The Sun.
London, England, 1864-03-30 00:00:00

THE CIVIL WAR IN AMERICA.

_..___

(From Me Times Correspondent)
NEW Yoitii, alerch 15.
Tae aeceu ef the raid of General Sherman
through V., S e of Mississippi bave been pub-
tills 111•JI i.ig,-the one derived frem General
,Sherman himself and the newspaper correspondents
who accompanied the expedition ; and the other from
General Polk, the Confederate officer, who opposed
and claims to have defeated his objects. Taking the
Federal accounts, though highly coloured and obvis
ously intended to make the best of a bad business,
to be substantially true, it will be found that the re-
sults achieved have been enormously dispropor-
tioned to the agencies employed. General Sherman
with upwards of 2-1,000 men under his immediate
command, aided by a cavalry force of 8,000 men,
under the command of General Smith, traversed
about 150 miles of sparsely settled territory, de-
stroyed everything that came in their way, pulled
up the rails, and destroyed the railway stations and
locomotives and carriages, broke down the bridges,
set fire to barns, mills, private dwellings and stores;
(destroyed at least six towns and villages, which
had populations, black and white, of between 300
and 1,000 souls each; and having reached the vil-
lage of Meridian, of which he scarcely left a brick
or a beam standing, retraced his steps to Vicks-
burg, unable to proceed further on account of the
failure of General Smith's cavalry to render them
the aid expected. He captured SOO mules and about
300 Confederate soldiers, besides upwards of 3,000
negroes, mostly women and children. He claims to
have virtually succeeded in his object, which was to
destroy the railway of Central Mississippi; but if
nothing more was intended, the civilised world may
well ask if it be civilised warfare to employ such
tremendous agencies for results so worthless in a
military point of view, and tending to nothing so
much as the infliction of unnecessary cruelty and
the exasperation of an enemy whom it has left un-
eubdued. But it appears that the real object was
to reach and to hold Selma, on the Alabama river,
a commanding position threatening Montgomery,
the State capital. But General Polk at the head of a
Confederate army numbering less than 10,000 men
tracked the heels of the raiders and compelled them
to retreat, with what loss he does not state. The
railways will be restored, the bridges will be rebuilt,
most likely in time for the summer campaign, but
the remembrance of the devastation will endure as
long as a white man inhabits Mississippi or any
other Southern State, and will form a bar, if there
were nothing else, to prevent a fraternal union be-
tween the Southern and the Northern people. The
Americans are very much in the habit, even in these
reckless and extravagant times, of calculatink the
cost of everything they undertake. Might it not be
useful, if net instuctive, if they would reckon up
the figures and ascertain if Gen. Sherman's raid did
not cost the United State's Treasury very much more
than the amount of damage it inflicted upon the
people of Mississippi; and whether the expense of
maintaining 3,000 negro women end children, or
the shame of allowing them to die of disease and
starvation in the camp, might not be aided to the
gloomy side of the account in the charge which his-
tory will some day bring against the Federal
Government for this gigantic failure ?
Public opinion in this city has begun to pro-
nounce itself against this " raid" as well as against
that (equally flagitious and unproductive of any
military result) which was conducted by Gen. Kil-
patrick against Richmond. Few persons are to be
found who do not condemn them both as tending to
degrade the Federal Government and its generals in
the eyes of Europe, and as being worse than useless as
military measures. But as these expeditions are be-
lieved to have been planned at Washington, people
are willing to believe that with the appointment of
Lieutenant-General Grant to the chief command,
-awe Hilieck, relieved at his own request, a new and
better military era is about to commence. This,
however, is not likely. Grant approved if he did not
organise and suggest the raid of Gen. Sherman ;
and notwithstanding that he was successful before
Vicksburg and at Chattanooga there is as yet no
sufficient evidence before the world to prove that he
is in any respect a wiser statesman or a better gene-
eel than any who have gone before him, or that he
