The Sun.
London, England, 1861-12-13 00:00:00

THE SUN, LONDON, FRIDAY EVENING, DECEMBER 13, 1861.

71IE CIVIL WAR lAT AMERICA.

(From the Special Correspondent of the Times.)
WASHINGTON, Nov. 29,
The North is now threatened with a civil war in

which speeches and newspaper articles may lead to
bloodshed, or at all events to a most serious quarrel
among the Unionists. Months ago I wrote to you
that the struggle was surely coming, and that
there would be a contest to turn the war for the
Union, or, as Earl Russell said, for power

—into a war for the abolition of slavery. Read the

speeches at the New York meeting of the Hon.

Charles Sumner and his friends—read the proceed-

ings when the St. Louis sword was presented to
Fremont, and the testimonial addressed to him,

which dedicates the weapon to his use " in the re-

organisation of a great and free country." A sword,
an actual weapon of steel, to be wielded in battle
for what was styled at the Cincinnati demonstration
a higher standard than the " Stars and Stripee.''
This contest is already denominated the " abolition

war" against the Government, and it is assuming

formidable proportions. The Secession organs de-
nounce it with affected indignation, and the Go-

vernment is urged to seize Mr. Sumner and to sup-
press the anti-slavery journals of New York, on the
ground that they are more dangerous than Mr.
Jefferson Davis, or the Secessionist papers which
were " put down" by mob law or the United States

ost-office. The Government is accused in mass
meeting, 'amid" iiiiinenge chtering. of "an infamous,
sneaking, crawling policy, which replaces the
elective watchword sounded by Fremont for this
great nation." Assuredly, if he be thus encouraged

he General is not the man to remain quiet or to

bear his temporary disgrace with equanimity. If it
were not that a great nation is suffering the throes
which the eye of the most experienced statesman

may mistake for those of dissolution, it would be
amusing to mark the demeanour of the quacks who
have brought about the terrible disorders of their

unhappy patient. They are all clasping their hands
together or tearing their hair, or shaking their fists

at their rivals, and crying out, " Our nostrum would
have saved glorious Mr. Union ! It was the horrid
abolitionists did it all ! It was the trucklers to

slavery who are responsible. If Greeley's Bitters

or the Lincoln Tonic had been used in time he

might have been saved.

Oh ! this faction, this

,errible faction ; how it has marred our worthy

patron." These faction-mongers and dealers in

demagogy affect to deplore the results of their own
acts. Qum tulerit Gracciws de eeditione querentes ?
And such Gracchi—the most sordid, uneloquent,
unlovely creatures that ever crawled through the
corrupted passages of a rotten body politic—for
where they touch is corruption and rottenness.
Fortunately, they have not come in contact with the
mass of American humanity—it is still sound and
healthy; but if the locomotive crashes through the
bridge, the train may follow after it. In this crisis
of an Imperial destiny, the Now York papers are
engaged in a fierce controversy about the election
of tht Mayor, and amid the usual personalities of
their daily strife there are introduced extraneous
questions arising from personal rivalry and abuse,
which compel the wonder of those who know the
character and feelings of citizens of New York.
How can they tolerate such degrading controver-
sies ? What interest can they take in the castiga-
tion which " the scarred veteran of Plum Gut,"
" the sulphurless Scotch renegade" of one journal,
receives from " the little villain" or " the Hon.
Massa Greeley," or what use is it to elaborate
columns of demonstration of a fact patent to any one
who has been unfortunate enough to read it, that
one paper has the art of concentrating every objec-
tionable ingredient that can be found in a licentious
press into a diurnal concrete of rascality and nasti-
ness ? Let facts speak far themselves, and let the
best possible instructors turn to work more worthy
of their mission.

