The Sun.
London, England, 1862-01-20 00:00:00

THE 'SUN,I LOADON, MONO XV EVE TI ,1 AN ;",f AllY 20 1852.

and at the present time of the year storms terrific
and destructive, is an attack in truth on the rights
of nations. It is destroying not only trade, but
the protection furnished by nature and the
CREATOR himself, to the worn out or perishing
mariner. No necessities of war can excuse the
blocking up a commercial harbour of refuge, and
on such a coast.

We are 'glad to see that England has not been
silent on the subject. Our Government as soon
as it heard only rumours on the subject, took it up,
and wrote to Lord LYONS. They wrote on the
20th of December, and of course he had the com-
munication about the beginning of the New Year,
It is too plain that it was ineffectual, together with
that which we assume to have been sent by
France ; however, on receiving the information
that the crime had been actually perpetrated, our
Government sent out fresh remonstrances, doubtless
stronger ones, with the view of preventing repeti-
tion of such outrages. Lord RUSSELL'S observa-
tions must have been very stinging, but certainly
not more stinging than just. He justly represents
the act as a confession of defeat. " Lord LYONS
was told that such a cruel plan would seem to imply
despair of the restoration of the Union, the pro-
fessed object of the war—for it never could be the
wish of the United States Government to destroy
cities from which their own country was to derive
a portion of its riches and prosperity. Such a plan
could only be adopted as a measure of revenge and of
irremediable injury against an enemy. Lord LYONS
was further told that even as a scheme of embit-
tered end sanguinary war such a measure would
not be justifiable. It would be a plot against the
commerce of all maritime nations, and against the
free intercourse of the Southern States of America
with the civilised world. Lord LYONS was desired
to speak in this sense to Mr. SEWARD, who, it was
hoped, would disavow the illegal project."
What even the ingenious Mr. SEWARD can reply
to such arguments it is not easy to conceive. If he
really has hope of restoring the Union, he dare not
allege his real reason—that even in that case he
would like to force the commerce of the States into
the ports of the North. Bat we may well
believe that the intention of the North is, whether
they recover the South or not, to make the
war an occasion of securing the export and import
trade of the Eastern coast for the Northern ports.
We should think too the President will feel the
important considerations implied in the charge of
plotting against the commerce of all civilized na-
tions. He can hardly mistake the intimation that
if civilized nations do not find remonstrance strong
enough, they may speedily resort to something
stronger. Probably the Yankees will now aban-
don their worse than piratical proceedings, and
perhaps again claim some credit for establishing
some important principle for which they have long
contended, as a soother to national vanity.

Mr. ROEBUCK sounds his cracked clarion im-
mediately before the meeting of Parliament. Time
was when its reverberations were sonorous enough
to hearten many an independent Liberal, not only
among the hon. and learned gentleman's own con-
stituents, but far and wide throughout the United
Kingdom. Even now with all its crotchets, and,
we may add (in recollection of Vienna) his quavers
also, in spite of his many whims and oddities (as
eccentric in their way as those of HooD, though
hardly as exhilarating) notwithstanding his consti-
tutional and ineradicable irritability, the member
for Sheffield continues to stand forth before the poli-
tical world—still, of course, without any following,
but still also, to tho last, a notability. TEAR-'Ell
may hare lost a good many of his teeth long ago,
but his bark is yet as loud as ever, and applying to
hith by travestie, a refrain of honest CAPERN
the poetical Postman of Bideford, we may aver,
with some good show of reason, that—" There's
lire in the old dog yet." Mr. ROEBUCK we still
look to as capable of good things whenever he may
find the opportunity. With all his faults of temper
and errors of judgment he is a man thoroughly in
earnest. Even when he insists upon the excellence
of the constitutional Government of his Majesty
the Emperor of AUSTRIA, we may wonder at his as-
tounding obliquity of vision when looking towards
Scheenbrunn, we do certainly marvel at an estimate
so entirely contrary to known, and proved, and un-
deniable facts—but, at the same time, that Mr. ROE
BUCK believes b!ack to be white, in this manner,
when he says that he does, we are absolutely cer-
tain. Marvellous it is that it should be so, but that
it is so, nevertheless, we rest perfectly well as-
sured. And it is because we have this implicit
reliance upon Mr. ROEBUCK'S sincerity, even when
we are most opposed to him, that we respect even
his blunders. We cannot induce ourselves to regard
the member for Sh( fold solely through the medium
of his late hallucinations.

