The Sun.
London, England, 1870-08-04 00:00:00

rHE SUN LONDON, THURSDAY EN, ENING, AUGUST 4, 1870.

The bitter feeling in the public as well as in the political
world on this matter is indescribable. People counted on
England playing the part of a cold spectator, but not that
it should support the enemies of Germany by resources.
This foolish conduct will bear evil fruit for England,
whatever may be the issue of the war." And then the
Cologne Gazette proceeds to detail the ill effects
which will follow this course, whether France or
Prussia gain the victory; though it does not describe
what are the benefits to be gained by biding with Prussia.
The Gazette might remember that since the publication of
the Secret Treaty, public feeling in England has not, so
far as we can learn here, been particularly favourable to
France. Doubtless, Englishmen will do their duty to
both sides ; but they are hardly likely at present to
strain a point in favour of France.

But the papers here require no reasoning of this kind.
They go on in their own way. The Weser Zeituny says :---
" The British Cabinet and the British public have most
clearly declared whom they consider the author of the present
war, and which side they desire to see victorious. The con
elusion drawn, however, is that England will remain
neutral. Let the honest man drive off the robber, but for
Heaven's sake don't let us place any difficulties in the
plunderer's way. Probably no Englishman will call this
a great policy, but is it a wise policy? We doubt it." The
North German Correspondent holds that England is doing
everything possible to give the FrenchEmperora whip to lash
herself. England, while affecting neutrality, allows her
territory to become the French base of operations against
the coasts of North Germany. England has become a
French arsenal and magazine, from which our enemies
can draw any amount of cartridges, coals, and horses.
ThA North at, asks whether England desires
to have another Alabama question on her hands. Pro-
bably these extracts will suffice to shew the tendency of
the talk here. i

THE MISERIES OF SPECIAL CORRESPON-

DENTS.

More troubles have befallen the unhappy writers who
set out from England in the hope of being able to describe
the war from the French side. Almost every one has
been arrested at some period or other of the last
three weeks. Many have suffered a short im-

prisonment more than once. Amongst others; the
correspondent of the Standard was captured a second
time. His release was the work of regular newspaper
diplomacy. Mr. G. A. Sala, the special of the Telegraph,
and Azamat Batuk, the kind Turk who officiates for the
• Pall Mall Gazette, agreed to be the ministers plenipoten-
tiary and ambassadors extraordinary, and to intercede for
the captive. Their first endeavours were not pro-
mising. The following telgram, which is dated
Metz, August 2, and is signed by both correspondents,
has a decidedly black look : " Your correspondent
arrested. Serious. Will be released on condition
of his last letter not being published. He must
leave Metz." But prospects improved a little
shortly. Another telegram is of far brighter
tint :—" The circumstances of your correspondent's
arrests having been laid before the Emperor, his Majesty
expressed gratification at the efforts made by the English
in Metz to prevent the publication of news injurious to
French interests. Your correspondent is released uncon-
ditionally by order of the Emperor, and the Provost
Marshal General is instructed to declare to Eng-
lish journalists that the Emperor relies on their
honour to act with discretion and judgment,' wishing, as
he does, to preserve the most cordial relations with Eng-
land, and recommending English correspondents to ad-
dress themselves to the Provost Marshal in case of
difficulty. This is for publication." This ending is de-
cidedly happy. It is even promising; for it would appear
that some concessions are to be made to the unfortunate
writers, and thus the special of the Standard, by enduring
martyrdom for his kind, has infinitely benefited the good
cause. The joyful occasion thus inspires the Standard :--
"Our correspondent at Metz has had to endure the annoy-
ance of a second arrest, but some consolation will be
afforded to him by the remarkable circumstances
which have attended his release, courteously an-
nounced to us by two of his colleagues. His
seizure has elicited definite orders from the Emperor
in reference to the treatment which -English cor-
respondents with the French army are henceforth to re-
ceive. The Provost Marshal has been directed to declare
to English journalists that the Emperor relies on their
honour to act with discretion and judgment, wishing, as he
does, to preserve the most cordial relations with England.
Our correspondent, as an earnest of this promised libe-
rality of behaviour, was unconditionally released, in spite
of the nervous apprehensions of the officers, whoever they who had effected his arrest, in reference to the im-
portance of the disclosures he has been making. We feel
sure that no evil consequences will ensue to the French
Government from the more generous policy which is in
future to regulate its behaviour to foreign correspondents.
It is in the last degree improbable that corre-
spondents thus put on their parole d'honneur not
to abuse the privileges of their position by the publica-
tion of news which could be of service to the enemies of
the army with which they are stationed, would inten-
tionally betray the confidence extended towards them.
As for errors of judgment, which no man can be abso-
lutely sure of never committing, there is, at all events, a
double guarantee that these will not be made. While the
correspondents, on their own part, will be induced
to write with great care by a sense of the moral responsi-
bility under which they are placed, the papers to whom
their correspondence is addressed, will be equally desirous
of justifying the trust imposed in their discretion, and
will no doubt refrain from the publication of any news of
a dangerous character, the nature of which their corre-
spondents may have failed to appreciate."

