The Sun.
London, England, 1861-09-05 00:00:00

AMERICA.

NEW YORK, AUG. 23.
(Per Nova Scotia, via Quebec and Londonderry.)
The news from Washington is unimportant.
A thorough examination of the Potomac has been
made by order of the Navy Department.
No signs of a hostile force have been found.

The New York Intelligencer has advices via Ken-
tucky, stating that the Confederates were preparing
to invade Missouri, and intended to commence an
offensive movement on the Cheat Mountain Pass.

The privateer Sumter is still at liberty. A
Curagoa letter, dated August 7, states that she cap-
tured the schooner Abbey Bradford and the barque
Joseph Maxwell, off La Guavara.
It appears that the Venezuelan Government re-
fused the Sumter admittance into port, and de-
spatched a vessel to the north of La Guayara to
retake the Joseph Maxwell, which was anchored
among the reefs, by order of the War Department .
The Federal army will be uniformed in blue.
On the arrival of the New York train yesterday
at Philadelphia, the United States Marshal seized
every copy of the New York Daily News, including
upwards of 1,000 copies for the South and West.
The sale office at Philadelphia was also totally
suppressed.
The Christian Observer has also been seized, in
consequence of a virulent article on the war.

General M'Culloch was not killed in the battle
at- Springfield.

It is stated that General Banks has advanced to
take possession of Winchester (Va.), in face of 4,000
Confederates.

(LATEST BY TELEGRAPH TO FATHER POINT.)

NEW YORK, AUG. 24.

News unimportant. The Canada has arrived out.
Cotton active. Middling Upland is quoted 181 c.
Breadstuffs firm. Flour declining; prices lc.
lower. Corn advancing, and lc. higher. Provisions
dull. Stocks steady. Erie, 25 ; New York Central,
74; Illinois Central, 641.

LONDONDERRY, SEPT. 4.

The Canadian screw-steamer Nova Scotia, which
arrived here this evening, passed the Hibernia on
the 25th and the North America on the 29th ult.

MIDDLESEX REGIS7RA7IOIti.

Mr. Henry S. Maine, the new revising bar-
rister, will have ample work before him, inas-
much as the objections taken to names on the
list are more numerous than usual, particularly
on the part of the Conservatives, who have
taken nearly 4,000, and the new claims are up-
wards of 3,000. A question of some importance
will have to be considered with respect to the
shareholders in the building of the Royal Ex-
change, who have each sent in a claim in respect
to their share in the freehold, and the point
which will have to be considered is, how far the
Act of Incorporation shuts out individual claims in
respect of this property. The decision in one case
will determine the batch, and will be one of con-
siderable interest. There is no other case involving
a matter of principle, the great mass of those re-
maining depending upon the proof of qualification.
Mr. H. A. James will appear, as before, as agent
for the Liberals ; and Mr. W. H. Smith on behalf
of the Conservatives.
MARYLEBONE.
Mr. Thomas Hull Terrell will revise the lists of
voters for this borough. The Liberals have taken
no objections, but the Conservatives have taken
nearly 400, but it is fully expected that a large pro-
portion of these will be sustained.

THE BOOKBINDERS AT THE BRITISH
MUSEUM.

A case of some importance to working men employed in
Government institutions was decided this week at
the Bloomsbury County Court—Staples being the plaintiff
and Mr. Tuckett, the bookbinder at the British Museum,
the defendant.
Plaintiff claimed 30s. f)r one week's wages, in lieu of
notice, and it appeared that on Monday, the 29th July, it
was alleged defendant found plaintiff reading instead of
working, and told him to go. Soon after this defendant
found plaintiff at work, but refused to allow him to proceed.
It was deposed for defendant that the men were paid so
much per hour, and made out their bills at 6d. per hour.
Mr. G. Allen, of Chancery-lane, for defendant, then urged
that there was no weekly hiring, and even if there were,
plaintiff had rendered himself liable f 3 dismissal for mis-
conduct. Mr. Allen pointed ,ut that this case was one of
some importance to buth Mr. Tuckett and the great num-
ber s employ,
ad b
andee
n g
i t
uffy of such misconduct
t
wouldt b e for his
eot
u
nzehner
plaintiffzi had
that defendant was justified in discharging him.

His Honour (Mr. Lefroy) considered that defendant was
justifi3d, and found for defendant, with costs.

