The Sun.
London, England, 1861-12-25 00:00:00

THE SUN," ILONDON, WEDNESDAY EVE NING, DECEMBER 25, 1861.

on the 4th of March, the seven original seceding
States were already out of the Union ; and a month
before, Missouri, Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Louisi-
ana, and Texas had joined South Carolina in setting

up the Confederate Congress at Montgomery, and
publishing in five days (on the 9th of February) a
cut and dried constitution—a second edition of the
old one, with some confessed improvements.

Mr. LINCOLN, with all this before him, entered
timidly, technically, and Delphically upon his

office. Not quite sure that he might not encounter
the assassin on his way to the capital, he stole a

march on that class of Southern patriots, and

slipped into Washington a little before his time.
His right-hand man,Mr. SEWARD, had been making
elaborate compromise orations ; Congress was all
for compromise; the Border States proferred media-
tion; Virginia summoned a peace conference ; and
under all these influences, poor ABRAHAM LINCOLN
delivered an inaugural which those might interpret
who could. He seemed to fight a secession armed
by the tactics of the late PRESIDENT'S Cabinet,
with a lawyer's technicalities, and took the oath
"without mental reservation," to stand by slavery in
Slave States, coupled with rigid extradition of
fugitives in the Free States. He tried to leave
hope for all, to assert Federal authority over its
own property in the South, and showed, as Mr. Th-
u had done, that the constitution did not
provide for secession. The Montgomery PRESIDENT
and his associates soon took the measure of their
man, and found him no formidable foe.
But, as the Confederates had opened, so they
determined to lead the dance. Their hope lay in
provoking the South through the North. They
desired, no doubt, an armed attack by Mr.
LINCOLN. The Lawyer, however, was not a
JACKSON, or they would probably soon have heard
of him to their hearts' content—if there was to be
a war they themselves must strike the blow. The
seizure of Washington by a coup de main had to be
given up—they turned, therefore, to Major
ANDERSON, who had withdrawn into Fort Sumter,
and finding he was likely to be relieved, the South
Carolinians fairly drove him out—and " trampled
on the Federal flag—dragging that glorious
emblem through the dirt." And aow, indeed,
the work grew "fast and furious." The fall of
Fort Sumter, the demand for 75,000 men, the pro-
clamation of war, the counter-proclamation of J.
DAVIS; the Baltimore attack on the Massachusetts
troops, the letters of marque on one side, the
blockade on the other, the destruction of the
Arsenal at Harper's Ferry and of the Gosport
Navy Yard, the second call for 42,000 volunteers,
and 18,000 seamen, all these were the work of the
latter half of April !
Then came the meeting of Congress, summoned
somewhat theatrically for the 4th of July, the
Anniversary of Independence. The PRESIDENT
asks a monster army, the Congress votes him half
a million of men, five hundred millions of dollars—
all seems, for the moment, like invincible enthu-
siasm, and three days' victories by M'CLELLAN in
West Virginia did not lessen Northern confidence.
But somehow, silently, in a way of which no infor-
mation could reach the North, an army apparently
as large as their own had been mustered on the
south of the Potomac, and on the 21st of July the
grand army of the North, urged on by politicians
against the opinion of military men, fled in irre-
trievable panic from the southern traitors at Bull's
Run. A dash then on Washington might have
been as successful as one on Sebastopol after the
battle of Alma. From (hat time to this the North
has spent its time in enliiting, drilling, organising,
and equipping a navy ; and a series of disasters in
the field have been pretty evenly balanced by naval
successes, obtained, however, with little berard.
Portentous, indeed, is the difference between
Christmas this year in America and the same time
last year. A rebellion, indeed, was then in the
germ, which perhaps might have been trodden down
by a firm step ; a fire was kindled which a little prompt
energy might soon have extinguished. But no one
then seemed to think separation on a large scale
likely. The two PRESIDENTS, one after the other,
supposed secession was to be put down with words
and paper. It had been done before, why not
again ? So now we see 600,000 men on one side,
and for aught we know as many on the other,
ranged against each other along a thousand miles
from Fort Monroe on the Chesapeake to the far
west in Missouri. At present the only visible pre-
ponderance of the North is in its navy. It must
be far better provided with military stores and
equipments, but it exhibits no difference. Since
last Christmas a continent nearly has fallen politi-
cally asunder. The quarrel of four score years has
culminated. The evil seed sown by the:founders of
the Republic when they bound in unholy political
wedlock Freedom and Slavery, has borne its natural
and bitter fruit ; and it would bear it again. Were
the North to recover its seceding late associates, it
would once more find the demands of slavery in-
satiable, the corruption of its merchants and
moneyed men inevitable, and the Union again ren
dered the tool of this vile institution. Looking
back on Christmas, 1860, from Christmas, 1861, we
see more plainly than ever that emancipation or
separation is the real interest of the North.

