The Sun.
London, England, 1862-07-24 00:00:00

t THE SUN, LONDON, TIMESDAY EVENING, JULY 24, 1862.

deuce of the South. As to our aristocracy, they
instinctively side with the slaveholder, much as
they detest slavery; the slaveholders being by origin
and habit the aristocratic section of America.

Both, parties, here alternately have news which
gratifies or grieves them. Till lately the North had
the odds of military success in its favour. The
central and western border states, the Mississippi,
and the Atlantic seaboard came under its power.
The successes of the Confederates lay chiefly in re-
treats, and these, especially if we compare them
with M'CLELLAN'S late retreat, were great successes.
Each of them was effected without observation,
from the presence of the enemT ; and each largely
augmented the difficulties of the Northern generals.
Bat since the 26th ult., the military successes have
all been with the Confederates. M4CLELLAN'S
army has not, indeed, " surrendered at discretion,"
nor the general fled to the shelter of the Galena
gunboat. It has, however, been driven back to a
distance of at least nineteen miles from the city
has suffered " decimating" losses, and has probably
been paralysed for any important effort, for the rest
of the hot weather. Mr. LINCOLN does not indeed
seemed disheartened, however much he may be dis-
appointed ; and we all like to see him posting off at
once to his "arroy'nf Richmond," riding through its
cantonments, and addressing his regiments in the
genuine Yankee lingo. Whether his appeal for
300,000 men will be responded to as former appeals
have been seems at present doubtful. Enlisting
appears to go on but slowly. Some reinforcements
—BURNSIDE'S from North Carolina—have already
arrived, and are reported to be in fine trim and good
spirits; 30,000 more should come from HALLECK, from
the Mississippi, which, even if he can spare them, will
take some time, as they must make a long circuit.
With all these reinforcements, however, unless the
Confederates are more weakened than is likely by
the late battle, we shall probably find 31‘CLELLAN
unable to advance.
But in the scene of the spring successes of the
Federals, the Confederates, if the last reports are to
be trusted, are resuming the offensive, and with
success. The capture of a Federal regiment by a
large body of Confederates at Murfreesborougia, near
Nashville, in Tennessee, is an important announce-
ment, and as it comes from the North, it can hardly
be disbelieved. It shows that though the Federals
hold the western part of the State, and its southern
border and railway, yet secession is very powerful
there still, and in considerable military strength
too. The reported capture, also, of 1,500 Federals
at Baton Rouge, the city next above New Orleans
on the Mississippi, will, if true, disconcert General
BUTLER, the ungallant hero of New Orleans, and
startle even HALLECK at Memphis, with the evi-
dence that he has an active enemy not a very great
way off, and that instead of sending his men to
M'CLELLAN he may need them for his own safety.
The excitement in Kentucky is doubtless due to the
recent successes of the South, and it is quite likely
that the Border States, which, to their disgrace, are
unwilling to accept emancipation even with com-
pensation, may give fresh trouble by their return-
ing secession feelings and hope.

Whether or not this war is to be regarded as a
war against slavery, as some friends of the North
would have us believe—up to the date of the last
advices, nothing is more conspicuous at Washington
than the delicacy with which both Congress and
the PRESIDENT handle, or even touch the subject.
All the Generals are not quite so scrupulous. Gene-
ral HUNTER'S answer to some interrogatories re-
specting his arming slaves, quite puzzled the col-

lective wisdom of the Washington legislators.
"He knew of no slaves within his lines. He had,
however, a large number of loyal black persons, who
would, he hoped, by the autumn, amount to nearly
fifty thousand well drilled men ready to fight for
the liberties of their country 1" The Government
and Congress, however, do not seem able to go
beyond employing black loyalists on any work but
digging entrenchments and fortification service.
For a loyal black actually to shoot a rebel white is
not to be thought of. The white rebel must be
shot by his peers only. Here, we naturally sup-
pose that, of all persons, the blacks have the most
righteous cases bells* against the Southern whites.
If the North has a right to go to war for what they
term their free political institutions, much more, as
Englishmen will think, has poor Blackie a right to
arm for the personal freedom of his race. The
Houses and the Government are wiser, as they ima-
gine. They think they do much if they reward
blacks who will do " any kind of war service" by
giving the poor fellows the personal freedom to
which they have as much right already as those
who profess to give it. Perhaps the difficulty of
recruiting white regiments fast enough, together
with the losses caused by a Southern climate, may
at last dispose even the timid gentry of Washing-
ton to accept the military services of black Ameri-
cans. It may even become the turning point of
continuing the war, whether the North shall use
the aid of the unfortunate Helots, who, they say,
are the cause of it all.

