ENGLAND.

Southland Times, Volume III, Issue 22, 28 December 1863, Page 3

ENGLAND.

(VEOX OVft OWN COBBBBFOICDENT.) LONDON. : 24th October, 1863. A visible improvement has taken.. place within the last few days in the gaiety of the metropolis. Sojourners at the sea-side, and ramblers from Highland or Continental tours return to town and settle down to work or amusement as their fate may be. The residence of the Prince and *fftrincess of Wales in Marlborough-house, sensibly fill* up tuo blank occasioned by the lengthened retirement of the Queen, and the winter promises fairly to be a success to West End tradesmen, who have been grumbling awfully at the want of business and aristocratic patronage. An augury of better times has been the public appearance of Her Majesty, at Aberdeen, at the inauguration of Marochetti's statue of Prince Albert, and tbe unveiling of which was witnessed by the Queen with very visible emotion. This occurrence bespeaks a resolution to overcome the grief for Prince Albert's death, and the "Thunderer," of course, has seized hold of the event to preach a homily to Her Majesty, as it has before done, upon the enjoyments of public life. It may be worthy of mention that the Queen's feeling evinced at the Aberdeen ceremonial, could hardly be caused by . any sympathy with the artistic beauty of the brazen effigy. The statue is pronounced, even by Aberdeen journals, to be execrable. The Prince is represented in a stately uniform, over which is thrown a regal cloak and suitable insignia, with tho effect of bearing nothing of the Prince's presence save tho face, which is pronounced a very questionable likeness. In connection with the Queen's residence at Balmoral, it will interest your readers to learn that the royal residence in the Highlands is not altogether free from the accidents by flood and fiold which beset ordinary mortals. Her Majesty in a recent drive over some of the hill roads in the neighbourhood of the Palace was upset through the stupidity of her coachman. The royal carriage contained, besides the Queen-, the Princess Alice of Hesse and the Princess Helena, all of whom along with Her Majesty made a most undignified exit from the royal conveyance. The Queen was slightly hurt, but not so much so as to prevent her riding home upon a hill pony, which was at hand, and which was speedily brouijht np by a watchful gillieThis fortunate Celt has in consequence of his devoffon been rewarded with a costly watch, bestowed by tbe royal hand, and which will no Woubt be handed flown in " Donald V family ns tin heirloom for many a generation. Tue Cr"-wn Princess of Prussia and her family still remain at Balmoral, and possibly may return with Her Majesty to Windsor. Tue King of Greece, who has been visiting his sister tho Princess of VVales did not go to Balmoral to sco bis alleged affiances' the Princess Helena— the Queen of the Hellenes to be — out has crossed the channel to make tbe acquaintance of his powerful protector the Emperor Napoleon, and who, of course, has taken good opportunity to caution the young Prince from fatally committing himself either to the Czar or to Her Majesty of England. Tiie young King is tall and dark, and promises intellectual qualities which may well fit him for his onerous irust. While the Emperor Napo'eon has been felhig King George, the Queen of Spain has been showering honors upon her guest the Empress Eugenie — a liege subject of Spain, and the most illustrious of her daughters. Th" Queen and the Empress are both demented about tho P.jpe, and out of their meeting the Holy Fat per will no doubt derive sorao comfort. Great njoieings are ' Ving held at Lisbon over the birth and baptism ' of an heir to tho throne. Queen Maria, in her ! sixteenth year, seems to have won the affections of her people, and her Father, Victor Emmanuel, dees his best to impress upon the Portuguese the '- importance of his friendship. An Italian fleet has been sent to the Tagus, and the f.ieadly natur" of the visit wears likewise a political aspect of su/fiVienfc importance The Polish rpwlt is still casting its blackening shadows across Europe, and creates fpars that the early spring wi'vl witness ' another European war. That Russia niepives lor war is understood by many sijrns. Tbe Czar is building a fi>et of gunboats for shallow waters, arid is strengthening CronsUdt in case it becomes another Suiuter. It is reported that the American shipbuilders, like onr own Liverpool speculators, are preparing to build such veisels as the Czar may want; and in proof of the close alliance that