ENGLAND.

Southland Times, Volume III, Issue 46, 22 February 1864, Page 5 (Supplement)

ENGLAND.

:v.(Fubsrp^.,.o^ „. jjAQsAnQis, a ' . - 85th Peooinbor, 18G3. The event of. ths. month. ; has been he great' "'will " between /Wile English Jiftttipiou, Tom King, and the Yankee tampion, Heenan; who, it willbe: rojgmbered, sustained a doubtful defeat j the hands' of Tom Sayers. Tho ; to db fbu&his fb^^lOOb asiae,| ; I^Qtofietf ', 6f ' 'tlie qoinbatwitsT thia $$y spirit stirred upland a const jabimt "orintelf-na^ioiiai'ibelm^, all p-ied to surround tne of ent with' ah unußuul degree. -, of - excitement. The jlfltpopplitan' ;" i ? ane)-y " which .of w O6 *• includes the aristocratic swells from the west end " gents " from the pity*, and a motley gathering of blackguards fromvall ih-3 eastern purlieus,jjr the last few" weeks before the fight, ff ere raised to feve* -heat, tlie jbpunding rumors spread in connexion. ■; sith tlie probable issue of the battle, latil the datest. moment „■ strong doubts entertained ; that* ithe fight ■ ffould prove, a hoax, a^d.fo.r nights before the day of contest our gin blaces, frequented ' by the fast' popuatiou interested, were the scenes- of ifierce debate. So. much doubt and uncertainty being about, the information obtained that one heavy bet *\vas anxiously talked '. over as an index of {he real intentions of 'the champions coming •to - the' 1 scratch. The ' ' * ring constables." and "other greatfunctionapes superintending the ■■ arrangements lipt these so secret that nothing was frown even of the place of meeting until the morning of the long looked for day on which the event was to be gelded. The result ' was that a very ;" select'" j company attended at the Bridge' station. at 4 o'clock on Thursday morning/the 10th inst., and jy ere conveyed by a- a train of thirty carriages to Wadhurst, in. Sussex, a locality somewhere ■- in ths * classic neighbourhood of; Tunbridge Wells. The company, no doubt, contained jnany notables, but. Mr. Moneton 3liles, now Lord Haughton, and other sporting aristocrats, do not appear on the present occasion-, to have patronised the exhibition; The ring having been made and the bull-headed fraternity who chiefly made up the company, having been accommodated with places, which less pugnacious neighbors were not inclined to dispute, the two* heroes made their appearance in the ring. Two more powerful and splendid-looking men were never matched in combat. Heenan, whose prowess, shown in the fight with Sayers, was, if anything, the favorite; about King, . considerable suspicion was felt. It was known by those who witnessed his recent fight witli .Jem Mace, that he was a. tremendous hitter, but sadly deficient in skill as a sparrer. . King, the English champion, was v originally a sailor;' -and kd been engaged about the London docks, where he earned a good character, and evinced none: of the blackguard traits believed to be peculiar to those wlio. practise- the " bruising " art. He was, t moreover, a good looking fellow, and had tod "'little of the ruffian about him' to look like the "coming man." ' Notwithstanding these disadvantages, some piit faith in him, -and among these was .Jem Mace,; his old antagonist, who figured as his principal backer on : the ' present occasion. King obtained as his seconds, ■Eoss Tyler, a rough aiid inconsiderate savage, and the' veteran Jerry Noon. Heeiian's old, foeman, Sayers, aud his jtrusty mentor, . Jack , -, Macdonald, attended the American. After some time spent in preliminaries, the fight begun at ten o'clock,. and l lasted about forty minutes. Heenan, who weighed, fourteen stone, -being' ■■ one stone heavier than his opponent, seemed determined to.*avail himself , of his weight , and strength in a way not usually 'practised in the prize ring. After some open "sparring" and "; exchanges," heenan rushed, in upon. King and threw ' him. - In the second round Heenan again hugged his antagonist and threw him heavily, but not before King had drawn the first blood from his opponents Notwithstanding the protest of the refereie, on the close of the first round, against Heenan's '.'hugs*" the American continued them,hi the first seven, rounds "throwing* Eng every time. In the eighth round King, however,- i threw .Heenan. In ninth, tenth, and , eleventh rounds,; King was thrown, but in the twelfthHeenan was again thrown: '- Several falls afterwards occurred, but iii the rounds that followed boxing was longer continued, and eventually played the important part it ought from the first io have done. In the fifteenth round Heenan struck a tremendous right hand knock-down blow, which, made Tom reel like a " drunken man," and raised a suspicion if -he would again come to the scratch. ; He did so .and watching his opportunity, struck Heenan a terrific blriw in> the mouth, which drew the, blood in a torrent, and nearly knocked the j American off his feet. , Bound followed after round till at the -twenty- j fifth round Heenan's second threw. up the " sponge," in token of- the defeat of the American, Avhose face, head-, and body presented a conglomeration of the most frightful bruises. The 'wound inflicted -by Sayers upon Heenan's upper-lip was re-opened, «nd the poor fellow's face presented a most ghastly spectacle. In contrast with this, Tom King was* but slightly parked, and the contusions on his |ace were limited to a marked " mouse" lender one of his eyes. Immediately, Pi recovering from his exhaustion l^-iug went over to the place Heenan *j a y in for the purpose of making fiends with Kirn, -an- amiable trait on