The Letter Carriers have gained no more than
the Law Writers by the late advocacy of their in-
terests in the House of Commons. Sir GEORGE
BOWYER did not, like Mr. Cox. push forward his
motion to a division—but the hon. and learned
baronet advocated the interests of his clients no more
effectually than the hon. member for Finsbury.
There, again, in effect there were obviously two sides
to the question—only one of those two sides having
been recognised by the advocate of the unfortunate
complainants—this fresh cluster of men with a
grievance ! Mr. GLADSTONE objected, with reason
and upon the soundest principles, to the system
here and there observable, according to which cer-
tain mistaken philanthropists are found to en-
courage the Servants of the Crown, now in this
department and now in that, in a feeling of discon-
tent with their lot and their general treatment. If
that system were permitted to extend itself, the
Chancellor of the Exchequer insisted, it would be im-
possible to carry on properly the labours of Govern-
ment, And without doubt if large bodies of men
are encouraged to believe that they are underpaid
and overworked,
and, in fact, altogether exceedingly
ill-used
and neglected, " it is more," said Mr.
GLADSTONE, "than
could be expected from human
nature, that they would not become discontented."
All this we cannot, of course, but admit upon the
instant to be perfectly trae
; we have not even one
momentary inclination to cavil at a single syllable
te gentleman to this effect.
uAtndreydetblatshesirriGghEt hon.
oRGEBovirE_
e,
at all
atte to
quietly and sig-
nificantly
o.bserviefdthimerme immediately before
grievances et
Withdraw-
ing his mottoh_
be complained of in connection with the l'ost-offic
there would assuredly have been no commission to
inquire into them ! Whereas, in regard to this matter,
we have seen, not one inquiry simply, but two distinct
inquiries of precisely this character deliberately insti-
tuted within the last five
years—two separate and
elaborate inquiries into the mode of working in the
Post-office department. Had all been smooth sail-
ing there. had there been no reason whatever for
complaint among the Post-office officials, we may
be absolutely certain that there would not have
been any Commission appointed to look into the
matter. And certainly that an investigation of that
kind would not, within two years afterwards, have
adage has it, that hbeen repeated. The homely old

there is no smoke where there is no fire. And be-
yond all doubt of it there has been much smoulder-
ing vexation, for the last ten or twelve years, at
the Post-office, in St. Martin's-le-Grand—first of all
as to the inadequacy of the pay ; and secondly, as
to the excess of the work portioned out among the

poor letter-carriers.
Again and again we have written upon the
subject, in these columns, ourselves. So that
the argument put forward on Thursday even-
ing by Sir GEORGE BOWYER was one in no
way new to us. Not that we behold in
the condition of the letter carriers generally that
lamentable over-working and under paying, that
the hon. and learned baronet can alone behold there,
when looking into the management, or rather as he
perversely regards it in this particular, the gross
mis-management throughout, of this particular
branch of the Post-office department. The Chancellor
of the Exchequer remarked with some force, in
regard to this one-sided view of the matter by Sir
GEORGE BOWYER, that " In estimating the pay of
these men, that of the ordinary British labourer
should be taken into consideration. Why should
his hon. friend," he asked, " not take up the case

of the police ? ,It might be said that half their
lives they spent in the streets at night, receiving
only 19s. a week-and upwards." Nevertheless, it
would hardly follow that the existence of a griev-
ance in one direction justifies the maintenance of a
lesser grievance of the same kind in another. Be-
cause the police are still more flagrantly overworked,
and still more flagrantly unpaid than the letter-
carriers, it would not follow that the letter-carriers
must perforce on that account rest contented. And,
upon the mere surface of the matter under dis-
pute, there can be no question about it whatever,
that, in the double respect already indicated, the
condition of the letter-carriers as a class has.
within the last few years, very considerably dete-
riorated. Their work being enormously increased,
and their pay, by a cruelly inverse proportion,
diminished. In demonstration of this, Sir GEORGE
BOWYER contrasted the annual receipta in 1845,
and again in 1861, of twenty-five letter-
carriers. "In the former year (1845)"—as
the hon. and learned baronet clearly showed—
" twenty-five junior letter carriers earned £962,
besides emoluments amounting to £2,364, making a
total of £3,326. In the same year 26 junior carriers
earned £1,324 Bs., and no additional emoluments.
In 1861, the 25 senior carriers earned only £1,950,
with £175 of extra emoluments, making a total of
£2,125; and the juniors only £1,170. The result
was that whereas in 1845 the average were £93
per man, in 1861 they were only £65, a sum on
which it was impossible for a person to live in com-
fort and respectability." Now there is really and
truly no possibility of getting over those figures.
They speak for themselves. And unhappily the
insufficiency of the pay has been only too often of
late very distressingly demonstrated by the
increasing frequency of prosecutions for
peculations and other delinquencies. The truth
is that the condition of the letter-carriers admits of
improvement. They might be worse off, no doubt
—it is an argument, that, of universal application.
But, allowing that, it still must be insisted with
some show of reason that their condition does admit
of improvement. They have long complained. Let
their complaints be put an end to definitively.
Facts and figures beyond denial—as we have seen—
show that their position has of late years deterio-
rated. Their responsibilities all the while increas-
ing ! If only in consideration of those responsibi-
lities, they ought at least as a class to be placed (as
they manifestly are not at present) beyond the
reach of a very painful and perpetually recurring
temptation.

