The Sun.
London, England, 1862-10-29 00:00:00

that the Southerners hanged seventeen free negroes
guilty of having the President's proclamation in
their hands, we shall know in this country what
to think of the men who make so much stir about
General BUTLER'S harmless freaks at New Orleans.
He did not, at all events, hang the traitresses.
Perhaps the most important fact is the complaint
made by the New York Chamber of Commerce of
the doings of the Alabama, or No. 290, as she is
also known by that name. That she has burnt and
destroyed a great amount of Federal property, not
contraband of war, following the example of
the Sumpter and the Nashville, is certain ;
that this course of proceeding is simply barbarous
will not be denied, but the New York Chamber of
Commerce fastens on us the blame of permitting
such a ship to be built at Liverpool. But surely
we must, as neutrals, have one law for both the
belligerents. The North supplies itself far more
largely than the South can do with munitions of
war from England. Mr. ADAMS, when he remons-
trated with Lord RUSSELL, remembering this, de-
clined to press our Government to prohibit and
watch the expertation of contraband of war. It
would surely, therefore, be a breach of neutrality

if we allowed our manufacturers to make their
profits by executing the orders of one party only.
Knowing as a Government one side no more than
the other, we must leave our traders to act accord-
ing to their sympathies, or their estimates of
profit.

We are sorry for the destruction of property ;
but it is, unhappily, strictly in accordance with the
recognised laws of war. Lords PALMERSTON and
RUSSELL, and Messrs. SEWARD and STANTON
would equally contend for the right to impoverish
the enemy commercially. This, indeed, is what the
blockade does. The cargoes of cotton we desire to
fetch from Charleston and New Orleans are perfectly
innocent—the goods we should like to take there
may be harmless also, but they would enrich

the South. The North desires to impoverish
the South, and the Alabama, or No. 290, is endea-
vouring, in return, to impoverish the North. It is
a cruel, a barbarous game, but it is at least an equal
one. The North does not, indeed, burn the cargoes
it captures, it can do better for itself with them,
but the South would rather the North were also
compelled to burn them, since it does not want to
enrich the North. There can be no cure for these
revolting practices, on both sides, but the adoption
of the rule of respecting private property at sea,
and abolishing commercial blockades. If that can-
not be done, New York merchants must not com-
plain of the destruction of property by the Alabama.

Who will not rejoice over the tidings contained
in to-day's .Telegram froni spezzia about GARI
BALDI ? It is evident, from the third and concluding
paragraph of this communication flashed to us
through the electric wire, that there was serious
cause for anxiety in regard to the health, the limb,
even be it said, the life of the General. The rumours
have been exaggerated, it is true, as we had hoped
might prove to •be the case, throughout. But—
nevertheless—they had foundation. There was
considerable room for doubt. There were undeni-
able reasons for solicitude. Is it not virtually so
acknowledged by these closing words of to-day's
Telegram—the Telegram despatched late yesterday
evening from Spezzia, but published to-day in
London—" The general medical consultation will
take place to-morrow." That is, of c..:urse, during
the very day upon which we are now writing, and
upon which our remarks are given to the public
through our impression of this evening. Observe—a
general medical consultation." That seaport town
of Spezzia in which GARIBALDI is now a sojourner
—the late prisoner having been recently removed
thither, as was announced at the time, from his place
of durance in the neighbouring fortress of Varignano
—that seaport of Spezzia having now once more be-
come a place of rendezvous for medical practitioners,
brought thither from various parts of Italy, from
France, and from England, to consult as to the
most advisable treatment that may be applied to
the relief of the sufferings of the illustrious yictim
of Aspromonte. Not without reason have the doc-
tors been, thus again, to this end, brought together.
Not without reason have these sinister reports been
flying about of late as to the increasing anxiety
felt there, upon the,spot, as to the state of the wound,
as to the existence or not of a bullet embedded in
it, as to the necessity or not of resorting to the
cruel cure of an amputation. Upon the latter point
—upon the question as to whether there should or
should amputation—the telegram to- day
is
decisive. Dr. NELATON, one of the
mosthappily
notskilled quite be
o f
operative surgeons of France,
anyth e
having been summoned hastily from Paris to
Spezzia, has now, the telegram informs us, " ap-
proved the course of treatment followed with GARI-
BALDI :" and, more important still than that, " He
considers amputation unnecessary and is confident
of his recovery." Than this no opinion could be
more emphatic, more encouraging, and, in every
possible respect, more consolatory. It is a satisfac-
tion to receive this fresh and deliberate intimation
from a man as eminent as Dr. NELATON—and it is
of a threefold kind, viz., in regard to the past, the
present, and the future. The treatment, hitherto,
Dr. NELATON thinks, has been judicious. He
approves of it. The friends of GARIBALDI have
nothing to reproach themselves with, consequently,
in having consented to allow, all this while, of this
same treatment of the hero-patient, and in having
in no way interfered with its progress, by insisting
upon calling in additional advice. It is an inex-
pressible consolation to GARIBALDI'S friends and
sympathisers, in regard to the present, to learn
that his sufferings are neither so grievous as was
beginning to be dreaded, nor likely, in any way, to
be so seriously enhanced in their poignancy by his
subjection to a formidable amputation. As to the
future, could anyone wish for words of greater en-
couragement ? He, Dr. NELATON, is " confident "
of GARIBALDI'S " recovery." A professional man
could not say more, certainly, than that.
And, remembering that Dr. NELATON has actually
said that, we may now calmly dismiss from our
minds and hearts the anxiety latterly oppressing
both in the hero's regard. He is no longer incar-
cerated. He is reposing in a dwelling-house at
Spezzia—surrounded with all that tender care and
profound respect which he has received almost from
his arrival in the Gulf of Spezzia from the lament-
able enterprise that terminated so very deplorably
at Aspromonte. There is every prospect of his
ultimate recovery. There is as much certainty as can
possibly be inspired in regard to anything human,
that the wounded General has altogether escaped
the necessity that appeared but a few hours since
almost inevitable, the dire necessity of crippling
him for life, in order to save that life of his by the
agonies of an amputation. There is to be no am-
putation. Dr. NELATON has said it.

ATTEMPTED SUICIDE BY A BETTING MAN.—
This morning a most determined attempt at suicide was
made by Mr. Vintner, better known on the Turf as Captain
Barnes, ly shooting himself with a pistol, at his residence,
Grove-house, St. John's-wood. The report alarmed the
other inmates, and, on hastening to Mr. Vintner's room, he
was found lying on the floor bleeding, having fled a pistol
into his mouth, the bill from which completely shattered
the left tide of his face. He presented a shocking spectacle
and is not expected to survive, Heavy losses on the Cam-
bridgeshire are said to have induced the rash act.