THE MITRAILLEITSE.--I think it possible-you ma)
oat have seen the following interesting details of ill,
mitrailleuses. These deadly engines can throw, to
distance of three thousand metres, a hundred and twe,....1--
(1 ee large balls per minute ; but this is not eV—the
p.?int of the mitrailleuses is the certainty of your er:n.
'.'acre is no recoil, and once the range is got you le,ve
n-)thing to do but load and fire. It has a swinging met
which sweeps down the enemy. Another peculiar;' is
that the ball goes from the muzzle point blank. .li' 01!
tliis be true, an average reinenit may be annihilate b.
--Par;:; Corrc,.,on«'cit of the Tecc:raph.
JOIPEROP'S Doc Ton.—Dr. Nelaton has gone
L,..) the army, and, as it is given out, to "organise lie
ambulance." Of course nobody believes this reason, nod
indeed it is incredible. This eminent 'surgeon, now no
elderly man, has the reputation of being the first operat,T
in the world; but there is no presumption whatever
that he has any greater capacity for the special 3n:y
now said to be imposed upon him than hundrtele
of younger men and of more military experience. I can-
not avoid the conclusion that the Emperor—whose chrooie
state of health everbody knows is such as to make it
supremely ridiculous for Min to affect to put himself at the
" head" of a great army in the field—feels already the want
of his favourite and skilful surgeon, and that a shallow
subterfuge has been imagined to conceal from the public
tie.; true cause of Dr. Nelaton's departure from Paris. It
is hinted in one of the papers that notwithstanding the
Empress's regency, the Emperor means to come to Peri,
" frequently " during the continuance of the war. I dare
say, under Dr. Nelaton's advice, he will very soon be
here. —Daily News Correspondent at Paris.
HOMEWARD AMERICAN MAlLS.—Owing to the
;ear, all the German steamers have been withdrawn
from the Atlantic mail service, and consequently the ar-
rival in this country of American mails has become more
tardy than ever, as the United States' Post Office do
not put mails on board the Cunard steamers
which leave New York on Wednesdays, and
invariably reach Queenstown about two clays
earlier than the Guion steamers leaving new York the
same day, and currying by appointment the-1fni...6,A gtat,--o'
mail. The Cunard steamers leaving Nev:- York on the
Thursday carry the United States' mail of that day, and
Cie:se vessels reach Queenstown as soon, and frequently
Bonier, than the Guion steamers leaving New York with
the mails on the previous day. An instance has just
occurred showing the working of this postal service.
The Cunard steamship Java, without mails, and the
Guion steamship Colorado, with the mails, both left New
Vorle on Wednesday, the 20th of July, and while the
Taxa arrived at Queenstown on Friday, the 29th of July,
the Colorado did not arrive there until Sunday, the 31st
of July ; meanwhile the Cunard steamship Abyssinia,
which left New York the day after the Colorado, reached
Queenstown one day before her.— Times.
MODERN CAMP LIFE.—Now-a-days the aspect of
a camp is serious, not to say severe. The soldiers, who
have had as much sleep as they can under their tents, are
awakened by the freshness of the morning, and
our dawn here is almost cold. They dress, they
take their coffee, they burnish their arms. In
short, every one is busy. There is no time for
ennui or for melancholy. You see many soldiers read-
ing or writing, and you perceive that the average level
of education has been raised. Here and there a cearse
expression is to be heard ; but as often a joke
in good taste, as neat as it is stinging.
Even our Arabs--the Threes, who frighten the
Germans so much—behave like civilised beings. Yester-
day I visited a regiment of 4,000 native sharpshooters.
All the inhabitants of the neighbouring town walk through
the tents, and are in no way scandalised. Sometimes at the
sight of a pretty girl from Lorraine, or a blonde beauty of
Alsace, white as milk, the African's eyes glow, and
his parting lips shew thirty-two teeth which would ail
ling.y eat up the fair visitor like a ration biscuit ; but
that's all. The women themselves are not too much
frightened at this natural spontaneous admiration.
Perhaps they are even a little flattered by it.
There is little or no marauding. The standing
harvests which surround these canvas cities are in general
respected. Our soldiers have been robbed enough by
shameless tradesmen. At one place they have paid
twenty-five centimes for a halfpenny loaf ; at another a
sort of yellowish and bitter water has been sold to them at
the same price as the best beer of the Grand Balcon; but
they have never taken their revenge. Only this morning I
heard a corporal baraining for a haset of vegetables. "You
are not reasonable," he said to the vendor. "We have
come here to help you, and you sell your provisions to us
dearer than to the townspeople. Well, never mind !
so much the worse for you; here is the money !" Who
on earth ever expected so much philosophy from a
corporal of the line ? It is an exception when some com-
panies have borrowed potatoes from the neighbouring
fields. They were far from any town, the communica-
tions were not handy, their officers had said, perhaps im-
prudently. " Disperse !" Anything is permitted to the
man who is ordered to " disperse,' and who has no one
but himself to rely on ; but the troops used their license
without abusing it.—Edmund About in the Telegraph.
SWITZERLAND'S POSlTlON.—According to the
Vienna Treaty of 1815 Switzerland enjoys the advantages
of perpetual neutrality, under the guarantee of the leading
European Powers. In consequence of this, the Federal
Government, as soon as war became imminent, by
a dispatch dated Berne, 18th of July, announced
thsdr decided resolution to maintain our neutrality invio-
late amidst the general conflagration. Although both the
belligerent parties, France and Prussia, answered
in the affirmative, we could not simply rely upon their
solemn declarations. As far back as a fortnight ago
five divisions, numbering about 40,000 men, were ordered
to move towards the frontier, from Berne down to Basil
and the adjoining valley of the Rhine. The remaining
four divisions got orders to be ready to start
at the first notice. In the meanwhile prepara-
tions are going on to put the reserve forces of
the country in a proper state so that in a comparatively
very short time, if the necessity were to become stringent,
we could muster an organised militia of about 150,000
men. Financial arrangements are being taken in order to
provide for the payment of the troops and their means of
subsistence. Happily for us, the adjacent States
of Southern Germany, especially Bavaria and Baden,
have consented to the continuance of the corn trade with
Switzerland, which was for a moment suspended. Whilst
Austria maintains its neutrality we shall be at perfect
liberty to introduce wheat out of Hungary by way of the
Bavarian lines. You see, therefore, that our situation is
not at all endangered, for the moment at least. —Swiss
Correspondent of the Standard.
FEELING IN PARIS.—The enthusiasm for the war
has entirely disappeared in Paris. It is now evident that
a war with Germany means a prolonged struggle against
one million armed combatants determined to defend their
own country, and, if possible to give the French such a
lesson that hereafter the Emperor's peculiar mode of
making his reign an era of peace by attacking his neigh-
bours will be rendered impossible. The announcement
that the fortifications of Paris are to be placed in a condi-
tion of defence, and the Emperor's admission that the
war will be a long one, have singularly damped the
ardour of those who imagined that within a fortnight
a glorious peace, which would re-establish the su-
premacy of French arms, was to be signed in Berlin.
It was expected that the presence of the Prince Imperial
would enlist the sympathies of all on behalf of the Impe-
rial family. It has had a contrary effect. The cruelty of
exposing this poor'child to the fire of the enemy is severely
criticised. The Emperor is compared to one of those
beggar women who carries about a half-clad infant on a
cold day, in order to provoke the compassion of passers-
by.—Daily News Correspondent.
WHAT WILL THEY DO P—The delay in the
operations shews one of the disadvantages of such huge
armies as those which are employed in modern
warfare. To set them in motion is a work of the
greatest difficulty. It was not by massing largo
forces behind the frontier that Napoleon succeeded
in making the wonderful campaign of 1805. The army
was broken up into corps de &armee, which moved from a
distance on a common centre more than a hundred miles
from the basis of operation, in the very heart of
Germany. tiut then Ma,yenee belonged to France. At
present a force which cannot be less than 200,000
men is huddled up in a narrow space between the
Rhine and the Saar on the one hand, and the Vosges and
the Moselle on the other. It occupies strong defensive
positions, but it has also strong positions in front of it.
It is easy to understand that great circumspection is
necessary in making an advance. But both the soldiers
and the inhabitants suffer from this overwhelming accu-
mulation of men in such a narrow strip of country. No
doubt the positions taken up are admirable in the event
of the Prussians assuming the offensive. But as it
_ap-
pears that their position enables them to guard effectually
the two lines of. the Saar and the Rhine, they are hardly
likely to make an attack in force in a country where
a large army could not deploy, and • where
their heads of columns could be destroyed
in detail as they debouched. On the first
step which either army may take a great deal depends ;
but I think I shall be found to have anticipated correctly
the probable course of affairs—that whether the French
or the Prussians attack, they must move forward in two
or more columns; an advance en mane of 150,000 or
200,000 men over the broken ground each army has
before it appears to be impossible.—Correspondent of the
Standard at Paris.

