The Sun.
London, England, 1862-06-02 00:00:00

the world so very mysteriously by the race that appa-

rently never dies—that of the old postboys! Here
the fast dog-cart with its four oustide back to back,
and a giant hamper between them—there the lum-
bering omnibus, carrying far more in and out than
it has any right to do by leave or license : to
say nothing of that collective defiance at once of
Martin's Act, of axles, and of linchpins that occa-
sionally—at almost the sharpest turning in the
narrowest part of the road—brings the whole con-
veyance to grief together with all the
chopfallen freight of unfair fares, who
thus find out to their cost upon
what false principles of economy they have rashly
chartered it ! Onward there will stream that varie-
gated and fantastic procession of sightseers and holi-
day makers along the highway from the outskirts of
London—to the neighbourhood of the Grand Stand
at Epsom—to the wonder at heat (however well
concealed under the mask of their nil admirari
visages) of their observant excellencies the Japanese
Ambassadors• Everything that is most familiar
to us being strangest of course to them : even the
very means of transit used by the multitude—

ig Whisky, buggy, gig, or go-cart, ourriele or tandem.'
Through the crush of the turnpike gates, on
among the pretty suburban villas, with their way-
side gardens full of lilacs and laburnums, to say
nothing of the children and the nurserymaids, on
between the country hedgerows of hawthorn, with
the green landscapes beyond them to the right and
to the left—on through the little straggling town
sacred to salts and racing—on to the soft-turfed
and wheel-cut downs themselves—to the back en-
trance of the Grand BLtaid, from wnicn coign of
vantage' the race is to be seen upon the issue of which
each year more is dependent than upon the issue
of any other sport in the wide world by land or by
water. Even in getting to the Grand Stand through
the motley crowd huddled around it, the Japanese
will have reasons enow to look about them ! Inca-
pable, we may be sure, of getting any adequate ex-
planation from their interpreter, even though Mr.
MACDONALD were as glibly voluble of tongue as
Mr. CHARLES MATHEWS in Patter versus Clatter—
whilst gazing around upon that oddest medley any-
where to be found within an equal space upon a
given day. Bands playing, niggers singing,
prize fighters having their rounds, Punch and Judy
in full swing, conjurers juggling, organ-grinders
playing different tunes (excruciatingly) within a few
paces of each other, card-sellers bawling (each a sore-
throated Stentor) the names, weights, and colours
of the riders ; betting-men here and there, both
in and out of the Ring, note-book and pencil in
hand, shouting still more loudly the odds given
or taken ! Aunt Sally having her nose broken,
gipsies telling fortunes, people on foot and in
carriages, on horseback and in merry-go-round,
cigar-smoking, talking, laughing, everything
but crying gentlemen with blue veils and
green, ladies with dresses and parasols all
the colours of the rainbow ! From the
little white-washed weighing-room under the
Grand Stand, to the freshly verdant paddock to
the right of it, where the racers are saddled—
each of the mere preliminaries of the Race may
be said, with truth, to have its special
attraction for the eager throng of spectators
there assembled. Until the bell clangs and the course
is cleared—of all, that is, but the inevitable dog
and the nearly equally inevitable stout gentleman.
Then, off !—hidden behind the hill fronting the chief
mass of the beholders—emerging after a few seconds
upon -what seems almost the rim of the horizon—
the parti-coloured silk jackets of the joekeys, like a
flying bed of tulips in the distance—round Totten-
ham Corner, and then home, fluctuating as they
run, but flying all the while like the wind, and
so, almost with a flash, past the winning post !
A number run up, there—telling the winner !
almost before the ruck, which is nowhere, has
swept past the umpire's chair ! It is a scene we
have all witnessed—a scene with which we are all
of us familiar—but one that will be viewed on
Wednesday next for the first time in their lives,
and, wo may be certain, with a very novel sensa-
tion, by our quick-witted and observant visitors
from the far-off empire of Japan. It gives one a
new kind of anticipative relish of the coming
Derby merely to think of how it will appear to
those unaccustomed eyes of the Japanese ,

Not only men of business, but every one of us, on
the ground of humanity alone, must inquire with
deep interest respecting the cotton question. No-
thing in the American war touches us as does its in-
terference with our cotton supply. The Americans
know this so well, that both North and South equally
expected it would cause an armed intervention on
the part of both England and France. The South
hoped for it so confidently that it may well be
doubted if it would have commenced the rebellion
had it not felt certain that France and England
could not, and would not, do without its cotton.