is half So good as M'Cleilaa or Meade, Bat the Ame-
rican people are proverbially hopeful. They trust a
new man before they have time to know or study
him, and manufacture heroes out of rude material as
deftly as a ship carpenter can manufacture a figure-
head. Fur the moment, however, Gen. Grant is the
hope of the State. He is not known to be a politician,
which is highly in his favour, and hes not taken the
slightest trouble to put himself forward tor the
Presidency—another circumstance which makes him
temporarily as much a favourite with the Republi-
cans as with the Dernocrats,both of whom have other
candidates in view better suited to their purposes.
The friends of Gen. Fremont have established a
weekly journal in this city, under the title of the
New Nation, with the sole object of promoting his
claims to the chief magistracy. Discarding the idea
that the Union ever was a nation, they announce
his policy and their own to be that of making it one,
and of welding in the fiery furnace of the war the
crude mass of the States into a spick and span na-
tionality as homogenous as France. The object is
worthy of the ambition of Northern statesmen,
whether aspirants to the Presidency or not, and
may possibly be accomplished after the independ-
ence of the South 811111 have been secured. It will,
to all present appearance, be the sole means by
which the now incongruous and inco'nesive remnant
of the Union can be held together, or by which such
Middle States as Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and
New York can be firmly cemented in feeling and
interest with New England and the West. The
Fremont party specify six separate essentials for
attaining this end i—lst, absolute, complete, and
immediate liberty without distinction of colour or
• race ; 2d, the ab.iolute maintenance of the Monroe
doctrine, as a guarantee of Republican liberty on
the American Continent; 3d, an effective military
organisation, and the appointment of generals for
military, and not political reasons ; 4th, a diminu-
tion of the power of the Executive, and the greater
responsibility of Cabinet Ministers to Congress ;
sth, the renunciation by the States of all the con-
stitutional rights now enjoyed that might militate
against the displacement of a confederation by a
nation ; and, 6',1, the election of a President willing
and able to carry all these measures into Effect, and
to " impart such lustre to the American name as
will dazzle the eyes of the world." The task is im-
possible of fulfilment now, and, however desirable,
may prove to be impossible at any future time. The
first object, provided the South be allowed without
further opposition to manage its own affairs, is easy
of accomplishment. The second is not to be so
lightly spoken of, for it would imply that the new
nation, if it were ever established, would make the
presence of the Emperor Maximilian in Mexico a
casus Belli against that Prince and his army, and
agMnst the Emperor of the French who sent him
there ; and would also make it a casus belli against
Great Britain if at any future time the British
North Americans between ocean and ocean should
form themselves, by their own consent and that
of their country, into an empire or a kingdom,
with a Prince of the blood Royal of England to
rule over them, as many eminent and influen-
tial Canadians at this moment desire. The third
object is highly praiseworthy, and, indeed,
urgent, not merely to establish a nation in
jmforo, but to prevent a long series of humilia-
tions and disasters to the Federal arms, or perhaps
the disruption of the existing Federal States. The
fourth would not further the object to be attained,
for no Executive that was not greatly strengthened
instead of being weakened, could hope even to make
the attempt without being overridden or displaced.
The fifth would require a social and political revo-
lation, and an abnegation on the part of the, States
which, in a country so corrupt and so abounding
with patronage as America, would be nothing short
of marvellous,but which may nevertheless be effected
in due time if the war teach the Americans that it
is better to be strong abroad than happy athome;
and that the maximum of Government to make a
nation feared by its enemies or rivals is better than
the minimum which makes it beloved by its own
people. The sixth and last needs but little comment.
if a man both willing and able to accomplish the
mighty tasL can be found all the difficulties will

