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

4 WORD FROM VIRGINIA ON THE
BAZTLE OF BULL RUN.

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 endeavour's 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
itself 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 learaed 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-fleld. Beauregard's head-quarters were
to the right of the centre of the line, and General
Johnston's 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. Re
opened and continued a heavy fire from his bat-
teries, but did not advance to make an attack with
his infantry. Bat little damage was done by this
distant cannonading. After this had continued
s columns were was placed,
for some time, and no advance being made,
Beauregard became convinced the attack was to
be made in another direction, end that this
demonstration was designed to cover the real
purpose of the enemy. He proceeded to the
ne
andleft,there
where
he Johnston'sdisnoverd the the y
Johnston's
arriving in immense masses to outflank
him, and
Johnston engaged in a dc3perate fight with
im army ,
greatly
superior numbers. It was apparent the enemy's
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 15,00 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 erai.
nence about a mile and a quarter
off, says he saw
the immense males 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, l-
lery, made them waver. Detached squads of broken,
companies and regiments had begun to
leave the
field, and were making their 'way for Manassas
Junction.
The day was all but lost. Scattered
andexhausted
as were our men, victory for a time inclined
to &-
your 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 person 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, alt
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 wore no reserves.

MB FISHING GROUND OF ROCK4ZZ
BANK.

(From the _lrish Times.)
We reprinted from the London papers on Mon-
day d romantic account of the supposed discovery
of a marvellous fishing ground in the North At-
lantie. 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 seht,oner. 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
Rockall 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 will 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 engraves, 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 Isle.nds,
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
Donegal, and
Kanidlda.aboluttisla3bo milesout 30from s
hours' sail firlodma.
The soundings vary from 50 to 80 fathoms,
and at some distance around, especially towards the
south, increases to 70 and 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 a vast quantity of
fish congregate about these rocks, attracted by the
character of the soundings, and the abundance of
marine animals existing there. The fish that fre-
quent the west coast of Ireland, as the cod, the ling,
and the torsk, are there in immense quantities, as
well as several species of cetacea, or whales, and.
the squali, 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 (Phocana grampus)
is found there, as well as thebltuoethsheark (Car-
charius glaucus.) •
We cannot notice the fishing ground of Rockall
without giving our mede of praise
who, by their enterprise, discovered, and with
sailor-like liberality have opened, so favourable a
field for our own fishermen. Already Ireland is
preparing " to throw a line there." We understand
that Captain Coppin, the extensive shipbuilder and
engineer, of Londonderry, has determined to send
two good sailing vessels, either cutter
a steam-vessel to these grounds early next year, ac-
ocromjhoaonineedrbrlgged. 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 which are
found there will afford any quantity. It is as well
to remark that the proper season for these grounds
is from Nay until the cud of August.