Are we to believe the accounts now coming to us
from Venice ? If so, things could hardly look more
darkly there. Here is the statement put forth very
recently by a correspondent there, writing as an
eyewitness of things, and from the fullness of his
own knowledge. For example—" It is impossible,"
writes this correspondent at the outset of his re-
marks, " to draw a darker picture than the state of
affairs here. %% inter has set in, all commerce has
ceased ; those nominally rich only spend the money
actually necessary for their immediate wants; no
superfluous luxuries are 'lavishly bestowed ; no
strangers fill the hotels ; but every where are poverty
and bankruptcy. And," he asks, " why is this P
First, the port of Venice a few years since was
thronged with merchant ships ; now the long and
secure harbour of the Guidecca cannot show the flag
of England, nor of France, nor of any other coun-
try but Austria. There are," continues the writer,
" small vessels of coast trade, there are colliers, and
even now and then cargoes arrive for the railway
company; but for the general traffic, the great
commercial interests, there is scarcely a foreign
flag to flutter in the breeze. The merchant has
withdrawn from speculation, his clerks are dis-
charged, his porters become mendicants, and
throughout the whole city, with the exception of
some Jewish antiquarians, the buying and selling
is merely nominal. Walk through the Merceria at
the hour when the monotonous foot-fall indicates
the movement of people, look into every shop, and
out of hundreds who pass, not six will buy. Ask
these shopmen how they thrive, and the bitter
sneer will only herald the words, We are all
ruined,: " Than this surely nothing could well look
more gloomily. However, after commenting awhile
us
pp
oonn
dtelini
ts
ar adtdhse ra diiistmt
fsutartthe oerf
otnhngs, the
,ionecan ornoctbruet-
conjecture with a serio-comic irony in his words—
, " But [such a grand catch,this! so supreme in con-
solation l] the EMPEROR is again to visit Venice on
the 24th of this month ; the EMPRESS is there, and
Courts are always surrounded by the rich. Balls,
dinners, and operas must (you will say) enliven the

city, and lead to the circulation of mone7 f. Not so.
The Venetians of fortune—and they ar e not legion
—will keep aloof, and those who can r emain in the
country will not hazard the suspicior of disloyalty
by coming to the city, and refusing the invitation
to Court." However there is the assuaging pro-
spect before the Venetians that the EMPEROR and
KING is coming. Rather a damper to their expec-
tations of good from his coming being derivable,
however, from the infinitessimal amount of good that
came but so very recently from precisely the same
kind of imperial benefaction. Even the eye-witness
of events now transpiring at Venice has to note
this himself instanter : as thus, where he writes—
" The EMPEROR came privately into the city on the
morning of the Ist December, and remained a week,
when he went out again in the dark—not a Vene-
tian encumbered his path. He came and he went
unnoticed, unobserved, unwelcomed. The Piazza
was illuminated, and the band played. The
music ceased, and the lamps glared and flickered
to solitude ; and not a Venetian crossed the finest
Place in Europe. The next morning the thousand
jets of gas were removed, and never again were
they lighted during the Imperial visit. The band
played every day, and soldiers were driven like
sheep in a fold to make a display ; but, with the
exception of Austrian officers and their families, no
one came to listen to the finest military music that
could be heard. There was a grand review, and the
Emperor, in all the pomp and majesty of military
parade, was there; but only a few of the lowest
Venetians attended. There was a sham fight on the
Lido—a sight which generally attracts thousands

