The Sun.
London, England, 1862-03-18 00:00:00

THE SUN, tiONDON, TUESDAY EVENING, 3IARCH 18, 1862,

a little further swath-east than Nashville, seems to
have arisen from. the known position of the armies
rather than from actual information ; for, from all
we have heard, the main rebel army in Tennessee

.. ,
ought to be far too large to be surrounded. Still,
deducting this as exaggeration, either the entire
army of the Confederates must have been with-
drawn eastward, or a serious battle has almost cer-

tainly been fought. If the Federals were again
successful, as is certainly most probable, the
Westernßorder States will be entirely in their hands.
Columbus, in Kentucky must have been evacuated,
and the Mississippi will be at the mercy of Federal
gunboats.

On the Potomac the movements were equally
critical ; so much so, indeed, that the press and
the telegraph were forbidden to promulgo military
news, and the public were taking the interference
with its liberty patiently, because expecting tidings
of some grand exploits as their early reward. Gen.
BANKS had crossed the Potomac again at Harper's
Ferry, about 40 miles on the west flank of the
Confederates at Manassas, and General M'CLELLAN
was so rapidly hastening to his support that a
rumour of BANKS' defeat had arisen. The move-
ment, unless it be one to mislead the enemy, seems
like an intended advance with the body of the army
on his left flank, to cut him off from Richmond, or
to compel him rapidly to fall back. With the ordi-
nary allowance, therefore, for the uncertainty of
military movements, there yet seems every proba-
bility of important occurrences shortly after the
last mails left.
But very diverse are the opinions respecting the
probable temper of the South should the expected
defeats become facts. So far as the opinions of the
press go, there appear to
.be two opinions in the
North ; one in the South.' Some of the Northern
papers counsel amnesty, compromise, and modera-
tion ; others complete crushing out of the rebellion
before any terms are offered. But all parties in the
North appear to assume, that either with a high
hand, or with all kinds of brotherly concessions on
slavery, the Union is in any case to be restored. The
South gives no indication of such an opinion—it
proposes to hold out to the last. It acknowledges
its reverses ; it does not conceal the hardships it
suffers ; but it declares itself ready to suffer far
greater hardships rather than submit to the numeri-
cal power of the North. It confesses that it has
undertaken too long a line of defence, and that
it must retreat into " Secessia" proper ; but there
it determines to fight to the last—to fight a
guerilla warfare if necessary.
A well-informed and candid writer in a contem-
porary argues that the war will yet be a protracted
one. The North knows nothing, he says, of
moderation, and the last thing it would think of,
would be, contentment with the Border States,
which, as it must include Virginia, would yet be a
territory requiring a large army to hold it in sub-
mission. On the other hand, the South will never
unite with the North to be in a perpetual minority.
It has though a minority, been the governing
power hitherto, and men cannot brook submission
to those whom they have been accustomed to lead.
Hence two parties with such irreconcileable objects,
and animated by such old antipathies, will, he be-
lieves, fight one in pride and vengeance, the other
in despair, to the last.
Now, no doubt much will depend, in the event of
Northern successes, on the temper of the South. If
it be as repugnant to submission, as is alleged, the
work of subduing the proper South, may remain
incomplete through another winter. We presume
that the complete occupation of the Border States,
including possibly North and South Carolina, is the
utmost that can be accomplished this summer,
besides gaining the complete control of the Missis-
sippi. But if this be accomplished—and if the
coast and river towns be as a necessary consequence
all of them seized, or at least occupied by the Fe-
derals, the distress of the whites scattered amongst
the slaves in the Gulf States must become unen-
durable. They could neither sell nor buy. They
produce none of the necessaries of even such civilisa-
tion as their's is, and they must be reduced
to an almost barbarian mode of life. The few
towns marked in capitals in their maps, are little
better than wretched villages—destitute of all
manufacturing industry, and built even, for the
most part, of the most combustible of materials;
The plantations are generally widely separated—
the roads are but tracks—traffic, excepting the car-
riage of their raw produce, once or twice a-year to
the coast, there is little or none. The North might,
therefore, be well content to inclose them by its
coast and river occupation, and leave them to come
to their senses through the operation of time and
hardship.
With the interest we have always felt in obtain-
ing a fair chance for India, we cannot,
except on grounds of humanity, regret the
possible prolongation of the quarrel. It is only to
be regretted that the assurance which seems to be
felt both by the Federals, and by Earl RUSSELL in
this country, of an early termination of the war,
paralyses the operations of Manchester in India.
Here the hope of peace rests chiefly on amicable
separation ; in the North on the opposite belief—
that of a complete and speedy conquest, 'while all
secession is rejected. Yet, between the two, Man-
chester hopes for peace and Southern cotton again.
The consequence may be, what she little thinks of
—the establishment on a large scale of cotton mills
in India. There will certainly be a large supply of
cotton in India; and, if Manchester does not take it
away, Anglo-Indians seem likely to use it on the
spot, and so to destroy the Indian market for
manufactures to those who would not take her raw
material.

