The Sun.
London, England, 1864-05-28 00:00:00

the

ing in Virginia the Northern attiiies haw,
a certain amount of success. General G"ratit has

succeeded in gaining, on
,the terms imposed by his
adversary, a very few miles of the road to Rich-
mond. The Southern General, after alloying the
enemy to expend his forces in fruitless assaults, has
taken up a position as thoroughly known to himself
as unknown to his opponents, and there, if we may
estimate his tactics from what has already tran-
spired of them, he will continue to make a stand
until it is convenient for him to retire, when he

will occupy a fresh position, and reptilse his pur-
suers as before. The line of retreat which lies open
to him comprises defences stronger than those which
he has hitbiztti held until he thought fit to aban-
don them, nor is there the least eildeniie in the in-
formation before us of either exhaustion or distom-
__

fiture on the part of his trocps. But if the Southern
Commander is thus adhering to his tactics the
Northern Commander is doing the same, and with

as much success, perhaps, as such strategy could in-
sure. All his losses—and they appear to have been
even more dreadful than the first reports described
them—failed to stop him no sooner was he re-
pulsed than he attacked again, prepared apparently
for fresh battles and fresh slaughter, until an end

of some kind is attained. This is an entirely new
phase of the war, due probably, in the main, to
Grant's own stubborn vigour and peremptory
will, but still preconcerted, and, as we ,are able
this morning to show, anticipated by the South
even more completely than by the North. Re-
ticence and secrecy were among Grant's service•
able qualities, bat though he concealed his
views from the people of New York he
did not succeed in concealing them from the autho-
rities at Richmond. The letter of our correspondent
in the South shows that the Confederate Govern-
ment had obtained the most exact information of

the Federal plans for the campaign. Ina despatch
written a fortnight before Grant commenced his
march the operations whicnwe have since recorded

are delineated with extraordinary precision. Three
armies wer3 to move upon Richmond from three
different bases—the chief force, under Grant, march-
ing directly south from the old Federal position on
the Rappahannock, and two others from east to
west by way of the Peninsula and James River. Or,
it is said, and as really hap' ened, the armies would
be two only, instead of three, one moving on the
direct road to Richmond from the north, and one by
the James River from the east. We could not, even

