The Sun.
London, England, 1864-07-01 00:00:00

THE CIVIL WAR IN AMERICA

(Errt 2intes Correc

NEW YOBS, Jane 17.

Gen. Grant has gained his first success, and at a
sacrifice of life much less considerable than has
attended any of his previous failures. He has aban-
doned the line of the Chickahotniny, and crossed to
the south side of the James, without losing a man or
a horse. Ger. Baldy Smith, acting under his in-
structions, marched with 15,000 men upon the city
of Petersburg, found it defended mainly by militia,
and, after an obstinate struggle, in which the negro
troops are alleged to have borne a conspicuous part,
carried the outer line of defence, and became virtu•
ally the master of the position. Gen. Butler saw
the whole operation through a telescope from his in-
trenchments at Bermuda Hundred, and described it
to Secretary Stanton, who, in turn, communicated
the facts to Gen. Dix and the American public.
There is in consequence much rejeicing at -Wash-
ington and New York, and people are told for the
twentieth time since the passage of the Rapidan
that the long expected tura of fortune has occurred,
and that they may expect in quick succession to
hear of the capture of Richmond, the surrender or
flight of Gen. Lee, the suppression of the rebellion,
and the reunion of North and South in the bonds of
fraternal affection. These events are at once to be
followed by a declaration of war against Great Bri-
tain for the depredations of the Alabama and the
Florida, as well as for the unpardonable offence
committed by the British aristocracy of refusing to
sympathise with the North. And, as if this were
not work enough for the energies of the young re.
public, there is also to be a declaration of war
against France for the same crime of want of
sympathy, aggravated by the Emperor's contempt
for the Monroe doctrine, and the establishment of
a monarchy in Mexico. The public meanwhile
shuts its eyes, opens its mouth, extends its ears,
and hopes that this time, at least, it will not be so
utterly disappointed as it has been a hundred times
before, and that Grant may have a substantial vic-
tory to place on the credit side of the ledger of
glory"—where the debit records the awful figures
One hundred thousand killed, wounded, and
prisoners." The President seems to be of opinion
that Grant, after feeling pretty nearly all round
Richmond for the weak place, has at length dis-
covered it, and announced Nit night at Philadephia,
whither he had gone to visit the Sanitary Fair, that
though he was not in the habit of making predic-
tions (like his faithful Secretary of State) he would
hszard one on that occasion, to the effect that
" Grant was that evening in a position whence he
could never be dislodged by the enemy until
Richmond was taken." The somewhat singular
wording of the prediction has led to the inquiries,
—whether Grant, instead of being the besieger, is
to become the besieged, and who or what is to (Es.
lodge him after Richmond is taken, seeing as the
President does, that he cannot be dislodged before?
Gratifying as the capture of Petersburg is to the
pride of the North, and important as it may be in
a military point of view—inasmuch as it cuts off
the direct railway communication of Gen. Lee with
North and South Carolina,—it is but a small part of
the work that will have to be done if Richmond is to
be taken. General Baldy Smith is south of the Ap-
pottomax, and General Grant is south of the James;
but where Lee is at this moment, or where he may be
the next, is a matter that neither Smith nor Grant
can discover. Speculation is at fault. People ask
whether it may not be General Lee's plan to ex-
change Richmond for Washington ; and of what
use the possession of Richmond will be to the
North, if Lee's army remains intact. But, what-
ever may be the answer which events will give to
these inquiries, it is evident that the real crisis of this
campaign is approaching, and probable that not many
days or even hours may pass without a renewal of
battles, to be as fiercely contested on either side as
those of the Wilderness, Spottsylvania Courthouse,
and the Chickahominy—battles which may decide
the fate oi Richmond, but which are not likely to
bring the North any nearer to the subjugation of
the South.