Nse^i3^ not^mupi [lapjSf^i^csdibyithe^ i " present, : who had become liis I sndden admirers^ Heenan was left iii tho custody of his friends, ;who had some difficulty in reviving him, and the multitude wholly alive to 'the merits of success * fblloweti ■' ■ King: Back to tendon. Heenan afterwards arrived in the 'metropolis, and was conveyed to a quiet l^dgin^ in the choice neighborhood of the, Haymarket, where the besfc professional advice was obtained <for the hero. Tom' King and "his i second, Bob ; -Tyler, ■■! have -been: making hay while the sun shines, by a nightly appearance at the Britannia Theatre, "where, of course*, King is aV*"star" of the first altitude -to eclipse whom Charles, Kean need b.e in jiio hurry . to return from the' Antipodes. The opinion in reference to the battle, and the .merits of ,'tbe .combatants^ appears to be that', while Heenan is possessed of extraordinary strength; he lacks,, endurance, audyds, by >aio< means -an - • accomplished boxer ; onj ithe. other,, hand, King is possessed < of the wiry frame of a Hercules; has great toughness' and firmness of fibre,. *and;>; unlike Heenan, suffers * little;' from -the hai*dest hits.' He has, moreover, a strength: of limb- and hardness of fist, which, enables him to give blows '-no* English boxer has ever surpassed, but, is lamentably deficient in skill, tact, and all the professional accesories which enabled Tom Sayers to hold at bay the gigantic American. Kin <* has none of • the professional vanity, or professional savagery which might prompt him to continue fighting, and it is not unlikely that, contented with his £2,000, he will retii-e into private life, and with his disappearance from the stage, a diminution of interest in the fighting business, which wiil eventually lead to the abolition of the prise-ring, and on matters connected with which I have, perhaps, too fully descanted. Passing from fisticuffs to 'the more important " science'" of war. Some experiments of extraordinary inroorfc have been tried during the month at Shoeburyness. The chief of these has , been the trial of " Big Will," a 500 pound shunt gun of Sir William Armstrong. This ponderous piece, loaded with a steel shell, weighing 610ibs., and- having a cast-iron head, and charged with 2 libs, of powder, four-fifths of the proper charge, was fired with a charge of 701bs_- of powder 'against an iron target, made an exact counterpart of the '" Warrior" or "Black Prince." The result of one shot, fired at one thousand yards,, showed that against such missies, the -ii-inch iron armour aud oak backing of the "Warrior." is no more protection than an egg-shell. The GlOlbs. shell passed clean thro ugh the -I'i-inch iron plate, smashed the leak inside into shreds like cocoa-nut fibre, and bursting on the skin of the target created havoc which, on board of "our iron clads would have been as terrible as any missie could have inflicted on a woolen vessel. A hole of two feet by twenty inches yawned in the four and a half inch-plate," and the plates around were bulged out and loosened so much thab tlie target was absolutely useless for further purposes. Nothing could show more conclusively, that if a vessel can be made sufficiently roomy to carry a couple of such guns, and of sufficient speed to overtake a sail round the " Warrior," that the gigantic sides of the latter would present a target no gunner could miss, and which the GO.Olbs. shot or shell of "Bi - Will" would tear up in a way fatal to the safety of the magnificent vessels which half a million has been. spent in making impregnable. Our model admiralty, however, appears -.- in no way alarmed at the expenditure incurred or the issue of the experiments made. It appears that Mr. Eeed, connected with the Navy Board, has constructed a target- which has been made a model for plating the Bel.erephon iron-clad now building. It would occupy too much space to detail, the construction of Mr. Heed's target : but satisfied with its efficiency it was subjected to nine shots, and proved anything but a successful model. The shots fired were similar to those fired at the Chalmers target, which pretty successfully resisted not nine, but twenty-nine missils hurled at it, and the adoption of which would have rendered the Belerephon somewhat safer than she promises to be. Mr. Chalmers, it will, however, be kept in view,' is not connected with the . Admiralty, and as a consequence Mr. Reed's useless plan must be adopted. The * mauling which the Yankee " monitors " have successfully withstood at Charleston, has pointedly proved, that nothing thinner than their 12-inch. iron barrels will resist heavy shot j but the genii, who preside ov.er bur own naval ■• affairs have not yet exhausted their license to bungle. Of domestic political movements not a murmur escapes. Messrs. Bright and Cobden have been protesting against the enslavement of our working class, and Mr. Layard has been | wielding. ,'* the fierce, democracy " of 1 Southwork so far for party purposes, as to. rebut rather unsuccessfully the assertions of the patriot, and his vFree Trade co-opera-tion. Mr. Layard further adverted at considerable length to the progress of affairs in China and Japan, making I altogether a most impotent defence of Admiral Kuper's - bombardment of Kagosima. The death of Lord Elgin., in India, has created a most painful impression, rendered the moro affecting to his many friends down in Fife, by forebodings uttered before his departure of the 'unlikelihood of his again ever seeing them/ * The .appointment of Sir John Lawrence, to the high post of G-oycrnor-