after the event, describe more clearly the operations
and the positions of Grant and Butler respectively,
but it may well be conceived that if all this was so
fully known the tactics of the Confederates would
be adapted beforehand to every possible contingency.
Of some of these designs, indeed, we are actually
informed, and the event has verified the information.
Lee did fall upon Grant precisely as it is said he
would do, and if Grant had made war like Meade or
M'Clellan it is probable that the defeat he received
on the sth would have stopped the invasion of Vir-
ginia. But Grant was made of other metal. He
advanced undismayed, though at a cost so terrible
that it is hard to think how it can continue to be
supported. This, however, is not all that may be
learnt from our correspondent's letter. As long ago
as the middle of last month a partial transfer of Go-
vernment business from Richmond to certain other
cities had actually been ordered, and although it is
stated that the proceeding was based on purely
economical considerations, and was unconnected with
any fear for the safety of the Confederate capital,
our readers will have no difficulty in detecting some
little preparation for the abandonment of Richmond
in case of need. This brings us to the weak point
in the present tactics of the Federals, and to the
insurmountable barrier always before them. Grant
is employing the strategy of Napoleon, and working
out his plans by the " military arithmetic" which
promised a certain balance of results as the product
of so many thousand lives. Bat there happens to
be all the difference in the world between the cir-
cumstances in which he is placed and those in which
Napoleon applied this system. The point or position
at which Napoleon aimed in such cases was really a
vital point—the key of the whole business in hand ;
whereas the Southern Confederacy, like the Confe-
derate cause, has no one vital point. The actual
capture of Richmond, even if that triumph should
crown Grant's desperate enterprise, will not bring
the North a step nearer to the restoration of the
Union or the conquest of the South. The saying of
President Davis that the war could be prolonged
for 20 years, even in the State of Virginia, after
Richmond had fallen, will be in everybody's recol-
lection, and if Grant ever reaches that city he may
fief! that his cool and resolute adversary, after
exacting the utmost obtainable price for it in blood
and slaughter' will leave the position in his hands,
,
with no greaser value in it than attached to Wilder-
ness after it had B,?rved its turn and the fighting
was done. After what has now been divulged of the
plans and recorded of the esierat
ions of the contend-
ingsale little difficulty the
armies we can estimate wi
prospects of the campaign. it is literally a ques-
tion of military arithmetic. Putting Aside for the
moment the value of the prize and be importance
or unimportance of the result, we have ot,:iy to
calculate whether Lee, with the resources at /lit;
command, can, by the process which he is so
effectually employing, exhaust the resources of
Grant before he reaches Richmond, or whether,
on the contrary, in the common consumption of
life Grant can outlast Lee. If Grant possess
strength enough to continue to attack as he has
attacked, it is clear that in the end he will arrive,
in some plight or other, before the defences of Rich-
mond, and, if he can still maintain the same rate of
expenditure, will some day enter the city. He him-
self writes to Secretary Stanton—" 1 propose to
fight it out on this line, if it takes all summer ;"
and he has shown by his conduct that we may take
him at his word. If, however, his cool, resolute,
and skilful adversary should be strong enough to
continue up to the walls of the capital the tactics
which he has hitherto employed, and if he can
make Grant pay at the current rate for every mile
of ground, it may be a question whether the re-
sources or endurance of the Federals themselves
will prove as inexhaustible as the obstinacy of
their General. At present we can only see that
this dreadful game has been played by both par-
ties through 12 days of battle and carnage without
surrender on either side. We have heard what
Grant has been doing, and he himself does full
justice in his curt but truthful despatches to the
unconquerable heroism of his adversary. It is the
rudest and most savage issue of war—who can
stand most killing ? It is more than ever difficult
to predict the result 'if a contest of endurance, but
the advantages of ground, position, and intelli-
gence are with the Confederates, and Washington
has more than once been in greater danger of
capture than we believe Richmond to be now.
HERALD.—There can be no doubt that the con-
duct of Prussia throughout the whole of the Danish
quarrel has been from first to last consistently false
and treacherous, From the King and M. von Bis-
marck down to the lowest officers of the army which
has amused itself with plunder and massacre in
Denmark, the Prussians have displayed qualities
which have equally surprised their friends and
gratified their enemies. The quarrel was taken
up with shameless impudence, only because it
seemed to Prussia that she bad a favourable
opportunity of self-aggrandisement at the expense
of a helpless neighbour; it was forced on with
brutal violence, lest Denmark should disarm her
enemies by conceding, at the instance of England,
everything which they had demanded ; and the
Prussian Government actually dared to avow, in
conversation with the representative of constitu-
tional England, that its main object in the war was
to put down the constitutional liberty which ob-
tained in Denmark, and which Prussia felt as a
reproach to herself. The war has been waged in
the same spirit in which it was begun. While their
allies of Austria have kept in the background when-
ever treachery and falsehood were to be practised
in negotiation, or brutal violence inflicted on the
conquered, the Prussians have been ostentatiously
forward in the display of perfidy and brutality.
We need not remind our readers of the cowardly
outrage upon the Danish dead, committed by the
orders of the Prussian commander, when the Lion
of Idsted, the monument of brave men who had
fallen in a glorious victory, was torn from its place
on consecrated ground, and broken up by the
" Schleswig-Holsteiners "—those true brethren of
the Prussian who lust for vengeance without daring
to fight for it, and indulge in the luxury of rebellion
only when a foreign army is interposed between
them and punishment. But we may call attention
to the savage cruelties perpetrated in Jutland, and
the impudence of the pretext assigned for them,
Germany had made war on Denmark, despoiled her
of her territory,and slaughtered her subjects, and the
Danes had very righteously retaliated by seizing
German ships wherever theycouldfindthem. Against
this retribution Prussia frantically protests—as if she
wished to go to war without being attacked in her
turn—and her general proceeds to levy on Jutland
the value of the ships seized by the Danish cruisers.
His exactions were to cease with the suspension of
arms; his Government solemnly and repeatedly
promised that they should cease ; yet Lord Ellen-
borough declares, and Lord Russell admits, that
they have been continued ; that in spite of the
express engagements of the Prussian Government
the inhabitants of Jutland are still being plundered ;
that they are still forced to maintain the invaders
in luxury, giving
even to private soldiers such in-
dulgences us they never enjoy at home; that they
are forced to furnish provisions which are not paid
for, or paid for only in worthless paper ; that, in
fact, the war is continued against them, in spite of
the suspension of arms and of the distinct terms of

