The Sun.
London, England, 1864-12-20 00:00:00

THE CIVIL WAR IN AMERI CA

(From the Times' Correspondent.)
NEW YORK, Dec, 6.

General Sherman,a retreat through the heart of I
Georgia to the Atlantic is the most remarkable
episode of the war. It is now 24 days since finding-
Atlanta, conquered with so much difficulty, to be,,
untenable, and the road back again to Chattanooga.„
was barred against him, he took the resolution to,''
march to the seaboard, carrying fire and havoc be.,
fore him. lie has not marched so rapidly as he an-
ticipated,
but he has done fully as much mischief as lc,
he planned, and far more than other half dozen of 1
his competitors for the favour and gratitude of the 1
i
exterminating North. He has threatened so many
cities at once, and bewildered opposition so much
by the mystery of his movements and intentions—
ho has been so well aided by his subordinate gene.
rals,"both of infantry and cavalry, and has exhi•!
bited such audacity both of conception and execue.
Lion, that if he reach the Atlantic in safety with.
only one half of his army he will be entitled to the
highest place among the real heroes of the war, and
will stand out in the page of history in bold and
robust relief by the side of such generals as
MiCleilan, Burnside, Pope, Hooker, and Meade, and
overtop even Grant in heroic stature by the head
and shoulders. But if he fail—if the forces gather'
ingon his front and rear unite to overwhelm him and
his whole army in a pitched battle or in a succession
of battles at every step of his further progress—
Sherman's name will go down to posterity as that
of the rashest, instead of the boldest, of generals—
the execrations of the South will in any event follow
his memory for ever, and the North, with the pro.
verbial injustice of the people, will measure him
by his results, and forget him as speedily as
possible. The Northern public owe to the
Southern journals almost all the information yet
received of his movements. Sherman tolerates
no correspondents either in camp or on the march,
and, even, if he did, he is in a hostile country and
cut off from all communication either by rail,
or telegraph, or the common road with his
own Government and people. His average march
appears not to have exceeded seven miles a day, and
it this be the case he has not yet reached the middle
point of his perilous adventure, and will have to
incur for the future a much larger danger, and to
boffin or defeat a greater amount of opposition than
he has incurred at any previous stage of his progress.
If he be, as many accounts place him, midway be.
tween Macon and Augusta, and in a position to fall
suddenly upon either of those cities, he may yet for
several days be able to foil all enemies ; but as soon
as he passes much to the eastward and threatens
either Charleston and Savannah, or march to the
coast without risking an attack upon either of those
well fortified places, all the elements of opposition
on his flanks and roar will be enabled to combine
and force him to accept battle. It is claimed that
Mr Lincoln and Mr Stanton are in possession of
recent intelligence from Gen. Sherman in the highest
degree consolatory and encouraging for the North,
but few people are found to believe the statement.
If such intelligence had been received it would be
flashed over the telegraphic evires to every part of
the country to keep up the public spirits and keep
down the price of gold. Bat as this hes not been
done the public have come to the conclusion that
there is no news whatever but such as the Southern
journals choose to communicate to their own people,
and the general character of such news is sufficient
to prove that Sherman's difficulties,so far from have
ing been surmounted, have only commenced ; and

that if he reach the Atlantic and the co•operating
fl3et, he will have to do harder fighting than has
yet tried the mettle cf his trustiest veterans.

The state of affiirs in Tennessee is quite as excit-
ing as in Georgia. General Thomas is striving to
retain military possession of the State, and General
Hood to recover it for the Confederacy. Hood,
though repulsed at Franklin, continues to act on
the offensive, and is besieging Nashville at the
head of an army which is asserted, it is not
known with what truth, to outnumber very
greatly that of his antagonist. Nashville is strongly
fortifi2d, and. possibly well provisioned, and may be
quite as able to stand a long siege as Rich-mond, so
that the public, impatient to hear news from that
quarter, may have to moderate its expectations
and prepare for something less stirring than the
capture of that city by a sudden coup de main, or a
triumphant sortie of the besieged upon the be.

siegers.

By to. morrow there will be a glut of newa of a
diff_rent description. There will be the President's
annual Message to Congress, the opening portions of
which have been already telegraphed to the evening
papers, and the correspondence of Mr Seward
with the representatives of the Federal Govern•
meat in England, Franco, Germany, Rassi2, and
every part of the world where Mr Lincoln main-
tains either a Minister or a consul—a correspon-
dence filling no less than 3,000 closely printed
pages, and suggesting that Mr Seward must have
as many eyes as Argus and as many hands as
Briareus, besides the superhuman industry of Her-
cules. There will also be the Reports of the Naval
Department and the Post-office, and the Financial
Report of Mr Fessenden—a document which will
probably be considered of far more importance in
America, if not in Earope, than Mr Lincoln's Mes-
eage or Mr Seward's despatches, however credible
either may be to the statesmanship or the industry
or their authors.

