The Express.
London, England, 1861-11-25 00:00:00

AMERICA.

ARRIVAL OF THE EUROPA.

GREAT SUCCESS OF THE FEDERAL
EXPEDITION.
LIVERPOOL, SUNDAY.

The Royal Mail steamship Europa, Captain
Anderson, which left Boston on the 13th and
Halifax on the morning Of the 15th, reached the
Mersey at noon to-day.
A Montreal telegram of the 12th instant an-
nounces the arrival at Quebec of the brig Deshler,
Captain Mann, from Liverpool, having on board
seventeen of the crew and one passenger picked up
with the missing boat from the North Briton. All
the passengers and crew are therefore accounted
for.

The Philadelphia Inquirer has the following from
Fortress Monroe, derived from rebel sources :
la anticipation of the arrival of the great expedition the
rebels have been engaged in erecting butteries upon a point
at Hilton-bead, near Beaufort, nod opposite the neck of
land.
The principal fortifications on Hilton Head was de-
nominated Fort Walker, and situated on low land and
partially concealed by trees and underbush. Adjoin-
ing it were other batteries of smaller sire, but
so connected as to prove a formidable bar to
the entran:e of vessels. Fort Beaufort was of
oonsiderable importance, having been mounted with heavy
guns. The garrisons are supposed to have been South
Carolina regiments, assisted by additional regiments which
were sent from Richmond.

The batteries at Bay Point, opposite Hilton Head, were
squally as formidable. Inside of Port Royal entrance and
behind the batteries lay the Best of Commodore Tatted',
which .consisted of small vessels, carrying a few heavy
guns, but principally light ones. Tugs constituted a great
portion of the fleet.
Many of these remained outside the mouth of the en.
trance until the arrival of our fleet, when they formed in
miniature line of battle is the position already stated, be-
hind the guns of their own forts, and across the entrance.
On the morning of Thursday last the United States fleet,
consisting of 42 vessels, headed by the flag ship, approached
the mouth of Port Royal entrance. This was at half-past
9 o'clock. Several of the transports remained off the coast.
The approach of the fleet created a great stir in the rebel
batteries.

Upon arriving at a suitable position, the guns of the fleet
opened a continuous lire upon Forte Walker and Bosuns-
gird, as well as those upon Bay Point. Under cover of this
fire an effort was made to run the gauntlet of the batteries
with very trifling injuries. At least fifteen of them sue•
*sided in passing up the entrance, beyond the reach of the
land batteries.

As the Union fleet sailed upi the mosquito fleet of Oom•
modoreTatnall opened fire, bat seeing the impossibility of
making any resistance, soon dispersed, and some were forced
to ran on shore, while others were driven almost out of sight.

Commodore TatnalL went on shore with his men to assist
in working the batteries and use them against the vessels of
the Union fleet, which were endeavouring to follow the ad-
vance Union force.
The passage of the fleet through the channel was not ac-
complished until the firing bad continued from half-pest
nine o'clock in the morning to nearly 5 o'clock in the
evening.
During the fight one of the Union gunboats is believed to
have been burned, and three steamers disabled.
It is acknowledged by the enemy that they had twenty
men killed in Fort Walker; but is impossible to state what
their loss was at the other batteries, although doubtless
peat, as our fire is mentioned as having Leen very effective,
the guns being well aimed and of heavy calibre.
No sooner did our vessels go past the batteries at Port
Royal entrance, and slide into what is termed Broad River,
than they made for the mouths of the inlet leading to
Beaufort, Savannah, and Charleston. Those they imme-
diately blockaded, although not in time to prevent the
escape of some small rebel vessels.
Not, one of the Federal vessels was sunk, and the only one
believed to have been destroyed by the fire was the gunboat
referred to above.

The burning of this is described as being • gmnl spec-
tacle, the guns going off as the flames reached them, and
throwing the shell far into the woods on shore. The crew
ass said to have passed through • murderous fire to another
vowel, but they escaped with very little, if say, loss.
- . . . . .

