The Sun.
London, England, 1864-08-31 00:00:00

THE SUN, LONDON, WE EVENING, AUGUST 31, 1864

THE CIVIL WAR IN AMERICA.

(Prom the Times' Correspondent )

CLIFIONsHOUSE, NIAGARA FALLS, Aug. 15.
The opposition of Mr Lincoln's re-election gathers
strength every day. Even the great Mielellan
me&ting- at New York, imposing in numbers and

exuberant in enthusiasm, proved to be more of an
anti. Lincoln demonstration than an expression of
sympathy with the name and character of him in
'whose behalf it was summoned. The General con-
tinues to be a " war democrat," while the bulk of
the democracy is not simply drifting but rushing
into peace. New York is always influential, but in
the approaching contest it will not be all powerful.
The West and North-West have bedome weary of
the war, and while the commercial metropolis may
send its thousands and tens of thousands into Union-
square, to listen to brass bands playing " Yankee
Doodle" and " The Star-spangled Banner ;" to gaze
at rockets and transparencies, and shout for a name
—which they are always ready to do—whether the
name be Butler, Clellan, Grant, or, if he were
successful, Jefferson Davis,—the outlying States of
the Union, who have borne the brunt and received
none of the profits of the war, are determined either
to have change of policy or change of Presidents.
To this quiet and picturesque hotel, in which
Northern and Southern men may meet in freedom
and on terms- of perfect equality, under the safe-
guard of the British flag, there is a daily and hourly
influx of the leading statesmen, politicians, and
" wire pullers" of the North-Western States, to con-

snit with the three or four Southern emissaries in
the confidence of Mr Jefferson Davis, who have
temporarily taken up their abode in Canada, and

learn from them whether compromise be not pos-
sible, on any terms, and especially on those of an

armistice and convention of the States. As
already notified, Mr Dean Richmond may, if he
will, become the nominee on this basis of the Chicago
Convention ; but he hesitates, it appears, to accept
the position, though he has not formally declined it.
The M'Clellan meeting has not materially altered the
conditions of the case. It was by common consent
the most numerous ever held in Sew York, and if
the vote of that city could carry the Presidential
candidate in spite of the wishes of the organised
Democracy of other States, it is probable that the
straggle would ultimately lie between Mr Lincoln
and Gen. M'Clellan. But New York State—much
less the city—cannot carry a candidate against the
North-West, and against the regularly constituted
agencies that nominate the members of the Conven-
tion, which in its turn nominates the man, whom the
party is bound to support, under the usual penalties
of disruption. There is a disposition on the part of
the friends of Gen. M'Clellan to take the decision
out of the control of the party■managers, and if he
be not nominated by the Chicago Convention, to no-
minate him by the people. Indeed, a threat to this
effect was ostentatiously inserted in one of the reso-
lutions passed at the meeting, but as such a proceed-
ing would hopelessly divide the Democratic party, it
is more probable that Gen: M'Ciellan will accept the
Chicago platform than that the threat will become
anything more than a brutum fulmen. Among a
hundred of the moat eloquent, distinguished, and in-
fluential Democrats, who were publicly announced
as favorable to the objects of the meeting and pledged
to support them by their presence and their speeches,
only three of any note appeared. The remainder
did not even think it worth their while to send writ-
ten apologies for their absence—facts which help to
show that party discipline has not been seriously re-
lased, expectant officeholders under the new regime
are true to their allegiance, and have no intention of
committing themselves to any candidate until the
Chicago Convention shall have spoken. The third
of the resolutions, which declared that the final
selection of a President " must fall on one of the
great soldiers who have distinguished themselves in
defence of the principles on which the Government
is founded," has greatly damagea the prospects of
General M'Clellan, and unless ho shall at the
eleventh hour, or within ten minutes of the 12th,
resign his commission as a Major-General in the
service of an Administration that might otherwise
compel him to fight for the abolition of slavery, as
a condition precedent to peace and reunion, may
prove an impassable barrier to his nomination. To

