The Sun.
London, England, 1862-11-29 00:00:00

CAPTAIN MAURY ON THE ME 1?.I

"CA Ar

WA B.
The Picitniond Enquirer publishes a letter, dated
Richmond, August 4, 1862, addressed to Admiral

Fitzroy by Captain Maury, of the Confederate
navy, who has just arrived in this country. H°

says :--

Study the object of this win and the cc;nduet of Northern
lulus, and you will be satiEfied that thei.: judgment has
been taken away and their people afflicted with judic!al
blindness. The fist dawn of returning rea son is just begin'
ning to appear among the Yankee people. Notwithstanding
the muzzled press and their gagged orators, the masses are
beginning to see that they can no more restore the broken
Union of these states, by fighting over it, than you can make
whole again the broken eggbytramplingupon it. The enthu-
siasm which existed among the Northern people this time
last year is gone ; their war spirit is broken, for it is now
evident that Lincoln's call for %00,000 more men is to be

ma only by compulsion. The trying crisis is over with us:
and I may speak of things now which in my first letter it
might not be proper to do. At first we were anxious for
foreign recognition, and desirous of intervention. But nog'

we are comparativelyindifferent as to either—indeed, we

rather fear and dread the latter. The recognition by France
and England of Lincoln's paper blockade has by no means

proved an unmitigated evil to us. When peace comes/
your manufacturers, your merchants, and your shipowners
will feel the effects of the course of your Government with
regard to that blockade very sensibly, and in more
ways than ono. It has forced us into many branches of

industry into which, but for that blockade, we should have
never entered ; for, instead of producing the articles our-
selves, we should have depended upon you and other
foreign countries for them. When you acknowledged the
blockade, and warned your vessels not to violate it, we were
sadly in want of powder and arms. Now wo have excellent
powder mills of our own, and two fine armouries in fall
blast. They turn out muskets, rifles, sabres, &c., rapidly, of
fine quality, and as fast as we want them. Our last orders for
arms from abroad have, in all probability, already gone for'
ward. So too, with iron. The war found no more than
half a dozon furnaces in blast in the whole Confederacy'
and most of those have been destroyed by the enemy. But
the Government has given such encouragement to the iron
men, that new mines have been opened in other parts of the
Confederacy, and furnaces enough are already up, or 1
course of erection, not only to supply the wants of the Go-
vernment, but to satisfy the railroads and the people gene"
rally with cast and wrought iron. So also with the coarse
woollen and cotton fabrics. A large amount of capital has
been invested in establishments for their fabrication, so Oast
your ministers, by their course with regard to Lincoln's
paper blockade, has forced us to arm ourselves, to clothe
ourselves, and to feed ourselves. Hence, when peace does
come, we shall have much to sell and but little to buy.
accept this condition now with a degree of pride and OW
sure, because of the manner in which it was forced upon tto•
Moreover, there is satisfaction in the thought that it has
all been accomplished in but little more than a year.
We are beginning to see daylight ; but I do not see yet
any beginning to the end of the troubles which this war
is entailing upon certain interests with you. Your opera'
tives begin already to have presented before them, for
contemplation, the prospect of another winter withe'l",
cotton. This will be worse than the last—for your
stock now of American on hand is not more theft
one week's full supply in ordinary times. I sag
the prospect is actually before you now, because'
from the day your ministers make up their mind t°
open a cotten port, until the first cargo arrives in Liver:
pool se% eral months must intervene. After it is decided
to break the blockade, the fleet to do it has to be collected'
That would not take long. But then notice must be 01,61
also in advance to the merchants, and a place of rendeive;
appointed in American waters where the cotton ships 133i':
assemble for convoy. This, you well know, requires tt111;;
Then after that the cotton has to be brought down fronlll'f
interior and placed at the shipping port, and means:l
transportation, both by river and rail, are 10.„.4-
with us. They are already taxed well nigh
to their capacity for army purposes, and other geve,4o
mental necessaries. Those ships cannct fly.
dullest sailer in the fleet regulates the speed of the wh
Time must be given them to come and go—and the veYElg:i
to and from one of our cotton ports will, at this seas°
the year, and especially under convoy, occupy not less than
fifty days each way.
Now, make your own calculations, and you will 50e ill!:
unless within thirty days at farthest after this letter
due to you, notice be given to your merchant's to de'
cr
ready their cotton ships, ministers will have virtually °ter
creed another hard time for operatives, for Maneheswo
will be doomed to a second winter without cotton. 01
planted last spring not more than one-fourth the nand
breadth of land in cotton. Our surplus labour is (lir° 0,
to breadstuffs and provisions. We grow the finest of wl'6o
The flour from it usually commands in transecplat°r,
markets a dollar the barrel more than flour from Northet;
grain. This time last year it was the cry of
North that they would starve us out. Those vo'y
joined in it knew but little of the resources of our e 111)
South," or of the energy of our people.
for the homage paid by the Great Powers to
Lincoln government and his paper blockade, we now 1121;
enough and to spare. It is highly gratifying to our Y°lli3,l
pride as a nation to find in this practical way how rich 1131
diverse are our resources, and how independent of the re6rt
of the world we may be if necessity so require. Tile 19:1e,
in this war for our navy to play has been very 11°)d
and our navy itself of the moderate proportions. I
1..:0
secession found us without a single man'° jar-
afloat or on the stocks. Still wo have been able 1'°..,0 a
proviso two or three, and they have been able to g'370,0,
pretty good account of themselves. Our steamer,the ,Atir
,aoa
s s, is a makeshift, for she is covered with railroad
ir„ Per'
her armour therefore is by no means shotpr eof. Dt;Il
formance in the Mississippi river and before Iric'; oec
would grace the annals of the proudest navy 145 0.0
floated. So would the performances of the ManasseetP
Merrimac, and of all who have had a chance at the e- ice
But as soon as we recover the command of our w3lersb'ject
should address ourselves with earnestness to the 51100,1
of a navy, well knowing that no nation can COll'so flit
the respect of her peers without physical force. veil'
this war has, nearly es I can ascertain, cost the.ioo)'
sury about 260,000,000 dols. (two hundred and 60 1:01;. the
About 60,000,000 dols. of this sum is in 8 per cent heti
c'oti"
rest in Treasury notes, which, for the most Pert'° that
tube our currency. These notes bear no interest-
Tad the°,
you observe we have not gone into debt much beY(l),,Teitl:olf
sum which our average cotton crop would bring. 00Y of
have we sought to borrow from strangers. By 3 %or
our situation, means, and resources, you will dt'eb"ie na',l
pecuniary ability to build and maintain a respccta t it, 014
is ample. Peace will give us water on which t
I join your operatives most heartily in the wish
may be right soon,

