The Sun.
London, England, 1864-03-30 00:00:00

about 150 miles of sparsely settled territory, de-
stroyed everything that came in their way, pulled
up the rails, and destroyed the railway stations and
locomotives and carriages, broke down the bridges,
set fire to barns, mills, private dwellings and stores;
destroyed at least six towns and villages, which
had populations, black and white, of between 300
and 1,000 souls each; and having reached the vil-
lage of Meridian, of which he scarcely left a brick
or a beam standing, retraced his steps to Vicks-
burg, unable to proceed further on account of the
failure of General Smith's cavalry to render them
the aid expected. He captured 800 mules and about
300 Confederate soldiers, besides upwards of 3,000
negroes, mostly women and children. He claims to
have virtually succeeded in his object, which was to
destroy the railway of Central Mississippi; but if
nothing more was intended, the civilised world may
well ask if it be civilised warfare to employ such
tremendous agencies for results so worthless in a
military point of view, and tending to nothing so
much as the infliction of unnecessary cruelty and
the exasperation of an enemy whom it has left un-
subdued. But it appears that the real object was
to reach and to hold Selma, on the Alabama river,
a commanding position threatening Montgomery,
the State capital. But General Polk at the head of a
Confederate army numbering less than 10,000 men
tracked the heels of the raiders and compelled them
to retreat, with what loss he does not state. The
railways will be restored, the bridges will be rebuilt,
most likely in time for the summer campaign, bat
the remembrance of the devastation will endure as
long as a white man inhabits Mississippi or any
other Southern State, and will form a bar, if there
were nothing else, to prevent a fraternal union be-
tween the Southern and the Northern people. The
Americans are very much in the habit, even in these
reckless and extravagant times, of calculating the
cost of everything they undertake. Might it not be
useful, if not instructive, if they would reckon up
the figures and ascertain if Gen. Sherman's raid did
not cost the United States Treasury very much more
than the amount of damage it inflicted upon the
people of Mississippi; and whether the expense of
maintaining 3,000 negro women and children, or
the shame of allowing them to die of disease and
starvation in the camp, might not be added to the
gloomy side of the account in the charge which his-
tory will some day bring against the Federal
Government for this gigantic failure ?
Public opinion in this city has begun to pro-
nounce itself against this " raid" as well as against
that (equally flagitious and unproductive of any
military result) which was conducted by Gen. Kil-
patrick against Richmond. Few persons are to be
found who do not condemn them both as tending to
degrade the Federal Government and its generals in
the eyes of Europe, and as being worse than useless as
military measures. But ns these expeditions are be-
lieved to have been planned at Washington, people
are willing to believe that with the appointment of
Lieutenant-General Grant to the chief command,
vice Halleck, relieved at his own request, a new and
better military era is about to commence. This,
however, is not likely. Grant approved if he did not
organise and suggest the raid of Gen. Sherman ;
and notwithstanding that he was successful before
Vicksburg and at Chattanooga there is as yet no
sufficient evidence before the world to prove that he
is in any respect a wiser statesman or a better gene-
ral than any who have gone before him, or that he
is half so good as :`,l'Cleilan or Meade. But the Ame-
rican people are proverbially hopeful. They trust a
new man before they have time to know or study
him, and manufacture heroes out of rude material as
deftly as a ship carpenter can manufacture a figure-
head. For the moment, however, Gen. Grant is the
hope of the State. He is not known to be a politician,
which is highly in his favour, and has not taken the
slightest trouble to put himself forward for the
Presidency—another circumstance which makes him
temporarily as much a favourite with the Republi-
cans as with the Democrats,both of whom have other
candidates in view better suited to their purposes.
The friends of Gen. Fremont have established a
weekly journal in this city, under the title of the
IN'eto Nation, with the sole object of promoting his
claims to the chief magistracy. Discarding the idea
that the Union ever was a nation, they announce
his policy and their own to be that of making it one,
and of welding in the fiery furnace of the war the
crude mass of the States into a spick and span na-
tionality as homogenous as France. The object is
worthy of the ambition of Northern statesmen,
whether aspirants to the Presidency or not, and
may possibly be accomplished after the independ-
ence of the South shall have been secured. It will,
to all present appearance, be the sole means by
which the now incongruous and ineohesive remnant
of the Union can be held together, or by which such
Middle States as Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and
New York can be firmly cemented in feeling and
interest with New England and the West. The
Fremont party specify six separate essentials for
attaining this end :--Ist, absolute, complete, and
immediate liberty without distinction of colour or
race ; 2d, the absolute maintenance of the Monroe
doctrine, as a guarantee of Republican liberty on
the American Continent; 3d, an effective military
organisation, and the appointment of generals for
military, and not political reasons ; 4th, a dirainu•
tion of the power of the Executive, and the greater
responsibility of Cabinet Ministers to Congress;
sth, the renunciation by the States of all the con-
stitutional rights now enjoyed that might militate
against the displacement of a confederation by a
nation ; and, Gth, the election of a President willing
and able to carry all these measures into effect, and
to " impart such lustre to the American name as
will dazzle the eyes of the world." The task is im-
possible of fulfilment now, and, however desirable,
may prove to be impossible at any future time. The
first object, provided the South be allowed without
further opposition to manage its own affairs, is easy
of accomplishment. The second is not to be so
lightly spoken of, for it would imply that the new
nation, if it were ever established, would make the
presence of the Emperor Maximilian in Mexico a
casus belli against that Prince and his army, and
against the Emperor of the French who sent him
there ; and would also make it a casus belli against
Great Britain if at any future time the British
North Americans between ocean and ocean should
form themselvee, by their own consent and that
of their country, into an empire or a kingdom,
with a Prince of the blood Royal of England to
rule over them, as many eminent and influen-
tial Canadians at this moment desire. The third
object is highly praiseworthy, and, indeed,
urgent, not merely to establish a nation in
jutoro, but to prevent a long Lerics of humilia-
tions and disasters to the Federal arms, or perhaps
the disrup!ioa of the existing
Federal States. The
fourth would not further the object to be attained,
for no Executive that was not greatly strengthened
iostead of being weakened, could hope even to make
the attempt without being overridden or displaced.
The fifth would require a social and political revo-
lation, ancl an abnegation on the part of the: States
which, in a country so corrupt and so abounding
with patronage as America, would be nothing short
of marvelloustbut which may nevertheless be effected
in due time if the war teach the Americans that it
is better to be strong ,Ibroid than happy at home;
and that the maximum of Government to make a
nation feared by its enemies or rivals is better than
the minimum which makes it beloved by its own
people. The sixth and last needs but little comment.
11 a man both willing and able to accomplish the
mighty task can be found all the difficulties will