The Sun.
London, England, 1861-12-03 00:00:00

7 .THE SIJN, LONDON, TUESDAY EVENING, DECEII3I4_IR 3, 1861:

colour. The white men of the vessel to which they
belonged were liberated on the representations of
Mr. Mure, but these men are still detained, although
it is arranged, I believe, that they shall be liberated
as soon as there is a man-of-war sent to take them
away.

The prettiest sight I have seen since I crossed
the Atlantic was the torchlight procession got up by
General Blenker and his Germans in honour of
Major-General M'Clellan on his promotion to the
command of the army. It was something like a
Burschen procession, but it exceeded very much
any displays of the kind in the number of torch-
bearers and the variety of colour and effect. The
camp of the Blenker men—famous for lager beer
and quaint pipes, also for perverted notions re-
specting the nzeum of Unionists and the Num of
Secessionists—lies some miles across the Potomac,
in the valleys and dells of the "old dominion," which
is nearly as old as Canada, and is meeting with very
rude treatment in its primitive antiquity. From it
they came in a grand procession, with bands play-
ing and rough chorus singing, and filed over the
Long•bridge in a dancing stream of fire—blue,
green, red, yellow, orange, and dazzling white. The
air was still, the night fine, and nothing could have
been more successful than the fireworks in their
way, or the impression produced by the stream
crested with fire, which first glowed like a torrent
of lava, then gradually broke its particles into a
broad riband of nebulous flames, which, coming
nearer, was resolved into balls of diverse-coloured
light, and thus winding or thinned away into a
narrow stripe of orange-like molten iron running
through the black courses of the mould. The
" Dutchmen" pursued their career by Pennsylvania-
avenue, past the State Department, and, turning in
at the gates of the White House, treated the Presi-
dent to a sight of the demonstration intended for
his benefit.

WEDNESDAY.
The first week I was in Washington I was intro-
duced to an amazing naval officer, who held only
the rank of lieutenant, but who was capable of

being anything in the service, and was big enough
for half a dozen admirals. He was at the right
ride of 40, and stood some 6 feet 3 or 4 in height,
and weight about, at a moderate guess, 23 er 24
stone—big-bearded, large- headed, mellow-eyed,
and strong voiced, with a fine bold front, and a
pleasant expression of countenance—one who had

,ravelled, and had joked and drunk with Britishers

in divers seas and ports over the world. I lost sight
of him after a time, and he slipped away out of the
world of daily acquaintances, and his memory took
place in the ranks of those which belong to peo•
ple we wish to meet again when we think of them.
Last night we had news of a great victory in Ken-
tucky, won by General Nelson, who had killed 600
rebels, taken the Confederate Generals, and 1,000
prisoners of inferior rank, and destroyed the camp
and their prospects in that part of the world. I
was certainly surprised when I heard that the

" General" who had done all this was no other than
my friend the lieutenant in the United States navy.
It appears that he was a strong Union man, and
when Kentucky was in jeopardy he went down to
his State to do his best to keep her straight. He
enlisted men, he raised companies, and finally got
up battalions, and at last became of such service and
importance that the Government made him a Bri-

