The Sun.
London, England, 1863-06-18 00:00:00

their existence, because they make no sign, and are
virtually the fomenters of the public miseries which
they deplore—because they are either too sordid to
care, or too timid to struggle for the perishing liber-
ties of thz•ir country. No such men k .ep back in
the South. It is because sue meu eiu keep back
in the North, or take the wrong side, that the war
drags on, and will continue to drag on until the ex-
asperated and desperate South shall carry the sword
and torch into the cities of the North, or Europe
shall mediate to stay the bloodshed that might be
other wise interminable.

Next to this remarkable meeting, the most impor-
tant fact of the hour is the annulment by the Pre-
sident of the arbitrary " Order " of Gen. Burnside,
in which he suppressed by military force the Chicago
limes newspaper. In the same document he pro-
hibited within his department the circulation of the
New York World—which had commented somewhat
too freely on his blundering incapacity to please this
stupidest of all the military tyrants whom the war
has produced. The President only annulled the first
part of his "Order"—that which related to the Chi-
cago limes—and said nothing of the World; but
Gen. Burnside, with a gleam of sense that shows he
has not so entirely lost his wits as most people ,
sup-
posed, was good enough to inform the conductors of
the latter newspaper by telegraphic despatch that
he had "revoked the entire Order," and that the
World would be allowed to circulate in the West as
before. Mr. Lincoln has not lately done anything
so wise and prudent as this. If he had been equally
prudent in the case of Mr. Vallandigham, and
quashed the proceedings of the court-martial which
sentenced him to imprisonment, instead of aggra-
vating that sentence into baiishment—the banish-
ment of a man who had as much legal and consti-
tutional right to disapprove Mr. Lincoln's policy in
war or peace as Mr. Lincoln has to act as President
of the United States—he would save himself and
his Administration from much perplexity as well as
disgrace. Perhaps even yet, with the echoes of the
great peace meeting in this city still ringing in his
ears—echoes in which the name of Vallandigham
was louder and more frequent than any other word
except peace—Mr. Lincoln will not deem it too late
to annul or revoke the sentence on the able and
honourable opponent whom he has treated as a cri-
minal. Vallandigham in exile is a power in the
State. The people of the North-West, aided both
by the War Democrats and the Peace Democratsin
New York, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania, have
made a hero of him of whom the Government has
made a martyr ; and every day that he remains in
the South will increase the popularity of his name,
and his chances, not only of election as Governor of
Ohio, but of nomination to higher dignity. It ap-
pears that it was owing to the earnest advice and
remonstrance of Mr. Seward that Mr. Lincoln was
induced to annul General Burnside's order for the
suppression of the Chicago Times. It also appears
that Mr. Seward was equally urgent in endeavour-
ing to persuade the President to veto the proceed-
ings in the case of Mr. Vallandigham. It would
have been well for Mr. Lincoln it he had taken
the good advice in both instances, and would be
still better, at the eleventh hour, if, not content-

ing himself with the remission of a sentence
which ought never to have been imposed,
he would proclaim at one and the same time
that Mr. Vallandigham was free to go where
he pleased, and that General Burnside had
been ordered to fight somewhere or other, in subor-
dination to some clearer headed commander than
himself, and that he was no longer the military
dictator of Ohio or of any other space of ground
larger than that which could be surrounded by his
own tents on the banks of the Rappahannock.
The press of New York, having taken the alarm at
General Burnside's high-minded imperialism, has
convened a meeting of editors of all shades of
opinion, from those of the Journal of Commerce to
those of the Tribune, to debate the great and to them
very essential question whether they have any rights
at all in a time of war. Although the meeting was
summoned before it was known that Mr. Lincoln
had disavowed and countermanded Gen. Burnside's
suppression vi et armis of the Chicago limes, the
editors have resolved to take counsel together, as if
that wise interference bad not taken place, rightly
calculating that Mr. Lincoln's prudence may be

geographical or intermittent; that he may have
_ _

one course of policy for the touchy and dangerous
North-west, end another for the fat and quiescent
city of New York; and that, whether he have or
have not, it is inexpedient co rely too securely upon
the action of a chief magistrate who is as often
wrong as he is right. The meeting is to take place
on Monday next.

