The Sun.
London, England, 1864-10-03 00:00:00

THE CIVIL WAR IN AMERICA.

(From the Times Corresponclent)

CLIFTON-HOUSE, NIAGARA FALLS, Sept. 19.
General M'Clellan's prospects do not brighten.
His repudiation of the platform on which he was
nominated has rejoiced his foes, discouraged his
friends, and alienated thehonester, though perhaps
the smaller, section of the Democratic party, and
reconciled many of the sincerest opponents of the
war to accept the re-election of Mr Lincoln as pre-
ferable to a triumph achieved on an issue not pre-
sented to the candidate. The peace party loudly
proclaims the shiftiness of his principles, while the
Republicans deny that he has any principles at all,
and assert that he would have accepted the plat-
form as readily as he has rejected it, if Gen. Sher.
man had been defeated at Atlanta. The peace men,
composed mainly of Democrats, do not like the idea
of mutiny egainst the discipline of the party, and,
'hough they have no faith in the General, would
be glad if he would give them an opportunity of
voting in his favour. With this view attempts have
been made to induce him to write a supplementary
letter to the Chicago Committee, declaring himself
emphatically for an armistice and a convention of
the States. It is urged that he would thus restore
the harmony of the party, gain the votes, if he
could not secure the confidence, of the friends of
peace, and set himself right in the estimation of
honest men and lovers of fair play. He has not yet
seen the necessity of responding to the call, and pro
bably will make no sign, unless a defeat of Grant or
Sherman should again push the fickle people into
the Slough of Despond in which they floundered in
August, and set the tongues that now wag so furi-
ously for war wagging as dolorously for peace, as
they did a month ago. And while the Democracy is
thus divided in opinion with regard to the Presiden-
tial candidate, there is some curiosity expressed
to know what the nominee for the Vice-Presidency
will do under the circumstances. It is asked if Mr
Pendleton, a thorough and uncompromising peace
man, will allow his name to be dragged through the
mire to suit the purposes and further the ambitious
views of another, and whether he does not owe it to
himself as well as to his party either to resign the
nomination, or to declare in terms that no one can
mistake his adhesion to the platform which the
other candidate has repudiated. It is even argued by
some that Mr Pendleton, by pursuing this course,
might at a new peace convention to be immediately
summoned become the nominee for the Presidency.
All this, however, is mere talk that shows nothing
but the confusion into which Gen. M'Clellan has
thrown the Democracy. All the support that he
loses Mr Lincoln receives, and to so great an extent
that the chances of the latter were never so brilliant
as now, or the hopes of his supporters so high that
he will not only be able to win, but to win fairly.
As in all previous contests the people grow im-
patient as the day of election approaches, and resort
to an infinitude of devices to gauge the state of opi-
nion and form an approximate estimate of the
strength of each candidate. If there be a large as-
semblage of guests in an hotel some one will take
the trouble when they have all sat down to dinner,
or are otherwise easy of access, to ask and record
their votes, and as such assemblages are held to he
fair epitomes of the general public, the result is
thought t) prefigure with tolerable accuracy the
final decision at the polls. Large manufactories or
workshops furnish a readily av silable opportunity
for taking a vote of this kind, and the thing is
pushed to such an extent that the inmates of hospi-
tals, prisons, and even of lunatic asylums are called
on for an expression of their opinion on the all-en-
grossing topic. A week ago the lunatics in one of
the chief asylums in the West recorded a clear man
jority for Mr Lincoln, with a large majority for
Gen. M'Clellan, and a score or two of scattering
votes for " Beast Butler," Wendel Phillips, Frede-
rick Douglas, the negro orator, and as many as three
votes for no less awful a personage than the Devil.
In the steamboat by which I travelled up the Hud-
son River on Thursday night from New York to
Albany, en route to Canada, the vote was taken of
all the male passengers. The results showed 123
for Mr. Lincoln, 104 for General M'Clellan, and
three for General Fremont. Some one having sug-
