The Sun.
London, England, 1865-05-17 00:00:00

The Last Battles of the War.

The statements of the enclosed extract may be
relied upon :—" I think I have gone through the
list of those nearest to you, and perhaps a glimpse
of public matters may be worth something now cut
off as you are. I tell you what I received from the
highest authority, that General Lee had surrendered
7,500 muskets only; that his men had fought eight
days on the rations of one day ; that on Saturday,
Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday,
and Friday they had each and all day fought ; that
never once, when they reported the enemy coming
in force, in this direction or that, and he ordered
them to drive them back, had they faltered ; they
had obeyed cheerfully, and never once failed to drive
them back. On Saturday morning, when he formed,
they had subsisted for four days on the corn provided
for the horses (they being without forage), and
they had only 7,500 muskets ; they were still ready
to follow him, confident they could yet cut their
way through, if he deemed it best ; but if he
thought the terms of the surrender such as he
might accept, they were equally ready to yield to
those terms. He said such noble and devoted lives
he could not sacrifice. He felt it was his duty to
surrender to an overpowering enemy. Their force
is variously estimated ; General Meade put it at
75,000. I have heard from many officers that the
victory of Friday—the last day of their fighting—
was the victory of the war. The conduct of the
troops under Custis Lee, who commanded the forces
around Richmond,is strongly commented upon. He
said of them himself 'they fought not like men, but
lions.' They had in charge a large train heavily
laden, the roads being extremely bad—mud up to
the heels of the wheels. His command was only
2,000 men ; they fought three days without food,
on either side of their waggons. On the morning
of the 4th, General Mahone went, or was obliged,
perhaps, to go ahead for a little while. This left a
gap in their lines, which was instantly filled by the
enemy, who,with their overwhelming numbers, sur-
rounded and captured most of them. Our loss in
this and in General Lee's continuous fight, is repre
rented as incredibly small by our own officers, o
whom I have seen many."

A meeting of the creditors of Messrs. C. Joyce
and Co., in the Alexandria trade, who suspended on
Bth of April last, was held, yesterday afternoon, at
the London Tavern, when a statement of their
affairs was presented by Messrs. Kemp, Cannan,
Ford, and Co., the accountants. The total liabili-
ties were originally £1,340,000, but they have since

run off, and now only represent £312,029. The
assets against these are placed at £121,093. It re-
mains to be seen whether the liquidation will prove
favourable. The underwriting account of Charles
Joyce and Frederick George Westmorland exhibits
debts and liabilities of £8,461, and assets £10,025.
After some discussion, a resolution was put to the
meeting, proposing the wffiding-up of the estate
under the inspection of three creditors, the terms of
which will be communicated to parties interested.

The demand for discount accommodation in the
open market is comparatively small, and the rates
for the best bills are rather easier at 41 per cent.
The supply of money on offer is now daily in-
creasing.

The share-list of the Petroleum Company o:

Western Virginia will close on Thursday next for
London, and on Friday next for country appli-

cations.

PICCADILLY AND PARK-LANE NEW ROAD BILL.—
The.evidence taken before the Select Committee on
the bill promoted by the Metropolitan Board of Works for
continuing Hamilton-place and making it a thoroughfare
into Park-lane has been printed. The evidence was
chiefly directed to the question whether this is better than
widening the Piccadilly end of Park-lane. Sir R. Mayne
gave testimony in favour of the Hamilton-place road, and
said he should prefer two narrow thoroughfares to one wide
one, as the police could divide the traffic. Much was said of
the narrowness of the space left in Hamilton-place for traffic
if carriages are drawn up at the doors of opposite houses; and
Sir R. Mayne mentioned incidentally that an omnibus takes
lift. But the chief traffic of the busy part of the day in
Park-street is of a lighter character ; a witness standing at
the end of it from 12 to 5 on the 30th of March counted the
following numbers coming from the west and going up Park-
lane, or coming down Park-lane and passing to the west :-
911 cabs, 862 carts, 47 private carriages, 73 omnibuses, 264
waggons, 18 drags or breaks, and 10 funeral carriages. The
eastward traffic had only 70 vehicles. Mr. Tite, M.P., sup-
ported the opening of Hamilton-place, as practicable at such
a reasonable cost as the Metropolitan Board of Works could
undertake ; but there was contradictory evidence upon the
question whether this work can be done at the estimate of
the board, or at all near it. The Commissioner of Woods
and Forests considers that the destruction of the privacy of
Hamilton-place would be a violation of good faith with the
tenants of the Crown, and the question of compensation
arises. Witnesses took quite opposite views of the compa-
rative merits of the Hamilton-place plan and the widening
of Park-lane plan ; the widening of the whole of Park-lane,
moving back the park railings, was suggested, and also the
continuation of South Audley-street into Piccadilly. The
committee unanimously rejected the bill for the Hamilton-
place scheme, and stated that they felt a difficulty in draw-
ing up a special report, as they had only one scheme before
them, and it was possible that a third schema might be
better than either this or the Park-lane widening scheme
suggested by the opponents of the bill.

A Vienna letter mentions that the famous drama
of " Frank Muller" has now given place•to a new piece,
entitled "Abraham Lincoln; or, the Civil War in Ame-
rica," and consisting of a prologue and seven scenes.
These are named as follows :—Prologue—" The Plough,
at the President's Birthplace." Scene 1. " The Father's
Tomb;" 2. "A Slave's Vengeance ;" 3. "A Lev& at the
President's ;" 4. " The Conspiracy of Good Friday at
Richmond ;" 5. " The Spy ;" 6. " Victory and Joy on the
Announcement of Peace at Washington ;" 7. "Death of
Lincoln."

JEFFERSON DAVIS IN PERIL I—We regret to
understand that it is the opinion of the highest
Confederate authorities in this country that President
Jefferson Davis will have great difficulty in escaping
through the Federal lines; and, if he should be captured,
they have but little hope that he will receive any merciful
consideration at the hands of the Washington Government.
The news of this morning corroborates this impression ;
but we are still lotirto believe that, in the face of the uni-
versal protest that would be shade against such a proceed-
ing, President Johnson will so far outrage the feelings of
the civilised world as to condemn the chosen head of a
nation of 6,000,000, however unsuccessful, to the ignominy
of the death of a felon.—The Owl.