gaaier- General ; and so my stout friend has won the
spurs of glory—and may goodness save the Bellero-
phon on which he mounts—in the tented field, and
afforded a proof of the readiness with which a
genuine "salt" may be turned into a soldier at the
call of duty. In very truth, he has done good work;
for, if the journals do not depart somewhat from ac-
curacy, the Confederates are defeated in a place
where defeat makes a gap in their line. This will
cause serious inconvenience to their operations.
Again, there is news that in East Tennessee
Unionists or enemies of some sort are burning bridges
and destroying telegraph wires, and giving tokens
of an intention to cut off the communication be-
tween the Confederates and their friends. The cause
of the Unionists is beginning to gain ground, and if
the reaction comes now it will produce results of im-
mense consequence in Kentucky and Tennessee,
which must react on Missouri and Virginia. In-
deed, the force in Kanawha under Rosencrans (for so,
to our discomfort, he spslls his name), must now be
within five or six days' march of the Federalists in
Kentucky. Important as the operations at Beau-
fort may be, it does not appear that their present
results can be as distressing to the enemy as these
reverses and threatening combinations on their flank
and in their midst. Little as I thought Lieutenant
Nelson would turn out such a potent chief, still less
was I prepared to foresee the day when Beaufort
would be the great object of a flotilla and an expe-
dition, the largest ever fitted out in this New World.
THURSDAY.
The American journalists are insatiable in their
desire to be insulted; they are ever ou the look-out
for some pretence to shoat out that their flag has
been affronted, or that England has been doing
something or other not neutral; and it drives them
to desperation to see that all our statesmen insist
on being neutral, in spite of protection or annoy-
ance. So, though it has been satisfactorily ascer-
tained that the British Consul-General at navannah
did not put on his uniform and present the Confe-
derate Commissioners to the Captain-General,
" Lyons" is asked why he has not inquired if the
fabrication be true—as if the British Minister were
called on to investigate the falsehood of all the ridi-
culous ;myths which are concocted, Lord knows
where, to astonish the groundhogs. We are told,
too, that Lord J. Russell has not taken any steps to
punish Mr. Keate for permitting the Sumter to coal
in Port of Spain ; and then follows the usual
mouthing about " the day of reckoning-up and re-
paying these small favours being near at hand,"
and an intimation that if Mr. Lincoln and Mr.
Seward were not very forbearing, Lord Lyons and
some other diplomatists would have received their
passports long ago.
There is a delusion that it is by the will of the
people everything is done over here ; it is not so.
The controlling power is held in the hands of cer-
tain party leaders, is moved by direct party in-
fluences and machinery which acts on the minds of
the masses, and is moulded in caucuses, conventions,
and small local associations. In their enormous

vanity, the men who are always searching the dic-
tionary for big adjectives to describe the wonders
and glories of the United States of North America,
and of their institutions, forget that their republic
has already never yet been exposed to any rude
shock, such as similar organisations would have ex-
perienced in Europe, and that they have run their
career without let or hindrance till suddenly
brought up by the violence of their internal fac-
tions. With the capital blockaded by sea, with
Missouri and Kentucky and Virginia in the hands
of contending armies, and with North and South
Carolina, Florida, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama,
Tennessee, still held by the troops which obey the
Confederate Government at Richmond, there is
something almost sublime in the way in which the
papers call on the world to fall down and worship
the rest of the late United States, because the occu-

pation of Beaufort gives promise that the great
resources in men and money of the Northern States
and the enormous advantages they possess in this
quarrel, lead to the conclusion that they must in the
end overcome the popular resistance and subjugate
the Southern States, which now hate them as the
Polo hates the Russian, and will not love them the
better for being beaten.
The fables of Livy are not more mythical than
the historiettes of the modern American writers,
who recount the events of the only great wars in
which the people of the United States were ever
engaged, the struggle for independence and the war
of 1814, in which England burnt the capital of the
Republic as a sort of necessary and unpleasant in-
terlude in her great war with France. There are
few Americans wbo do not believe that they met
and braved
conflicts,avedt
the whole power of England in these
u
igno-
rant that in both these
epwosaerlys
wemy swt iefiree endbgyagedin
these
writers in the important facts of the case, and
righting our most formidable and proximate anta-
gonist, and that the struggles with America were
really The dbivuelrksioonf stohfe thpeeenvaletioknnaolw nothingforce.
of their
defeats, and it would surprise nearly the whole of
the United states to know that 'amoral Scott had

ever been taken prisoner and held in captivity by
English arms. They are sure that England was
foiled in her attempt to assert supremacy by the
arms of America alone.

