The Sun.
London, England, 1864-09-29 00:00:00

SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALS.

TIMES.—The political prospect in America is
confused and shifting in the extreme, but if we may
assume that the Presidential contest will be go.
verned, even at the eleventh hour, by the events of
the war, we may conclude with almost equal pro-
bability that these events must be looked for exclua
sively in Virginia. General Sherman's success in
Georgia is already exhibiting that barrenness of re-
sults which is characteristic of Federal victories, and
he has himself announced that for the present he
contemplates no further operations. It is impro-
bable that Admiral Farragut has resigned himself
to a similar inaction, but the mere occupation of the
town of Mobile, even if it should be achieved, will
not exert the requisite influence on the popular
mind. In the Shenandoah Valley two armies,
which for magnitude and efficiency might almost
be matched with those of Georgia and Virginia,
after confronting each other for a while, have just
met in a conflict in which the Federals claim the
victory. But it is from Petersburg, if from any
quarter, that decisive intelligence may be antici-
pated. The partial success or confirmed failure of
Gen. Grant's operations would act with immediate
effect on the temper of the North, and the expecta.
Lions of the Federals are heightened by the report
that a great battle in those parts is actually immi-
nent. Recent information has revealed, with more
clearness than formerly, the purpose of Gen. Grant
in his late proceedings. After a fortnight of pro-
found inaction, he suddenly massed a heavy force on
his extreme left and threw it across the Weldon
Railroad, a few miles south of Petersburg. There he
immediately intrenched himself, and though he has
suffered some reverses and lost a certain portion of
ground, he has never been dislodged from the position,
or compelled to quit his hold on the line. With
this exploit he hae been apparently content, as if the
possession of the reilroad on this point would sooner
or later compel his adversary to come out of his
intrenchments and venture an attack under certain
disadvantages. The manoeuvre, in fact, somewhat
resembled that of Sherman's at Atlanta, though it
has not yet been productive of similar results. Sher-
man, by occupying the railroad between Atlanta
and Macon, cut off the supplies on which the gar-
rison of Atlanta depended, and compelled General
Hood to sally out with his whole force in the hope
of dislodging him. But this hope was vain—
Sherman held his ground against ail attack—and
while Hood was thus expending his strength, a
Federal corps, left in observation before Atlanta,
marched in and occupied the empty city. At Peters-
burg none of these consequences have hitherto fol-
lowed. The supplies of the garrison have not been in.
tercepted, and after the lapse of nearly a month, the
" military " situation remained substantially un.
changed. The important point to be now ascertained
is the force of the stress which is thus put upon
Petersburg and Richmond, for on this would depend
the tactics of the Confederate commander. The
railroad running due north from Weldon through
Petersburg to Richmond is not the only line by
which these towns can b 3 supplied. The Danville
line enters them from the west, and itis also obvious

to suppose that the rich crops of the Shenandoah
Valley protected by the Confederate force under
General Early would find their way down from the
North. Still, the Weldon line is a most important
one, for it connects Richmond and Petersburg with
Wilmington and Charleston, and thus enables
General Lee to draw munitions from those ports
for the use of his army. At present this resource
is not indeed lost, for the Weldon line is still open
to the station at Stony Creek, about 20 miles south
of Petersburg, and from that point supplies are
brought up to the town under strong escorts of
Confederate cavalry. Nevertheless, the inconve-
nience must bo considerable, and though the
Northern people seem to attach singularly little
importance to Grant's position, there are not want..
ing indications of a different opinion on the part of
General Lee. Not a word was said at Chicago or
New York about the occupation of the Weldon line
as constituting or prognosticating a Federal suc-
cess, and Grant's name was left almost without
mention in electioneering speeches, But Lee has
twice attacked the Federate with his usual vigour,
though less than his usual success, and it seems to
be anticipated that he will take the initiative once
more. In this case Grant's strategy would certainly
have been in some degree successful, but there are
circumstances which require attention before the po-
sitions of the two armies can be properly appreci-
ated. Grant's army is strongly entrenched on the
Weldon line. No sooner had the Federate seized
the position than, as described by an observer on
the spot, they "worked like beavers" to protect
themselves against attack, and they have since bad
a month's time to strengthen these defences. If,
then, Gen. Lee becomes the assailant, he may run
the risk of fighting under those disadvantages which
have so often proved fatal in the campaigns of this
war. " Whoever attacks," said Sherman, at Atlanta,
" is beaten." But it is not absolutely necessary that
Lee should attack in this fashion. Grant in wheel-

