The Sun.
London, England, 1862-04-16 00:00:00

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;,110

THE SUN.

LONDON, WEDNESDAY, APRIL 16, 1862.

Cessation of debates in Parliament has given us a
little more leisure to look at the debates of the
American press and the American Congress. We
cannot, however, report that they exhibit anything
very remarkable ; nothing certainly at all corre-
sponding to the realities of the great contest in
-which they are engaged. The little we can get from
the South gives us no indication of its succumbing.
Leaders are abundantly censured there, as well as
in the North, and misfortures and defects are not
more, or longer, concealed and explained away than
they are in the North. We must confess that we
take it rather as an indication of conscious
strength that JEFFERSON DAvis himself, as
as well as the journals, admit their defeats, and
punish even 'such important men as the late Federal
Secretary, and arch-conspirator under BUCHANAN
—FLOYD. Fear would hardly act thus. Of
course we expect to find them doing all their pre-
sent business with paper money, and are not sur-
prised to learn that notes for as low an amount as in
Austria are in daily use. Ten cent, or five-penny
notes, seem strange to Englishmen ; yet we carry
on our pence, and even shilling transactions, with
what are in fact but tokens. We expect also to find
the want of all luxurios but those which the soil
will produce ; still, under all hardships, we cannot
ascertain that the determivation to resist
falters. The South is forming new lines
of defence, as it abandons the old ones,
and the inhabitants within the lines, which
comprehend all the Gulf States, appear to be as
resolved as ever. There is, however, one serious
deduction—one which it may be thought neutralises
all other appearances—the South has to resort to
conscription, the North is amply supplied with
volunteers. This is very remarkable, since it ap-
pears as if the North were more ready to fight for
e°ocioest than the South for defence. The North,
however,pays its volunteers handsomely; the south
has no means of doing it. "The gentlemen of the
press," including editors and compositors, in the
attempts made to raise troops by conscription, are to
be exempt exc.:3
pt from local duty, Of course, we
appreciate the compliment.
At the time we write it is probable that the two
principal armies which face each other on both sides
are either coming to 'l°Bo quarters or have fought
serious battles. The coast work on the part of the
Federals, and the smaller south
ern bodies retained
to hold in check the coast invaders, are of little
import to the great struggle. The road from Fort
Monroe to Richmond, and the North of
Alabama
and Missii,eippi—these are the two parts Where
each side is putting forth its strength. The
Federals finding that to work their commissariat
by land, via Manassas, to Richmond, through a de-
solate country, was a tedious and almost impracti-
cable task, have now adopted the plan of marching
up to it between two rivers, navigable the greater
part of the way, and which they doubtless mean to
use for the conveyance of their stores. They have
thus turned the flank of the Confederates' position,
and the latter will have to change their front, And
to construct fresh defences between the James and
Yolk rivers. It is in this locality, or else at the
Norfolk
Navy-yard, opposite, across the channel to

a

Fort Monroe, that in the course of a fortnight we
may hear of a fearful battle. We certainly shall,
if the Federals, at the best time of the year d not,
with 150,000 men, suspend their advance, and if
the Confederates do not retire before a vastly supe-
rior force.

In the other seat of war, General GRANT, the
victor in Tennessee, must be now concentrating his
troops for a battle with BEAUREGARD, the victor of
Manassas. The army of the latter, about which,
however little can be known, is reported to be large,
but that of GRANT is certainly larger, and, wht►t is
so all-important, far better provided with all the
munitions of war. It consists, too, chiefly of stal-
wart north-west farmers and settlers—men whom
the South will not easily surpass in physical
strength and capability of endurance; men, too,
flushed with their Tennessee successes, while the
Southern soldiers in that part can hardly fail to be
more or less dispirited by their repeated defeats.
We shall see what effect the reputation of a BEAU-
REGARD will have upon them. It is possible that
the leadership of a victorious General may inspire
them also with the feelings of victors. That they
were badly led before, is certain.
The probable issue of all these movements it is
not possible to predict—Generals JOHNSTONE and
LEE, who will face M'CLELLAN, are unquestion-
ably two able generals—quite indeed, we should
think, his equals. BEAUREGARD, who faces GRANT
and HALLECK in the West, is also one of the best
of the American Generals. The numbers are not so
widely different on each side, so far, at least, as we
yet can know. On the side of the North it is attack
and desire of conquest, on that of the South defence
and desire of independence. The North relies on
better military equipment and ampler resources;
the South is nerved by desperation, and trusts to an
impassable country. The issue of such a struggle
may be conjectured, it cannot be foreseen.

