The Sun.
London, England, 1864-07-26 00:00:00

TEB CIVIL WAR IN AMERICA,

(Front the Tinto Corresporylent.)
NEW YORK, July 12.
The "raid" of the Confederates into Maryland—
at which ail New York laughed last week—if it
ever condescended to bestow a thought upon the
matter, has grown into a formidable invasion. Even
yet there arc a few optimists or incredulous persons
who think tht the South is bankrupt, beggared,
dispirited, famished, and demoralised ; who insist
that Lee has made a mistake in sending his horse-
men into the rich cornfields of Maryland ; that they
will infallibly be cut oft with their booty ; and that
Grant will take advantage of their absence to cep-
taro both Petersburg and Richmond. Bat the bulk
of the public has awakened, though somewhat
tardily, to the conviction that Washington is in im-
minent danger ; that Washington and not Baltimore
is the destination of the Confederate General, and
that it will require the presence of the whole Army
of the Potomac to prevent its capture. The invad-
ing hosts, of which no one knows the numbers,
though they are variously estimated at from 40,000
to 80,000 men, carry everything before them. The
affrighted farmers leave their fields and their cattle
and betake themselves to the great cities for safety.
The great cities are in as much terror as the rural
districts. Washington and even Philadelphia are
sending their valuables to New York, and everybody
who up to Saturday last could get away from Mary-
land and the more exposed districts and cities of
Pennsylvania hurried off as fast as possible, To-day
they have no longer a chance. The Confederates
are within four miles of Baltimore and six of Wash-
ington. They have defeated the army of General
Wallace, who thought to withstand their advance
on the Monocacy, and driven him into Baltimore,
They have burnt down the house of Mr. Brad-
ford, the " loyal " or anti-Southern Governor of
Maryland, and that of Mr Blair, the chief friend
and adviser of Mr. Lincoln. They have cap-
tured the private despatches of Secretary Stan.
ton, General Grant, and others. They have
cut the telegraphic wires connecting with this city,
They have broken up the railroads, destroyed the
bridges, and prevented all communication with the
North except by the byroads and the sea. Conse-
quently, a few chance pedestrians or horsemen who
may be willing to run the risks of capture in the
attempt and passengers by the coast steamers are
the only persons on whom the Northern public can
at present rely for information from Maryland and
the Federal capital. It is remarkable under such
circumstances that no spark of patriotic ardour can
be fanned into a flame in the hearts of the border and
Northern people. As regards Maryland, there is, per-
haps, no room for wonder, for Maryland is Southern
in feeling, in prejudice, in interest, in affection, and
hails the invaders as an army of deliverers. But
Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and New York are dull,
listless, and apathetic. The President calls for
militiamen to defend the national capital, but the
militia either plumply refuse, interpose vexatious
delays, or haggle for terms. The Federal Govern-
ment is like a man drowning in a river, but though
there are scores of people on the bank, all able to
swim, not one volunteers to save him, though seve-
ral talk to the half suffocated wretch, and endea-
vour to extort a promise of some advantage to
themselves to repay them for the exertion, and
to indemnify them for the wetting of their clothes.
Governor Curtis, of Pennsylvania, is both alarmed
and indignant, and utterly at a loss to account for
such lukewarmness,—he will not call it cowardice
on the part of his people. In a proclamation dated
the day before yesterday, and addressed to the
Mayor of Philadelphia and the people of Pennsyl-
vania, he tells them candidly that they are not
responding freely to his and the President's
demands ; urges them to come forward " like
men," and "do their duty ;" accuses them of
stupidity in not understanding the gravity of the
circumstances, and " prays to God to enlighten
" them, that the honour of their commonwealth may
be preserved." But the people make no sign. The
poor attend to their daily work as if nothing were
amiss, and the rich send away their jewels, their
plate, and their greenbacks to safer cities than their
own, some even so far to the north as Boston, and
some still further to Toronto and Montreal, out of
Federal jurisdiction altogether. They seem to
think that Mr. Lincoln has raised and possesses
soldiers enough to defend this country, and reso-
lutely refuse to do any fighting. The people of New
York are scarcely a whit more zealous. The Gover-
nor of the State—who is prosecuting before the
recognised legal tribunals the Federal military
authorities in this city, who have contravened and
set at defiance the laws and constitution, which he,
on assuming office, took a solemn oath to maintain
—does not think it advisable to send to Washington
the militia, on whom he may have to depend, should
the Federal Government force a collision between
the civil and military power ; and while he orders
by proclamation that the full complement of militia
shall be rained in the rural districts of his great
State as well as in the cities of New York and
Brooklyn, which have hitherto borne the brunt of
militia service both at hone and in Virginia, he
takes care to make it known to all whom it may con-
cern that he requires the men " in every county to
be in a condition to enforce the laws of the State,
support the decisions of the judiciary, to maintain
peace and order, and put down resistance to lawful
authority." The Mayor of New York, Mr Gunther,
in a letter to Major- General Sandford, commanding
the New York militia, breaks similar ground, and
endeavours to persuade that officer that the true
place for the militia is in New York and not
in Washington. In this singular document
ho states " that in these times of general and
local peril enlightened self-interest is emphatically
the synonym of patriotism." Taking this curious
aphorism as the basis of his argument, he further-
more states his " grave apprehensions" that the
withe;rawal of any considerable number of militia
