The Sun.
London, England, 1865-02-20 00:00:00

LONDON, MONDAY, FEB. 20, 1865.

By the arrival of the Cuba we have a synopsis of
the proceedings at the Peace Conferences at Fort
Monroe. It differs very little from the account
given in the earlier news, but all details of such an
important matter must necessarily be interesting.

It seems that the Confederate Commissioners at
first pressed for permission to visit Washington,
alleging that their own Government had only
agreed to their mission in consequence of the as-
surance received from Mr. BLAIR that they should
have a personal interview with LINCOLN himself.
This difficulty was got over as we know by the
PRESIDENT'S arrival at Fort Monroe, having evi-
dently been summoned thither by Mr. SEWARD, in
consequence of these representations on the part of
the Confederate Commissioners. But when the
PRESIDENT appeared on the scene matters did not
advance much further. The interview was friendly
and courteous throughout, President LINCOLN de-
claring his wish to treat every point of difference
but one with the utmost liberality, and the Con-
federate representatives insisting in their turn upon
but one condition. Unhappily the subject of both
these exceptions was the same. The Commissioners
declared at the outset of the Conference that they
had no authority to make, receive, or consider any
proposition which did not rest upon the basis of
Confederate independence. Not for a moment
would they swerve from this rule, the simple uni-
ma tuni of DAVIS'S Cabinet, and, indeed, of the whole
Southern people. President LINCOLN in his turn
made many specious promises and friendly
offers, but unhesitatingly assured them that Seth
recognition was impossible. " All the conversation,"
says the New York Times in a semi-official account,
came back and turned upon this irreconcileable
difficulty," and the Conference broke up with the
distinct understanding that it was to be as though it
had never taken place. The New York limes
thinks that the inability of the North to acknow-
ledge - independence, and the inability of the
South to abandon it, renders all attempts at nego-
tiation fruitless ; but where the inability of the
North lies, except in the
.perversity and grasping
ambition of its people,mayindemd
bedifficult to see. The
Southern States
unwilling to sur-
render all for which they have
e l 8
supremacy which
long suffered and
striven, and submit again to the
they have so long resisted ; but for the North to
waste life and treasure on the attempt to recon-
struct a hopelessly shattered constitution, is
blindness or headstrong perversity. wilful
would be
almost ludicrous, were it not so grievously tragical,
to find the Tribune declaring that full ranks and a
full treasury would kill the rebellion in GO days,
but the action of the Congress with regard to the
peace movement is significant, and shows how

strong a party is still favourable to hostilities. On

the failure of the negotiations both partiesseemingly
resolved on making active demonstrations, and the
North apparently determined on a grand concen-
trated effort to harass and entangle the Southern
forces. SHERMAN is pushing forward in two
columns—one towards Charleston and the other

-------
towards Branchville. GRANT is moving his forces
and attempting to surround Richmond, with the
object, most probably, of encumbering LEE ardi
preventing him from interfering with SHER-stArt's
march to Branchville and Charleston. TERRY'S
troops are said to have left the Cape Fear River
to reinforce SHERMAN, so that even the great attack
on Wilmington is held secondary to the success of
his expedition. A large force from THOMAS has
reinforced GRANT, so that it is determined to
make some movement. On the sth inst. there
was a slight encounter between the rival forces at
Hatcher's Run, near Richmond, and a general
battle was looked for the next day.

We have a sufficient indication of the renewed
determination of the South to carry on the war un-
flinchingly in the appointment of General LEE to
the chief command. The Richmond Sentinel,
writing on this, urges the people to fresh and vigor-
ous efforts. "We stand," it says, "on the
threshold of a stern campaign," and it charges the
Southerners, as they love their country, to lose no
time in preparing for it. They have, it declares, a
noble army, a wide country and abundant supplies,
and can do great things if they will apply themselves
to the task manfully and hush all bickerings, leaving
only the noble emulation as to which shall best
serve his country and support his leaders.
It is rumoured that LEE'S policy will be a new
and bold one, that he proposes to abandon Charles-
ton, evacuate Richmond, and withdraw his forces
from the coast, leaving the whole of the Confede-
rate armies free to operate in the open field. He
has, it is said, more -than once declared that the
loss of the Atlantic cities would be an advantage to
the Confederacy, since he would then be relieved
from the encumbering duty of defending them, and
be able to teach the North what war meant. Gen.
SHERMAN is said to hold the same opinion as the
wisest course now open to the South. It is argued
that by the new system of dealing with the North
the Confederates would be able to dispense with the
supplies of the blockade runners, and that therefore

