The Sun.
London, England, 1864-04-26 00:00:00

THE CIVIL WAR IN AMERICA.

(From the Times' Spec al Correspondent.)

NEW YORK, April 12.

The stormy weather and the impassable roads of
Virginia still prevent the advance of the Army of
the Potomac, via the Rapidan, against Richmond.
The expedition is, it appears, to bo aided by the
simultaneous advance of two other co-operating
armies—the one from Fortress Monroe, by way of
the Peninsula, under the command of General W.
F. Smith, commonly called " Baldy Smith;" and
the other from Newborn and Goldsborough, under
Gen. Burnside, just as commonly called "Blundering
Burnside." It is computed that these three armies
will number 200,000 men. So great—and it may
be added so foolish and unreasoning—is the confi-
dence placed in General Grant that most people
believe the dorm of Richmond to be sealed at last,
and that nothing will resist the skill of his ma-
r uvres and the impetuosity of his attack. If
Grant himself entertain half as much confidence in
leis own genius and fortune as his admirers express,
he will rush to destruction at a rapider rate than
any of his predecessors. Perhaps, however, as he
knows what war is, he is less sanguine than the
silly public, and will walk as warily as a man ought
who fully understands of what enormous conse-
quence, not simply to his army but to his country,
his defeat would be in a movement of such magni-
tude. What adds to the peril of the situation,
though but few admit the fact, is the certainty that
the men in power are jealous of Grant, and do not
desire that he should gain any victory brilliant
enough to hoist him into the Presidential chair on
the shields of the army and amid the acclamations
cuf the people.
To day gold has advanced to 741, per cent. pre-
mium, or 2 per cent. higher than it has yet reached
during the war. The rise greatly astonishes and
as greatly annoys the friends of Mr. Chase, for they
find it difficult to impute it either to speculation or
to treason, as they have been in the habit of doing,
and aro compelled to admit what they have all
along denied—that there may be a foundation of
truth in the experience of ail the rest of the world
in all times, that immense issues of paper currency
are sure to be depreciated, and that the apparent
rise in gold is but another method of counting the
fall in the inconvertible paper money which the real
and supposed necessities of the State have thrown
into circulation. The Federal Debt was augmented
nearly 60,000,000 dols. during the month of March ;
the pay of the army and the navy is in arrear to the
extent of about 150,000,000 dole., for which sum Mr.
Chase depends upon his new loan of 200,000,000
dols., known as the "ten-forty," cf which only about
12 millions have yet been subscribed; and every
day new National Banks are started, authorised to
commence operations and to issue paper money of
their own, upon the deposit of Government securi-
ties to a corresponding amount. Day by day the
currency is inflated ; day by day the Government
borrows money; day by day the public liabilities
are increased ; day by day gold advances in price ;
and if anybody wonders at this chain of cause and
consequence, he may be fit to be a soldier, or a
clerk, or a ploughman, but he is certainly not fit to
be a financier oe to call himself a statesman.

Within the last four days there have been stirring
debates in both houses—debates not sterile, but
wrung from men's convictions, and destined to mark
a new era in the political if not in the financial
_history of the war. The first took place in the
Senate, on Mr. Charles Sumner's motion for the
abolition of slavery by the legal mode of a reversion
of the Constitution. The second and more immedi.
ately important occurred in the House of Repre.
sentatives on the question of peace and the recog-
nition of the South, which commenced on Friday
by a remarkable speech from Mr. Long, one of the
representatives of the Congressional district of which
Cincinnati is the centre, and was continued on
Saturday, yesterday, and to. day amid a greater dis-
play of excitement and angry feeling than has been
known during this or any previous session of Con-
gress under the Lincoln Administration.
Comparatively small attention has been bestowed
upon Mr. Sumner's motion. It was generally dis-
c)uraged by the rank and file of the Republican
party, and especially by the supporters of Mr. Lin-
coln. But Mr. Sumner persevered, and has been
rewarded by the requisite majority of two-thirds
of the Senate. It is calculated on good grounds—
for the vote of almost every member can be safely
predicted—that a similar resolution will pass the
House of Representatives by a majority equally
large. If so, the next thing to be done will be to
submit the proposition to the Legislatures of every
separate State in the Union, and if two-thirds of
these should concur (inclusive of the Southern
states, which the North considers to belong de
fare, if not de facto, to the Federation) slavery will
cease to be, and the Americans will have done by
peaceable means that which violence and illegality
failed to accomplish. The fatal demerit of Mr.
Sumner's measure is that it is " too late." The
North might as well attempt to abolish slavery by
legal enactment in Cuba or Brazil as in South Ca-
rolina and Mississippi. And as in the day, certain
to come, when the independence of the South will
be recognised by Europe, there will be no slavery
in any portion of the Northern territory, it is un-
necessary to set such cumbrous machinery in ope-
ration to secure a result that will have been already
attained. Had such a proposition been made before
a shot had been fired in anger by either of the
belligerents, it would doubtless have been rejected.
Coming at this late period, the proposed measure
-will not even earn for the North the good opinion
of foreign nations, for they will not cease to re-
member that it was only when the Federal Go-
vernment had failed to abolish slavery by military
conquest and by direct incitement to the most cruel
and savage form of insurrection—the revolt of the
slaves against their masters—that it bethought
itself of what, had it been really governed by wis-
dom or by pure intentions, it would have done before
it drew the sword.

