The Sun.
London, England, 1862-10-01 00:00:00

however, to the consideration simply of this last
quarter ending yesterday, as compared with the
corresponding quarter of last year—after mention-
ing the deficiency by £617,000 under the Eloise,
and by £17,000 under the Property Tax, we have
to note, on the other hand, only a steady increase
under all the other heads of revenue ! Under that
of the Customs, for example, the quarter's increase
is to the tune of £219,000. Under the Stamps it
is to the extent of £167,000. Under the general
head of Taxes, the increase is one of £6,000. The
Post-office returns for the quarter show an advance
of £25,000, and an increase upon the half-year
of £50,000. There is a small item of
increase in the return
of for t
£he Crand for the
own Lands,
namely, for the quarter, 521,
half-year, of nearly three times that amount,
or £1,521. Finally, under the head of Miscellane-
ous, the increase during the last quarter is very
nearly as much as the increase for the last half-
year—the latter sum being £271,540, the former
being £216,230. Upon the whole, therefore, to
sum up once mon, -the estimated net decrease,
giving the three gradations, namely, for the last
year, for the last half-year, and for the last quarter,
we find the sums set down in this way upon the
tables growing happily "small by degrees and beau-
tifilly less." For the year a decrease of £120,620—
for the yalf-year one of £11,061—for the quarter one
of £249. Seeing which, who shall say that the
returns are not, in the fullest and truest sense of the
word, satisfactory ? Remembering the American
War, the Southern Blockade, the interrupted cot-
ton supply, the closing of the Lancashire mills, and
so forth, the result is, upon the whole, unquestion-
ably satisfactory. While such,however, is the state
of things in regard to the income, there is that other
side of the shield, not the golden, glittering side,
but the black and gloomy side, the side not of the
income, but of the expenditure. There certainly
remains matter for most weighty, and
anxious, and even painful consideration. Can
any one -venture to gainsay the necessity for some
early and sagacious revision of our Expenditure,
when the one simple fact is borne in mind that
during the last quarter, ending, only yesterday, the
amount of Expenditure has exceeded that of the
Revenue by £3,429,902. The Commons of England
have reason to look keenly to this increasing and
alarming increase of expenditure over income, and
they will look well to it, we may be tolerably
certain, when the Legislature is brought together
again in February. The Great Champions of
economy, Mr. COBDEN and Mr. BRIGHT, are no
longer in this matter to be trifled with, even by
Lord PALMERSTON. And they have, to aid them
and to co-operate with them, a powerful and am-
bitions Opposition.

Englishmen may look with hopeful interest on
the second failure of an invasion in America. So
may all invasions end ! So an invasion of England
would assuredly end ; and this, to us, is the great
lesson of the campaign before Richmond and the
campaign in Maryland; both were invasions, inva-
sions by powerful armies—invasions with every-
thing in their favour, and both miserably failed.
Every one expected that the ill equipped, half
starved defenders of Richmond could never resist
the well appointed and larger army of M'CLELLAN,
but they drove him ignominiously back. Again,
when the two victorious Federal Generals, LEE and
STONEWALL JACKSON, led their victorious soldiers
into Maryland, none thought that the defeated
General at the head of his defeated soldiers, would
prove more than a match for the triumphant Con-
federates: But again, invasion of his country made
a General of M'CLELLAN, and heroes of his soldiers,
and after fighting from the Sunday till the Friday—
for the Confederates were not willing to retreat—he
compelled even LEE and JACKSON to take them-
selves back to their own side of the Potomac. Of
course much may be said on the details in each case
but the grand fact remains. Defence of Fatherland
has given the victory to the least hopeful side.
That it would be so in England we may be con-
fident. The inspiration of fighting for home and
fireside would create soldiers and generals when
nothing else could do it.

We now see pretty plainly the course of this last
campaign. The Confederates, moved both by poli'
tical and commissariat reasons, determined to in•

vade Maryland; many of their own representatives
in Congress were opposed to their doing so, but the
expectation, in which they were deceived, that the

Marylanders would join them, and the want of
supplies, decided them to cross the Potomac. The
Confederate Generals easily effected their passage,

and took possession of Frederic city, issuing thence
their manifesto as liberators. It appears, however,
that but a small part of the people viewed them in
that light, and MCLELLAN'S march from Wash-
ington led them to retreat westward to the
to the stronger position of Hagerstown. Here
M'CLELLAN came up with them, and after hard
fighting fairly beat them on the 14th, the Sunday,

and drove them from their strong positions on the
heights. On the Monday and Tuesday we now
know that the fighting consisted merely of skir-
mishing, while the two armies wero getting iuto a
position for the great battle which was fought near
the Potomac, at Sharpsburg, whither the Confede-

rates had retreated. This battle of the Wednes

day was evidently a bloody one, and the Feda

rals must have fought with great courage. One
General was killed, and we have a nominal

list of thirteeen wounded ! The Confederates
were the attacking party, and the battle raged from
4
the morning till p.m.; the effort it cost the
Federals to beat back their assailants was very evi-
dent from the suffering among the Generale; for we
must suppose that they were wounded in the uni-
versal effort to cheer on their men in a deadly

struggle.
It was after this battle that M'CLELLAN, not
knowing probably the full extent of the injury he
had done his assailants, thought that yet another
struggle would be requisite to decide who should
be masters of :Maryland. LEE, however, knew
his own position. He seems to have at once
commenced his final retreat., Stonewall JACKSON
•
appears to have conducted the retreat and to
have performed also the duties of rear guard. As
usual, the Southern fugitives had the dexterity to
elude the enemy who had just beaten them, and
their army was got across the Potomac with but
little loss. M'CLELLAN did advance a battery and
shelled them in their retreat, but as they crossed not
only at
also, it •
Shepperdstown bridge, but by two fords
LAN had suffered
i is not likely that he did them much harm
from his safe '
Thus ended the alloy
distance. Indeed it looks as i f .M'CLEL-
raehuocidhotrospiunrvsauseiothneomf very hotly.
It was a bold dash, but has proved to be an impru-
dent one. They gained nothing, but lost a great
deal. Not only did. they lose
men and stores, but
prestige. They are no longer the last victors. Their
greatest generals have suffered defeat from the
general whom they had defeated. The flush of suc-
cess will be with the side they attacked; and they
have raised the spiirits of a disheartened army.
Maryland is now shown to prefer the Union to
Secession, and its Secessionists will have a harder
time of it than ever. The Confederates return
home again to live on their heroic ‘4 green
corn and apples," which may become less pleasant