The Sun.
London, England, 1862-07-04 00:00:00

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THE SUN.
LONDON, FRIDAY, JULY 4, 1862.

THE FOURTH OF JUL'f,—the anniversary of
American Independence—how is it being celebrated
while we write ? Are Richmond and Charleston in
hands of the Federals, no longer as "independent'
American cities, but as the conquests of the North

Preparations appear to have been that such should
be the case. M'DOWELL'S corps had been ordered
to reinforce M'CLELLAN, and James Island, within
easy shelling range of Charleston, had been occu-
pied by a small Federal troop protected by the gun-
boats, and thus everything was arranged as well
as events permitted, to provide for the Northern
Fourth of July ovation, a text for glorification of
the Stars and Stripes. Whether or not they suc-
ceeded in this we must wait 10 days or a fortnight
to know. Not only the oratorical feats of the
Fourth of July called for such a conclusion of the
first book of this year's Federal Campaigns, but the
atmospheric heats, which, though we have not
had much of them, should be overpowering in Vir-
ginia by this time, rendered it highly important
that the army should be freed from the exhausting
field duties requisite before Richmond.
To-day, indeed, we receive en account
which looks unfavourably for the Federals,
both from Charleston and the now very
important valley of the Shenandoah, the scene
of JACKSON'S feats. The fact of that general having
been reinforced is now confirmed, and the reader
will remember that this means that Washington is
ill at ease, that JACKSON could throw himself at
any time between M'CLELLAN and Washington,
and that he holds a fertile valley the best able in
all Virginia to provide food for the Confederate
army. This does not look well. The news also
from Charleston, seeing it is from Northern sources,
is not favourable. A bloody battle with "heavy
loss on both sides" has always meant, in Northern
phraseology, that the loss was certainly heavy on

the side which knew its own loss, and possibly—
by no means certainly—so on the other. It is ,
added, indeed, that the Charleston Tiereury " ex-
pressed apprehensions for the safety of the city"—
which is very natural. With a small army of
exasperated Yankees near enough to lay it in ashes,
the inhabitants may well be alarmed. Charleston
too is the hardened and obstinate author of the
rebellion. When the Virginians assembled their
Peace Conference at Washington, and so many
States, both North and South, willingly sent dele-
gates to confer, ere too late, on measures of concilia-

tion, Charleston sent an almost contemptuous
answer, stating that she had gone out for ever, and
would henceforth treat with the Federal Govern-
ment only on the basis of regarding it as
the Government of a foreign nation. Richmond
has been guilty of light offences compared with
those of Charleston, and the 4th of July orators
would probably celebrate with more gusto the fall,
perhaps the sacking, of Charleston, than the capture
or the evacuation of Richmond.
What will be the character of these orations this
year ? Last year there seemed to be no doubt that
the North was soon to give the South its quietus,
and the majesty of the Republic, whole and indi-
visible, was to be the subject of orations for the
following year. Hardly a Northerner then doubted
that the South would by this time be compelled to
submit, and, as they then generally thought, that
the Union party in the South would be liberated to
assert that superiority of position, character, and
education which was supposed to belong to Southern
Federalists. Both dreams have entirely vanished
in one short year. Bull's Run and its sequences
loon dispelled the illusion of superior military
prowess ; and the Union party South of the Poto-
mac, if ever there was one, has disappeared, proba-
bly for ever. Nothing will now be left the North
but vituperation of the South, and proclamation
for the twentieth time—" yet thirty days and
secession shall be destroyed."
There must be in America, however, thinking men
in abundance who, as they cannot help seeing both
sides of the questions, decline to spout one-sided
declamation for the gratification of a vulgar mob.
We should like to hear what these men think. It
would be worth far more than all the rant of hun-
dreds of ardent, blind, common-place demagogues
who flourish on this, as we must now call it, foolish
anniversary. We have got rid of our political ser-
vices from our Prayer-book; but they had long
ceased to nurture the bad feeling which con-
structed them. Well would it be for America
if she dropped, as rapidly as she could, this purely
mischievous
. commemoration. That it is made an
oceas!on of atonally abusing and ridiculing this
country is an evil, One that for the sake of inter-
national good feeling we regret, though it does not
doubtthe that the foolish, vulgar,
Present day at all, but it
htoause ha
afar worse
wEonregs
istrhtelsoe f
result
lt than this on America itself.
There can b
self-laudations of the orators-laureate of this day
h the formation
o f have
v e
the had muchto
qualitiesdowith
of
the American
most uoffensivee
national character. While .we meet with in-
dividual Americans who are all that one
gentleman can wish in another, yet nothing is more
conspicuous in Americans, as a nation, than that
perpetual swsgger and bluster which they display
not only towards other nations, but in their inter
course with each other. It is the natural spirit of
the 4th of July animating the individual. He is a
member of the mighty American nation—the Her-
cules which in its cradle captured English armies,
and which now in its early youth is entitled to give
lessons on Government, and war to .effete old
Europe. MONROE doctrines, manifest destiny, and