The Sun.
London, England, 1864-11-01 00:00:00

THE CIVIL WAR IN AMERICA.

(From the Times' Special Correspondent.)
NEW YORK, Oct. 18.
The failure of Grant's attempt to capture Rich-
mond via Chapin's Farm, the absence of news from
Gen. Sherman, and the undoubted activity shown
by General Hood in Georgia, and the renewed im-
petus given to his movements by the presence of
Ganeral Beauregard in his camp, have had such an
effect upon the gold market as to alarm the Admi-
nistration for the results on the Presidential elec-
tion. The premium rose yesterday as high as 222,
being an advance within a week of 231 per cent.
This morning, although the tenour of the war news
is not such as to inspire greater confidence in -vic-
tory than was felt yesterday, the premium dropped
to 206—a fall of 16 per cent. This end appears to
have been attained by the efforts of the Govern-
ment brokers to " bear" the market by offering gold
for sale in quantities far greater than the legiti-
mate demands of commerce.

The " victories" which have recently done so
much to improve the chances of Mr Lincoln have
diminished se vastly in their importance, as their
details and results have become better understood,
that they are now found to be insufficient unless
followed up rapidly by new and greater successes,
to carry him into the Presidency by the triumphant
majority which his supporters desire. They find
that Grant takes a long time to consider his moves,
and urge him to make another if not a final effort
before theend of the present month. Grant is stated
to be nothing loth, and to have an army sufficiently
numerous to sacrifice a new batch of 10,000 men as
the price of victory. He has already received, it is
supposed, the final instructions of the President,
and returned to his camp from Washington ten days
ago. In the interval he has been visited by the Se-
cretary of War and the Secretary of the Treasury,
both of whom have been with him since Saturday
last, for what purpose is not known. The hint,how.
ever, is given in the Ministerial journals that a new
movement may be daily expected, the results of
which cannot fail to inflict a heavy blow and great
discouragement upon the rebels, even if they should
not lead to the capture of Petersburg or Richmond.
In Georgia the situation appears to be much more
critical, though it is not so easy in the absence of
Southern news to verify the conflicting and ob.
scare statements issued bj the War Department
at Washington—all of them evidently coloured to
suit the electioneering exigencies of the President
rather than to convey correct information to the
public. Great interest is felt in every circle to re-
ceive authentic intelligence of the movements of the
two armies. The Confederates, under Beauregard
and Hood, evidently mean mischief against Uhat-
tanooga or Atlanta—perhaps against both, and
Sheridan is quite as evidently put to his mettle to
hold his own in presence of the distinguished op-
ponent who has been sent by the Southern President
to rescue Georgia from his grasp. In Missouri the
news is altogether bad for the Federals. General
Stirling Price and his coadjutors are carrying every-
thing before them, and scarcely meet with the show
of opposition in any quarter.

