The Sun.
London, England, 1862-09-15 00:00:00

to outnumber the Confederates, and, though dis-
couraged by the want of competent field com-
manders, they must, we may suppose, be able
easily to hold the enemy in chock behind fortifi-
cations. These fortifications are indeed but earth-
works, but what resistance earthworks can make,
is well known to our Crimean soldiers. The Pre- I
side= seems to think that some change of men
is indispensable. General HALLECK is said to
have superseded Mr. STANTON as Secretary for
war, and General M'CLELLAN to be entrusted
with the defence of Washington. The latter is
indeed charged with not having sent reinforce-
ments demanded of him from Acquia Creek, and
hence to have caused the loss of the great battle
of Bull's Run on the 30th ; the President, how-
ever, can hardly believe this, or he would not have
intrusted his own safety to a traitor, Thus
Washington is once more become a camp, with
M'CLELLAN in command.
But how far are things from having reverted to
their old position ! The two armies are both in a
very different condition. The old Bull's Run panic
was rather a subject for a joke than otherwise.
Everyone knew that it had little, if any, military
significance. Not so the Bull's Run battles of the
29th and 30th of August. They were equal, stand
up fights, between two mighty armies, both sea-
soned to battle, and steady enough under fire. Both
armies fought with equal determination. Not a
regiment would yield on either side to anything
but proof that they could no longer resist ; and
then they would retreat, not run. It was general-
ship, and generalship alone, which gave the victory
to the South. But how much is involved in the
fact. The Southern soldier knows it, and will fight
with undoubted confidence, because confident in his
leader. The Northern soldier, equally brave, will
lose half the benefit of his courage, by doubting
whether it will not be wasted. Events, too, will
have proved that he does not fight with an enemy
who is insufficiently equipped with the means of
destruction. Where they got them from may well
be matter of wonder ; but that the Southern generals
have not only superior skill, and equally courageous
soldiers, but sufficient arms of all kinds is made but
too painfully evident to the North. How is such a
struggle to end, unless mediation be accepted !
Nor does the Federal cause look more hopeful
elsewhere. In Kentucky the Unionists, Govern-
ment included, are " skedaddling," as Yankee
slang now terms a prudent and timely care for per-
sonal safety with bag and baggage. The Great
Border State seems in a fair way to be occupied
by the Confederate arms. The Legislature, with
all its archives, has migrated from Lexington, first
to Frankfort, then to Louisville, which is only sepa-
rated by the river Ohio from the State of that name.
Cincinnati, the great city of Ohio, situated on the
river, is quite in trepidation, and militia are
called out, and large bodies of Confederates, their
numbers probably magnified by the fears of the
reporters, are moving truly in the State. From the
Mississippi the reports are equally discouraging.
Baton Rouge is at last really evacuated by the Fe-
derala, not having been first barbarously destroyed,
as was at first reported. New Orleans is also in
danger. General BUTLER is taking measures to
defend the city, but a large army of Confederates
certainly threaten it. We shall soon learn whether
the North is yet awakened to the impossibility of
subjugating its energetic enemy, or whether all
these reverses will rouse it to fresh and extraordi-
nary exertions. Pride will probably long defer the
settlement which must come at last.