exists between Russia and America, n Russian fleet is to winter in the harbor of New York, and another, it is reported, in San Francisco, prepared for any emergency the spring may bring forth, and before "Russian cruisers could escape from the ice of tbe Baltic. A treaty of the closest kind is allejed to bave been entered into between Russia and the Federal Government, and it seems not nnlikelv that, in the event of a war with Russia, the Federals ■ may assail France iv Mexico, or wherever a safe stroke may be directed. The London Times and ts Tory coadjutors have done their utmost to spread dislike and bitter hatred between our own Government and the Washington Cabinet, and if we fiud the Federals ranked against us in the approaching melee, -we shall at least have the grim satisfaction of knowing who we have to thank for the disaster. Nothing has shown so clearly as the "j 4 aerican conflict what tremendous resources the Federal President may wield for good or for evil, ! and the loudest of our own boa.ters begin to confess that behind Yankee bunkum Eus a mi^ht which may well appal us. ° The gallant Poles continue tho strangle with undimiuished courage. Band after band We Austrian Poland, cross tho Vistula, and plunge into the fastnesses of tho revoited provinces, either to be massacred by overwhelming numbers or return famished and disabled after inflicting the sorest injuries on their implacable enemies. The reported conflicts unfortunately show what havoc is made among the patriot bands; and with the approach of winter the roving columns must disperse in search of shelter. While the struggle thus dies out, the Satraps of the Czar continue the work of hanging and shooting without remorse. A catalogue of recent atrocities would occupy too much space, and I .cannot enter upon them. ' The reply of the Poles is to sell even their jewels, and contri- j bute everything they possess to the national cause. The Times correspondent alleges that the Poles of Gallacia alone withdrew their support, but this rumour has at least a suspicious source. Tne threat of the German Confederation to carry out in Schleswig Holstein what is called " Federal Execution," is looked on. with great alarm since Denmark will hold this movement to be a casus 'belli. The certain support of France and England gives the Danish Government reliance upon its own limited Tescrurces, but which a treaty with Sweden has recently considerably enlargpd. In a speech delivered at Blairgowrie by Earl Russell, at the end of last month, the Foreign Secretary spoke strongly upon the Polish and American questions. He said that Russia, by her conduct, had forfeited hpr claims to Poland, which strong statement has been well received by the liberal press of Europe. Earl Russell declared that the ironclad Confederate rams building in the Mersey, were, to all intents and purposes, vessels built for .fighting, and *s such could not be allowed to escape Tbe Government immediately afterwards laid the frigate Liverpool alongside of one of the rams ready for sea, and a further precaution has since been taken by putting a guard of marines aboard the suspected; ship. Great precautions have been taken to hide the destination of the rams, but since their seizure the Richmond papers have been letting the cat out of the bag by denouncing our own Government for its alleged poltroonery in submitting to Federal intimidation. In proof of the rabid and malignant character of the Confederate views upon slavery, it is said that Mr Spence, of Liverpool, who has flourished bo long in the London Times as a mouthpiece of Southern brag, has been superseded as financial agent of the Confederacy, because he has flinched from defending slavery before the English public. { If this be true, it gives a curious complexion to that Southern "chivalry" our own commercial nigger-drivers have so persistently lauded as the embodiment of all that is noble and pure. Mr Beresford He pc has been delighting Confederate sympathisers in Liverpool, by saying at a public gathering that the slaves in the South were as happy as any peasantry in the world — went to Church, obeyed their masters, and werealtogether, the model bondsmen an ignorant and brutal aristocrat would desire to rule over. It does fieem strange in our day that sentiments such as those ejnresjied by Mr Beresford Hope, should find BU