FRIDAY.
Senator Simmons is going to do a little stroke of
business which is characteristic ; he, and not Mr.
Morrill, is the real author of the tariff. He in-
tends to sail with a little cargo of " notions"

down South to exchange with loyal men for
cotton. The expedition may dispel a delusion in
the excellent gentleman's mind. Unless I am

much mistaken, he will get little cotton and find
few loyal men in the South, unless those who
have gone there as United States' troops. The Go-
vernment will follow up their blow at Beaufort by
sending on Burnside's corps,which is now at Anna-
polis, and which consists of 4,500 men. They are
building iron-cased vessels at last, and then the

animosity of the North to South Carolina, the
nursing mother of secession, will be gratified by a
very strenuous effort to capture, and, if necessary,
to destroy Charleston. It is hoped that the iron-

cased vessels will be able to run past Forts Moul-
trie and Sumter, and in that case tho city would be

at their mercy. Nor would it be easy to board them,
as an apparatus will be attached to them for throw-
ing hot water on surrounding objects. But a land
_ . .

march on Charleston would be full of difficulties,

owing to the nature of the country, and Savannah
is equally difficult of access. Both these cities are
in danger. But will their capture give cotton to the
United States' Government ? Certainly not ; the
Confederates will destroy it. They will have a cot-
ton Moscow all over the States, and, as the slaves

will run away or will refuse to work, it is obvious
that next year's crop and supply will be most scanty
and precarious as far as America is concerned.
That a w holesome rigour can be developed by the
authorities in case of need, take an instance at least

which may recommend itself in emergencies to Go.

vernments at home, or at all events make some of
our great engineers thank their stars that they are
not citizens of the linitcd States. The steam sloop
Pensacola, which has been lying in the Potomac
for some time, was provided with engines by Mr.

Sickles, a famous mechanic in these parts, but,
as after repeated trials, it was found that the
vessel would not move, considerable indignation
was excited at the Navy Department against that

gentleman, who had received h large sum for
engines on an improved principle. He made ex-
periments and promises equally futile and value-
less, and week after week passed and saw the
Pensacola, when most needed, lying " idle as a
painted ship upon a painted ocean." At last Mr.
Sickles went on board to superintend his men, and
having given some directions, he was about to
return when the captain, a resolute sailor of the
United States' type, quietly interposed and said,
" Mr. Sickles, I'm sorry to say you can't leave the
ship, sir. My orders are that you are not to be
permitted to land till the engines aro in perfect
order, and I intend to take you down past the
batteries with me as soon as you say she is all right,
in order t 3 prove the fact." Mr. Sickles is, I hear,
working with great energy.
SATURDAY AFTERNOON.

It is strange that, having had so much to say
about the relations between the United States and
great Britain in this and preceding letters, the
apprehension of some coming complication which
has been present with me so long should just now
be realised. I allude, of course, to the seizure of
Mr. Slidell and Mr. Mason on board the Royal
West India mail steamer Trent on November the
Bth, which has, long before this will reach you, no
doubt caused excitement and stronger sensations at
the other side of the Atlantic. The news was
scarcely credited at the English Legation at first,
but the Ministers of France, Russia, and Prussia,
who called on Lord Lyons, had all heard of the
extraordinary circumstance. In this matter it re-
mains to be seen if the people of America or the
Cabinet of Washington can best understand the in-
terests of the United States, and, above all, the

respect due to a friendly Power—for most friendly
we have bean in our strictest neutrality. An apology
in words must be tested by an apology in acts, and
it seems at first blush that the restitution of Messrs.
Slidell and Mason, and the punishment of the cap-
tain of the San Jacinto—who will probably be a
hero before this ink be dry—are the only evidences
of a desire to make due reparation which can be
accepted by the Queen and people of Great Britain
for this insult. The word is rendered detestable by
its frequent use, but here it is really the only ap-
plicable substantive.
Almost simultaneously with this extraordinary
seizure of Mr. Slidell and Mr. Mason on board the
Trent at sea, or rather in Spanish waters, occurs an

