The Sun.
London, England, 1861-08-13 00:00:00

THE SUN.

LONDON, TUESDAY, AUGUST 13, 1861.

The Northerns seem to be what we designate by
the colloquially expressive word—posed. We had
all of us, on this side the water, expected a perfect
conflagration in the North when the great disaster
became known. If the bloodless attack on Fort
Sumter awakened such a storm of fury, what
would follow the unmitigated, unqualified, and
shameful rout of the grand Northern army. So
we naturally argued; but though there is some ex-
citement, we must confess the North does not lay
it to heart as we expected. So different is the gene-
ral tone of things from what might have been
looked for, that it nearly seems, by comparison, as
if the North was cooling down a little. The three
months' patriots are retiring as fast as their term
of service is up, though obviously needed more than
ever ; and it appears we were not wrong the other
day in throwing out the conjecture that they
might even have deemed it a hardship, when their
time was nearly up, to be called upon to fight a
battle. They have expressed resentment at the
thought that the movement should be so timed as
to bring them once into the presence of the enemy
during their three months' enlistment. These regi-
ments are returning home as fast as they can, and,
strange to say, are received at New York and other
cities with ovations, for no other reason that can be
conceived than marching home without having
smelt any other gunpowder than what they them-
selves burnt. So numerous are these returning
heroes that the large additions to the army, since
the defeat, leave it still 8,000 rank and file less than
before the three months' men withdrew.

We have every reason to think the Northern army
has received very great indirect injury by the defeat
of the 21st. It is certain that many regiments are
entirely demoralised. All seem to be cowed. There is
no appearance of military determination to avenge
lost honour. Officers seem well content to be whipped
privates look sad and desponding. Altogether the
spirit we should like to have seen in men of our '
own kith and kin" is wanting. There is,
of course, plenty of the usual swagger and
bluilter, the North does not mean to be beaten,
nay, it means still to subjugate the South,
bit what we do not see is that cool deter-
mination with which the ancient Romans, and
flgl6hmen in modern times, set about the repair
of any disaster. The talk in America is so much
bigger than the work. Could we conceive, in this
country, of our Volunteers marching off, even if they
had been engaged lAA for three months, just as an
enemy lying south of the Thames had inflicted a
serious defeat on our arnly. What town north of
the Thames would have received them as patriots ?
What would they have been thought of in London
or in Liverpool. Even in Congress the spirit is
not so self-sacrificing as it was. It is now proposed
to raise two millions less than was originally sug-
gested, by direct taxes, and the Senate is even de_
sinus to exaggerate the duties of the anti-commer-
cial Nlonnt, Tariff!
One thing is certain—the Federalists have had
to fall back at all points. In the centre the
Southern pickets are almost within sight of Wash-
ington ,and the Confederates have again fortified Fai-
rfax Court-house, which they had left on the advance
of the Federalists. Indeed, there seems to be
no doubt now, that it was either because they had
not the means to pursue, or, because they were
ignorant of the completeness of the rout of the
Northerns, they did not advance on Washington.
At Harper's Ferry General BANKS (late PATTER-
SON) has actually had to abandon his entire
advance and take up a strong position on
the Maryland side of the Potomac, leaving
thee Southern side 'undefended. Again, on the East,
General BUTLER has been compelled to withdraw
his men from the town of Hampton, adjacent to
Fort Monroe, into the Fort; his numbers having
been considerably reduced to strengthen the grand
army at Washington. All along the Southern side
of the Potomac also, we hear of rebel batteries
which 'molest the Federal ships as they proceed
down the river. Thus, there is a general retreat
of the North on the line of the Potomac. In Mis-
s° uri, where _
mge ood deal of skirmishing goes on, the
th
North keeps upper hand, but the contest is a
cl ose one, and Cairo and St. Louis are threatened.
The North may yet do better than we expect ; but
ti ith so much of the army
corapwosehd of raw mate-
rials, needing long training, it
the losses of
cannon and muskets, not
to be repaired
in a day, and with the disadvantage of the incubus
of a defeat, 7i,e do not look for much " IT
ctiVe work

