The Sun.
London, England, 1865-04-12 00:00:00

SPIRIT OF TEE PUBLIC JOURNALS.

TIMES.—The fourth year of the Civil War
in America will be completed to-morrow, and
the pages of history might be searched in vain for a
series of incidents so unexpected and events so un-
foreseen. The Southern States reckoned on esta-
blishing their Confederacy by the intervention of
Europe, which would, it was thought, be driven to
fight for the sake of cotton. The Northern people
thought to finish the war in 90 days, and to scatter
in a single campaign the forces by which a few am-
bitious men were overpowering the real Union sen-
timents of the South. Both were disappointed, but
both surmounted the disappointment and fought
desperately on. It was then believed that the finan-
cial extravagance of the Federals must precipitate
a national bankruptcy, and that the abolition of
slavery by the Government of Washington would
add a servile insurrection to the difficulties of the
South. The North has managed its finances with-
out an actual catastrophe, and the proclamations of
President Lincoln have fallen without effect upon
the negroes of the Confederacy. Even in incidental
speculations conjecture was at fault. The Northern
armies were never decimated by fever in the swamps
of North Carolina or Louisiana. The Southern armies,
even when most successful, could never accomplish
an effectual invasion of States believed to sympathise
with them. Richmond, expected to fall in the first
campaign, holds out to this day ; Washington has
been repeatedly in as great peril. In England the
confutation of the most justifiable predictions has
been more remarkable still. If anybody had asserted
in April, 1861, that this country could dispense
with its cotton manufactures, and that the paralysis
of the whole industry of Lancashire for years to-
gether would be attended with little suffering and an
absolute improvement in the public health, the pre-
dictionwould have been regarded as the utterance of
a madman. Such a retrospect might well induce us to
shrink from speculation on the chances of the war as
they appear to us' at present. The last mail, indeed,
teaches us little beyond this—that Lee, though
unable to gain any ascendancy over Grant, is not
only undismayed but active, and that Sherman has
been compelled to act with greater circumspection
since Johnston has once more taken the field against
him. His advance from Fayetteville to Goldsborough
bears very little resemblance to his march from At-
lanta to Savannah, and from Savannah to Colum-
bia. In those operations he was practically unmo-
lested, for the army which should have been opposed
to him had been sent away on a hopeless expedition
to his rear. But since his arrival at Fayetteville he
has found a very different work before him. John-
ston has gradully collected and consolidated a re-
spectable force in his front, and is manoeuvring that
force on the same principles as those on which he
acted last summer. He is unable to withstand Sher-
man in a pitched battle, but he engages him in con-
stant skirmishes and defends every advantageous
position. In the conflict of reports describing the
recent operations we can only conjecture the truth
from the actual result, and it seems probable that
Sherman, who was advancing in a northerly direc-
tion from Fayetteville upon Raleigh, must have de-
viated to the east, and marched upon Goldsborough
because Johnston was too strong for him in his
front. There is no longer any doubt that the battles
at Averysborough and in the neighbourhood were
fought between Johnston's army and Sherman's.
Averysborough is on the direct road from Fayette-
ville to Raleigh, and the check received on the 16th
of March apparently induced Sherman to abandon
his advance on that line, and to move off to Golds-
borough to. join Schofield and Terry. By the last
accounts the three Federal Generals were at that
town, while at Smithfield, directly between them and
Raleigh, Johnston had once more taken up a position
of defence. The critical state of affairs, however, was
signally demonstrated by a Council of War held at
the headquarters of the Army of the Potomac on the
27th of March. So closely are the Confederates now
encompassed, and so small is the circle to which
operations are confined, that the Commanders of
three Federal armies could assemble together to
meet the President of the Republic and concert
measures for the consummation of what is believed
to be the last campaign. Sheridan had at last
fought his way through the Shenandoah Valley and
had descended upon the scene of Grant's operations.
Sherman had done the same from the opposite direc-
tson, or at least had advanced so far that he could
easily join the Conference by sea. So there they
met in conclave—Grant, Sherman, and Sheridan
together, and President Lincoln could hear and
estimate their plans. Whether the Chief of the
State thought the end so near that, like Louis XIV.
at the conclusion of a siege, he has repaired to the
spot to witness a triumph, or Whether he anticipates
that negotiations may be resumed with the Confe-
derate Government, we cannot say ; but the Head
of the Republic was certainly present with the Army
of the Potomac and presided at the Council of War.
It may now be anticipated that the three armies of
the North will act in concert, and that the opera-
tions of all will be directed towards a single end.
The events of the last few weeks will have demon-
strated the truth of our remark, that the recent
change in the aspect of the war has been due in
great measure to one unfortunate error on the part
of the Confederate Government. Whoever decided
on removing Gen. Johnston from the command of
the south-western army of the Confederates gave
Sherman the game. It was not because Sherman
was irresistible that he did so much, but because he
was not resisted. We see now what can be done by
even an inferior force in harassing and impeding the
advance of an army in a hostile country. Had John-
ston been retained in command of the army which
retreated from Dalton to Atlanta, it is not too much
to assert that Sherman would never havereached Sa-
vannah at all. Two such skirmishes as those at Averys-
borough and Bentonville would have been fatal to his
advance, for they would have cost him his ammunition
and his provisions together. It was only in the known
absence of any antagonist that he ventured on so
long and so hazardous an expedition, and the result
showed the sagacity of his calculations, for he tra-
versed Georgia almost without burning a cartridge,
while the army which should have made him pay
for every step was vainly assaulting Nashville be-
hind his back. It had evidently been concluded
that what Sherman might do in Georgia Hood might
do with even greater effect in Tennessee ; but the
fallacy of this presumption cost the South dear.
Hood did nothing but lose his army ; Sherman did
all that he intended, and much more than he could
have hoped. He was enabled to convert a doubtful
adventure into a splendid success, and to march a t
length upwards through South Carolina to the aid
of Grant. Not until he entered the territories of
North Carolina was he confronted with his old an-
tagonist, and the result has already been that his
march is checked and his tactics are transformed.
He has now actually halted his army for a period

