The Sun.
London, England, 1865-04-03 00:00:00

Fashions for April.

(From Le Follet.)
As, in the winter, we found the Grecian style revived
in coiffures and afterwards in vestes, we have now to
chronicle its re-appearance in dresses. The body ala
Grecque will be very much in favour, especially for young
ladies. We are assured that, even for at-home dress
during the day. time, low dresses will be much worn_
of course, with guimpe and sleeves. However, as many
ladies will not easily resign the pretty little vestes which
have been so admired, plain bodies will also be in vogue.
They will be made low, and covered with a veste of lace,
of tulle worked with beads, or of embroidered muslin.
These are charming when made of lace, and finished of
with a lace sash tied behind, and falling in wide ends
upon the skirt. They are destined, we believe, during
the summer to replace the pelerin which, without contra-
diction, is less elegant. Already they are fashionable for
evening, theatre, or dinner dress. They will be, also, lined
with taffetas, of a colour suitable to the pattern or trim-
ming on the dress ; and round the edge of the lining will be
placed a ruche of ribbon to match, over which will -fall the
border of the lace. Under a veste in this style a chemisette
of mainsook should be worn, held in at the waist by a wide
ceinture. These do not exclude the square polerin at pre-
sent, and perhaps the latter is more suitable for elderly
ladies. For morning dress, tight sleeves are still in vogue.
The enemies of crinoline will yet have same time to wait
before their ideas triumph. Skirts are made with as much
train and as full as ever, and must have well-made crinolines
to give there an air of elegance.
Bodies with band also not yet proscribed, and the cein-
tures are much ornamented either with beads, or passenten-
terie, &c.

As to outdoor costume, one thing we may positively
aver, that paletots, &c., will be very' short—excessively so
for morning dress, when they will be of the same material
as the dress. From general details we proceed to our
monthly list of dresses, suitable for various occasions.
A robe of grey taffetas, with a rather wide flounce round
the bottom, headed by an insertion of passementerie worked
with beads ; and in each plait of the flounce a patte of pas-
sementerie. High body, with a square bisque and tight
sleeves, with trimmings of passementerie.

A very elegant dress, of a beautiful blue poldt de sole
made with two skirts. Round the bottom of each is a series
of bouquets, embroidered in white silk, but the upper skirt
has also a wide white Thibet fringe. High body, with
bouquets matching those on the skirts, worked in the form
to imitate a veste. Long sash to match, tied behind with
two long ends trimmed with Thibet fringe. Sleeves a coude.
A black taffetas dress : the bottom of the skirt trimmed
with bias pieces of white taffetas, put on with jet beads.
High body, upon which similar bias pieces form a Swiss
corselet ; and also trim round the arm hole ; tight sleeves ;
ztua roma' of whit. 44,1fotitst ornamented with jet beads.

A robe of poplin, medium coloured green : above u
hem is placed a wide insertion of lace, trimmed on each
side with a band of black taffetas ; straight at the edgo
nearest the insertion, the opposite edge being cut in wide
scallops. The bottom and top of the sleeves are trimmed
to match.

A brown taffetas dress : the bottom of the skirt edged
round with a thick cord ; a ceinturo of passementerie, with
two long pattes hanging from it down each side of the
front of the skirt. At the bottom of the sleevesare revers,
formed also of passenzenterie, and at the top jockeys to
match. Round the arm hole a cord, like that at the bot-
tom of the skirt, though perhaps not quite so thick.
A black taffetas dress, trimmed round the bottOm with
a ruche of velvet ribbon, .above which, at equal distance;
are placed pattes of taffeta; covered over with boucles of
the same ribbon.

A drab moire dress : each breadth trimmed up about
half a yard with an Oriental style of ornament, formed of
rich-coloured maroon velvet and steel beads. The body
is a kind of vests, very open, with tight sleeves trimmed in
the same style as the skirt ; and with it is worn a waist-
coat of maroon velvet, with long basques and steel
buttons.