So that Mr. GLADSTONE'S Budget for 1862-3 is
at length definitively fixed to come on upon the
evening of the 3d proximo! Before the first week
of April has commenced, the country will know the
worst of it, or the best of it, accordingly as we look
forward to the chances of the remission or the increase
of taxation. Can it be—sigh, for example, the hop-
growers—that the bines may be at length less
burdened with that dreadful impost that leaves
them, that is the growers, more out of pocket
the more the hops themselves are in " pocket ?"
Can it be—those with a sweet tooth, particularly the
younger part of the population, if they could give
any thought at all to matters politics' or financial—
that sugar and the rest of our multifarious saccha-
rine imports may be at last (because of its being still
happily a time of peace) somewhat cheapened ? Or,
can it be—the old women of both sexes, particularly
those proverbial lovers of the cup " that cheers but
not inebriates," the poor, humble laundresses, for
whom no less than for others the House of Commons
has to legislate—can it be that tea, the people's
luxury, may at length in 1862 be brought
more within reach of the generality ? There are
reasons enow, and to spare, that might be readily
enough adduced in support of each of these three
old familiar propositions. The settlement of the
long vexed question of the hop duties has so
often, usque ad nauseam, been postponed ! The
continuance of the Civil War in Amerisa between
North e
s andof South, n
diminishes so manifestly our
h
abundant, or even an ordinary,
chances
ca
supply of sugar here for home consumption ! The
expansion of that other internecine struggle at
the furthest empire of the Asiatic continent'

between the Imperialists and the TAEPING,
Revolutionists, threatens so alarmingly to cut off our
supplies of tea, and that, moreover, sooner than the
majority perhaps anticipate. Whatever the Chan-
cellor of the Exchequer may decide, however, in
respect to hops, to tea, and to sugar—we do ear-
nestly iippe that his new Budget may be remark-
able above all things by its evidencing a firm reso-
lution on his part vigorously to undertake at length
to hasten a comprehensive revision and an equitable
readjustment of the Income Tax. Upon this head
Mr. HUBBARD has happily assumed to himself the
task of endeavouring at least to keep our Financier
up to the mark—so far, at any rate, as that may be
accomplished by a timely reminder.

VOCAL ASSOCIATION, ST. JAMES'S

BALL.

We learn with great pleasure that the next sea-
son of the Vocal Association Concerts, St. James's
Hall, will commence on Wednesday, March 19th.
This Association now holds its place among the first
Musical Societies in England, and reflects the
highest credit on M. Benedict, who founded it in
the year 1856, and who has conducted it ever since
with the most cordial support and applause from
the Public and the Press.

Motetts, Madrigals, Chorales, Part Songs, and
Glees, form the leading features of these entertain-
ments, and the repertoire of the society now holds
some of the choicest specimens of this order of music
ever possessed. The artistes, both vocal and instru-
mental, are first-class, as the following names fully
prove :—Miss Louisa Pyne, Madame Lemmons
Sherrington, Miss Banks, Madame Laura Baxter,
Signora Gardoni, Guglielmi, Belart, Belletti,
Garcia, Herr Formes, Miss Goddard, Lindsay Sloper,
M. Benedict, M. Sainton, Ole Bull, Aptommas,
Herr Oberthur, and the well-known and appre-
ciated Quintette Union ; with others, too numerous
to mention. The " Conversazione" will be on a
grander scale than usual this year; and, to meet the
extra interest attached to the season from the Inter-
national Exhibition, will not take place until the
last week in June.

Most warmly do we wish the Association may
enjoy the patronage and praise it has hitherto
secured. It would be superfluous to wish it more.

LATEST NEWS.

AMERICA.

(PER NIAGARA via BOSTON AND QUEENSTOWN.)
NEW YORK, MARCH 4, EVENING.

The Southern press is strongly urging the Con-
federate Government to assume an aggressive policy.
The Federal mails now run to Nashville,
The Confederates have evacuated Murfrees-
borough, and have moved further South.
Andy Johnson has been appointed Provisional
Governor of Tennessee. He will repair to Nash-
ville to organise a State Government, and to arm
and protect loyal citizens.
It is reported from Norfolk that the Confederate
steamer Nashville has arrived at Wilmington, North
Carolina.