The great political excitement of the day is not,
however, provided by the war news, but by the
extraordinary attitude assumed by Mr Lincoln
towards the deputation of the inhabitants of
Tennessee, which yesterday waited upon him at
Washington. The o'-ject of the deputation, headed
by a Mr Lellyett, was to draw his attention to the
attempt of Governor Andrew Johnson to impose an
illegal and unconstitutional test oath upon every
voter who should present himself at the polls on
the Sth of November, and in the event of their
refusal to take such oath to prevent them by mili-
tary force upon depositing their ballot. The ad-
dress, which was read to the President, contained
nothing personally disrespectful to the President
or to the subordinate eificer of whom complaint
was made. Having heard it with apparent patience
Mr Lincoln imputed bad faith to the deputation
by asking how long it took Mr. Lellyett and
the New York politicians to concoct the docu-
ment—thus insinuating that it did not emanate from
Tennessee. Mr Lellyett indignantly denied that it
had been concocted in New York, or by New Yorkers,
but had been drawn up in Nashville, the capital of
Tennessee, and by citizens of Tennessee only. Mr
Lincoln, as if he were a full-blown autocrat and
Emperor, and not the elected servant of the sove-
reign people, liable to be dismissed by their displea-
sure, or retained if it suited their will and conve-
nience, replied emphatically, " I will answer that I
expect to let the friends of George B. M'Clellan
manage their side of the contest in their own way;
and 1 will manage my side of it in my way." " May
I have that answer in writing ?" inquired Mr Lel-
lyett. "Not now," replied Mr Lincoln. " Lay those
papers down here. I will give no other answer now.
I may or I may not write something about this here-
after. I understand this. I know you intend to make
a point of this. Bat go ahead! You have my
answer." Mr Lellyett, astonished, if not indignant,
withdrew without farther parley; wrote down the
words while they were fresh in his memory, subs
mitted them to Judge Mason, who was present at
the interview, and that gentleman having vouched
for their correctness and appended his signature
in verification thereof, sent copies to all the New
York journals. The publication has created a very
bad impression. The Republican papers say nothing
on the subject, but those in favour of Gen. M'Clellan,
knowing as well as Mr Lincoln that a point is to
be made, not only of the remonstrance of the Ten-
neseeeens, but of the President's mode of treating
it, are loud in their denunciations. Even Mr
Lincoln's friends admit that he has made a raise
take. He virtually confessed that he would sup.
port Governor Johnson in carrying the election in
the State of Tennessee by an illegal and unconsti-
tutional mode, and that he had made his mind to
win, whatever might be the means employed or
the consequences that might result. If Mr Lincoln
had had the tact of a statesman he might have re-
ceived the document and taken time to reply. Mr
Seward would have extricated Lim from the diffi-
culty, concocted a politic, a courteous, and a mean.
ingless answer, which would have left him as free
to manage the contest in his own way as if he had
never spoken, and deprived the supporters of Gen.
cf an advantage which they would be
fools indeed if they did not push to the utmost.
The letter of the Southern Vices President, Mr
Alex. H. Stephens, in which he follows up the ac-
tion of the Chicago Convention by stating his con-
viction that a convention of the States would lead
to a termination of the war, has also excited, and
still excites, considerable attention. The war party
denounce the proposition both as futile and puerile.
The peace party, on the other hand, eulogise it as
that of a statesman, a patriot, and a philosopher,
and declare that unless the Southern people are to
b 3 utterly exterminated, root and branch, until not
a white male be left in all the fertile region which
they claim as their own, the time must come, when
the sword will have to be laid aside, and some kind
of negotiation commen Mr Lincoln is doubtless,
in his secret heart, as strongly of this opinion now
es he was in March, 1861, when in delivering his in-
enteral addrese, he said, " Suppose you go to war.
You cannot always fight. And when, after much
loss on both sides, and no gain on either, you cease
fighting, the identical questions as to terms of inter-
course are upon you." For the purposes of his re-
election, and to meet the necessities personal, peen-
niary, and political of the party which supports
him, he may assert there has not been loss enough
on both sides or on either. and that there has been
too much gain in his own, to justify him in with-
drawing the dispute from the bloody arbitrament of
bottle, and that, under the circumstances, no re.
source is left to him but to keep pegging away in
the future as he has done in the past. Mr Stephens
end the Chicago Convention have reason and juse
tico on their aide. The Union was voluntary. If it
ceased to be agreeable to half the country and to
one-third of the peoph,, the true mode of proceed-
ing was to meet in convention and agree to separate
without bloodshed, RS Mr Sco.veed declared in 1813,
end as he again repeated in 1858, would be done, iu
vindication of the principles upon which the Federa-
tion was founded, and as a glorious illustration of
the superiority of republican to monarchical insti-
tutious. Thu is the doctrine of "State rights"—the
only doctrine, as has been proved, that could impart
vitality to the otherwise cumbrous and unmanage-

able scheme of Federal Government, and keep it in
unison with the liberty of populations, rendered di-

verse by the operations of climate and of natural or

social laws, as well as by commercial interest. The
opponents of State rights are not, however, to be
convinced. They ask triumphantly whether, if the
right of concession were conceded, the little coin-

monwealth of Rhode Island—not much larger than
the English county of Kent—might not if disposed