■ general of Edia, has given, rise to .?6n- ' %iderabl8 l 'satißiactiohj and is recognised as the dawn of. a tfew era, in which, men conversant with Indian affirms will be .chosenin preference for the government of onr Indian empire, a resolve which ':must 'profoundly stagger the •chief patrons of ; the ■' circumlocution office." „.,. . j. . , '..,.• ,;■*■■...; .; Connected with Indian matters, is the dreary Crawley court-martial. The evidence published in connection with the ease, has been r a daily^feature of our papers, but ..it has served little to clear up the difficulties; \vhich have = • surrounded tlie scandal.....;: Colonel ■ Crawley-, -it; was , .expected, would havo been! able to ymake a brilliant defence, bii'the failed lamentably, in excusing his conduct;- "He alleges that in ordering the arrest of Lilley, the SergeantMajor ofthe lniskillingDragoons, who died during - : his imprisonment, he simply performed a duty incumbent upon him as the commanding officer of Jthe Iniskilling regiment, which, it will -be remembered was quartered in India when* the occurrence happened for which , Colonel Crawley has been arraigned. It is alleged that the Sergeant was liable to congestion, and the Colonel asseats that was no reason for leniency. He assured the Court that it was. Adjutant Eitzsimon who had wantonly intruded upon and insulted Mrs. Lilley, the Sergeant's wife, and he further assured the Cotu't that Mr. Fortesciie, who had taken a prominent position in the matter, had been imposed upon. " A cloud of witnesses" testified to. the "gentlemanly" character of Colonel Crawley, and he himself talked a good deal of gammon about his own high toned chivalry. On the 18th. Sir A, Horsford replied for the prosecution, and taxed Colonel Crawley with confining Sergeant Lilley during a longer period than the articles of war permitted. He further charged him with presenting tlie Sergeant irom communicating with witnesses for his own defence, and asserted that an uncalled for severity was exercised in the manner Colonel Crawley carried out the close arrest of Sergeant Lilley, who was also prohibited from taking exercise necessary for his health. Colonel Crawley has beeu honorable acquitted ofthe charges made against liim, and which it now appears base needlessly involved the country in of some £50,000 or £GO,OOO expenses. The question of questions for the present, i* ihe threat of the German Federal Diet to carry' out what is called " Federal Execution " in the Danish Duchy of Holstein, the most southerly of the provinces iioav ruled over by the father of the Princess Alexandra. This "Federal Execution," appears to be the occupation of some portion of the Duchy with German troops, to the exclusion of the Danish troops, who have already evacuated Altona, across the Elbe, from Hamburg. The Prussian people are rather averse to the " Execution," which is being carried out in keeping with a majority of the votes oi' the petty sovereigns of Germany. Denmark, it is alleged, will make the Execution a cause of war, and as we must take a side, it seems probable that troubles may come out of this petty complication. The snows of winter already tell against the unfortunate insurgents iv Poland, who, however, struggle valiantly against their Muscovite tyrants, and have now some recent victories. During the French debate upon the address to be presented to Napoleon, some fierce speaking has taken place on the Polish question. The champions of liberty urge intervention at any cost, while government partisans allege the readiness of sacrificing France to a foreign " idea." The mistake of the Mexican war has even been openly quoted as a reason of abandoning the Poles, an unchivalric sentiment wholly unworthy of a congress of Frenchmen. The address has been voted in its entirely, and which proves that the liberal party, recenty strengthened by the elections, is either unable or unwilling to trammel Napoleon by an organised opposition, While European politics present no farther cause for anxiety than those referred to, American intelligence brings us. some hope of the struggle between North and South being brought to a close — not by the recognition of the Confederacy, but by the dispersion of the slaveholding faction, and the liberation of the Africans, an issue I should not imagine one solitary reader of the Invercargill Times will object tc. After a struggle of unequalled ferocity on both sides, the conviction is now dawning that Jeff. Davis and his compatriots or confederates, as the case may be, have woefully miscalculated their resources. The decadence of the Southern cause