The Sun.
London, England, 1864-02-22 00:00:00

SHE CIVIL WAR IN AMERICA.

(From the Time? Correspondent.)

NEW YORK, Feb. 9.

It is evident that Mr. Lincoln will not achieve
an easy victory in his attempt to be renominated, or
to renominate himself, for the Presidency. There
is danger ahead—danger not only of political con-
vulsion, bat of bloodshed. The question begins to
override all others in the minds of the people. Mili-
tary events have lost their interest, and nothing
short of a signal triumph of the Confederates in
Tennessee or Virginia will revive it. The threat-
ened conscription between the Ist and 10th of March
awakes no solicitude. The bulk of the people—the
wen of the fighting age—undezzled by the bounty
offered—believe that not a man will be taken forci-
bly from his home to be driven to the " bullock
pens" of Southern battle, and devote what atten-
tion they can spare to the study of Mr. Lincoln's
chances, or of the prospects of Generals Grant,
M'Clellan, and Fremont, or of Mr. Secretary Chase.
Even the gamblers and stockjobbers of Wall and
William streets are learning to devote some por-
tion of their leisure—once a week or so—to serious
thoughts of the future. Mr. Lincoln appears to
have made up his mind to conquer, and his friends
are busily at work in every direction lecturing,
speechmaking, writing, publishing, organising,
bribing, and in every variety of way influencing or
endeavouring to influence public opinion in favour
of their candidate. Mr. Lincoln is palpably in
the hands of the revolutionists, and is susceptible
as warm wax to the pressure which they choose to
put upon him. If he resist the revolutionary party—
whese cry is immediate and unconditional emancipa-
tion, the forfeiture of the estates of the Southern
" aristocrats," and their distribution among the
Northern soldiery and the Southern negroes (the
soldiers to be the great landed proprietors, and the
negroes the small freeholders)—they will find a man
to their mind in Mr. Chase. Bat Mr. Lincoln will
not resist. He will go whither he is led or driven,
and in return for his docility the party will strain
every nerve to secure his re-election, legally and
peaceably if possible, bat unconstitutionally and
violently if circumstances are unfavourable to the
milder course. There are yet nine months to the day
of election, but the time is short enough for the work
that.has to be done. Of course, the whole body of Mr.
Lincoln's supporters is not of one opinion on the
modus operandi. There are men among them who
believe that his re-election, if it be legally effected,
will save trouble and avert bloodshed. There are
others who would not hesitate to resort to unconsti-
tutional measures—the men who have fattened upon
the spoils of the war under his protecting shield, and
who doubt whether they would enjoy such excellent
chances of public plunder under any possible sue-
cessor. There is also a large civic army of function-
aries and placeholders who have enjoyed good sa-
laries during one period of four years, who desire to
enjoy them for a second, and who would certainly
be dismissed by any new incomer, even if he were a
man of their own party. Behind these and acting
with them there is the aggresive phalanx of philo-
sophers, theorists, puritans, and impracticables who
indulge in the vision of a mighty Federal Republic,
and are ready to forego domestic liberty for the
prize of foreign power and the occupation of the
first place in the civilised world, vice Great Britain,
deposed and revolutionised.
Mr. Seward, as the representative of the first and
third class, has broken ground in favour of Mr.
Lincoln, and the journals which support his views
are following suit. Ia his speech at Auburn, with
the forensic ingenuity which is the principal charac-
teristic of his mind, he laid down the proposition
that on the day Mr. Lincoln was first elected he was
de facto, as well as de jure, the President of the
whole of the United States, that the " rebellion"
which immediately broke out left him President
only de jure, that until he be again President de
facto he is robbed of power and authority, and that,
therefore, it is his " right" to be continued in the
Presidency until, by the conquest of the rebels and
the restoration of the Union, he be—what he was
intended to be in 1860—President de facto of the
whole Union from Texas to Maine, and from South
Carolina to California and Oregon. As this night
be considered a very indefinite prolongation of Mr.
Lincoln's power, and equivalent to his appoint-
ment for life, the timid Conservatives who support
his claim have discovered a new method of dealing
with the subject. It is the first time that this
section of the Republican parly has found any-
thing to admire in the South ; but in view of the
approaching danger they have come to the con-
clusion that the Southern people have done well
to nominate their Presidents for six years,
instead of four. They, therefore, hint that an
amendment of the Federal Constitution to that
effect could be easily carried through the present
Congress, by which means Mr. Lincoln could be
retained in the Presidency until 1866, long before
which time, they argue, the Union must infallibly
be restored. " If," says one of Mr. Seward's jour-
nals, " our Presidential election involved simply a
change of Presidents, its occurrence in the midst of
a great civil war, complicated by the presence of
the question of slavery, would be well calculated to
arouse anxiety ; but involving, as it may, a complete
charge in the whole machinery of our administra-
tive system, which is charged with the conduct of
war, calling 800,000 men to the field, and which has
to provide for a debt of 2,000,000,000d015., it is some-
thing which . nobody can contemplate without
alarm." The writer, however, forgets that the legal
amendment of the Constitution—necessary to place
Mr. Lincoln for two years longer in office—would
be as exciting and dangerous a process as the ordi-
nary election of a President. The sth article of the
Constitution, treating of the mode to be adopted for
its own amendment, declares that two-thirds of the
members of both Houses must concur in the neces-
sity of that amendment. There might not be much
if any difficulty in that respect with the present
Congress, where the Administration possesses a
large majority in both Houses; but, as the Consti•
tution further prescribes that such amendments
shall net be valid unless they be ratified by
the Legislatures of three •fourths of the several
States, or by Conventions of the people of three-
fourths of the States, specially appointed for the
purpose, the agitation of the subject would be as
perilous to the domestic peace of the country at a
time like this as the election it was intended to
prevent. Upon reconsideration, the timid sup-
porters of the President may therefore see reason
to abandon this suggestion, and acquiesce in Mr,
Lincoln's nomination of himself, upon the plea
of military necessity, supported by his 800,000
bayonets,—who, all counted, might not, perhaps,
amount to half the number.

