The Sun.
London, England, 1861-11-05 00:00:00

men were marching on London. Messrs. COBDEN,
BRIGHT, aid the rest of the Peace-at-any-Price men,
who, by reducing our navy, and had suffered the foe
to land, and by reducing our army had rendered it
impossible to offer a successful resistance, would
then do well to hide in their cellars to avoid the
just indignation of the people whose confidence they
had abused. All the available forces in the country
would be concentrated in the metropolis before the
enemy could reach it. But take the worst view of
the case, even Admiral SARTORIUS'S, grant all
the disasters which he paints to have taken place,
would England have been conquered ? Britons
have not become accustomed to periodical invasion
and occasional conquest like continental nations,
and will not readily exchange free institutions for
foreign despotism, or submit to dictation from men
whom their forefathers defeated both at sea and
on their own soil. No ; while England can bring
forward to defend her freedom five millions of able-
bodied men, not Europe combined would invade her
with impunity. We do not make these remarks
with any hostile feeling to our gallant neighbours,
but to express our contempt for those of our own
countrymen who cry before they are hurt, and would
make it appear that the ancient chivalry and cou-
rage of their native land are dead.

shot quite across the river. therto a great part
of the supplies for the army, the forage for the
cavalry especially, have come in small vessels up the
river. Now they can only steal past the Confederate
batteries at night, and that in such small numbers
that we are told a perfect Armada of small craft
with supplies are waiting below the Confederate
batteries to ascend the river.' Occasionally an
attempt is made to tug them past under cover of fog
or darkness, but they frequently ground and are
captured: By the last accounts General BANKS
was said to be hotly engaged, about 22 miles above
Washington, with the enemy ; it will, we expect,
turn out to be but one of those numerous small con-
flicts which the South especially seems to like pro-
voking ; for what purpose it is not easy to tell
unless to keep their foes on:the alert and to impress
them with the belief that they are stronger than they
really are. At present HTLELLAN is creeping along
by safe advances into the advanced posts abandoned
by the enemy, but keeps a safe distance from the
terrible Manassas.

LA ±!. T J

T N F

ceded.

The services rendered by the lifeboats are almost
incalculable, and during the recent gale their
powers have been called into full play on various
parts of the coast. After dwelling with interest
on the various details which chronicle the successes
achieved, it is sad to note one fatal event in the
wreck of the Scarborough lifeboat. Among those
who lost their lives in endeavouring to save the
crew of the lifeboat was Lord CHARLES BEAUCLpIi.
Two gentlemen on the spot succeeded in throwing
a rope and dragging him to land, but was too late,
and life was found to be extinct. It is, however,
a great source of satisfaction to his family and
friends that he should have lost his life under such
circumstances, and the general opinion of the pub-
lic will ratify the verdict of the jury—" That the de-
ceased Lord CHARLES B3AUCLERIC lost his life
accidentally while generously and nobly endeavour-
ing to save the lives of his fellow-men." Such a
death is better than many lives, and no nobler in-
scription could be placed on his tomb. The details
recorded of the scene at Scarborough last Saturday
are most painful, and it is not often that such tem-
pests are encountered. Tae sea broke upon the
sea-wall with such terrific violence that the mas-
sive stones upon the parapet were dislodged ! It
is not to be wondered at that the catastrophe
occurred under the circumstances, and it was only
remarkable that no more deaths took place. Our
readers will rejoice at the signal services rendered
in so many places by the lifeboats at Lowestoft,
Bridlington Quay, Fleetwood, Banff, Portcawl,
Seaton, Carew, Stockton-on-Tees, many lives were
saved by the intrepidity displayed by the lifeboat
crews. With our dangerous coast, and the difficulty
of entering our various ports, the disasters that
befall shipping are so numerous that upwards of
seven hundred lives are annually lost. Notwith-
standing that within the lest ten years upwards of
a hundred new and efficient lifeboats have been
placed upon various parts of the coast, this number
is quite inadequate to the requirements. The
National Lifeboat Institution have been of the
greatest benefit to the community, and it is earnestly
to be hoped that they will be more efficiently
seconded in their efforts to complete this work of
national importance. Among those who may be
mentioned as benefactors to the cause is

Cedant arena togae, Mr. SEWARD may now fairly
write, as he contrasts his own performances with
those of the military men. The Secretary beats

hollow M'CLELLAN himself, and FREMONT, and
ROSENCRANTZ, and BANKS, and all of them put

,ogether. Done so promptly, too, On October

the 14th Lord LYONS marches to the diplomatic
attack, manceuvring to the best of his skill; the

gentlemen learned in the law, who advise her

British MAJESTY'S Government, with our Foreign
Secretary and the Government of England to boot ;

it seemed a formidable muster—Potomac tactics

might have been looked for ; a week or two taken

muster a consultation with the Federalist law.