India may well be thankful that she had, as the
adviser of Lord CANNING, a finance Minister who
was not to be hectored into disobedience to his duty
to our Indian empire, by the Indian Secretary's
lectures on obedience to himself. Like Lord CAN-
NING, he fulfilled the duties of his post, notwith-
standing the interference of a Dictator Secretary,
and having bearded the official ignorance of the Home
Indian•offiee till India was safe, he now willingly
places his office in the hands of the Home Govern-
ment. Whether any man of equal ability and in-
dependence will condescend to place himself under
Sir CHARLES WOOD remains to be seen. Men of
high capacity may honourably work under official
superiors inferior in ability to themselves; every
monarch in Europe is thus served. In a practically
aristocratic Government like ours, men occupy posts
like those filled by Sir CHARLES WOOD, because
they are " their fathers' sons ;" hence the talent
and genius of the country must frequently be sub-
ordinate, officially, to hereditary dulness; but, unless
in such cases, the hereditary office-holders refrain
from dictating to their subordinated superiors, we
shall have dulness triumphant from the heads of
departments to their humblest clerks.
That Mr. LAING, in the absence of direct injunc-
tions, did not "consider himself a mere clerk bound
to consult implicitly the wishes," not the commands
of "home authorities"—tnat he in this case " felt
himself responsible to Lord CANNING and to the
public for exerting the best independent judgment
he could,"—has resulted in two great benefits to this
country and to India. He was enabled to lower
the protective duty of 10 per cent. on Manchester
cottons—which not only injured Manchester, but also
threatened to raise up a protected cotton manufac-
ture in India, which must, at some time, have suf-
fered by the withdrawal of protection. And in the
next place—perhaps the most important fiscal re-
sult—he was able to remit the income-tax on the
lower incomes, and to reduce it on the higher ones,
and so to avoid creating a most dangerous discontent
throughout India, and to prevent even probable dis-
turbances of the peace. Nearly three-fourths of the
payers of the tax are relieved—consisting of the
classes who suffered most from it—at a cost of only
£250,000 ; while the surrender of the license tax
has prevented feelings of " irritation and discontent
being brought home ,to every village bazaar, and
every artizan's workshop." Justice to Manchester
and contentment to India were the awards of Mr.
LAING'S financial system. Protective duties and
general irritation would have been the results of
the polioy of our Dictator Secretary. It must,
therefore, be grave considerations indeed which
could justify the policy of the Indian Secretary.

Sir CHARLES WOOD'S speech satisfied us that he
was wrong on both the main points of dispute with
Mr. LAING. But that gentleman placed the matter
in the clearest light by the letter addressed to us
yesterday. We shall not repeat a word of its argu-
ments, because they can hardly be made simpler,
and those who feel an interest in the details of
the subject can look back to them there. He
turns most justly and mercilessly Sir CHARLES
WOOD'S own illustrations against him, and we
should think every business man in the kingdom
Will now
see that Mr. LAING was right. Three points
he has made out, we think, incontrovertibly :-Ist,
that the Railway
be charged
v,aY Exchange ought not in principle
against revenue • and that, even if it
ought, it had been
actually paid; 2dly, that the
advances to China had been, when made, charged
against the Indian revenue, and
ic refunds"that, therefore, the
ought to be
placed among its credits;
idly, that he was not such a fina .
nem' dunce—which
Sir CHARLES WOOD really ventured more than to

insinuate—as to appeal to unanalysed cash balances,
using their gross amount as proofs of the growth
of the revenue. We apprehend the country will
think, as ;the result of this squabble, that Sir
CHARLES WOOD is the wrong man in the wrong
place, and that were he superseded by Mr. LAING,
India and England would then have the right man
in the right place.