outrage which cannot be dealt with in any way
except as an instance of flagrant disregard of all
international law in the seizure of ex-Senator
Gwin in, and his transmission by the armed force
of the United States across, a neutral territory. It
is plain that either all the principles of national
life must be set aside for the convenience of the
Northern States in their quarrel with their ex-
Confederates, or that the former must learn the
simple principles which constitute the conditions
of that national life and of national honour. Is the
world to bend the knee to the United States of
North America ? Or, is the world to be forced to
teach the United States of North America that it
has established certain rules in matters of law and
ethics before the United States were thought of, as
determinate and as independent of the assent of
any one nation as the precepts of Christianity ?
Not many days ago I read one of the articles which
turn the heads of the people here and make them
politically mad, which, in as many words, said that
the people of the United States, as a new people,
were going to settle their own affairs in a now way,
and that the capture of Port Beaufort would make
the politicians of Europe understand what that
new way was going to be. It is now incumbent on
the old masters of the world to prove that they
cannot permit any nation, old or new, to make in-
novations which strike at the root of all national
identity. As an illustration of the very prepos-
terous mental disease which affects the minds of
men here, I may mention that there were officers in
Willard's Hotel, belonging to regiments of volun-
teers, who are now about to take up their winter
quarters in front of the opposing enemy, which is
almost beleaguering them outside their blockaded
capital, who were loud in their declaration that
they would throw off their uniforms if Mason and
Slidell were given up. Perhaps it would be more
becoming to these patriots to put them on their
backs, to keep them there, and to let their enemies,
wherever they be, see the front row of their but-
tons. There is but ono opinion among the repre-
sentatives of the foreign Powers in reference to this
" outrage." Such is the mildest term used re-
specting it. France, Prussia, Russia, Spain, all
are agreed in considering that the blow struck at
England is not the accident of a contretemps; and
the United States, if there was wisdom in her coun-
cillors, would really feel some doubts in reference
to the policy she has adopted when she sees as she
has done before, that there is no friend left to her
in the world. Iu spite of her abject adulation of
France and Russia, the Ministers of those em-
pires have acted as though they felt they had a
duty to perform to law and civilisation which far
exceeded the obligations imposed by petty jealousy,
or the rivalry of opposed nationalities ; nor will it
be astonishing to find that, while France on the one
hand evinces a desire to join in any legitimate means
of putting an end to a contest which causes her so
much embarrassment, Spain will not be slow 10
avail herself of the force which her Mexican inter-
vention and recent prosperity may place at her
disposal to vindicate the honour of her flag if it
should turn out, as is supposed, that the San Jacinto
committed her aggression on the neutral flag of
Great Britain in Spanish waters.
There can be no pretence, unless, indeed, a pre-
tence in its true sense, that the British Government
has not exhibited the utmost desire to maintain
friendly relation with the United States, and that
it has not strained to the furthest the principle of
neutrality in this quarrel. But hero is a question
of principle, for which, if ever we have fought for
anything at all, we have struggled even to the en-
dangering of actual and moral alliances with every
people in the world openly outraged by a Govern-
went to which in the hour of its distress we had

exhibited a consideration which can scarcely be
justified by precedents in reference to revolution
and Governments de facto in other parts of the
globe where we had no interests at stake, and where
our acceptance of the revolution was not at all con-
ducive to the British influence. Judges, lawyers,
jurists,—Puffendorf, Grotius, Vattel, and Wheaton,
—settle it as you may, there is no escape from
this dilemma except in the humiliation, which
may be honourable, though it be to the dust
of the one ; or the disgrace, which cannot be ren-
dered tolerable, though it be gilded by apology and
concession, of the other. Why not seize Mr.
Yancey in his lodgings in London ? Why not let
the detectives drag away Secessionists from Mor-
ley's or Radley's, in London and Liverpool ? Why
not at once admit that the United States' Govern-
ment in this war against the Confederates shall be
permitted to treat all the nations in the world as it
pleases, and to call on all the peoples to stand by
and applaud while, in the interests of its vaunted
liberty, it outrages every guarantee which man-
kind in civilized countries, by the blood of many
generations and the struggles of many years, have
extorted from despotism and political hatred. Let
the Caroline and the State of New York, let Kosta
and the Cabinet of Washington, be remembered to
show how Americans would act in such a case.

