The Sun.
London, England, 1864-03-22 00:00:00

SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALS.

TIMES —For some time past the War in America
has ceased to excite it this country the extraordi-
nary interest with which its c0t759 and prospects
were originally observed. The chief cause of this
comparative indifference is to be sought, no doubt,
in the conflagration which has been kindled nearer
home ; but, besides the diversion created by the
Danish war, the very prolongation of the strife be-
tween Federals and Confederates has tended to ex.

haust the powers of public attention. After a three
years' strain, interest naturally begins to flag, and
the indecisiveness hitherto characteristic of the

American War is of itself enough to discourage any

speculation on Its end. Yet the importance of this
great struggle has in no degree declined. Remote
and obscure as the issue may be, it ie an issue
fraught with most momentous consequences. We
cannot conjecture the results, but we know that
they must affect the destinies of millions. If any
point of the case is clearer than it was two years ago,
it is this—that the contest will be a long one, and
that the end is es yet not so much as foreshadowed.
To be persuaded of this fact we need only take a
general review of the position and prospects of the
contending forces as represented in the latest reports
from the scenes of war. On behalf of the North it
may be alleged with truth not only that its resolu-
tion is unabated, but that the progress of its arms
is in some sense distinc.ly perceptible. Perhaps,
upon the whole, the glories of last year's campaigns
were not unequally divided, but it is impossible to
overlook the fact that, with one important excep-
tion, there has been a gradual advance of the Northern
armies into the territories of the Confederacy.
The scene of war in the South-West has been
changed from Kentucky to Tennessee, and from
Tennessee to Alabama and Georgia. Federal troops
are incessantly pushing from North to South, and
from West to East. The successive battles carry
us from Nashville and Morfreesborough to Chatta-