men from the city at this moment, when the depre-
ciation of the currency is bearing heavi:y upon the
masses of the people, " might tempt the lawless
and eviledistaosed to avail themselves of what might
seem to them a favourable opportunity for arson
end plunder," and for that reason " earnestly pro-
tests against any material reduction" of the loeal
force. It would almost seem as if the Mayor would
es little regret a popular outbreak, if not too severe,
as the orator who advised a mob not to nail a man's
ears to the pump would have regretted their con-
tempt of his entreaty. The Mayor is well belaboured
by the Republic, and gently reasoned with by
the Daenceratie journals, for having drawn
so alarming a picture of the state of the city, which
unless Mr Lincoln be too much occupied with his own
safety at Washington to attend to it, may, perhaps,
be made the pretext of declaring martial law in
this city. It is difficult, in view of public utterances
so significant as these, and of the indifference, not
to nay the contempt with which Mr Lincoln's ap_
peals for assistance are everywhere received, to
avoid believing that at last the people are losing
heart in the war, and that if Mr Lincoln cannot
repel invasion and conquer the South by the abun-
dant means already placed at his disposal they are
coming to the conclusion that peace cannot be made
too soon. There is no longer any enthusiasm for
the war, unless it be in the coaetinghouses of those
who are making money by it. Even the churches
have lost faith, and Dr Cheever sees nothing but
ruin in the war, if Mr Lincoln is to be left to con-
duct it. The foreign element, both of the Irish and
the Germans, which enters so largely into the corn•
position of Society in New York, is notoriously op-
posed to any further hostilities. People who a year
ago spoke freely of the subjugation of the South
have so changed their opinions as to declare pub -
licly, not only that the South cannot be conquered,
but that the North ought not to strive any longer
purpose so fatal to its own liberty.
to accomplish a
Were the Americans other than they are, were
it possible to
appreciate their motives, and to
trace the tendency of their actions, as if they
were Englishmen, Frenchmen, or other Europeans,
it would seem as if the hour of triumph of the
peace party had come; that the public were pre-
pared to listen if any one had the courage to speak,
and that it only required a man of mark to take the
lead to secure such an expression of the public will
as would speedily revolutionise the policy of the
North and put an end to a war so deplorable in its
°flatlet, BO unsatisfactory in its results, and which

has become, what Mr. Lincoln said in 1861 that it
would become, if the Southern people were wholly
in earnest—not a mere blunder on the part of the
North, but a positive crime. But the Americans
are not to be comprehended. They de not under-
stand themselves, and do not admit, that any one
else can ; so it may happen that all these indica-
tions are uncertain, and that the accident of a day
may again reader the North as warlike as it was
three years ago before it had tasted the bitterness
or paid any portion of the penalty of strife.
However this may be, the present symptoms are,
if there be not speedily some sort of compromise
with the South, some little return towards reason
after the furious paroxysm of madness which has
possessed the governing party for the last three
years, that the old question of State rights, the
discussion of which in the matter of slavery pro-
voked the war, will break out in another form
and lead to a conflict of powers--,serious enough of
be entitled to the name of a new rebellion. Governor
Seymour, as will have been noticed in his proclama-
tion for calling out the militia, adheres to the prin-
ciple of the sovereignty of the State as equal within
its own sphere to that of the sovereignty of the
union, and foreshadows the day when it may be ne•
cessary to vindicate it by force of arms. The great
case which is to test whether the courts of law and
the people are of the opinion of the Governor, that
of the State and people of New York against Gene.
ral Dix and his military subordinates, came on for
argument before Judge Russell on Saturday. It
was urged on behalf of General Dix that having
acted under the express orders of the President in
arresting the editors of the World and Journal of
Commerce, and in suspending the publication of
those journals, he ought to be discharged from
custody, inasmuch as the President is not only ex
officio Commander-in-Chief of the Federal army. but
that he had been specially empowered by Act of Con-
gress to take such measures for the public 'safety in
time of war as he should deem expedient. It was
contended, on the other hand, on behalf of the State
of New York, that the Act of Congress in question
is null and void, as being contrary to the Federal con-
stitution—that it conferred and could confer no such
special authority as that alleged; that the State of
New York is in profound peace and tranquillity, and
therefore exempt from the operation of martial law ;
that the constitution of the State especially pro-
vided against the imprisonment of any citizen with-
out legal process; and against any restriction of the
liberty of the press ; and furthermore, that if it bee
comes the duty of the President in the interest of
the public safety to abrogate temporarily the ordi-
nary jurisdiction of the Courts, it is no less his duty
to proclaim the fact before ; that he had not done so in
this instance, and that for all these reasons the dee
fendants were guilty of the charge laid against
them and liable to the punishment in that case pro-
vided. The judge, (ally impressed with the vast
importance of the issue, took time far consideration
and adjourned the further hearing till the Ist of
August, allowing General Dix and his codefendants
to be at liberty in the meanwhile on parole. The
case is full of peril if Mr Lincoln be as obstinate as
his letter to General Dix would imply; and may
lead to complications unpleasant at any time, but
especially dangerous at an hour like this, when the
near approach of the Presidential election is letting
loose a flood of passions, in addition to those pro.