Its Commissioners came over and began speaking
at the Fishmonger's-hall for the slaveholders' in- I
surrection against free-territories and a free-soil
President, as if assured that the offer of free-trade
and cotton would make us forget international ob-
ligations, and compel us to fraternise with men
who separated avowedly to build up a new republic
with the Divine Right of Slavery as its corner-
stone: France would have listened for the sake of
her operatives. England, however, stood firmly by '
liberty and law; and the poor Commissioners re-
turned home telling a sad tale of the anti-slavery
feeling of England.
But the North feared oar intervention as much
as the South hoped it. It did so in two respects,
with the best reason. It knew that in a similar
position of things, in regard to itself, the United
States would have declared that international law
must give way, like the Habeas Corpus Act and the
Freedom of the Press, to the national safety; and
it knew that if toe thought so, nothing could have
prevented
France, from scattering the blockading ships, and
supplying
the South freely with the munitions of
war in repayment for cotton. That alone would
make the South invincible to the North. So deeply
did this fear haunt the North, that Mr. LINCOLN, in
appointing a solemn day of thanksgiving, made our
non-intervention one of the chief reasons of thank-
fulness to Heaven. And, We must confess, that
while we have never suggested that the blockade
should be broken, we have yet always felt that the
moral rights of some five millions of persons in
England and France, to a free supply of the article
of commerce by which they lived, quite balanced
the international rights, of one-half of a Federation
Sovereign States, to close to the world the ports
of the other half. We are only thankful that
the painful decision between the rights of starv-
ing operatives, and the rights of President LIN-
COLN did not rest with us. We much fear
that our verdict would have been, that,
as for forty years and more, the
North had nurtured and helped Southern
slavery in exchange for commercial tariffs hostile
to this country and the world, it must take the
complicity in crime ; and
consequences of its own
io zffer because
I that we could not allow our people

iffy ; sum LONDON, MONDAY EVENING, JUNE 2, 1862.

the general preparing for " operation
of Richmond." The opinion there was thst Rich-
mond would be defended to the uttermost. Congress
men and representatives from Southern States are
said to be present encouraging the chivsiry of
the South, and JEFFERSON DAVIS asserts print
that he never intended to abandon the capital, and
and that should it fall, which he sees no risson to
expect, the war might yet be prolonged in Vir-
ginia for twenty years! It would seem that the
engagement of the boats and the battery, only
seven miles below the city, produced quite a panic
in the city. This is very natural. We can all
imagine what our citizens would feel with a large
French Army encamped on Blackheath, and French
gunboats attacking old Tilbury Fort. Old General
WooL is not inactive; he has moved on to Suffolk,
an important town on account of its command of
railways.

Le iron'

From the Western army we have, of cotes°, only
Northern accounts. According to them, re might
be expected, though nothing is done, yet HAL•
LECK'S quietness is described as a " masterly
inaction." He is starving and exhausting 3EAURE-
GARD and uniting his own forces, while FAXRAGUT,
the naval hero of New Orleans and the Mississippi,
is moving on to Memphis, the only large town to
which BEAUREGARD can look. The questionable
reports of the destruction of private property—cotton
and sugar—still continue. We do not credit them
without confirmation, since the Federals haw) shown
no disposition to appropriate such property, but
rather the contrary; and we can hardly think the
Confederates so reckless as to destroy property
which they would be permitted to turn into money,
an article they must greatly need. Indeed, accord-
ing to the last accoun",-s, a silver dollar is now almost
a curiosity in the South.
The PRESIDENT has, as was expected, annulled the
proclamation of General HUNTER, giving liberty in
three States to the negroes, and, so oddly,
proclaiming slavery to be incompatible
with martial law. The PRESIDENT'S pro-
clamation is, however, very strongly worded. He
addresses the Border States with the language
of entreaty—of religious remonstrance—of appeal
to the opportunity afforded them to do more good
by one effort than has been done in all past time.
He asks them to rise above the range of personal
and partizan politics, and to see to it that the
" vast future have not to lament their neglect." He
takes care, while repudiating General HUNTER'S
unauthorised proclamation, to reserve his own right
'to deal with slavery as circumstances may require,
and places side by side with this the opportunity
afforded by Congress to emancipate their slaves, in
a mode by which, says the poetical PRESIDENT,
"the change would come gently as the dews of
heaven, not receding or wrecking anything."
May his appeal be successful ! We could not hope
it of the hearts of the slaveholders, but we might
hope it of their prudence.

RECEPTION OF THE BISHOP OF MALTA
AT MALTA.

