The Sun.
London, England, 1861-09-13 00:00:00

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

to rotten calico: it seems probable that contractors
henceforth will be compelled to make less money and
better clothes. In some cases regiments are pre-
vented leaving for the seat of war because the in-
habitants of their districts will not pledge them-
selves to keep the families of the volunteers from
want when they are away. Every man, too, wants
to have the best description of rifle musket,—an
obvious impossibility at present. Although the
weeding of officers has been carried on to a consi-
derable extent, there are still many whom it is de-
sirable to get rid of. The colonel of a regiment
aspiring to be the President's Life Guards has been
charged by his own officers with obtaining money
under false pretences ; the sale of appointments ;
above all, with having been a convict in a peniten-
tiary ; and with matters of less consequence in a
moral point of view,
Mr. Sickles, concerning whose grade and position
there has been a great deal of trouble, is now re-
moved above all controversy by the nomination of
the President to the rank of brigadier. The regi-
ments he has raised will not be called after his
name, but will be named the Excelsior Brigade, and
will probably present an effective force of 4,000
men. Brigadier Sickles worked hard for his rank,
but it is reported that he has made out a heavy bill
against the Government for the reimbursement of
his expenses.
Encouraged by the approval of the people who
are ready for anything in the shape of force and
strong Government, the authorities are determined
to send every officer who resigns in the army or
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of treasonable designs. The law of " suspects" is in
full vigour. It was time for the Government to vindi-
cate its rights and its power, but it must be seen
that in this vindication it differs in no way from the
means used by the other Governments of the world,
which have been hitherto considered in the United
States as organized outrages on human nature and
certain so-called natural rights of man. The high-
sounding professions of the statesmen and writers of
America in these matters were felt by them to be in
ridiculous contrast with the practices and extension
of a dornestiz slave trade in some provinces, and
with the existence of slavery over a large portion of
the Union. Amid the contending cries of the multi-
tude it is now scarcely possible to ascertain how far
this is a war against slavery or a war for the main-
tenance of high protective duties, but it is obvious
that if the war goes on it will be narrowed to the
former issue, and that the Republicans, who now
repudiate the notion of declaring all slaves free,
while in the same breath they express their belief
that the question must come to that end, will be
obliged to do that as a party which as yet has been
done only by the individual men, and hang out the
unconditional abolition banner fully and fairly in the
air. If they would kill slavery as a foreign trade,
however, let them at the same time alter the policy
of their rulers in reference to the right of search.
It is not without reason that the Americans com-
plain of England dealing so tenderly with Spain in
reference to the slave trade; but, after all, it is from
New York and Boston that most of the vessels em-
ployed in that trade sail for the Coast. Vessels
captured by the American squadron, sent home,
condemned, and sold are bought up and sent out
again to their old business. It would be much
better to burn or sink them. The Storm King,
Triton, Falmouth, Virginian, Ardennes, and other
well-known vessels now on the coast have been even
sold as slavers and bought up again, and it is ascer-
tained that vessels with proper cargoes will not
hesitate to throw them overboard for a cargo of
slaves. Much of the impunity with which these
audacious traders in flesh and blood carry on the
business arises from the persistency with which the
United States' Government has resisted the right
of search. On the approach of a British man-of-
war the slaver hoists the American colours, and
goes on her way intact; if an American man-of-war
comes in sight the slaver hoists a British or French
flag and escapes with equal ease. It has been suggested
in one American journal that the right of search
should be allowed on the African coast, and there
appears no objection to it ; at all events, it is quite
certain from what I read here of slavers arriving at
Havannah and other ports and fitting out for the
trade that the result of our enormous expendi-
ture is only to enhance the profits of the
dealer and of the savages on the African
coasts. Without co- operation our labour is vain
Spain has exhibited a disregard of her plighted
faith, which has been tolerated by England for
reasons impossible to divine. It is calculated that

a cargo of 500 negroes sold in Cuba at 500 dols. a

head will leave a profit of 177,000 dols. gained in

four months, their original cost being 50 dols. a
head, and the expenses of landing being 25,000 dols.,
ship, crew, and all, and allowing for a loss of 100
on the voyage. It is said that. 40,000 negroes were
landed in Cuba in the year 1860, and that about
7,000 died at sett.

As I close my letter there are rumours of a de-
feat of the Federalists at Cape Girardeau, in Mis-
souri, below Cairo.

There are two Queen's messengers, Capt. Cecil
Johnson and Capt. Haworth, now on duty in this
country, izi addition to the ordinary messenger,
Capt. Moore, and these gentlemen are constantly
employed in conveying despatches between New
York and Washington and Quebec.
The despatches from her Britannic Majesty's
Consul at Charleston to Earl Russell seized by the
authorities at New York have been despatched by
Mr. Seward to England in the hands of a special
messenger. One is curious to know the result.