yers, and to lick an answer into shape, would halve

been but natural. But Mr. SEWARD was not a

United States general ; no delay ; on the selfsame
day Lord Los receives his answer in full ! The
explanation, omplete, and a warning to British law-
yers, Ministers, and Ambassadors to mind their own
business, were all on Lord LYONS' desk on this same
14th October, 1861. We repeat, looking at military
operations, Mr. SEWARD is entitled to exclaim with
as great a boaster as himself, cedant arma togae,
concedat laurea

The explanation given in regard to the two in-
dividuals of whose arrest Lord LYONS complains,
every Englishman must acknowledge to be satisfac-
tory. There was fair presumption of treachery to

the North in PATRICK'S case, and something rather
stronger in RAHMING'S. We do not see that either
of them had anything to complain of in the circum-
stances of a Government fighting for its very exist-
ence. Neither can we see that the Government is
much to blame for suspending the operations of the
Habeas Corpus Act. It has been done in England
in far less trying circumstances ; and it must be ad-
mitted that if the measure be necessary for self-
defence we can but respect the man who
is willing to assume the responsibility re-
quired by the occasion. Mr. LINCOLN'S weakness
has lain in the other direction. From the beginning,
instead of assuming the responsibility demanded
by the facts of the case, he has paltered with Se-
cession, ignored facts with the action they required,
stood upon the letter of the constitution, and weakly
dealt with the South, as if he must respect its
letter to his own overthrow. Even now his
refusing the responsibility of negro emancipa-
tion, has probably settled the great issue against
him. Whining over the iniquitous clause in the
constitution which sends back the slave to his
master, he has made all the negroes his enemies, or
at least the most useful coadjutors of the Southern
army, when he might have made them its weak-
ness. The goodwill of the negro was the turning
weight for the balance ; he threw it into the scale
of the South.

Miss BURDETT COUTTS, who has recently
given two hundred pounds, in addition
to her former donations. This lady has
always been conspicuous for her liberality,
and she could never employ it better than by fur-
thering the success and promoting the interests
of this noble society. It is one that appeals to the
feelings of all who, in this insular land, must
have friends who at one time or another are
encountering the perils of the deep. When their
sojourn abroad is passed, when they return to their
families and friends, some tempest may arise that
overwhelms the homeward-bound vessel ; and then,
but for the Lifeboat Institution, all on board
would be lost. Those whose means enable them
to give bountifully, will do well to peruse the
accounts of last Saturday's transactions by the
crews of the various lifeboats, and then they will
surely be of opinion that thus bestowed
their riches will increase and fructify, and
many a mariner rescued from shipwreck
and many a family rejoicing, over the loved ones
returned from the perils of the deep, will be the
witnesses that their gifts have not been valueless
but have been the happy means of bringing benefits
and bearing blessings to humanity.

At the same time, Mr. SEWARD cannot maintain
altogether his assertion that Mr. LINCOLN has a
right to interpret the Constitution as he pleases, as
against foreigners. Much may no doubt be said
in extenuation of any illegalities towards foreign
residents in the States, if they are dealt with pre-
cisely as natives are. Still, much may also be said
for the view that documents like the American Con-
stitution are international, as well as domestic docu-
ments. Our own Acts of Parliament we must con-
fess to be so. If a Frenchman, here, were hung for
manslaughter, the Government having taken on it
the responsibility, for some temporary purpose, of
hanging instead of imprisoning all persons convicted
of that offence, M. THOUVENEL might, we think,
have fair ground of complaint. He might allege
that the law was a known condition of Eng-
lish life—that a Frenchman in coming to
England came relying on the regular, not the arbi-
trary administration of the law; he might contend
that if the natural subjects of the QUEEN tolerated
the illegal acts of her Ministers, that was no fair
reason why foreign Governments should tolerate
them to the wrong of their own subjects, and we
do not think it would be competent for Earl
RUSSELL to reply to M. THOUVENEL that he could
not accept the French Minister's interpretation of
legality and illegality in reference to English laws.
M. THOUVENEL might still rejoin that it was a
fair and reasonable subject for discussion between
the two Governments whether there was any really
illegal dealing with the Frenchman. He might ap-
peal to the true meaning of those laws which we
ourselves had made the property not only of the
nation, but in a reasonable sense also of all who
sought intercourse with us. Viewed in this way we
strongly suspect that the committal of the two
British subjects was really illegal.
We do not, however, complain of their arrest
after the explanation given—and of one thing the
North may feel amply assured—of the determined
neutrality of the British people. We have no sym-
pathy here for British subjects who choose to take
part in a quarrel which belongs not to them. In
the liberal struggles of Greece, Spain, Italy, Hun-
gary, we did take an interest. We knew that if
the GARIBALDI volunteers were caught by the
BOURDON we could not interfere, but we sympa-
thised exthusiastically with the cause in which they
fought. This is impossible in the case of either the
North or the South. When one party is fighting
to uphold slave institutions on its own soil, and the
other to unite in support of them, England is only
displeased with any of her sons who dirty their
fingers with such work. To the negro proprietors
of the South or the negro haters of the North the
Union may seem a good thing or a bad one—to our
seems bad all round. No feeling is more
decided in England than m.o. ..11
claWime who interfere
deserve whatever may befal them.
who
prize
e said
rize f
that
promptitude
comparison
might well
wwietrhe thneevmeriititoabrye
ti
men, for it seems as if two things
the rumour of a great batitilleAbm
being
ie:re
egi es aei nsu telegrams,satn about
baoonattto
on both sides, of next to no
come off; and stories of smallan
importance in regard
to the issue of the campaign. One thing is con-
fessed by all, that the Confederates have closed the
navigation of the Potomac by batteries which carry