It is told of one of the greatest intel-
lects, the Omnipotent Creator of us all ever
vouchsafed to this earth, it is related of Sir
ISAAC NEWTON, towards the close of his life,
when 1 a was falling into "the sere and yellow leaf,"
though yet far from lapsing into intellectual im-
becility, at his death-place (the old fashioned red-
brick house still called, in memory of the philo-
sopher, " Newton House," out at Campden-
hill, Kensington), that he found it impossible
to comprehend some of his own abstruse calculations,
some of the very basis of his own many wonderful
mathematical demonstrations. It may be very
lamentable therefore, it is (not a doubt of it) truly
deplorable in its way to all those who ever hoped for
better things, who ever dreamt even of great things
from Mr. ROEBUCK as a politician. Yet it is a/
the same time not so very surprising either, remem-
bering the change that came over NEWTON'S intel-
lect when the heyday of its happiest power was
waning—that these twists and flaws, and errors of
judgment should thus be recognisable after all. But
a very few years ago and Mr. ROEBUCK would
have been the very man to cover with ridi-
Cule any one who should have had
the temerity to , select as the theme
of his panegyric—of all the Governments in
Christendom !—the Austrian Government ! Yet
now so clouded is the once clear-sighted common
sense of this bold and hardy Tribune of the Eng-
lish People that he can have the consummate hardi-
hood to maintain this thesis against all comers, nay,
has done so, as the public may well remember, with
a kind of enthusiasm. A preposterous rumour aas
set afloat, by some one who could have known little
either of the man himself or of his pure and honest
reputation, to the effect that Mr. ROEBUCK had
been either bribed or cozened into this strange and
morganatic alliance between English Radicalism
and German Despotism. How that nonsensical
taunt was repelled we recollect, every one
of us, vividly. Down to Sheffield went
Mr, ROEBUCK instanter. Sheffield was his
natural " platferm"—the House of Commons not
being at the time assembled. There, at Sheffield
was, reasonably enough, the fittest rostrum he
could ascend. Thither, consequently, went Mr.
ROEBUCK, we say, to Sheffield, as at another time,
and in regard to a very different subject of dispute,
went Mr. HORSMAN down to his agitated and
divided constituents at Stroud. In both instances
we deemed the Itt-puzentativi6 in a Difficulty, to be
more or lessgrierously in error. But in bothin -

stances we could not for the life of us help admir-
ing the pluck with which the difficulty requiring
to be encountered was resolutely seized and grap-
pled with. In each instance the Member, pre-
viously Under a Cloud, came forth—with
his " rising reputation" for Eccentricity con-
firmed, but with his previous reputation for
honesty and conscientiousness thoroughly confirmed
also. The community could not but louk upon each
as an undoubted Political Oddity : but, through the
indignation with which many of their hitherto
hearty supporters and admirers resented the some-
what incongruous policy upon which they had sud-
denly adventured, these very alienated supporters
and admirers could not but still respect the stub-
born determination with whicheach Member in turn
stuck to his new- fangled ideas as though they were
in perfect harmony with all his earlier opinions
and recognised principles.

In the oratorical display that has now very
recently been made by the hon. and learned member
for Sheffield—not this time at Sheffield, but at Salis-
bury;not in the Town Hall, but in the local Scientific
Institution—Mr. ROEBUCK has judiciously avoided
dangerous topics for him, such, let us say, as the
redoubtable Galway Contract, or as that new and
vaunted Austrian Constitution, in which, according
to him, so many of the day-dreams of Utopia are so
very charmingly realised. Yet in spite of the wise
"taboo" thus put upon the Irish packet route and
the glorified farce of the "KAISER turned Reformer,"
Mr. ROEBUCK still, with a singular display of all
his former dexterity in stumbling, could not ac-
tually, as it turned out, descant for two or three
hours upon an innocent theme, such as the one he
had chosen, upon " Popular Education," without
affording new evidence of his aptitude to indulge in
the wildest eccentricities and the most extravagant
hallucinations. Nothing could well be more dis-
cursive than Mr. ROEBUCK'S mode of treating this
subject of Popular Education. Earnest and humor-
ous alternately,
animated always, often impressive,
and never dull, the lecturer ranged as lecturers ever
should, no matter
what their, theme "from gray©
to gay from lively to severe," But the fantastic
scope of Mr. ROEBUCK'S prelection on Thursday
evening down at Salisbury, may be conjeCtured
when we observe that he brought within the compass
of his remarks, allusions to Mr. and Mrs. RICHARD
GUINNESS HILL at one moment, and at another to
Madame ROLAND, now
quoting SAMUEL SMILES,
and now EDWIN CIIADWICK. How amusing the
lecture was rendered occasionally by the introduction
of apt illustrative anecdotes in favour of the wider
diffusion of Popular Education, let the following
show :—" I recollect," said Mr. ROEBUCK, "some
years ago being in
Hampshire : I went out of my
house in the morning with the 2 i;nes in my hand,
and going into the garden I found a labouring man
whom I rather liked—a shrewd, clever fellow. He
said, Any news, Sir, this morning ?' Yes,' I re-
plied, ' rather bad news. Bad news !—what's that,
Sir ?" Why,' I said, 'the Duke of WELLINGTON is
dead." Alt, Sir,' he remarked, ' I be very sorry for he,
bat who was he?"
At another moment, in a spirit
born, one might fancy, of an admiring perusal of
the Essays and Reviews, the member for Sheffield
observes (in regard to the kind of knowledge in-
stilled into the minds of children)
"`they talk of
JEROBOAM or JELIOSRAPHAT”— asking, amazedly,
afterwards, " but who cares about JEROBOAM or
JEHOSHAPIIAT ?" Nay, adding to this rather won-
drously " They [that is JEROBOAM and JEHOSH-
APIIAT] have not only long passed away, but they
have left no trace of their existence behind. To tell one
how many four-legged animals there are on the farm is
a thing all can undeastand, and will go clearly to exer-
cise the mind of the children." So that absolutely
Mr. ROEBUCK would rather " teach the young idea
how to shoot" by counting pigs in the stye than by
familiarising them with the epochs, and events,
and localities associated with names like JEROBOAM
and JEHOSHAPHAT. In all which mode of argu-
ment upon the subject of Popular Education we
cannot but recognise a singular affectation on the
part of the lecturer. Arguments like these, upon
a matter of such vital importance, may be very
entertaining, but they are very little indeed to the
purpose.