say that none but a distinguished soldier shall be
President is to declare virtually for a military des-
potism, even though the declaration map be modified
by the proviso that such soldier must have drawn
l.is sword in favour of State rights and other fun-
damental principles of the Union. The feeling of
the Democratic leaders, and especially of those who
are pledged to support an armistice, is strong
against M'Clellan, He is held to be too timid to
suit the emergency, even if he should have the pre-
liminary courage to resign his commission. The
coming days threaten to be dark and gloomy,if not
bloody ; and a strong-minded, resolute civilian like
Mr. Dean Richmond, accustomed to manipulate the
masses, knowing the pulse of the public, thoroughly
acquainted with party mechanism in all its intri-
cacies, a man who can manage it as an engineer
can manage a steam-engine, is recognised as more
likely to be an effective President in a dangerous
crisis than a military man like M'Clellan, whose
sins, failures, and shortcomings have sprung
from excess of caution ; who had the greatest op-
portunity ever thrust by fortune into the lap of a
favourite since the days of Napoleon 1., and who
threw it away either beciuse he did not see it or be-
cause he had not the nerve, the pluck, the tact, and
the daring to take advantage of it. In short General
M'Clellan labours under the imputation of civic
cowardice, or of a slowness and hesitancy of judg-
ment, which, by producing the same results, would
repel the co-operation of men who thoroughly ap-
preciate the fact that the country is in danger, and
that violent dieeaees require bold remedies: Not-
withstanding all these things, he may even yet
make himself the nominee of Cnicego—but if so, he
must in a very short interval take a decided step.
He must disavow the policy of Mr Lincoln's famous
letter, ".to all whom it may concern," tear off his
shoulder-straps, throw down his sword, become
again a civilian, and trust his fortanes to the ballot-
box. By such means he shall Legain the military
rank which he shall have temporarily renounced—
be not only a General, but a creator of Generals;
and, as President of the United Slates, Commander-
in• Chief of all the naval and military forces of the
Republic.
Meanwhile, the military agents of the Government
in the North. West are doing their utmost to remove
all the prominent individuals known to be opposed
to Mr. Lincoln's re-election, and to be in favour
of making terms with the South. In Kentucky,
more especially, a complete reign of terror has been
established by two Brigadier-Generals, one named
Paine, commanding in the southern, and the other
named Barbridge, in the northern division of
that State. Under the pretence that they have
harboured guerillas, that they have given aid and
comfort to the enemy, or the vaguer charge that
they sympathise with the South, hundreds of the
wealthiest men in Kentucky are driven from their

homes and business, and told in the brutal language
of Barbridge—who, before he became a Brigadier.
General, was a dealer in mules and asses—to
" go to Hell or to Canada." Choosing the plea-
santer or cooler alternative, these luckless exiles,
with their wives and families, pour into Canada via
Detroit and Windsor, and spread themselves along
the frontier from London in the west as far as Mon.
treal and Quebec in the east. Many of them take
refuge at Niagara Falls and St. Catherine's, where
they tell sad stories of the wrongs and indignities
they have suffered, and nurse the hope of retribu-
tion, or, it may be, of vengeance, ag iinst their op.
pressors. Not one of these expatriated citizens will
be allowed to return home -until the Presidential
contest be decided, and probably not then, unless
the Peace candidate be elected. One of these gen-
tlemen —who was a friend to escape
to Canada if he would escape a worse fate, and
whose crime was that two of his sons wore in the
Confederate army—arrived here a few days ago,
and narrates that he saw at the railway station at
as be passed through that
Louisville, in Kentucky,
town, from 800 to 1,000 persons, principally women,
who had been banished en masse by order of Gen.
Sherman. In his march from Chattanooga to At-
lanta the General occupied the town of Marietta,
and burnt down several cotton and other factories
tlngaged in the production of stores and clothing.