We have the best source of information to war-
rant us in positively asserting that at the last Cabinet
Council the question of the propriety of breaking the
blockade of the South American ports was discussed,
when it was agreed that no countenance could be given to
such a proceeding.--Court Journal.

Their Imperial Highnesses the Grand Duke and
Duchess Constantine of Russia honoured the establishment
of Mr. C. F. Hancock, the jeweller, of' Bruton-street, on
Saturday last, with a visit immediately after their arrival.
The Lord Chancellor has been pleased to appoint
H. R. Bagkhawe, Esq., Q. 0., to be the County Court
Judge for the circuit No. 31, as the successor of John
Johns, Esq., who has resigned the office on account of ill-
health. The Circuit Courts are held at 12 places in the
counties of Cardigan, Pembroke, Carmarthen, and Gla-
morgrn.

SUPPOSED AMERICAN PRIVATEER IN THE
MEDITERRANEAN.—MALTA, OCT. 25.—Official information
was received yesterday Damning from the United States
Consul at Messina, that a very suspicious American three-
rue sted schooner had been for severer days muising in the
Faro, without communicating with the shore. She had a
very large number of blacks on board, and there is good
reason to believe that she is a Secessionist privateer. This
news has caused great excitement, as there aro a great
number of fine American ships engaged in trade with Sicily,
Malta, Smyrna, and the adjacent pots.
By advices received from India it appears that
the Oriental Inland Steam Company's new steamer Indus
had just been launched at Kurracheo, and by the departure
of next mail was expected to be plying on the Indus. It is
anticipated that this vessel will have a speed of 20 miles an
hour. Another steamer belonging to the same company,
and of equal speed, has arrived safely in Calcutta, and is
expected to be plying on the Ganges by the end of tho year.
Tho steamer Jumna has also arrived at Calcutta. This is
by far the most powercul steamer ever constructed to navi.
gate the Indian livers, except her consort the Ganges, be-
longing to the same company, the arrival of which in Cal-
cutta was daily expected. The train of barges which will
be towed by the Jumna N‘ ill accommodate 3,000 measure-
ment tons of cargo rnder hatches, and such vessels will
consequently be able to carry cotton and other bulky goods
with profit at a low rate of freight.
WHOLESALE FORGERY BY A SUPERINTENDENT
0? POLICE.—There was a great general excitement in the
town of Epwerth, Lincolnshire, on Saturday last, owing to
its becoming known that Mr. 11. Tooms, superintendent of
police for that division of the county, who had absconded a
week or two previously, was about to bo brought up on
numerous charges of forgery. Tho prisoner was unde-
fended. The first case taken was a charge of having
forged receipts to two bills, delivered to him by Mr, Ben-
nett, surgeon, of Ilaxicy. Tie was committed for trial on
this and three other similar charges.—Leeds Mercury.

A CHILD KILLED BY A PIG.—On Friday a fine
child belonging to a poor man living at Killaloonty, adjoin-
ing this town, was attacked by a pig, and before assistance
was rendered the body was so dreadfully mangled that life
was almost extinct.

COLLISION OFF DOVER.—On Sunday night, at
9.30, as the Guernsey bligoutine Orb, from Newcastle to
r),,tmouth, was passing down Charnel, sho was run into
by a Russian steamer c,-om Loncton. oaebsa. Thu vet..A
was three miles off Dover Harbour when the accident oc-
curred. The captain end crew stood by her till she sank,
and as she was going down took to the boat. They were
unable to reach the harbour till nine next marring. Whom
brought to the Sailors' Home they were in a much exhausted
state ; some of them were severely bi aised on the wreck.

WRECK OFF OSTEND.—Tho Incicpendance Belga
of yesterday evening says, during the storm of last night
(Saturday) the English vessel Sarah Huntley, on its way
from Sunderland to Odessa, with a cargo of coals, was cast
upon the shore to the west of Ostend. The captain an d
n'ne men perished in the waves. The carpenter and th o
cab;n boy were the only persons saved, and the vessel WE 3
entirely lost. •

THE SUN, LONDON, TUESDAY EVENING, NOVEMBER 5, 1861.