The advices from America by the Niagara, so
far as they relate to military and naval matters,
are very conflicting. The North tells of successes
at Port Royal, but the South seems also to rejoice
in successes. The former speak only of one attack
by land and water on the Confederate position, in
which the latter, amonnting
to 8,000, were
worsted by about half their number, and driven
back to works near the railroad--doubtless that
which connects the two capitals of Georgia and
South Carolina. The confederates are represented
Yankees
latter then retreated, and
as losing a large gun. They report, however, that they
in Bull's Run style on
after which the Confede-
otdhbreot
iNarien
fiedr beckst
attack,
t hatreinforcements,the

rate commander, " a matter of strategy,
retreated to his works near the railroad. The
Confederate generals express however full confi-

_ _ •
denco that they shall be able to prevent a Federa
advance on either Savannah or Charleston. Corn.
paring the two accounts we shou'Ld think that th,

Federals had the best of it, beqng supported by
the guns of the Wabash,
but that out of range
of her fire, the Confederates were too strong for
the invaders. We are inclined to think that the
Federals will not:be able to advanc;e far inland; pro-
bably not even to capture the two capitals on the
railroad. All the time they have; been there they
have at least, done nothing worth mention,
The Federal Government has at last condescended
to an exchange cf prisoners. Th is may probably
be looked upon as a concession to reason, rather
than an indication of weakness. It would not indeed
have cecurred to anyone that the latter was implied,
had not the North so foolishly pi3rsisted in ignoring
the belligerent character of th e " rebels." The
prisoners seem to have been, i n many respects,
hardly treated ; but they spec k kindly of the
attentions of some ladies, a surgeon, and
other persons. Probably the Southerns had
not much to spare in the wr ty of comfort
for prisoners, since their own pap ers give an ac-
count of their own army which may vie with
anything in Crimean history. Drill is neglected,
drunkenness rife, the army beo oming a terror to
peaceful citizens, substitutes ft sr service are ad-
vertised for at an enormous b onus—£4o, £5O.
even £3OO has been offered for a substitute!
Money must, after all, be more plentiful
than was supposed in the Soul h. They tell us
however that the spirit of the 3 oung men is un-
quenched, but that the dirt, neglect, and
mis-
management of the camp disgust them with actual
service. M'CLELLAN, who iG recovering from his
fever will surely recover courage for a grand
attack if he believes th 4 accounts of the Richmond
Examiner.

As to the affair of the Trent all we "WIN' hear of
it is from the Senate, there Mr. SUMNER
himself has placed it in the light to best gratif3
American vanity. Captain 'MLR ES was misled
by a British law-book; Englani 1 has stultified
herself ; America has compelled her to acknowledge
the claims she has long made—in fa,ct, WILKES and
SEWARD have gained for America 's a great political
11." We may follow 1.40.1 d RI:SS:ELL, and
reply that we do not care about rile triumphs since

this affair is amicably settled. We have also the
pleasure of seeing that, since Mr. SEWARD has been
bound over to keep the peace, he has shown no incli-
nation to forfeit his recognisances.