THE Otago Daily Times. "Inveniam viam out Faciam." DUNEDIN, FRIDAY, JULY 21.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 1118, 21 July 1865, Page 4

THE Otago Daily Times. "Inveniam viam out Faciam." DUNEDIN, FRIDAY, JULY 21.

The American news, brought by the May mail, is the natural pequence of the last chapter to hand of the melancholy story

of the civil war. It remained no longer a matter of doubt that the back of the Secession cause has been broken, and that whatever new complications might arise out of the altered position in which the war had left the old Union, for the time at least the North was complete master of the situation, and entitled to all the honors and substantial advantages, as well a3 bound by all the solemn obligations, of a great victory. The details further to

Land, only ths more completely illustrate the utter prostration of energy and collapse of resources, on the part of the South, which preceded its final submission. In the earnestness and self-devotedness of its purpose, it had gone far heyond its strength. As in the case of a beleagured city, which, after long resistance, succumbs to its beseigers, the eye of the victor is often met by ghastly and revolting spectacles of starvation, so, now that the Confederacy has neither the power nor the motive any longer to maintain a false show to the world, a picture is revealed of destitution and suffering which bears terrible testimony to the horrors of civil war. "Such havoc and -want," says the telegram, " was never before witnessed in the world." And this 13 the present result of one of the most memorable and prolonged struggles ever waged in the history of nations by a patriotic people for their independence. The interest of the war itself is over. Texas alone persists in maintaining the struggle. But the reBistance of a single State will avail little against the forces which the Washington Government will now be able to concentrate against it.

In referring to this topic on the arrival of the last instalment of news, we took occasion to suggest, that now at least, if at no time during the actual conflict, the opportunity of intervention on the part of England and France bad arisen. Intervention, not indeed on the part of the South as a contending power, but on behalf of the Sece3sionists as a brave and honorable but prostrate people. The Northern armies and their generals have had sufficient cause to know that the enemy they have measured swords with have been foemen worthy of their steel. We find, indeed, that the great military leaders upon whom the tide of victory has so often been made t,fx roll back, have, treated the beaten armies of the South with the frank generosity of soldiers, and with that] high appreciation of noble

qualities which it has often been eaid is only possible to men who have fought with each other. Sherman, it is reported, offered terms so liberal to the brave foea who yielded to his arena, that they were " repudiated by the President." \

"The President!" Not Abraham Lincoln—who presided with consummate skill and rare success amidst most trying circumstances, over the war through its many varying phases, and of whose strong character, self-control, moderation in victory, and conciliatory disposition, were not less marked features than his inflexible determination in what he deemed the path of duty—but a man of a very different cast of mind, and a very different stamp of character. Mr Johnston was elected to the office of Vice-President without any ulterior view to the possible contingency of his elevation to the highest dignity of Jhief Magistrate of the Republic. At the termination of a presidency of four years, during which he had retained the confidence of the great mass of the people, Lincoln was re-elected with a national enthusiasm, the main inspiration of which seemed to be a desire that the man who had stemmed the torrent of war when at its highest, and battled bravely with evil times, should be the one to be crowned with laurel in the hour of triumph. The act of his party that included Johnston's name on the same ticket with his own, is under^t'iod to have been the suggestion of Lincoln himself—a suggestion made in the spirit of conciliation, Johnston b.ing a senator from the South, and tie only one, who had adhered to the Northtrflf cause. Had Lincoln survived, th^e is no doubt he would, have manifested a clemency and generosity in the hour of victory commensurate with the sternness of his resolve,1 * when the interests of the cause of which be was th|f head, dunanded determined measures. Johnston is a man of another spirit, and seems animated by a settled purpose of vengeance, against the leaders of what he calls the rebellion. Altogether he seems disposed to act as an arbitrary victor. Almost the firsl; acts by which ho signalised his reign, were the proclamation of a large reward for the capture of ex-President Davis, the repudiation of the " Liberal" terms offered to the enemy by General Sherman, and the avowal generally of "a policy " cruel" to the South. He has issued a proclamation for the capture of rebel cruisers, and announced his determination to refuse hospitality to the ijhips of neutral nations giving "refuge" in their ports to the Confederate ship 3. The war is " virtually over." How long will President Johnston consider himself entitled to wage hostilities against the scattered adherents of a cause which has already in the formal submission of its leaders succumbed to superior force of arms ? And how far will this new ruler of the destinies olthe States, be countenanced by either the public opinion of hi 3 own country, or by the tame acquiescence of Europe, in pursuing as " traitors" men who have been universally acknowledged by civilised nations as belligerents, having all the equal riahts of war with their antagonists ? "No " policy has yet been brought iorward as " to the future settlement of the Union." In no more ominous terms could the practical difficulty of the present situation be expressed.

Our late telegrams tell us that Mr Davis had been captured, and imprisoned in Fortress Monroe. No evidence had transpired to connect him with the plot for the dastardly assassination of Lincoln. His "fate" was however uncertain.

The items of domestic intelligence embraced in the telegram, are of only minor interest. The birth of a second son to the Prince and Princess of Wales, affords a customary occasion for congratulation amongst a people so generally loyal as the British. Tlie cessation of the American war appears to be already exercising a great influence upon the state and prospect of trade. The large importations of cotton aTe expected to give full activity to the mills, and to put an end to the still lingering remnants of the distress in Lancashire. The Queen held a Court at Buckingham Palace in May. Parliament was to be dissolved in July, and the country at large was preparing for a general election. .

New Zealand and Australian affairs generally have occupied some attention, both in and out of Parliament. The completion of the Atlantic Telegraph Cable is an important fact.