The Sun.
London, England, 1861-05-16 00:00:00

7HE CIVIL 31/AR IN AMERICA,

When our elder generation was young, it heard
sensible people say that the study of history was
not much worth to persons who were indifferent to
the making of history before their eyes. Those
were days when the affectation of refinement took
the form of dislike of politics, or other realities,
for the sake of a very dreamy sort of studies.
Sensible parents used then to say that they did
not see much good in reading history in books, if
the study of it in actual life was neglected and
despised. History so read became a mere novel,
or narrative poem, entertaining to the imagination
or fancy, but of little use to the understanding.
Since that time the character of history itself has
changed, and the means of observing passing
events have become enlarged beyond all compu-
tation. History now aspires not only to a philo-
sophical, but to something of a scientific charac-
ter; so that its nature as a study has entirely
changed ; and, again, the practical developments
of science make the observation of the present a
very different matter from what it was to a former
generation. We perceive this when we read the
lives, correspondence, despatches, and oratory of
statesmen, soldiers, and men of letters in the reign
of George 111. Tt strikes us that news travelled
so slowly, rumours were so obscure, everything
was so cumbrous, that people really might find it
easier to read history in books than as it proceeded
pari passu with their own lives. How little we
knew of what was doing among our own soldiers
in the Peninsular war! How vague and dim was
the notion of what happened in the war between
us and the New England colonies ! What interest
we have since felt has been excited by the detailed
histories or fictions published in America. The
' novelists and historians of America have shown us
much more than our fathers ever knew of that re-
volution and its workings.
Now that the second American revolution has,
after long and clear expectation, arrived, we are
able, if we choose, to see and understand it—to see
it in all its vividness, and understand it in all its
significance—without waiting till it is presented
in a book, or recorded for us by other faculties
than our own. If there is now any affectation
abroad which pretends to take no interest in
current events, let it declare on its honour
whether it can show, in any modern book, a nar-
rative or a picture more serious, more instructive,
or in any way more valuable, as history, than such
news of the day as the following. The incidents
all took place last month ; and if they read like a
narrative of events of ninety years ago, so much the
better.