There is no sign of life in the army here ; some
movements of regiments to the other side, to be
drilled in face of the enemy, and. the usual " recog-
nizances," as they are called here by some of the
people. It was hoped that General M'Clellan would
win a victory for Congress, but they must "bide a
wee" in spite of the confident assertions that he was
preparing for a great blow to be delivered before the
Capitol threw open its gates to the senators and re-
presentatives of all that is left of the United States.
That he can resist the pressure which is brought
against him is a proof that he is made of good
stuff. But it is not proof that he is a general. The
hand of his fate is upon General M'Clellan, and
whether it be for good or for evil the world will
soon know. But, assuredly, the Secession organ of
New York indicates clearly, in denunciations of the
abolition rebellion of Fremont, that civil war
within a civil war which has yet to fight its battles.
The Congress will meet in two days after this letter
has been sent from the Capitol. Will it be unani-
mous in the mode of prosecuting the war ? Will it
be unanimous in its view of the object to be gained,
and of the means of attaining it ? The signs of the
times are indeed ominous. Storms and clouds and
darkness sweep over Stars and Stripes, and the
weary mariners cry out for some master hand at the
helm, some certain port to sail for, some compass to
guide them. If the masters are incompetent the
crews will rise and depose them. The armies of the
North may win battles, but there is no voice loud
enough to pierce through the cheers of the victors,
and tell them where they must plant their eagles.
And wherever they turn no friendly eye meets the
glance of the great Republic in its hour of trial.
Russia indeed may beg her to be assured that re-
publicanism in trouble has the sympathy of despotism
in trouble, but 'tis " a far ery to Loch Awe." The
tone in which England is spoken of is unfriendly
enough, but it would be wrong to think that the
press represents public feeling without large excep-
tions on that point. Still, the leaven is working ;
every opportunity is taken to stir it up, and actual
warfare could scarcely engender more menaces and
threatenings. The Mason and Slidell affair seems to
be dismissed from men's minds, but they are wait-

ing anxiously for the account of the reception of the
news from England, and affect to believe it must be
received without irritation or surprise there.

Captain Wilkes is, as I said he would be—and

indeed not a shred of the prophetical mantle was
needed to inspire the prediction—a hero at once,
and the photographers are upon him. He has been
receiving a dinner and making a speech, which in
mercy or in justice is not reported, but it is de-
scribed as rapid and compendious, and the para-
graphlsviiiSlidell
s a declarednrelatingd Ai
r. t
Mason
ait hes states—markown o
zuflthis—that d
, ,could
ha removedy e
sc:
oma
wp
rt
.. .
theynot
a pass from the Government (perhaps Governor)
General." Of what ? Of Cuba or of the Confede-
rcaatpetStates statement?ilkeTshesaiaan
yth in g
i s
of
f theinexplicable,
k i butnd
ii
tf
shows clearly he felt he had no right to seize
Mr. Slidell and Mr, Mason as common enemies, as
contraband of war carriers, or as " ambassadors ;'
but that he made them prisoners because they were
not provided with some mysterious document or
another, of which no one ever heard before. It is
quite evident why Captain Wilkes is made a hero.
The discharge of an ordinary well understood duty
does not entitle any man to such honours oven in
America. If the act were not one of defiance and
outrage, let us say not on the law, but on the well
understood principles regulating international
comity and usage, there would have been no heroism
about it. It is remarked with something like an air
of astonishment, or with satisfaction, according to
the tone of the reporter, that Mr. Mason is not up-
roariously convivial, or that Mr. Slidell is not in
the prison. One is reminded of Dickens's story
about the Cockney who denied that the French were
at all lighthearted or gay, because ho had Hee- n 2,000
of them prisoners in an English hulk, and not one
had a smile on his face. The captives are treated,
it is said, in the same way as other prisoners; but

I must really protest against the notion which is
prevalent here—if lam to juige from the assertions
in some of the principal papers—that political offen-
ders in England are "thrown into the dungeons of
the Tower, heavily chained and ironed," or that they
are used like felons. Mr. O'Connell had what our
American friends call "a very nice time of it" in
Richmond ga obto d even Brigadier-General Meagher
could testify that he and his fellow prisoner 3 were
not treated with harshness or indignity in their
Irish prisons by the " myrmidons" of the British
Government.