this autumn. Then, time may bring proposals of
compromise from such a negro-hating people as
those of the Northern States, especially if some
Northern victory should redress the balance ; with
such possibilities, therefore, before us, we have not
the slightest inclination to prophecy respecting the
probable course of events.
One thing is clear enough—that republics
have iu this quarrel nothing to boast of as com-
pared with monarchies. Manchester will feelingly
acknowledge tkat the great modern republic has
not shown itself for " peace-at-any-price"—neither
people nor Government. The cotton city will con-
fess also that commercial bonds prove to be very
weak restraints on the warlike passions. Massa-
chusetts is absolutely dependent, even more than
Manchester, on the South for cotton ; yet she was
amongst the first to offer regiments, instead of pro-
posing conciliatory measures. New York, again,
half lives by its Southern commerce, yet the mer-
cantile city, through whose hands passed the greater
part of the Southern crops, was amongst the most
mad after the attack on Fort Sumter. Again,
the Republic seems quite as bad as our Horse
Guards and Court can be, in regard to promotion
in the army by favour, not by merit. One of the
first good effects of the Republic was that the PRE-
SIDENT felt the necessity of placing the reorganisa-
tion of the army in the hands of one competent
man. Of course General SCOTT selected M'CLEL-
LAN,
i and he was sinvested with fall powers to
om teall his subordinate officers, even of the
nominate
highest grade, according to his own views of their
competency for what he wanted of them. It would
hardly be believed, but the fact is, that this last
power was withdrawn, and the most influential
politicians obtained a share in these nominations,
on which to a certainty. the triumph of the North
depends. An ANSON, or a CODRINGTON, a LUCAN, or
a CARDIGAN were not half so bad inflictions
on the army, through Court
,or aristocratic
favour, as many of those appear to be, to whose
ignorance, and perhaps cowardice—of which last
no one accuses even our Court pets—the fortunes
of the Northern Republic are now to be committed.
If the South prove as penniless and destitute of
resources as has been so often asserted, she may
be unable to keep her army in the field ; but they
have the vast advantage of fighting on, and
as they think for, their own soil, while
the North by every step made towards
Southern subjugation would be farther from home.
Again, the vile cause of the South is dearer to those
who fight for it than the cause, not so bad, of the
North. The South fights for Self-government and
slavery—the North for Federal Government and
slavery ; and patriotism for a big Union is not so
deeply felt, as patriotism for the soil on
which one lives. There are many indications
that the Southern cry has far more personal interest
for its combatants than that of the North. This is
a decided advantage in war, as in politics. The
North can conquer only by raising a kind of stand-
ing army, and incurring an outlay at which the
patriotism of mere ambition to retain an immense
overgrown Union may soon begin to quail. We
seem to see the beginning of this already. Time
only can shew whether the feeling will increase,
and materially affect the fortunes and the issue of
the war.