the agreement entered into by the representatives
of the Powers assembled in Conference. This shame-
less violation of treaty is in strict accordance with
tho policy which Prussia has pursued throughout ;
and we regret to say that the submissive patience
'';eh this outrage is endured is equally itJ
with • the course consistently followed by
accordance wan. -*land. It is with feelings
the elings
g er,
and
the Government of EL„_:cfel y as an
ussia
into which shame enters, as 11.
we describe tho outrageous menet t;..? Pr
the sufferings of the unhappy Danes. Lord Russell
is satisfied, no doubt, to teflect that whatever he
may have done or left undone, he' has at least saved
his country from the calamities of 'ccav ;; that what-
ever exactions may be levied upon Denmark, ours
income tax is only 6d. in the pound ; that however,
completely ruined may be the trade and agriculture
of Jutland, our commerce continues to increase and
flourish; and that, however frightfully the Danish
army may have suffered in the unequal struggles no
Lnglieh soldiers fell at Dybbol, and no English guns
were sacriaed at the Dannewerke. He congratu"
lates himself on hnving forced his country to play
the Levite's part and, seeing the friend that had
fallen among thieves, to pass by on the other side.
But we—and among us the nation at large—feet
anything but gratitude towards the Foreign Secre-
tary for an immunity from eacrifices and from danger
which has been purchased at the expense of hon-
our. We recognise that selfishness is as hateful
and cowardice as loathsome in a nation as in an
individual ; and we agree with Lord Ellenberongla
that the lwealth and power of England impoie on
her other duties than those of idle enjoyment end
slothful indifference, and that it is her duty as st
great Power to do good and prevent 'Wrong. More
than this, we believe that such persevering and
continual dereliction of that duty as has marked
the course of the present Government can only end
in depriving us of that position. We hold our rank
among nations only on condition of performing the
duties of that rank; and Heaven has so ordered it
that the non-performance of those duties will of
itself involve a forfeiture which English pride will.
not find it easy to bear. International rank
depends on international public opinion ; and
already in that opinion the position of England is
lowered and degraded. As Lord Ellenburough
truly says, the opinion of a Power which is not
prepared to maintain its vote by the sword is of no
account in the counsels of those who are; and so
long as it is understood that England does not mean
to fight when her advice is slighted or her dignity
affronted, so long slights and affronts will be her
daily portion. Such diplomacy as that of Lord
Russell, who writes peremptory despatches which
1 he is not prepared to support by vigorous action,
who meddles with advice and remonstrance, at the
same time that he announces that he is not going,
happen what may, to interpose with shot and shell,
and who lectures Powers that he is not ready to
fight, while he undertakes to direct the policy of
allies whom he finally refuses to support, has no
other effect than to bring England into deeper con-
tempt and cdium. France sneers at us for our pru-
dence, and censures us, not unjustly, for the sudden
retreat by which we left her in the lurch, betrayed
in the presence of her rival and humiliated in the face
of Europe. Germany hates us for our denunciation
and ;Denmark bitterly reproaches us that we de-
notineed. her wrongs so loudly when we had no
ncithin of resenting and redressing them. Our lan-
-gUae, as Lord Grey said, has been the scolding of
Impotent old woman, and the regard that is now'
paid to anything we may say is proportionate to
the past energy of onr action, not to the violence of
our words. It is not unnatural, therefore, that the
authority of England in Europe should scarcely be
greater than that of Spain. It will take a great
war, and many years of heroic sacrifices, to retrieve
the injury we have suffered from Whig cowardice
and Brummagem economy. Lord Russell's only
plea for himself is, that we were not bound to in"
terfere alone on behalf of Denmark, because France
and Russia were equally bound to defend her. So,
for that matter, were Austria and Prussia, her
spoilers; and if their attack could not exonerate ue
from our obligation, neither could the defection of
France and Russia. If, indeed, Denmark had been
attacked by a combination which we ourselves were
powerless to resist, there might be an excuse for
our leaving her to her fate, provided we also ab-
stain from embarrassing her by our advice. But,
as it was, we have no excuse to plead. We abane
doned her in the face of an enemy whom we could
have beaten, after giving her advice which implied
conditional support. Who ventures to say that
England is not a match, in a sea-girt peninsula,
for Austria and Prussia ? And England woald not
have been alone. Who ventures to say that, with
the aid of 30,000 English and 30,000 Swedish
troops, the Danes would not have held the Danne-
werke or even the line of the Eider ? Who sup-
poses that Austria would have dared to go to war
if an English fleet had appeared off Trieste while
the Italian army, 300,000 strong, was gathering
on the Mincio and the Po; if France and Russia.
held aloof, we had yet the means of bringing against
the aggressors a force which they could not have
overcome and a peril which they could hardly have
faced. We had the power of saving Denmark ; we
should have saved her had our Government dared
to fight, and probably without fighting ; we were
bound in duty and ia honour to save her, and in
abandoning her we have lost more than the cost of
an unsuccessful war.