—but not a Venetian stirred from his house. But
still the coming events cast their shadows be-
fore;' new fortifications are ordered, and the dis-
play of liberality in the abolition of that public
nuisance, the passport system, is now an acknow-
ledged farce." And so things go there from bad to
worse. The end being readily comprehensible. The
signal has but to be given—at the right moment—
and the whole cumbrous system will fall, must
necessarily and inevitably fall, like a house built
of cards—what though buttressed up by the strong
fortresses of the Quadrilateral. The whole political
fabric there is too rotten intrinsically—is built on too
shallow and sandy a foundation—to stand with im-
punity the shock of any really serious concussion.
GARIBALDI has but to wind his horn of
battle there in the North of Italy, as
ROBIN HOOD blew a blast for his merry
men in the glades of Sherwood, when the hour
for rallying had come—and a Nation in Arms
will at that potent summons at once confront the
Austrian army in its cul de sac of Venetia. GA-
RIBALDI is only waiting for what is now rapidly
advancing to greet him—the opportunity. Ever
since the truce brought about by the Treaty of
Villafranca the Liberator of Naples and of Sicily
has been watching vigilantly from his island home
at Caprera for that still delayed but inevitable op-
portunity. Come it will in all good time, and GARI-
BALDI is not by any means the man to miss it.

LATEST NEWS.

LISBON, DEC. 23.
Prince Joao, brother of the King of Portugal, is
very dangerously ill.

BUCHAREST, DEC. 23 (Evening).

Prince Coliza has to-day transmitted to the autho-
rities, by telegraph, a proclamation announcing his
consent to the union of the Principalities.
In consequence of this proclamation the city is
illuminated, and the Chamber has unanimously
voted thanks to the prince.
The United Assembly for Moldavia and Wallachia
is convened for the 24th January in Bucharest.

VIENNA, DEC. 24.

The Vienna papers publish news from Malta,
according to which the Maltese tribunals have sen-
tenced Captain Cavaliere Dino, of the Italian frigate
Mozambono, to three months, and his lieutenant to
two months' imprisonment, with hard labour, for
committing an assault on the editor of the .Porta-
foglio.

MARSEILLES, DEC. 24.
According to advices received here, Prince Simi,
brother of the Bey of Tunis, is dead.

TURIN, DEC. 24.

Advices received here from Naples state that M.
Palmieri has issued another report, according to
which eight shocks of earthquake have been felt
during the last two days.
Vesuvius throws up very dense columns of ashes,
which are carried by the wind as far as Naples.
No disaster has occurred.

THE P

TKEY:

A letter from Constantinople, dated Dec. 13, says :
The panic of which I infermed you in a few hurried
lines on the 11th has, as I then anticipated, sub-
sided, and the exchange, which on that day actually
reached 400 piasters to the pound sterling, is now
at 250 piasters—such, at least, were the closing
prices in Galata this evening. The Communication
du Gouvernment, of which the following is a trans-
lation, >ippeared in all the papers of the place on
the 12th :

" A number of persons greedy of gain, ancl with-
out conscience, accustomed to profit by the differ-
ence of price that exists between the caime and the
metallic currency, assemble in certain khans of
Constantinople and Galata, and propagate every

. .
sort of rumour, asserting that the Imperial Govern-
ment has modified its primary decisions concerning
the caime. In this way they agitate the public
mind and compromise all transactions. These Khans
and places of assembly have been closed, and it has
been decid,-d that all persons participating in the
propagation of false reports, and who thus compro
mise the f )rtune and the tranquillity of the public,
shall be arrested and severely punished.
" As the public is already aware, measures have
been taken by the Government for the maintenance
of the credit of the paper-money.
" The capital in specie destined to this end is
formed by the successive arrivals of metallic. This
capital is deposited in the hands of the commission
ad hoc to be applied to the carrying out of those
measures.