Da not be in the least alarmed at the statement
in one of the malignant enemies of the peaceful re-
lations of the United States and England, that Lord
Lyons has in the smallest degree violated the letter
or the spirit of the most honourable neutrality. The
" excited President and Cabinet," who stared over
the "rebel documents" brought by a distinguished
military officer from Fortress Monroe, and dis-
covered that Lord Lyons in his official capacity was
a mere agent for forwarding despatches from the
Confederates through British Consular agents in
the South, must really feel rather ashamed of these
falsehoods at their cost. As to the British Minister,
it would seem that certain American journals of the
type which has reduced the Cis-Atlantic press to a
degree of powelessness without a parallel in jour-
nalism, imagine that he is a mere peg to hang
scandals upon, and that he is bound to notice every
lie which the poverty of intelligence or the richness
of imagination of their -agents may lead them to in-
vent. There are the most positive orders in the
Chancellery of the Legation prohibiting the At-
taches, or others, from even writing to any of our
own Consuls in the South or sending letters under
any pretence to the Southern States, and the Con-
sular agents are ordered most positively not to affix
their seals to any private correspondence. One of
these gentlemen, without authority, sent a few
commercial letters to Lord Lyons for transmission.
But the British Minister at once sent them to Mr.
Seward, the Secretary of State, and informed him
that he would have nothing to do with forwarding
them. Nothing, however, can abash or shame
these scandalous mythologists. Confute a hundred
times, the "creature's at his dirty work again?,
The French Consul at New Orleans, as I am in-
formed, still sends commercial letters for French
subjects by the cruisers, without any difficulty or
restriction, and not a word is said.
Once more I have to record the effects of the care-
lessness and military ignorance of the volunteer
officers of the Federalists, which have led to another
small disaster. A squadron of the 3d Pennsylvania
Cavalry, proceeding from camp on the right centre
of the Federal position, rode gallantly along a
narrow road beyond Vienna towards Hunter's-mills,
which was known to be in the hands of the enemy,
and rode on and on till they were suddenly received
with musketry from a house and the neighbouring
ditches and hedges. The horses were not used to
musketry, nor the men used to the horses, and just
as they were galloping away from the unpleasant
neighbourhood they were met by a body of cavalry,
and the result was that 30 men were killed,
wounded, or reported missing by the survivors in
a few minutes. After a time the 'men will refuse
to go on these little murder parties. As an offset
to the loss on the Federal side they brought in a
horse belonging to an officer who was killed by
Private Beatty, on the saddle of which is marked
"D. S. Davis, Ridgway, North Carolina." The
names of the captured or killed indicate an Irish
origin. A more fortunate exploration was made
by Colonel Bayard, with a party of the Ist Penn-
sylvania Cavalry, in the same district to a place
called Drainsville, where they captured an unfortu-
nate lover—one Captain William Farley, aide-de-
camp to General Bonham, who had visited the
village on a private mission connected with a fair
lady—some Secessionist civilians, and another
officer. On their return they were fired upon by
the Confederates; the leader's horse was killed,
and himself wounded in two places, and the surgeon
who accompanied the force was dangerously, if not
mortally, wounded ; but a portion of the men were
dismounted, and advanced into the cover where the
Confederates were concealed, killing, they say,
three, and taking three prisoners. General M'Clellan
is called upon to prevent these irregular expeditions,
which, in general, have terminated disastrously for
the Federalists, partly because as the aggressive
force they are more exposed to surprises, and partly
because their officers do not know how to conduct
the men in their charge.

Nov. 28.