withdraw from the Union, set up a separate na•
tionality, resume her allegiance to the British
Crown, or otherwise dispose of herself? As the
answer is in the negative, they think the whole
question of State right is decided and exploded.
Bat the anti-State right argument is a misconcep•
tion of the facts. The Union was politically no more
than an agreement for mutual defence against ex•

ternal enemies. For internal purposes it was in-
tended to be a practical nullity, and if to the Central
Government, which it was the design of the founders

of American liberty to render as purely nominal and
as little felt as possible were conceded certain rights

and privileges in the matters of the Post-office, the
Mint and the Customs, it was solely for the general

convenience and considerations of economy. The

Northern people forgot this, or remembering it en•

deavoured to reform or revolutionise the Constitution

by bringing domestic matters, notably slavery,

under the action of the Central Government. If the

South had seceded from the Union because it pre•
ferred to adopt that course rather than take part by

men or money in the defence of the Federation

against a foreign aggressor, its perfidy would have
warranted the execration of its Northern co•part•
ners and the contempt of the world. But in seceding
because for thirty years the North had made per-
sistent efforts to interfere with matters exclusively

reserved by solemn agreement to the aotion of the

several States, each in its sovereign and never-abdi-
cated capacity, the question of secession assumed a

different shape. The North, and not the South,
was false to the agreement of union and to the

principles of liberty consecrated by the Constitu•
tion, a document drawn up and accepted by all the

States at a time when the North held slaves as well

as the South, and when not only slavery, but
the slave trade, was recognised by the high
contracting parties. Of course, if only one
little State had exercised its right of secession.

n 1860.1 its action would have been unfortunate
,1 not ridiculous. To be in a minority of one,

even when you are right, is not. pleasant, and
more unpleasant in proportion to the value and
sanctity of the principle involved. But when the
minority on a question of vital importance is almost
as strong as the majority, and hopes to overcome
that majority by argument in the first place, and
if that be impossible, to try what can be done by
force, all questions of written argument or abstract

right cease to be of any value. This is what occurs
in all revolutions. It was the question to be decided
between George 111. and the Thirteen Colonies. It is
the question that has to be decided between North

and South. If the Northern Americans wera a

wise and rational people, they would not have fired
a shot in anger to compel the unwilling partnership
of the South, but would have met in convention to
decide whether, if the old Union had become dis-
tasteful, a new and better Union might not have
been formed ; and whether, although North and
South were thenceforward to be two towards each
other, they might not continue to be one against
all the world besides. To this complexion things
must ultimately come. The misery not only is that
both parties should have sacrificed so many hun-
dreds of thousands of valuable lives, such countless
treasure, and, worst of all, the liberties of this, and,
too probably, of future generations, to bring about
a mutual understanding—which was quite pos.
sible without loss either of life or temper—but that
in the inflation of Northern pride no end to the
war can b 9 foreseen, except the utter exhaustion

of one or other of the combatants, or the division
of councils in the Northern camp serious ;enough
to create a strong diversion in favour of the South.
Mr Lincoln is powerless in the matter so long as
the people clamour for war and are willing to pay
for it in men and money. General M'Clellan, if

elected, would have as little power as his predeces-
sor. The war would have to go on, and prove the
sword to be not only the last argument of kings, but
of popular democracies. There would, however, be
this difference in favour of kings, and especiallyof the
king against,whose wishes the American Democracy
was enabled to take a place among the Powers of

the earth—that kings are consistent in compelling
the allegiance of their subjects if they can, and that
Democratic Republics are false to liberty and to
_ .