By this act nearly 1,000 people, mostly women,
were reduced to destitution. Gen. Sherman would
neither allow them to remain in Mariela, nor
transport them within the Confederate Tres, bat
sent them in a body, packed as close as cattle, in
the railway cars to Louisville, thencs to he conveyed
across the Ohio into Indiana, to shift for themselves
as best they might. Among the number was one
old lady of 92, the grandmother of one of the factory
girls, who sat with the rest at the station without
food or shelter, under a broiling sun, waiting for
the conveyances that were to take them over the
river, and there pitch them among strangers on an
alien soil, as if they had been of no more account
than so many cartloads of refuse and rubbish. Many
of the women were sick and ill, and one was prema-
turely delivered of a stillborn child in the train. My
informant thinks that there were at least 150 young
children in this unhappy multitude, and, as far as
he knows, not a word of their fate was allowed to
appear in any of the Kentucky newspapers.
Gen. Burbridge, though he ravels in the wanton-
ness of arbitrary power, acts, it appears, under the
orders of Gen. Sherman, and does perhaps no more
than his instructions warrant. He has declared his
intention to make " a wholesome example" of all
" Secessionists" and "Secession sympathisers," and
to " tolerate none but loyal men and women on the
soil of Kentucky." He is particularly scrupulous in
enforcing the law of retaliation, and will not only
have an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth, but
two eyes for one eye, and three lives, if he be in the
humour to exact them, as a penalty for one. Among
the specimens of his "vigour," the following may be
cited—At Georgetown, in Kentucky, a man who
was known by his fellow citizens to have been in the
Confederate army and to have deserted was recog-
nised in the streets in the Federal uniform. A
crowd gathered around him. He was accused of
treachery, laden with opprobrious epithets, and vio-
lently assaulted. He drew a revolver or some other
weapon to defend himself, and in the confusion that
ensued was shot dead. The circumstance being re•
ported by telegraph to Gen. Burbridge, he sent the
Provost-Marshal to the prison, where some hurt•
dreds of Confederate soldiers were confined, with
orders to take out the first two " that came to
hand" and have them shot. Two unfortunates
were accordingly selected, and two coffins were
hastily prepared to receive their bodies. They were
then driven through the principal streets of the
little town, seated each man upon his coffin, to
the place of execution. As soon as they arrived a
spade was put into the hand of each, and he was told
to dig his grave. This done, they were bandaged,
and shot with as little remorse as if they had been
wild beasts. When the facts came to be talked over
by the people of the town, a large body of men
hastily armed themselves, proceeded to the house of
Burbridge, near the town where he had left his wife
and family, and seized two of his young children,
under ten years of age, with the intention of putting
them to death in retaliation. This, however, was
too horrible to be permitted, and the leading men
of the place, hastily organising, flew to the rescue,
and were fortunate enough to recover the children
from the hands of the mob and deposit them in
safety in a distant city.
Another case as savagely vindictive as the pre.
ceding, and as horribly illustrative of the agonies of
civil war, was that of a gentleman named Sparks
—a member of the Kentuckian Legislature, and a
well-known opponent of slavery. When the Con-
federate troops entered the town of Eminence, in
which he resided, he fired a pistol at them from a
window and killed one of the soldiers. The exas-
perated comrades of the man thus slain broke into
the house, and Sparks, going out by a back door,
attempted to make his escape. He was hotly pur-
sued and brought down by a long shot, mortally
wounded. General Burbridge, when made ac•
quainted with the fate of his friend, ordered three
Confederate prisoners to be sacrificed to his manes,
and they were accordingly shot, after having been
drawn through the town seated upon their coffins,
and made to dig their own graves, after the fashion
most approved by this great adept in the art and
mystery of refined as well as brutal torture.
The General, however, does not always wait to
be assured of the death of the person on whose
enemy ho desires to be revenged. Rearing that a
man named Porter had been shot by guerillas in
the neighbourhood of Russelville, in Kentucky, he
ordered a Confederate lieutenant to be taken out of
the nearest military prison, brought to Russelville,
and there had him publicly shot in the open market
place. Porter appeared the same afteinoen alive
and hearty, having only suffered a ft!sh wound, and
Burbridge expressed his joy that there was a loyal
man alive whom he had imagined to be dead, and
" one more Confederate in hell."

It is not by such modes as these that fraternal
union can be re-established in Kentucky or any other
State, though, to judge from the general action of
the Federal Government, Mr Lincoln and his ad-
visers, civil as well as military, appear to be of a
contrary opinion.