An elegant visiting dress of violet satin : the skirt trimmed
in wide scallops, formed with ruches of black velvet. A
second row of scallops is made of violet fringe, with jet
beads. High body, with a velvet sash tied behind in two
long ends, edged with fringe. Tight plain sleeves.
A robe of blue poult de sole: the start trimmed with a
band of blue velvet, headed by a passementerie of steel
beads. Another band of velvet, and a similar passementerie
is placed higher up the shirt, and carried up the left side in
the style of a tunic a la Grecque.
An evening dress of white tartalan, suitable for a young
girl. It is bouillonnee round the bottom, and over it is a
tunic of narrow pink and white striped foulard, edged with
a niche of pink taffetas, of which tho centre is formed by
a row of pearl beads. This tunic is caught up at the left
side by a pink bow and strings of pearls. A corselet to
match, and drapery of tarlatan ; and, in the hair, pink
bandelettes, embroidered with pearl beads.
A ball dress of mauve tulle, with three flounces, rather
more than a quarter of a yard wide, bordered with a
bias of maize-coloured satin. Over the tulle skirt is a
lace tunic, caught up at the side by a garland of flowers.
Crosage empire, with drapery and bows of maize satin on
the shoulders from which hang pendants of flowers.
A dress of white tulle, with a tunic of white poult de sole,
trimmed with a flounce of Chantilly lace, 'headed by a
plaiting of white satin. The body low, with drapery.
A robe of Pompadour satin, with flowers of three shades
of lilac on a white ground. Skirt cut a l'empire, ruched
with lilac crape. Pointed body, with drapery of lilac crape,
crossed by rows of pearl beds, and finished off by a pearl
fringe.
A toilet of white gauze, trimmed round the skirt with
nine bias folds of pink silk, each ending in a steel fringe.
Over this skirt of tulle falls a tunic of pink silk, cut in deep
scallops, and edged with a steel fringe. Low body, with
centure Tallien, tied in a bow at the back ; with a similar
bow at the side, fastened with an ornament formed of
shells. The stomacher is trimmed with bouillonnes and
ruches of tulle. Head-dress of pink velvet worked with
steel.

A dress of white tulle over tulle poncoau, with two
flounces of English lace placed over light bonillonnes of
tulle. Corselet of ponceau satin, with seven long ends,
trimmed with a fringe of marabouts and crystal beads.

The inclemency of the weather has prevented any
great change in the materials employed for bonnets
Those for the present month are, if possible, smaller than
those worn last month, and may be described as fanchons
on the top of the head, with, in some cases, a fall of lace at
the back ; but in most cases the whole of the back hair is
left uncovered. However, we must confess that the present
style is almost universally becoming, and the Marie Stuart
fanchon is peculiarly becoming to a young face. Black tulle
bonnets seem much in favour ; thus a capote of black tulle
worked with gold beads, chignon of blue flowers falling over
a coquille sf black lace, and a bow of narrow ribbon. Black
tulle, gold beads, and blue flowers inside.
Light blue crape bonnet. A plating of craps round
the front, from which are suspended small ornaments of
crystal. At the back a coquille of ribbon and craps, with
white honeysuckle and frosted leaves hanging in long
wreaths. The inside trimmed with blue crape and
honeysuckle.
A drawn bonnet of green crape, with a plait of the same
round the front edge, forming a diadem in front. A black
feather, shaded with gold and black, producing a charming
effect, is placed across the front it la Espagnole. At the back,
a plait of white crape, with a bow of green ribbon.
A capote of white crape, trimmed with a fanchon of
white silk, cut in three points, and edged with a narrow
ruche of cut silk. Wide strings of the same, trimmed to
match. over strings of cerise ribbon, with trimming of the
same inside.
The same bonnet may be reproduced with good effect in
white crape and coloured silk or satin, or colciur. d crape
and white satin or silk. Nor is it less elegant if the ca-
pote be made with black tulle, and the fanchon of coloured
silk.
A pink crape bonnet, composed of several rows of bouil-
lonnes, under which are placed bands of pink ribbon.
Round the front edge a double ruche of pink crape, inside
and outside the front. At the back, hanging bows of pink
ribbon. Strings of pink ribbon, and a full-blown white
rose over the forehead.
A capote of white tulle, embroidered in large beads of
dead gold, with long branches of jasamine carried from the
front to the back. The jasamine is poudre with beads. A
bow of black lace at the back. In the inside a torsade of
blue velvet and branches of jasamine.
A capote of black tulle, worked with steel, trimmed at the
back with a bow of black lace and steel ornaments. The
strings are embroidered with steel, and the inside trimmed
with tulle worked with steel, a fringe of steel, and a coloured
flower.