President Lincoln and his Secretary of State
issued a call for 75,000 men to defend his Go-
vernment, in entire uncertainty as to what would
follow. There is no longer any doubt that the
promise of " the enemy" was to take and burn
Washington, to take Philadelphia, and to march
upon New York, confident of an eager and joyful
reception there, as saviours of the trade of the
port with the South. Such was the situation.
The President saw that no course but resistance
was possible ; but he had no means of knowing,
or conjecturing, whether the necessary force was at
his command. In old days we should not have
known till long after what the answer was ; but
now all the particulars are within reach of those
who choose to inquire.
The response from all parts of the Free States
was that he had not demanded half enough. If
he had asked for a quarter of a million, or half,
or a whole million of men, he should have had
them, with all the appliances and means that they
could bring. The details show whether this was
big talk or reality. The North-West is not so
accessible for a near view as the Atlantic States ;
but we know that the North-West has actually
raised and equipped four times the number asked ;
that the citizens cffer to swarm down the Mis-
sissippi, and undertake that New Orleans shall
not be mischievous. In fact, they hold the exist-
ence of New Orleans in their hand ; for they could
lay the city under water any day by letting loose
the floods from above. Baltimore lies under a kin-
dred liability from its dependence for supplies on
the dam of the Susquehanna. In case of need that
dam could be tapped. But the New England
States are the most interesting study, not only be-
cause Massachusetts was the first ready, but be-
cause the whole course of conduct reminds us that
the people are Sons of the Pilgrims.
It was not exactly the Fiery Cross that was sent
through the country ; but it was something as
rapid and as effectual. On the arrival of the
telegram at any station, some man leaped on his
horse and rode through village and hamlet till his
horse dropped, and another took up the message.
In those rural settlements the citizens had for years
been singing hymns in their evening meetings, vow.
ing their readiness to go forth against the sin and
curse of the land in any way and at any moment
that should be appointed them. Many of these met
the horsemen as they were returning from the field,
or the workshop, or the boat. Their township ought
to send so many to the war ; the last train would
start within half an hour. They laid down their
tools, or gave them into the charge of bystanders,
trusted that those who could not go to-night
would bring on their clothes to morrow, and
started as they were—some with the soil of the
furrows on their feet, and others with the marks of
their toil on their hands. When such men as these
were marching through the towns afterwards, the
shopkeepers ran out as they passed, accosting them
with, " Anything that you want ?" " Anything
that we can furnish you with ?" The muddy boots
then disappeared, and everything rusty was made
new ; and all knapsacks and pockets were filled
with comforts and means of buying them. Bread
was baked daily in Boston, and forwarded in hun-
dreds of barrels, lest supplies should fail ; but in
every company there was a baker, who would look to
that matter, for flour was always to be had every-
where. At the first rumour of scarcity there was
such a turn out of plenty as defied all calculation.
There is no seeing the end of the provisions offered
all across the land, from the ports to the great
rivers. An eminent clergyman, of grave re7ute
for his conservatism, called upon the ladies from
his pulpit to come in the afternoon with their
thimbles and work-baskets. Shirts and other
clothing were instantly wanted for the gathering
soldiery; and in the vestries the women have been
sewing and preparing hospital apparatus ever since.
The clergy seem to be very like those of the
olden time. One offered himself as chaplain to a
regiment, provided it marched through Baltimore
after the , collision there. To march through
Baltimore, and efface the disgrace of any
impediment to access to Washington, was the
enthusiasm of the hour. The first company that
went on that perilous service was not delayed for
a moment by mothers, wives, or sisters ; there was
no hope of more than half coming back ; and the
horrors of war were already felt in their homes.
Nothing was heard of them for days. They had got
through safely; and how ? The dandy regiment
of New York, " the curled darlings" of the ball-room,
had new laid the rails for them,and built up bridges,
and renewed the wires, with their own dainty hands
Archbishop Hughes has floated the national flag from
his great Catholic cathedral in New York ; and the
Episcopalian Bishops have forwarded the arma-
ment with all their influence. So have the German
pastors, and the Italian, French, and Irish priests.
Regiments of all these nations are out on service :
and in the great squares of the cities there are plat-
forms at the corners, where every man may hear
speaking in his own tongue. The theme is the
same everywhere ; but it is treated of in all the
languages of Europe. Still, the old Puritan scenery
comes up—the most interesting, however grand
the rest may be. The burning of the ships is heard
of with hurrahs. They will buy ships enough. It
is an article which money will buy. Meantime,
there lies one in the bay, empty and unprepared,
while the General wants to embark his troops
at an hour's notice. Is there any man who will
undertake to sail her ? Fifty men step forward
from the ranks. They are Marble-headed fisher-
men, turned soldiers that morning, and now turned
sailors. One feels particularly at home in the ship,
as his father built her. But her engines are out of
order : is there any man who can throw light upon
that ? A man undertakes to make all right. He
made the engine, and will answer for her good
conduct when properly treated. In a trice they
are off, with all they want, and cheers follow-
ing them as they turn out of harbour. Coun-
try schoolmasters and mistresses offer a per
centage of their salaries towards the expenses. The
old men handsomely equip the young-, The hotel-
keepers and station masters will take no pay for
soldiers or nurses. Each township takes charge of
the families of volunteers at present, and always, if
the father or widow's son does not come back.
Medical and military commissioners are examining
nurses, and appointing them to their duties. The
amount of industry developed is as marvellous as
that of every sort of wealth.

But how is it, all the while, with the cause and
occasion of the war ?
Not much is known from the far South. What
is known is that the ships which did not aid Major
Anderson were bound for Fort Pickens, under
orders to carry their reinforcements there, and that
they have succeeded in their object. It is known
that negroes have escaped over the Pennsylvania
frontier to the value, as chattels, of millions of
dollars; and that all claims of search off the coast
are resisted. If invasion is menaced in consequence
the threat is met by an invitation to conic and see
what is to be seen in the North. It is known that
there are offers of aid in Mr, Lincoln's lit nd• of
such variety and forc3 that, if accepted, the sec, ded
States woßld asci themselves "fitted with an iron
shroud," No signs Are yet apparent of hostile raoye-e

nients from the South; and one incident looks as if
there might be none after all. The latest cry sent
forth is that the South will resist "subjugation."
All the menace having come from the Secessionists,
this change of ground looks like retreat. Mary-
land, meantime, reverts to the Union, as soon as
the question is submitted to the people at large,
and Virginia is pledged to allow no enemy to ap-
proach Washington through her territory. Till
it is known where the Secessionist force is, and
what it proposes to do, no prophecy can be ven-
tured as to what will happen next ; but if public
spirit and unanimity in the presence of danger to
the national honour, can bring the aggressors to
a sense of their own position, there is reason to
hope that the conflict will be more moral than
military, after all. The one certainty is that there
must be a real settlement of the Slavery question,
by whatever means it is reached. The people of
the Free States will take care that the revolution
which has been forced upon their country shall not
be an abortion. They must be no less careful that
their constitution never again contains any com-
promise or evasion which must issue in future re-
volution. But it is an early day yet for such
speculation and moralising.—Daily News.

