The Sun.
London, England, 1862-05-30 00:00:00

ject of Gen. Halleek's position near Corinth. His
army is believed to be greatly outnumbered by that
of Gen. Beauregard. He is untried as a commander,
never having fought a battle, and his subcrdinates,
Generals Grant and Buell, did not win LI ch laurels
at Pittsburg Landing as to impress the country and,
worse than all, their own soldiers with a high opi-
nion of their military judgment. Every one admits
that they fought well, and performed what it is the
custom to call "prodigies of valour," but a true
general ought not to allow his army to get into a
position where his own personal bravery is needed
as much as that of the common soldier to save the
whole force from annihilation. It is not the strong
arm, but the clear head which is expected in the
leader of men, and it was the clear head which was
wanting both before and during that obstinate and
fruitless battle, in which both sides claim, and
neither won, the victory, and in which Grant's di-
vision was only rescued from utter destruction by
circumstances which he did not create. And to in-
crease the general disquietude caused by this infe-
riority, both of men and commanders, Mr. Secre-
tary Stanton, as if he were fearful of bad news and
anxious to keep it from public knowledge as long
as possible, has issued another of his press ordon-
nances, prohibiting all newspapers from publishing
any telegraphic despatches from Halleck's army, or
from Corinth and the neighbourhood, until such
despatches shall have been communicated to the
War department. People ask why this should be?
If there be good news, why should it not be flashed
along the wires to every newspaper in the country ?
And if there be bad news, why should the official
ostrich hide its silly head in a hole, and affect not
to know it ?
The armies of Halleck and Beauregard have both
received reinforcements. Halleck has been joir ed
by General Mitchell (the astronomer), who has
made a retrograde movement from Huntsville,
in Alabama, to come to his relief ; and Beaure-
gard has received the accession of the army of Gen.
Mansfield Lovell, numbering from 25,000 to 30,000 '
men, which marched out of New Orleans and tonic
the rail towards Memphis, as soon as the unexpected
appearance of Commodore Farragut's flotilla at the
levee of that city had proclaimed the position to be
no longer tenable. The last news from Halleck is
a proclamation warning all unauthorised persons
from his lines, and ordering that any such persons,
whether negroes or newspaper reporters, shall be
set to work in the trenches, or to such active labour
in the camp as may be deemed advisable, It is not
known whether any newspaper reporters have been
authorised to remain, or whether this publication
is his own work or that of Secretary Stanton.
General M'Clellan has taken up a position on the
Pamunkey River, within 27 miles of Richmond.
His advanced guard is on the Chickahominy, within
17 miles of that capital. It is not now believed that
the Confederates mean to evacuate the city and re-
treat southwards, but that they have raised such
fortifications and gathered together such a force as
will detain M'Clellan for a month before it will be
prudent in him to commence an attack.

Both Houses of Congress have Confiscation Bills
before them, in defiance of Mrs. Glasse's celebrated
maxim that you cannot well cook a hare until you
have caught it. The Senate has reported upon the
whole batch, which I mentioned in my last, and
brought in a new bill, decreeing death and forfeiture
of all property—that in slaves included—against
all persons who shall be convicted of treason to the
United States; and minor punishments, including
fine, imprisonment, and disqualification for office,
against all future aiders and abettors of the crime.
A measure similar in spirit, but differing in some of
the details, has been reported in like manner by a
special committee of the House of Representatives ;
but as both measures reserve to the President the
right of proclaiming a general amnesty, and as by
virtue of his office he has the power of life and death,
it is possible, even if the hare be caught, that it
may not be cooked in the exact manner recom-
mended by the Legislature.

The President's proclamation, opening three, not
five, Southern ports—New Orleans, Port Royal, and
Beaufort—to the commerce of the United States,
and to the foreigner under certain well-defined
restrictions, and the re-establishment of postal com-
munication from this city direct to New Orleans,
have been received with great satisfaction by the
mercantile community. The arrears of a twelve-
month's correspondence, principally on business
matters, have been thrown into the Post-office in
Nassau-street, subject to the liability of being
opened and detained on suspicion of containing
treason. But the accumulation was so large that
very little espionage of this kind was possible,
even if the authorities were desirous of exercising
it. The principal activity which has been yet shown
among that part of the business community whose
hopes run on future profits, rather than on the
recovery of old debts, is among the wine and spirit
merchants, who, knowing that the South drinks
much, and that it has for many months been with-
out claret, champagne, hollands, and stomachic
bitters, for all of which it has a liking that the
North cannot equal, have prepared large consign-
ments of those articles for the opening market.
How they are to receive payment, when the Confe-
derate notes are declared to be worth less than 25
cents on the dollar, and while cotton, sugar, and
tobacco are consigned on every hand to destruction,
is a matter on which they have doubtless made up
their minds, and which does not yet concern the
outside public:

As it is easy to be a lion in New York, the city is
seldom without one for the amusement of the inha-
bitants. But New York lions, thouga permitted to
roar lustily, are not permitted to roar long ; or the
great element of loyalty, without which lionism
would be a worse nuisance than it is, would be
wanting. The lion of to-day is a certain Dr.
Brownlow —" Parson Brownlow," as he is com-
monly called—a gentleman who unites in his public
and private character many piquant originalities.
He is a minister of the Gospel, yet fights duels and
goes armed. He is supposed, from his calling, to
be a person of education and refinement, but he
swears profanely, and talks and preaches in the
vulgarest slang of the streets. Add to these little
peculiarities that heis, or was, a slaveholder, and is
now a supporter of slavery, that he was editor and
proprietor of a newspaper in Knoxville, Tennessee,
suppressed for treason to the Confederate Govern-
ment ; that he was imprisoned for many months in
the common gaol of Knoxville for his Union prin-
-1 ciples, and that he was finally set at liberty, appa-
rently on the ground that his eccentricities almost
amounted to lunacy, and that he was not, in mercy,
to be held accountable for his actions, and you have
a rough, but not incorrect sketch of the history and
character of Parson Brownlow. One of the largest,
most respectable, and most enthusiastic audiences
that ever assembled in New York gathered together
last night at the Academy of Music (or Opera
House), with the hope of drawing both amusement
and excitement from a speech about the war, and
his own personal experience in captivity, which he
was announced to deliver. Nor was the audience
in any way diEappointed, either by his patriotism
or his buffoonery, or by the recital of his sufferings.
He declared the late President, Mr. Buchanan, to
be " a miserable mockery of a man ;" that "such a
President as Andrew Jackson would have crushed
the rebellion out as sure as God made Moses;" that
i" President Lincoln would crush it out with the aid
of the people ; and, when that was done, they (the
people), after a few wecks to recruit strength,
would lick France and England, too, both on at
once." Thia amiable sentiment—which, I regret to
say, is very Popular just now—was received with
reiterated rounds of applause.
had bought up the
the
lastuse. Ho farther stated
that the leaders of Secession
Southern editors, to
that every outraged Union-
tn
a devil in his bosom the sizettnoe
trei,e
id
naevTnessee
.bat
themh ;d
a
at , that Mr.
Yancey once asked him on a public platform why
be, a minister of the Gospel, meddled with polities •
that he said to Yancey, as Christ said to the Devil,
ic Get thee behind me, Satan ;" that •he
fully expected that Yancey would knock him down,
but that he (the parson) had a cocked Derringer in
his pocket, and fully intended that if he went down
Yancey should go down on the other side; that he
wanted to have the pleasure of tying the rope
around the neck of every traitor in Tennessee; that
the last suit of clothes worn by Henry Clay would
make a better President, without a man in them,