If I am to judge by premonitory symptoms, there
is reason to think the Federal army on the other side
of the Potomac will experience some of the hard-
ships which fell to the lot of the English army in
the Crimea. There was only a night's rain, and
that not very heavy, to moisten the earth, but the
roads were very heavy in the bottoms and lowlands,
and the ground around the cavalry camps which I
passed in a ride along the lines at the other side of
the Chain-bridge to-day was already in a miserable
state, sticking in the Balaklava style to the heels of
man and horse, or trampled into a profound paste.
Long trains of commissariat carts were drawn with
difficulty by their fine teams over the deeply-rutted
roads. But what will there be to endure when the
winter sets in with all its rigour ! The snow does
not lie long enough to admit of sleighing, but it
falls in large quantities, and deluges of rain some-
times break the monotony of the frost.
From the West there is no news of importance.
It is believed that General Halleck will move his
column to Tennessee by land, so as to assist and be
assisted by the Federal troops in Kentucky, and
when he has reached the main roads communicating
with the river he will move along pari passu with
the river. The river is falling rapidly. The gun-
boats which are to draw five feet of water, are not
yet completed, and already the shallows below St.
Louis are covered with less than six feet of water.
The most sanguine do not think that the expedition
will succeed in " evolving the Union sentiment" in
Tennessee satisfactorily till the beginning of March ;
but tax-gathering will be in season beforo that time
comes, and the results may have something to say
to the expedition if it has not gone further and fared
better. In Kentucky the Federalists make no pro-
gress at present, and General Sherman, by the last
accounts, was at St. Louis, consulting with General
Halleck on the plan of the campaign.
Gen. Burnside's expeditionary force is gathering
at Annapolis, where eight regiments are already
assembled, which will be augmented by four more
in a few days. But, as yet, the force is not by any

means complete. As upwards of 20 heavily-armed
gunboats are attached to it, with pontoon bridges,
troop boats, and field artillery, it is obvious that
some very considerable object is in view, and men's
speculations run along the coast for hundreds of
miles from the Potomac and James River to Now
Orleans. The stone fleet has not been heard from
up to this date, but it is probable there will be news
from it by way of New York before the packet sails.
Charleston and Savannah—both are one—are stated
to be the new Sebastopols which will be closed up
by the enemy outside, instead of by the defenders.
Burnside's expedition will not be ready for a long
while to come, and it is doubtful, indeed, if the

authorities have yet made up their minds respecting
its destination. The General is an active and enter-
priEing man, 37 years of age, and is a graduate of
West Point, though he has not been in the service
for the last eight or nine years. He was at the
battle of Manassas, and behaved with coolness and
courage in that affair, and though one may demur
to the statement that "his lofty forehead is
expressive of deep penetration," he is certainly pos-
sessed of intelligence, zeal, and soldierly qualities.
The weather has suddenly become alarmingly close
and warm, and typhoid fevers are rather increasing
in camps and quarters.

t, SUMNER ON THE STUMP IN NEW YORK.
66 The lion. Charles Sumner, United States Senator from

Massachusetts, delivered an address last evening, in the
large hall of the Cooper Institute, on The Rebellion; its
Origin and Mainspring.' The invitation was extended to
him by the New York Young Men's Republican Union,
which was organised in June, 1856, as the Fremont and
Dayton Central Union.' Rarely has there been such a
large audience assembled in the Cooper Institute—never
one of such general reputation and intelligence. Several
hundred ladies were present. As Mr. Sumner made his ap•
rearance on the platform he was hailed with enthusiastic
applause.