the loss of the Atlantic cities would be very little felt.
But there are some drawbacks to the scheme, which
we should think would serve to moderate it. In the
first place, to depend entirely on the enemy for ex-
ternal supplies is to give him the power of cutting
them off when he pleases. Secondly, Richmond is
not on the sea coast, and the force necessary to de-
fend it, though large, is well employed. The whole
nation cannot take to the open field, and it is abso-
lutely necessary, if the South is to remain a nation,
that it should retain some stronghold as head-
quarters, as the seat of Government, and the centre
of authority. It would weaken the European
prestige of the Confederacy immeasurably to sur-
render the capital, and would reduce the struggle
more to the level of a mere military rebellion than
anything that has yet been done. Charleston,
again, is a strong point which it would be a pity to
resign, and whose loss would be disheartening to
the people. The Confederates would no doubt gain
immensely by concentrating their forces, and so
wise a tactician as LEE will be certain, we should
hope to do so. The abandonment of some points
for the sake of getting a larger and more vigorous
army in the field will very likely be his policy,
though the surrender of Richmond and Charleston
would, we believe, be a mistake. His first task should
be to recall HOOD'S army from the west, where its
presence was the great mistake of the campaign.
Had Hoop, instead of suffering THOMAS to decoy
him into Tennessee, detached his forces, and while
allowing a few troops to keep up the appear-
ance of moving westward, hurried with the
main body after SHERMAN, the redoubtable
raid through Georgia might have been arrested at
the outset.'

An important question is now under eonsidera

tion in the Confederate House of Representatives
where a resolution has been introduced to put in the
field 100,000 slaves, giving one as property to each
white soldier. Englishmen will not enter very cor-
dially into this condition, but there is no doubt that
the arming of the slaves will be the great step to-
wards the total extinction of slavery. The nume-
rical strength which this movement will give the
Southern armies will be increased by the moral
strength gained by the virtual abandonment of their
detestable Institution. It is worth notice that
neither side is reported to have made slavery a con-
dition at the Conference—a fact which might en-
lighten our Emancipation Society. This great
duty now lies before the Southern people, and we
shall see whether the experience and sufferings of
the last four years has taught them to accept it.
1 If not, they will in a great measure forfeit the sym-
pathy which their gallantry had earned, while sur-
rendering a powerful weapon against their adver-

saries.

The Emperor of RUSSIA is one of those who seem
to glory in outraging public opinion, and certainly
the mistaken manner in which other nations have
treated his proceedings have given him every en-
couragement to go on in his course exulting at his
own audacity and want of consideration. He paid
no heed whatever to the repeated remonstrances of
the different Governments concerning the Polish
affairs, and he is now acting precisely the same as
if no despatches had been -written, or communica-

tion' received from anywhere. As with foreign, so
with domestic affairs; he can brook no interference,
and he will bear with no advice or admonition. To
all intents and purposes he might just as well have
been let alone to settle matters according to the
dictates of his own fancy, and to carry out his pre-
conceivedandtininfieureenscoelv:s a
predetermined notions, for his adaman-
tine
seem to manifest no noTh
The change,
rest
cri o
f whatsoeverthe
EMPEROR to the Minister of the Interior is a very
characteristic document, and seems significant
of
the policy likely to be adopted in the future by the
autocrat. The Russian nobles appear to have fallen
under the ban of the Imperial displeasure, and to
have drawn upon themselves the full force of his
vituperative vehemence. He denies their right to
touch upon certain subjects, and expresses his •
opi-
nion upon the matter without any reserve or reti-
cence. Apparently he dreads the effect of any oppo-
sition to his plans, and thinks the only safe course to
pursue to uphold his policy will be to put down at
once and for ever all expressions of opinion and
movement contrary to his purpose. For a time, at
all events, there is no reason to suppose that this
arbitrary mode of procedure will not
and
otbe
as successful as it has hitherto been,
that individual and national indtiielcraty. How
swill
not be suppressed partially or entirely.
long this may last remains to be shown,
but meanwhile the effect is not less striking
nor the consequences less complete. The EMPEROR
takes credit to himself for having done so much for
the benefit of his subjects, and actually infers that
he has commenced a work of " gradual perfection."
" Gradual," indeed, it is likely to be, so far as any
one can see,
if you have iat
undo:, wouldma be amusing if it were not
BO se •
nous an affair to note how the semblance of a
thing can ape the reality, or how affecting a virtue
good
appearzete.ers
To
ey realise a fair show and a
cants upon
a:
greate might ight
eanclahtioewfn
national
e EMPEROR des-
sight that he was
of being a tyrant of benefactor
supposeactor at first
lieu
dtehaed most arbitrary and
absolute kind, and a
all free-
dom of opinion and liberty of ayotifo: toui addre

