The Express.
London, England, 1862-05-13 00:00:00

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LONDON, TUESDAY, MAY 13.

Tax recollection of the Tartar who announced
the fall of Sebastopol after the battle of the Alma
not unnaturally makes some people doubt the
news of the fall of New Orleans. But the canes
are not parallel. If the news which electrified
Europe in the autumn of 1854 had come, not from
the Allied Army, but from Moscow or Sebastopol,
and had afterwards turned out to be a gross
exaggeration—if, moreover, it had been conveyed
not by word of mouth, but in the columns of a
Russian journal, there would have been some
resemblance between that case and the cane which
has just occurred. Although the intelligence com-
municated by General Wow, to Washington was
brought by a fugitive slave, the intelligence was
contained in a printed newspaper published by the
friends of those who had suffered the disaster, and
this intelligence is neither confined to one journal,
nor does it seem to be discredited by those whose
strong interest it is to disbelieve it. It is certainly
the opinion of the Southerners that New Orleans
has fallen, and it is scarcely necessary to add that
the same opinion prevails both at New York and
at Washington. There seems to be no good rea-
son, therefore, to doubt the important fact which
has been announced.

The position of New Orleans, at the mouth of
the Mississippi, is readily explained. About 105
miles from the spot where this great river joins '
the ocean, and upon its left bank, stands the ci4
of New Orleans. On the north side of the city,
and at a distance of a few miles, lies the great
Pontchartrain Lake, which communicates at its
eastern aide with Lake Borgne and the ocean by a
passage which is guarded by Fort Pike. Along
the south and west of the lake, and between its
waters and the left bank of the Mississippi, runs
the Jackson Railroad towards the north. About
60 miles below New Orleans the river is guarded
by Fort Jackson on the right and Fort Philip on the
left bank. It thus appears that New Orleans may be
approached in three ways—by ascending the river
after forcing a passage through Forts Jackson and
Philip ; by a land march along the left bank of
the river ; and, thirdly, by forcing a passage by
Fort Pike into Lake Pontchartrain, and landing a
force to the west of the city, and therefore in its
rear. Under such circumstances the plan which
would promise moat success would be by combin-
ing an advance up the river and landing troops
in rear of the city. And this, in fact, seems to
have been the plan pursued by General BUTLER,
who commands the troops, and the officers in
command of the fleet. The number of the troops
employed does not appear, but they must have
amounted to several thousands. The fleet is said
to have consisted of 35 war vessels and 21
mortar boats. On the morning of the 24th
of April the Federals seem to have passed
Fort Jackson, and in the afternoon of
the same day they appear to have been
in practical possession of the city. In the mean-
time, however, Fort Pike had been /abandoned,
and probably the bulk of the troops under General
BurLza had penetrated into Lake Pontchartrain.
There is no account of the landing of the General ;
but rthere is little doubt that such an event
occurred, because it appears that the Confederate
General LOVELL ha.l retired with his men to Camp
Moore, which is about eighty miles north of New
Orleans, upon the Jackson Railway. This will no
doubt enable that officer to join the force under
BEAUREGARD at Corinth. But at the same time
New Orleans, taken in front and in rear, has very
naturally fallen into the hands of the Federalists. It
may be that if the citizens had been as vehement
Secessionists as those of Charleston they would
have offered a more obstinate resistance, even after
resistance was hopeless. It is well known that
before the beginning of the civil war there
was a large Union party in New Orleans ; and it
is not improbable that, the Federals and Union-
ists having now obtained the upper hand, they
will have little difficulty in maintaining their posi-
tion with the help of the fleet. The position oc-
cupied by BUTLER was very different indeed from
that occupied by General PAKENIL&M when he
was beaten back from the walls of New Orleans
by the Americans under General Jscitson some
seven and forty years ago. In those days the
British army approached the city after a dreary
and fatiguing march. No attempt was made to
take the city in rear. Gunboats were unknown,
and the wearied Englishmen were shattered
to pieces by the fire of sharpshooters from
behind cotton barricades, without the possi-
bility of their inflicting any damage upon the
enemy. Whether the Federalists have been aided
by their friends within the city or not, moat certain
it is that in this enterprise they have displayed
not only consummate skill as military strategists,
but admirable vigour and great power of organi-
zation. The wonder is that an army which has
only been created within the last twelve months,
should ha►e been able to execute so delicate an
operation. It was considered a great feat for the
two greatest Powers in Europe to land an army of
50,000 men on the Crimean coast, only a few
hundred miles from Varna. But what is this
compared with organizing a military and a naval
expedition more than a thousand miles from the
point of attack, and then succeeding at the first
blow in obtaining possession of a great city, for
preparing the defences of which neither time nor
skill was wanting?
-

But the importance of the capture of New
Orleans is not to be pleasured by the mere fact
that this great commercial emporium is in the
hands of the Federalist. Hitherto it has been
impossible for the Federalist to think of peace