of repose, before once more embarking on what he
; owns to be a dangerous campaign. The flag which
was hauled down on Fort Sumter just four years
ago is to be hoisted again to-morrow amid the
• salutes of batteries and the rejoicings of the troops.
The Federals are entitled to this triumph, for the
Fort is actually theirs once more ; but impartial
history will acknowledge that the Confederates
might look upon the battered ruin with at least
equal- pride. They defended it successfully for an
, unexampled period against every attack of an enemy
enormously superior. It has been computed in
America that the soil of the State of South Carolina
might have been purchased in fee simple with the
money expended in the fruitless attempts to cap-
ture Charleston. Nor was Charleston ever cap-
tured. It became untenable through the manoeuvres
of Sherman's army, and its blackened ruins form
only an incidental trophy of his triumphant march.
In this way the Federals did win it, and it is theirs,
but those who held it for four years together against
stupendous forces may claim also their share of
credit in the reminiscences of the past.
POST.—The particulars of the recent operations
in New Zealand have now reached us, and they
scarcely deserve to be designated as satisfactory.
The story of the assault and capture of Maori pahs
is always the same—a rush on the part of the assail-
ants, a brief struggle on that of the defenders, an
exchange of volleys, and all is over, except the
mournful duty of tending the wounded and burying
the dead. The recommencement of hostilities, which
many were sanguine enough to believe had finally
terminated some months since, was signalised by an
attack on the part of the natives on some unarmed
colonists. The alarm having been given, General
Cameron, the officer commanding our troops in New
Zealand, made his appearance with portions of the
18th and 50th Regiments, and the Maori position
was forthwith attacked. The natives had posted
themselves behind a pah flanked by a line of low
huts and scrubwood, and the troops, who advanced
in skirmishing order, were compelled to run the
gauntlet of a galling fire, delivered, not merely by
the natives defending the earthwork, but by others
secreted in the adjoining bush. The fence which
invariably covers the approach to a Maori pah was
scaled without difficulty by the assailants, and, after
a desultory fire, which appears to have lasted for a
considerable time, the skirmishers, after dislodging
the natives from the bush, retired to the adjoining
camp. This affair, which, however, entailed on us
a loss of 3 killed and 7 wounded, was but the in-
auguration of hostilities, which, as we learned by
telegram a few days since, have become much more
serious. The Maoris are once more in open rebellion,
and again the difficult task is submitted to us, not
merely of subduing them, but of reconciling them to
our rule. In a debate which, about three weeks since,
took place in the House of Commons, the policy of
the Home as well as of the Colonial Government
was thoroughly ventilated, and various were the
suggestions which were offered for the cure of an
evil which it was universally admitted was far from
being eradicated. If New Zealand is to be colo-
nised, if every acre of its soil is to belong to Great
Britain, let the work which we have begun be pro-
secuted with a firm hand ; and, recognising the
fact that the inferior must in time give way before
the superior race, let us, without squeamishness,
treat the Maoris as a conquered race ; do what we
please with their lands ; and govern the country
with a view exclusively to the interests of the colo-
nists. Such was the advice of Mr. Roebuck. The
principles, however, which have hitherto dictated
the policy of the Government have been different,
and, as we think, have been more consonant with
the character of a humane as well as powerful na-
tion, and more in keeping with the spirit of the age
,in which we live. When we proceeded to colonise
New Zealandwe discovered there a race far different
in respect to moral and intellectual qualifications
from the large majority of savage tribes which, in
other regions of the globe, we compelled to acknow-
ledge our supremacy, and, as it were, by the mere
force of contact, caused to vanish at our approach.
A few years of intercourse with the aborigines of
New Zealand satisfied us that they were both intel-
ligent and brave ; that they recognised and observed
the distinctions drawn by more civilised nations
between right and wrong ; that they could appre-
ciate fair dealing, and were prepared to observe the
engagements into which they entered with good
faith ; and, discovering all this, we asked ourselves
whether it was not possible to form an amalgama-
tion with a race of men which seemed in every re-
spect fitted to accept the teachings of civilisation.
This question the Imperial Government answered
in the affirmative, and if the result has not realised
their anticipations it is impossible to avoid admit-
ting that they were actuated by humane and gene-
rous motives. However the pending struggle in
New Zealand may terminate—whether in the ex-
termination of the aboriginal race, or in its perpe-
tuation as an element of the colonial population—
the policy pursued by the English Government must
equally redound to its credit. It may in some sense
have been a mistaken policy; it may have attempted
too much; but it will nevertheless furnish a bright
page in the history of our colonial empire. The
substitution of a constitutional for an almost arbi-
trary Government in New Zealand, and the formal
recognition of the native race as not only entitled
to enjoy the same personal, but also the same poli-
tical rights as the colonists, were measures which

