The Sun.
London, England, 1864-08-22 00:00:00

THE C( )NFEDERATE STATES,

(From t. 716 Correspondent of the 7imes.)
RICHMOND, July 20.

In analysing the material of the Federal and
Confederate ran J c and file in Virginia, it is easy to
arrive at an exp. lanation of their attitude, as they
lie idly facing each other at St. Petersburg—the
Federals willin g to wound, and yet afraid to strike ;
the Confedera tcs satisfied to repel attack, but in.
disposed to s 'abject themselves, by assuming the
initiative, to s uch declination as they have hitherto
been able, by awaiting Grant's onslaughts, to exact
from him. It is evident that the available resources
of men in bol h sections are drained to the lees. Of
what elements are these final and champion
armies comp axed ? It is susceptible of demonstra.
tion that in. the Southern army the foreign ele-
ment, liberally estimated, does not exceed 5 per
cent. The rolls of company after company exhibit
not a single name other that of a native-born Ame-
rican. It is, squeamishness, because these Southern
armies are undisciplined, to deny to many of the
men serving in theta the title of veterans. It is
doubtful whether in any three years of this cen-
tury the most disciplined and war-experienced
veterans of Europe have seen more or harder fight-
ing than many of these Southerners. There is
with them no enlistment for 100 days, or one year,
ca three years. Not a man but is in "for the war,"
l
and those who have seen less fighting than their
fellows take their tone from, and are leavened by,
the men of Ball Run and of the seven days around
Richmond. They are of such stuff as Victor Hugo's
Vieille Garde, who, diminished in number, waxed
greater in heart. Their aim as marksmen is such
as would warm General Hay's heart, and their
practice in these faruilier Virginian woods would
far surpass that of the best regiment that ever
graduated at llythe. It will be conceived what
reciprocity of confidence and attachment ex-
ists between General Lee and them. Turn
next to the Federal army and investigate its ma.
terial. On the roll. call there are probably not
100 names whose owners were present at Bull Run.
There are tumultuous and spasmodic expressions of
confidence in Grant (more audible at New York
than at Petersburg), but what can he and his army
know, or how much can they care, about each other?
Out of every hundred Federal soldiers the names of
prisoners brought here to Richmond reveal that 60
are foreigners, who have been either starved, bribed
or hocussed into the ranks. 'What is to be expected
in the way of daring of self-devotion from a man
wha is tossed upon the wharves of New York from
either Ireland or Germany, and who turns soldier
because he knows not how to get a meal ? Of
what account are soldiers lured into the ranks by
thousand-dollar bounties, or will the rule that
"the hireling fleeth because he is an hireling" be
for the first time reversed upon this continent ? But
large as is the proportion of men who have been
bribed or starved into the Federal shambles, I
believe that no previous army that ever existed
exhibits so large a number of kidnapped, drugged,
and naturally disaffected men. It is, I protest, a
mnrvel to me, when I reflect on the different morale
of the two armies, that even such success as has
attended Sherman and Grant should have been
realised by the heterogeneous piece of diversified
mosaic, by the tesselated pavement without cement,
to which their armies may be likened. Here are a
few specimen cases which will reveal of what stuff
Grant's army is composed.

There was lately brought to Castle Thunder (one
of the prisons of Richmond) a young chubby-faced
English boy, named James Addy, 18 years of age.
He was a deserter from the Yankees, and his story
is such as I have heard again and again repeated,
but rarely with euch appearance of veracity as in
this case. His father is by him stated to be a
yeoman farmer, living near a Yorkshire village
called Askern, about six miles from Doncaster. At
13 James Addy says that he was appointed mid-
shipman on board her Majesty's frigate Emerald ;
but after serving, with intervals of sickness, for
about four years on the cost of Africa, his
health gave way, and he resigned and returned
home. Last winter, accompanied by two friends,
Henry and Thomas Garner, he visited New York,
intending to return in two or three weeks to Eng..
land. The keeper of the house in New York where
they boarded drugged their wine, and put them
while insensible in the guardhouse, The ruffian,
in addition to stealing the money and valuables of
young Addy and his companions, doubtless realised
the bounty money paid by the recruiting officers for
three recruits. They were put into company Aor
B, 47th New York Regiment. They refused to do
duty as soldiers. Addy tried twice to escape before
he succeeded, and says that one of his companions,
Henry Garner, was arrested while trying to escape,
and, as Addy fears, was shot. After many hard-
ships and difficulties Addy succeeded in getting to
Richmond, and was committed to Castle Thunder,
the prison for deserters. The poor boy says that
he would die a dozen deaths rather than go back to
the Yankees. The Commissioner appointed by the
Confederate Government to examine Yankee de-
serters has taken pity- upon him, and he has been
sent to Wilmington with a view to running the
blockade and getting back to England. It is hard
to see, if this story be true, why Henry Garner's
parents are not entitled to demand from the Wash-
ington Government compensation for the death of
their son (as compensation was exacted for the
murder of Capt. Brabazon from the Chinese Go-
vernment), or, at any rate, the punishment of the
New York lodgingnouse keeper, whose name is
known. It must be obvious that this case is one
which admits of verification by reference to the
captain of the Emerald, and courts investigation.
At the risk of wearying your readers, I will men-
tion one other of the many cases which are con-
stantly coming under my notice. Henry Miller,
born of German parents in England, was a private in
her Majesty's 30th Foot (now quartered at Mon-
treal or Toronto), and was discharged, his time
having expired, at Montreal in May last. He
crossed the Canadian frontier, entered the State of
New York, was drugged, and in less than a week
found himself encamped on an island in the Hud-
son river off Sew York. He was sent down to
Grant's army, put into a cavalry regiment, and de-
serted with his horse, which he delivered over to
the Confederates, into whose lines in Petersburg
he also piloted a Virginian lady who was cut off by
the Federals. This poor fellow, whose story seems
to me in every respect trustworthy, has to pay for
the ordinary faithlessness of Yankee deserters by a
long incarceration in Castle Thunder. His hatred
of the Yankees exceeds belief. I might prolong this
list by giving the history of many other British
subjects now immured in Castle Thunder as Yan-
kee deserters, who all agree in their tale of wrong,
suffered at the hands of that Power whose uniform
they have lately worn. But the interest of these
narratives consists for your readers in the insight
which they afford into the constituent elements of
that army which " threatens Richmond." General
Lee has lately given clear evidence how far he con-
siders Richmond threatened by dismissing a third
of his army, under Early, to act against Washing.
ton. At any rate, the mention of these cases in
Your columns may serve to put all British subjects
who have occasion to visit the North American
continent on their guard, if they do not wish to
find themselves carrying a musket in the Yankee
ranks.

The chronic inaction of the armies before Peters-
burg still continues, but we are promised by the
Northern journals some surprising move on the part
of Grant before long. If this prophecy has
sny meaning, it may refer to the mining ope-
rations in which Grant is known to be engag
The Federal and Confederaz.
lines,
as they
they
wind
around Petersburg, are in
many places not more
than 60 yards apart. It is known that the Fecie-
rals are running a mine forward at one spot, and
it is believed that they are making
similar effortN
The sneces9 whinh 03neral Grant
in nther spots.
had last year in mining under the works of Vieh
9
burg encourages I prefiaale, to repeat the opt.
ration against Petersburg. He will have a good that
of burrowing to do before he works his way to Rich-
mond. It will be obvious that, even if it were inapos-
sib!o far 'Gen. Lee to meet him by countermining,
little result would arise from blowing into the air
perhaps 100 yards of earthwork along a line which
rune for 12 or 15 miles. The indieatians are that