NOVEMBER 18.

The National Intelliyencer, which is a journal of
respectability, entitled to consideration, contains an
article to-day which has been furnished by the State
Department, in reference to the seizure. It is fairly,
ably, and temperately written, but, unfortunately,
it is not applicable to the case at all. If the United
States admitted that the States in revolt against it
were a "belligerent" Power, and that Mr. Slidell
and Mr. Mason were " ambassadors" from that
Power in a neutral ship, the arguments of the writer
might find some support in the language he quotes
from Wheaton ; but the United States expressly
deny that the Southern States are a belligerent
Power, or that they have belligerent rights; nay,
get very angry with us for admitting them as
having belligerent rights to a certain extent;
threatened us with war, and now treat Messrs.
Slidell and Mason not as "ambassadors," but as
rebels. But it is very doubtful, indeed, that
Wheaton's words apply to the case of "ambassa-
dors" travelling as ordinary passengers in a ship
belonging to a neutral Power engaged in the car-
riage of mails and passengers ; the context would
rather imply that this portion of his remarks re-
ferred to the case of a belligerent Power hiring or
employing a vessel to carry ambassadors or contra-
band of war.

TUESDAY, Nov. 19.

Up to this date Lord Lyons has received no com
munication from the State Department in reference
to the arrests of the " Confederate Ambassadors," as
we must now call them. Indeed,the correspondence
will probably be opened by communications from
London, as Mr. Seward may not feel inclined to
broach the subject. The agitation created by the
event has not subsided,and I am satisfied that there
is much secret apprehension of a serious breach
with England in consequence of the seizure, not-
withstanding the assumption of perfect ease,
founded on legality and right, which is made for
external use. There is popular passion and ven-
geance to be gratified by the capturing and punish-
ment of Mr. Mason and Mr. Slidell, and I believe
the Government will retain them at all risks, be-
cause it dare not give them up, not being strong
enough to do what is right in the face of popular
sentiment. Mr. Lincoln and Mr. Seward—the mem-
bers of the Cabinet generally must feel a certain
personal satisfaction in having these gentlemen in
in custody, whom they can scarcely be induced to
part with on easy terms. The national prejudices
of the two empires will be appealed to and aroused
by this act more forcibly than by anything which
could have occurred short of the seizure having been
effected by force on board of a British man-of-war.
The mob here are at once rendered aggressive and
insolent. They say the prisoners must not be given
up. What the English people will say in the matter
we do not know, and it would ill become any one
by word or deed at this moment to intensify the
passions which will no doubt be aroused angrily
and furiously enough when the news reaches Eng-
land. I was much struck with the deep spirit of
animosity displayed by some friends of mine, for
whom I entertain a great respect, in speaking of
the probable action of Great Britain :—" If we are
forced now, in our hour of weakness, to give up
Slidell and Mason, I trust to God that every man
in America will make a solemn resolve to
let England feel the force of our resentment
and an undying revenge when next she is in-
volved in any difficulty." One of the gentlemen I
allude to is a naval officer of high distinction, well
known to all of us in England, and he, no doubt,
spoke in the bitterness of knowing that the United
States could not pretend to offer any resistance to
the naval forces of Great Britain. He was moved
probably rather by the importance of getting hold
of the prisoners than by the mode in which they
were taken, the latter being as now to him as it must
be to every naval officer.
The Prince de Joinville speaks of the transaction
with the profoundest regret, and evidently regards
it as inexcusable, and the Orloanist princes share
the sentiments of their uncle. In the Cabinet there
is division, it is said, of opinion in reference to the
course to be pursued. The President, Mr. Blair, and
Mr. Chase arc said to be in favour of giving the cap-
tives up. Mr. Seward and others are believed to
resist this, and to sustain the capture. Major-Gen.
M'Clellan is easier in his mind now that the law has
been laid down to him, but regular officers of expe-
rience in the army and navy view the pleas in justi-
fication, and the cases in point, if any, with great
suspicion. It is to them as if an officer who should
seize M. Kossuth in his London villa by order of the
Emperor of Austria were defended by a long legal
argument to show that he was quite right, or as if
any other violation of accepted principle were to be
vindicated by lawbooks and the authority of prece.
dents. "The only thing that could have settled this
matter properly," said an eminent person to me yes.
terday, " would have been the instant release of
Messrs. Slidell and Mason, with an ample apology,
and the dismissal of Captain Wilkes. But the Go-
vernment of the United States dared not do so."
When I called at the State department yesterday
I found Mr. Seward was detained in his house by a
severe cold caught on la::s trip to Annapolis on Sa-
turday, which may account for his silence, though
I believe the Secretary of State will not make a
sign till he is addressed on the subject. Cap-
tain Wilkes is already the subject of biogra-
phies, and of demands for photographs and
autographs. He acted without instructions—so it
may be inferred from his words when he landed at
Fortress Monroe, for he expressed apprehensions of
being cashiered. In the camps, among the common
soldiers, there is a feeling of pleasure, as I am as-
sured, at the seizure; but many of these men have
been taught to believe that this campaign was but
a training for a great war with England. The re-
view which is to take place to-morrow will not
diminish the arrogance of the anti-British senti-
ment in the ranks. General M‘Do well has made
his arrangements for the march and concentration
of seven divisions of the army of the Potomac,
which will be reviewed by the General, by the
President and his Ministers, and by the diplomatic
persons who feel inclined to go, as well as by a
crowd of strangers and residents in the city, to
whom passes will be freely distributed for the day.
It is supposed upwards of 65,000 men and 200 guns
will be on the ground near Baylcy's Cross-roads
(marked on the maps near Arlington, and beyond
Fort Corcoran), massed together in columns—a
sight such as has never been seen in the United
States of America before, and which it might do
some of our English-America maniacs treat good to
gaze upon. Whether Mr, Chase will regard it
with particular pleasure is doubtful—he knows
what it costs. There are at this moment 600,000
men in the service of the United States, who, if not
soldiers in its beat sense, arc certainly drawing pay
at the rate of nearly £6O per annum, with rations,
clothing, &c., taking the pay at that of privates
alone. There are upwards of 600 pieces of artil-
lery in the field, which costs something also. As to
Generals, brigadiers, officers of rank, and the like,
their powers of drawing pay are beyond the concep-
tion a us poor Europeans, and show how much