The first annual general meeting of shareholders
of the British and Californian Banking Company
was held to-day. The report presented stated that
the
balance sheet of the bank to the 31st December,
1864, showing at the credit of Profit and Loss
Account the sum of £6,231 17s. 3d., from which
the deduction of the current expenses, amounting to
£2,362 .75., leave an available balance of £3,869
10s. 3d. In the report addressed to the shareholders
on the 12th December last, the directors gave an
outline of their proceeding up to that date. They
have now to state that the Branch in San
Francisco commenced business in their own
premises under the management of Mr. Henry
S. Babcock, at the end of November, consequently
the accompanying accounts only include the results
of a few weeks' operations in California. The paid-
up capital of the bank on the 31st December
amounted to £lOO,OOO, since which time the first
call of £50,000 has become due, and has been well
responded to. The advices from San Francisco
respecting the development of local and general
business are satisfactory, and the arrangements
concluded with banks and commercial firms of
eminence, in the different localities connected with
the trade of California, promise to be of importance,
and have already begun to bear profitable results.
The directors now declare a dividend of 3s. per
share, free of income-tax, payable to the proprietors
on and after the 10th April, which will absorb
£3,000, and leave £869 10s. 3d. to be carried for-
ward to the credit of profit and loss new account.

TEE CIVIL WAR IN AMERICA.

(From the Times' Correvmdent.)
NEW YORK, March 21.

The prospects of the Confederacy grow darker
and darker. Sherman marches unopposed through
South Carolina, and commits atrocities on the way
which history will hereafter blush to record, but
which, in the mention made of them in the daily
pages that reflect the passion of the time, excite no
other feeling than wild approval or the grim delight
of satiated vengeance. It is asserted by some who
claim to be Sherman's friends, that he not only per-
mits but commands the perpetration of these ruth-
less acts in South Carolina, in-order that that State,
above all other States of the Confederacy, may be
punished for the prominent part she played in pro-
voking and organising the rebellion ; and that her
fate may serve as a perpetual warning to North and
West, as well as to South, of the danger of seces-
sion and of the fearful retribution that will follow it.
In North Carolina it appears no such horrors are to
be allowed, and the war is to be conducted on
strictly military principles. But both of the Caro-
linas promise to be speedily relieved of the devastat-
ing presence of this modern Attila. His object is the
possession of Richmond, and the stand which is to
be made against him at Raleigh, if after all General
Johnston should be strong enough to confront him
in a pitched battle, will have one of two results. It
will either drive him back to Wilmington, if resist-
ance be successful ; or, if unsuccessful, will remove
the last obstacle betwixt his conquering army and a
junction with Grant for tte final onslaught upon
the Confederate capital. Admiral Farragut and
Porter have, it is whispered, taken their departure for
Fortress Munroe and a fleet of at least 20 iron clads
and Monitors has followed them, to be ready at
the critical moment to force the passage of the
James, and lay Richmond in ashes if it refuses to
surrender. The siege of Mobile is also spoken of,
though it would seem under the circumstances as
if that city were scarcely worth attacking by the
one side or defending by the other. The whole inte-
rest centres at Richmond, and in the efforts of Sher-
man to co-operate with Grant at Petersburg. The
only question earnestly discussed is whether Gen.
Lee, for military reasons, and considering the obvious
danger of being forced to capitulate by famine, may
not have already commenced the work of evacua-
tion, and taken all measures for transferring the war
to a new focus at Lynchburg, and a new field in the
far interior of the Confederacy.