By this time the Thames Embankment is vir-
tually fait accompli. The Committee appointed
by te
House of Lords--a committee consisting of
Earl ST. GERMANS (chairman), Lord STRATFORD
DE REDCLIFFE, Viscount DE VESCI, Earl Powis,
and Lord LONGFORD—have settled the whole ques-
tion. They have heard connsel both pro and con;
they have listened to the conflicting arguments
patiently throughout ; and they have decided
at length once for all that the preamble of
the Bill as amended by the Commons shall
be affirmed. The Embankment along the
northern margin of the River Thames
therefore is to be carried out uninterruptedly along
the whole of the route from Blackfriars Bridge to
Westminster Bridge, the Duke of BUCCLEITCH, Mr.
HORSIIIAN, Mr. GORE et hoc genus omne to the con-
trary, nevertheless notwithstanding. It is a sad
pity of course that the public convenience in this
matter and the love of exclusiveness peculiar to the
inhabitants of refined districts like Whitehall Gar-
dens cannot be reconciled. JOHNNY has had to
" drive on," however, as his facetious Conductor,
Mr. Punch, recommended him the other day : and
—after all that warlike brandishing of the
claymore and glittering of the ducal coronet
of the BUCCLEUCHS that astonished the
natives recently down at Westminster—the grand
Scotchman has had to clear out of the way
altogether. The Embankment will, consequently,
in due course, be constructed according to the
original plan set down it will be 100 feet wide
as far as the eastern boundary of the Inner Temple,
and not less than 70 feet wide from that point to
Chatham-place. The approach-road leading out of
the Embankment, moreover, will be of an uniform
width of not less than 40 feet, at a gradient of 1 in
30, communicating by means of approaches with
Surrey, Norfolk, and Arundel Streets. It
is further provided that A New Street shall
branch off from the Embankment at the east
side of the Middlesex end of Hungerford-
bridge, passing through the Savoy, immediately at
the back of our own office, and terminating in
Wellington-street, directly in front of the new
western facade of Somerset House. Other side-
street communications, too, the Embankment will
have all along its route, into the parallel roadway,
now of the Strand, now of Fleet-street. While
this grandest of all our Metropolitan improvements
is in course of construction, it would be a lost oppor-
tunity not to take good care that along the whole
track of the Embankment a line of trees should be
planted, at reasonable intervals, as upon the Paris
boulevards.

THE HOUSE OF COMMONS. Yesterday the
Speaker gave his annual dinner to the clerks and principal
officers of the House of Commons. The following gentle-
men were present :—Sir Denis Le Marchant, Bart., Lord
Charles Russell, Mr. Erskine May, C. 8., Mr. Henry Ley,
Mr. Rickards, Capt. Gosset, Mr. Frere, Mr. Vardon, Mr.
Howard, Mr. Dyson, Mr. Gibbons, Mr. Rowland, Mr.
Postlethwaite, Mr. J. B. Rose, Mr. Charles Pole, Mr. F.
Gray, Mr. W. Hodgkin, Mr. W. Rose, Lieutenant-Colonel
Forester; chaplain, Archdeacon Drury; private secretary,
Mr. Alfred Denison.

The new Spanish Ambassador to Paris, General
Jase Concha, will probably be at his post in the first week
of August, and he will be received officially by the Empe-
ror before the 15th at the Tuileries.

" If we may believe," says the Pays, "a gene-
rally credited report, M. Bermudez de Castro, who, since
the surrender of Gaeta, has represented Queen Isabella at
the Court of Francis IL at Rome, is to be recalled, and not
replaced in that post. If this fact should prove correct, it
may be considered as the precursor to the recognition of
the kingdom of Italy by Spain."

UNIVERSITY COLLEGE, LONDON.—The Council,
at their session on Saturday last, appointed Dr. J. Russell,
Reynolds Special professor of Clinical Medioine to the Col-
lege and Physician to the Hospital, in the place of Dr.
Jenner, who now holds the office of Professor of the Prin-
ciples and Practice of Medicine in the College, with the
Physicianship attached to it.