The Federal vessels acted under special instructions in
at once blockading the inlets which lead to most im-
portant points and which afforded loopholes of escape to
the enemy. While ► portion of the fleet, however, entered
ape this duty, four ships made at once for Beaufort, and
at 1 o'clock, on Thursday, these vessels were in sight of the
tows.

A despatch, dated Beaufort, Nov. T, to the Charleston
Meru ry. says that at the time designated the UlllOO forces
wore preparing to effect a landing, evidently with the de-
sign of throwing up entrenchments and attacking the town.
We have no mean of knowing the exact has of the
Union furore, but the rebels confess that their own firing
was very bad, and their artillerymen badly in want of peso•
taco. They declare, moreover, that the guns in the forts
were not properly mounted.

When Commodore Tatnall went to assist the men in the
fort, he found that many of their cani.on were actually dis-
mounted by their own rebound.
To this fault the rebel journals attribute their defeat, and
badly call upon the Confederate government to find out
where thy blame rests.

The New York Herald gives the following sum-
mary of the position of affairs up to the morning
of the 12th inst :

From various sources the news of the capture of Beau-
fort by our great naval expedition is continued, although
no official news of the event ham yet reached the government
by the special despatch boat. From Hatteras Fortress,
Monroe, Norfolk, end even from the distant western point
of Memphis, Tennessee, the intelligence reaches us that the
lauding of our troops and the capture of the bat-
teries and town of Beaufort have been successfully
accomplished. While the arrival of some boat
from the squadron was anxiously expected at Washington,
her non-arrival was accounted for by the fact that General
Sherman would probably not forward any offici►l report to
the government until the whole object of the expedition
had beau accomplished. However, it may be that a boat
would arrive at any moment with the desired intelligence.
Several exaggerated reports have been circulated from
Fortress Monroe, among them that two fishing smacks,
which bad taken shelter under the guns of the Cumberland,
reported that they had been &hies in the James River,
supplying fish to the rebels, and that when they left the
report was current that Charleston bad been attacked by
the anion force., and that on Friday last the peninsula
between the James sod York rivers had been wholly alien.
doned, and the rebel troops occupying that poet had been
sent south. It may be that wine portion of the troops
were withdrawn, but we do doubt, that this penis-
es* forming as it does the rued to Richmond, has
been abandoned by the rebels. With regard to the attack
on Charleston, it is highly improbable that General Sher-
man would leave his base of operations at Port It.iyal
Island exposed to attack by such a movement, as he has
sot sufficient force to accomplish the capture of Charleston,
and preserve the safe occupation of his present positiou
at Beaufort. Nor is it ►t all likely that an at-
tack on Charleston, or any other large city, was
contemplated by the expedition, considering that their
landing point is some sixty or seventy miles, by land, from
Charleston. It is far more probable that the intention of
lauding at Beaufort was to establish a secure rendezvous for
our fleet, and comfortable winter quarters for the men
until further plans of action are matured. The success of
our fleet, however, in lauding and obtaining possession of
Port Royal Island and the town of Beaufort is
established beyond doubt, and this is a mast satisfactory
result at the outset of the expedition. The wreck of the
transport Union, one of the squadron, at Bogue Inlet, as
before repotted, is confirmed. Her crew were taken by the
rebels to Fort Macon and Raleigh, North Carolina. The
steamer S. R. Spaulding, which arrived at Fortress
Monroe from Hatteras, reports that on Wednesday
the French frigate Centehibria, 2,500 toes burthen,
went ashore, near Beaufort, is the gale. The commander
and crew got safe ashore, and the vessel was afterwards
blown up by a detachment sent from shore by the cons-
maadiag officer. The lees of the French man-of-war
Prosy, at Ocracoke Creek, is also reported, and there seems
to be some slight conflict in the information, as to whether
it was she or the Cantelabna which was blown up, but