The Sun.
London, England, 1862-10-20 00:00:00

PRICE..,.. ..4d.
STAMPED ....sd.

'he will find that from Abraham to Jesus—a period
of nearly 2,000 years—there were only 42 genera-
tions. Consequently, if Mr. Lincoln's wish were to
be fulfilled, and t he generations of the future were to
he of the average length of those of the past, the
Union would reach the respectable age of 47,619
' y ears—an antiquity compared with which the globe
itself, according to the orthodox belief, is at the
present date but an infant, and the duration of the
great empires of antiquity—Assyria, Phoenicia
Egypt, Greece, and Rome but the life of the summer
ephemerae that dance in the sunbeam at noon and
are dead ere sunset. Of course, it is as easy to say
a thousand as any other number, as General Pope
knows, but, as the President is painfully aware that
his every word is noted, he ought to be as careful
of his figures of arithmetic as of his figures of speech,
and so avoid the rock on which his friend General
Pope made so exemplary a split.
The local legislature of Virginia appears inclined
to go still further than the Confederate Congress in
its denunciations of the President's proclamation
for freeing the slaves of rebels. It has passed a re-
solution providing that "no person within that State
shall be tried, imprisoned, or held to account for
driving therefrom, or putting to death by any
means, any person with or without arms, who may
he found on that soil aiding or abetting, or in any
other way giving effect in that State, or on its bor-
ders, to the proclamation," which it further declares
to be "lawless and fiendish." No intelligence has
yet been received of its effect in Georgia and South
Carolina, and the States still further to the south-
ward, but there can be little doubt that it will fail
of the purpose for which it was issued ; and
that, instead of operating as a persuasive to sub-
mission, it will but widen the gulf of hatred be-
tween South and North; and make the war on
both sides as " fiendish" as the Virginia Legisla-
ture considers the proclamation. An act of retalia-
tion of a very different kind has been suggested in
the South, which if it were other than a grim joke
and could be carried into effect would be much
more embarrassing to the North than the schemes
of personal vengeance that are talked of in Rich-
mond. We have among us, says a slaveholder, "a
large number of negroes of both sexes, upwards of
60 years of age, together with many who are blind,
crippled, or otherwise infirm and unfit for labour.
All of these we feed and take care of ; and if let
I alone will continue to do so until they die. But,
as Mr. Lincoln and the Yankees are so very fond of
negroes, let us drive the whole of them into the
Federal lines ; whereby we shall escape a large ex-
pense, and afford our enemies a splendid opportu-
nit of exhibiting their philanthropy. It is true
that Illinois would rather secede from the Union
than admit these poor people into their State;
and that Massachusetts itself might revolt,
with Governor Andrew at his head, rather than act
the part of the good Samaritan on so large a scale
—and on compulsion ; but what of that ?" The
Southern people are too kind to their aged and in-
firm slaves to entertain this proposition except as a
jest ; and at the present time they are in no jesting
mood. But the fact that such a mode of looking at
the matter has been indicated is enough to prove
that the whole South is not quite so truculent er so
much alarmed as Virginia, and that the proclama-
tion, as regards the States where the patriarchial
relation exists between master and slave, may be
about as inoperative as Mr. Lincoln once believed.
The Governors of the Northern, Western, and
Eastern States who lately met is convention at
Altoona to dictate to the President the removal of
General M'Clellan, and, when that was voted down,
to recommend the levy of 100,000 men to be kept
as a reserve, in case the necessities of the Abolition
party should require such a force to fall back upon,
are, fortunately fur the country, only elected for a
year; and the terms of office of many of them are
about to expire. Neither have they much power
for good or evil, unless they choose to revive the
doctrine of " State rights," by which the South
justifies its secession ; but if they were fixtures in
office, even for so long a period as the President,
such Governors as now administer the local affairs
of Massachusetts, Michigan, and Ohio might do
serious mischief. The rebellious idiosyncrasies of
Governor Andre, of Massachusetts, in all that re-
lates to negroes and negro slavery are well known,
as is also his doctrine of the divine rights of Kings,
as superior to any rights supposed to be derived
from the people ; but what is to be thought of the
newer vagaries of Governor Blair, of Michigan,
who in a speech at Washington, in support of the
candidature of General Wadsworth for the gover-
norship of New York, denounced every man who
was not of the Republican party as a " traitor," and
hinted that mercy was misplaced upon such
people, and that hereafter it might become
necessary or advisable to introduce the guillo-
tine ? "We desire this," says the New York Cau-
casian, " to be remembered and made a note
of. Governor Blair is the individual who sug-
gests that this bloody and remorseless punish-
ment be introduced among us. He will do well to
remember what history has recorded as the fate of
those who introduced it elsewhere." Governor
Blair's words might have been the random shot of
a heated speaker, who in his cooler moments might
be the first to regret that he had given utterance to
such a sentiment; but can as much be said in exte-
nuation of the conduct of Mr. David Tod, Gover-
nor of Ohio, and one of the Altoona Conventionists,
who has taken it upon himself to declare that the
freedom of the press, the existence of a newspaper,
and the personal liberty of an editor in Ohio de-
pend entirely upon his goodwill and pleasure, and
not upon the law ? The circumstances under which
Governor Tod enunciated this astounding doctrine
are recorded in the Ohio Eagle, published at Co-
lumbus, the State capital. On August 29 the edi-
tor of the Eagle, Mr. Charles Roland, received a
curt note from the Governor, stating that he desired
to see him, and appointing an immediate interview.
The editor attended, and was told by Mr. Tod that
the general course of his paper was
but that it would not, perhaps, have objectionable,
been noticed
had not he (the editor printed at his office "cer-
tain handbills calling an indignation mess
meeting
of the county on the arrest of Dr. Olds." "My
first impression," continued Mr. Tod,
"upon read-
ing that handbill was to arrest you immediately,
send you to Fort Warren, and close up your office ;
but, upon consideration, I
personal concluded to write to
you, seeking ainterview, but not expect-
ing you would come.',
What he would have done
had the editor not obeyed the summons he did not
state, but he put this broad question to him—cc
want to know, sir,
whether you intend to continue
the publication in
of your paper the spirit of that
after' have
the ?If you do
iyto,u, shall be arrested.
The editor,
to do .
the backbonesome
explanations about the handbill irrelevant and
its animus, said more emphatically --c, In re-
ference to the course
of
my
paper I had
supposed I was living under a Government of
written constitutions and laws, and in the publica-
tion of the Eagle I have adopted them as myltatide."
The Governor, who ought to have been a Russian,
an Austrian, or at the least
a French prefect, re-
plied—" I am to be the
what you may not say, constitutions
and laws not-
withstanding; and l
tin ess you will agree not to
publish the Eagle in the spirit of the said handbills,
it will be suppressed,
regardless of consequences."
Mr. Roland would make no promise, and withdrew.
He has published
the report of the interview, cer-
tified as to its substantial correctness by Mr. James
Miller, the sheriff of the county, and a Mr. Slough,
whom he took the precaution of asking to accom-
pany him, and so the matter rests for the present.
It is quite evident, however, from this little episode,
as from many ethers, that if a despotism be not
established in this country it will not be for lack of
ready-made tyrants and willing instruments to
effect it.

The draught in the State of New York has been
again postponed sine die. The reasons alleged gge