VICTOR. HUGO ON CAPITAL PuNISMIENTS. tioo,
Republic of Geneva is about to revise its local cot:06,11100
The principal question to be decided will be with relef rho
to the abolition of capital punishment. A member civorV
church of Geneva, M. Bost, the author of severs]. ref 010
able works, lately wrote to M. Victor Hugo, aeltil3lo ae
for his influence in the debate. That writer, Wllc't 100
ardent advocate of the abolition of capital puniston° oftl
now replied in a letter which occupies several columns iota.
Belgian press. Victor Hugo eloquently and even 11_,,°3sin01'
ately denounces the prevailing system. He mentios' 001
dentally that his having at a very early age seen ti 11004
branded in Paris first drew his attention to the fact th'' pet
can be brutal as well as lawlessness. He deplores te, 3
and
that capital punishment, condemned by so manYo',; 0,114
influential minds, should still prevail. " In Engisilitg jo`
Victor Hugo, " where a woman reigns, a woman
been hanged." He earnestly urges the Republic of
to condemn the system of punishment by death.
Av....A
INFANT ORPHAN ASYLUM, WAN as helit
general court of the governors of this institution Wis ot 0
at the London Tavern yesterday, to elect 25 infanre ids
the of 114 candidates ; the Rev. H. kJ P;00 it!
The asylum now contains 600 children, and it halvan s
pl/
establishment received no less a number than 1,84 pleal,
navY,ts oaa
orphans of clergymen, officers in the army
hers of the medical and legal professions, merella_n_:frooi.
others, have found a refuge within its
every part of the empire are eligible. The boy's are rears
until they are 14, and the girls until they ire 15 )_a
n
age. They receive a sound and useful education4o rei"
walls. Childrre:Lioe:
ft
religious instruction is anxiously attended to. worth'',
chairman opened the proceedings in a few appropriaws otatl
after which the polling was proceeded with. It
that at the next half-yearly elections, in May and
.I.`
infants would be elected.
011 0
We have received a letter from a lady 054
Rome, complaining of the uncourteous and rigoron3 slOO,
she met with from the custom-house officers ocB
fr` t
the examination of her luggage, when passing fro— 00
to Piedmont. The contents of her trunks were tal'e„.ool'
and thrown about in all directions, and, when notlllll7lroP
traband was discovered, she was told, while the rileaill:t
bell had just rung, that she might pack them uPti,p'ellci,7
That, she adds, was no easy matter, and she was 00
-in
to take off her shawl and tie up some of the tbn
On reaching Turin she found herself minus of e g°l
let, a lace shawl, a mosaic brooch, and other small 01`liirscl'
which she had seen when her luggage was being lei'
THE ALLEGED SUICIDE OF AN ACROBAT: it'l;
terday Mr. Bedford, coroner for Westminster,
0.11
tuo desal 0
quiry at the St. Martin's Vestry Hall, touellin,
of Frederick Carini, a tight-rope dancer at the -r-4`tue
Music-hall, Leicester.squa,e. It appeared f_
dence that the deceased, woo while following_ 11113 frora.oll,o
of a rope dam el, met with an accident by fallt_
rope about four months ago and hurt hiniselef,_(;ivg 0 1;
that time he has been in a very low and hide
_Potio
of mind, being haunted with the idea that.lo:ol eventol7o
to poverty. He was last seen alive 0,
.INI
„1 IV °,l i°
last by Mr. Peter Oven Ilamnaa, prote..„-siboe
was foui,l
evi oce
establishment ; and on Tuesday mornin,, e
the Thames near Hungerford-bridge. The miresca,
jou.
went to show that death was caused by su e %
deceased was sober in his habit. The jury r t
.TOPc,
to 011°"
Thames, but there was
he came there.
diet to the effect that tlneodtescuefilasceiteln\tVeavSiafeOrtUened d 110 f