themselves in making war against their fellow-oiti•
zens on any political pretence whatever. Mr. Lin•

coin, in 1818, when he was an obscure politician,
laid down in the following memorable words the
doctrine, which his luckless stars have doomed him
in later life to controvert with fire and blood :
" Any people,' said he, in a speech in Congress,
"and any where,being inclined and having the power,
have the right to rise up and shake off their exist-
ing Government and form a new one that suits them
better. Nor is this right confined to cases where
the people of an existing Government may choose
to exercise it. Any portion of such people that
can may revolutionise, putting down a minority
intermingled with or near about them who may
oppose them." This is the doctrine of George Wash-
ington and of Jefferson Davis, and might again be-
come the doctrine of Abraham Lincoln if the logic
of fact were superadded to the logic of words. Gen.
Beauregard or Gen. Hood has only to recapture
Atlanta and defeat the army of Sherman, or Gen.
Lee to drive Grant from Petersburg and the James
—both of which events are possible, and some per-
sons think probable—to justify revolutiota by the
success which Mr Lincoln implies in the word " can''
and " having the power," and to authorise him in
recognising the Southern right of establishing a new
Government in 18G4, as implicitly as he did in 1848.
The sword alone can undo such a knot as that into
which the American Union has twisted itself. There
is no present chance for an armistice and a conven-
tion of the States, cr for any discussion of the prin-
ciples enunciated this week by Vice-President Ste.
phens, and sixteen years ago by Mr Lincoln, unless
it be found in a great Southern victory. Failing
that the Caicago platform remains a dead letter, and
the letter of Mr Stephens mere words and waste
paper.
Mr Roger B. Taney, the Chief Justice of the Su-
preme Court of the United States, and who had
filled that office for 27 years, died a few days ago,
in his 83th year, after a short illness. He retained
the full possession of his mental and bodily facul-
ties, and his mind was clear and unclouded to the
last. Since the accession of Mr Lincoln various
efforts had been made to induce Mr Taney to resign,
but he persistently declared that nothing but death
should remove him from office, as long as Mr Lin-
culn or any other Republican chief magistrate was
in power. It was supposed that ex-Secretary Chase
was desirous of the position—the most influential as
well as the most dignified that an American can fill,
and the object of as much ambition in this country
as the Lord Chancellorship is in England. It is
probable that Mr. Lincoln, as a reward for the kind
turn the ex-Secretary has rendered, in making stump
speeches and writing letters in his favour, and being
so generously forgetful of the ungracious mode in
which he was dismissed from the Treasury, may
tender him the appointment. Mr. Chase is consi-
dered a sound jurist, and has high professional as
well as personal and political claims to the seat.
Mr. Taney was a pillar of the Democratic faith, a
strong believer in the doctrine of State rights, and
a conscientious opponent of the centralisation of the
Government. Ito had no faith in the war as a means
of restoring the Union, and looked with gloom)
forebodings to the future. The following letter to
a distinguished member of the bar and Legislature
of Maryland, which has never yet ben published,
and of which the original now lies before me, shows
how keenly he felt the anticipate d ruin of his
country. It was written in rt pay to a congratula-
tory epistle on his hirthdal :
"Washington, March 20,1861.
My dear Sir —I received your very kind birthday letter
I o-day. When a man has arrived at the ago of 87 years he
will always find that he has outlived nearly all the contem-
poraries and friends of his early lite ; and it is then that he
sensibly feels the assurances of regard from men whom he
has known from their boyhood, and who belong to another
generation. lle perhaps hopes that their approbation of his
We and official conduct is evidence of the judgment which
impartial and enlightened posterity will pass upon it.
I have not on!y outlived the friends and companions of

my early liCe, but I fear I have outlived the Government of
which they were so justly proud, and which has conferred so
many blessings' upon us. The times are dark with evil omen,
and seem to grow darker every day, At my time of life I
cannot expect to live long enough to see these evil days pass
away. Yet I will indulge the hope that you who are so
much younger will live to see order and law once more re.
turn, and live long enough to enjoy its blessings.
With since regard and respect, I am, your friend,
To-, Esq., Baltimore. R. B. TANEY.

This is both an eloquent and touching letter, and
when it comes to be published in this country may
perhaps cause some of the bitter fanatics who have
already begun to assail his memory, to regret that
they did not allow even the grave to silence their
rancour against a political opponent, so eminent, so
learned, so honest, and in all the relations of private
as well as public life so pure and unspotted as Roger
Brooke Taney.