A correspondent of the Malta Observer, writing
from Messina, under date May 21, says
" The Catholic Bishop of Malta arrived here on
Sunday, attended by a staff of priests, who were all
warned not to attempt to come on shore, and they
wisely listened to good advice; for had they landed
I fear the Pope would have had to include the
Bishop of Malta amongst the martyrs that are to
be canonised, as the Messinese were prepared to
receive his excellency and staff with a discharge of
rotten eggs, potatoes, cabbage stalks, old brooms,
&c. As the bishop did not land, on Monday,
shortly before the steamer left, hundreds of people
(of respectable appearance), and amongst them
priests, went off in boats alongside and commenced
shouting, Viva la Francia, Abasso it Papa Re,
Abasso i Codini !' and hooted your poor bishop in
such a manner that the captain of the steamer got
up steam and left the port followed by the boats,
the people continuiiig to hoot the bishop. Tbo
steamer remained outside the port for the mails.
The French consul and captain have made a great
fuss about it, insisting that the French flag had
been insulted (such was not the case, unless they
consider shouting ' Viva la Francia' as an insult).
The former wanted our prefect to arrest the leaders,
but he refused to do so unless the consul demanded
it in writing, which, however, he has not done. The
bishop, on his return, will be able to inform the
Maltese papers of the sentiments of the Messinese
towards the Holy Father, and if his fright did not
prevent him hearing distinctly, he will also be able
to let them know that from the cries raised of
Viva Vittorio Emanuele,' Viva l'ltalia,' the Mes-
sinese are not very anxious to abandon the iron rule
of Victor Emanuel for the tender one ' del giusto,
populaire, magnanimo sovrano, legittimo e per vo-
lunta nazionale, Francesco ll.' These deplorable
occurrences are consequent on the offences given in
Malta to Italians and the cause of Italy, and are
much to be regretted?'
The bishop is the bearer of an address from the
Maltese to the Pope, in favour of temporal power,
and vehemently hostile to the unity of Italy.

A SUNKEN ROCK.—The following has been posted
n the Underwriters' Rooms, Liverpool :—" Admiralty,
29th May, 1862.—Thomas Court. Esq.—Sir,—l am cora•
manded by my Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty to
acquaint you, for the information of the underwriters at
Liverpool, that, on the notice respecting the sunken rock,
reported by Captain W. Hall, of the ship Ethel, appearing
in the bhipping Gazette, 19th inst., their lordships ordered
her Majesty's ship Asp, Commander Aldridge, to proceed
immediately to the spot and search for the rock in question.
'1 hat officer has this day reported that a rock, having only
19 feet over it at low water spring tides, does exist with the
following bearings :--Coal Rock Buoy, S.E. t S.; Skerries
Lighthouse, W. a S., magnetic. I transmit two charts of
Holyhead Bay and the coast of Anglesea, on which the
Ethel Rock has been laid down. The clearing mark for the
Coal Rock also clears the Ethel Rock, but leads rather too
close to it —I am, sir, your obedient servant, C. PAoET."

An interesting incident marked the representa-
tion of the " Juive" at the Paris Opera on Wednesday
evening. After the second act, on the audience recalling
the performers, they appeared bringing on the stage the
bust of Halevy, which the widow of the composer had just
presented to the theatre. Fltwers were immediately thrown
from different parts of the house, and the whole audience
rose, and with the loudest acclamations paid a just tribute
to the illustrious deceased.

AGRICULTURAL PROSPECTS IN THE EAST...--
Within the memory of the oldest inhabitants of the
Eastern district, a finer spring, or weather more conducive
to the growth and development of all kinds of agri-
cultural produce has not been experienced. The
warm showers have stimulated the corn crops in
the most marvellous manner, so that in some dis-
tricts in Essex the wheat has already broken into ear,
and the spring corn wears the most promising appearance.
There will this year be an abundance of straw, and from
the general appearance of the wheat crops, should no unfore-
seen casualty arise, a full average crop is anticipated. Beans
and peas never looked in finer condition, the former being,
happily, free from the black fly so prevalent at this season
of the year, and the latter strong on the bine and well
covered with blossom. Upon the whole, the prospects of
farmers have not for many years been so encouraging.
THE SECOND READING OF THE BALLOT BILL.—
Mr. Berkeley's Ballot Bill was brought in on Friday after-
noon, and read a first time. The second reading is fixed for
Wednesday, July 2d. By the vote of Tuesday night, the
question is removed from its usual condition of a discussion
on secret voting, in the abstract, and the house will have
before it the exact plan proposed by Mr. Berkeley, and be
able to compare its provisions with those of the Government
Corrupt Practices Prevention Act. Liberal members will,
no doubt, muster strongly on the second reading in order to
secure a fair consideration for the question of the ballot.
PRESSURE OF WATER.—M. Guibal, professor at
the School of Mines at Mons, has recently applied the
compression of water very successfully to the detaching of
rocks from their beds, and especially to the extraction of
coal. At a recent meeting of the society formed by the old
pupils of that school, he produced a cast iron cylinder
divided in two by a partition parallel to its axis, and pre-
senting the appearance of the shaft of a mine. By the
application of the pressure of water he broke the two cast-
iron hoops, which bound the two parts of the cylinder to-
gether, and the transversal sections of which presented a
surface of 100 square millimetres. By calculation it was
found that the pressure applied was equal to 75 atmospheres
—a pressure amply suffic,ent to detach coal, but far within
the limits of the pressure which might, if necessary, be
obtained,