The Sun.
London, England, 1862-04-17 00:00:00

THE MERRIMAC.

The public mind in this city still continues to be
disturbed on the subject of the Merrimac. That
mischievous vessel has been thoroughly overhauled
at Norfolk, the damage she received in her duel
with the Monitor has been repaired ; she has been
mounted with guns of a longer range and heavier
calibre than before ; a new iron prow, in lieu of that
which snapped off, like the snout of a swordfish
in the belly of a whale, when she ran into and sank
the Cumberland, has been replaced by another
of !greater strength and dimensions; and she
is declared to be ready at a moment's notice to take
to sea, and attack New York or Boston. It is true
that the Monitor is watching her movements, but
the fact is not deemed sufficiently encouraging to
put the public mind at its ease. The people of
Boston are in a similar state of discomfort. Their
city in the estimation of the Confederates is par
excellence the " Yankee " metropolis ; the head-
quarters of abolitionism—the Mecca and Jerusalem
of what the Democrats call " nigger worship ;" and
the whole South would greatly rejoice at any
damage that could be inflicted upon it. But
neither Boston, New York, nor any of the seaboard
cities, if 'they escape present danger, will long .re-
main unprotected, for three several agencies are at
work to provide iron-clad frigates and gunboats
for the defence of the coast—firstly, the great com-
mercial cities ; secondly, the Atlantic States; and
thirdly, the Federal Government ; all of which
have voted, or are about to vote, money for the
purpose. Already the Government has entered into
a contract with the builders of the Monitor for the
immediate construction of six vessels of the same
character, but 40 feet longer, with proportionate
breadth of beam, and all other necessary qualifica-
tions for carrying a much heavier armament. Still
it is felt that the Merrimac is not unlikely to steal
"t Some dark night and pour a few shells into the
Shipping, into the East River, or even into Broad-
way, and be off again before the citizens have time
to turn into the streets to see what is the matter.

VIE SLAVERY QUESTION.
Upon the irritating as well as vital question of
slavery the pokey
of Mr. Lincoln and Mr. Seward
has been eminently cautious. These statesmen
desire above all things to restore the Union, and as
they cannot restore it under present circumstances
by proclaiming theenmei
pation of the negroes,
which would confirm
waverer in the South in
the fiercest hostility to the North, and convert the
war into a war of extermination, not to be ended
except by the intervention of theEnropean Powers ,
they have made the social subordinate to the politi-
cal question, and endeavoured to in back the fal-
teriug allegiance of the Border States and Conciliate
the more decided enmity of the South by declaring
their determination to uphold the letter of the eon:
stitution, and to take nn ectinn on the subject of
slavery that shall not be initiated and approved by
the slaveholding States themselves, Though Mr.
Lincoln and Mr. Seward have all their lives been
the friends of the slave, and though no man in the
Uni#Pd States has incurred more odium in the Sonth
than Mr. Seward for his eloquent and courageous
efforts to prevent the extension of a system which
he condemned, but which he, backed by the most
net i VO and intelligent party in the State, was unable
to eradicate, the extreme Abolitionists, who would
rather the heavens should crack than that theoreti-
cal -
Justice should not immediately be done, are loud
in their denunciations of these statesmen. General
Fremont, who endeavoured to thwart the President's p