in. this instance means very plainly that he
will, not be interfered with, and despite the disguise
of ingenious language in which its unpalateable
truths are enveloped, the unwelcome truth is only
too apparent, and tb e ungracious meaning is clearly
evinced. It is not the right way to propitiate a
people to refuse to hear any statement of grievances,
whether they are well founded or groundless ; and
it is not the way to illustrate the merits of a new
system to maintain a dogged silence and an impene-
trable mystery and haughty reserve. The Emperor
evidently looks upon the nobles with a jealous eye,
and is determined at all hazards to resist their power
and curtail their privileges. This he will find a very
dangerous game to play out ; and, indeed, it is to
be questioned if he will not find that he is reckon-
ing without his host in the hazardous venture.
There is one peculiarity in the language of
the Emperor NICHOLAS which is by no means
a favourable one, or likely to win him respect.
He becomes almost profane in his perverse endea-
vours to prove himself in the right, and when he
is at a loss for a new argument he falls back upon
his Bernier resort of declaring himself under the
guidance of Heaven. Thus in the present document
we find he mentions that the " right of initiative"
belongs to him alone, and " is indissolubly bound
up with the autocratic power entrusted to him by
GOD." It is very convenient for these tyrants that
all things work for their ends, and that all laws,
human and divine, concur in sanctioning their
cause and furthering their plans. It shows a total
want of reverence in those who utter such phrases,
and it is to be greatly deplored that the practice
prevails in so many quarters. The more unjust
the cause, the more vehement are the appeals to
Eternal Justice—the greater the scandal to the
nations of the earth, the stronger the claim that is
asserted upon the favour and protection of HEAVEN.
The two extremes of tyranny and democracy seem
to unite in pursuing this course, and the Emperor
of RUSSIA, for his part, only adopts the tactics of
Federal Generals and Washington statesmen.

After declaiming upon his sacred rights and im-
mutable privileges, the CZAR goes on to determine
the duties of others. He gives a very wide scope to
himself as to what he may do, but he confines the
powers of others into very narrow limits indeed.
Thus we hear that " Nobody is privileged to inter-
cede with me in favour of the general interests and
necessities of the State." It is very likely, indeed,
that there is considerable truth in the intimation
that in no case whatever will they be able to attain
their objects. None, after perusing this Rescript,
can believe that the representations of any class
will weigh at all in the balance of Imperial policy,
or that any influence will be exercised upon the
Government by the wishes of the community.
A very broad hint is conveyed towards the con-
elusion of this document, doubtless calculated to im-
press upon those referred to the utter uselessness of
their present efforts, and also the impolicy and in-
convenience of their ever again renewing the ven-
ture or looking out for a more favourable oppor-
tunity. The EMPEROR entertains the firm convic-

tion that he will not henceforth " encounter similar
obstacles upon the part of the Russian nobility."
Surely the Russian nobility cannot be so obtuse as
not to see the meaning of this paragraph so ingeni-
ously introduced into the intimation, and they have
good cause to regret and resent the manner in which
they have been treated. There is no consistency in
the course of the EMPEROR ; he professes to have the
welfare of his subjects at heart, and tobe hard at work
in the great project of emancipation, and at the
same time he denies in toto the right of any class to
express its opinions upon the effects produced by
a change, or to advocate its claims to consideration
on account of any grievance. Thisis not the manner
in which constitutional principles are carried out in
any other part of the world, and the Emperor
ALEXANDER will find that he fails egregiously in his
one-sided plans of freedom. It remains to be seen
if the haughty nobility of Russia will submit tamely
to this virtual denial of their prerogatives and sup-
pression of their power ; but whether openly or
covertly, a decided and determined opposition is
sure to be made to the future furtherance of the
EMPEROR'S schemes, and the sentiment of unity, so
necessary to the success of any great national work
is certain to be wanting, while one class is divided
against another and the ruler only seeks his own
selfish ends.