duced by the war, and calling into controversy every
one of the principles by which the American Revos
lution was justified, and on which the Union itself
was founded.
Mr Fessenden arrived isa New York on Sunday
to consult with the leading bankers and men of
business on the aspects of the money market, the
financial condition of the Government, and the
means to be adopted to bring down the premium on
gold and maintain the credit of the country. He
yesterday met them by appointment, and listened
attentively for several hours to such advice and
hints as they had to give him, and such ex-
positions of the state of affairs as they chose
to make ; but said not a word in reply
which could afford the acutest among them the
least clue to his own opinions and intentions. He
had another long interview with the same gentle•
men to-day, and made an equally good listener as
he did the day before. Having heard all they had
to say he made a speech to them of an hour's dura-
tion, avowing his disinclination to announce any
definite line of financial policy at a time of such
public peril as this, and asking for a loan of fifty
millions of dollars, to be repaid by the let of
September. It was understood from his speech
that he will not imitate the example of Mr Chase in
favouring the erection of new national banks, and in
endeavouring to concentrate in their hands all the
financial affairs of the country to the detriment of
the State banks, w hich at the outbreak of the war
vied with each other in sustaining the credit of the
Government, It was also understood that in addi
time to the loan of fifty millions, which if he procure
it, will only pay the expenses of the war for about a
fortnight, he will come upon the market for a loan of
two or three hundred millions on the best available
terms, nod that if this second loan succeed according
to his wishes he will print off no more greenbacks—
at least for the present. The Republican journals
favour the popular loan, and will call upon the Go-
vernment to offer it to the people in small sums, so
as to enlist the greatest possible numbers of the
working classes, the farmers, the shopkeepers, and
the poorer order of provincial people in the sta-
bility of the Government. The Tribune sees salva-
tion in this course alone tied argues that if the
people do not adequately support the Secretary in
this emergency " the war must stop, and the Go-
vernment go down." It was supposed that the in-
vasion of Maryland and the danger of the Federal
capital would have sent up gold to a premium of
200 per cent. to-day; but it has not reached a higher
point than 176, being arrested in its upward ten-
dency, it is thought, by a rumour which is not likely
to be well founded, that General Grant had captured
Petersburg. There are, however, so many rumours
afloat—some of them absurd, some contradictory,
and some so utterly impossible to be true, that the
one helps to neutralise the other, and to keep specu-
lation somewhat less rampant than it might be—
if no more and no less than the truth were stated,
however unpleasant the truth might happen to be.
JUL? 13.
As anticipated, the rumour of the capture of
Petersburg turns out to be false. Nothing is known
positively this morning of the events that have hap-
pened to the north of the defences of Washington
since Monday evening, when a battle was still raging.
It is not known who commands at Washington on
the part of the Federals, though it is supposed to be
Gen. Augur, while it is surmised rather than known
that Gen. Early, and not Lee, commands the Con-
federates. Telegraphic communication with Wash-
ington continues suspended, and the only news that
reeches thie city comes from Philadelphia, tainted
more or less by its Federal or Confederate parentage.
To give a tithe of the rumours in circulation would
but perplex and confuse the European reader, and I
therefore refrain from repeating them. Grant, it is
asserted, will not abandon the attempt upon Rich-
mond via Petersburg ; and the loyal people are
told to expect a movement in that direction which
will fully make amends for all that the Confe-
derates may do, or attempt to do, in Maryland and
he district of Columbia.

FATAL AFirRAT BETWEEN SOLDIERS.—At the
Aldershot patty sessions yesterday, before Capt. Newcome
and a full bench of magistrates, George Barlow, private of
the 75th Regiment, was charged with killing and slaying
Thomas Hutchins, a private of the same regiment, on the
previous Saturday evening. It appeared from the evidence
that the deceased had been drinking with the prisoner and
some other soldier at the Royal Duke public-house, near
the north camp, when some words ensued between them,
and the prisoner struck the deceased with his fist behind the
ear, which caused him to fall over some rails, andhe did not
again speak or breathe. The prisoner, when taken into
custody, admitted the charge:J-1e was committed for trial.
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