Mr. Lincoln can scarcely he supposed to look
favourably upon the movement at a time like this,
unless he have resolved to withdraw all claim to a
:renewal of his Presidency. But Mr. Lincoln's party
IMYe in a different position, and to them, the passage
of such a measure by both hoses, even if it proceed
no further, will be a decided victory. It does no-
thing towards ending the war or pacifying the
sngry passions of the country, bat it places the
Republicans on a vantige ground for the renewal of
their power at the November election. If at that
lime they see fit to fight the battle against the De-
mocrats with some better man as their candidate
than Mr. Lincoln, with a man who saw from the
beginning what he only saw at the end, and who
would do for principle what he never would have
attempted except from expediency, the proposed
revision will be the best plank in their platform,
and acquire for them the support of many wavering
I)ermentts, who dislike illegal meddling with the
institution of slavery mora than they dislike slavery
itself.

Mr, Long's speech
in the Lower House took the
public by surprise. Mr. Benjamin Wood printed a
speech as bold about this time last year, and his
brother, gr. Fernando Wood, has, on more than
one
occasion, expressed himself strongly in favour
of negotiation with the South, with a view to peace.
But Mr. Long delivered his sentiments viva voce to
startled it out of its customary
a full house, and
apathy by the frank declaration that war could
not restoro the Union ; that the conquest of the
South, if it were possible--
which he denied—
would be the downfall of Northern liberty ; and that
in his opinion the time had come when the North
should cease the Criavalllng contest, recognise the
South as a separate and independent republic, and
as such make the be et attainable terms with it for
good neighbourhood, })erpetual amity, and unrestricted commerce. Th ese are the sentiments of
thousands of the forc'rmost men of America; not of
the trading politicians, perl, • aps, but of the moat able
and the coolest-headed statesmen of the North, who,
it they had but the courage of their convictions, and
would withstand in a fair phalanx the torrent of
public passion, would t urn it from its course, and
be what Nature intended them—the leaders, and
not the followers, of ..he multitude. On Saturday
morning no less a person than Mr. Schuyler Colfax,
the Speaker of th a Roust', forgot alike the dignity
and the impartialit y of his
,position, descended from