WITH THE PRUSSIANS AT SAARERucK.—The
Daily News correspondent, writing on Sunday night (be-
fore the battle), thus describes the state of affairs at
Saarbruck :—After so many alarms we are still here.
We were roused early this morning with the
report that the troops were to evacuate the town,
and for the fifth or sixth time we packed ul)
our things and made ready to start. There was much Af.
in the streets, and all the appearance of immediate action,
but it turned out to be nothing, or at most not more than
an unusual strengthening of the outposts. It is expected
that a battalion of Jagers and of the 69th,
and also several more companies of the 40th,
altogether about three thousand men, will arrive
to-night. General von Goeben, commander of the
Bth Army Corps, is immediately expected. One of the
men whom I mentioned in my last letter as wounded is
dead: The others are only slightly wounded. The story
in the Siecle of forty prisoners being made by the French
between Forbach and Saarbruck is an invention. Fusilier
Kraus, who killed the first Frenchman, has received thirty
thalers—about five pounds—from Berlin. A natural feel-
ing directs the current of patriotic liberty rather towards
the capture than the slaughter of the enemy. The men
who bring in the first cha.sseur, or the first cannon, or
even the first Chassepots, will receive a very large reward
both in money and goods.' Skirmishes between patrolling
rec •;oitring bodies are reported every day and
vight, but though very interesting to us here who know
the men and the places, the record of them would be
in an English paper a mere assemblage of names.
The unvarying badness of the French shooting
has created a rather too reckless spirit among the patrols
here. The present state of things here inflicts unusually
hard work on the garrison, and a succession of disappoint-
ments on those who wished to see some fighting. I shall
9 away tomorrow %Ilea§ th 9 TWUSfa oi au 00,4 to.
flight 14 verified,

