARMER'S BAROMETER, Ng., a
new instrumen% by Negretti and Zambra, wi l cor-
rectly indicate whether the Ba-ometer falls fbr Rain or for
Wind. Particulars by enclosinz stamp.-1, liatton-garden ;
57, Cornhill ; and 122, Regent-street.

THE CIVIL WAR IN AMBRICA,

(From Correspondent of the limes.)

New YORK, April 14,
The North has suffered the most grievous disap-
pointment of the war. It had made up its mind to
two things—first, that the Won-clads, on which it
has been expending so much care, ingenuity, and
money, were irresistible; snit secondly, that it had
only to attack Charleston to capture and destroy it.
In both of these calculations it has been lamentably
deceived. Admiral Dupont may hare had his mis-
givings that his nine iron-clads, even with the aid
of a co-operating army, were not sufficient for the
task he bad to perform. But Mr, Lincoln had no
doubts; Mr. Seward had no doubts; General
Halleck had no doubts; Mr. Stanton had no
doubts ; the Secretary of the Navy had no doubts ;
and there was scarcely a newspaper published
between Portland and Wasltington that was not
quite positive that the gallant Admiral would
achieve an easy
victory, cover himself with glory,
level Charleston with the ground, break the stiff
backbone of the Rebellion and the war, and be for
the remainder of his life the biggest man in the na-
tion. Goaded by the Government, which hungered
and thirsted, and still hungers and thirsts, for a
great military or naval triumph,
he was told that
he had the finest fleet in the world, and that he
must "go in and win." He went in and suffered
in the short space of 30 minutes--some accounts say
two hours—the most humiliating repulse that the
Federal arms have sustained since the outbreak of
the war. But even so late as Sunday morning,
when it was known on undeniable authority that
the Keokuk had been sunk, and that three, if not
four, other iron-clads had been seriously damaged,
the hopeful people were taught to believe that the
attack was simply a reconnoissance to draw the
enemy's fire, to feel his position, and to ascertain
the real nature of the defences of Charleston
and the invulnerability of the iron-clads, prepara-
tory to a still more vigorous bombardment on the
following day. Even this morning, when every one
with a grain of common sense must see that the
iron-clad Monitors and floating batteries have failed
to realise a tithe of the anticipations that were formed
of them, and that no renewal of the attack is advis-
able—even if Admiral Dupont had 50 Monitors at
his disposal, instead of seven—the silly optimists at
Washington persist in affirming that all things are
for the best in this bsst of all possible worlds; and
that had it not been for torpedoes and other plaguey
obstructions in the channel the Monitors Nt mild have
steamed unharmed past the bristling fortress which
guard Charleston, and solved the great war problem
of our age. The "if" in this case is a monstrous
one. " " there had been a wide channel, suffi-
cient to allow all the Monitors to pass through
abreast, and "if" there had been no such inventions
as torpedoes or such constructions as chain-bars, it
is possible and probable that not more than one or
two Monitors would have been destroyed in the
attempt to pass Forts Sumter and Moultrie, and
that the remaineder—" tf " there had been no other
forts of which to run the gauntlet, and no other
torpedoes and chains to endanger or block the way
—might have got near enough to Charleston to

batter it to the ground. But Mr. Lincoln and his
Government are both sanguinary and sanguine. A
semi-official despatch from Washington informs the
gaping public that '' the Navy Department does not
regard the result of this preliminary bombardment
as decisive, or as essentially discouraging; that the
ability of the Monitors to withstand the unparalleled
concentrated fire of the batteries in Charleston har-
bour is considered to have been demonstrated, as,
notwithstanding the time they were under fire, they
were not materially injured ; and that on the whole
the department, after a careful consideration of the
published accounts and the official reports received,
is of a cheerful and hopeful state of mind."
European readers may, perhaps, consider that
some waggish opponent, some ironical D'mocratic
editor, is endeavouring to turn the imbecile Admi-
nistration into ridicule. But not so. The announce-
ment appears in a friendly journal, and is simply
end gravely made. Whatever may be the effect in
kemote rural districts, New York is not to be de
ceived. It accepts the repulse as a serious defeat
which virtually relieves Charleston as well as Sa-
vannah and Mobile from the danger of any future
assault on the part of the ironclads. It acknow-
ledges at the same time that these much vaunted
vessels have fallen lamentably short of the ariticipa-
lions even of those who were least sanguine of their
success; that it would be folly and sure destruction
to attempt, after such bitter experience, to drive
them past Fort Sumter; and that all that now re-
mains to do is to repair es speedily as possible the
damages they have received, and devote them to
the duty of blockading at, safe distances from the
enemy's guns the city which they were unable either
co capture or approach.
The details of the short and sharp, and in every
way remarkable, struggle will
be read in Englandwith universal interest, proving as they do, in the
most conclusive manner, that the Federals can eon-
struct no ironclad ships which English artillery of
the newest principle and construction cannot pierce
through all their coating, however thick. They
prove also, that the machinery of the revolving tur-
rets is easily disarranged, and that these vessels
may be rendered useless for offensive purposes by
shots that are not sufficiently heavy or continuous
to destroy them.