The place-holders, contractors, humanitarians,
and theorists all act together, and have broader
notions of Mr. Lincoln's value to the State than
the class of which Mr. Seward is the representative.
They know that Mr. Lincoln, like another great
potentate, with whom he has no other point of re-
semblance, has a fancy for anniversaries ; that he
would rather that any of his.generals should achieve
a victory on the 4th of July than on the 3d or the
6th, and that he seems to think there is peculiar
sanctity or luck attaching to the 22d of February.
The 4th of July is the birthday of American in-
dependence, the 22d of February is the birthday
ofGeorge Washington ; and if great things are again
to be done in America, it is Mr. Lincoln's belief
that these two are the days on which to do them.
Acting upon this idea, the Union Lincoln Asso-
ciation of New y ku
of , under the auspices of Mr.
Simeon Draper, an auctioneer, and formerly Pro-
vost-Marshal of this city, and a committee com-
posed of wealthy merchants, contractors,d t ete stock-
brokers, and others, have been instructed to make
the first movement of the Presidential cam-
paign, In a circular addressed to all the post-
masters in the country, functionaries who were
appointed by the party in power, and who
will indubitably lose their situations if any other
President than Mr. Lincoln be chosn, these gen.
tlemen have called " on all citizens of the United
States, without regard to party," to meet on the
22d of February, "at appropriate places within
their towns, counties, or States, for the purpose of
giving public expression to their sentiments in Mr.
Lincoln's favour.
General Grant is silent and quiescent, and possibly
observant, but as a defeat in the geld may make an

end of his pretensions at cnco and for erer, he is
wise in keeping his own counsel. Gen. 3.ol4Clellan
is equally mute, and as no defeat of y other
general can impair his chances, or do ther than
help them, he is still more prudent in the strategy
of silence. His friends, however, a cia the alert,
and if there be any strength or cohes:, n left in the
Democratic party, or any lingering love of liberty in
the hearts of the people, they will profit by all the
mistakes of the Rspublicans, and oppose a stern
front to the encroachments of the Executive and to
all the attempts of the revolutionists to overturn or
set aside the Constitution. The supporters of Mr.
Chase and Gen. Fremont are equally active. Neither
of these gentlemen, it is understood, will waive
his claims to the Presidency in favour of Mr. Lin-
coln, and, as their several adherents seem to have
as much faith in the luck of Washington's birthday
as Mr. Lincoln, conventions of both are to held
on the 22d of February; the friends of Mr. Chase
to meet at Chicago, and those of General Fremont
at Louisville,

