The Express.
London, England, 1862-09-15 00:00:00

LONDON, MONDAY EVENING, SEPTEMBER 15, lb62.

AMERICA.

(now ous owx

BOSTON, San. 1.
The recent sanguinary battles are rapidly preci-
pitating events. An observer must be devoid of
sensibility and dead to the great struggles of
humanity who can gaze on the scenes here before
his own eyes with indifference. Issues are involved
in this controversy so far-reaching and important
that even an Englishman cannot be indifferent :
how much more must this be true of those who are

parties in the strife. Yesterday the community
awakened to a full perception of the fact that it
was engaged in an actual and bloody war. On
Saturday evening it was known that there bad

been incessanty fighting for two days. In
the meagreness of intelligence there was rea-
son for solicitude. It was certain that both armies

had suffered severely, so when early on the Sabbath
it was spread abroad that the government had made

a sudden all for surgeons, nurses, and hospital
stores, the city at once was all a-stir. Entire con-
gregations of worshippers arose as one man and left
the sanctuag to engage in the work of mercy.
More than a thousand women, as by magic, were
busy at Freniont Temple in making bandages and
preparing lint. As soon as it was known that this
place was engaged for the reception of hospital stores
there was a continuous procession of persons with all
the necessary supplies for the wounded. The stream
continued to pour in without cessation until dark.
In front of the express offices waggon after waggon
was loaded with boxes which had been promptly

packed and labelled, and driven with all possible
speed to the railway, so that in the Sunday evening
train one hundred tons of hospital stores were on

the way to Washington. In New York and Phila-
delphia the excitement was even greater than in
Boston, and to-day throughout New England women
and children in the farm houses are turning their
old cotton into bandages, and their cast-off linen
into lint. All through Sunday the entrances of the
telegraph and printing offices were 'thronged
by multitudes eager for intelligence from Wash-
ington. The telegrams came in morsels, but the
crumbs from the War Department were eagerly de-
voured. At the time of writing we have only im-
perfect and unreliable data from which to draw
conclusions. But while the community is in the
whirl of excitement, I will try to gather up a few
of the leading events and to interpret their mean-
ing. Let as take for our starting-point the move-
ment of the rebels on Manassas. This was on
Tuesday evening of last week. Instead of a raid,
it proved to be the advance of Jackson's entire
army. On Wednesday the fact was known by
Pope, who also learned that the division be had
ordered two days before to Marimbas was
not there. At once he broke camp and
rapidly marched his army in three culumns
from Warrenton and Warrenton Junction to
meet the enemy. At Kettle Run Hooker's divi-
sion came up with the rebel General Ewell, and
after a brief contest drove him back. The next
day (Thursday) hi`Dowell and Sigel came up in the
afternoon with the enemy, and engaged
in battle until dark, without any important
results on either side. But the stern
realities of war commenced on Friday at sun-
rise, and continued without cessation until dark.
The Federals in every ease were the attacking
party. General Pope calls this " a terrific battle,"
and says that at dark he occupied the ground and
drove the enemy from the field, but that his forces
were too exhausted to pursue the foe. hl'Dowell,
Heintzelman, and Sigel's corps were engaged
with the enemy, estimated at from 50,000 to 60,000.
The scene of this battle was a few miles north-west
of the site of the old Bull Run fight, and this
served to excite both sides with additional earnest-
ness. M'Dowell claims that the Federal forces
gained a decisive victory. But during the night
the rebels, instead of retreating, brought up large
reinforcements. It is stated that the entire rebel
army, under Lee, bad joined them. So on Satur-
day the Confederates, with superior numbers, at-
tacked Pope, and the battle raged even fiercer
than the day before. As Franklin and Sumner's
corps, whisk were the last to leave the pen-
insula, had not yet joined the Federal
army, Pope, at the close of the day,
was obliged to fall back on Centreville. From
the meagre and confused accounts received of the
two days' fight, it would seem that on Friday the
Federals got the advantage, while on Saturday the
fortune of war inclined in favour of the rebels.

Thus matters rested on Sunday. The loss on both
sides must have been fearful, as Pope telegraphed
at the close of Friday's battle that his killed and
wounded numbered eight thousand, while he judged
from the dead on the ground that of his enemy was
double. The position of the Federals is said to be
very strong, and the army has received powerful
reinforcements, including Franklin's and Sumner's
corps. It will be seen from this that the result of
the fighting up to this time is in no way decisive,
and it is evident the great battle of the
campaign is yet to be fought. Lee and Jackson
have now doubtless concentrated their entire avail-
able force. They are some distance from their base
of supplies, and must rely on what numbers they
already have. The Federal., on the other hand,
have powerful reserves. Burnside was at Frede-
ricksburg, and, if need be, can, by forced marches,
be hurried up. The greater part of Keye's corps
could in two or three days be transported from the
peninsula. Large bodies of troops are at the Relay
House or on the Upper Potomac, besides the troops
I.l4Clellan has near Washington. How far it will
be advisable to concentrate these various forces
General Halleck can determine ; the fact that
he can use them if the emergency demands
will put the reader in possession of the
situation of affairs. The combatants are, as
soldiers, so nearly a match for each other, that
success will depend on the skill and superiority of
numbers which either party can bring into the
field in the time of actual battle. On Sunday there
was little or no fighting. Probably neither aide
were in a condition to resume the strife. Unless
Lee and Jackson change their position, either by
falling hack or attempting some new manoeuvre,
fighting will soon be resumed.
What bearing have these events on the present
campaign 1 To answer this we must go back a little.
When General Hailed assumed the chief command,
he had &difficult problem to solve. What was he to do
with the army at Harrison Landing 1 It was not
sufficiently strong to advance. To attempt evacua-
tion with the view of beginning a new campaign
was extremely hazardous. To remain idle on the
banks of the James, with the danger of having its
communisations cut off or tied up there by &small force
—to leave the main Confederate army free to march
oa Washington—these were the three alternatives