" In conformity with the reiterated orders of his
Imperial Majesty our august Sovereign, his Govern-
ment is now concerting measures calculated to pro-
tect the fortune of every individual. Consequently
the public should continue to follow its ordinary
occupations, and should not lend its ear to the in-
sinuations of stockholders."

It would be of li.tle avail now to discuss the
question of the immediate cause of the panic. In
addition to the rumours which I mentioned in my
last letter, there were many others afloat. It was,
for instance, positively asserted that Fuad Pasha
had declined the office of Grand Vizier, and had
declared himself independent in Syria. Another

report was that the Sultan had been poisoned. A
third, which was maintained with the greatest per-
sistency, declared that the Government had aban-
doned its project for the circulation of caime in the
provinces, having come to thf conclusion that it was
impracticable. Impracticable in its present state

it most assuredly is; and, notwithstanding the lan-
guage of the Communication du 6 ouvernment, I
shall doubtless before long have to notify to you " a
modification of its primary decision concerning the
caime," though there is no reason why such modifi-
cation should inspire alarm.
In the Journal de Constantinople of to-day there
is an article said to be from the pen of Aali Pasha.
It of course attributes the panic to the intrigues of
the Galata money-dealers—as if they alone, and
not the Government, had brought the country to
such a pass as to render occurrences like that of
Wednesday last possible. It, moreover, sins against
the commonest dictates of prudence and of truth ;
of prudence when it proclaims that the Government
has kept no accurate account of the monthly
issues of caime, and that it has suspended the
emission of that paper money until such accounts
shall have been prepared, and only (we are there-
fore to presume) until then; against truth
when it roundly asserts that the rise in the ex-
change is not owing " to the quantity of paper
money, of which there was twice as much in 1858,
before the London loan when the pound was at
163." It is matter of absolute certainty, and there
is not a banker in the place who does not know it,
that while in 1858 there were 600,000,000 piastres
of caime there is now a very much larger quantity
in existence, and that, instead of the present
amount being only one-half of the above figures, it
would be far less inaccurately stated as half as much
again. Hence it is that when there was no panic
at all the exchange has lately stood at about 240
piastres to the pound sterling, or, in other words,
that the paper money has been at nearly 130 per
cent. discount. In other respects, however, it must
be admitted the article in question is reassuring;
for it declares that the Government is at length con-
vinced of one wholesome truth—viz., that publicity
and not concealment is the surest means of inspir-
ing confidence in the public mind, and that on that
path it is about to enter. Publicity is to be the
order of the day :—" publicity in all its measures ;
publication of all the sales, adjudications, farmings,
bargains, and contracts of the Treasury; publica-
tion of the expenditure, publication of the revenue,
publication of the Budgets of the State, whatever
may be the amount of the deficit by which they
have to be balanced ; publicity given to the sittings
of the Councils of Control, to the Minutes of the
Commission of Redemption (of caime), and to the
labours of the foreign Commissions whose know-
ledge has been called in aid. Confidence for con-
fidence." Should this programme be honestly car-
ried out there will be small reason indeed to regret
the events of Wednesday last, which seem to have
frightened the Ministers of the Sultan into their
senses. Another paragraph of the article, which
says, "new means are about to be taken to increase
the amount of specie in the Caisse d'Amortissement,
and to render the commencement of its functions
perhaps immediate," appears to justify an assertion,
very generally believed, that, on being informed of
the state of things by his Minister, the Sultan at
once determined to send his plate and jewels to the
Commission for the redemption of the caime,
To-day's bulletin of the Levant Herald states
that at an interview with the Minister of Foreign
Affairs, at which Kiamil Pasha was also present, Sir
Henry Bulwer suggested "a means of relief within
the immediate power of the Government, and cal-
culated to afford a simple and effective solution of
the whole caime problem." May this new financial
bantling of his Excellency's not share the fate of its
numerous predecessors!
Haviar Khan and all the money-changers' shops
remain closed by order of the Government, and it is
intimated that they are only to be reopened on
their occupants giving security for future good con-
duct. If by this be meant that they are to enter
into recognisances for the prevention of similar
occurrences, their establishments are likely to con-
tinue shut up for some time to come.
Whatever mistakes Government may have made
in its mode of proceeding in other respects, it is
very generally admitted that it acted with prompt-
ness and energy at a somewhat critical moment.
At many of the bakers' shops bread, which had
been selling at 3 and 4 piastres the oke in the morn-
ing, rose to 10, 12, and 15 piastres, at midday ; and
shortly afterwards these and many other shape
were closed. People became seriously alarmed, and
in one or two places bakers' shops were forcibly re-
opened, and one was pillaged. Matters had just
reached the point at which it is easy for a few ruf-
fians to convert such trifling disturbances of the
peace into a serious riot, when strong patrols of
troops appeared in all the streets where any danger
was apprehended. The police also took immediate
measures for the reopening of the bakers' shops
under their protection, and for the making of the
greatest possible quantity of bread. On the fol-
lowing day one or two of the largest bakers com-
menced selling at the prices which were current
before the panic, and many persons seconded their
efforts by giving bread to the poor; 500 loaves were
thus distributed yesterday by Lady Bulwer at the
British Embassy.
Letters from Beyrout state that the vessel sent
for Fuad Pasha had arrived, and that his Excel-
lency had gone to Damascus to make final arrange
ments for the administration of affairs after his de-
parture. There is reason to believe that he is now
on his way from Beyrout to Constantinople, and
that he will arrive in two or three days' time. Yusuf
Bsy Karam was still in confinement, awaiting his
trial on a charge of inciting his people to the late
disturbances in the Kesrouan.
In Egypt, it appears, the greatest discontent pre-
vails, and it seems to be the general opinion that
Said Pasha has for a long time bsen doing his
utmost to ruin the country. It is even said here
that there is imminent danger of an outbreak in
that country. having for its object the forcible re-
moval of the Viceroy.
The firman sanctioning the union of the Princi-
palities of Wallachia and Moldavia has been de-
spatched to Prince Couza.
Lord Hobart and Mr. Foster took leave of the
Sultan on Tuesday last, prior to their departure
from Constantinople on the following day.