In consequence of the uncertainty attendant
upon the Charleston attack the great "mass" meet-
lug which was held in Union-square on Saturday
afternoon last, under the auspices of Mr. Opdyke,
the Mayor of New York, and the council of

"twenty-five" merchants, con•ractors, and lawyers
of this city, who have taken it upon themselves to
organise public opinion in support of the war and
the Administration, was somewhat of a failure. The
day was the anniversary of the fall of Fort Sumter,
two years ago, an event which a stranger to Ameri-
can passion might think was more worthy of
Southern than of Northern commemoration. In the
eipectation, however, that while the meeting was in
-progress the Government might have it in its power
to announce that the Stars and Stripes once more
waved over the rebellious fort, and that Charleston
itself, as over-ardent patriots pray, had been sub-
jected to the fate of Sodom and Gomorrah, every
arrangement was made to make the meeting one of
the largest and most enthusiastic ever held in the
city. But the fragmentary and incomplete news
that arrived from Charleston in the morning threw
a (limper upon people's spirits. The enthusiasm
, was not to be excited to
which might have boiled over if Fort Sumter had
fbeeveenr
however delicately
and carefully worded, that only one of the iron-
clads had been destroyed. There was a presenti-
ment that the whole truth had not been told ; that
the expedition from which so much was expected
was a failure, and that Charleston was still entitled
to call herself " invieta." The meeting was adver-
tised to commence at four o'clock. Six stands were
erected—three on each side of the square. Each
appointed speakers,
strike up "Yankee
seteavindeihi sada
eitsbeinhdairomfamn,oosrioittse
Doodle," or the "Star spangled Banner" whenever
any superabundant prosiness had been exhibited by
the orators of the day. General Sigel was advertised
to speak at one stand, General Fremont at another ;
and Mr. Montgomery Blair, Mr. Lincoln's Post-
master-General, at a third. At five o'clock there
were about 4,000 people in the equare. A caleula-
tw as
calcula-
tion of the number of auditors round the stand
w
speaking showed less
thanher where
4 General
of the stands was
more crowded than that the real audiences of
eon,
and
nl
d Fremont
as mon
none
the several meetings numbered at that time less
than 3,000, the other thousand beiog composed of
ambulatory spectators who went from stand to stand
as curiosity dictated or as the superior importance
'of a speaker might attract them. 'he usual traffic
of the street was in no way disturbed or interfered

with. The horse railway cars made their accus-
tomed journeys, and the police stationed at every
corner to preserve order had a sinecure. At a later
hour it was computed that about 7,000 pemp:e had
gathered together, and although soma of the papers
of the following moining estimated the number at
31,000, no one accustomed to the sight of large
masses of people, no officer or corporal of the army,
could have allowed, by any stretch of liberality in
reckoning, that a third of that number was present.
The wide of the proceedings were dull and tame to
a degree qoite unusual in American out of door
meetings. There was nothing that could he called
enthusiasm. The shadow of the new repulse at
Fort Sumter lay dark upon the souls of the speak-
ers, and even the pleasant and prosperous Mr.
Op lyke and his Council of Twenty-five must have
admitted they had miscalculated both the time of
their celebration and the temper of the people.
If the pains and interests engendered and fostered
by this cruel and illogical war had Got blinded the
eyes of the Americans to the dangers to which their
liberties are exposed by its continuance, they might
have seen by the multiplicity of banners and pla-
cards bearing the words " Unconditional Loyalty,"
how low they had fallen from their once high
estate. That a free people, justly jealous of their
liberty, should allow such banners to be flaunted in
their faces without indignantly tearing them down,
or that they should accept the doctrine of uncondi-
tional loyalty without scornful repudiation of the
political slavery and degradation implied, shows
bow much real freedom and independence of mind
the war has already destroyed. Unconditional
loyalty is more than the Russians give to their Czar
or the Turks to their Sultan, and has never been
yielded to King or Government by any people speak-
ing the English language since the days of Henry
VIII. Is it not strange as well as humiliating that
such a doctrine should be first heard of in the Eng
Hall language in a Republic founded by Englishmen?
And should it not lead modern Americans to inquire
whether it really had its origin among men of Bri-
tish blood and lineage, or whether it is due to the
Celtic, Teutonic, or other alien races that have
adopted the English language without adopting the
English liberty of thought that should accompany
it ? Whatever may be the reason, it is not creditable
that a doctrine so long ago buried and forgotten in
civilised Europe should be exhumed in America,
under the leadership of fanatics upon the one hand,
and of selfish traders making unholy fortunes out of
the war on the other. The fact remains, however,
that the liberty of the Americans is rapidly slipping
out of their grasp; and while they avow a sentiment
so slavish, not to a King or Emperor claiming to rule
by Divine right, but to a fetish of their own making
such as Mr. Lincoln, it is scarcely surprising that
military men should be ready to take them at their
word, and to prepare means for their final subjuga-
tion and reduction to that state of thraldom to which
they Would subject their brothers of the South. At
this very meeting in Union-square a letter was read
from Gen. lialleck which excited no notice from
any one, but which ought to have made the heart of
every freeman in the North throb with indignation
at the insolent tyranny which it foreshadowed.
" Our armies," said the General, " are still ad-
vancing. They will before long crush the rebellion
in the South, and then place their heels upon the
heads of sneaking traitors in the North." In other
words, the subjugation of the South will be fol-
lowed by the subjugation of the North, and the
army, having no further military work to do, will be
maintained as an aid to the civil power to crush out
all free opinion and silence all opposition to the Go-
vernment. No other construction can be put upon
the minions words. But, strong as they are, they
are not so strong as those of Gen. Milroy, another
Federal officer in command in the new and illega