The great "phosphorus conspiracy" continues
to employ the energy of the military and the vigi-
lance of the civic authorities. It is assumed both
by General Dix and the police that the plot is of
Southern origin, and consequently the Southern
refugees in this city—against none of whom is there
as yet to be discovered a particle of proof of com-
plicity in the crime—have been ordered to report
themselves at head-qoarters, either to receive per-
mission to remain if they can give a satisfactory
account of themselves or to be sent to Fort La.
Payette or back to their native South as circum-
stances may dictate. It was supposed that upwards
of 20,000 such persons were resident in New York ;
but no such numbers have yet presented themselves
before Gen. Dix and his adjutants. As a warning to
them, whatever their numbers may be, that they
cannot with impunity refuse compliance with this
order, the police on Sunday morning made a eimule
taneous descent upon all the hotels where people of
Southern birth and Confederate opinions and sym-
pathies are known to congregate, but only succeeded
in arresting about 19 out of a list of 80 which had
bsen handed in as that of suspicious characters who
required looking after. Most of these gentlemen
were able to give a satisfactory explanation of the
business that brought them to this city, of the era•
ployment of their time since their arrival, and of
the reasons why they had neglected to report them-
selves. After their names, place of birth, age, height,
complexion, general appearance, business, and resi-
dence had been duly entered in the "black book,"
they were severally discharged, with a caution as to
their future behaviour. The remainder were held
in durance, to await further inquiry into their
character and antecedents. The consequence of
this measure was that yesterday and to-day crowds
of Southern people presented themselves at the mili-
tary office for enrolment. The great majority cf
them were women and children, driven from their
Southern homes by the mien ies of war, while, others
were merely timid or cowardly people who had no
stomach for the fight, and preferred peace and quiet
and a whole skin to any cause, however noble, A
Richmond paper, whose comments upon the plot
are copied in to the New York journals of this morn-
ing, fervently hopes that Gen, Dix, having
6' " " ls " such
sneaks sud c,oware
as these last in his pos-
session, will iccontinently cause them to be
hanged.
The Richmond pipers disavow all approval of the
conspiracy, if such there were, and would rather
that 131?,t0n should he burnt in retaliation for the
atr, ities committed by Sherman and Sheridan, ar,d
those smaller soldiers, hut greater tyrants, MiNeii,
B.lrbridfe, and. Payne, thaw thst.Naw York and the
innocent hotel proprie-tors and their guests should
enffer. Of the "plot" itself there is nothing DM to
record. If the conepizaiers were Southern agents,
they have been far more successful in keeping their
secret than in effecting their purpose; and if they
were thieves, there is more honour among them than
the police or any one else could have anticipated,
for not one has informed eg :debt his associates, j

although a free pardon and large pecuniary rewards
amounting to nearly £5,000 sterling have been
offered for the conviction of the offenders. The
mystery up to this time remains impenetrable, and
every theory that is broached to account for the cir.
cumstances, not only of the failure of the attempt,
but of the shill of the perpetrators in evading de-
tection is surrounded with so many difficulties that
in despair of any better solution many people incline
' to the belief that it is neither a Confederate nor a
Federal plot, nor a conspiracy of thieves, but the
solitary attempt of a cunning madman goaded to
revenge by brooding over real or imaginary wrongs
which he has suffered at the hands of the Northern
Government. Not that this theory is better than
any other, but that it is newer, and as such finds
momentary favour with the lovers of sensational
talk or sensational reading.
It is announced, on authority, that Mr Chase has
been rewarded for the good service he rendered to
Mr Lincoln when he withdrew from the Presiden.•

tial contest, by receiving the coveted appointment
of Chief Justice of the Supreme Court. There now
only remains General Fremont to be provided for,
and as the Embassy to Paris would suit him, and
as he can speak French like a Frenchman, it is con-
sidered probable that General Fremont will be
named as Mr Dayton's successor. Mr Chase's ap•
pointment will be generally received with favour.
It is true he made a failure in the financial de.
partment, but the American public is generous to
its servants, and finds excuses for:the shortcomings
of Mr Chase in the Treasury in the candid
admission that if ho did ill it was not possible for
any known financier to have done better. Besides,
they have not only condoned but rewarded the
failures of Mr Lincoln, by affording him the oppor.
tunity to repeat them, and they will not press more
hardly upon Mr Chase, one of the very honestest
public man in the country, and of more undoubted
capacity than any Minister whom Mr Lincoln has
yet called into his service.