is marked by many unmistakeable signs amongst ourselves. The Confederate partisans have ceased to clamor over their successes, and the London Times, following its inevitable policy, has pleasant words for the winning side. The " Thunderer," which has so long jDroclaimed that the emancijiation of the negro had nothing to do with the conflict, proclaims, through its Federal correspondence", that slavery . is dead in the Border States, and that at least half a million of slaves have been liberated by Northern' intervention. The feeble and biassed letters of Dr. Mackay, written for the Times, from New York, no longer mislead public opinion. Signor Galenga, the" correspondent chosen to give a brighter hue to Federal prospects, speaks hopefully, of the progress "of the republican or anti T slavery party, and alleges, that the '•'Domestic Institution" has received its mortal blow. The grounds upon which Northern progress rests are readily recognisable in the present position of the contending parties. I

The, ALpfidmlfypies and other Southern advocate's, have conteiided that the tissue of the .conflict was. not to be settled in "Virginia, but rathe Western States, and especially in the stratagetic region around; Chatanooga. Guided by this assurance, it seems evident that the Confederates have irretriev- ! ably yielded up the groiind upon which [ their safety depended. The" 'battle of Chickamanga,- foiight within a few miles of Chatanooga, and which appeared to be, the prelude of a new career for the South, has been' followed by a second .battle .at Chatanooga, in 'whicli .■ (^eneral'.Grranti has inflicted a tremendous loss upon the -Confederates under Bragg. "Grant, in this latest battle, showed some of the same clever generalship which secured the fall of Vicksburg. After pressing the Confederate wings until Bragg weakened his centre of support his line of battle, Grant hurled two- columns against the Confederate centre with such vigor, that, after a desperate melee, the Confederates turned and fled in the wildest confusion, leaving sixtj^-two guns in the hands of the . Federals. Some, of the Confederate papers declare that it was only threo or four regiments which which .wero repulsed by the Federals, but the number of guns taken proves that the artillery of the main body alone had fallen into Grant's hands. Recent accounts disparage the magnitude of the victory, but its result has been to oblige Long-street to retreat from Knoxville in the Eastern Tennessee valley, where the Confederate General wfis beseiging General Burnside with a Federal army bf 30,000 men. To hasten Longstreet's retreat he had been heavily repulsed by Burnside and was threatened by a Federal force under Sherman, which separated him from Bragg, and which has obliged him to march north byway of Lynchburg, being unable to reach Lee, who lies in the neighbourhood of Gordonsvilte. The result of Longstreet's retreat is the abandonment of the Eastern Tennessee valley to the Federals, who will be enabled to turn the railway which runs throughout it to tlie same strategic purpose*- the Confederates havo. When it is possible to renew the conflict the Federals will seize Lynchburg, lying to the west of Richmond, and by a demonstration upon Lee's flank compel him to evacuate the Confederate capital. This retreat will enable the army of the Potomac to advance and oblige the Confederates to retire to the south. The combined armies now under Meade, Burnside and Grant will nearly treble the force under Lee and Bragg — or, rather. Toe Johnstone, who has supplemented Bragg, and the result of further campaigning may be prophesied without much further study than an elementary arithmetical calculation. From a consideration of the military aspects of the struggle it seems certain that the next spring or summer will close tlje conflict and emancipate the slaves, and if success is to be the only palliation of the Southern rebellion, its instigators will have •to answer for a frightful crime. An agreeable feature of American intelligence is the subsidence of the rancour felt against England. This happy feeling is no doubt due to the progressive strength of the republican and abolitionist party, aud the failing fortunes of the democratic or proslavery party, with whose odious opinions om- own shopocraey have shown so much sympathy. The messages of Presidents Lincoln and Davis have afforded opportunities for comments in our journals, which rather betray their party spirit than cast light upon the important documents. The Times has discovered that the message or President Lincoln is eminently cold-blooded, because no lamentation is made over the loss of life, and it prefers the more scholarly diction of President Davis to the' bold language of President Lin coin. Such puerile criticism serves no particular point except to mark the bias of the leading journal : but Avithout further remark upon the acceptance which the messages have had, I will leave their text for the discussion of your readers. The Scotia, has just arrived, after an unprecedented run of eight days. The only news of importance i« the reported repulse of Sherman -\\ vile pursuing Longstreet, who has made no stand. The IVew York Herald proposes General Grant for the Presidency.