LOSS 01 THE GLASGOW STEAMSHIP
UNITED STATES.

The screw steamship United States, from Glas-
gow for Quebec, was wrecked on Bird Rocks on
the 25th ult. The crew of the United States were
brought to Liverpool yesterday by the Jura. The
following is the statement of the captain of the
United States :

" At nine o'clock on the evening of the 25th we
sighted St. Paul's light, and steered for the Bird
Rocks, which we sighted at twenty minutes past
one, almost right ahead. Our course was altered
so as to come to a proper berth. After the vessel
had passed the Great Bird Rock, judging that
we were at least two miles from the island, I
ordered the vessel to be steered for Channel-course,
then abreast of the Small Bird Rocks. She
struck on the very outer edge of the reef,
though I believe she was at /east a mile outside
of it. There was nothing in the water which indi-
cated that there was a reef or a shoal there. The
vessel had all the sails set at the time when she
struck. I had the sails taken in, and for half an
hour the vessel made no water. We backed the
engines, but she would not come off, and they were
stopped again. At this time the wind began to
freshen into a gale from the S.E., the sea rose, and
the ship began to strike heavily, so the boats were
got out and the passengers ordered up from below.
They were got safely into the boats, which kept by
the leeward of the ship for shelter until the day-
light.
" The bark Maranham, Captain Emerson, then
hove in sight. Signals were shown to her, and
she came straight for the wreck. I then boarded
her in my own boat, and asked the captain to
take on board my passengers and crew. He at
once consented. I then returned to the wreck to
take off the remainder of the passengers and crew,
and see that there was no one left. One of the
boats with passengers drifted away, and was lost
sight of for a time, but when the rest were put on
board search was made for her, and she was found.
We then mustered the passengers and crew (there
were 87 passengers, of whom 78 were steerage),
and found them all except David Dunlop, a steer-
age passenger from Glasgow. We saved little or
no baggage, as by this time the sea was running
high and dashing over the ship, which had fallen
over on her beam ends. Before leaving we had
tied down the ensign which had been at her mast."

THE DISPUTE IN THE BUILDING
TRADE.

At a meeting of the masons held last week it
was resolved that a proposition should be made to
the masters that they would accept 6s. per day at
the present working hours for the first five days of
the week, with 3s. for Saturday, leaving work at
12 o'clock. This has also been agreed to by the
bricklayers; and though the other three branches
--viz., the carpenters, plasterers, and painters—
have not formally fallen in with the proposal, on
inquiry at their central committee it is understood
they will not oppose the plan if acted upon. The
proposal has been favourably received by some of
the masters, one of whom (Mr. Moore) has written
to the masons' society approving of it as a fair pro-
posal, and one which he would recommend the
masters to carry out. The number of men now on
the lock-out fund is about the same as last week ;
for although many of those then out have since ob-
tained employment, their places have bameemnofinklseydabryd
those men who turned out from Mr. o
on Saturday last.

Should the proposed arrangement fall through,
it is intended by the central committee to call a
general meeting of the trade in a few days, to de-
termine what further steps shall be pursued. With
respect to Mr. Clements, who it was asserted last
week had adopted the new system of payment, one
of his men who brought up the shop contributions
to the central committee assured them that the firm
had made no alteration, but the men worked on the
old system.

We are requested to state that there will be a
large gathering of volunteer corps, under Lord Ranelagh,
in Regent's-park next Monday at half-past four o'clock.
Lord Radstock, Colonel Lindsay, Colonel Colville, Colonel
Money, Major Roupell, the lion. T. Bruce, and several
other commanding officers, with the consent of their dif-
ferent corps, have -promised to attend, and a sham fight
will probably be organised. Further accounts will be
published on. Saturday. Any small corps that may feel
inclined to take part in the proceedings is requested to
communicate with one of the commanding officers above
named, who will at once make arrangements with Lord
Ranelagh for its being allotted to some of the regular
battalions.