ETEENCH DESIGNS BELGIUM.--The Daily News
Paris correspondent reports an interesting conversation he
had with one of the members of the Corps Legislatif.
The following is a noteworthy extract :—" What do fc:u
think," I said, " of the projet de traite?" " Benedetti,"
he replied, " is a supple, intriguing Corsican, a mere topl
of the Emperor. I certainly do not believe in his Story
of ha-ling merely written the projet ' at the
dictation of Bismarck, and then having left him
this compromising document—he is not so simple a fool.
I have no doubt that the projet' represents the
Emperor's views, and I think both Bismarck and the
Emperor would wipe the kingdom of Belgium
from the map of Europe to-morrow if it could
be done to their mutual advantage." " And what
would the French and German nations say to this ?" I
asked. " About the German nation," he replied, " I
cannot pronounce an opinion, although my impression is
that they would not object to it; as for the French
nation nine-tenths would applaud it." Further
on the deputy said :—Belgium has belonged at
different times to almost every European nation.
Until 1831 it never had an independent nationality.
Its independent evistence is only owing to the rival
jealousies of others, it is an artificial one. If, after an
unsuccessful war, you lost Ireland, should you consider
it a very great crime to wish to recover it ? Venetia be-
longed to Austria for fifty years; her title to it was placed
under the guarantee of a European Congress, yet Europe
applauded its transfer to Italy. What more right had
Prussia to seize on Hanover than we have to seize on
Belgium ? Hanover, said Bismarck, is so situated that
without it we cannot defend our country. This is what
we say about Belgium now that Prussia has acquired such
an enormous development."