THE WAR IN MONTENEGRO.--A letter from
Corfu of the 12th says :—" Although so close to Monte-
negro, little is heard here of how matters are progressing
in that country, but a great falling off in the despatch of
Turkish troops is visible. Hardly a steamer now arrives,
when before seven a week used to pass the island."

Mr. Fisher, who has been station-master at
King's-cross since the opening of the Great Northern line,
has been compelled by ill-health to resign that appointment,
and accept another with lighter duties. The public will,
however, be pleased to hear that a committee is about to be
formed for the purpose of opening a subscription list in
order to present Mr. Fisher with a testimonial in acknow-
ledgment of the efficient and able manner in which he has
discharged his duties to the travelling public generally.
A literary loan attempted to be raised by M. de
Lamartine not having succeeded, he now proposes to start
a lottery, for which he has obtained the authorisation of
the Minister of the Interior; the sum to be raised being one
million of francs. The price of the tickets has been fixed
at 25c.

THE INTERNATIONAL EXHIBITION.—The at-
tendance at the building yesterday fell with the fall of the
barometer and the considerable fall of rain. The total
numbers were only 50,065, of which 4,895 were by season
tickets and 45,170 by payment. On the same day in 1851
the admissions were 48,774. Yesterday the men from the
Victoria and Albert yacht visited the building, all the ex-
penses of their trip, we believe, being defrayed by her
Majesty.

ROYAL COLLEGE OF SURGEONS.—The following
gentlemen passed their primary examinations in anatomy
and physiology, at a meeting of the Court of Examiners,
on the 23d inst., and when eligible will be admitted to the
pass examination : —Messrs. Charles John Denny, David
Evans, Richard Fennelly, William John Ready, and John
Kendrick Wynne, students, of Dublin; George Renton,
Archibald Henry Foley Cameron, Ninian Alexander Wil-
liamson, and Robert Whittington Lowe, of Edinburgh;
John Thomas Jones, of Glasgow; Robert Charles Moon,
of St. Bartholomew's Hospital; William Moon Rogers, of
University College ; William John Wey, of the Middlesex
Hospital; and Walter Thomas Beeby, of Guy's Hospital.
WATERMARKS IN PAPER.—Mr. T. H. Saunders'
specimens illustrative of his process of watermarks in paper,
deservedly attracts much attention in the Great Interna-
tional Exhibition. It proves most incontestably that ela-
borate and artistic design in outline and in shade can be
most successfully introduced, with the greatest effect. One
of the sheets of paper, in addition to a b rder of the most
design, contains an exquisite watermark of the
chasteVirgi
Virgin and Child, and various other devices, all of which
show that the invention is of considerable commercial
value in its adaptation to protection from forgery of bank
notes, and similar important documents. Mr. Saunders
has not only sueceeded in gaining a prize medal for hia
invention this year, but he obtained a similar distinction
in the Exhibition of 1851, also in New York, in 1853, and
in Paris in 1855.

NEW LIFEBOATS FOR PORTUGAL.—Yesterday
some interesting and very satisfactory trials were made in
the Regent's Canal Dock, Limehouse, with two lifeboats on
the plan of the National Lifeboat Institution, built by the
Messrs. Forrestt for the Portuguese Government. A large
number of persons had assembled to witness the experi-
ments, and amongst others were Admiral Sir George Sar-
torius, M. Gore, Esq., R. Lewis, Esq , Messrs. Forrestt,
Mr. J. Prowse, Mr. Peake, jun., &c. The boats are respec-
tively 32 feet long and 7 feet wide, and row six oars single
banked. They were capsized by means of some tackling
attached to an hydraulic crane. They self-righted instantly,
and each boat discharged the water shipped in the opera-
tion, in 25 seconds. When 17 men were on board one of
the boats, it was found that her gunwale was only just
brought awash—thus showing her great stability and the
difficulty that would be experienced before she would cap-
size. With 12 men on board it was found that the boat
would still free herself of any seas she might ship, Alto-
gether nothing could be more satisfactory than the trial of
each boat, and Sir George Sartorius repeatedly expressed
his admiration of the experiments. Messrs. Forrestt are
building four additional lifeboats for the Portuguese Govern-
ment; and they have also on hand several boats belonging
to the National Lifeboat Institution. The Tynemouth,
Appledore, Blakeney, Howth, and Withernsea lifeboats are
nearly ready to be sent to their stations.

THE ASSAULT ON MR. PILKINGTON, M.P.—A
Government reward of £lOO has been offered for the appre-
hension of the person who committed the assault. A free
pardon is to be granted in addition to any person givin g
1 information excepting the actual robber.