The Sun.
London, England, 1859-12-21 00:00:00

600 men, held the ground they took from the
Spaniards, against almost overwhelming (A.(1,„1
throughout the day, and kept up a sharp ma most
effective fire until nightfall, when, seeing the field '
deserted, they withdrew to their camp. The
Moors could have remained in occupation of the
redoubt, but as they had no cannon to place
there, and as their present camp is' more secure,
they did not do so. It appears the Spaniards
had withdrawn their cannon from the battle-field
before the Moors attacked them. The Moors lost
about 100 killed and 200 wounded, and de-
clare that the loss sustained by the Spaniards
must be far more considerable than in any former
engagement." The Spanish account of the same
action is of course as different as can well be. The
losses there are all on the other side. The advan-
tage in numbers was the advantage of the Moors.
The repulse was the repulse of the Moors. It is
another wreath of laurel to hang on the Spanish
standard, another clasp for the future medal to be
worn in gold, or silver, or bronze, according to their
grade, by O'DONNELL and his companions. And
we dare say that by the next mail from Madrid we
shall learn that Queen ISABELLA has penned
an autograph letter to the Commander-in-Chief of
her forces now at the African seat of war,
offering to him and to them her most Catholic
Majesty's congratulations. The news from Morocco
is a fact like that mouth marvelled at by the Satyr
in " .2Esop," blowing fitfully as the whim promp ts,
now hot, now cold. It is the shield of the pic-
turesque allegory—painted on one side black, on
the other white—fastened aloft as a vane—blown
hither and thither, to the right, to the left—now
black, now white, accordingly as the wind blows
from the camp of the Moors or from the camp of
the Spaniards.

Happily there are other observers than either
Spaniards or Moors out yonder at the seat of war
in Morocco. From their narratives we learn more
reliable tidings as to the character and result of
the different struggles that have already occurred
near Ceuta. The Special Correspondent of our
principal morning contemporary stands forth con-
spicuously among them, and the last of his de-
spatches is certainly by no means-the least interest-
ing. In this communication, dated as recently as the
10th inst., from Algesiras, he speaks of the rumours
afloat at the "Rock" as to the conflict of the pre-
' ceding day, that conflict—the couleur de rose aecount
of which by the Moors we have but just now been
examining ! " The Moors in Gibraltar," says he,
" were in great glee this morning, and had a notion
that the Spaniards had been thrashed, but the
news of the cutting off of the pickets was all that
seemed to have reached them. lam impatient,"
he adds, "to learn how the Spaniards behaved in
the first confusion of a night attack. If they
showed coolness and avoided panic, it is a great
thing on the part of troops so new to this kind of '
warfare. But, meanwhile, this is not making pro-
gress. THE SPANIARDS SEEM RATIIER IN THE POSI-
TION OF A BESIEGED FORCE." It is undeniable. It
is the very fact upon which we have just been in-
sisting as in itself so peculiarly significant. There,
still at Ceuta the fighting continues ! The
Spaniards have, therefore, we repeat, not advanced.
They have their old irov 0-7 CO in Africa—but for all
that, they have failed (as yet) to move Morocco !
Cum gran° sails, therefore, we must still read the
Madrid records of these wonderful Spanish achieve-
ments.

Now that death has suddenly snatched away
apparently in mid career, the Right Hon. HENRY
FiTzitoY, heir-presumptive to Lord SOUTHAMPTON,
and up to the time of his demise Chief Commissioner
of Parks and Palaces under the Coalition
Government—we are constrained to ask with
some anxiety who is to be his Ministerill sue-

cessor at the head of that important de-
partment ? The most popular Minister of
Public Works that we have had for many years
past was unquestionably—the name will be antici-
pated by the majority—that able administrator,
late Sir BENJAMIN MALL, now Baron LLANOVER.
We believe that Lord LLANOVER'S nomination once
more to the office he filled with so much honour to
himself, and with so much reflective credit
to his colleagues, under Lord PALMERSTON'S
former Government, would be hailed with very
general„with almost universal satisfaction. It was
only very recently that we took occasion with no

small pleasure to commend as in every way excellent
and praiseworthy the selection made by the Premier
in almost all his late appointments. His " second
thoughts" as the organiser of a Cabinet have in
this manner oertainly proved best. It was thus'
with the Right Hon. CHARLES VILLIERS, when
named by an after-thought to the Presidency of
the Poor Law Board. A selection, in that instance,
that we ourselves, several days before the actual
nomination, pointed out as of all the most advisable :
naming him in these columns, as the right man
for that right place immediately the post
had been vacated by Mr. MILNER GIBSON'S pro-
motion to the Presidency of the Board of Trade—
when the latter place was declined by the hon.,
we regret we cannot (for that very reason) say

the right hon. member for the borough of Roch-
dale. So has it been more recently with regard
to the elevation of the Solicitor-General, Sir

HENRY KEATING, to the bench in the Court of
Common Pleas, upon the unexpected demise of the
late Sir RICHARD BUDDEN CROWDER ! And so too
again, in turn, with respect to the selection of Sir
HENRY KEATING'S successor as Solicitor-General—
Mr., soon, of Course, to be by the knightly accolade
from the hand of the SOVEREIGN, Sir WILLIAM
ATHERTON ! Whose previous minor offices as Counsel
and Judge Advocate to the Admiralty have been
since hardly less wisely awarded to Mr. COLLIER,
Q.C. Here once more, by the lamented death of
Mr. FITZROY— the First Lord of the Treasury, is
afforded another opportunity for the improvement
of his Administration. For it is only repeating
frankly what was candidly remarked on all sides
again and again during the latter portion of hisilife-
time, when .we say that as Chief Commissioner
of Public Works Mr. FITZROY was in a very great
measure a Ministerial failure. In that more con-
spicuous and more responsible capacity he assuredly
did not fulfil the public expectations in his regard
—he did not sustain the reputation he had pre-
viously acquired at the Home Office, when he was
there two years previously as Under-Secretary. Now
that the right hon. gentleman has been otherwise
for the public and for his friends, unhappily, and,
as it seems to us poor mortals, prematurely
snatched away by death—there remains his
vacant office to be filled up (if Lord
P,ILMEItSTON pleases) most advantageously.
Will Lord PALMERSTON so please ? Will Lord
LLANOVER content to resume his position over the
Public Works Department as Chief Commissioner
Let us hope so —for it would be in every respect a
very wise and a very popular appointment.

The Countess Dowager of Macclesfield has arrived
at How.hin's Hotel, from the family seat, Sherborne Castle,
Oxfordshire.

The Earl of Orkney arrived at the Pavilion Hottl,
Folkestone, on Saturday last, and left on the following day
for the Continent. '

The Rev. T. L. Sutton, jun., has arrived at
Howchin's Hotel, from Geddington Vicarage, Northamp-

tonshire.