the chair, and a temporary Speaker having been I
appointed in his place, moved, in a laboured
harangue, that Mr. Long should be e lied for
'treason." During the warm discussion at ensued,
Mr. Fernando Wood, who has just resemed his seat
after an absence of several weeks •Ed by severe
illness, and Mr. Harris, of Meryl rd, severally
" endorsed" every word that Mr. Long had uttered,
and claimed to be included in any vote of expul-
sion that might be directed against that gentleman.
Mr, Harris was particularly outspoken. He hoped
that a tornado would sweep the whole of the war
faction from power, and place in office men who
had some feelings of humanity, and some regard for
the principles of their revolutionary forefathers.
And as for the subjugation of the Southern people,
he prayed to Almighty God that it might never
be accomplished. The words were ordered to be
taken down by the official reporter, and, amid a
scene of great excitement, it was moved by Mr.
Washbourne, a Republican member, that Mr.
Harris should be then and there expelled from the
House. The vote was taken, when there appeared
81 in favour and 58 against. As a majority of
two-thirds is necessary for the expulsion of
a member, the measure was lost. In hot haste
Mr. Schenck, of Ohio (the once notorious General
Schenck, the petty tyrant of Baltimore), moved that
Mr. Harris should be censured for making use of
expressions evidently tending and designed to en-
courage the rebellion. The motion was adopted by
a majority of 92 against 18. In ordinary times a
censured member resigns his seat and appeals to his
constituents for re-election, but Mr. Harris has, it
appears, declared that he will not adopt this course.
He values the censure of the dominant party and its
praise at exactly the same rate—" the millionth part
of nothing," and will keep his seat as if nothing had
laappeaed. As the printed report of Mr. Long's
speech was not before the House, an adjournment
until Monday was moved and carried to afford mem-
bers who did not hear the " treason" an opportunity
of reading it. On Monday, after some preliminary
business, and an ineffectual attempt on the part of
Mr. Cravens, of Indiana, to induce the House to ex-
press its disapproval of Mr. Charles Sumner's motion
in the Senate for a revision and amendment of the
Constitution at a time when the passions and pre-
judices of the people were inflamed and excited, Mr.
Bliss, of Ohio, commenced the discussion on the
Speaker's motion of expulsion. He deprecated the
heat that had been introduced into the debate,
pleaded for the right of every representative of the
people to express his real opinions, and denied that
it was treasonable for any one to declare that he
would prefer the recognition of Southern indepen-
dence to the subjugation and extermination of the
Southern people. Several members expressed
similar views, among the rest Mr. Fernando Wood,
M. Voorhees, and Mr. Cox ; the other side being
represented by Mr. Thaddeus Stevens and by Mr.
(General) Schenck. The debate lasted until late
in the night and was again adjourned until
this morning, with every prospect that there
will be a strong vote for Mr. Long's expulsion, but
not; the two-thirds vote necessary to carry it into
effect. With only one exception—that of the Tri-
bune—the press, both Republican and Democratic,
of New York, Boston, Philadelphia, and the West,
condemns the conduct of the Speaker in volunteer-
ing to become the public prosecutor in a matter of
mere opinion, for no one contends that Mr. Long's
language was unparliamentary or undignified.
Some of the Abolitionist and ultra-Republican jour.
nals consider that Mr. Long deserves censure; but
not one of any note, as far as has come under my
observation, advocates his expulsion. The war De-
mocrats affect to consider that Mr. Long was unwise
in making such a speech, but insist upon his right
to make it, without being called to other aocount
than such reply or criticism as the house or the press
may bestow ; while the peace Democrats, who are
daily growing in numbers and influence, speak, and
will doubtless act, in a manner that will force the
majority to expel many more members than Mr.
Long, if unluckily for the party in power, the
Speaker's resolution should ba carried by the requi-
site majority of two to one.
The sentiments ex pressedby Mr. Long, Mr. Wood,
Mr. Harris, and Mr. Voorhees are by no means '
new. They are the sentiments of Thomas Jefferson,
James Madison, J, hn Quincy Adams, Andrew
Jackson, Daniel Webster, and Henry Clay; and
they were, in 1860 and 1861, the sentiments of Abra-
ham Lincoln, William Henry Seward, Edward
Everett, Stephen A. Douglas, Horace Greeley, and
a host of others who now clamour for Union, and
think one consolidated despotism to be better
than two free republics. Next to George Wash-
ington, the man whom the American people have
most delighted to honour is Andrew Jackson,
who said on a memorable occasion and in
the heat of passion that the " Union must and
should be preserved," for which sentence he has
become one of the idols of the Republican party.
In his farewell address to his countrymen, penned
after mature reflection, and untinctured with the ill-
feeling and animosity engendered in party conflict,
he said in other words what Mr. Long said on Fri-
day—" If such a struggle is once begun, and the
citizens of one section of the country are arrayed in
doubtful conflict against the other, let the battle
result as it may, there will be an end of the Union,
and with it an end of the hope of freedom. The
victory of the injured would not secure to them the
blessings of liberty. It would avenge their wrongs,
but they would themselves share in the common
ruin. The Constitution cannot be maintained nor the
Union preserved, in opposition to public feeling, by
the mere exertion of the coercive powers confided
to the Government." Mr. John Quincy Adams was
more eloquent, but not more truthful, when he said,
" If the day shall come—may Heaven avert it!—
when the affections of the people of these States
shall be alienated from each other—when this fra-
ternal spirit shall give way to cold indifference, or
collision of interest shell fester into hatred, then the
bands of political association will not hold together
parties no longer attracted by the magnetism of
conciliated interests and kindly sympathies; and far
better will it be for the people of the dis-united
States to part in friendship for each other than tobe
held together in restraint." Mr. Lincoln said in
1848, in his place in Congress, that " any people,
any where, being inclined and having the power,have
the right to rise up and shake off their existing go •
vernment and form a new one that suits them better.
He even went further then this, and added that
" any portion of such people that can may revolu-
tionise and make their own of so much of the terri-
tory as they inhabit." Mr. Seward declared about the
same time, in a lecture delivered at Baltimore,
" that if ever the North and the South separated
they would give the world a noble example of the
benefits of a republican form of government by
agreeing to separate peaceably and without blood-
shed." And Mr. Horace Greeley, in 1860—quoting
and approving the memorable words of Mr. Jeffer-
son in the Declaration of Independence, that govern-
ment derived its just powers from the consent of the
governed, contended that if this doctrine, in which
he heartily concurred, "justified the secession from
the British Crown of three millions of colonists in
1776," it would also " justfy the secession of five,
millions of Southerners from the Federal Union in
1861." Mr. Long, the Messrs. Wood, and thou-
sands of silent patriots who share their views, may
claim to be as wise now as General Jackson was a
quarter of a century ago, as Mr. Lincoln in 1818,
and as Mr. Greeley in 1860, and might well repel
with indignant scorn the accusation of treason, and
aslr if Messrs. Lincoln, Greeley, Seward, Everett,
and others were not the real traitors to the prin-
ciples on which the American States were founded,
and by strict adherence to which they can alone be
held together ? But the Union party in America
lost its reason this day three years ago, when the
first gun was fired from Charleston against Fort
Sumter. Since that time all has been passion and
hate, bloodshed and misery; and Union—always
desirable, and before that day possible, if not pro-
bable—has become as hopeless as the return of the
States to .the British allegiance which they re-
nounced under Washington.

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