more valuable or expensive a fighting American
citizen is than your ordinary Old World warrior.
" Make war as dear as possible," say some people,
"and it will cease." But here it is rendered prodi-
giously expensive, and does not cease. There has
been nothing of moment to chronicle lately. In Nis-
scuri there are the usual mysterious movements.
Price has retreated from Hunter, and Hunter
has retreated from Price ; and so matters will set-
tle down with the troops in winter quarters very
quietly, the,Confederates taking up their residence
in Arkansas and the Federalists remaining masters
of the principal strategic posts in the ill-fated State
which has been laid desolate by the contending
guerillas. St.. Louis will be once more the head-
quarters of General Hunter, who has repudiated
the agreement or treaty entered into by his prede-
cessor General Fremont with General Price. Ter
quaterque in felix Fremont ! His officers dismissed,
his reputation assailed, himself deposed, his treaties
repudiated. And this is he who ran high for Pre-
sident! In Kentucky, it appears, that some one
blew the sailor general's trumpet a little too loud
and too long. The new Nelson has not quite
equalled Samson or Leonides in the number of his
slain, or in the force of his resistance to the enor-
mous masses of the enemy. Several ciphers must
be struck off everything killed or wounded or miss-
ing or taken; and then there is scarcely a battle or
a general at all. But what there certainly is in
Kentucky just now is a large Confederate army
under the best general in the Confederate army for
this kind of war,—Sidney Johnston, who with
40,000 men is threatening an advance on Cincinnati
or Louisville, and has forced the Federalists to
break up their camp and retire by forced marches
to Darville, the Tennessee troops in the United
States service becoming mutinous and absolutely
refusing to turn their hacks on their own frontier.