Already we have recalled to recollection, since the
close of the late session, the chief among the Wed-
nesday defeats experienced during the course of it
by the Government. Already we have recapitulated
the unusual number of changes in the House of
Commons during the last half year's sitting of Par-
liament. It may be as well, before August has been
allowed to advance further, to epitomise the debtor
and creditor account in regard to those changes
which admit now of being jotted down and
balanced between the side of the Opposition and
the side of the Government. Examining into
these changes it is impossible not to perceive
at a glance that the advantage gained during the
whole session is decidedly in favour of the Op-
position. Directly or indirectly the Tories have
won upon the majority of appeals made during
the session of 1861 to the various constituencies.
Directly or indirectly the Liberals have in conse-
quence of this—by necessity—lost. Seat after seat
has been transferred from the right hand to the left
hand of Mr. SPEAKER. A Liberal has resigned
let us say through ill health or what not—at any rate,
whatever the reason may have been, a Liberal has
resigned. Immediately afterwards the constituency
has been appealed to, and lo ! a Tory, or a Conser-
vative, or a Liberal-Conservative, or a Conservative-
Liberal, or whatever you may please to call him,
in point of fact no matter what his designation,
a supporter of the Opposition, has been
returned. It has been thus—as the public
will very well remember in a general way
—not once or twice merely, but again and yet
again; until, little by little the powerful Opposi-
tion has become more and more powerful. A re-
action—there is no denying it, the facts speak
unfortunately but all too plainly—a decided reaction
has set in, and the seats change from hand to hand
accordingly. Let us look into a few of the most
remarkable of these gains to the Opposition, these
losses to the Government. They are significant
enough of the reaction to which we have alluded,
to justify us in turning back awhile, however dis-
agreeable the task may be in itself, for the purpose
of making this retrospective reconsideration of
them. What has occured already so often, may
occur again, must and will occur repeatedly upon
any subsequent opportunities of the like kind. Par-
ticularly is this probable upon the very face of it,
from the mere circumstance that it is impossible to
recognize anywhere in the annals of the past
session any reason, however small,
.even though
it had been.
of the most microscopical character,
IllaY a\ reaction should at length set in upon
the reaction. And here glares upon the recognition
of all, the origin of the reaction itself in favour of
Toryism, at any rate of Conservatism, in one com-
prehensive and comprehensible word of the Op-
position."

It has arisen—this reaction then, wholly
and solely, from the constituencies finding
out to their cost that the Reforming Govern-
ment installed in office upon the rejection of Lord
DERBY'S Reform Bill, has turned out to be no
Reforming Government after all. As the result of
that rejection of the Reform Bill laid upon the
table of the House of Commons by Mr.
DISRAELI—as the result of that egregious
acceptance of Lord JOHN'S dodging
"Resolutions"
—Reform, so far from being in any
way furthered,
has just fairly gone to the wall. Session has fol
lowed session—and Reform, like the ruck on the
Derby Day, is " Nowhere." What is more, too,
in regard to it, is this—that not only have
we no Reform before us, we have absolutely
now no prospect, not even the dimmest and
faintest prospect, of any Reform whatever.
This—thanks to Lord JOHN'S precious Reso-
lutions. Lord JOIIN, in reality, has himself so
fully recognised the hopelessness Of the cause he
has been so long, and in the end so
,takenly advo-
cating,olonger—he
that he has consented to remain _Toord JOHN
n
has quitted the House of Commons
and entered the Lords under the shadow of his
Earldom. In regard to Reform, indeed, the people
have been distinctly, elaborately, and deliberately

sold by the Coalition. Hence—the reaction to Con-
servatism. And now for the most conspicuous
indications of its spread during the course of the
last session, among the constituencies who have been
appealed to for an expression once more of their
political opinions.
Don't we all recollect—only too painfully—how
immediately upon the retirement of the late
lamented Right Hon. SIDNEY HERBERT from the
representation of South Wiltshire in the House
of Commons [with the vain hope at the
time that the comparative repose of a seat in
the House of Lords might yet spare that able and
accomplished statesman to his country, until long
after he should in the course of nature have suc-
ceeded to the Earldom of Pembroke]—don't we all
recollect how that eminent man, himself one of the
Cabinet Ministers, was immediately succeeded, in
the
election
for South Wilts, by a Conservative ?
The new member for South Wilts being Colonel
BATHURST, a staunch supporter of the Opposition.
There was one distinct loss to the Government—
one distinct gain to the Opposition. Again—no
sooner had Lord HADDO been called to the House of
Peers immediately upon the demise of his father, the
late venerable Earl of ABERDEEN, when his vacated
seat was banded over to Mr. LESLIE, another Con-
servative—another supporter of the Opposition,
now M.P. for Aberdeenshire. Gain number two
for the Opposition. Loss number two for the
Government. A third loss to Ministers ; a third
gain to their confronting antagonists, was that
consequent upon the return of the Tory in lieu of a
Liberal candidate by reason of the reactionary
movement setting in among certain of the electors
in the county of Cork. Then there was, nearer home,
the borough of Leicester. Dr. JOSEPH NOBLE,
the late Liberal member, dies, and the electors of
Leicester forthwith return Mr. HEYGATE, a Con-