" Mr. SUMNER, coming forward to the desk, said—lt is
my nature to be more touched with the kindness of friends
than the malignity of enemies, and I know both. You make
me feel to-night that lam among friends. Believe me I
am happy to be welcomed by the Republican Union of New
York ; first, because it represents the young men, who are
the strength and hope of our country ; and secondly, be-
cause it constitutes an association which has already ren-
dered signal service in redeeming the country from the rule
of the slave oligarchy. I cannot forget that under their
auspices our candidate for the Presidency, known and
honoured in Illinois, became also known and honoured in
New York. After showing at considerable length that the
origin and mainspring of the rebellion was African slavery,
he continued—But I hear a voice saying that all this pro-
ceeds—not from slavery, oh, no I—but from anti-slavery;
that the Republicans, who hate slavery—that the Aboli-
tionists, are the authors of this terrible conflagration. Surely
yon may well suspect the sense or loyalty of him who
puts forth this irrational and utterly wicked imputation.
As well say that the early Christians were the authors of
the heathen enormities against which they bore their martyr
testimony, and that the cross, the axe, the gridiron, and the
boiling oil by which they suffered were a part of the Chris-
tian dispensation. But the early Christians were misre-
presented and falsely charged with crime, even as you are.
. . But how shall the rebellion be crushed ? That is the
question. Men, money, munitions of war, a well-supplied
commissariat, means of transportation—all these you have
in abundance, in some particulars beyond the rebels. You
have, too, the consciousness of a good cause, which in it-
self is an army. And yet thus far, until within a few days,
the advantage has not been on our side. The explanation
is easy. The rebels are combating at home on their own
soil, strengthened and maddened by slavery, which is to
them an ally and a fanaticism. More thoroughly aroused
than ourselves—more terribly in earnest, with every sinew
strained to the utmost—they freely use all the resources
that God and nature put into their hands, raising against
us not only the whole white population, but enlisting the
war-whoop of the Indians, cruising upon the sea in pirate
ships to despoil our commerce, and at one swoop confiscat-
ing our property to the extent of hundreds of millions of
dollars, while all this time their 4,000,000 slaves, undisturbed
at home, are freely contributing by their labour to sustain
the war, which without them must soon expire. It remains
for us to encounter the rebellion calmly and surely by a force
superior to its own. But to this end something more will be
needed than men or money. Our battalions must be reinforced
by ideas, and we must strike directly at the origin and main-
spring of the rebellion. I do not say now in what way or
to what extent, but simply that we must strike. It may be
by the system of a Massachusetts general—Butler ; it may
be by that of Fremont, or it may be by the grander system
of John Quincy Adams. Reason and sentiment both concur
in this policy, which is only according to the most common
principles of human conduct. In no way can we do so much
at so little cost. To the enemy such a blow will be a terror,
to good men it will be an encouragement, and to foreign
nations watching this contest it will be an earnest of some-
thing beyond a mero carnival of battle. There has been
the cry 'On to Richmond,' and still another worse cry
On to England.' Better than either is the cry, On to
freedom.' Let this be heard in the voices of your soldiers ;
aye, let it resound in the purposes of the Government, and
victory must be ours. By this sign conquer. It is with no
little happiness that I now announce that this cry is at last
adopted by the Government. You will find it in the in-
structions from the Secretary of War, dated War Depart-
ment, Oct. 14, 1861, and addressed to the general command-
ing the forces which have just effected a successful landing
in South Carolina. Here are the important words—' You
will, however, in general, avail yourself of the services of
any persons, whether fugitives from labour or not, who
may offer them to the National Government ; you will em-
ploy such persons in such services as they may be fitted for,
either as ordinary employes, or, if special circumstances
seem to repire it, in any other capacity, with such orga-
nisation, in squads, companies, or otherwise, as you deem
most beneficial to the service. This however not to mean a
general arming of them for military service. You will assure
all loyal masters that Congress will provide just compensa-

tion to them for the loss of the services of the persons so
employed.' These words have not the positive form of a
proclamation, but analyse them and you will find them full
of meaning. First, martial law is hereby declared ; for the
powers committed to the discretion of the general are de-
rived from that law, and not from the late Confiscation Act
of Congress. Secondly, fugitive slaves are not to be sur-
rendered. Thirdly, all coming within the camp arc
to be treated as freemen. Fourthly, they may
be employed in such service as they may be
fitted for. Fifthly, in squads, companies, or other-
wise, with the single limitation that this is not to mean a
general arming of them for military service.' And, sixthly,
compensation, through Congress, is promised to loyal
masters, saying nothing of rebel masters. All this is little
short of a proclamation of emancipation—not unlike that of
old Caius Marine, when he landed on the coast of Etruria,
and, according to Plutarch, proclaimed liberty to all the
slaves. As such Ido not err when I call it the most im-
portant event of the war—the more important because it is
understood to have the deliberate sanction of the President
as well as the Secretary of War, and therefore marks the
policy of the Administration. That this policy should be
first applied to South Carolina is just. As this great re-
bellion began in this State, so should the great remedy."