However suddenly the lurid kaleidoscope may
shift, however unexpected or startling may be the
issues of battles and the mutability of the fortunes of
war, there is little or no idea throughout the North,
and especially in this city, that the South can pro-
tract the struggle for another month. It is held that
the last message of Mr. Davis to the Southern Con-
gress was a virtual offer to surrender, provided that
Gen. Lee and Gen. Grant should be allowed to settle
the terms of reunion. Even if Mr. Lincoln refuse to
entertain the proposition and insist that Gen. Grant
and his subordinates shall continue to fight, until
nothing more is left to fight with, it is argued that
the result will be practically the same—that in the
one case the war will close without further carnage,
and that in the other it will be brought to a violent
and bloody, but none the less speedy and satisfactory
termination. It is edifying, though in no respect
gratifying, to note that as the prospects of peace ap-
pear to brighten the friends and lovers of peace ap-
pear to diminish in number. Thousands, if not hun-
dreds of thousands, of influential people have waxed
so fat on the spoils and contracts and the immense
expenditures of the strife that they dread the too
sudden cessation of hostilities, lest peace should draw
in its train worse evils to them than that of war—
thesevils of a financial revolution, and the consequent
crash and disappearance of many a colossal and ill-
gotten fortune. The rapid fall in gold--50 per cent.
within a month—has filled them with tribulation,
and brought unpleasantly near to ;their vision the
shadow of a fast 'approaching bankruptcy. In ad-
dition to these are the zealots, the doctrinaires, the
war Christians—the friends of a strong nationality,
and consequently the enemies of State rights and
State sovereignty, who do not desire that the war
should end by means of any compromise on the
question of slavery, or by the re-establishment of
the old Constitution. They desire that the United
States should assume a distinctive name and become
for the first 'dine in their history a nation " one and
indivisible," composed of provinces, not of States,
and governed from a centre, like Great Britain,
France, or Russia. A third party, comps:seal of
leading Democrats, with a large following—both
Americans and Ilibernians—look with ill-concealed
disgust upon the conquest of the South, and cling
to the opinion that a war against a foreign Power,
in which Northern and Southern armies would
unite, with Lee for the generalissimo and Grant as
the second in command, would tend to obliterate
from the minds of the Southern people the bitter
memories and animosities of four unhappy years,
and help to build up a truer and more thoroughly
American nationality than can be constructed out of
the political, social, and philanthropical elements of
New England. The favourite idea of this party is
immediately on the restoration of the Union, by the
surrender or defeat of Lee, to declare war against
the Emperor Maximilian. Wild as the project may
be considered in Europe, there can be no doubt that
it would be exceedingly popular in America. Already
the indications are numerous that there would be no
need of large offers of bounty-money to raise an
army for such a purpose, and that a blow in this
quarter would send southwards a swarm of soldiers,
to which the present war has offered no parallel. A
move in the direction of Canada would also be popu-
lar ; but as the Americans believe, not only that
Canada is theirs as soon as they are ready to ask for
or to take it, but all things considered, it is better
worth having for the honour and the glory than for
the profit or advantage, the Mexican venture has far
greater charms in their eyes. Mexico, the land of
gold and silver--the richest country in the world, if
Yankees could only develope its resources—Mexico,
the beautiful, the romantic, the very name of which
has a fascination for American youth, with which
to cast spells and work enchantments—is the goal
of their ambition. To vindicate the Monroe doctrine
—to oust a parvenu Emperor—to show to the awe-
struck world that the Yankees can not only crush
the most gigantic rebellion ever known in history,
but that the vanquished and the victors can join
hands for a common purpose and crumple up a fo-
reign foe with less than a tenth part of the trouble
it took to subdue a domestic one:--such is the dream
of the moment amid a large portion of this excitable
and unreasoning people. The AMerican Goths have
no particular desire, unless for mere bravado, to
overrun the Finland or the Lapland of their conti-
nent. They turn their eyes towards Mexico--the
sunny Italy of America—and long for the pretext
or the opportunity to burst forth in an overwhelm-
ing torrent upon the lovely regions they believe to
be the destined inheritance of their race. There is a
dark side, of course, to this bright anticipation. It
depends for its realisation upon the conquest of the
South, and the willingness of the Southern people
and armies to take shares in the venture. What if,
before the South be conquered, France, which 90
years ago did as much or more for the independence
of the States as the armies of Washington, and
which less than a year ago established the empire
of Mexico, should recognise the Southern Confede-
racy, send its fleets to break the blockade of the
Southern ports ; and that France, Mexico, and the
South should enter into an alliance offensive and
defensive against the North ! That possibility is
the drop of gall in the intoxicating wine of their
present glory ; for, though the multitude may
be insane, the leaders are not quite so blinded
by presumption and success as to doubt that an
unprovoked war with any great European Power,
such as France or Great Britain—even if the South
were first conquered—would be exceedingly perilous
onduct and uncertain in its results. Such
a war, however, is one of the possibilities of the
future. The statesmanship of Great Britain and
France will do well to look it steadily in the face,
and be prepared to confront it.