PRINCE

CANNE,

The Independance Beige of Monday evening pub-
lishes the following :

" Cannes, Dec. 18.

" The news of the death of Prince Albert reached the
young Prince Leopold, his son, in the midst of circum-
stances so melancholy and sad that they could not fail to
increase the horrors of that catastrophe. Taking advantage
of a charming morning the young prince had gone out to
sea to indulge in his favourite pastime of fishing. In re-
turning to his villa he observed that the countenance of his
principal servant was overcast, and that there were tears in
his eyes, The cause of this grief was not the death of Prince
Albert, which was then unknown, but the death of his go-
vernor, General Bowater, who bad just died in the chamber
adjoining Prince Leopold's. At the news of this loss the
poor boy wept bitterly. Almost at the same moment there
appeared at the end of the hall a commissioner of the tele-
graph, bringing a telegraphic despatch. It was addressed
to the general, who was then lying dead. The envelope was
opened ; it contained the fatal news—Prince Albert was
dead. His royal highness was at once taken into bis room,
and I assure you that it is impossible to give any idea of the
desolation of this young child, thus smitten in his tenderest
affections. My mother ! I must go to my mother,' ho
cried in sobs. My mother will bring back him whom you
say has been taken from me—l want my mother.' Some
seconds afterwards they took him away altogether from the
mournful and desolate-looking hense to the nearest hotel,
the Hotel de Bellevue, which is ordinarily patronised by
the English and French aristocracy. Shortly after an
English officer arrived from England, charged, it is said,
with the duty of taking the unfortunate orphan back to
England,"