The Sun.
London, England, 1864-09-26 00:00:00

innes :

It may therefore be affirmed most categorically, and re-
ceived as an axiom, that, the doings of the Chicago, or of
the Baltimore, or of the Cleveland Convention, or of all
of them put together, are of no consequence to the world•
The election is November will not be governed by the elec-
tion of those politicians in August, but by the military
situation in November ; and the election in November itselt
signifi3s just as little as the Conventions, becalse the
issue of war or peace must be governed, not by
the wishes, policy, or protestations of the party in
power, but by the situation of the invading
armies at the olose of this campaign, and by the
possibility or impossibility of procuring a fresh
army to undertake htvasion next year, which is the same
thing as to say that the Yankee nation will fight us upon
this argument just so long as it shall be able to fight us, and
no longer. Whether under Lincoln or l\PClellan, in a
constitutional war, or an unconstitutional, the whole quarrel
between us, and every part of it, and the time of ending it
and the terms of settling it—all abide the inevitable wager
of battle.

Therefore, while the whole of the enemy's country is
hanging to-day upon the utterances of the telegraph wires
—eager to know, not so much whether there is to be peace
or war, as who are to have the profits and spoils of peace
or war, for four years to come—the people of
the Confederate States may await those revela-
tions, not with calmness only, but with utter indiffer
ence. It matters not to us what men are to rule and
to rob in that country the next lour years; and as to their
being for peace or for war that depends not upon them, but
upon us ; we shall cause them to be for either one or the
other, precisely in proportion as we shall drive back their
armies, or be driven by them.
Yet it is not strange that there is so much curiosity here
about the action of those Conventions, It is impossible to
avoid looking to them for something that may serve as a
kind of sign, showing what cur enemies themselves (or one
party of them) think of their chance of conquering us. To
this extent their proceedings may serve as a sign, at least
for the day that is passing over our heads ; hardly for to-mor-
row ; still less for next November ; least of all for next year.
If the Peace Democrats prevail at Chicago, it will prove
that the Democratic party generally thinks war played out
and believes it will have better chance of coming into place
on a peace than on a war platform ; yet even that peace
platform could not stand up against the capture of Atlanta
and Petersburg—would be swept out of sight in a moment
by the capture of Richmond. So, if the War Democrats
prevail, and all the parties contending for power advocate
war until " the suppression of the rebellion, yet that could
not stand against the defeat of Sherman and the reappear-
ance of Grant's beaten remnant re infects, at Washington."
The length of these quotations renders it impos-
sible—even if I wished so to do—to enter now into
extended remarks upon the " Peace question." It
appeared to me more important for your readers to
know, so far es such things can be known, the
Southern feeling at this moment on what after all
is a practical question, than to discuss the abstract
notions of the Chicago or other Presidential Elece
tion Convention.
But this I will say, with reference to the alleged
peaceful tendency of this " Democratic" demon
stration, that, however loud and eloquent were the
denunciations of the modus operandi of the Wash.
ington Government ; however cleverly the
" orators" referred to the miserable effects and the
unnecessary brutalities of the war; however
strongly they repudiated the very idea that if their
party had been in power those and such things
would have occurred—notwithstanding all that was
said, and much more—l do believe that if, during
the progress of tt e Convention, " reliable intelli-
gence" had arrived that any great Union victory"
had been achieved—let us imagine, for argument
sake, that the " nowe" was to this effect
Glorious victory—Grant triumphant—Richmond
taken—Leo's army cut in two and destroyed-
-17,596 rebels killed, the rest prisoners—Jt ff Davis
killed—the city burned with Greek fire—the
Secesh women properly treated—Union loss, 4
killed and 319 wounded, See., &e." 14 in
short, the " intelligence" had been of the
kind commonly called " glorious to the Union
cause," then I believe the "Peace Platform" would
have been broken up in the most admired, or any
other sort of disorder; and, as the Southern journal
expresses it, those who were for peace " would,
(with few exceptions) foam for war and yell for
blood."

Asa matter of history this sort of "sudden
change" occurred more than once during the pro-
gress of this war. What is there to show that any
firmer peace principles exist now in the North ?
WEDNESDAY, 9 A.M.

The Atlanta affair, or " capture," is still—to me
—" a muddle," so far as the despatches and reports
as yet published.