Little has been heard during the past week of the
march of Gen. Sherman, in Georgia, towards At-
lanta, but, as Gen. Forrest has got into his rear at
the head of a large force end defeated Gen. Sturges
with great loss, some anxiety begins to be felt for
the first time in high Republican circles lest bad
news should arrive from that quarter of a nature to
more than counterbalance the good news of the cap-
ture of Petersburg.
Though the news from the seat of war in Virginia
and Georgia is absorbing enough to reduce all other
public events to the minimum of interest, the sud-
den re-appearance of Mr. Vallandigham in the poli
tical arena has created a sensation. Condemned by
arbitrary military decree to exile from his home and
country for the offence of plain speaking, though he
did not speak half so plainly as many men of his
way of thinking have spoken since his arrest, he
has quitted his Canadian seclusion, crossed into the
Federal territory, addressed large assemblages of
his fellow citizens, and dared the Government to
call him to account. As Gen. Burnside is no longer
in command in Ohio, and his successor has no per-
sonal feud with Mr. Vallandigham, it is probable
that the authorities of Washington may, in view of
the enthusiasm which his return has excited in
Ohio, resolve that he has suffered sufficiently for
his contempt of Gen. Burnside, and decide to
take no further notice of him, unless he should
be indiscreet enough to afford a fresh pre-
text. There is such au all pervading cowardice in
America—except in the battle-field, where both
sides are as brave as it is possible for them to be—
that Mr Vallandigham's civic courage " shines like
a good deed in a naughty world," and inspires
something like the hope that in the approaching
Presidential contest—which Mr Lincoln appears to
oonsider as already decided in his favour—the De-
mocratic leaders will not only express their senti-
ments as becomes free men, hut take such personal
risks to give effect to their convictions as their
British ancestors took in the days of Charles 1., and
as George Washington and the founders of Ameri-
can independence took, against the whole weight
and power of the British Crown. America as yet
has produced no civic hero. The " Hampden" of its
liberty has yet to appear, if he have not yet to be
born, and those who denounce the unconstitutional
acts of the Government and the vulgar, though re-
lentless, tyranny of such military basha ws as Butler,
Schenck, ✓Milroy, Burnside,Wallace, and Wild draw
a bated breath at the first serious threat of Fort
Lafayette or Fort Warren. Mr Vallandigham, by
his return to his home, and reappearance in the
political arena, no longer tongue-tied, but bold and
defiant, has set an example to the cravens and made
himself the true leader of the Democracy, vice Go-
vernor Seymour, who has thrown away his chance.
The immigration into this port, principally tram
Ireland and Germany, increases daily. The arrival
of as many as 5,000 emigrants per week is immense,
and this was about the average during the Celtic
exodus of the famine years in 1849 and 1850, when
the panic-stricken multitudes fled from the land of
their birth as if the aoii were accursed and no safety
were to be found for the soles cf their feet until
they had placed the Atiantic between them and
their old associations. But this high „erage has
not only been reached during the present summer,
but has been doubled and even trebled. From the
Ist of January to the 31st of May, a period of 152
days, the total immigration was 68,078, or nearly
450 per day, of whom 11,283 were Irish, about 9,000
English, Scotch, and Welsh, and the remainder
Germans. Daring the week which ended on Satur-
day last no leas than 16,000, of whom fully 12,000
were Irish, landed at the Battery. More than half
of the number were women and children. Large
numbers of both sexes passed through New York,
without stopping even for a day, bound for the Far
West, where labaur is most in demand, while a very
considerable proportion of the young and strong of
the male sex fingered the bounty money of the
Federal Government within six hours of their arrival.
One vessel, the Benjamin Adams, of Liverpool,
brought 680 passengers, of whom 109 marched from
the landing-place to the recruiting office in a body,
and received the first instalment of the £lOO sterling,
or thereabouts, which the Federal Government and
the municipality offer to any sturdy proficient in
the use of the shillelagh who will exchange that
instrument for the musket. One of the passengers

stated that there we•:e Federal recruiting-officers
on board, who commenced their labours among the
passengers as coon as the ship left the Mersey.
These men must have driven a very lucrative trade,
for they not only received the 20 dole, " hand money"
offered by the Government for each volunteer, but
levied a tax upon the recruit himself, varying in
amount with the credulity, or what is here called the
"squeezability" of the individual. To pick up 2,180
dole. in one trip across the Atlantic ,is so pleasant
as well as so rapid a mode of money making,
that as long as the Federal Government re-
quires soldiers, and the Irish are willing to
volunteer, it is not likely to be abandoned
by the enterprising Yankees who are sent by
the Federal Government to Ireland to secure
" labourers for the construction of rail .vays," which
labourers, being free men, every one of them may—
however much the British Government may object,
change their minds, forego the spade, and don the
uniform, even before they arrive in the land of
their adoption. But if the legal fiction that a Bri-
tish ship is to all intents and purposes British ter-
ritory be accepted, it is quite clear that the British
Government might jest as we 1 permit the esta-
blishment of Federal recruiting-offices in the streets
of Cork or Dublin as on board of Liverpool ships.
The temptation to the poor Irish is enormous; £lOO
sterling—though Patrick may be, and probably is,
defrauded of more than one half of it, and sells his
life for the other—is a sum greater than he ever
imagined to be his, even in his wildest dreams, and
the possession of a tithe of which very generally
burns a hole in his pocket. To buy himself a watch
or a gold chain is his first thought in most instances,
though the new recruit, in the buoyant, rollicking,
and unfamiliar sense of wealth and independence,
not unfrequently expends his superabundant green-
backs in a very different manner, and rushes off to
purchase--what does the gentle reader imagine?
A new snit of clothes ? By no means. A ride in a
grand carriage, or a dinner at Delmonico's ? Not at
all, He has his own ideas of splendour and aristo-
cracy, and to gratify them he buys himself a pair of
patent leather boots ! To wear these instead of the
brogues and clouted shoon of the Emerald Isle, and to
look like a "rale gintleman"—in the feet it not in the
faee—is the object of his ambition, and he pays his
18 dols. fora pair with as much contempt of expense
as if the dirty dollars were so manyßritish farthings.
They cramp his feet, it is true, and render walking
uncomfortable to him and ludicrous to the spectator.
But what matters ? " Let us eat and drink, for to-
morrow we die." Let us wear patent leather boots
for once in our lives, even if we are killed in battle
to-morrow and require boots no more.

