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

THE CIVIL WAR IN AMERICA

(From the limes Correspondent.)

NEW YORK, June 17.

Gen. Grant has gained hie first success, and at a
sacrifice cf life much less considerable than has
attended any of his previous failures. He has aban-
doned the line of the Chickahominy, and crossed to
the south side of the James, without losing a man or
a horse. Gen. 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-
trenchtnents 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 mach 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 turn 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 ara 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 vies
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 ali round
Richmond for the weak place, has at length dis-
covered it, and announced last 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
hazard 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 dis.
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;
bat 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. Bat, 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 of 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 and 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 nduce all other
public events to the minimum of interest, the sucl•
den re-appearance of Mr. Vallandigham in the poli
tical arena has created a sensatiou. 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 an 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, but 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
ants of the Government and the vulgar, though re-
lentless, tyranny of such military bashaws 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, bat 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 from
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 soil were accursed and no safety
were to be found for the soles of their feet until
they had placed the Atlantic between them and
their old associations. But thia high average has
not only been reached during the present summer,
but has been doubted 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 41.283 were Irish, about 9 000
English, Scotch, and Welsh, and the remainder
Germans. During the week which ended on Satur-
day last no less 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 labour 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