The Sun.
London, England, 1862-06-10 00:00:00

ies anywhere, with the War•office and the Com-
mander-in-Chief, that is the PRESIDENT, and even
him it may not be easy to censure. The retreating
Federals, according to independent accounts, fought
bravely, and retreated ably, in the face of very
superior forces, forces which could actually turn
their flank and intercept their communications—
and which would have compelled them, but for
their bravery, to lay down their arms. Whatever
fault there is arises from the wide dispersion of the
Federal forces. They occupy now, with their
small armies, so many points on the coast and some
in the interior, that the main armies opposed to
the Confederates are but just sufficient to face the
enemy. M'CLELLAN'S army at Richmond is be-
lieved to be certainly not more numerous than the
defending Confederate army, probably it is inferior
in number; the PRESIDENT and. Mr. STANTON,
therefore, determined to strengthen M‘DowELL,
who lay at Fredericksburg, on a railway leading
him straight to M'CLELLAN, and thus enable him
to join the latter before Richmond. Hence the
reduction of BANKS'S force in the valley of the
Shenandoah ; a reduction which, with its copse-
quelling, the event alone will justify or condemn.
If Richmond falls, the Valley of the Shenandoah
cannot long be held ; and, so far as we can yet tell,
the PRESIDENT'S arrangements may have been good
generalship at the cost of a present local disadvan-
tage. BANKS has, however, been so considerably
reinforced, that JACKSON and EWELL have fallen
back again.

But one thing is plain, that, with every week, the
peril of the crisis to the North increases. We find
the Federals, driven from their sea and river ports,
improving this misfortune by concentrating their
forces. Those from New Orleans, we observe,
arriving at Corinth—those driven from Norfolk
swell the Confederate army at Richmond ; hence it
is that both in the West and in the East the Con-
federates now hold the Federals at bay. The vast
army of the Federals—which the returns show to
have been a hundred thousand less than was thought
—is so scattered about in so many small fragments
that the main armies are, neither of them, suffi-
ciently large to insure a decisive victory. From all
we can see, we believe that it is perfectly
uncertain, were a battle to come off either
at Corinth or Richmond, on which side the victory
would probably be. At Corinth HALLECK openly
confesses that he must proceed by regular means
against the Federal camp, and that he is not in a
position to risk anything. M'CLELLAN, we know, is
proceeding with the utmost caution at Richmond.
We need not, therefore, be surprised if we should
hear any day of a serious Federal reverse,
though a Federal success, at Richmond, especially,
may be somewhat the more likely.
That the 30 days, and 90 days of Lord RUS-
SELL must now be placed with the predictions
of ZADKIEL is evident from many reason:. The
PRESIDENT himself seems to think so. He has
accepted large fresh levies, which cannot be
decently fit for service before the autumn. They
will but bring the army up to the force authorised
by Congress, but he had not long ago represented
himself as obliged to refuse volunteers, because he
had more men than he wanted—yet, Congress is
now busy with a bill to enable the PRESIDENT
to levy 200,000 more men than ever ! It is diffi-
cult to estimate with precision the results .of the
piecemeal legislation on the army, but it would
seem that Mr. LINCOLN, having between five and
six hundred thousand men, thinks he shall want
800,000 before the year is out ! The present mili-
tary strength of the Confederates points to a weary
prolongation of the war ; and, perhaps more than
this, the indomitable spirit of all classes in the
South. On the Mississippi, at Norfolk and Suf.
folk, and in Richmond, one spirit seems to pervade
all ; in BANKS' retreat through Winchester and
Martinsburg,the very ladies—the North ern accounts
tell us—fired pistols at the retreating Federals, and
the people loudly proclaimed their anti-Unionist
feeling. In such a state of things, not even great
Federal victories at Corinth and Richmond could
end the war. During the hot summer the South
would re-organise its defence.

" GOD helps those who help themselves" is a wise
old axiom. The Earl of SHAFTESBURY would epply
the same principle to the regulation of the distribu-
tion of human benevolence. It is a suggestion in
every way judicious. It fell from the lips of the
noble philanthropist quite incidentally, but it is
peculiarly worthy—now that it has been enunciated
—of particular consideration and lasting remem-
brance. The suggestion we are here alluding to,
was thrown out, in point of fact, thus, last evening,
at Burlington House, by the Earl of SHAFTESBURY,
K.G. "No doubt," said his lordship, to his very
numerous and influential hearers, "their attention
would be directed to the welfare of the poor, but he
thought they would do well to extend the designa-
tion of the term poor. There were a great many
people who, without being in a state bf pauperism,
or even approaching to it, were in such a condition
that, without a little help at the moment, they were
in danger of falling into extricable confusion.
There were persons whose situations in life placed
them above the working classes, but who required
the helping hand of those who could give them ad-
vice, or it might be some pecuniary contributions.
He had come to the eonclusion that, in all matters
of this kind, one great principle should be acted upon
and one great fact. The great principle was that
they should come to the aid of those who were wil
ling to aid themselves, for if charity were adminis-
tered indiscriminately it might produce incalculable
mischief." In uttering these words yesterday to that
numerous and influential audience, assembled for
the express purpose of hearing him in Burlington-
house, Piccadilly, the Earl of SHAFTESBURY was
there and then delivering his Inaugural Address
as President of the " Congres International de Bien- 1
faisance." His lordship was consequently appeal-
ling not only to the better judgments of his own
countrymen, but also to those of eves,' distinguished
Foreigner drawn hitherwards just now not merely
of
llts(I i
by the attraction of the Social Science Congress,
which minor
s Congress of Benevolence here
par
one of not the least remarkable
offshoots, but also, and in a far more generalised
way, by the in,to,
I n
It et rins awt ioornt
ha ly Es
fx hp
ote Southin
passing,
that the
ieabri littaliecoulaaln arltunrements of the Great
originator of the department just now the
particularised
is a foreigner. And hence have we given the title
not in ours,
but in his
of his generous scheme by preference
own language. M. ED, ~
4JUEPITIAUX, to
whose philanthropic intellect and energies the
" Congres International de Bientaisanee owes its
existence, had the satisfaction himself of listening
to the Inaugural Address for 1862, delivered \
by the noble President of the Society, the Earl of
SHAFTESBURY. A more suitable President could
hardly have been selected. And well did the noble
lord acquit himself of the responsibilities devolving
upon him by reason of his position there as Presi-
dent. Precluded in a great measure from indulging
in the ordinary amount of preliminary, and for the
most part merely complimentary and gene-
ralised observation, because of the very com-
prehensive range taken by the really ex-
-1 iaustive harangue recently delivered on the first
Inight of the reassembliq of the Social Science