As Mr. Stanton, when contradicting Howard's
forged proclamation—which called for a new levy of
400,000 men, to rescue the country from the ex-
tremity of its peril—took care to inform the people
that a draught for 300,000 men woald in all proba-
bility be ordered about the Ist of July, and as it is
quite certain that at least that number of new re-
cruits must be obtained, whether Richmond stand
or fall, the municipality of New York has deter-
mined to see whether its quota under the call, sup-
posing it to be made, cannot be filled on the volnn•
tary and high bounty principle. It has 600,000
dole. on hand of its old fund raised for that purpose
last year, to which it has just added by vote of the
civic authorities the handsome sum of 2,000,000
doll, Its action in this matter will extricate the
Government from a difficulty. Men must be pro-
cured; a draught must be ordered; but New York
is full of a population so dangerous and so hostile
to the principle of compulsory service that neither
the municipality aor the Government chooses to
run the risk of exciting a street insurrection. The
draught may possibly be enforced elsewhere, but
New York will be allowed to buy itself out of
danger by the aid of the Irish and the Germans. If
these continue to arrive at the present ratio of
16,000 a week the raw material of a considerable
army—all nominally provided by New York—will
afford the Government all the pretext it needs for
letting this city alone and doing nothing that
might awaken so very fierce a lion in its path as
its labouring population.

Letter from a Soldier in the Confederate
Army.

The following is an extract from a letter just re-
ceived from a young man who emigrated from
Edinburgh seven years ago, and who is now in
Johnston's command in the Confederate army. The
letter is dated Mobile, Ala., May 4,1864 :—" I have
no doubt the eyes of the world are turned with the
greatest interest at the present time in its great
struggle for freedom and independence on this un-
fortunate country. The battles which are to be fought
one in Virginia, the other in Georgia, are ones
which are to decide whether the struggle is to last
much longer or not; if we defeat the enemy it will
certainly be the beginning of the end, if we are
defeated, God knows when the end will be, because
as a people we are determined to fight as
long as there is a man left ; but we do
not anticipate any such result. The army
to a man is confident that the enemy will be
defeated, and when such a spirit pervades an army
to such an extent as it certainly does in ours, it is
a difficult matter to conquer them. We are
straining every nerve for the onslaught, which,
when the shock comes, will be terrific. Ere this
reaches you the battles will have been fought, but
for the result rely not upon Northern news at first
—wait paitently for an impartial account. So far
this year our arms everywhere have been crowned
with success; we have just received intelligence
confirming the late news of a great battle having
been fought in West Louisiana, where the Yankee
General Banks was routed. It is now three years
since I entered the service, and I hope to see the
end of the struggle. I have seen some pretty
rough work, but I am not a whit the worse for it,
having enjoyed good health all the time. I
suppose you have heard of the attempt Commodore
Farragut made at Mobile, but many a Yankee will
be made to bite the dust ere they take this place.
They have been pegging away at Charleston for ten
months past, and are just as ftr on in the consum•
mation of their object as when they first started.
If they try Mobile, they will require as many men
as they have tried their "on to Richmond" with
so often. The following are the prices of a few
articles in the Confederacy :—Sugar, 225. per lb. ;
coffee, 48s. per lb. ; boots, £5O per pair ; shoes
£25 per pair ; flour, £7O per barrel ; soap, 16s per
lb, ; calico, 445 per yard, worth 53 ; shirting, 30s
per yer I ; reels, 8s each; pearl buttons, 101 p4-r
dozen ; and everything else in proportion."—Scots
own.