The Sun.
London, England, 1861-08-06 00:00:00

T "

0 X F 0 It D,

6, OXFORD-STREET.
The architectural beauty, elegance of ornamentation, and
brilliancy of lighting of this noble building, r4nder it one of
the sights of London. Open Every Evening. The pro-
gramme is varied, and includes Selections from "Lan ra-
viats," "'Ern Ballo in Maschera," &c., (by a full comp ant
of
principals, powerful band, and chorus). Solos by Miss Bry
on the Piano Forte, and by Mr. Russell on the Trombone.
Old English Ballad, by Miss Green, Scotch Duets by the
Misses Stuart, and other vocal and instrumental music of the
highest order. Conductor, Mr. F. Jcrnghmans. The Comic
portion of the entertainment is support by Messrs. M. P.
Foster (in his " Life Sketches"), Sam Collins, Harvey, and
French (the Nerves), E. Marshall, and W.
Randall. Hall,
sixpence ; Balcony and Stalls, one shilling. Private Boxes,
10s. 6d.

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WATER. AT LONDON BRIDGE.
Taus DAN.—Morning, lh. 44m.—Afternoon,' 2h. Gm.
To-moußow.-Morning, 2h. 26m.—Afternoon, 12h. 46m.

THE WEATHER.—Strx OFFICE, AUGUST 6, 1561.
THEIMOXETBR, IN THB SHADB•
75—highest since noon yesterday.
55—lowest this morning and during the night.
69—this day at noon.

BAnomETER-30.13.
WlND—Westerly—light ; with fine weather.

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It is obvious, therefore, that the mutilation of the
one solitary specimen of a great Law Reform ad-
ventured upon this year by Her MAJESTY'S Go-
vernment, cannot, for an instant, be charged as a
crime against the Opposition. This muti-
lation—one, by the way, as we have
shown, of a very serious kind, consisting
in truth of nothing less serious than "decapitation"
so to speak—the Chief Judge being even in the
estimation of the Select (or Secret) Committee of
the Lords, " the head and front" of the Bill's offend-
ing—this mutilation of the Bankruptcy Bill is
notoriously attributable to the Law Lords, Whig
and Tory, Liberal and Conservative, to the Law
Lords alone, and not to any party spite or political
spleen on the side of the Opposition.
As for that little ghostly shadow of a substitute
for a measure of Parliamentary Reform of even the
most moderate and most modest dimensions, the
Appropriation of Seats (Sudbury and St. Albans)
Bill—well, certainly in that instance, the Opposi-
tion has clearly enough contrived to show at once
its strength, its pertinacity, and its adroitness. The
Tories have contrived, in fact, to work their own
wicked will in the treatment of Sir G. L EWTS'S Little
Bill, now grown out of all knowledge—yielding a
fair prospect of the lion's share of the four seats to
the Conservatives in this newly contrived method
of " appropriation." One Admiralty improvement
ought also to be borne in recollection as among
the few notable achievements of the expired session
—to wit the organisation of the new Navy Reserve,
ensuring henceforth to the Royal and National
Maritime Service the very pick of the finest sailors
taken from our British merchantmen. Several of the
Committees, at least, have been industrious during
1861—if the House itself has, in some particulars
more signally than usual, contrived to be at once idle
and talkative. The Admiralty Committee has, it is
true, effected little practical good—the inopportune
escape of Sir BALDWIN WALKER (an escape con-
nived at, if not more directly originated, by the
powers that be), auguring but ill at the
outset for the success of its labours. Not
thus has it been at any rate with one
of the Royal Commissions appointed this year
—meaning the Royal Commission entrusted with
the task of investigating the hitherto problematical
question of the Thames Embankment. If only oar
Legislators and Administrators will content them-
selves with the valuable suggestions embodied in
the admirable report of that very able Commission,
we may at length, and that moreover before many
months have passed, be in a fair way of seeing a be-
ginning actually made towards the construction of
these long talked of Thames Embankment.
Apart from the Legislative sayings and doings
of 1861, the interest of the session now just brought
to a close has consisted chiefly in the sustained viva-
city of the contest " never ending, still beginning"
from February to August, between the Government
and the Opposition. Once or twice, upon very rare
occasions, occasions of great emergency, the Cabinet,
when fairly put upon its mettle, has contrived to
baulk the evil designs of its confronting antagonists.
Otherwise, in the vast majority of instances, the
stereotyped close of division after division has been
this :—" Against the Government, so many. (Loud
and prolonged cheers from the side of the Oppo-
sition.)" This particularly upon Wednesday ! And
all the while, slowly and steadily, as seat by seat
became vacant through death, through resignation
—as members have dropped off from the ranks
of the weakened and diminished supporters of
the Government—their successors have added one
by one to the formidable and increasing
aggregate of the Conservative Opposition. The
Prorogation comes at length, indeed almost as
benignantly as a reprieve to her MAJESTY'S Go-
vernment. The conclusion of the contest, that
has been carried on so vigorously, and with such
varying fortunes, all through 1861, is to " come
off," as speedily as may be, after the meeting of
Parliament again in February next. Prior
to which date Ministers will have, at
any rate, half a year during which to
prepare themselves in earnest for the perils they
will then most certainly have to encounter. Look-
ing back to their achievements during this last
session of 1861, it ip impossible for us not to avow
at once quite frankly that they have given the
country but small reason indeed to hope with any-
thing like hearty solicitude for their preservation
much longer in power as the so-called Liberal but
really do-nothing Coalition.

We are well pleased to believe that, as we hinted
yesterday, we may regard the account of the
heavy losses of life, in the great American
battle, as an exaggeration. Nothing, indeed,
like a trustworthy statement has reached us or can
reach us yet ; still if the Federalist fugitives did
not go quite so far as old FALSTAFF, one can but
suspect that they made the most of the horrors they
had left behind, to justify, so far as it might, their
leaving them at all. The second day's accounts of
Federalist losses, accordingly, fell wonderfully
below that of the first, some even putting them down
at less than 1,000 killed and wounded. One cor-
respondent even compares the different accounts to
the mountain in labour, and the ridiculus mus. It
is, however, quite too early to speak with anything
like precision, but the unquestionably modifying
facts are that the accounts from the South speak
only of General BEAUREGARD maintaining his
position, of a very severe battle, and " great
slaughter on both sides," and of one battery of light
artillery, which indeed had been left at the road-
side, being taken.
It is easier to perceive what seem to be the chief
causes both of the repulse and the rout. The Con-
federates had deliberately planned to draw the
Federal army upon a fortified position, which small
numbers might hold against an army. For this
purpose they had abandoned, as if intimidated,
slight works intended only to deceive. So, nearer
still, the Confederate batteries could not be got to
reply till they could do it with a vengeance, and
stem any advance made against them. It was, so
far, the generalship of Parthianism and ambuscades.
But in addition to this, all accounts represent the
arrival of JOHNSTONE'S men fresh and fit for action
when the Federalists were thoroughly worn out, as
the turning point of the day. Assuming the truth
of what every one says, how can we account for it ?
General JOHNSTONE was in front of General PAT-
TERsoN in North Western Virginia, where the least
he should have done, with certainly an equal body of
men, would have been to hold his opponent away
from Manassas.
Re had beaten him at Martinsburg,
and had followed him some way further ; and all