The Confederates have completely laid Columbus
in ashes, and retired to Port Randolph, carrying
away guns and everything available.
The House of Representatives has passed a reso-
lution, asking for correspondence or other informa-
tion regarding Mexican affairs, and the alleged
European design of establishing a monarchy in
Mexico.

The Committee of Ways and Means have reported
on a tax bill for levy ing the following taxes :
Spirituous liquors, 15c. per gallon ; printing paper,
3 mells per pound ; flour, 10c. per barrel ; 3 per
cent. on incomes above 600 dolls ; tobacco, 3c. per
pound. A legacy duty is also proposed. Gas, lsat,
leather, railroad and steamboat passengers, adver-
tisements, carriages, matches, plate, and cattle are
all taxed. Licences will be required for carrying

on any business.
President Lincoln, on receiving the Peruvian
Minister, said—" The prosperity of America is
sought not only through peace on her part, but
through peace among all nations.
" The United States, though friendly to all other
nations, do not conceal the fact that they cherish
special sentiments of friendship for those who, like
themselves, have founded their institutions on the
principle of the equal rights of men ; such nations
being more prominently the neighbours of America,
as co-operating with them in establishing civiliza-
tion on the American continent. Such being
American principles, Peru will be liberally dealt
with."

PARIS, MARCH 18.

Yesterday, in the Corps Legislatif, M. Lemercier
spoke in favour of the Society of St. Vincent de
Paul.

M. Billault, in reply, defended the right of the
Government to appoint its President.
Paragraph 10 of the address was then adopted.
M. Brame proposed an amendment in reference
to the treaty of commerce, and asked for an in-
quiry into the working of this treaty.
The discussion will be continued to-day.

MADRID, MARCH 17.
The Iberia of to day publishes an article de-
manding a settlement of the Passive Debt.
The Epoca says, on the same subject :--" We
believe that the Government will satisfy the legi-
timate claims of the bondholders after the ques-
tion has been seriously taken into consideration."

TURIN, MARCH 17.

To-day, in the Chamber of Deputies, Signor
Gallenga put the question to the Ministry on the
present state of political affairs which he had pre-
viously announced. He said, " The Ministry is in
an equivocal position. It is necessary that it
should either complete itself or resign."
Signor Ordes then proposed that the Chamber, in
reply to the propositions of Signor Gallenga, should
pass to the order of the day without assigning any
motive.

Signor Rattazzi said he should have wished the
discussion to take place, and continued, "I am
not opposed to the previous question if it is to be
the means of deciding whether the Chamber sup.
ports the programme of the Ministry." Signor
Rattazzi stated that he had not yet been able
to complete his Cabinet, because he was not yet
sure whether he had a majority, the Chamber not
having made known its intentions. He said also,
" I shall carry out the law on the national arma-
ment, which was voted by a very large majority ;
but 1 do not admit that any association should have
the right of arming and of making the dangers
which the Government incur a pretext for arma-
ments. The Government has alone the right of

making armaments."
The simple order of the day, as proposed by
Signor Ordes, accompanied by a declaration that
its adoption would signify that the Chamber sup-
ported the Ministry, was then put to the vote.
All the members voting were called by name.
The order of the day, with its accompanying
declaration, was passed by 210 against 80 votes.
Three members abstained from voting.

TURIN, MARCH 17:

A letter from Garibaldi has been published to-day
exhorting the Italians to subscribe towards the
relief of the sufferers by the late inundations in

Austria.

The letter says in conclusion :—" It is necessary
to put an end to the fratricidal struggle between

nations."

ROME, MARCH 17.
Report designates Monsignor Berardi for the post
of Apostolic Nuncio at St. Petersburg.
The health of the Pope continues to improve.

COPENHAGEN, MARCH 17.

The Dagbladet of to-day contains a more detailed
analysis of the Danish note which was despatched
to the German Governments on the 12th inst.

The note declines to enter into any discussion
with regard to Schleswig, or to the competency of
the Rigsraad. It states that Denmark is unable to
prevent Prussia from again putting forward the in-
terpretation that Power has already given to the
negotiations of 1861, nor would Denmark shrink
from renewed discussion of the subject, because she
fulfils all she has undertaken.

The note goes on to observe, however, that the
present negotiations must leave the question of
Schleswig untouched,as matters which are unques-
tionably international and without the province of
the German Federation would otherwise be mixed
up with a question which Europe regards as exclu-
sively German.

The note concludes by observing that, should
Germany confound the Schleswig with the Holstein
question, Denmark would be forced, in the event
of Federal execution being applied to Schleswig,
to regard such execution as rs casus belli, even if the
territory of Holstein alone were occupied.

ATHENS, MARCH 14.
All the exterior fortifications of Nauplia were
taken yesterday by the Royal troops.