HOPES OF AN ENGLISH ALLIANCE.—The Ger-
mano see a hope of an English alliance and of a joint attack
upon their detested enemy. This, . though perhaps
a sanguine view, is what I find to, be taken by
many Prussians. They forget the offence of
selling horses to France and of intending to sell
coal. They even overlook our short-cOmings about
cartridges. There is fat in the fire, the English press is
calling Franco to account, widwe are considered a better
sort of neutral than we were a week ago. What can be
more natural than that men should look anxiously round
and count every chance of help when they are waiting for
a l-important news. A single battle lost would not be
fatal to this side, as the Germans think that it would be
to Napoleon. But all hope of takinc, a lead from the
beginning, of going to Paris hand over hand, as they went
to •Virnna, and of making another seven weeks' NMI',
wovid vanish with one defeat.- It would then be a
long, wearying struggle. The Landwehr men would
be nocly unss.t:l from home, and the French blockade
wrnld injure the German commerce. Thus, without
desponding for an hour- about the fate of the Fatherland,
or t.aking in the least that gloomy view of their case
English friends are apt to take for them, the
Guiana would hail our alliance with joy.—Doily News
Co'ropondo,'t at Bolin.

AUSTRIA AND THE SECRET TREATY.—The im-

pression produced by the project of treaty bet Ween France
and Prussia has been very great indeed. It„ has cooled
down the last sparks of sympathy which might have been
lingering in favour of France. The impression was so
much the greater as, before its appearance, a /lumber of
other secret conventions and projects of treaties had been
iu circulation. In most of these combinations it is Austria
who is meant to pay the piper, so you will not be sur-
prised to hear that after your last revelation we feel some-
what like a man who finds himself suddenly in a den of
brigands.—Times Correspondent at Vienna.
• THE FRENCH DELAY.—Various reasons have been
given for the tardiness of the French attack. We are
assurred that the French have been checked by the know-
ledge that Prussia means to leave the Rhenish provinces
bare of all sustenance for any invading force. The rail-
ways will be utterly destroyed, and no sort of forage or
provision will remain for French use. At Metz we are
told that "the army has an order to carry four
days' rations in their knapsacks and eight days'
rations in the regimental fourgons. With regard
to forage the arrangement is much more difficult ; its
transport necessitates an endless train of all sorts of
vehicles. The whole of the neighbouring country employs
its peasants and horses for this kind of work. They come
even from Luxemburg and the south-western part of Bel-
gium, and are hired at the rate of Bfr. a day per horse
and 2ifr. a day per man. At Metz all the squares, every
available spot, indeed, are crowded with these vehicles ;
and so it is elsewhere." The Emperor is represented as
much depressed by this forced delay. He counted upon
giving battle days before ; and his chances of winning it
have too obviously diminished, and are decreasing hourly.
—Pall Mall Gazette.