The question of the validity of the Act of Con-
gress which declares Treasury notes or greenbacks
to be a legal tender for all debts public or private
has again come before the courts of law in this city,
and has been decided against the Government by
Judges Ingraham, Sutherland, and Peckham. Prior
to the war a Mr. Roosevelt lent a certain sum on
mortgage of real estate, giving his check to the
mortgager on the Chymical Bank in this city, the
said check being payable in gold, or in notes at par
with gold. The mortgaged estate was subsequently
sold by the mortgagor, subject to the claim of the
mortgagee, and the purchaser in due course—the
war being then raging, and gold at a high pre-
mium—offered the nominal amount of the mort-
gage in greenbacks. Mr.Roosvelt, the mortgagor,
refused to accept, and insisted upon full payment
in gold, or in such a sum in depreciated green-
backs as would represent the exact sum in gold
which he had originally advanced upon the security.
The purchaser refused, and hence the action. This
is the second time that the case has been before the.
tribunals. On the first occasion the Judges decided
in favour of the greenbacks as a legal tender. The
purchaser, not being satisfied with the second deci-
sion, has given notice of appeal. Consequently the
case will be re-argued for the third time before the
Supreme Court, whose decision will be final. As is
natural, the debtor and creditor class take different
sides in this contest, the debtors maintaining the
power of Congress, and the virtue of greenbacks,
while the creditors insist, per contra, that a loan of
gold, or gold's worth, must be repaid in gold, if the
debtor would not become a swindler, under the pre-
sumed authority of a law which they declare to be
neither legal nor constitutional.

JUNE 6.

So many positive and wilful falsehoods, mingled
with so many unintentional exaggerations, or de-
preciations of imperfectly reported or misunderstood
facts, arrive daily and hourly in this city, that it is
next to impossible to ascertain what is the real state
of affairs on the Mississippi. It is clear, however,
that Vicksburg and Port Hudson will not be cap-
tured without an obstinate and protracted defence,
should they be captured at all, and that the Admini-
stration and its friends are no longer so sanguine on
the subject as they were three days ago. General
Grant has not force sufficient for the work in hand,
and the War Department is sending him fresh
troops with all the celerity it can spur into its jaded
officials. Gen. Joseph Johnstone is receiving rein-
forcements at least as numerous ; and if the rumour
which comes from Cincinnati—that he is marching
upon Memphis—be confirmed, the Federal Govern-
ment, even ehould it be rewAded with Vicksburg,
will find that it has only unloosed the knot of the
Mississippi at one point to have it firmly tied in
another and quite unexpected direction. The at-
tack on Port Hudson, led by General Banks, ap-
pears, from the imperfect and hurried reports thdt
have reached this city this morning by the steamer
from New Orleans, to have been desperately and
successfully resisted. The Federals admit a loss of
nearly 3A)00 ment
the
in the first day's battle, exclusive
of 603 negroe,
of 2d Louisiana Regiment, and
a ,i heavy
toss:,
unnatnewed on the second day, when
in
4 . The Federal loss in
racers of high rank
)tilled and wounded is
unusually severe, betokening
the contest was renewed.
that the struggle has,
so far, been one of the
obstinateh of the war.
The news, having been brought
moat
by steamer
otpeaeraraecr from
the immediate vicinity of the scene
not open to the same doubts as might have attaenesh eids
to it had it percolated through the bureaux of iytr.
Stanton at Washington; and must be accepted, as
far as it goes, as not very encouraging to the Federal
cause. While the battle rages at this remote ex-
tremity of the country, the Government continues
ill at ease on the subject of the safety of Washing-
ton, maintains in command on the Rappahannock