The Sun.
London, England, 1861-11-12 00:00:00

decorators are in possession, and the corpse will be
deposited in the city, and will probably receive the

honours of a public funeral.
The telegraph was not permitted to send any news
whatever yesterday, and the morning journals 1
"babble of green fields," and avoid all mention of
the action, except in the old versions, from which
it was impossible not to gather that their friends
had been worsted, notwithstanding that they assert
the whole object of their movement has been gained
by the success of Stone's column. There is a reverse
hidden under these phrases. The inconsistency
which is forced upon the Government of the United
States by this unhappy conflict is most forcibly
developed by two proceedings nearly simultaneous.
While they consent to an exchange of prisoners,
covered by the formula of an oath which is more

easily broken than understood, their officers are pro-
secuting in New York the crew of the Savannah :
privateer as pirates who were carrying out the plans
of robbery of certain citizens of Charleston, South
Carolina, on the authority of a pretended " letter of
marque from one Jefferson Davis."
There has been no attempt to deny the truth of
my statement that the officers of the regular army
are by no means disposed to carry on this war with
the view of securing the ulterior success of Aboli-
tionism. They are prepared to fight for the Union,
for their country, for their flag, but not for negro
emancipation. The Washington papers which have
discussed the subject admit the truth of what I
have advanced as the result of personal experience.
Indeed as the contest goes on there is a development
of a spirit hostile to abolition which may be pro-
duced by considerations of temporary policy, or by
permanent conviction that it is better to accept
slavery than lose the Union, its profits, its glories,
and its power. That development takes place not
only among the people, but among the members of
the Government ; and Mr. Seward, laden with the
responsibility of office, throws off the incubus of his
former career with graceful vigour and steps more
firmly onwards in his career. Mr. Sumner's recent
speech, classical illustrations and all, fell flat and
dead on the ears of his audience, once so erect for
the well•known sounds. The act of Congress is
interpreted in no penal sense for the slavehole..ers ;
and in Kansas there has been an open feud between
the regular officers and the volunteers with respect
to the treatment of negro property in the rebellious

districts. General—l do not 1-. now if his name is
James, but he is always called Jim—Lane has, in a
speech at Leavenworth, openly denounced the
United States officers, and declared no good will be
attained till the slaves of rebels are confiscated. His
Union remedy is simple. " Destroy, devastate,
desolate," he says, " for this is war." Brigadier- ,
General Viele, on the other hand, before his brigade
sailed from Annapolis this week, issued a strong
order against the practice of carrying off the slaves
in the district through which the troops pass. It
is called running, as if the creatures were spirits
or the proceeds of distillation—the making of some
sort of essence. And a Republican paper
of Washington thereupon says, " that with
such pro - slavery orders we shall soon
have an army capable of sustaining Southern
rights." On this question of slavery the North is
divided, while the South is united as a man, and
if the Tribune speaks the truth as to the actual
supercession of Gen. Fremont there will be an
amount of dissatisfaction expressed in the West
which will indicate the measure of the difficulties
Government will have to encounter in the contest,
as it persists in its endeavour to carry it on to the
battle cry of " the Union" merely. Mr. Everett,
in his recent address on the state of the country,
has expressed his conviction that the sole belief of
the American people which could be safely and
certainly employed to save the Union is what we
may without irreverence term " Washington wor-
ship." " That (says he) is the only feeling with
which the Northern and Southern breast beat in
unison." But, though Washington left behind him
proofs of what his personal feelings were in regard
to that question, he certainly never did any act
which could satisfy the world that the South is
quite wrong in asserting he would have been with
them in this struggle if he were alive at the present
moment. His farewell address proclaims principles
not opposed to those which the Democrats would
carry out if they had the power; and all the Re-
publicans can say is, that he would probably have
strained every nerve for the Union had he survived
to take part in this great conflict,

OCT. 24

There is something in the individual freedom of
Americans which renders it impossible for them to
produce the effect attained in other countries by
State ceremonial and the pageantry of processions.
A jealousy, morbid perhaps, but strong, prevails
against military display where one man directs all,
although there is a great liking for military displays
where all men are equal, and where the result is
correspondingly unimpressive, except in mere
numbers and massiveness. For instance, the
State funeral of Senator and Acting-Brigadier-
General Baker to-day was not by any means a

grand or imposing spectacle, although a little care
might have made it so. To any foreign spectator,
indeed, there was much that was wanting in dignity
and proper respect in the ceremonial. The absence
of attention or regard to details in these matters
may be consistent with the simplicity of R,epublican
institztions ; but, if so, it were better, perhaps, not
to attempt any exhibition of the kind, for their
utility is lost if they do not produce their effect on
those who see them. The honour is paid to the
dead to impress the living, and to satisfy a senti-
ment universal in civilised man.
When General M'Dowell took command of the
army, he was actually subjected to rebuke because
he reviewed his troops ! It was considered that he
was ambitious, and that he desired to gratify his
vanity by an empty parade. General M'Clellan,
more fortunate, can and does review his soldiers
whenever he pleases, but it is owing to an ascen-
dancy derived from the belief that he is a nees.,:-
sary man, rather than from ready acquiesceues
the thing itself. Out of the abundance of troop
Washington, men might well have been spared
line the streets through which the cortege passed,
and Pennsylvania-avenue would have appeared to
advantage with the tapering fringe of uninformed
men and glistening arms along the pavement. But,
instead of that, carts, waggons, and vans were per-
mitted to drive along till they encountered the head
of the procession, where they were halted with diffi-
culty and in noisy masses by the exertions of a
solitary constable, in plain clothes, who led the van.
The national flags were lowered half-mast, but no
bells tolled, no guns boomed, as the cortege pro-
ceeded towards the Capitol. The military band
which headed the column played a slow but not a
mournful strain, and the ear listened in vain for the
melancholy grandeur of the " Dead March in
Saul," or for some music appropriate to the scene.
The first regiment appeared with arms reversed
marching in sections of companies at quarter-dis-
tance, a fine set of men, well uniformed and tolerably
clean and neat ; next came, for what purpose it is
difficult to imagine, a regiment without arms, dirty,
undersized, and ill-clad in blue flannel smocks, just
reaching over the hips; full of boys and ingrown
men. This was followed by a battalion of very sol-
dierly fellows, from Rhode Island I think, who were
well dressed, and marched with steadiness. A few
unkempt men on horses to match closed up the mi-
litary part of the cortege, and then followed the staff
and the clergy, and the hearse on which lay the
coffin, covered with the American flag and funeral
wreaths. The President looked pale and sad enough
and wore mourning, but white and gray felt hats
and light coloured coats were visible in many of the
carriages and hackney coaches. Not a hat was
raised as the coffin was borne by, except by a small
knot of people, who were regarded with surprise
by their neighbours. Not a hat was raised except
by the same persons for the President, supposing
that all the spectators behaved similarly to those I
saw near me. The bystanders, among whom Were
many coloured people were anxious to see M'Ciellan
but he was not there, nor was General Scott nor
any of the Ministers of the principal Powers. Lord
Lyons who was acquainted with the deceased sena-
tor, would have gone, but for an accidental delay in
receiving his invitation. While the procession
was passing along Pennsylvania avenue, two
officers in uniform rode up the contrary
way, one of whom was smoking a cigar,