The Express.
London, England, 1865-03-04 00:00:00

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LONDON, SATURDAY, MARCH 4.

Gmviztai. SHERMAN is once more dazzling his
countrymen with the brilliancy of his success. For
a time, after it was known that his army had
broken IQ from Savannah to advance into
South Carolina, its progress was inexplicably
delayed. The Richmond journalists said that
SHERMAN would find campaigning in South Caro
lina • different thing from promenading through
Georgia, and they were right. The left wing
of his army, which, es we now know, was to
march through the middle district of the State,
and take its capital, had a task of no common
difficulty before it. In its advance from Savannah
to Sister's Ferry, and thence along the Savannah
River, and through the districts of Beaufort,
Colleton, and Barnwell, it was engaged in
• perpetual struggle with nature. The sol-
diers bad to build corduroy roads and
trued bridges for miles through the swamps,
working by sunlighti and torch-light, up to
their hips, and sometimes to their shoulders, in
water. . Such were the exertions by which the
veterans of the West strove to get an opportunity
of meeting the enemy. Once across the Edisto,
however, the left wing was on high ground, and in
a rich, fertile country, abounding with supplies,
and provided with good roads, and the celerity and
vigour of SHERMAN became as conspicuous as his
former tenacity and patience. It was on the 4th of
January that that officer crossed the Salkehatchie
river, outflanking the Confederates opposed to him,
and compelling them to fall back on Branchville.
On the Bth he struck the South Carolina railroad
at Grahanisville, 18 miles west of Branchville; and on
the 12th he crossed the South Edisto, flanking that
important town. It was now that, according to the
Richmond papers, the struggle for South Carolina
was to commence. SHERMAN was to find Bnau-
BEpARD a " lion in his path." " SHILILILAN," said
the Richmond Examine:, " is only now beginning
" to enter upon the difficult part of his enterprise,
" and his invincible army is about to be tested.
" We know it can march incredible distances and
" steal much, but now it will have to fight a
" little." General BRAUREGARD, however, who

has not the military faults of General HOOD, did
not judge that the time for fighting had
come ; while Samsun's movements were
marked by great rapidity and decision. On
the 13th SHERMAN took Orangeburg, seventeen
miles from Branchville, the Confederates falling
back without fighting. It was then said they
were going to defend the line of the Santee. That
line, however, was passed by SHERMAN without
difficulty, BEAUZZOARD having fallen back upon
Columbia, on the Congaree. Samsun ap•
peered before the place on the 16th, and threw
some shells into it. In the night he moved his
troop. up the west bank of the river and crossed
over, and again BEAVREGARD fell back, yielding
possession of the State-capital of South
Carolina without striking a blow. Thus
in five days SHERMAN had advanced
from Branchville to Columbia, a distance of 68
miles, with HIAIIRLOARD continually in his front.
This time there was nothing published at Rich-
mond about the masterly policy of "drawing
" SHERMAN away from his base." The Carolinas are
too near Virginia for trifling even on paper.
In the conduct of SHERMAN'S army—that army
of " discipline and action," as a Carolina journal
has styled it—nothing is more striking than the
admirable co-ordination of the movements of its
several parts. When the left wing was taking Co-
lumbia the right was near Charleston, separated
from it by a distance of 128 miles, the swampy
nature of the intervening country making direct in-
tercommunication utterly impossible. Nevertheless
all its operations were so oonducted uto take ad-
vantage of the opportunities created by the suc-
cesses gained in the middle districts of the State.
Early in January transports had ascended the North
Edisto River, and the troops, crossing to the

mainland, secured a position CO the railroad, keen
which they could move upon the flank of the
city, still maintaining *sir estemunicalian with
the sea. On the 15th of January a further force
was thrown upon James's Island, and Admiral
Daux.ow received an aoccesion to his fleet. The
Confederate commander, however, did not wait to
be attacked. It was evident that if BRAUREGARD
could not prevent SHERMAN'S northward advance,
Charleston must be evacuated while there was
still a way of escape for its garrison. The Con-
federate forces left the town the day after the re-
treat from Columbia ; and all the fortifications and
defences in the front and rear of the city, in-
eluding the famous Fort Sumter, passed into the
possession of the national army. The Southern
troops before leaving the city set it on fire, and a
very large portion is destroyed. They also caused
an explosion in one of their depots, by which seve-
ral hundreds of the citizens had been killed. Thus
angrily departed the cruel spirit of Secession from
the city where, four years ago, its advent was cele-
brated by hurzsa and ringing of bells.
It will be very interesting to learn, when
the details of Summuczies march arrive, what
effect the presence of his army has had in a State
where slavery has attained a growth unequalled
in any part of the Union. When the official
census was taken in 1860, there were more slaves
Ithan freemen in South Carolina, the numbers
being respectively 407,185 and 308,186. The
liberation of the negroes will take the weft
out of the existing fabric of society,

and prepare for it; reconstruction with
elements wholly sound and free. At this serious
moment, when Mr. Barcrawur and General Las
declare that the Confederacy can only be saved by
the aid of the long-despised negro, the Charleston
Mercury denounces the freeing of slsves, and bas
the courage to declare that South Carolina entered
the struggle solely to maintain slavery, and that
" Southern independence and slavery must
" stand or fall together." SHERMAN will
probably advance now to Wilmington. General
SCOFIELD and Admiral Pumas have taken Fort
Anderson, which covers that town, and its reduo-
tion seems imminent. General BEAUREGARD will
profit by the junction which he will now effect with
the troops from Charleston, but these, if unaided by
others detached from LEE, will not enable him to
prevent or delay the advance of his enemy.