SHARPSHOOTING WORK. —A letter in a Paris paper
says :—The French advanced posts occupy all the roads
which lead to the Prussian plains. The troops are
echeloned. in the woods along the frontier where they
encamp, changing place almost every day. They arrange
their knapsacks around a tree, cover themselves
with their cloaks, and remain thus crouched
in silence. You must come down upon them before you
can see them. They get soup from the camp. The life
is a hard one, but it is necessary to be on the look out.
As they advance, they take advantage of the trees and
standing corn to conceal themselves. In the
middle of the plain the mounted patrols are con-
stantly on the move, and sometimes approach
close to the Prussian frontier. Occasionally you
hear the crack of a rifle. The horseman replies, and falls
back. In a field of corn recently cut, but not yet carted,
there are some fifteen of our sharpshooters, who fire on
the enemy's vedettes at their pleasure. A detonation
is heard, a , whitish smoke is seen, and in a
moment everything relapses into that stillness
which reigns in the country in the sultry
hours of the day. Then there is a sudden
fusillade and then again a pause. The two opposite hills
seem to be observing one anosher. Every fold of ground
and every tuft of trees are so many improvised fortresses
from Lebind which the barrel of a rifle gleams betimes in
the sun, the bullet hisses through the air, and according,
to the accuracy of the aim a horseman drops dis-
mounted. Without producing an encounter, each day has
its episode.
THE NIEDERBRONN AFFAIII.-1. About has

ust given us a most amusing account of the
Lefeat of _ the Baden reconnaissance in front of Nieder-

bronn, which he justly calls a foolhardy affair. Six
Grand Ducal officers, with ten or a dozen men, actually
marched. 32 kilometres (upwards of twenty miles) into
the enemy's country, making their observations and
gleaning information, not at night-time or in disguise,
but in broad sunlight and full uniform. They
crossed on the Sunday morning near Lauterburg,
were seen by numbers of people, cut the telegraph wires
at Huntspach station, while the inhabitants were at
church, passed the day in riding about the country, and
were not caught until the Monday morning, when
they were surprised while at breakfast in a
farmhouse. They rushed to their horses ; there
was a pretty hand-to-hand combat, such as Wou-
vermans loved to paint, but the audacious Germans
were outnumbered and taken at disadvantage ; poor
Winsloe was klled, four other officers were taken prisoners,
two of them being wounded (one of these has since died),
and the sixth escaped—it is said on a. French troophorse,
his own having been killed in the affray. It was a very
brisk, picturesque sort of affair altogether, and M. About
justly remarks that it reminds one of the fantastical feats
of D'Artagnan and his companions, or some other dare-
devil heroes of Dumas' romances.—Times' an respondent at
Paris.

BA 'VARIANDISAFFECTION.—It may be kept a
secret on the German side, but here we have information
on which we fully rely that large bodies of Bavarian
troops have been sent northwards on account of the disin-
clination they shewed to fight in the cause of Prussia. It'
seems that the most rigorous measures were found neces-
sary to compel their departure. Their officers are repre-
sented as better affected to the Prussians.—Times Corre-
spondent at Paris.

THE KING'S WAR HORSE.—The Sporting Life says
that among the distinguished Germans who have been
summoned to take up arms on behalf of their country are
Prince Pless, the purchaser of Blue Gown, and M. Andre,
who some time since bought The Colonel. M. Andre has
made a present of the son of Knight of Kars and Boadicea
to the King of Prussia, with the hope that he might
become his Majesty's favourite charger. The double
winner of the Grand National will doubtless soon be called
on to give proof whether he can behave as well under fire
as across a stiff line of country.
The following are the names of the five members
who supported Sir W. Lawson in the House of Commons,
on Tuesday, in opposing the grant for an additional
20,000 men :—George Anderson, Alfred Illingworth,
Charles Reed (Hackney), Henry Richard (Merthyr
Tydfil), Peter Rylanols. The tellers were Sir Wilfrid
Lawson and Mr. 'Thomas Potter.

The Church Herald understands that the Ritual
Commissioners' final report, comprised in a few sentences,
is at length ready for presentation to her Majesty, after
which it will be immediately published. it has been de-
layed in consequence of the numerous protests which the
members of the Commission felt themselves called on to
make, every one of them, if report speak truth, taking
exception to something. The changes proposed are said
to be few and slight.
It is stated, "on the best authority," by the
Standard, " that on Captain Harvey finding the Ad-
miralty disinclined to purchase the secret of and proprie-
tary rights in his torpedoes, he made offers to Russia.
The Government of that country, fully alive to the value
of Captain Harvey's invention, purchased the secret
directions for placing and working these torpedoes and 100
of the torpedoes themselves. These 100 torpedoes have
actually left for Russia."

