The Sun.
London, England, 1864-07-26 00:00:00

The " raid" of the Confederates into Maryland—
at which all New York laughed last week—if it
ever condescended to bestow a thought upon the
matter, has grown into a formidable invasion. Even
yet there are a few optimists or incredulous persons
who think that the South is bankrupt, beggared,
dispirited, famished, and demoralised; who insist
that Lee has made a mistake in sending his horse-
men into the rich cornfields of Maryland ; that they
will infallibly be cut off with their booty ; and that
Grant will take advantage of their absence to cep•
tore both Petersburg and Richmond. But the bulk
of the public has awakened, though somewhat
tardily, to the conviction that. Washington is in im-
minent danger ; that Washington and not Baltimore
is the destination of the Confederate General, and
that it will require the presence of the whole Army
of the Potomac to prevent its capture. The invade
ing hosts, of which no one knows the numbers,
though they are variously estimated at from 40,000
to 80,000 men, carry everything before them. The
affrighted farmers leave their fields and tneir cattle
and betake themselves to the great cities for safety.
The great cities are in as much terror as the rural
districts. Washingtcn and even Philadelphia are
sending their valuables to New York, and everybody
who up to Saturday lest could get away from Mary-
land and the more exposed districts and cities of
Pennsylvania hurried off as fast as possible, To-day
they have no longer a chance. The Confederates
are within four miles of Baltimore and six of Wash-
ington. They have defeated the army of General
Wallace, who thought to withstand their advance
on the Monocacy, and driven him into Baltimore.
They have burnt down the house of Mr. Brad-
ford, the " loyal " or anti-Southern Governor of
Maryland, and that of Mr Blair, the chief friend
and adviser of Mr. Lincoln. They have cap-
tured the private despatches of Secretary Stan.
ton, General Grant, and others. They have
cut the telegraphic wires connecting with this city,
They have broken up the railroads, destroyed the
bridges, and prevented all communication with the
North except by the byroads and the sea. Conse-
quently, a few chance pedestrians or horsemen who
may be willing to run the risks of capture in the
attempt and passengers by the coast steamers are
the only persons on whom the Northern public can
at present rely for information from Maryland and
the Federal capital, It is remarkable under such
circumstances that no spark of patriotic ardour can
be fanned into a flame in the hearts of the border and
Northern people. As regards Maryland, there is, per-
haps, no room for wonder, for Maryland is Southern
in feeling, in prejudice, in interest, in affection, and
hails the invaders as an army of deliverers. But
Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and New York are dull,
listless, and apathetic. The President calla for
militiaman to defend the national capital, but the
militia either plumply refuse, interpose vexatious
delays, or haggle for terms. The Federal Govern-
ment is like a man drowning in a river, but though
there are scores of people on the bank, all able to
swim, not one volunteers to save him, though seve-
ral talk to the half- suffocated wretch, and endea-
vour to extort a promise of some advantage to
themselves to repay them for the exertion, and
to indemnify them for the wetting of their clothes.
Governor Curtis, of Pennsylvania, is both alarmed
and indignant, and utterly at a loss to account for
such lukewarmness,—he will not call it cowardice
on the part of his people. In a proclamation dated
the day before yesterday, and addressed to the
Mayor of Philadelphia and the people of Pennsyl.
vania, he tells them candidly that they are not
responding freely to his and the President's
demands; urges them to come forward " like
men," and "do their duty;" accuses them of
stupidity in not understanding the gravity of the
circumstances, and " prays to God to enlighten
" them, that the honour of their commonwealth may
be preserved." But the people make no sign. The
poor attend to their daily work as if nothing were
amiss, and the rich send away their jewels, their
plate, and their greenbacks to safer cities than their
own, some even so far to the north as Boston, and
some still further to Toronto and Montreal, out of
Federal jurisdiction altogether. They seem to
think that Mr. Lincoln has raised and possesses
soldiers enough to defend this country, and reso-
lutely refuse to do any fighting. The people of New I
York are scarcely a whit more zealous. The Gover- I
nor of the State—who is prosecuting before the
recognised legal tribunals the Federal military !
authorities in this city, who have contravened and
sat at defiance the laws and constitution, which he,
on assuming office, took a solemn oath to maintain
—does not think it advisable to send to Washington
the militia, on whom he may have to depend, should
the Federal Government force a collision between
the civil and military power ; and while he orders
by proclamation that the full complement of militia
shall be raised in the rural districts of his great
State as well as in the cities of New York and
Brooklyn, which have hitherto borne the blunt of
militia service both at home and in Virginia, he
takes care to make it known to all whom it may con«
cern that he requires the men " in every county to
be in a condition ha enforce the laws of the State,
support the decisions of the judiciary, to maintain
peace and order, and put down resistance to lawful
authority." The Mayor of New York, Mr Gunther,
in a letter to Major General Sandford, commanding
the New York militia, breaks similar ground, and
endeavours to persuade that officer that the true
place for the militia ie in New York and not
in Washington. In this singular document
he states " that in these times of general and
local peril enlightened self-interest is emphatically
the synonym of patriotism." Taking this curious
aphorism as the basis of his argument, he furthor-
more states his " grave apprehensions" that the
withdrawal of any considerable number of militia
men from the city at this moment, when the depre-
ciation of the currency is bearing heavily upon the
masses of the people, " might tempt the lawless
and evil.-disposed to avail themselves of what might
seem to them a favourable opportunity for arson
and plunder," and for that reason " earnestly pro-
tests against any material reduction" of the local
force. It would almost seem as if the Mayor would
as little regret a popular outbreak, if not too severe,
as the orator who advised a mob not to nail a man's
ears to the pump would have regretted their con-
tempt of his entreaty. The Mayor is well belaboured
by the Republic, and gently reasoned with by
the Democratic journals, for having drawn
so alarming a picture of the state of the city, which,
unless Mr Lincoln be too much occupied with his own
safety at Washington to attend to it, may, perhaps,
be made the pretetzt of declaring martial law in
this city. It is difficult, in view of public utterances
" significant as these, and of the indifference, not
to say the contempt with which Mr Lincoln's ap-
peals for assistance are everywhere received, to
avoid believing that at last the people are losing
heart in the war, and that if Mr Lincoln cannot
repel invasion and conquer the South by the 'abun-
dant means
already placed at his disposal they are
coming to the conclusion, that peace cannot be made
too soon. There is no longer enthusiasm for
longer any
the war, unless it be in the countinghouses of those
who are making money by
it. Even the churches
have lost faith, and br Che
nothing but
ruin in the war, if Mr Lincoln isse
to
duet it. The foreign element, both bees left to con.
of the Irish and
the Germans, when enters a:largely into the come
position of society in New York, is notoriously op-
posed to any further hostilities. People who a year
ago spoke freely of the subjugation of the South
have so changed, their opinions as to declare pub-
licly, not only that the South cannot be conquered,
but that the North ought not to strive any longer
to accomplish a purpose so fatal to its own liberty.
Were the Americans other than they are, were
it possible to
appreciate their motives, and to
trace the tendency of their actions, as if they
were Englishmen, Frenchmen, or other Europeans,
it would seem as if the hour of triumph of the
peace party had come; that the public were pre-
pared to listen if any one had the courage to speak,
and that it only required a man of mark to take the
lead to secure such an expression of the public will
as would speedily revolutionise the policy of the
North and put an end to a war so deplorable in its
conduct, so un satisfactory in its results, and which