AN OLD OFFENDER.—WiIIiam Turner, who had
previously served four years' penal servitude for pocket
picking, his brother Henry, and a woman named Roberts,
were yesterday again convicted of the same offence at the
Middlesex Sessions. Turner was this time sentenced to
ten years' penal servitude, the woman to two years' impri-
sonment, and the younger• brother of Turner, who had been
made a mere tool, was sent to prison for two months' im-
priginiment and three years M a reformatory.

WORD FROM VIRciIN TA ON THE
BAZTLE OF BULL BUN.

The clear and incontestable result of the battle
of Bull Run has lent support to many shallow
criticisms on the conduct of the Northern army,
and it is not surprising that, in face of the event,
the endeavours of writers in the Northern news-
papers to do justice to the military qualities of their
fellow-countrymen have had little success. Per-
haps the following letter, which we find in the
Charleston Mercury, and is written by a partisan
of the South, will satisfy our readers that, after all,
the Northern troops did fight, and that at one time
their valour had nearly grasped its reward :

Richmond, Monday, July 28.
With the utter want of system en the part of the
Government to acquire and communicate informa-
tion of what transpires, we have to depend on such
reliable statements as we can obtain, from time to
time, from those who witness and participate in the
great events which are occurring. The Government
►tself is under the necessity, like your correspon-
dent, of seeking information from individuals who
come on here from the scenes of action, and, there-
fore, cannot be expected to communicate anything.
I have already commented upon this want of sys-
tem and capacity in the administration, and need
not repeat my remarks. I shall proceed, then, to
inform you of what I have learned since I last
wrote.

It is settled without question that at one time
during the fight our army was on the eve of being
defeated. This was in the early part of the after-
noon. Our lines extended five or six miles, parallel
with the course of Bull's Run and behind that
stream. General Beauregard had intrenched him-
self here, and had skilfully prepared this place as
the battle-field. Beauregard's head-quarters were
to the right of the centre of the line, and General
Johnston was on the extreme left. Bull Run is
an easy fordable stream, except during heavy
rains ; but in front of the army its banks in most
places were steep. At the extreme left of our lines
this stream had a bend southward, which inclosed
the forces there in a sort of semi-circle, and was
shallow and easily forded. The enemy first made
his appearance in force on the right, in front of
Beauregard. He made demonstrations there as if
he had selected that as the battle-ground. He
iopened b andut d
id continuedno t a
dy
advance
cheavy m
make
ee
anfromattack with
his. bat-
thersiesinfantry. But little damage was done by this
distant cannonading. After this had continued
for some time, and no advance being made,
Beauregard became convinced the attack was to
bed demonstration madenstr n in another
designedendotherdirecttioonc,over the real
that this
ati
purpose of the enemy. He proceeded to the
left, where Johnston's wing of the army was placed,
eo wasa
and there he discovered the enemy's columns
were
arriving in immense masses to outflank him, and
Johnston engaged in a desperate .fight with greatly
superior numbers. It was apparent the enemy,t
purpose was to turn the extreme left of Johnston's
forces. This was our weakest point, and the move-
ment showed good generalship. Johnston had less
than 15,0e0 men with which to resist this attack-
ing column. Beauregard saw instantly the battle..
ground was there. He immediately called up the
available force near, and directed them to support
Johnston. The latter general was making a most
gallant defence.
The battle raged furiously for two or three hours.
An eye-witness of the scene, who stood on an emi-
nence about a mile and a quarter off, says he saw
the immense masses move to and fro, like the un-
dulations of the waves of the ocean, as the tide of
battle inclined to one side or the other.
The fate of
the day hung in an uncertain balance. The heavy
column of the enemy pressed down upon our gallant
regiments, and cutting them to pieces with artil-
lery, made them waver. Detached squads of brokers
companies and regiments had begun to leave the
field, and were making their way for Manassas
Junction.
The day was all but lost. Scattered and exhausted
as were our men, victory for a time inclined to fa-
vour the overwhelming army of the enemy; and its
general, believing he had gained a victory, de-
spatched the news to Washington. Happily, at
this critical juncture, Kershaw, Cash, and Kemper
stemmed and turned the adverse tide, driving the
frightened foe before their accurate fire and rapid
charges. Both Beauregard and Johnston rallied
their forces, and led them in perm to the attack.
Soon after, Elzey's and Smith's brigades, of about
4,000 men, came up opportunely and reinforced our
army. This reinforcement with the heroic rally
made by the generals, after Kershaw turned the
tide of the battle in our favour, decided the fortunes
of the field.
Great as the victory has been, its results would
have been incalculable could we have pursued the
flying and terror-stricken enemy to the Long
Bridge. And why was it not done ? Simply be-
cause Beauregard had not the force. Though only
a part of the army was engaged in actual battle, all
had been on active duty the whole day. The com-
bined forces of Beauregard and Johnston did not
exceed thirty five thousand men in the field. At
least half of these were engaged in the fight ; the
rest were under the fire of the enemy's guns, with
an occasional encounter. All, in fact, were on the
battle-field and in battle array from the earliest hour
in the morning till the defeat in the evening.
Every man was needed. There were no reserves.