THREE BOYS LOST IN A DRAIN.—A lady standing
in George-square, Glasgow, heard cries proceeding from
a grating near her, and it was found that three " Arabs "
were underneath. A large crowd soon collected at the
spot. With the assistance of a crowbar-the grating was
forced open, and the boys extricated. Dirty, barefooted,
and weeping, they presented a sorrowful spectacle. They
had entered the drain a long distance from the spot where
they were found. The candle which they had with them
getting extinguished, they lost their way.
TIIE (,hops IN -WESTERN PENNSYLVANIA.—TIIO
Brookville Jeffersonian, of Jefferson county, Pennsyl-
vania, states that Western Pennsylvania has rarely been
so generally blessed with bountiful crops. The wheat is
already harvested, and the farmers have secured more.
than an average crop, the berry being plump and the ears'
well filled. The hay' crop is very abundant in all sections,
and in the southern counties the greater portion is
already safely secured and housed. In some localities the
supply promises to be so abundant that the finest fields of
clover are being plowed down or pastured off—a course
believed by many good farmers to be the most profitable.
In every direction the prospect is highly encouraging,
substantial improvements are going up on all sides, and
remunerative employment is furnished to every applicant,
so that the signs of poverty are scarcely ever seen.—
Philadelphia Ledger.

THE AMERICAN EXAMPLE OF
EMANCIPATION.

Strange as it may seem, the abolition of slavery, even
in this country, is not universally admitted to be a wise
measure. At the South where slavery prevailed, it was
in the greatest favour, and even now, those who were most
familiar with it are its most strenuous friends and apolo-
gists. Politically, morally, and socially, there seems to
have been an influence about the institution
of slavery, which blinded men to its worst
features. In this country political resistance
to slavery originated at the North, and among
a class who had little, if any, practical know-
ledge of its evils. Its enemies were stimulated by a
recital of wrongs they had never witnessed, and became
indignant over cruelties which they knew of only by hear-
say. It was upon this second-hand information that the
country was stirred up to that decided course cf action
which resulted in the election of Abraham Lincoln. Not
one in a hundred of those who voted for Mr. Lincoln, had
ever visited the South, or witnessed the social degradation
caused by slavery. The people - drew their inspira-
tion from the Press, from the platform, and from
narratives in various books. When the rebellion broke
out in America was the foremost supporter of slavery in
the world. It represented the only nation, claiming a
high civilisation, which held so large a percentage of its
.own people in bondage. Even with its slow political progress,
Russia had taken steps to emancipate its serfs before our
rebellion began, and the amelioration of their condition
is not to be attributed altogether to American in-
fluence. During the first year of the rebellion,
and thenceforward to the end, the real issue >of
the struggle was understood by all foreign nations to be
emancipation. It was natural that such an issue should
attract deep attention, and that it should greatly affect
the older civilisations. There is no doubt that a silent
influence went out from us among all the nations which
even incidentally tolerated slavery, and that it has under-
mined the institution wherever it existed. Not only in
Turkey and Russia has the noble work of eman-
cipation been carried on, but • also in Brazil and several
of the other South American States. Quite recently
a proposal has been seriously discussed in the Spanish
Cortes for the abolition of slavery in Cuba, and in other
colonies. We are told that the foremost citizens of Cuba
are in favour of the abolition of slavery at the earliest
practicable moment, and they perceive that the example set
them by the United States must be followed. In other
words, they admit that slavery can never again exist
so near to us. This is one of the first fruits of
our example of emancipation—an example which
will yet be followed by every civilised nation
holding slaves. The great struggle by which we were
enabled to wipe - out the stain on our national character
will never need to be repeated. No other nation will ever
be called upon to make a like sacrifice—and, indeed, no
other could make it and live. We do not believe that
any great was will hereafter be fought for emancipation.
Whenever the spirit of freedom becomes strong enough to
justify resistance, the influence of our example will be
felt, and the chains of the slave will fall from his limbs. -
New York Times.