Hastily put together though the Government
Report on the History and Prospects of the
Culture of Cotton in the Bombay Presidency
has necessarily been —it will still be found
wonderfully minute in its details, singularly accu-
rate we believe also in its statements, and, upon the
very face of it, surprisingly comprehensive under
the circumstances. It is high praise no doubt to
say all this. But whether or not it is praise that
can be justified—anyone who lists to do so may
readily decide for himself. There is the Report
printed and published, and purchaseable like all
these official documents at so much avoirdupois.
We are far, very far indeed, from saying that it is
in any way perfect—or that it is, in any
one particular, even an approximation to
perfection. On the contrary, it is quite
obviously and by necessity imperfect. It has been
compiled with the utmost speed in any rational
degree practicable under the circumstances. The
compiler, Mr. WALTER CASSELS, having been set
to work like a Government machine at high-pres-
sure, has written literally currente calamo. In his
Report there may be found, there must perforce be
found, many and many a hiatus that later on will
' require to be filled up. His information is at the
best, by necessity, too, only partial. Hereafter, by
judicious addition after addition, it may be gradually
brought to that state of completeness which is un-
deniably wanting to it as yet. But then, it should
be remembered in vindication of Mr. CASSELS' Re-
port as it now stands, that that gentleman has
acted designedly and conscientiously in obedience
to the earnest recommendation, or rather, it should
be called more authoritatively, the original Resolu-
tion of the late Governor-General Lord CANNING.
For it cannot possibly be forgotten how the ex-
Governor-General insisted upon it that in regard
to this eagerly-looked for Report, " Speed" be-
yond everything was the first essential. Better
have it incompletely done at the end of half a
year than wait for some more ample, more ac-
curate, and more generally reliable result at the
end of a whole twelvemonth. It is upon this
principle and upon this understanding that the
Report now issued has with remarkable rapidity,
and recollecting that rapidity, it must certainly be
added with admirable dexterity, been compiled.
Gladly would we assert if we could that the
conclusion arrived at by Mr. WALTER CASSELS
in drawing up this Report is one altoge-
ther encouraging. But then we instantly
console ourselves with the reflection that in no way
can it it be regarded as a conclusion in itself con-
lusive ! It is only part of the evidence that we have
before us—and that part relating exclusively, as
the tite of the Report intimates in so many words,
to the History and CultNe of Cotton in the Bombay
Presidency. Still, as evidence of even a partial
kind, relating to the cultivation of the cotton plant
in one portion only of our vast Indian possessions—
it would have been far more acceptable to us, we
admit, if it had been only more fraught with encou-
ragement.
owl% if e
exotic
xe.
aConteinscos
tEc L lays
cotton
tuotntwhen
pihnaekru—t i c
grownuu
think—upon
stress—un-
due
the
ur ep ss—n
on failureann-
any
d(
huiethsterretsos)
very considerable scale. And he attributes this fail-
ure—we cannot but think rather hastily—to the
violence of the seasons in Hindostan. Adversely to
a large cotton crop that violence must act without
a doubt. But the failure of these larger crops as
yet has been attributable still more, we respectfully
suggest, to ignorance, and inexperience on the part
of the cultivators. The Government Report, in
truth, has revealed already quite enough in re-
gard to the History and Culture of Cotton in the
Bombay Presidency, to satisfy any rational man
that the circumstances under which cotton is there
cultivated are as yet singularly adverse. Even
when it has been clumsily " picked " by the
bungling Ryots, and cunningly "pilfered" by the
wily Middlemen—what perils has it not to pass
through in its transit down to the coast for the pur-
pose of exportation ! Some of these, let the
report here presented to public view by the
Government, briefly indicate, " Cotton," says
"is exposed to every
Mr. WALTER CASSELS,
species of depreciation during its transit
to Bombay. Moving along at the rate of one
or two miles an hour in rude carts,
or on the backs of bullocks, over bad roads, the
dew and the dust do their worst to it. The bullocks
are loaded and unloaded twice a day, generally in
the neighbourhood of watering places, and their
packs are rolled in the mud. Each bullock con-
soles himself during the march by keeping his nose
in his leader's pack, and steadily eating the cotton.
The loss in weight, which has not been compensated
by the accumulated dust of the journey, is too often
supplied in water at its close." Dew, dust, mud,
water—the thievish fingers of the middleman—the
hungry muzzle of the bullock ! Surely here are
enough reasons for deterioration—for coarseness,
for dirt, for loss of excellence both in colour and
texture, before the raw material can come within
reach of the ultimate purchasers of the cotton
crops of India. No wonder, in remembrance of
what has been related—no wonder whatever that
the Report
now issued by Government should de-
scant thus lo •
gsenio ly
inutzatnte) of thealmosthe
dreamshopelessnessof
(asitisim-
provementpleased
so long cherished ,
Qf the folly almost
inane.ngaienrin
agntyh a tcitrhceuniCsottatnonceosf,
of any one any longs,
India can compete
For upwards
With the Cotton of Ataeriegt;_i,