servative pur sang, an out-and-out supporter of
the Tory Opposition. Further loss to the right—
further gain to the left of Mr. SPEAKER. There
are other changes of seats also as distinct as the
foregoing that might be yet very readily
enumerated. Changes in which, if we can-
not so clearly recognise the replacement of a
Liberal by a Conservative, we may at least perceive
that a member who has been disposed to vote oc-
casionally with Ministers has been succeeded by
another who is absolutely certain to voto invariably
with the Opposition. There is Selkirkshire for
example—where in place of a moderate Liberal-
Conservative like Mr. ALLAN LOCKHART, there is
henceforth Lord H. SCOTT, one of the sons of the
Tory Duke of B UCCLEUCII. Again in Montgomery
burghs—an advantage has been manifestly secured
to the Opposition by the fact that Mr. DAVID
PueH has been succeeded by his son-in-law, Captain
WILLIS JotorsoN—Conservatism preponderating
over Liberalism in the views of the latter, whereas in
those of the former Liberalism as appreciably prepon-
derated over Conservatism. Even in the instance of
the little borough of Andover—a certain gain is
noticeable on the side of the Opposition. For while
the late member, Mr. WILLIAM CIIBITT, now the
Lord Mayor of London, was indubitably a supporter
of Lord DERBY, the new member for Andover, Mr.
H. B. COLES, is a yet more resolute supporter of
Lord DERBY, and of the Conservative principles
that noble earl represents. Altogether, out of the
eighteen contested elections that have taken place
during the late session of 1861, six constituencies
(in place of six decided Liberals) have sent six de-
cided Conservatives to the Commons House of Par-
liament. Besides which there are one or two others
in which seats are filled no longer as they used to
be by decided Liberals, but, on the contrary, by
very undecided Liberal-Conservatives. All these
losses having quite manifestly fallen upon the Coali-
tion—retributively.

His Royal Highness the Duke of Oporto,
attended by Manoel de Camera, Lord Chamberlain to the
King of Portugal, and Antonio Sergu do Sousa and An-
tonio de Sampaia Vina, officers of the Portuguese corvette
Barthorne Diaz, arrived at Claridge's Hotel on Sunday
evening, from Southampton.

The Duchess of Inverness has left Kensington
Palace, for the Castle Hotel, Richmond, for a few
weeks.

The Marquis and Marchioness of Clanricarde
have arrived in Paris from town, on their way to Homberg,
where they propose passing several weeks. Lord Dunkel-
lin, M.P., has gone to Harrowgate.
The Earl and Countess of Rosebery and Lady
Louisa Primrose left Warren-roads, Harts, yesterday, fox
Dalmeny Park, near Edinburgh, for the season.
Frances Countess of Albemarle and Colonel the
Hon. P. Cust are staying at Belton House, Grantham, not
at Ashridge Park, as stated in error yesterday.

Viscount Palmerston left London yesterday on a
visit to her Majesty at Osborne, Isle of Wight.

Major-General Sir Richard Airey left town last
Saturday to accompany his Royal Highness the Duke of
Cambridge on a tour of inspection in Ireland. The Hon.
Lady Airoy and family leave Grosvenor-place on the 15th
inst. for Germany.

THE EARTHQUAKE AT ANTlGUA.—Respecting
the reported earthquake at Antigua, it would appear that
the information came by the last West India mail, and that
the alleged destruction of life is altogether untrue, the loss
being £2,000, and not 2,000 persons.