DEMONSTALION Fon FREMONT IN CINCINNATI
(From the Cincinnati Gazette, Aov. 25.)
The Germans of this city turned out in large numbers on
Saturday night last to attend a meeting held at Turner-hall,
for the purpose of expressing sympathy with General Fre-
mont in the course lately pursued towards him by the
Administration. The meeting was called to order by Dr.
A. Bauer. Frederick Werner was appointed secretary.
Judge Stallo and the Rev. Mr. Eisenlohr addressed the
assemblage in the German, and the Rev. M. D, Conway in
the English language. A series of resolutions in German,
censuring the Administration for the supersedure of General
Fremont, were passed.
"Mr. C oNWAY spoke as follows : —Judge Stallo has alluded
to me as a Virginian who can answer for the South. I cer-
tainly have lived there long enough, and felt the heavy
hand of slavery enough, to know that this Government is
not strong enough to preserve the Union and African sla •
very also ; and while this Administration is now bending
itself to that impossible and undesirable work, the people
will be in this conflict like Issachar of old—a strong ass
crouching between two burdens—between an embecile Ad-
ministration on the one hand, and a gigantic rebellion on
the other. Both Issachar cannot bear, and such an as-
sembly inspires me with the hope that ho will not much
longer crouch, but bravely bear on to the ' goodly rest and
pleasant land,' with the burden of liberty on his shoulder,
no longer a strong ass for the Government to crush with its
wretched pro-slavery pack, but a strong man, with the
blood which defied George 111. throbbing in his heart
Now that the standard of liberty has been unfurled by
Fremont over the contending parties—a higher standard
than Stars and Stripes, or stars and bars—how wretched
and despicable appear the standard raised by the pigmy
generals who have gone out warm from the wing of the
Administration I What think you, my countrymen, of
Sherman, taking our young men from the classic shades
of our colleges, and from their free homes, and offering
them to the proud and hospitable citizens of the sove-
reign State of South Corolina, as the patrol of the negroes ?
What think you of Dix, down in Wise's district, pro
claiming that his army is under strict orders to guard
' slavery, even to the treasonable extent of refusing to take
into their lines, whether belonging to traitors or ' any
other man,' those black corn producers and earth-
work builders ? If a man sends a barrel of corn to Virginia he
is imprisoned ; the man who sends there the hands which
produce 10,000 barrels of corn is Major-General of the
United States' army. Can you imagine a lower depth than
this ? All depths are possible with this Administration.
The one ho comes out and proclaims latest from that
glorious Republican circle at the White House always gets
a little lower than the rest. So here came Young Lochin-
var' Halleck cut of the West—the mysterious Halleck.
The country argued itself unknown by knowing nothing 3f,
and never having heard a word from, Halleck. In breathless
suspense we listen for the first utterance of him sent out to
replace the nat en's darling hero. At last Ilalleck breaks
the mystical silence. Halleck pronounces. In fact, he
proclaims.' His first word is a lie, his second an order for
his men to deliberately betray the country. If there is any
man who does not know it to be a mean, malignant lie,
to say that fugitive slaves have been spies against us, he
should be placed, as soon as possible, in Vac Asylum for
Idiots at South Bottom. The meanness of the lie ap •
pears infernal by the side of the salvation of S, urgis's
brigade, in that very State, by a fugitive slave's
information, and the blunder of M'Dowell upon
batteries of whose existence he was ignorant—and
ignorant simply because he refused fugitives an entrance
within his lines. But his second word is treasonable,
for it commands his soldiers to send out to the enemy
alleged spies and foes of the country. Either Halleck
knows he lies when he accuses the fugitives, or else he
should be hung as a traitor for sending from his lines, un-
arrested, alleged and charged spies against the United
States. Suppose Wield]. and Pryor should seek Halleck's
Hues in disguise, and he should say, ' I misdoubt ye are

PRICE .4d.
STAMPED ...M.

