The Sun.
London, England, 1864-07-04 00:00:00

Wilmington, Charleston, and Mobile, concerning
the most favourable conditions of sea, sky, and tide
for running out or coming in, can be obtained
otherwise than upon Southern soil. Yet, it is not
deemed by the British Admiralty to be a matter of
importance that they should be represented at Wil-
mington and elsewhere by one of our most accom-
plished officers. It is humiliating to be told, as I
have been again and again, that no such emissary
will be sent without the consent of Mr. Adams, and
that this consent he will never give. But, great as
is the concurrence of opinion among Englishmen in
America upon the importance of this subject, there
is but too much reason to fear that this blockhde
will be unheeded and its lessons unlearnt by com-
petent English officials. It is idle for me to point
out that not only is there opportunity for a naval
officer to gain invaluable information, but that, in
spite of the answer given three months ago by Lord
de Grey to the effect that it was not important to
send military officers to the South by reason of the
inferiority of its resources, it is the opinion of every
English officer who has been to the Southern States
that there is infinitely more to be learnt here during
a month than in the North during a year. It is, I
think, pretty well admitted by this time that as re■
gards construction of guns or the architecture of
ironclad Monitors, England has nothing to learn
from the North. But in every other department of
the vast science of war there is more to be gained as
regards the present struggle by studying it from a
Southern than from a Northern point of view. As
an instance, it may be asked where there is upon this
continent anything to be compared in interest with
an inside view of Charleston and Fort Sumter. It
is the opinion of experienced judges that the earth.
' works around Richmond are the most formidable
that modern experience has shown. The novel
system of defensive works around Mobile is de-
' scribed to me upon excellent testimony as the most
instructive of studies for a military engineer. I
know not whether there be truth in the assertion
which has greeted me here that two French officers
of ability are momentarily expected in the South,
but it hes always appeared to me incompre-
hensible that the French Emperor should have
shown an apathy about this war which, mistaken
as I hold it to be in England's case, admits, so far
as England is concerned, of easy and plausible
explanation.
As an illustration of the facility and certainty
with which the blockade is now defied I will
mention in conclusion a few facts. Between the
At of May and the Ist of June no less than twenty-
four vessels made the port of Wilmington safely
without disaster befalling a single vessel. No
wonder that piles upon piles of Government goods
are stored here, awaiting, when there is less strain
upon the railroads, transportation to Richmond and
Atlanta: lam informed by the Government agent
here that in his whole experience he has never lost
a single outward-bound letter. A gentleman at
Bermuda, the agent of an eminent English firm, told
me that during two years he had sent an average
of three mails per month from Bermuda and Nassau
into Secessia, and that the whole time only two
mails had been lost.
I shall defer' until my arrival in Richmond any
remarks upon the condition of military affairs in
Virginia and Georgia as J find them at this moment,
bridly remarking that it is infinitely, more en-
couraging in every respect than I had been led at
Halifax to anticipate.