ing round Petersburg has described about a third
of a circle's circumference, from a point in the north-
east to a point due south. But the north-eastern
point is one of great importance to him, for it is on
the James River, by which supplies reach him easily,
and across which by means ( f pontoons he can at
any time throw his whole army and menace Rich-
mond instead of Petersburg. It was at this point
that the right of his army was stationed, a con-
siderable force being also encamped on the northern
side of the river, but his left, under these circum•
stances, did not rea3h within five or six miles of the
Weldon Railroad. For the sake of occupying this
railroad, he massed his army, as we have said, on
his left—that is to say, he withdrew the troops from
the north side of the James, and then pushed his
left, thus heavily reinforced, on to the Weldon line.
He did not, however, withdraw his right from City
Point, and therefore, by extending his left so far, he
proportionately lengthened his whole line insomuch
that his army, which was formerly stretched over a
position of 12 miles in length, now covers a line of
18 miles. That such an extension could have been
effected without weakening the line at some point
or other is hardly to be supposed, and the oppor-
tunity would not be lost on so able a commander as
General Lee. It is obvious that he may leave
Grant's intrenchments untouched, and content
himself with pierciog the Federal line at some
point between its two extremities. If such an attack
were successfully executed, Grant would find him-
self with his army cut in two, and his communicae
tion with the James River intercepted. Perhaps,
also, the notorious straits of the Federial armies at
this moment may induce General Lee to turn the
occasion to advantage. Sherman and Grant make
no secret of their losses or of the urgency of their
needs, and the draught, it seems, is to be enforced
in pursuance of their reiterated demands. The latest
advices, too, represent Sherman as on the move to

reinforce Graat. The Confederate commander may
prefer, therefore, to attack his adversary before he
is reinforced, and to profit by the weakness which
has been openly confessed. Other wise it was appal
rently his best policy to leave Grant unmolested,
and to allow him to retreat at his own time with the
discredit of failure when the visitations of the

season rendered his position untenable. If Grant has
now compelled his antagonist to move, it is his first
success in the campaign, and the only wonder is
why he did not try the experiment, as he might
have done, before he had wasted an army in efforts
which were hopeless. What events may be now
impending it is impossible to predict, but it is at
this point that the interest of the war is concen-
trated for the present.
Post —We notice with regret the reappearance
in the columns of the local journals of those out-
rages upon the persons and property of others
which are usually headed " desperate poach-
ing affrays." That the preservation of game, espe-
cially upon a very extensive scale, has its draw-
backs as well as its advantages no one will deny
who is really conversant with all the ins and outs
of a confessedly difficult problem; But the real
evils of high preserving lie in a very different
direction from those which form the stockain-trade
of a certain class of sentimentalists, who are not
without their mouthpieces even in the Legislature,
As between tenant and landlord, there is often a
good deal of real hardship inflicted, for the most
unintentionally, in getting up a " good head of
game." Where lands are avowedly let at a
" game rent" there is, of course, no ground for
complaint. Where they are not, the matter
frequently resolves itself into a direct conflict of
testimony between the tenant and the keeper, each
strongly prepossessed in favour of his own view
of the case, and tolerably confident in his own
assertions. Sometimes, there is no doubt, the far=
mer hardly gets fair play, and suffers serious losses
in a bad year by damage which, even it be not dis-
puted, it is next to impossible to estimate seen-
rately. In the great game preserving districts the
question is better understood, and 'therefore more
easily arranged. But it is not so everywhere, and
real hardships are often suffered upon a property
where a change of system takes place, and a
squire who cared for nothing but the hounds is sue.
ceeded by a son who has a decided penchant for
battues, or, still more so, by a man who has no taste
for shooting himself, and lets his covers and stubble
fields to some city magnate, whose object is to do
the greatest possible amount of execution in the
shortest time. As, however, between the preserver
of game and the poacher the case stands very dif-
ferently. Of course we are all familiar with the
interesting indivi-
dual, type of the latter indivi-
dual, as he appears in the pages of the cheap press,
and even in the works of some authors who, like
Mr Kingsley, ought to know bettor. But the real
Simon Pure differs widely from his sentimental re-
production. Far from being a struggling
labourer, eking out his eight shillings a week by