The " Turkish Bath;" Its Advantages and

Dangers•

FINE 21.RTS,

General Exhibition of Water Colour
Drawings•

DUDLEY GALLERY, EGYPTIAN HALL: PICCADILLY.

A most successful inauguration has here been
achieved of an enterprise long felt to be desirable.
Until now the Water Colourists of this country
have had no adequate opportunity of ensuring the
exhibition of their powers, unless by, first of all,
becoming members of one or the other of the
two eminent associations, devoted to the culti-
vation of this branch of the art, in Pall-mall.
The Old Society and the New Society—the
one in Pall-mall East, the other in Pall-mall
West—have, in this way, shared between them,
heretofore, almost the whole of the exhibiting
powers of the metropolitan galleries, as applied
to Water Colour Drawings. For, the walls of a
single room at the Royal Academy, and that
room one of the smaller ones, and even the sur-
face, there, such as it was, monopolised by minia-
tures—might almost be set down as nil, or, at any
rate, as " next to nothing," in the way of affording
intending water-colour-drawing-exhibitors the smal-
lest chance of accommodation. Between the two
societies, Old and New, therefore, no more than about
a hundred artists (or say a hundred and thirty at the
very outside) could hope to obtain an opportunity of
competing for public favour by an exhibition of
their capabilities. Remembering this, and remem-
bering also that that restricted group of merely, one
hundred, or one hundred and thirty water-colour
painters, does but very inadequately indeed represent
the actual number of the cultivators of that beauti-
ful branch of the graphic art—it must be manifest
upon the instant that precisely the very enterprise
now formally inaugurated at the,Dudley Gallery of
the Egyptian-hall, in Piccadilly, was really and
truly a " case in point," for once, of what is called
in the commercial slang of puff prospectuses, a desi-
deratum. On the walls and screens of the gallery just
mentioned there are, in fact, now hanging as many
as five hundred and nineteen proofs positive (more
or less convincing, according to their merit)
—519 proofs positive of the fact here in-
sisted upon. The present year, remember, is the
First Year of this (as it is now intended to be)
annual General Exhibition. The notion was only
called into working operation within the last twelve-
months. - And, here, is the inaugural result ! A
Result so satisfactory of its kind, as to be already
a complete justification of the scheme now happily
set agoing (with the fairest possible prospect of suc-
cess) by its projectors. Five Hundred Water Colour
Drawings of genuine and unmistakable excellence
now adorning the walls and screens of the Dudley
Gallery, constitute this effectual justification.
But, while saying this, it may be notified by
us at the same time, that more than thrice five
hundred water colour drawings were actually
sent in for exhibition, and that only one-third
of the number could by possibility be selected,
(as far as possible 4 according to their merit of
course), by reason of the restricted space afforded
by the Gallery for Exhibition. The General
Exhibition is announced by its nanagers to be
—not in any way that of a new Society. The
' managers even go beyond that where they assert,
rather oddly, as it appears to us, at starting,
that it is not intended in any way to rival existing
Exhibitions. At any rate, whether so designed
or not, it certainly does rival them, even at start-
ing. Such at least is the distinct impression pro-
duced upon us as the result of our saunter two or
three times round the crowded apartment on Satur-
day afternoon—that being the occasion of the Pri-
vate View ! To-day (Monday) being the occasion,
consequently, of the first throwing open of the doors
of this " General Exhibition of Water Colour Draw-
ings" to the Public at large. Upon the whole, we
repeat the Exhibition is really remarkable for its
excellence. As a First Exhibition, in fact, it is
most remarkable. It is so much of a success
that it appears to us to be only fair (upon the
principle, so far as the management is concerned,
of palnzam qui meruit, &c.), that we should particu-
larise by name—

THE MEMBERS OF THE COMMITTEE.