Meanwhile the war languishes. The army of the
Potomac attempts to " feel" the enemy across the
Rapidan, and feels it to its sorrow. Butler makes a
cunning attempt upon Richmond aad is foiled. Gen.
Gilmore raises the siege of Charleston and comes
home, and nobody.is either surprised or indignant.
A small force is left upon Morris Island to pour
Greek fire and shells into which the Federal forces
can annoy but which they are unable to capture,
and nobody is scandalised either at the pettiness or
the wantonness of the proceeding. Gold is up at
nearly 60 per cent. prem., and no considerable num-
ber of persons is alarmed, while the few who raise
the warning voice are sneered at as cowards, de-
nounced as traitors, or accused of an attempt to
" bull" the market in their own interests.

RAILWAY INTELLIGENCE,

SOUTH-EASTERN.

The report of the directors states that the gross receipts
for the half year ending January 31 amounted to £6642,848
(including £27,790 for steamboat traffic), as compared with
£659,686 for the corresponding period of the preceding year,
being a decrease of £6,838. The ordinary working expenses
during the half-year amounted to £251,257, the rates, taxes,
tolls, and Government duty to £36,996 ; and the working
of the steam packet service to £13,312, making, with other
items, together £305,805, against £306,058, showing a de-
crease of £253. After providing for rents, interests, annui-
ties, preference dividends, &c., there remained a net balance
of £218,475 available for dividend on the ordinary stock of
the company. The directors recommended a dividend of
17s 6d per £3O stock, being at the rate of £6 16s 8d per cent
per annum, payable on Marsh, leaving a balance of £1,659.
The net receipts, after deducting working and other ex-
penses, amounted to £347,043, against £353,629, showing a
decrease of £6,586. The total number of passengers con-
veyed over the line in the six months was 6,668,709, against
6,356,013 for the corresponding period, showing an increase
of 312,696. The increase in the total receipts amounted
to £120,197, and for season tickets to £13,731. The
total number of passengers carried in the year ending
January 31, 1855, was 7,921,232, the total receipts were
£635,718, and for season tickets £20,962. The total number
of passengers carried in the year ending January 31, 1864,
was 13,455,053, the total receipts were £755,915, and for
season tickets £31,693. The Charing-cross Railway had
been worked since the 11th January. Although the station
at Charing-cross was still unfinished, and the approach to
the temporary platforms by Villiers-street was very circui-
tous and inconvenient, the directors were desirous of open-
ing the line, however partially, at the earliest possible
period. The directors had felt it necessary to proceed with
much caution in making the necessary arrangements, in
view of the heavy press of traffic to be expected so soon as
the station at Charing-cross was in a condition to receive
the whole of the through trains of the South-Eastern Com-
pany. The directors state that 119,829 passengers were
carried over the line without casualty during the three
weeks ending the 31st January last, being at the rate of
2,200,000 passengers per annum. Of the above number
52,683 were booked between South-Eastern stations and
stations on the Chain;-cross Railway, and 67,146 were
local passengers between Charing .cross station and London-
bridge. The steam packet service continued to be conducted
with regularity and despatch ; the average speed maintained
by the company's new vessels, the Victoria and Albert
Edward, in making their voyages from port to port, has
been above 17 statute miles an hour. The outlay on capital
account during the half year had been £132,296, less £3,C95
realised by the sale of surplus lands. To provide for the
better accommodation of traffic, and for the effectual work-
ing of the local trains between the railway and the stations
of the Charing-cross Railway, the directors requested the
sanction of the proprietors to the further expenditure on
capital account of £39,789. The capital account showed
that £13,254,040 had been expenied to the 31st January
last.