According to the old proverbial notion about
"the third" being " the charm " the Imperial
Journalist's letter in La France (the third and last
of the series) has certainly proved to be the most im-
portant to which that publicist has La France)
affixed his signature. M. DE LA GUERRONNIERE
blurts the whole truth out at last in regard to the
hitherto wiled and dumbltalian policy of the French
Emperor. It is true that, before closing his re-
marks, the Viscount distinctly declares that, upon
the Question under notice, he does not pretend to
be the mouthpiece of the French Government. Of
course. That is a thing, by this time, perfectly
well understood. We will not call M. DE LA
GUERRONNIERE then the mouthpiece of the
French Government. We will not designate him
oven the semi-official spokesman of her Majesty
l'lmperatrice. We will not talk about back
stairs influence, or about boudoir knowledge.
We will regard these three letters in La France,
but particularly this third letter in La France,
as constituting another of those well known
" feelers" thrown out by the Imperial Govern-
ment of France at periods of more than usual
doubt, or in times of grief or emergency. If
the direction indicated by them " takes" with
the public as one happily thought of—to be
be accepted and followed out ! If the reverse—to
be repudiated ! Formerly this exceedingly clever
but, by this time, perfectly transparent dodge
[there is really no other word for it !] was
managed through little primrose-coloured and
lilac-coloured brochures, sold by thousands, " prix
1 franc," across the counter of M. DENTU, the
Palais Royale bookseller. Now, it is managed, by
way of novelty, through the columns of la France
under the auspices of its redacteur en chef, M. le
Vicomte DE LA GUERRONNIERE, the very Prince of
the Imperial Pamphleteers. It is because he occu-
pies this position before the European pub-
lic, and because his recent manifesto is
at once recognisable as another of those wonderful
(‘ feelers," thrown out from the darkness and the ,
silence of the Imperial Cabinet in the Tuileries,
that
he argument put forth within the last few
days t
by
La France is entitled, at any rate, to some
consideration.
It is important, in the first instance,
to notice,
in regard to this argument of La France,
that the aelt
owledgment is at length made, that,
il
for a solution of the Italian Difficulty it is idle, it is
absolutely
impossible, to dream of returning to the
t be Treaty
notion
of of Villafranea!
sAdmittingcheme indicatedthat, however, by
the
Federa-
tion is still clung to. A Great Federation Italy
must be—says M. DE LA GUERRONNIERE—if it is
to be anything at all beyond a geographical expres-
sion. A Federation of Three States—namely, two
considerable States, Northern Italy and Southern
Italy, with Central Italy between them as a bond
of union, or connecting link. The bases, in
fact, upon which the whole matter may be
settled byare, simply,
an European C —ongross,
according to M. DE LA GUERRONNIERE, as
follows

i, The division of Italy into three States, united
by a Federal bond.

"The guarantee by Europe of the Pontifical
territory, formed of Rome Rn d the patrimony of
St. Peter.

ii The reservation for the benefit of the Holy
Father of the sovereignty of the Marches and Um-
bi:who
with the payment of a tribute by the Sove-
reign should
retain the administration of
those districts.

, customs, and
"Military, diplomatic, legal
financial union between all the Italian States."
All very plain sailing, this, apparently. only_
there are two rather important considerations to be
taken into account before this suggestion can in any
I Way be carried out—namely, how the notion would

be regarded first of all by Italy, and afterwards by
Europe!

The value of the discovery, if such it should prove,
of a substitute for cotton will soon be fully tested.
The noble-minded discoverer has taken the course
which, but for the advice of friends, he would have
taken before, and offers it without guarantee of
pecuniary compensation to the examination of a
properly constituted committee. In this course he
is assuredly right and safe, as well as generous.
Generous he must be thought, since he fully
believes that his invention is certain to answer.
Safe we are sure he is, for should it prove at all
what he expects, and set speedily the unemployed
operatives of Lancashire to work, the whole nation
would demand of its representatives that they
should deal with such a national benefactor in no
niggardly style. The money saving alone to the
country would demand a munificent reward ; but
what reward could be too great for the man who
should save a body of the noblest operatives in
Europe from the demoralisation consequent on
idleness and want.

It is impossible not to be sceptical as to the possi-
bility of finding in these temperate climes any
shbstitute for the beautifully soft and delicate tree-
wool of the tropics. Failures have been so nume-
rous hitherto, as in the apparently easier case of
finding a substitute for rags in the manufacture of
paper, that success now will not be hoped for till it
is achieved. Some unforseen practical difficulty
has always been detected which has frustrated the
hopes of the sanguine discoverer. In this case
otherwise, all looks eminently hopeful. An
eminent retired cotton manufacturer, Mr.
WRIGLEY, has seen the material, and has
testified to its " length, colour, and fine-
ness" being perfectly satisfactory—it has since
been submitted to " three of the best judges in
Manchester," and they have tested and approved
the remaining quality—strength. Our readers
will ask what more can be wanted ? We know of
nothing—of nothing we mean to hinder its being
made up into a textile fabric. Whether it will
take the dyes of different kind so well as cotton, is
of course untested yet ; but in any case it will take
some dyes, and if cheap, and strong, and fine fabrics,
can be produced from it, they will be sure enough
to come largely into use. Woe to Southern slavery,
if only our discoverer has not deceived himself. He
fully believes he shall be able to establish—" That
my substitute will answer all the purposes of cotton.
That a present and sufficient supply can be procured,
and the operatives at once set to work. That the
future supply of the material may be obtained by
cultivation in the United Kingdom, without dis-
placing from other purposes one acre of land, and
thus be the means of developing a new staple in-
dustry of the country."