C. R. Aston.

H. J. Johnson.

R. Beavis. George Mawley.
H. Brabazon. Thos. R. McQuoid.
W. S. Coleman. 11. Moore.
T. Cooper. J. Needham.
Frank Dillon. H. Pilleau.
Charles Earle. E. J. Poynter.
W. W. Fenn. W. Severn.
G. F. Glennie. Siineon Solomon.
H. C. Herries. Tom Taylor.
G. L. Hall. Field Talfourd.
Edmund Hawkins. S. Vincent.
E. Hamilton, M.D. Frank Walton.
Several among these, by the way, as, for example,
Messrs. Aston, Coleman, Dillon, Earle, Johnson,
McQuoid, Poynter, and Walton, hold high rank
among the number of the actual exhibitors. Be-
yond the central group of the committee, however,
—it being, here, as with the enlarging ring upon
ring, caused by the dropping of a stone into deep
water—there spreads forth circle beyond circle of other
accomplished cultivators, both male and female, of
the exquisite art of Water Colour Drawing. An
art, so far as atmospheric effects are concerned far,
far beyond that of oil painting ! An art. giving, in
fact, to the painter who uses the materiel of it with
anything at all like genius, a subtler power for the
portraiture of Nature in landscapes and sea views,
than any otherwise accessible to the grasp of the
artist ! Hence, in effect, the very themes selected
—as, for example, in this very exhibition—for por-
traiture by our water-colourists ! Here, Wind
and Rain (100), here, Shade and Sunshine

(124)—now a Sunny Afternoon (126), now
a Cloudy Day (209)—yonder a Fresh Breeze
(154), yonder, again, a Sandy Lane in the Spring-
time (296)—one while a Misty Morning (279),
another an Autumnal Afternoon (303). Almost
immediately on crossing the threshold of the Gal-
lery—the eye notes, with a sense of gratification,
three or four charming little street-scenes at Caen,
in which the architecture of Normandy has been
most truthfully and, therefore, most picturesquely
delineated by the pencil of T. R. Macquoid. One
of them, a sketch that would have gladdened the
heart of Sterne (13) La Remise ! Distributed more
widely through the Gallery, and not grouped thus
in a cluster, are several noteworthy drawings by
Arthur Severn. A wonderfully impressive, imperial,
pontiffical view of " Rome" (23), and a noble, even
in some sense a singularly daring representation,
upon a large scale, in (65), of—what ? Sea and
Sky, or rather Sea and Cloudland entitled,
"Waves by Moonlight !" A giant breaker, swelling,
heaving, rolling, booming—shorewards ! A pic-
ture, pausing before which, we recall to mind almost
involuntarily that thunderous echo from the verso
of Chatterton descriptive of Winter, when—
" Rising whirlwinds,
blasting shrill and loud,
Roll the white surges to the sounding shore !"

Twilight has seldom been pourtrayed more felici-
tously than in Jose Tapero's " m
Ite Domum—vet
such as those of fruit and dead game,
Hesperus" (32). Even among the minor contribu-
tions,much discernible that is highly meritorious--as in the
colouring of John Sherrin's " Wood Pigeon" (129),
there is
or in Miss H. Coleman's " Hazel Nut" (148), with
the crinkling leaves
just beginning to be autumnally
tinted ! Passing along the gallery, on a first visit,
one has, here and there, many a casually noted
inducement to pause even before seeming trifles—
the pretty animation of " Girl and Butter-
fly " (210), the voluptuous Greek profile of the
" Antinoiis Dionysiacus" (239), or let us say, again,
before a little diamond gem of a picture (as of a
landscape seen through the small end of a telescope),
such as " Autumn's Golden Leaf " (269), by R.
Redgrave, the Royal Academician. That old fami-
liar friend of the million, Phiz, by the way, is
noticeable, here, among the number of the Exhibitors
—under his proper name, however—as Hablot K.
Browne : his most
spirited contribution to the gal-
lery being, beyond a doubt of it, the helter skelter
Harry-Lorrequer,
Jack-Hinton, Charles-O'Malley
sort of a steeplechase leap of a Pooka, at once over
the head of a Paddy and the edge of a precipice !
One word—before closing our notice of this brilliant
and varied Exhibition of the outsiders among our
many-gifted Water-Colourists--one slight passing
word we would here offer by way of suggesting
that there may be a trifle more care taken for the