nooga and Dalton, while the latest advices even men-
tion Athanta as the mark of a Federal expedition.
Then the Mississippi has been seized,—that is to
say, not New Orleans alone, but the other strong
places on the stream are in the hands of the Union-
ists. Add to this that Texas and Florida have been
invaded and Mobile threatened, and we shall see
that the present position of the Federal armies can
be represented as very different from their position
two years or even twelvemonths, since. Ou the
other hand, if we examine these results more
closely, and estimate them with greater care, we
shall be disposed to make large deductions
from their weight. They are gratifying to the
feelings of the North, and they enable Mr.
Seward to expatiate with complacency in his
diplomatic circulars on the übiquitous presence of
the Union flag. Bat they have effected very little
towards the subjugation of the South or the termi-
nation of the war. If Tennessee and Louisiana
represent States " recovered" by the Federal Go-
vernment, it is obvious that the " recovery" of the
entire Confederacy will produce nothing resembling
a restoration of the Union. These States are only
held by military force, and so precarious, indeed, us
well as partial is the tenure that we may any day
hoar of their changing hands once more. Knoxville
is constantly threatened by the Confederates, and
may at any moment be reoccupied. The invasion of
Georgia is as yet only projected,and in so far as it was
attempted it failed. Of the two events it seems as
likely that Johnston should drive the Federals from
Chattanooga as that the Federals should drive him
from Dalton. The movement upon Mobile was a
mere feint ; the expedition to Florida, a disaster.
The Mississippi, again, though wrested in some sort
from Southern hands, is as little available as before
for Northern commerce, and the capture of Vie,ks-
burg has been a barren success. Charleston has
resisted a siege in which it is said that enough
money has been spent to purchase the entire State
of South Carolina. We observed, too, that even
to this equivocal progress of the Federal arms there
was an exception, and that exception is to be found
in the most important scene of the whole war.
Never from the first battle of Bull Run to the pre-
sent time have the Northern forces been able to
make the least impression upon the defences of Vir-
ginia. Every successive " Army of the Potomac"
has either been defeated in the field or has been
victorious only in repelling an aggressive advance
of the enemy. Richmond is safer than 'Washing-
ton ; nor must we omit to mention in this compa-
rison of positions that if the Federals are now threat-
ening the far South, the Confederates in their turn
are ;threatening regions hitherto untouched in
the North. General Thomas, as we already know,
did not succeed in penetrating into Georgia, but
Gen. Lee and his colleagues may be more successful
in advancing into Pennsylvania or Ohio. IVe col-
lect, indeed, from this general review that the
chances of the approaching campaigns are almost
as promising for one side as for the other, nor ball
we find the inclination of the balance much moo
decided if we compare the resources in men and
materials which the belligerents may respectively
be presumed to possess. The preponderance of the
North in numerical strength is in a great degree
imaginary. The enormous levies decreed by Presi-
dent Lincoln are but very partially raised, and it
is doubted if more than 100,000 men can be added
to the Federal armies for the campaign of 1864.
Unless the men whose time of service is just ex-
piring can be induced to re enlist, this reinforce-
ment would but substitute raw trookna for veterans;
but it is anticipated that a consideeeble
.pro-
portion of the old soldiers may be retained,
and this element may have its effect upon thecon.ree
of the war. Three years of fighting must neces-
sarily raise the quality of an army, nor is it to be
supposed that such a war can go on for ever with-
out producing a General. Altogether the armies of
the North may probably be expected to be more
efficient than ever, while the possible redu.atiou in
their numbers may have the double advantage of
discouraging distant expeditions and facilitating
the operations of the Generals in command. But
when we have admitted all this as undoubtedly
encouraging in the prospects of the North we shall
find ourselves compelled to admit as much or more
in favour of the South. It is perfectly clear that
at the present moment the two great armies of the
South are at least a match for the two great armies
of the North. General Grant's forces can achieve
no success against those of General Johnston, for
the attempt has just been made, and has failed. As
to General Meade, he waits upon General Lee, and
is content if he can bar the road to 'Washington.
Whether he will be equally successful in protecting
Ohio and Pennsylvania is what remains to be seen.
But while the balance of general resources is thus
evenly poised, the South remains in full possession
of those important advantages which its position
imparted from the beginning. It is fighting a de-
fensive war for its very existence, and is, therefore,
victorious 60 long as it is not subdued. Every in-
decisive campaign is a defeat for the North. The
Confederates need no triumph] in the field, pro-
vided they can prevent the Federals from attaining
them. In fact, the Confederates hove had three
years of suecess, for during those three years they
have maintained that political independence which
they took arms to assert. They have been at
war all the time, it is true, but they have
been independent still, while the North has failed
to extinguish the Secession and to restore the
Union. The same superiority of position will be-
friend the Confederates in future. They can otily
fail by exhaustion ; the Federals may fail by weari-
ness. The former have only to stand in defence of
their homes till they can stand no longer; the lat-
ter have to maintain by incessant efforts the impetus
of an aggressive and most costly war. Hitherto the
people of the North have not suffered either from
conscription or taxation, but if the war is to be
continued the time for those trials must come, and
it seems at least as probable that they may tire of
the struggle as that the people of the South may
become unable to prolong it. It will be strange if
in all the excitement of a Presidential Election a
peace party should not some day appear, and in this
contingency lies a great chance for the South. Such
is the position of American affairs at the present
time. As far as the spring campaign has gone its
results are decidedly, though not decisively, in
favour of the South ; but so little can be discerned
of any end to the war that the Federals themselves
have ceased to predict it. It is no longer spoken
of as an affair of "90 days." What it is, or what
it will become, nobody can divine ; but the Amerie
cans must at any rate have learnt by this time that
they have nothing to fear from the intervention of
Europe, and that the results of the struggle, what-
ever they may prove, will have been worked out
exclusively by themselves.
DAILY NEWS.—The foundation of an empire is a
difficult enterprise even when the sword has most
completely done its work. This the Archduke Maxi-
milian now finds to his inconvenience. His Imperial
Highness had much to arrange at Paris, and left
much unarranged when he departed. One of his
chief difficulties was connected with the furnishing
of his Imperial treasury. Not that money was not
forthcoming in abundance. The eminent financiers
of that capital were by no means unwilling to help
him ; on the contrary, they wanted to do too much
for him. It is well known that they are men of
ample means and the grandest conceptions. The
Emperor designate could have had any amount of
money he required, if he had been able to appreciate
the noble projects unfolded before him. The banker
princes of Paris are not vulgar money lenders, and
the operation they were ready to undertake for the
Archduke was nothing less than the complete finan-
cial organisation and occupation of the new empire.
A National Bank which they were eager to found,
a paper currency which they would supply and re-
gulate, formed, in connection with proposals for an
export duty on the precious metals, the conditions,
and, as it ultimately proved, the tole conditions,