The Sun.
London, England, 1862-04-30 00:00:00

sea-fight more memorable in every way than the
tamer operations of the siege of Yorktown, and the
reports of which will be read with avidity in every
portion of the world,

There seems to be something wrong in the Fede-
ral calculations :of speedy victory b )th at New
Orleans and at Savannah. No reliable news has for
many days been received from either quarter, though
the public was led to expect the surrender of Fort
Pulaski and the close investment, if not fall, of Sa-
vannah, more than a week ago. The precise nature
of the operations in the mouths of the Mississippi
and in Lakes Borgne and Pontchartrain, for the
capture of New Orleans, is kept a profound secret,
but we are told that startling news from that quar-
ter may be expected at any moment. The last re-
ceived is, that the Federal forces have taken posses-
sion of Pass Christian, in the State of Mississippi, 60
miles from New Orleans and 30 from Ship Island.
Gen. Mitchell, formerly of the Cincinnati Obser-
vatory, and whose name may be known to English
readers as the author of a very popular book on
astronomy, originally published in America under
the title of the" Planetary and Stellar Worlds," and
reprinted in England as "The Orbs of Heaven," has
just won his first honours as a soldier by a rapid
movement from Nashville, in Tennessee, to Hunts-
ville, in Alabama. Ho took possession of this little
city without much resistance, and he has since suc-
ceeded in making himself master of about 100 miles
of the railroad connecting it with Memphis and
Charleston—a very important acquisition that in-
terrupts the communications between the Confede-
rate armies in the Southern Atlantic States and the
whole West, where they are still in a position to
offer resistance.

One of the peculiarities of this remarkable war,
which can only be explained on the supposition that
the cause of the Southern Uontederaey has the sym-
pathies of men and women in high positions in the
North, is the fact that while the Northern Generals
never succeed in learning anything whatever of the
plans or movements, the strength or weakness, of the
Confederates, the Confederate Generals seem to be
kept fully informed of all that is going on in the
North. It is not the newspapers that convey the
information, for the rigid censorship over the war
news not only keeps in secresy the things that ought
not to be known to the enemy, but many things
that ought to be known to everybody. It cannot he
supposed that men in the confidence of Mr. Lincoln
and his Cabinet, or in that of the General officers of
the Federal army, betray their trust and give infor-
mation to the enemy ; neither can it be believed
that " birds of the air carry the matter." The public,
driven to suspect or blame somebody, must therefore
come to the conclusion that the wives and daughters
of influential people who have access to State secrets,
are the delinquents through the unguardedness of
their husbands and fathers. How they contrive to
get the information conveyed into the Confederate
lines is a puzzle which it is useless to attempt to
unravel, for both in war and in peace the ladies, as
everybody knows, have 'winning ways, and stoop to
conquer. The latest instance of their treachery has
been published, on the authority of General Wool,
in a Philadelphia newspaper, which states that a
circular issued by the Confederates in Yorktown
was picked up on the march by one of the aides-de-
camp of the Federal Gen. Hamilton, containing a
full description of Gen. 31'Ciellan's proposed march
and attack on that city, together with Gen. Ma-
gruder's plan for defeating the whole programme.
The statement adds that "the enemy must have re-
ceived the information from a high source several
weeks ago." If the ladies of Washington cannot be
taught their duty to their country, surely the gen-
tlemen who are responsible for the discretion of
their wives and daughters should learn to be respon-
sible for their own. If they cannot put a guard
upon their martial and paternal confidences when
the country is in danger, they are neither true
statesmen nor good patriots.
The Tax Bill, having reached the Senate, has been
found unworkable in many of its details, besides
being wrong in principle, and vexatiously inquisi-
torial in its mode of assessment. It is certain to have
considerable modifications in that body—if it be not
superseded altogether by a much simpler mcaeure,
based upon the recent experience of Great Britain.
Although the North American Union will be the
most heavily taxed country in the world, if this war
is ever to be paid for, there is clearly no necessity
why the hardships inflicted by all taxes, let them
fall how or where they will, should be aggravated
by costliness of collection, and a universal system
of inquisition into private affairs, not in any degree
to be compensated by its productiveness to revenue.
The bill for the emancipation of the slaves in the
district of Columbia was finally passed by the
House of Representatives on Friday, after an earnest
attempt to prolong the discussion by the Pro-Sla-
very party, and a no less decided and more suc-
cessful attempt on the part of the friends of aboli-
tion to hurry it through by the application of the
five-minute rule to each speaker. It now only
awaits the consent of the President to become law.
If he do not oppose his veto—which the bulk of
the Pro-Slavery and Democratic party are urging
him to do—the doom of slavery is sealed in Mary-
land, Virginia, Kentucky, and the whole of the
Border States. In this case it is difficult to see
what has to become of the liberated Negroes, unless
some scheme of colonisation be adopted. If they
go south into the Cotton States, they will once again
he sold into slavery; if they go to the West, they
will find the Legislatures of every State passing
laws to prevent their admission ; and if they go
to New York or the New England States in any
considerable numbers, they will find it impossible
to procure a subsistence, and will array against
their admission thousands of property holders and
tl;:p,'..vcrs who may have no personzl or ethnologi-
cal objection to them as Negroes, and who may
even have been Abolitionists in their time, but who
will have a very great social objection to them as
paupers, to be maintained in id'ences at the ex-
pense of the community or suffered to go at large to
swell the ranks of crime and mendicancy.

BEALvir OF LONDON _DURING THE WEEK.

(From the Regzstrar-Generals Weekly Return.)

The weekly return, issued by authority of the
Registrar-General, shows that the total number of
deaths in London was 1,252 in the week that ended
12th April ; in the next it rose to 1,331; and in the
week that ended last Saturday the number further
increased and became 1,394. The average number
of deaths (corrected) in the weeks corresponding
with last week of the ten years 1852-61 is 1,246.
The present return exhibits an excess over the
average of 148.
The births registered in the week exceed the
deaths in the same period by 565.

The increase in the mortality over that of the pre-
vious seek was not caused by the zymotic or epi-
demic class of diseases, for fatal cases referred to
this elass declined from 362 to 321. The increase
arose partly from phthisis (or consumption), the
mortality from which was very heavy, the deaths
included under this head being 194. The numbers
under phthisis in the two previous weeks were re-
spectively 154 and 174; the average (corrected) for
last week is 176. Disease of the liver was another
cause of increase ; it was fatal in the last two weeks
in 12 and 23 cases. Fourteen women died in the
week from diseases incidental to childbirth. There
were 32 deaths from measles, 65 from scarlatina, 19
from diphtheria, 18 from croup, 47 from whooping-
cough, 86 from typhus.
Scarlatina still appears to be exceedingly preva-
lent and fatal in the sub-district, Lambeth Church,
second part. Sixteen deaths from scarlatina, out
of 35 from all causes, were registered in the week,
and added to those in the preceding three weeks
make a total of 58 since the 29th of March.
It is stated in the report from St. James, Ber-
mondsey, that there is much diphtheria in the
neighbourhood of Ituuel-cottages, and a great dis-
position to fever.
Thirteen neat
he from typhus occurred in the
London Fever Hospital.
The deaths of eight
nonagenarians are recorded ;
of these, three widows attained the ages respectively
of 95, 96, and 93 years.
Last week the births of 994 boys and 965
girls,
in oil 1,959 children, were registered in London.
In the ten corresponding weeks of the years 1852-
61 the average number (corrected) Was 1,887.