The thirty-second annual meeting of the British
Association is to attraet the world of science this
year to Cambridge. The Presidential chair will be
resigned upon the inaugural day by the eminent
and veteran Engineer, who so ably filled it upon
the last occasion, namely, WILLIAM FAIRBAIRN,
LL.D. and P.M. It will be assumed by the rev.
gentleman selected as his successor, namely,
ROBERT WILLIS, M.A., and F.R.S. The Reverend
Professor WILLIS be'ng the Jacksonian Professor
of Natural and Experimental Philosophy at the
University ; and known already far beyond the
precincts of that ancient seat of learning as the
possessor of a very distinguished reputation.
Already the arrangements are tolerably well
advanced, are in fact for the most part by this
time fairly completed. The seven Sections have been
awarded to as many well-selected Presidents. Pro-
fessor STORES has that section which is naturally
enough marked. Adown at Cambridge, that is the
Section of Physical Science and of the " Mathe-
matics." Section B, set apart for Chemistry, is to
be presided over by Mr. MILLER, the Cambridge
Professor of Mineralogy. Section Cby Mr.
JUKES, the Director of the Geological Survey in
the sister island. Section D, combining under
one head Botany and Geology, will have for its
president Mr. HUXLEY, well known for his attain-
ments and his courtesy as the Geological Society's
Secretary. Section E, linking together the
sciences of Geography and Ethnology, is the only
section out of the seven, in reference to which we
are still left in doubt as to its new President, Not
so however is it in regard to the other two, each
of which has been awarded to a man eminent, in
some respects pre-eminent, in his profession, Section
F, the section of Economic Science and Statistics,
Having Mr. EDWIN CHADWICK for its President.
And Section 9, the section of Mechanical Science,
retaining the late President of the British Associa-
tion, Mr. W. FAIRBAIRN, as its President. Besides
which there will be proposed on the Ist proximo,
in General Committee, a sub-section of Physiology
—a sub-section which it is suggested, for reasons
then to be given, shall sit in aid of the regular sec-
tions already enumerated. And, if this idea (as is,
of course, nothing but probable) be approved of, it
is intended that the said sub-section of physiology
shall sit under Dr. PAGET'S Presidency.

The Association will inaugurate its reassembly
in 1862, upon the day but just now particularised—
namely, upon the Ist of October. The inaugural
gathering together of the General Committee en-
trusted with the routine work of electing and ap-
pointing the various sectional officers, will take
place, in the middle of that day, in the Town-hall
—a structure which will be set apart for the use of
the Association, during the period of its stay in
Cambridge, by the borough corporation. In the
evening of that day Mr. FAIRBAIRN will formally
resign the chair, and Professor WILLIS, on assum•
ing it, deliver his inaugural address as President.
Occurring as this thirty-second annual meeting
of the Association does after a by no means ex-
hausting Parliamentary session, and (as is usual)
during the holiday time of the year, when almost
every one is more or less at leisure, and (as is not
usual) in one of the great seats of learning, re-
nowned, as such, in both hemispheres—the forth-
coming assembly of men of science down at Cam-
bridge, has before it many reasonable prospects of
proving more than ordinarily successful, and cer-
tainly more than ordinarily attractive. Very
heartily we trust that these auguries may be ful-
filled.

During her Majesty's absence from Windsor
Castle all the splendid apartments occupied by the Princes
and Princesses, on the south side, fronting the Long Walk,
are being embellished, and having new ceilings, after the
style arranged by the late Prince Consort and the late Mr.
Thomas. The painting and gilding have been intrusted to
Mr. Cooper, of Windsor.—Court Journal.
His Royal Ri h
g-ness the Duke of Cambridge will
shortly leave town on a tour in Germany.
Their Royal Highnesses the Grand Duke and
Grand Duchess of Mecklenburg Strelitz and the Hereditary
Grand Adolphus, who have been staying several
m
Duchess of Cambridge, will leave
c
hew, to day, on their return to Streli; z.
His Royal Highness
io untbi
11s i
dDie ak c
e ( visit)t,t.geto,
.tthe
Prince Charles of Prussia
e
expected to arrive in this country from Berlin,
;
aisnslydh\ovritilmake a sejour of about a fortnight in London.
Imrd
std Lady Stanley of Alderley and the Hon.
Misses
family residence in Dover-
street on Friday from
Carlsbad. Lady Stanley and
%mg day for Alderley Park,
daughters left the folio
aLiey,
arrived at the
Cheshire.
SS Palmerston will leave
Viscount and Viscounte
w
nornsey, Hants. A select party ass.. t week
the
I 40Lle Premier's country seat at the clad 0 49 Wee
town this afternoon for Broadlands, his.
l lordship's seat near