in

In comparison with these great events, accom-
plished or pending, all minor incidents are of small
interest. It should, however, be recorded that the
draught has been suspended in New York, after
being carried on for three days, ostensibly for the

reason that the requisite number of men will be
obtained by volunteering, if a little extra exertion
be made by the citizens ; but, in reality, because its
rigid enforcement would seriously endanger the
peace, if not the safety, of the city. It also deserves
mention that, after long and patient search, the
military authorities and police of New York have
discovered one person on whom to fix the charge of
attempting to burn down the hotels and other places
of public resort in November last, and that he has
been sentenced by court-martial to be forthwith
hung on Governor's Island. The name of the de-
linquent is Kennedy, and he was at one time a
captain in the Confederate service. Whether he
was commanded by any superior authority to per-
form this treacherous and cowardly task, in which
he so egregiously failed, he has not undertaken to
say, and if he hold his peace to the last there will
probably be no means of knowing. That his en-
terprise was fiendishly wicked and that he richly
deserves his fate no reasonable man will deny.
The ignorance of the chiefs of the Republican
party in Congress, and of the Administration itself
(Mr. Hugh M'Culloch alone excepted), on all
questions of political economy, is well known to
every European student of American history and
to some few members of the Opposition. It is an
ignorance which is not confined to the Legislature
and the Government, but which extends, unfortu-
nately, to the leading merchants and bankers in
this great city, and which pervades and permeates
all classes of society. It is thought that economic
laws do not apply to a new and large country like
the United States in the same manner as they do
to the older and smaller kingdoms and empires of
Europe ; and that America, in fact, is so young, so
strong, and so rich that, like a robust youth, it
may make inroads upon its health which would be
fatal to the life of a septuagenarian, or a man in
middle age. When English writers have accused the
Americans of this ignorance, the result of no inca-
pacity to be taught any better, but of sheer arro-
gance and conceit, the reply has always been that
Englishmen were prejudiced and unfriendly, or that,
at all events, they were not competent to understand
" our great country." When the better informed
among their own countrymen have made the same
charge, the reply has usually been that the objectors
were " Copperheads," " Traitors," " Secessionists"
or " rebels." -If there be one man above all others
who has a chance of speaking upon questions of po-
litical economy to the American people with the
certainty of being respectfully listened to it is Mr.
Richard Cobden. In a private letter to the Federal
Minister at the Court of Copenhagen, published
this afternoon for the first time, that gentleman,
after expressing his views upon the war and the pro-
gress of hostilities, concludes with the following im-
pressive warning and rebuke :

" You will have a task sufficient to employ all your ener-
gies at home in bringing your finances into order. Thero is
a dreadful want of capacity at your head in questions of
political economy—you seem now to bo in the same state of
ignorance as that from which we began to emerge 40 years
ago. The labours of Huskisson, Peel, and Gladstone seem
never to have been heard of by Messrs. and Co. De-
pend on it that, as there is no royal road to learning, so
there is no republican path to prosperity. Youmust follow
the beaten track of experience. Debt is debt, whether on
the west or east of the Atlantic, and it can be paid only by
prudence and economy, and a wise distribution of its
burdens."

The Republican journals which reprint this letter
have considerately left a blank for the names of the
ignorant financiers and legislators to whom he drew
the especial attention of his correspondent. There
is, however, no difficulty in filling up the gap with
scores or hundreds of names, beginning with Mr.
Lincoln, Mr. Morrill, of tariff notoriety, and Mr.
Chase, and ending with Mr. Fessenden and Mr.
Thaddeus Stevens.