The Sun.
London, England, 1864-06-30 00:00:00

SPIRIT OP THE PUBLIC JOURNALS.

TIMES.—Tian news from America this morning
informs us of a fresh and extraordinary change in
the aspect of the Virginian campaign. General
Grant, having found the Confederate position on the
Chickahominy as impregnable as all the others he
has attacked, has made another strategical move-
ment. When we last received any important infor-
mation from him he was facing Lee's array on the
north-east of Richmond, and had been completely
defeated in an attempt to force his way through the
Confederate defences. He remained in the same
position for no less than ten days, making no further
attempt to force an advance. The repose must have
been as welcome to his own army as to his adver-
sary's; but it could not be long continued without
an acknowledgment of defeat. On the 13th of June,
accordingly, h and his army commenced a fresh
flank movement to an entirely new field of opera-
' tions, and to a scene hitherto undreamt of by the
army of the Potomac. He marched again to his
left, down the Chickahominy, and crossed it appa-
rently near the ground made memorable by M‘Ciele
lan's disastrous battles in 1802, He must have
traversed those fields themselves, and, like his pre•
decessor, he reached the James River. His movement,
however, did not stop there ; he crossed the James
River, and joked Butter at Bermuda Hundred. He
seems to have effected this march unmolested, and
the successful accomplishment of such a hazardous
movement is a remarkable proof either of General
Grant's skill or General Lee's caution, or both.
The extraordinary result is that Grant is now
exactly on the opposite side of Richmond to that
from which he began his campaign. He started
from near Fredericksburg on the north; he is now
close to Petersburg on the south. Being unable to
enter Richmond in front, he has marched past it,
and is now trying to get into the city at the back.
In fact, he has made a halfscirole round the city,
and if he continues, as he has promised, to move
" on this line" all the summer he may, in process of
time, complete the circle, and get round again to
where he started from. It would be difficult to con-
ceive a more practical admission of failure up to the
present point than is contained in this remarkable
movement. As has been already observed, both in
America and here, the position which Grant held
on the Chickahominy might hare been reached, as
it was reached by without any loss at
all; but the same reflection is still more obvious
and decisive in this case, for a Federal force had
already been established at the point to which Grant
has now betaken himself. The Federal gunboats
and transports planted General Butler at Bermuda
Hundred; at the very outset of the campaign, with
the express purpose of effecting a diversion on the
south of Richmond while Grant made the main
attack from the north. It is obvious, therefore, that
General Grant has only resorted to this manoeuvre
because his original plan has been entirely defeated.
He has expended 100,000 men with absolutely no
result at all, and he begins to all intents and pur-
poses a fresh campaign with all the disadvantages
of an army diminished by this enormous loss and
dispirited by obvious failure. It must be allowed
that General Grunt and his soldiers maintain the
character they bad already acquired for indomitable
perseverance. Few Generals and few troops would
persist in this dogged and determined struggle.
Beaten off on one side, he attacks on another, and
promises to be true at all events to part of his
determination—" to fight it out all summer."
When we turn from the mere external aspect
of the movement to attempt an estimate of its
nature and prospects, we are met by the &s-
-advantage of not having the experience to guide
us en the south which makes a campaign on the
north and east of Richmond a matter almost of
scientific calculation. This movement of General
Grant opens up, as we have said, an entirely new
scene of warfare. The struggle hitherto has been
either on the line from the Rappahannock or on
that from the Peninsula. General Grant has tried
both these and foiled, and now, for the first time in
the history of the war, h enters on a third. The
first eff,,ct of the transfer of the whole Federal army
to the south bank of the James River has been, of
course, the withdrawal of the Confederate force
which had confined Butler to his intrenchments.
Before Grant can follow them it is obviously neces-
sary for him to secure his rear by making sure of
Petersburg, and accordingly we hear that two divi-
sions of the Federal army have attacked that city.
On the 15th this attack had been so far successful
that an out work two miles from the city had been
captured, and a rumour seems to have prevailed at
the date of the last advices that the city had been
taken. It had, however, no confirmation, and it is
difficult to believe that a city of so much importance
as Petersburg, the centre of so many lines of rail-
way, can have been open to so easy a capture.
