The Sun.
London, England, 1864-05-28 00:00:00

TEE CONFEDERATE STATES,

(From an Occasional Correvonfiert the _Mac))
RICHMOND, April 21.
Upon my return here I find that the clerks, male
and female, employed in the clipping and signing
of Confederate Treasury notes have been ordered to
report at Columbia, South Carolina, where the notes
are printed, and that the employes in the Second
Auditor's bureau have been transferred to Mont-
gomery, Alabama, the town in which the Provi-
sional Government was originally organised. This
step has been taken, as I learn from the most trust-
worthy sources, in consequence of the scarcity of
provisions in Richmond, which, since the bcginning
of the war, has at once been a besieged city and a
city of refuge and resort. The deficiency of trans.
portation arising from the deterioration of the rail-
way lines and the deficiency of food in Virginia
arising from the occupancy of important grain-
growing districts by the enemy, to say nothing of
the presence here at all tirces of a large number of
Government employes, refugees, visitors, and per-
sons belonging to the army, render it necessary for
Government to practise the utmost economy in the
consumption of food. It is not improbable, there-
fore, that other persons connected with its service at
the capital, whose duties can be performed as well
at one place as another, will be sent to points more
convenient to supplies.
As has already been intimated, this order was
not issued at the suggestion of the War Office.
On the contrary, reasonable confidence is felt,
both in official and unofficial circles, that General
Lee will he able to give a good account of him-
self in the pending conflict. A battle between
himself and General Grant is imminent, and may
take place any day if the present dry weather
continues. During the whole of February and
the early part of March the weather was favour-
able to military operations, but since the 15th ult.
it has been unusually wet and cold ; otherwise, it
is not improbable that General Lee would have
given his antagonist battle before this time. It is
known that General Grant, in anticipation of such
an event, is now concentrating his army in front of
General Lee, and that General Sherman is concen-
trating his at Chattanooga in front of General
Johnston. Indeed, the United States may be said
to have now only three armies in the field—the
army now assembled in Richmond, the army
in the vicinity of Chattanooga, and the
army under General Banks in the Red
River country. The coasts, rivers, and inland
towns have been stripped of their garrisons in a
great measure, and every available man sent for-
ward for the reinforcement of these three principal

armies.

Thus, at the beginning of the fourth year of the
war, the Federal Government finds it necessary to
abandon much of the territory which its armies
have overrun, in the vain hope that by massing
great bodies of men, and hurling them upon parti-
cnlar points, they may be able to reach a vital part
of the Confederacy. But the truth is, the Confe-
deracy, like Milton's archangel, has no vital part ;
it is instinct with equal life and resistance through-
out all its parts and members. The possession of
Richmond, as of New Orleans and Chattanooga,
would certainly not be without its advantages to
General Grant ; but, aside from its moral effect here
and on the other side of the Potomac, the evacua-
tion of the town by the Confederates, and the with-
drawal of their army further south, where it would
be more convenient to supplies, would be a positive
benefit to them. The necessity of defending Rich-
mond has always been a source of embarrassment to
General Lee, as well as a work of exceeding diffi-
culty, owing to the peculiar geographical configura-
tion of Eastern Virginia, and the want of a fleet of
gunboats. 'This will be apparent to the intelligent
reader upon an inspection of the map, without which
all military speculations are so much vain verbiage.
But it should not be inferred from what is here said
that the authorities have any thought of abandon-
ing the capital, or that the country is without
strategic points of great importance.
Intelligence received here within the last few
days has, it is believed, put the Confederate autho-
rities in full possession of General Grant's plan of
campaign in Virginia. It is now understood the'
he will move on Richmond with three columns—
at any rate with two, each one moving by a diiferen'
route and having a distinct base. The first under
General G: ant himself will move from the line of
the Rappaharmock ; the second under General
Butler will move from Fortress Monroe by way of
the peninsula, following the route that M`Clellan
took, and the third, led by General Burnside, and
consisting of the corps he is assembling at Anna-
polis, will operate on the south side of James River,
and seek to cut the railway line leading southward
at Petersburg or Meldon. Shoald the movement
be mole with two columns instead of three, then
Burnside will take the place of Butler, and advance
up the pen:stsula. Such, at least, is the information
received here from sources considered worthy of
confidence. But the question occurs, will General
Lee wait on his adveeary, and give him time to
complete his combinatcombination,or will he assume the
offensive, and strike him in detail A few days,
the weather permitting, will bring us an answer to
this interesting inquiry.
Some additional intelligence has come ..`o band in
regard to the late operations in the Trans-17issis'
sippi Department, alluded to in my letter of te'
14th inst. A telegram dated at Mobile yesterday
says ;—" Western despatches report a battle at
Mansfield, in north-western Louisiana, April 8,
in which the Federais under General Banks were
defeated with a loss of 8,000 men. General E.
Kirby Smith captured 35 guns, 200 waggons, and
2,000 prisoners. The Federals admit a defeat.
Generals Mouton and Polignac were severely
wounded. General Steele (Federal) is surrounded
on the Little Missouri river awaiting reinforce-
ments." Whether the particulars here given are
correct or not it is impossible to say ; though there
are certain features of the report, such as the
wounding of Generals Mouton and Polignac, who
are known to have been with General Smith, and
the location of the battle at Mansfield, at which
place General Banks would probably have arrived
about the Bth of April, which induce the belief in
official circles here that Banks has met with a seri-
ous disaster, especially since some of the Northern
newspapers admit a defeat, and say the accounts
have been suppressed at New Orleans. As the
Federal army occupies much of the country lying
between Mansfield and the Mississippi, it may be
some days before a full and circumstantial account of
the battle can percolate through their lines, and the
wide network of rivers, bayous, swamps, and cane-
brakes by which that distant region is reticulated,
and in which General Banks, if he be not careful,
will become inextricably entangled. General Polig-
nac is the eon of the late Palace Polignac, of France,
and has been in the service of the Confederates
since the first year of the war. He was present with
the French army at the siege of Sebastopol, and
took part in the operations which preceded the re-
duction of that stronghold.
General Forrest, after the fall of Fort Pillow on
the 12th inst., of which you were advised by my
last letter, held the work for some days, and
then proceeded to demolish it. The heavy guns
by which it was defended, were thrown into
the Mississippi, or rendered unfit for service,
and the military stores removed, after which be
withdrew his command to Jackson, is Western
Tennessee, where he has established his head•
quarters. Lower down the great river Colonel
Powers, with 200 men, dashed into Port Hudson
o then i
inflicting
tiogconsiderable
inst.,
loss
guns
in o
and
killed
and
prisoners,
and
wounded, considering the number of men in his
estimate to
pTI
sheee
upoo Europeanthe extravagant rea de r w
storiesknow wwhi
with
ceitmimich the papers of the United States abound in
regard to the treatment of the garrison at Fort
Pillow by General Forrest. They remind one of
the fables so extensively circulated just after the
of success and activity
first bir tahte of
et
for e
goiog Manassas.
instances
on the part of the Confederates I have now to add
an important advantage gained yesterday by Bri-
gadier-General Hoke, at Plymouth, on Albemarle
Sound, in Eastern North Carolina. Telegrams re-
ceived at the War-office last night and this morning
state that he had carried tee place by storm, though
defended by strong permanent tot Lidcations, and