. _
THE WEATHER.—Yesterday the thermometer
registered in the streets of the metropolis 110 deg. Fahr. in
the sun, or 36 Reaumur, or from 95 to 97 deg. Fahr. in the
shade, a heat almost unprecedented in this country; whilst
at the Royal Humane Society's receiving-house, Hyde-
park, and other similarly exposed situations, the instru-
ment at noonday recorded 119 deg. Fahr.
Mr. Blanchard Jerrold will, we understand, read
a paper " On the Influence of Journalism on the Progres
of Popular Education," at the Social Science Congress, to
bo held at Dublin in the course of the present week, under
the presidency of Lord Brougham.
THE LATE LORD HERBERT AND THE EDINBURGH
TimE-Gus.—The citizens of Edinburgh (says the Scots-
man) are perhaps not generally aware that they were very
much indebted to the late Secretary of State for War for
carrying out Mr. Hewat's proposal for the audible time-
signal; for though the Lords of her Majesty's Treasury
had granted their permission, and sanctioned the use of
the g,alvanic apparatus in connection with the time-ball at
the Observatory, still the whole completing of the arrange-
ment depended entirely on the War-office. Ono of our cit y
members (the Lord Advocate, being the personal friend of
Lord Herbert) communicated with his lordship on the sub-
ject, which gave additional weight to the memorial from
the Chamber of Commerce; and having thus a "friend at
court," the Secretary took a great interest in the matter,
and by his lordship's exertions the inhabitants of the city
received a gift of one of the Castle guns.
VALUABLE SERVICES OF A LIFE BOAT.—CAHORE,
Aug. 10.—On Wednesday, the 7th inst., at half-past 11
o'clock a.m., the Spanish barque Premira de Torrierriga,
320 tons, Don Jacob() Blasco, master, sailing under the
British flag from Liverpool to Havannah, with a valuable
cargo, went aground at the Blackwater bank. The weather
was thick and foggy at the time and a heavy sea running,
with the wind to the S.W. Her rudder was at once dis-
abled, and one of her pumps choked, and the barque made
water rapidly. The master and 14 men left the vessel in
one of their own boats, and after one boat had been swamped
sibpnulocfaaocctreerneowdfaeastidihoin landing at Baltimore. One man had been,
h
owever, inadvertently left on board the ship. At 2 p..
eni
inwt
Nationalacs
csent
Life-boat
launched
to
aCu anhc oh reedl ofnans
Institution
proceeded
t n wreck,statwi
to
onetenhd
et
athb ea bank.
lifek
that.
obnl
bane
awrha i lder
itfh be
ee
d a
outr qn
toe sheaad. wAo rsk
se 'cl,e onffa,
santhdiws iwthasonebessearial,oerd
from the life boat her course was altered and she bore down
to the ship, which she succeeded in overtaking about five
miles N.E. from Calor° Point. The crew of the life boat
finding after getting on board the vessel that the water was
rapidly increasing in her hold, thought it advisable to run
for the beach near Arklow, which was safely accomplished.
The vessel now lies there.
NEW SPIRITUAL PEER.—In the event of a
eeinteddirectlytranslation
Bishopt the
tßs
ii:ihnogppr ilea
eo,f
the new Bishop will be entitled to take his seat at once as
DtchleuerrrehyawmmillniblaesbtneebanddgoififaePtrence made in the spiritual peerage, as
the
Bishop of Durham, under the Manehester Bishopric Act.
Should, however, any Bishop be promoted to th 6 richer see
of Durham, as mill in all probability be the case, Dr. Phil-
pott, the recently consecrated Bishop of Worcester, will be
entitled to take his seat in the House of Lords at the com-
mencement of the next session, and will have to perform
the duties of junior bishop, now discharged by the Bishop
of Carlisle.