THE FISHING GROUND OF liocK4z4
BANK.

(From Me _lrish Times.)
We reprinted from the London papers on Mon-
day
a romantic account of the supposed discovery
of a marvellous fishing ground in the North At-
lantic. Around a lonely rock there were gigantic
codfish, enormous ling, vast sharks 30 feet long,
strange monsters never described before, and the
ocean was alive with sporting whales, while the
air swarmed with myriads of birds. Wondrous
was the luck of the fishermen. Two days sufficed
to fill the hold of a schuoner. Talk of the " oyster
digging" of New York, or the "oil wells" of Penn-
sylvania. Here was a perfect El Dorado in an Un•
noticed fishing ground close to our shores.
So much interest has been created by the sup-
posed new discovery of the fishing ground of
Roekall Bank, and by the letters published by Dr.
Dawson, that we have taken some pains to investi-
gate the matter, and we are enabled, by the kind-
ness of an eminent naturalist of our own city, to
give our readers a truthful and scientific account of
the rock and its bearings. We do so the more hear-
tily because Irish enterprise is already engaged in
drawing its treasures from the deep, and we ear-
nestly hope that our fishermen wi:l not be less lucky
than others in their adventures.
The Rockall Bank was well known some years
since both to the French and Dutch as a productive
fishing ground. Its bearings were noted in the
Dutch charts which were sold at Cowan's, the
map-seller's shop, near the Stadthouse of Amster-
dam, and in which charts the western coasts of
Ireland, those of Scotland, the Western Isles, or
Hebrides, are most carefully laid down with all the
fishing banks, and " busses," a sort of Dutch
,
fishing-boat, were engraven, to point out where the
finest fish were found.

The true bearing and soundings of the Rockall
Bank were, however, never accurately laid down
until the survey of Capt. Vidal, R N., in her Ma-
jesty's ship Pike, employed during the years 1830
and 1831, in the examination of the banks and
soundings to the westward of the British Islands,
Rockall is an isolated group of rocks in the Atlan-
tic Ocean, situated in 57.35 north latitude, and 13.40
west longitude. It bears north-west from Tory
Island off the coast of Donegal, and west by south
from St. Kilda. It is about 30 hours' sail from
Donegal, and about 130 miles from St. Kilda,
The soundings vary from 50 to 80 fathoms,
and at some distance around, especially towards the
south, increases to 70 ea.d 90 fathoms. The bot-
tom is gravel, shells, and fine sand. The bank does
not lie very far northerly of the line of route taken
by the Canadian steamers from Liverpool to Que-
bec by the North Passage.
There can be no doubt that 4 vast quantity of
fish congregate about these rocks, attracted by the
character of the soundings, and the abundance of
qmaaeri
n nt et
ha
en iwmeaslts
coastexisting
o
, rt
ehiearnd e.
as The ht
the
fisheo d thatthe ling,
and the torsk, are there in immense quantities, as
well as several species of cetacea, or whales, and
the squall, or shark. The fish that puzzled Dr.
Dawson is the rorquol, of which two species, the
greater and lesser rorquol, have been seen frequently
off Bofin, on the coast of Mayo. The fish is very
strange in appearance, and remarkable for the tufts
upon its snout. The grampus (Phoccena grampus)
is found there, as well as the blue shark ( Car-
charius glaucus.)
ground of Rockall
without
Traise to the captains
w o
discovered, and with
n, so favourable a
sa
10, b
r-
ligiving
tliberalityfishermen,cannot
modethefishing
rpre
have
. opened,
pe
ed
field for our
w
to throw a line Alreadythere.'
lv e lreland
understand
preparing
that Captain Coppin, the extensive shipbuilder and-
engineer, of. Londonderry, has determined to send
a steam-vessel to these grounds early next year, ac-
companied by. two good sailing vessels, either cutter
or schooner rigged. These ships are to be provided
with suitable stores, a great quantity of long lines,
harpoons for whales, and means for extracting the
oil, &c. No difficulty need be experienced respect-
ing bait. The vast quantities of halibut whi( h are
found Mere will afford any ludntity. It is as well
to remark that the proper season for thew.) grounds
is from May until the end of August.