The Sun.
London, England, 1865-11-28 00:00:00

COLONIAL.

TEA.—Business has been inactive, although prices
generally are well sustained. A small quantity of China
produce is demanded for public sale to-day.
SUGAR.—The market continues very dull, and late rates
are with difficulty maintained. Refined goods in some
instances may be quoted a shade cheaper.
COFFEE.—A good business has been done in colonial
descriptions, and both Plantation and Native Ceylon have
fully maintained former rates.

Ricn.—The transactions have been unimportant, and
prices remain unaltered.

TALLOW.—There has been very little animation,
although quotations for both present and forward delivery
are steady. P.Y.C. on the spot is marked 505., and 50s.
9d. to 51s. for January and March delivery.

As we anticipated, Mr. Edward Baxter, the mem-
ber for the Montrose burghs, has declined the invitation to
enter the Admiralty as the Civil Lord, on the ground that
he cannot yet withdraw his attention from the business of
which he is the head.

THE BATTLE FIELDS IN THE SHENANDOAH VAL LEY.
—A correspondent of the London Times, writing from the
battle fields of Virginia, gives a heartrending account of
the poverty which has overtaken some of the former most
prosperous families in the Shenandoah Valley. He says :
" They are obliged, very reluctantly, to part with their
land, which before the war was worth $3OO or $4OO an
acre, and now brings no more than $5O or $6O. It is a
splendid opportunity for investment abroad, and the Vir-
ginians would be very glad to have English capital and
English colonists flow in that direction. The country is
naturally rich and fertile, and the greater part of it would
recover in two or three years if the people had their former
means to work with. One great difficulty they have to
encounter is the want of labor. Their slaves deserted
them at different times during the war, and now cannot
be induced to work. The negro finds himself, as a gentle-
man here remarked, ' no better than a white man,' and
discovers that to live he must work—a necessity to
which he cannot reconcile himself." The disposition
of the Southern people to aceept cheerfully their
new and altered circumstances is thus described :
" A gallant man, still very young, who was all through
the war, and fought in 51 pitched battles and over 70
skirmishes, and who was one of Stonewall Jackson's
favourite aides, expressed this sentiment, which I have
from many others, so well that I cannot do better than to
repeat his words. ' 1 entered the war,' he said, because
I thought it was right. Fortunately or unfortunately, I
was educated to believe that I owed my first duty to my
State. Under that belief I fought to the last for Virginia,
and 1 cannot be sorry now that I did so. I cannot pre-
tend to be ashamed of my cause: I did all that I could,
and, having fought as becomes a man, I am, not going to
sit down and behave like a child because I cannot fight
any longer. I believe I speak the thoughts of all the young
men left in this Valley, when I say this. lam willing to
be true to the present Government, and begin to work now,
for we have had enough of destruction. General Lee
has set us the example, and what our dear General orders
us to do we shall perform.' Proud of the valour their
troop have shown, and recalling affectionately every
brilliant episode in their long and desperate struggle—
this is the temper of the people ; but the Government
has nothing to fear from them. The policy pursued by
Mr. Johnson has at once gratified and touched them.
Since they must go back into the Urtdon, they could not
be led by gentler hands."