State of Western Virginia, and high in the confi

denee of Mr. Lincoln and his Administration. "1
loin with my fellow soldiers of the Union every-
where," says this officer, "in warning these traitors
at home that when we havo crushed armed treason
at the South and restored the sovereignty of our
Government over these misguided Srates ,
under Got;, we shall surely do), we will, upon our
return, while our hands are in, also exterminate
treason at the North, by arms if need be, and seal

by the blood of traitors, NI Lerever found, the peace
of our country and the perpetuity of ' free' govern-
ment to all future generations." If for the word

"free" in the concluding phrase the word "despotic'
were substituted the logic of tLis military tyran

would be complete. Wall may the World, in com

meriting upon this too eignificant threat, exclaim

that " the cruelest despotism that ever cursed the
earth would be Elysium compared to a Government

such as that pictured by this human tiger. It is the
curse of war that it will at times bring such people
to the surface, There need, however, be but little
fear of either Butlers or Milroys in this country.
This is not Asia, nor are the American people likely
to submit to what even the Turks have found intoler-
able." The TVorld is too sanguine; Butler is the
most popular man in the North—the cynosure of

. _
ail eyes—the favourite of the ladies, and will be,

f the war lasts, the most formidable candidate for
he Presidency. Of Milroy little or nothing is

known ; but if the American people will honour
such men as Butler and Schenk, confide in the
wisdom of Mr. Lincoln and Mr. Seward, and avow

their determination to be " unconditionally loyal,
come what may, and happen what will," Milroy

and such as he will make themselves better known

in due time, and thousands of imitators will gather
around to support and strengthen them, till nothing
is left of American liberty but the sad remembrance

that Washington lived in vain. Nor will the re-
membrance be nninstruetive if it teach other nations

hat a warlike Democracy is incompatible with free

dom, and that a military despotism grows as surely

from such a root as an-oak from an acorn. Per-

haps, however, the warnings of Generals Halleck

Batler, and Milroy will not be utterly wasted upon
chat portion of the thinking people of America who

are not led away by preachers and exterminators,

or interested in war contracts. The light may dawn
upon their minds that the South is battling for the
freedom of the North ; and that the utter subjuga-
tion of the Southern people would be the greatest
calamity which could befal those Northern people
who are still so disloyal as to love constitutional
liberty better than they love their Government, and

so rebellious as to think that it would have been

better for America if Mr. Lincoln, General Halleck,
General Milroy, and men of such opinions as they

attempt to carry into action, had never been born.

The clamour against Great Britain has not sub-
sided. The repulse at Charleston is so damaging
to the Administration that orders have been given
to keep up the anti-English outcry with unabated

strength, in order to distract public attention from
the imbecility, or, at ail events, the ill success Of
the Government. The unanswerable speech of the

Solicitor-General on the question of the Alabama
and the Florida, and the warning speech of Lord
Palmerston on the danger of inflaming international
animosities for the purpose of creating
" political
capital" have excited a furore of unfavourable com-
ment in the Republican press, in which invective
takes the place of argument, and every p.ossi
form of the suppressio veri and the sugg.es,t io falsi
is unscrupulously employed. At the Union-square
meeting on Saturday a number of the speakers dwelt
particularly upon the alleged enmity of Grat Br
tain to the Republican Government of the United
States, but none so violently as the Hon. Montgo-
mery Blair, the Postmaster-General. British aris-
tocracy is the " favourite aversion," or bete-noire,
of the most ignorant of the many ignorant stump
orators of this country, and when Mr. Blair, who
from his position ought to have known better, de-
clared " that the proud aristocracy of England were
arming the slave drivers of Richmond with iror -
clad ships to strike down the freedom of the North,"

he touched a sympathising chord in the hearts of his
ignorant, or prejudiced audience,and elicited tumul
tuous cheers, " We," he said, are the real noble-