The Sun.
London, England, 1864-03-23 00:00:00

THE CIVIL WAR IN AMERICA.

(From the Times Correspondent.)
NEW YORK, March 9.
The spring campaign is an acknowledged fiasco,
and were people not so exceedingly busy in specu-
lating in gold and stocks, would excite, so far as its
history is yet known, the indignant reprobation of
every honest and sensible man in the country.
Gen. Kilpatrick, misled by the reports of dishonest
or over sanguine deserters and escaped prisoners
from Richmond, took it into his head that he would
capture that city by a cavalry coup de main and
make his name illustrious for evermore. He laid a
wager at heavy odds with another cavalry officer,
Gan. Pleasanton, that he would do it within a fort-
night, and though opposed by every real soldier to
whom he submitted his notion, obtained, it would
appear, the sanction of the President to try what
he could do, with the best wishes of that amiable
bat most unmilitary Commander-in-Chief that he
might" go in and win." He went in accordingly ;
committed a large amount of ruthless and wanton
destruction in the rear of Gen. Lee's army, broke
down bridges, burnt corn mills and factories, fright-
ened the women and children and the impotent or
bedridden old men in all his line of march ; reached
the suburbs of Richmond, threw a few harmless
shells into the city, and fearing the capture of his
whole command of 6,000 horsemen—which would
have been the befitting punishment for his foolhardy
experiment—rode out of the enemy's lines into those
of Gen. Butler, with the loss of four colonels and
500 soldiers—admitted, but which time, perhaps,
will show to have been treble that number. He
onlyescaped by sheer good luck, having accomplished
nothing by his raid but the exasperation of the
Southern people, and the embitterment of all pre-
viously existing bad feeling. Nor has Gen. Sher-
man's more magnificent raid across the State of Mis-
sissippi been attended with happier results. The ut-
most mystery is preserved with respect to him ; but
sot all the arts and efforts of the Government to con-
ceal the unwelcome truth can prevent the diffusion
of unfavourable reports, to the effect that, less for-
tunate than General Kilpatrick, he has been defeated
in a pitched battle with tremendous ioss, and that his
army has been virtually annihilated. The division
that marched from Caattanooga under Gen. Thomas
as far as Funnel-hill, on the road to Dalton, has, if
rumour be not entirely untrustworthy, been forced
to retrace its steps, and take refuge within its ori-
ginal intrenchments ; so that nothing remains of all
the great plans of the opening campaign but the
presence of Admiral Farragut before the outer de-
fences of Mobile, to repeat, perhaps, after a suffi-
cient lapse of time, the abortive operations of Ad-
miral Dahigren before Charleston. Under the in-
fluence of these simultaneous failures and shortcom-
ings the gold markethas been considerably disturbed
and the precious metal yesterday ranked above
greenbacks at the rate of 63Z- per cent., and has this
morning gone up as high as 68, with the prospect
of a still farther rise if Mr. Chase does not " bear"
the market by selling a few millions of the reserves
in the Treasury which he holds at his disposal.
None of the military heroes whom the war has
produced has enjoyed a very long lease of popu-
larity. Their fame and favour have been as
evanescent as.the rainbow, and as unsubstantial as
the foam upon the water. One General alone
remains with a reputation which nothing seems
capable of shaking; and that is M'Clellan. All the
rest have disappeared into the outer darkness, never
more to emerge into the light of the people's love.
The present favourite is General Grant, the recently
appointed Commander-in-Chief under Mr. Lincoln,
and the newest new broom that is expected to sweep
everything before it. The General arrived at
'Washington yesterday, and, while quietly eating
his dinner at that uncomfortable caravanseri
known as Willard's Hotel, was recognised by a too
inquisitive lieutenant, and compelled to get up
and show himself to the 500 or 600 men and
women who were all feeding together. The
General made the beat of the difficulty, suffered an
immense amount of handshaking, and finally beat
a retreat without finishing his repast. In the even-
ing he presented himself before the President at his
customary public receptio2, when the two remark-
able men met for the first time, and surveyed each
other, it is to be presumed, with mutual curiosity.
The spectacle that presents itself to the General at
Washington, if he study it attentively, is not of a
nature to impress him strongly with the faith that
his own popularity will endure much longer than
that of his predecessors. Ha will find a divided
Cabinet, as well as a divided people, and in the
upper ranks of the army, which he is about to
direct, an amount of profe.ssional jealousy and
heart-burning of the vary worst augury for its
discipline and efficiency. Every captain thinks
himself fit to be a brigadier, every brigadier fit to
be a major-general, and every major-general fit to
be President. Everybody is in the way of every-
body else; and self-seeking is the vice and bane and
misery of every one above the rank of corporal.
General Meade in winning the battle of Gettysburg
made himself a host of enemies, and is accused by
some of his subordinate bi igadiers, who think them-
selves better soldiers than he, of giving the order to
retreat in the very heat of the contest—of having,
in fact, lost the battle, as far as his skill or general-
ship was concerned, and of having declared what
hundreds of thousands who are not generals do not
hesitate to avow, that the conquest of the South is
impossible. For these offences—charged against
him by persona whose business was to obey his
orders and not to criticize them—General Meade
has been examined before a Congressional commit-
tee, to learn what answer ho has to make, and,
unless supported by General Grant, will probably
be superseded by some other officer who has no
friendship for General M'Ciellaa and no admiration
of the military genius of the hero of Antietam. The
truth is that Meade has served his turn; his poli-
tics, though he seldom avows and never thrusts
them forward, are distasteful to the ruling faction;
and his history, if General Grant will read it as
attentively as he should along with that of every
other General who has borne a prominent part in
the war, will give him reason to walk warily in his
new position, and not trust too confidently in the
continued favour either of the President, the Cabinet
or the people.
New York, both city and State, were yesterday
called upon to decide, through the agency of the
ballot. box, the question whether soldiers cease to be
civilians while they are in the field. One of the
greatest of the many perils that liberty is doomed
to encounter during the progress of the war and the
convulsions that may attend the final triumphs of
the principle of secession, is the exercise by the mili-
tary in the camp of the right of voting. By the
constitution of nearly ell the States, this right is
Practically denied by the provision which enacts
that the voter shall personally record his vote at
the appointed polling place of his electoral district.
In the Can of an army in the field this is impossi-
ble ; and the soldier is temporarily, and, many think,
rightly deprived of the suffrage accorded to ail
other classes of the community. Were the Ame-
ricaus of this day as jealous of their liberties as
their British ancestors, they would not only not
seek to interfere with the existing practice, but
would strenuously oppose every change which
should even have a teudency to allow the soldiers to
vote in a body under the direction of their officers.
An attempt was made last year in New York, New
Jersey, Pennsylvania, and other States to bring
about the desired innovation by means of an Act of
the Legislature. In New York a measure was passed
by both houses, bat was vetoed by Gov. Seymour
on the ground that a change of such magnitude
could only be legally effected by a vote of the whole
people calling for an amendment of the Constitution.
Yesterday was appointed throughout the State
for putting the vote on this single goestion.
The republican party very generally supported
the change, and with their principles they very
naturally did so; for to giro the soldiers in the
camp such a privilege is a step towards the military
despotism to which, under the impulse of their love
of centralisation, they are so rapidly driving the
country.. Besides, such a means of taking the vote
is an attack on the principles of State rights, which
they have resolved to destroy, and on that ground
alone wculd have been entitled to their support.
The Democratic parry generally looked with disfa'