was nndocked at Portsmouth yesterday, and is
ordered to leave Portsmouth on the 9th prox. for
Dover, where she will embark troops for the Cape
of Good Hope and the Mauritius, calling in at
Davenport on her way down Channel.
A nulzber of ten-years men whose period of en•
listment has expired have this week been either dis-
charged or re-enlisted at the camp at Colchester.
The men who have re-enlisted have obtained three
months' furlough, in addition to a liberal bounty.
Admiral Sir Charles Burrard, on the retired list,
with the pay of 20a. a day, becomes entitled to the
pay of 255. a day in consequence of the death last
week of Admiral Popham. Sir Charles entered the
navy in July 1805, and, after serving in the Chan-
nel, waspresent at the capture of the Marengo, 80,
and Belle Peale, 40, March 13, 1802. He was ad-
vanced to Lieut. May 1, 1812, and as such served
on board the Mitford, 74, in the Adriatic, and was
employed on shore in the batteries at the reduction
of Trieste in October, 1813. He became commander
June 7, 1814, and commanded the Grasshopper, 18,
at the blockade of Naples in 1815. He commanded
the Hind, 20, stationed in the Channel for the sup-
pression of smuggling, from April, 1819, until ad-
vanced to post-rank January 29, 1822. He was
Flag-Capt. to Vice-Admiral Sir H. B. Neale in the
Mediterranean from March, 1823, until April, 1827,
became retired Rear-Admiral October 1, 1852 ;
Vice-Admiral November 4, 1857 ; and Admiral
April 27, 1863.
The following appointments and promotions were
made yesterday at the Admiralty :—Thomas H.
lizard, master, additional, to the Rifleman ; Sub.
Lieut. Alexander R. Kerr, to the Marlborough ;
Sub-Lieut. Algernon H. Percy, to the Meeanee;
Sub-Lient. R. W. Stopford, to the Revenge; Alex.
M. S. Gra3me, William E. B. Atkinson, Norman L.
H. Clarke, Herbert Wilkinson, Robert Sutton, and
Henry L. F. Royle, midshipmen, to the Marl-
borough; Bertie W. Vernon, midshipman, to the
Meeanee ; Thomas A. Hamilton, midshipman, to the
Gladiator; Murray Johnson, Samuel Ewin, Regi-
nald C. Prothero, Robert C. Leader, Robert M. Ban-
bury, and Stephen H. Thompson, naval cadets, to
the Marlborough; Hans H. H. Brooke, naval cadet,
to the Gibraltar ; George S. Langton, naval cadet, to
the Brisk; H. J. Leyland, chief engineer, to the
Cumberland, for the Forte ; P. Richmond, of the
Royal Oak, confirmed as engineer; S. V. Bull, of the
Chanticleer, confirmed as first class assist.-engineer ;
Michael Harris, of the Insolent, promoted to acting
engineer; T. G. Woodfield, of the Asia ; J. W.
Owen, of the Dasher, H. Burstow, of the Meeanee,
R. B. Nicholson, and J. W. Watson, of the Indus,
to be first class assist.•engineers.

General Grant's Last Stratagem.

A correspondent of the New York Herald, under
date of Point of Rocks, Virginia, Aug. 14, writes as
follows :—" For some time past Major-General But-
ler has been conning over a brilliant scheme where-
with to annoy the enemy and advance the Union in-
terest in this region materially. His plan contem-
plated nothing less than the construction of a canal
at what has been hitherto known as Dutch Gap,
hereafter to be known as Butler's Gap, in the direct
face of the enemy, which, when done, should
among other results, by reason of its situation,
compel the rebels to extend their line of de-
fence a distance of four miles, that is to say, the
distance saved to us by the digging of the
canal—which is to be one 40 yards in length—is
seven miles of water-course in the James River
Some four days since the proper details of men and
officers were made for this important and hazardous
work, and these men were encouraged to its perfor-
mance by extra inducements. The work proceeded
handsomely for three days, during the last of which
the enemy discovered our operations, and made in«
stant preparations to open fire, which the result will
show to have been an advantageous one for them,
though the commander, Major Ludlow, nobly and
successfully held his position, still holds it, and will
continue to hold it, until his appointed work is ac-
complished. Yesterday morning two rebel rams,
believed to be the Virginia and the Richmond, ap-
peared at Dutch Gap in the James River. The
James, at this point, forms a promontory which is
very narrow at its apes. Its shape is in the form
of a for g tongue, and verging to the northward and
westward makes another turn which forms a point
similar to the first, east by north. Hence the river
bends yet again, and forms a third angle running
north-west. Under cover of this angle, completely
and literally sheltered from our gunboats by the two
rebel rams, their position was such as, taken in con-
nection with the Howlett-house tattery of the
enemy, to subjct our forces to a severe enfilading
fire, which was borne throughout the day with
manly fortitude by our men. It was ono of our
advantages to keep up a cross-fire, which we made
to bear most heavily upon the enemy, cur artil-
lery having excellent range of their batteries, in•
eluding the famous Howlett-house battery, from
which work our fire dismounted and disabled a gun
early in the day, finally silencing the battery as
well as the enemy's butteries situated in the bot-
toms. The Union monitors and gunboats, as be-
fore stated, lay wholly quiet in their positions at
Crow's Nest, in the James, not participating in
the action of the morning by reason of the peculia-
rity of the enemy's position. The successful con-
struction of the canal, of which there can be no
doubt, will, it is alleged, enable our gunboats to
wholly overcome the formidable obstruction of the
James River, and possibly ultimately be the means
of their engaging Fort Darling and other rebel
strongly-fortified places adjacent to Richmond, and,
perhaps, before the end comes, operate largely in
the reduction of the rebel capital itself. These are
glowing anticipations, but nevertheless they are
capable of realisation by patient and indulgent
waiting for. Any one of these results added to
the necessity imposed upo❑ the enemy of lengthen-
ing his line of defence a distance of four miles, re-
quiring several thousands of men to man this pro-
longation of their lines, will certainly be regarded
adequate compensation for the time, labour, and
men bestowed upon the accomplishment of the
undertaking-. In every view the substantial results
of the day remained to us at nightfall. There cam
be no manner of doubt that we administered a
severe lesson to tie fee, and punished him stoutly
for his temerity in killed and wounded. The work
upon the canal will go on to completion, and we
shall insist upon all its contemplated advantages,
though we shall not probably realise them fully
without further dispute of a similar character to
that we have encountered to-day."

