The Sun.
London, England, 1861-02-13 00:00:00

organise a plan, appoint commissioners, ex-Presi-
dent TYLER at their head, to settle a scheme of
compromise. Mr. BUCHANAN has given it his ap-
proval, but wanting the powers to accept its pre-
sent suggestions, he has sent it with a third message
to Congress, recommending it to their favourable
consideration. The present and pressing recom-
mendation of Virginia is that both sides should
abstain from acts likely to produce collision,
pending the meeting of commissioners deputed from
all Northern and Southern States willing to send
them, who shall then consult with the object of
effecting a satisfactory and permanent re-union.
Perhaps we may add to the influences tending to
re-union the outspokenness of a few bold men in
the South, who will not yield to mob intimidation.
Thus—

"Mr. Etheridge, of Tennessee told his Southern friends
that they could not live out of the Union. He told them,
in language that made them shrink before him, that
' every foot of soil that had been acquired at the instance
of the South, the Noah, with its numerical power and
strength overshadowing the South, has willingly yielded.
Florida and Louisiana had been thus purchased at the
instance of the South. Florida had been purchased at a
cost of 5,000,000 dole., and at a cost of 50,000,000 dole.
more to remove the savages, millions more to build fortifi-
cations and towns along the deep to guard Southern com-
merce. And, after all this, little Florida, with less than
half the population which he represented, goes out of the
Union, with the fortifications, with the public lands, with
untold millions, and, worse than all, carries with her the
prestige of the unity of these States. Little Florida secedes,
which could not at the present moment protect herself from
the alligators without the aid of the Federal troops—this
very Florida, purchased at the instance of the South, with
Northern money and Northern blood.' "

Few of us, probably, supposed that Southern
orators dared to tell the truth thus plainly. No
doubt, also, the stagnation of trade in the South,
the costs of warlike preparations, the tyranny of

the "mean whites," and their remorseless levies on
their richer neighbours' property, and all, of course,
to defray the cost of this gallant militia, who, till
secession began, got their livelihood by inciting
negroes to rob their masters.
But if such things, and others which might be
mentioned, point towards, all does not look in the
same direction. In the North it was not the votes
of the great cities, but of the great country which
elected Mr. LINCOLN, and, so far as we can yet
observe, the country districts remain staunch Free-
Boilers, and will never consent to allow slavery to
be optional in any part of the territory of the
United States out of which new States might be
formed. They will not allow slavery to extend to
the south more than to the north of the now

famous parallel of latitude. Mr. SEWARD'S lan-
guage had led many to suppose that Mr.
LINCOLN was wavering. But if Mr. LIN-
COLN'S recognised organ is to be trusted,
Mr. LINCOLN is committed to no compromise,
will give them a thoroughly republican Govern-
ment, and stand immoveably on the Chicago—that
is, the thorough Republican—platform.
Then, again, the South does more than talk ;
South Carolina has completed her secession by
acts. Louisiana has voted for secession by a large
majority, and makes the sixth which has done so.
We may give here a statement of what we learn
to be the cost, and number of lien and guns in
the Federal ports which have been seized :

Cost.
Dols. Men. Guns.
Fort Macon, Beaufort, N.O 460,000 300 61
Fort Johnson, Wilmington, N.C 5,000 60 10
Fort Caswell, Oak Island, N.O 571,000 400 81
Castle Pinckney, Charleston, S.C 41,000 100 25
Fort Moultrie, Charleston, S.O 75,000 300 54
Fort Pulaski, Savannah, Ga 923,000 800 150
Fort Jackson, Savannah, Ga
Fort Barrancas, Pensacola 315,000 250 49
Fort Mcßea, Pensacola
Fort Morgan, Mobile ..1,214,000 700 132
Fort St. Philip, Mouth Mississippi ..143,000 600 124
Fort Jackson, Mouth Mississippi....Bl7,ooo 600 150
Fort Pike, Rigolets, La 472,000 300 49
Fort Macomb, Chef Montour 447,000 300 49

Totals..

This looks like a tolerable an nouncement of a great
rebellion ; and should the quarrel really come to a
war, we may be pretty sure that the war will be a
bloody and deadly one. The character as well as
frequency of duels in America raise a shudder at
the thought of what Americans would be to each
other if engaged in general and fratricidal
combat.

May a merciful Heaven avert such a catastrophe.
If the South secede, infinitely better that she should
be left to herself. Commerce, by its own interests,
would soon right itself. The North would be still
far the most powerful State; and if she chose to
purchase liberty for the slaves of the border States
would form with them a confederation mighty as