echo among Englishmen; but I painfully record the fact that they did so. The Reverend Henry Ward Beecher has been delivering a series of orations at Manchester, Glasgow, Edinburgh, and London, on the Federal views of the American conflict. Mr Beecher is brother to Mrs Beecher Stow, and possesses much of her peculiar ability. He is a good partisan — too much so — a mo 4 eloquent and ready speaker, and has that commanding and sonorous voice which always seems to speak with authority. At Glasgow, he delivered a sp-.-ech in the Cobden Hotel, Argyle Street, at a breakfast given him, and in which he used rather violent language. He declared that his whole desire was to send slavery and its attendant horrors 'to hell," which form of phrase the Confederate sympathisers in Glasgow and elsewhere took sudden hold of> He afterwards delivered a more temperate speech in Glasgow, levelled at the slavery proclivities of the " unco quid " of that pious town, which was complacently listened to by some 3000 people. In Exoter Hall he has given another oration, filling six or seven columns of some of the London papers, in which he denounces slavery in the most bitter language, and shows in no uncertain light, that tbe Southern rebellion was ; mainly undertaken for the conservation of the abominable system. Twice aa many people as those who crowded the hall were turned away from the doors, and the speaker only reached the plat* form -after a posse of police had forced a passage for him. That his audience was so far a representation of the populace is shown by the numbers who sought admission, and that Beecher succeeded in appealing to the reason of those present, is shown by the universal acclamation with which his statements were received. Passing from the advocacy of words to the sharper arguments which the bayonet and the bullet enforce, the progress of the Transatlantic conflict dops not make rapid strides. From yaur New York correspondence you will have more recent intelligence than I can glean, but a short review of our latest news may not be out 0 f placo. On the 19th and 20th September, a terrific series of tattles was fought to the south-east of Chatanooga, in Eastern Tennessee, between the forces of the South, under Bragg, Johnston, and Longstreet, and the Federal army, under Rosencranz. The Confederates, reinforced by troops from all quarters, and by 20,000 Virginian veterans, under Longstreet, suddenly fell upon tbe scattered columns of Hosencranz, and after a terrific day's fighting, were repulsed. Oj the 20th, ths Confederates had more success, and with the aid of reinforcements drove the Federals back to Chatanooga. Tl»e Federals lost from IGjOOO to 12,000 in killed, wounded, and missing; and the Confederates must have lost even more severely since they were the attacking party, although they confine their esti* mated casualties to 5000 men. Rosencranz has entrenched himscll in an impregnable position : and since the Confederates have not recovered Cuatanoo^a, Riehmon I journals confess that the victory of Bragsje has been valueless. Gilmore prepares his batteries for setting fire to Charleston, and ' Mcado ami Lee coquet with each other on the liapidam, both unwilling to hazard a final or decisive move. Our own political atmosphere continues particularly placid. A r> cent buslines scene at Tamworth, in which Sir Robert Peel cut a prominent and ludicrous figure, has somewhat broken in upon the calm, and given rise to rumors that the Government wish to get quit of the eccentric Irish Secretary. Tiie Dublin Protestant papers are in great alarm at the threat, and urge that there never was an Irish Secretary so popular as the "droll " who has given rise to so much Irish iuir ! h, and whose rollicking humor smacks so strongly of Donnybvook itself. Mr Collier has been telling ihe elector of Plymouth hiw thoroughly he appreciates Earl Russell's views of neutrality in the American difficulty ; and Mr Koundell Palmer iias been discoursing at Richmond on the necessity of detaining the Mersey rams- Mr Lloyd, the Tjltra-Liberal candidate for Bdrnstaplc, was elected en Tuesday lasr. ; In the metropolis amusements are rather dull at present, but the theatres are busily preparing for sensational triumphs. Miss Louisa Pyne has brought out Wallace's " Desert Flower " atCovent Garden, and meets with moderate success. Edmund Falconer, or " Peep-o'-day " Falconer, as he is Commonly known, has brought out Byron's "Mmfred," with, a heavy cast of "mortals" and spirits, and has added to" the resources of a sensational drama by panoramic scenes from the Alps, exceeding in effect and beauty anything yet al tempted on the stage. In tbe course of a month the season will bo further advanced, and a better opportunity be obtained for reporting progress.