gested that the ladies on board were as well quali-
fied to form an opinion as the gentlemen, the vote
of the blushing,lnd I must add the unblushing, fair
ones was taken, and found to be still more strongly
in favour of Mr Lincoln than that of the ruder sex
—a fact which may be accounted for by the pulpit
influence which has converted the women into fu-
rious fanatics for the prosecution of the war and the
immediate and unconditional emancipation of the
negroes. On the following day in the railway train
from Albany to Niagara Falls, a pedlar, or, as he
would be called in this country, a " merchant," and
who seemed to consider himself the equal if not the
superior of every one present, entered the carriage
in which I was seated, and began to discourse to
the passengers on the patriotism, the virtue, and the
heroism of General M'Clellan, and offered for sale,
at 25 cents each, badges to be worn at the button-
holes containing what he asserted to be a "first-rate
likeness of that illustrious soldier and statesman."
He was met with cries of " Dry up!" " Shut up!"
" M'Clellan's dead," ‘. You will see his funeral in
November." The pedlar was not daunted at this
inhospitable reception, and plied his vocation as be-
fore. "Gentlemen," he said, "you have a right to
your opinions, just as I have. lam for M'Clellan to
the marrow of my bones, He is the only man who
can save the country." " Haven't you a badge of
old Abe ?" inquired a passenger. "No, I havent,
and I don't want to; and if I had I could not sell
three in a week on this line of road." Later in
the day the vote of the passengers was taken by
two men, one in Lincoln's interest, the other in
Ktelellan's, who proceeded together feom car to
car, no`e book in hand, for the purpose. The re-
sults were 57 for Lincoln, 54 for M'Clellan, and 2
for Fremont. The newspapers daily record similar
experiments in all parts of the country, the figures
invat lately showing a balance so close as to fore-
shadow a severe contest, with the preponderance
slightly against M'Clellan, and not very likely to be
turned to the other side by any event, civil or mili-
tary, that may occur before the election.
As it was well known to the Government that
Gen. M'Clellan was among the first of the military
authorities to urge the necessity of a conscription,
Mr Lincoln, after much hesitation and apparently
much misgiving, has resolved to risk the enforce-
ment of his last call, and ordered the draught to
commence to-day. Should the measure be as un-
popular as expected Gan. M'Clellan will share the
odium with the Administration, and gain no votes
from that source. And, as it was considered in 'Wash-
ington that the people were in unusually good spirits
with the prospects of the war—that they really be-
lieved that the end was at hand ; that the tough
" backbone of the rebellion" was well nigh broken ;
that Grant would certainly take Richmond ; that
Sherman would swallow up Hood's army, and that
the inestimable and never-failing Farragut would
beyond all doubt add Mobile to the list of his trim
umphs—it was suggested by the War Secretary to
Gams, Grant and Sherman that they should each
write official letters to him, calling for reinforce•
ments, and recommending the immediate enforce:
meat of the draught. The two generals obeyed
orders, and each on the same day set forth, in a curt
and soldierly epistle, his want of men and the abso-
lute necessity of a conscription if volunteers did no'
offer themselves in sufficient numbers. Fortified by
this support, Mr Lincoln and Mr Stanton took the
decisive leap and ordered an immediate draught,
throughout the Federal dominion. New York and
some other cities will be exempted on the pretence
that they have supplied their quotas, but for the real
reason that formidable riots would ensue if working
men were draughted, taken from their work and their
families, and compelled to serve against their will.
What may be the state of feeling throughout the
country on the subject it is yet too early to deter-
mine ; but if there be as much excitement every-
where else as Exists on the American side of the
Niagara river, there may be danger to the public
peace in other places than the city of New York,
and a troublesome time before the Administration,
The ferries and suspension bridge are strongly
guarded by soldiers, to arrest any free American
who may try to escape into freer Canada to avoid
military service, and kiwis of men are gathered at
street corners is Niagara FAlla City, deb3tiDg per-