Unless this attack is successful, the campaign may
resolve itself into a siege of Petersburg instead of e
siege of Richmond. Supposing, however, General
Grant to be successful in this first act of his new
programme, he will then be free to march on Rich-
mond from the south, having his headquarters on
the James River. What grounds he can have for
presuming that he will find less resistance on this
side then ,On the other it is difficult to imagine. In
the fiast place, he is now on the south side of the
James, and a river, therefore, is added to the other
defences which the south side of -Richmond may pos.
sees in common with the north, for only a small por-
tion of the city lies on the south side. As matters are
at present the Federal gunboats could offer no as-
sistance. About eight miles from the city the naviga-
tion of the James is closed by artificial obstructions,
and Fort Darling stands on the south bank to bar
any further advance. If Grant could take Fort
Darling and remove these obstructions, he could
proceed to attack the Confederate capital; and if
after the capture of Petersburg the next point of
attack is not Fort Darling, it is difficult to see what
i'reneral Grant's prospects'are. There are some
reasons for believing that the Confederates have
gunboats above Fort Darling, and therefore, if
Grant cannot force a passage up the river, he may
have the favourite resource of the Federals turned
against himself. It is to be remembered also that
as General Grant's army is now united, so also may
General Lee's be. It would seem that no sufficient
Federal force has been left :to the north of the
James to occupy General Lee's attention, and to all
appearances he may either transfer his force to the
assistance of Beauregard, who has hitherto defended
the south, or, if a smaller force can make that side
of the city secure, he is free to march unopposed
towards Washington. All these considerations
make it very unlikely that the Federal task will be
easier in the new battle-field than it was in those
upon which they have so often been foiled. It must
be added, however, to these considerations, that
if a lirge Federal force could establish itself to the
south of Richmond the consequences [eight be
serious, for if the city were besieged on that side its
connection with the rest of the Confederacy would
be endangered, The advance of General Hunter
upon Staunton is, therefore, assuming considerable
importance, He has been joined by two other
Generals, Crook and Averill, and Pope with
4,000 men was said at be marching to his reinforce-
ment up the Shenandoah Valley, His forces are
directed towardeLynchburg,an important menufac-
taring town higher up the same river as Richmond
—the James—and on the Virginia and East Ten-
nessee Beilroad; which is an important line of Lee's
supplies. If he succeeded in seizing the town and
railroad, the Confederates not only lose an
important depot, but the communication of Rich-
mond with the south woil!d dernend upon one line
of railway, to Danville, running midway nee;; een
the Peteisbnrg and Lynchburg, lifiee, and even this
would be a very precarious resource, when Federal
armies were on both sides oZ it. The movement is
considered sufficiently eeriotie for two divisions of
the Copredlsrate aierele to ha-i.e been sent to defend
Lynchburg, while General Early's corps, which
held the left of Lee's line in his recent position on
the Chickahominy, bas been despatched to attack
Hunter directly. The fact of General Sheridan's
cavalry Corps having been detached to join this ex-
pedition seems to show that it enters materially
into Grant's plans. This cavalry force indeed has
been met and defeated by the Confederate cavalry
under Fitzhugh Loe and Hampton. That a similar
fate should overtake the other divisions of Gee
neral Hunter's expedition is of very great im-
portance to the Confederate defence. The
other news is of minor importance compared
with the struggle in Virginia. General Sherman
is said to be forbidden to go any further, or to risk
any general engagement outside his intrenchments.
This ie not a hopeful position for a General in the
heart of an enemy's country. Moreover, an attack
upon his communications was anticipated. A Fe-
deral expedition, 8,000 strong, which left Mem-
phis on the Ist of June, was met in Western Ten-
nessee by a strong force under General Forrest,
and was so completely defeated as to lose all its
ammunition and artillery, and be driven back
with great loss to Memphis. This force of
Forrest's is believed to be moving on Sher•
man's rear. While the Federals are thus powerless
in Tennessee, General Morgan has reappeared in
Kentucky, and has retired after a successful raid.
His force, however, is much needed in Virginia,
and it is bad policy to waste energy upon such
transitory efforts. Everything for the present
centres rcund Grant, and we await with more in-
terest and anxiety than ever the development of his
new and daring plan.
Pose.--Tile allied armies in Schleswig have sig-
nalised the recommencement of hostilities by a b uc•
sees which, though not brilliant, will at least by
them be regarded as substantial. The Island of
Alsen has fallen, and the Germans are now the une
disputed possessors of every acre of Schleswig soil.
From its contiguity to this Duchy the island was
regarded by both belligerents to forming a portion