vanish. He will be the Dictator, the Autocrat, and
the Cm iar of the new nation, end the An-ierie:n
mama will gein the lustre desired et the ex; ease of
the liberty and happiness of the Atnerie -n peopl n
Gen. Fremont is ambitious, and may asp're to play
this eminent part in the ,history of ! world; cud
if he do not play it, some else me , though not
perhaps before a long series of intestine troubles
shall have more thoroughly prepared the Americans
to welcome the military master whom they already
deserve, and whose seizure of supreme power they
may at that day welcome as their best if not their
only chance of deliverance from anarchy.
The programme begins to be considered as that
which the leading Republicans must ultimately
adopt. It is obviously the one to which all their
principles tend, and in weigh they must concen-
trate if they desire to perpetuate the ascendancy
of their party. Bat as it requires a military
man to effect such a revolution, it is likely that
Mr. Lincoln, whose present unpopularity is ex-
cessive, and all other civilian candidates for
the Presidency, will be set aside at the last moment,
and that the name of General Fremont may emerge
from the discussions of the approaching Republican
Convention as the nominee of his party, The only
other generals of note in whom the Republicans
have any present confidence are Banks and Butler.
General Banks is, perhaps, ambitious, and he is
certainly an abler man than General Fremont ; but
his ideas on the question of slavery are not so
thorough as the Doctrinaires and exterminators
would wish, and for that reason he is not so likely
as his rival to receive the support of the leaders of
the party. Butler's private character and personal
unpopularity--and the doubt whether, with all his
talent and cleverness, he understands anything of
military affairs, or has in him the stuff of which a
great conqueror can be made, will keep him in the
background. He has sufficient of the spirit of a
despot to suit the place, but he lacks other qualifi•
cations which Fremont possesses—the qualities of
a gentlemanly bearing, a cosmopolitan education,
and an extensive knowledge of all that other and
not unimportant portion of the world which is not
included within the limits of the United States.
And while the Republican party is gradually
concentrating itself around Fremont as the man of
their necessity, that large portion of the Democratic
and State-rights party, which as yet sees no way
to peace but by the vigorous prosecution of the war,
is in like manner concentrating itself upon General
M'Clellan. The Democratic party in this city is
represented by three several organisations, which
sometimes unite for local purposes of party spoil,
which upon the war question appear to be hopelessly
divided. I'he first and oldest, and parent source from
which the other two proceeded, is the Tammany
organisation, so called from the Tammany Hotel,
where they hold their meetings. The second
is the Mozart organisation, so named from Mozart-
hall—a lecture-room where they transact their
business ; and the third the M.lieon Democracy,
so named after an eminent lawyer and politician,
who headed its secession from the original body.
Tammany is strong for war and General M'Clellan.
Mozart, under the leadership of Mr. Fernando
Wood, is gradually inclining its heart to peace, and
becoming daily more imbued with the spirit of Mr.
Benjamin Wood—an earlier and bolder apostle of
he cause than his brother Fernando. The M‘lieon
Democracy also inclines to peace. Mozart and
Malieon, with their organisations, bide their time,
and think it either premature or useless to put for-
ward any candidate for the Presidency, or draw up
any elaborate manifesto of their principles. Tam-
many, however, as if it claimed the right to speak
for the whole Democracy of the North, and not only
for that of the State of New York, has drawn up and
published its " Platform of Principles," which
amount to nine, but which might have been put in
a smaller compass. They are to the effect that the
war for the preservation of the Union ought to be
vigorously prosecuted ; that the Constitution has
survived the rebellion ; and that if individual trai-
tors have forfeited their lives the rights of the States
survive unimpaired; that slavery as a subject of
agitation has passed out of the domain of politics;
that the mismanagement, corruption,and despotism
of Mr. Lincoln's Administration have strengthened
and prolonged the rebellion and brought the country
to the verge of ruin; that a change of rulers is ab-
solutely necessary, and that the next President
should be elected by theiDemocratic party on Demo-
cratic principles, from the ranks of men who have
exhibited warlike ability and practical statesmanship,
such as Grant, M'Clellan, and others. In other words,
Tammany 'will support General Grant if he will
adopt the Democratic platform, and gain a splendid
victory in the field before the day of nomination. If
not, it will support General M'Ciellan, who is a
proved good soldier, and as sound a Democrat as
Tammany can desire.
Such is the position of the Presidential contest at
the present writing, with the probability that no
great change will be effected until the meeting of
the several conventions at Baltimore, Chicago, Cin-
cinnati, and St. Louis, when doubtless there will be
some new, though - probab y not very startling
developments. Meantime, in the current slang of
the day, "Fremont stock" is rising, and is at a
higher premium than even that of M'Clellan.
The Federal Government has not hitherto
thought it advisable to offer bounties to the sailors
whom it so urgently needs to man its navy. It has
acted upon the idea that the temptations of prize
money were sufficient, and that the more daring and
adventurcus among the merchant seamen would
flock into its service on the chance of obtaining their
share of the captured blockade runners. In this ex-
psetation it has been disappointed ; partly because
prize money is too prospective and doubtful; partly
because the Admiralty Courts are exceedingly dila-
tory in rendering their judgments ; partly because
after judgment is given there are innumerable de-
lays iu the distribution ; partly because the exces-
sive severity on board is not popular among them ;
and partly—but not least, among all these reasons
because the Federal Government has stopped their
grog. The high bounty paid to the soldiers had far
greater charms in their imaginations, and the consea
quence has been that a very considerable number of
seamen who under other circumstances would not
have forsaken their original calling have volunteered
into the army. The Government, awake to the
possibility that a war against France may grow out
of the establishment of a Mexican Empire under
French protection, if not against Great Britain, on
one of the many exasperating complications which
the question 'of neutrality is daily assuming, has
resolved to apply a remedy, the application of which
will be as beneficial to itself as to the sailor. It has
at this moment no less than 18 ships in commission
which cannot put to sea for want of crews. 'ro say
nothing of its need of ships to blockade more effec
tually the long line of coast from the Chesapeake
to the Rio Grande, it suffers a daily persecution at
the bands of the shipowning interest of New York,
Philadelphia, and Boston, which clamors for ven-
geance against the Florida and the Alabama and
the protection of American commerce. It has, there-
fore, determined to draught 12,000 men from the
army into the navy, choosing for the purpose those
who may volunteer for the change, or who by their
their seafaring habits and education may be judged
officers to be the best fitted for maritime duty.
Under this arrangement the men so draughted will
enjoy the double advantage of present bounty and
the future chance of prize money—the bird in the
hand as well as the bird in the bush—and the Go
vernment will procure the suitors it needs at the
expense of the army, which needs reinforcement
still more urgently than the navy.

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