The Sun.
London, England, 1864-02-17 00:00:00

THE CIVIL WAR IN AMERICA.

(From the Times Correspondent.)
NEW YORK, Feb. 2.
If Great Britain, France, Italy, or any European
country or nationality were in the throes of such a
revolution as that which now afflicts America, it
would be comparatively easy for the native or

foreign student of events to calculate the proba-
bilities of the morrow from the facts of to-day, and
to predict the nature, if not the exact form, of the

inevitable catastrophe. But in Federal America
such calculations rest upon no tangible foundation.
Everything shifts and changes so rapidly and un-
expectedly that the watcher ceases to be sun.
prised, and ends with being bewildered. Yet, not-
notwithstanding the danger of predicting the future
action of a people so anomalous, it is difficult to
avoid believing that Mr. Lincoln in his proclama-
tion of Sunday last, calling for 500,000 men, or
200,000 in addition to the 300,000 whom he de-
manded in October last, has brought affairs to an
issue which will effectually test the great question
of the earnestness of the Northern people in this
suicidal war. If half a million of men will come for-
ward voluntarily with or without a high bounty, or
if the same number will permit themselves to be
compulsorily dragged from their homes and busi-
ness to reannex the unwilling South, the establish-
ment of a military despotism in the North may be
looked upon as a certainty. The people will have
virtually declared themselves ripe for it, and Mr.
Lincoln or some bolder and abler man will take
them at their word. If, on the contrary, no new re-
cruits shall offer, and none but the regiments whose
term of service is on the point of expiration shall
enlist during the next four weeks, Mr. Lincoln
must either try what he can do by a forced con-
scription, at the risk of insurrection in the streets
and a new civil war, or stultify himself by with-
drawing his proclamation of Sunday, and trusting
to his old army alone for the work he has under-
taken. He has challenged the people more peremp-
torily than ever, and that, too, in the face of the
fact that his last attempt at a conscription was not
alone a failure, but a perilous experiment upon the
allegiance of the richest and most populous city in
the Union. Under the circumstances Europe may
well look on with wonder, and America with alarm,
to see what will come of his temerity.
In the meantime it augurs ill for the President's
chances of procuring a new army that the supporters
of the Government should think it expedient to fan
up the flickering embers of popular enthusiasm by
the assertion that half a million of men are wanted,
not so much for the conquest of the South, which
they affect to treat as almost a fait acconzpli, as for
the contingencies of a war with France or Great
Britain. The device is a very stale one, and is only
employed with a view to catch the credulous and
vindictive Irish of the " Fenian Brotherhood." But
the Irish, with all their animosity against England,
are wiser and more cautious than they were. They
are not quite certain that the "Fenian Brotherhood"
are not fools. They have ceased to volunteer in any
considerable numbers ; and the new comers that
pour into New York harbour every week from Liver-
pool are warned before they leave and after they
arrive against taking out their first papers of natu-
ralization, and will claim alienage if any attempt
be made to enforce their services. It is likely,
therefore, that this worn-out subterfuge will fail.
All things considered, the state of affairs is much
more critical than it has been at any moment since
the armies of Generals Lee and Meade fought hand•
to-hand at Gettysburg. The South, temporarily
stunned in Tennessee, has recovered its senses, and
shows abundant life, vigour, and determination for
a new effort. The silly stories of its exhaustion
and its demoralization are exploded, and no longer
find a solitary believer, except in the ranks of those
whose pecuniary interests lead them to credit what
they wish, The ominous shadow of a Presidential
election carried at the point of the bayonet, or ab-
rogated altogether on the piea of military necessity
lies dark and heavy on the country. But what does
it signify to a people like these ? New York dances,
sings, and rejoices. " Hops," as it is the fashion to
designate balls, were never so numerous, so brilliant,
and so well attended. The theatres are crammed
every night. The jewellers cannot manufacture or
import fast enough to setisfy their fair customers.
Pictures and engravings never commanded such high
prices, or sold so rev.di y. The books that are most
sought after are those which are most sp►endidly
bound in gilt and morocco. The ladies flaunt and
flare and trail their• velvets, damasks, and satins
through the slush of an ill-paved and much-spitting
metropolis to show how rich they are and how
ittle they care for a lavish expenditare of money.

Shops and storekeepers of all kinds flourish upon
multitudinous greenbacks, and there is so great an
influx of pleasure-loving strangers into New York
from every part of the country that the numerous
palatial hotels are not more than half sufficient for
the accommodation of their guests. Everybody
seems to be growing rich, except the man with a
fixed income and the labourer. The latter, better
paid than his compeer in Europe, refuses to forsake
the spade or the cartwhip for the musket, and calls
upon his fellows in every kind of handicraft to
organise strikes and sink out of the veins of capital
an amount of remuneration which capital would
refuse if it durst, but hardly dares, for fear of the
consequences in a land where labour is scarce.
Another noticeable peculiarity of New York at
this time is that although it swarms with soldiers,
its mind was never so little set upon soldiers or
soldiering since the war broke out. It is bent on
pleasure and money making alone, and has seen so
many military processions up and down Broadway
as to have grown weary of so flat and familiar a
spectacle. The regiments whose time has expired,
and most of which have re-enlisted for the bounty,
have stipulated fur a holiday before resuming their
places in the camp—a holiday to visit their friends
and spend their money. They arrive en masse, and
parade up the streets literally unnoticed. No official
comes out to inspect and make speeches to them;
no salutes are fired and no flags waved by fair hands
from verandah and portico, from window and
housetop, in honour of their bravery. " What does
this mean ?" inquires the most widely-read of all
the New York papers of yesterday in drawing at-
tention to this apathy. " Does it mean that our
people have lost their old enthusiastic admiration
for all that is honourable and brave ? Does it mean
that the spirit that set the whole country ablaze at
the assault on Sumter has died out ? No ! but it
means that the people no longer recognise these men
as their representatives in a glorious struggle. It
is an ominous sign to the party in power ; for it
means that the people no longer consider the war a
war for the salvation of the country. The war, as
managed by the Administration, has degenerated
to a strife about the nigger. The peopfe see this,
and arc disgusted at it." Though this journal
commits what is called the offence—a serious one
in the eyes of the party in power—of spelling negro
with two g's, it is quick in perceiving the current
of public opinion, and speaks the truth in this in-
stance. Goaded by the organs of the Administra-
tion, the Boards of Aldermen and Councilmen yes-
terday, but with great reluctance, voted the sum
of 25,000 dollars for the purpose of paying the
expenses of a public reception of the veterans, one
of the members of the Board declaring that he would
much rather vote the same amount for the purchase
of artificial legs and arms for the maimed heroes.
The form which the reception is to assume has not
yet been agreed upon.
The "Fenian Brotherhood," whose leading idea
is to organize an Irish army for the rescue of Ireland
from the grasp of the "greedy and bloody Sasse-
nach," have been rebuked from the Roman Catholic
pulpits of nearly the whole North, and told to de-
vote their energies and their patriotism to some
more practicable purpose. Without, however,
abandoning their primary purpose, the Fenians
have lately bestirred themselves to get up a great
Irish national fair, with the double object of assist-
ing the families of deceased or wounded Irish
soldiers end of raising funds for "Irish national
purposes." This fair is to be held in Chicago dur-
ing Easter week next. Every State in the Union
is to be represented by a stall in the fair, and by a
fair Irish lady to preside over the sale of its
merchandise. It appears that there are now in Ire-
land several agents of the society, with the osten-
sible object of collecting and purchasing goods for