furnished ample guarantees of the kindly spirit in
which we were prepared to treat the aborigines.
It has been said that the Maoris were incapable of
appreciating the boon. But this was not so. They
may anl doubtless were unfitted to discharge those
political functions with which we were willing to
invest them, but we believe that they were fully
sensible of the disinterestedness of the motives which
dictated the policy of the Imperial Government.
But, as events proved, we had either granted the
Maoris too much or too little. The tide of emigra-
tion from these shores continued to swell the num-
ber of colonists in New Zealand, and the new corners
demanded land for the sheep walks and farms for
the sake of which they had come from the opposite
quarter of the globe. Each day witnessed fresh
encroachments in their territory, or, in plainer lan-
guage, on their property, and the natives, notwith-
standing their boasted civil and political privileges,
found themselves compelled, whether they chose it
or not, to part with their lands on terms which

were virtually dictated by the purchasers. On the
one side stood civilisation prepared to turn every
rood of soil to substantial advantage, and, on the
other, barbarism struggling to retain whole regiGThs
as mere hunting grounds. The result could not be
doubtful. The land was appropriated by the colo-
nist, but the native, stung by a sense of injustice,
flew to arms to defend himself, if possible, from
similar acts of oppression. There is of course no
choice open to us but to crush the revolt. No
Government can admit a justificatfon for rebellion.
The Maoris have taken up arms ; we must compel
them to lay them down. But are we, therefore,
obliged to abandon the policy which we have
hitherto pursued, and, relinquishing all hope of
making the nation tractable subjects, prosecute
the war with such severity as to reduce them to
a state of abject subjection, and by some sweep-
ing act of confiscation prevent the possibility of
any future collision between them and the colonists

in respect to landed rights FWe think not.
Our policy, it is feared, has not been successful,
owing to the selfishness of the colonists. We do
not blame the settlers for extending the area of
their possessions ; but they are open to censure
for the manner in which they have done it. Despis-
ing the native race, regarding them, curiously
enough, as interlopers whom it was a moral duty to
indifferent
about of their property, they have been
about giving cause of offence, from a consciousness
of their ability, with the aid of the Imperial Govern-
ment, to punish any who were bold enough to resent
an act of wrong. Indeed it has been said, and not
without plausibility, that the colonists have sought
to provoke a revolt in order to obtain a pretext for
confiscation. Under thdse circumstances, the course
of the Imperial Government is clear. The people of
this country not unnaturally object to being called
upon to bear the expense of wars over which they
have no control, and from the results of which they
reap no benefit. If the colonists were left to them-
selves to settle their disputes with the natives, it is
shrewdly suspected that revolts would be less fre-
quent. Such is the conclusion at which thelmperial
Government appear to have arrived ; and, instead
of sending additional troops to New Zealand, it is
their intention, when the oppgrtunity presents itself,
to diminish the force now stationed there, and leave
to the colonists the duty of self-defence as conse-
quent on the privilege they now enjoy of self-govern-
ment. New Zealand is quite large enough for
native Maoris and immigrant Englishmen, and, if
the Home Government refuse henceforth to fight
the battles of the latter, it will probably be found
that the two can live together in a state of com-
parative, if not of perfect, amity.

ST. ANDREWS.—THREE FISHERMEN DROWNED.
-.—Another sad calamity has cast a deep gloom over
St. Andrews. Monday forenoon three fishermen met a
watery grave from the upsetting of their fishing boat.
Prom what we have been able to gather it appears that
W. Thompson, aged above 70, H. Waters, 27, and James
Wilson, 18, went out to the fishing early in the morning of
Monday, and when within a mile of the pier on their re-
turn were caught in a sudden gale from the west, which
bore down the boat and sunk her in deep water, carrying
the three unfortunate men with her. The circumstance
was observed by a boy from the shore, who shouted to
those at hand. Boats put out at once to the spot, and
Thomson was drawn up with a line to which he clung
under the water. Life was still in him, and he was con-
veyed to the shore and taken to the Custom-house, where
medical aid having been procured, the usual appliances
were administered, but without effect. Waters has left a
wife and two children ; Wilson a wife and one child.
Their bodies have not yet been recovered.