THE WEATHER AND THE CROPS.—The weather
has again become fine and warm In the eastern counties.
On Sunday there was rather a considerable amount of rain,
which will greatly benefit the root crops, but Monday was
favourable for the conclusion of harvest work, and yesterday
morning the skies were again unclouded. The harvest will
be pretty well closed in East Anglia this week.
EXTRAORDINARY ABUNDANCE OF WASPS.—These
insects have multiplied to a most unusual extent
this summer, owing, no doubt, to their being a good
" plant" in the first place, which has been fostered by the
exceedingly favourable weather. Not only are the banks
thick with nests (says the Chelmsford Chronicle), but large
colonies frequently infest ground cracks in the cornfields,
causing great annoyance to the reapers. Farmers have
been obliged to adopt systematic means of extirpating the
pests by the liberal use of combustibles and boiling water,
but even these stringent measures are not always successful
where the nests are built in the ground, while the danger
of retaliation is much increased. The scarcity of plgme
and wallfruit has caused a serious attack on pears and
apples, which have been attacked long before being
ripe, and the intruders have in some cases actually
held the rightful owners at bay, while even indoors there
had been a " fight" with the insects for the quiet posses-
sion of dinner. The present cooler weather, however, will
more effectually than any other means tend to keep the
enemy in check. " A Beemaster" (Dr Cumming) writing
to the Times, says—" Let me beg all that value their
lives to examine well every apple, pear, and peach they
eat, for those venemous insects, was ps, may be seen
this year ensconced under the skin, and if admitted
within the mouth they will sting the throat, and, as
in several recent cases, the sufferers will die. Do not
conclude lam uncharitable. It is no charity to connive at
theft and murder. I am satisfied that killing wasps is no
murder. Had Peter the Hermit or Walter the Penniless
lived in my garden, and witnessed these wicked vagabonds
trying every hive, worrying my bees, and stealing my ho-
ney, they would have preached a crusade against wasps. In
one respect they are unfortunate; they have no queen, no
subordination, or reverence for law and order. They are
genuine Red Republicans—Marats and Raespierrea, and
richly deserve the worst they get.'

Railway and Other Companies,

SEVENOAKS, MAIDSTONE, AND TUNBRIDGE,
Yesterday the half-yearly meeting of this company was
held at the Victoria Station, U, F. llolreyd
in the chair.

The report was taken ae read.
The CHAIRMAN, in moving the adoption of the report,
said that he thought the general prospects of the line were
very satisfactory, as, although this was the worst half of the
year, embracing only two of the summer months when the
traffic was the greatest, the increase in the receipts had been
very considerable, and since the accounts had been madeup
the traffic had increased in still greater proportion. There-
fore there was every reason to expect that their next report
would be still more satisfactory. (Hear.) He was happy
to state that an arrangement had been made with the London,
Chatham, and Dover Company for the construction of a line
between Maidstone and Sevenoaks, which would bring a
large amount of traffic over the line, without having to pay
anything for it, and at the same time the arrangements of
this company with the London, Chatham, and Dover would
stand as they were at present. He had to regret the retire-
ment of their noble chairman. When Earl Amherst ori-
ginally took the chair he stated that he did so temporarily,
until the line was completed, as he did not wish to be the
permanent chairman of the company. At the solicitation of
the directors from time to time he had been induced to retain
that office, but now he felt that the time had arrived when
he should resign. That must be a matter of regret to them
all. In conclusion, the chairman moved the adoption of the
report and etatement of accounts.
Mr C. J. HILTON seconded the motion, which was carried
unanimously, and a vote of thanks to the chairman and
directors concluded the proceedings.

the line had been opened for passenger traffic. They had
now opened up inland railway communication to one of the
finest ports on the south coast, and he had no doubt that in
the courso of a few years it would become an important har-
bour. It was, he thought, possible that Dartmouth might
be made a steatnpacket station, as the port had been in-
spected and reported favourably to Government. (Hear.)

The motion for the adoption of the report was seconded
by Mr BELFIELD, and unanimously carried.
A vote of thanks to the directors concluded the proceed-
ings.