spies ; return to your homes, gentlemen,'—would he not
be hung as an abettor of treason? He would certainly be
hung; only our President dislikes to hang traitors, lest it
might occasion them some personal inconvenience. This,
then, Americans, is the infamous, crawling, sneaking
policy which replaces the electric watchword sounded by
Fremont for this great nation. The idea our Government
has of fidelity is a Chine-e fidelity. A missionary tells us
that, his coat being- patched on the elbow, torn under the
arm, and with a big'grease spot on it, ho desired another ;
but, wishing it made after the same pattern, he took the old
coat and the new cloth to the Chinese tailor. In a week
the tailor brought him the new coat, but what was his
horror to find that the pattern of the old one had been so
faithfully copied that the new one had a patch ingeniously
made on the elbow, and a tear under the arm, and a big
grease spot that must have taken an hour in making on t he
fine new cloth I Such is the Government's idea of restor-
ing this Union. The South having forced this nation to
put on a new coat, this grand Cabinet cross their legs, take
their goose, and aim to bring us the new coat with thd
patch, the tear, and the grease spot, the cause of which it
was that we needed a new one, because of which we
elected Lincoln instead of Breckinridge or Douglas.
Mr. Conway then proceeded to show that a military con-
quest over the South, preserving slavery, would be a sub-
jugation of ourselves as much as the South. From thence-
forth the nation must leave the peaceful progress of its des-
tiny td sit and hold the rebellious States—turning into a
military Government, doing nothing but -watching the mon-
ster, whose soul is slavery, and see that he does not poke
ifs ugly head out again, and coil about our States again.
He concluded by assuring the Germans that many thou-
sand native Americans were appreciating their devotion to
liberty, and would join them when the hour came to root
up, whatever be the obstacle, the root of bitterness in our
land. The policy of the Administration will be swept away,
or else the Administration itself, just as soon as the real
truth is apprehended in all its full powers, and it is only the
interest of a pitiful 350,000 of our people—the number of
slaveholders—who, after keeping us in hot water for 85
years, now precipitate us in civil war; and that it is only
because of the servility which fears to touch the impudent
claim of that handful to scourge and own men and women,
which makes civil war possible. A decree that this Go-
vernment ignores the relation of slavery ends the war, there
is no army in the South but a home guard from that mo-
ment. One thing the war will teach, that slavery ends in
military despotism, that liberty ends in equality to all, black
or white. The moment which decides between the two has
arrived to this nation."

" A TESTIMONIAL SWORD TO GENERAL
FREMONT.
(From the St. Louis Evening News.)

" The friends of General Fremont have started a 10c. con-
tribution for the purpose of purchasing a sword to be pre-
sented to that officer. The subscription lists are to be found
in nearly all the beer saloons and other places in the city.
The following is a copy of the recital that heads them :

" TESTIMONIAL TO JOHN C. FREMONT.

" ' John C. Fremont, the noble champion of a free nation,
has momentarily fallen a victim to the selfish intrigues of a
corrupt clique. A weak Government has torn from the
grasp of the heroic Pathfinder his sword, hitherto unsullied.
Freemen of the West I Will you look on calmly while the
despicable selfishness of Fremont's enemies threatens to
jeopardize you all ? Will you permit that your standard-
bearer, the man of your confidence and hopes, be alienated
from you by slanderous insinuations ? The citizens of St.
Louis have cast their verdict in this controversy by a great
and solemn-1 opular demonstration. It means Fremont and
Liberty I An attempt is now made to deny this expression
of the popular voice and to lead public opinion astray. The
time has come, therefore, to reaffirm the truth by proving to
a deluded Administration our confidenc© in Fremont in a
manner that can never be questioned. Instead of the sword
torn from his grasp, another must be placed in his hand by
the people, to be wielded for the destruction of falsehood
and intrigue and for the reorganisation of a great and free
country. And to make occasion for every friend of Fre-
mont to participate in the testimonial thus to be offered the
amount of each separate contribution has been limited to the
sum of 10c. The surplus will be applied to patriotic pur-
poses, according to the ultimate disposition made by a ma-
jority of the various committees.—St. Louis, Nov. 11,
1861.'"