INTERNATIONAL EXHIBITION Or 1862.—The
guarantee fund up to last night exceeded £400,000, and
further subscriptions to it are expected. The building for
the Exhibition is proceeding most satisfactorily, and the
demands for space by intending exhibitors pour in daily to
an extent far exceeding what was ever contemplated.
THE BISHOPRIC OF MELANESIA.—Another cola.
nial bishopric has been founded, and the Rev. John Cole-
ridge Patteson, M.A., of Merton College, Oxford, eldest
son of the Right Hon. Mr. Justice Patteson, has been ap-
pointed the first bishop. The diocese comprises the western
islands of the Pacific. The ceremony of consecration was
performed on the Feast of St. Matthias by the Bishops of
New Zealand, Wellington, and Nelson, at St. Paul's
Church, Auckland. Mr. Patteson has been for some years
past an active missionary in the Polynesian Islands.
IN RE EDWIN JAMES.—Mr. Edwin James, the
eminent Queen's counsel, has filed a petition for arrange-
ment under what is commonly known as " The Gentle-
man's Act" (7 and 8 Vic., cap. 70). The learned gentle-
man describes himself as late of Berkeley-square, and now
of Dr. Johnson's-buildings, Temple. Protection in the
usual form was given, and the sth of June was appointed
for the first sitting. The liabilities of the learned gentle-
man are currently stated at £90,000.
DESTRUCTIVE FIRE AT ISLINGTON.--ESCAPE OF
FOURTEEN PERSONS.—Yesterday morning, between the
hours of one and two o'clock, a destructive fire broke out
on the premises of Mr. J. Gordon, coffee-house-keeper, No.
3, Peter-street, Islington. The discovery was made b 3 the
police on duty. At the time of the outbreak no less than 14
persons were soundly sleeping in the house, but by great
good fortune they were all rescued. Owing to the prompt
but not
tillatt theend house
anceo
of
wasthe enginenearly the
destroyed.fire was
extinguished,

NEWCASTLE-ON-TYNE, May 14.—The coal ports
are now full of shipping, the arrivals of vessels since Friday
having been very large indeed. Great activity prevails, and
some of the vessels that reached the Tyne on Saturday ara
now laden and ready for sea. Coal freights to London have
dropped down to about ss. 9d. per ton. The Customs' re-
turns of the north-east ports of the trade of April are much
more favourable than was anticipated. Newcastle exported
226,829 tons of coal and 14,704 tons of coke, against 169,886
tons of coal and 9,716 tons of coke in April, 1860 ; Sunder-
land exported 118,737 tons of coal in April, as against
91,651 in 1860; the Hartlepools, 56,656, as against 45,830
tons; Middlesborough, 13,211, against 8,563 tons; and
Seaham, 4,432, against 2,987 tons. Newcastle sent 143,436
tons of coal to London and coastwise in April ; Sunderland,
130,137 ; and the Hattlepools, 92,043 tons. The increase
in the value of goods other than coal and coke exported
from the Tyne was £36,511; the Ifartlepools, £37,531;
and Middlesborough, £9,511.

THE PRIMROSE -HILL TRAGEDY.--Pursuant to
a warrant received from Mr. G. S. Brent, deputy coroner
for the western division of Middlesex, Murray, the sum-
moning officer, on Tuesday made the necessary arrange-
ments, asthe law directs in cases of fele de se, for burial of
the body of the wretched Robert Goreing, who wilfully,
feloniously, and with malice aforethought (in the language
of the verdict), destroyed himself on the top of Primrose-
hill, on the 4th inst., under peculiarly romantic circum-
stances, as already published in our columns. The dis-
tressing, but happily somewhat rare, ceremony of burial
rook place between the hours of nine and twelve o'clock in
the night. Shortly after nine o'clock the remains were re-
moved from the St. Pancras dead-house by the men em-
ployed by Murray, and under his directions, and torches
having bee' procured they directly proceeded to the place
where the body was to be buried, in the unconsecrated por-
tion of the parish cemetery, at Finchley at midnight.
The grave was ready and the body thrust therein, and
covered over without any usual religieus ceremony what-
ever, in compliance with the stern requirement of the law
in cases of self-murderers. This sad termination of the
deplorable tragedy created some excitement among the
deceased's friends and relations, and though n few of the
former were present they were not pernaitteki to take any
part in the proceedings