The Sun.
London, England, 1861-11-18 00:00:00

regard. being had to the circumstances under which
they have been raised, and the length of time they
have been enrolled. These, however, do not as yet
quite leaven the mass. The good conduct and dis-
cipline of the troops of a line of battle may be nulli-
fied or destroyed by the misconduct of one regiment,
and Gen. M'Clellan, in his constant reviews and in-
spections, is seeking to inspire that mutual confi-
dence which is the base of all drill and discipline,
and the secret of success against an enemy. A brave
savage thinks every man of an opposing force will
be down upon him alone, and never counts on the
support of his neighbour light or left. The disci-
plined soldier relies on the support of his comrades,
and looks only to the whole force of the enemy as
compared with his own line. In the action at Ed-
ward's Ferry the other day two Englishmen were
engaged, who were mentioned in honourable terms.
One, Adjutant Harvey, rallied the men to recover
Brigadier-General Baker's body; the other, Cept.
Stewart, Aide-de-Camp to General Stone, worked
at a gun with Col. Coggeswell and other officers
when all the gunners were shot down. The general
order of Gen. M'Clellan in reference to the action is
liberal—nay, we may say profuse in its praise, and it
is not easy to see what more he could have said had
the troops won a great victory; but there is censure
on others covered by the flattery of the rank and file,
and much bitterness and heartburning prevail in
reference to the disastrous affair, which cost the
column a loss of 50 per cent. of its men and 85 per
cent. of its officers and arms, the loss of its guns, a
defeat, and the exhibition of something like a re-
newal of the confused rout after Manassas. General
M'Clellan will be forced to move. He is preparing
to do so if he be compelled, but there will be less
difficulty in his advance if it be deferred till the
combined expedition has achieved a success, or even
effected a landing at some point not too remote from
Eichmond or Charleston. He is so pestered with
visitors and applicants of all sorts that he has closed
his doors against all who do not come on business
of importance, and that alone, however necessary, is
sure to create a certain amount of unpopularity
among the people who are refused, and who think
they have a right to the time of all public servants.
The publication of Gen. Thomas's report is acting
like the deseent of a 13-inch shell with burning fuse
into the Government departments, and when it
reaches the Fremont quarters there will be a tre-
mendous explosion. Read, and then form a judg-
ment of the condition of affairs in the West, of the
administrative powers, of the whole aspect of the
relations between the State and its servants. There
are anxious, if not distracted councils in the Cabinet.
The attitude of foreign powers is regirded with
apprehension, but so thoroughly determined is the
Northern spirit in prosecuting this war that I be-
lieve the men and money of the States would be ex-
pended to the last to resist intervention by force.
It is, however, not the less certain that the Presi-
dent and his Cabinet are not indisposed to a peaceful
arbitration, and from what I hear it is not unlikely
that at this moment the propriety of accepting or
asking for the intervention of a great European po-
tentate may be under consideration. The conditions
of such a settlement will be difficult; but meantime,
success in warlike operations will give the North a
broader basis and a more commanding attitude.
All the world sighs for such a peace as may secure
a continuance of friendly relations and prosperity to
both sections. May it come—quod felix faust-
umque sit. Bat, come as it may, or how it may, the
arbitrament can never re-unite the fragments of the
shattered mirror in which the goddess of American
liberty loved to survey her charms. A standing
army, the suspension of the habeas corpus, the in-
fringement of the liberty of the press, confiscations
and proscriptions—these stand between, and break
the shining surface.

The controversy between the military and the
civil power has been brought to a close in a man-
ner not discreditable to the character of the judges
who preside over the administration of the laws, as
will be found on perusal of the final proceedings,
which I append as they are reported in the Wash-
ington papers of Thursday last :

" CIRCUIT CGITET.---THE RULE AGAINST GENERAL

PORTER.

" On the opening of this court, yesterday morn-
ing, there wttm quite a large crowd of spectators,
who were gathered to hear the decision of the
Court in the matter of the rule against the Provost-
Marshal.

" The presiding judge, the Hon. Jas. Dunlop, an-
nounced the following decision in the matter :
" ' The return made by Deputy-Marshal Phillips,
the 26th October, 1861, we will order to be filed,
though we do not doubt our power to regard it as
insufficient in law, and proceed against the officer
who has made it.

" existing condition of the country makes it
plain that that officer is powerless against the vast
military force of the Executive, subject to his will
and order, as Commander-in-Chief of the army and
navy of the United States.

"1 Assuming the verity of the return, which has
been made on oath, the case presented is without
parallel in the judicial history of the United States,
and involves the free action and efficiency of the
judges of this court.
" ' The President, charged by the constitution to
take care that the laws be executed, has seen fit to
arrest the process of this Court, and to forbid the
Deputy-Marshal to execute it. It does not involve
merely the question on the power of the Executive
in the civil war, and to suspend the great writ of
freedom—the habeas corpus.
" ' When this rule was ordered, to give efficacy to
that writ, no notice had been given by the President
to the Courts or to the country of such suspension
here, now first announced to us, and it will hardly
be maintained that the suspension could be retro-
spective.

" The rule in this case, therefore, whatever may
be the President's power over the writ of habeas
corpus, was lawfully ordered, as well as the writ on
which it was founded.

" The facts on which the rule was ordered by
this Court are assumed to be true as respects the
President, because the President had them before
him and has not denied them, but forbade the De-
puty-Marshal to serve the rule on General Andrew
Porter.

" The President, we think, assumes the respon-
sibility of the acts of Gen. Porter, set forth in the
rule, and sanctioned them by his order to Deputy
Marshal Phillips not to serve the process on the
Provost-Marshal.

The issue ought to be and is with the President,
and we have no physical power to enforce the law-
ful process of this Court on his military subordinates
against th© President's prohibition. We have ex-
hausted every practical remedy to uphold the law-
ful authority of this Court.
"' It is ordered this 30th day of Oct., 1861, that
this opinion of the Court be filed by the clerk, and
made part of the record, as explaining the grounds
on which we have now declined to order any fur-
ther proceedings in this case.
" Judge Morsell then read the following protest :
"' As a member of this Court, and on its behalf,
I wish it understood that, notwithstanding the blow
levelled at this Court, I do distinctly assert the fol-
lowing principles :

" ' First—That the law in this country knows no

superior.

" Second—That the supremacy of the civil au-
thority over the military cannot be denied ; that it
has been established by the ablest jurists, and, I
believe, recognised and respected by the great Fa-
ther of the country during the revolutionary war.
" ' Third—That this Court ought to be respected
by every one as the guardian of the personal liberty
of the citizen in giving ready and effectual aid by
that most valuable means, the writ of habeas corpus.
" ' I therefore respectfully protest against the right
claimed to interrupt the proceedings in this case.'
" The opinion of Judge Morsell was also ordered
to be recorded."

It is not easily seen w7iy the President provoked
a contest in which his authority has been so rudely
handled. Under martial law one understands the
fitness of things and the propriety of everybody's
conduct, and the judges seem to crave for it. The
local papers contain advertisements, the first com-
manding the Marshal to attach the property of one
William Sheilds, and to give notice to all claimants
to show cause against the confiscation, the record
beeanuttfu l will
rules
e sor raised
the
in
setting forth the reasons for the act in the rebellion
of the said Shields, and it is thought a legal argu-
mlaw
military.iscasealso . The lawyers
are very tlaroublesonie in these times, and always
are till they are suppressed
....._,...._.—____

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Eitabusho
174
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