The Sun.
London, England, 1864-06-08 00:00:00

TSB CIVIL WAR IN AMERICA,

(From the limes Correspondent.)

NEW YORK, May 24.
Mr Stantoes official telegrams of the progress of
General Grant are not entirely confirmed by the
correspondents of the New York journals and other
eyewitnesses of the fearful battles of the Wilder-
ness and Spottsylvania Court-house. With every
disposition to do honour to the bravery of the army
and to claim a victory in every indecisive action,
these gentlemen are constrained to admit that Grant
has been foiled by General Lee in every movement
he has made, and beaten in every 'battle, and in
almost every skirmish. On Friday last, after re-
posing for a week and receiving large supplies and
reinforcements, the Federal army was declared by
its corps commanders to be ready to renew the
fight. It was found, however, that Lee's position at
Spottsylvania Court-house—against which all the
efforts of Grant had been futile—was so strong as to
be impregnable, unless at the sacrifice of half his
legions. As this was a sacrifice which, with all his
extravagant recklessness of human life, General
Grant did not think it prudent to make, a flank
movement was determined upon and commenced
that evening, with the view of turning the position,
and forcing Lee to fall back to the line of the North
Anna. Mr Stanton's official telegram, dated on
Sunday evening at 10 o'clock, informed the public
of this movement, since which time up to the hour
of the despatch of this letter to Boston, to meet the
Cunard steamer, no details of the movement have
been made public, As the telegrams from Wash■
ington are submitted to military censorship before
they are transmitted over the wires, and as all the
journals are warned against the publication of
any news having a tendency to give encourage.
ment to the enemy, the public is forced to rely
upon Mr Stanton for telegraphic information;
or, if too impatient to wait for information con-
veyed through the post-office, to feed upon the
rumours, often grossly exaggerated, and as often
wholly false, that circulate in every place of
resort. Mr Stanton says as little as he can, and
as people argue that he would certainly say a great
deal if he had anything favourable to communicate,
they reverse the old proverb which declares no news
to be good news, and persist in believing that Grant,
like every other General who has attempted to take
Richmond, has miscalculated his means and the

force opposed to him. In a despatch dated last night
the secretary reports that he has no intelligence
either from Grant or Butler. He endeavours, how-
ever, to keep up the spirits of the public by the
assurance that all the losses of the army have been
repaired; that since the great battle at Spottsyl-
vania Court-house, which he no longer claims as a
Federal victory, "many thousand veteran troops
have been forwarded to General Grant;" that "the
whole army has been amply supplied with full
rations ;" that " several thousand fresh cavalry
horses have been furnished ;" that " several thou.
sand reinforcements have alsa been forwarded ;"
and that during the last eight days "over 30,000
volunteers for 100 days have been mustered into
the service, clothed, armed, equipped, and trans-
ported to their respective positions." It is only in
the case of these volunteers that Mr. Stanton
escapes from the vagueness of " several," and
" many thousands," into the exactitude of a specific
number. As it is to be inferred that the 30,000
are a portion of the 100,000 militia of the Western
States offered by the respective Governors for garri-
son and frontier duty, and accepted by Congress at
the cost, for the hundred days, of 25,000,000 dols.,
it would seem as if the anticipations of reinforce-
ments from this source had not yet been fully rea-
lised, and that it was much easier for Congress to
be liberal than for the West to be ready, and for
the Governors to promise 100,000 men than to find
them. Thus, although Mr. Stanton's information
is meant to be cheerful, it does not quite fulfil its
purpose. And as enough is known of the direction
which Grant has taken to make it obvious that
the line of the Rappahannock, where he will be
supported by the naval strength of the Federal Go-
vernment, is to be his new base, and as that line pro-
vides the means of escape for the army by the gun-
boats and transports in case of an overwhelming
defeat, people conclude that Grant's situation can-
not be so hopeful as it has been represented, while
many are quite prepared to hear that the last and
greatest failure to capture Richmond is on the point
of consummation. The undoubted victory of Gene-
ral Breckenridge, Vice.Preeiden t of the United States
under Mr. Buchanan, achieved over the forces of
General Sigel in the Sherandoali valley, must have
deranged the plans of Grant ; and the virtual failure
of General Butler's expedition to the James River.
on the bank of which he lies intreeched, unabl„„ to
move and in danger of annbilation, must also be
taken as an incident on which the Lieute-dant..Gene_
ral did not calculate, and a disturbing 'lnfluence upon
the result of the campaign. It is 'true that the pros
gress of General Sherman from rtihattanoega towards
Atlanta looks like a success, m far es the circum-
stances are known ; but ;nem are too many thought-
ful and observant per/1012S who remember how often
in the progress of war the North has been taught
to beware of an advance by Lee and of a retreat by
Joseph Johnson, to permit the public to draw all the
consolatioa that might otherwise be derived from
Shermam's movements.

Aa General Banks has been superseded for his
fai.iure in Louisiana, and General Sigel for his
equally disastrous defeat in the Shenandoah, Gene-
ral Butler remains the only civilian amateur and
political General in command of a Federal army.
His position at Bermuda Landing, and his military
management since he started from Fortress Monroe
IC/3 not suggestive of the possibility of success; and
it is therefore anticipated that before many days
the armies of the 'North will, by his removal, be
wholly placed under the leadership of professional
soldiers. West Point is in the ascendant, both in
the North and the South, and the echoolfellows and
classmates
,of that famous seminary, who competed
with each other in the schoolroom a quarter of a
century ago, are placed at the head tete two contend-
ing armies of undoubted spirit ar,a bravery to solve
a mightier problem of liberty and civilization than
has ever had to be solved Feince Latin ceased to be a
living language. Gereiral Sigel's removal, though
justified by necessity, has greatly displeased the
Germans, both in the West and in this city. He
was appointed to command less for military reasons
than for the conciliation of his countrymen and the
winning of their votes for the Lincoln ticket at the
ensuing Presidential contest ; but as the Germans
are enthusiastic for Fremont, and have been rapidly
deserting the Lincoln ranks, the President gained
but little by appointing General Sigel, and will lose
as little by sulaerseding him, The Germans, how-
ever, resent what they consider the injustice done
to their Yera, and loudly assert that if the Govern-
ment :;an do without German generals it will have
to pry if it can do without German soldiers.
The forged Proclamation of the President con-
tinues to be a topic of discussion, and bids fair to
lead to more important issues than the subject or
its author is worth. All the flamicg patriots, eon•
tractors, exterminators, and war Christians insisted
that the forgery was the work of a " Copperhead,"
a " Secessionist," and a friend of peace, and could
not have emanated from the brain or hand of any
other. The fact that it only appeared in two De-
mocratic or " Copperhead" journals was taken as
corroborative evidence of the iniquity of its origin.
But when it was discovered that Howard, the forger,
a mere penny-a-'inner, eintributing what is called
it city news," or accounts of fires, accidents, and
other local intelligence to the various newspapers
of the city, was—if he had a political or any other
Ultra-Rebu'olican,
principle—an a loyal leaguer,
and one of the faithful flock of the Rev. Henry W.
Beecher, the dismay and chagrin of the dominant
party was ludicrous if not pitiable. Howard him-
self, when arrested,
was quite surprised to 'tarn the
importance that had been attached to his prform.
ancr., seemed to think he had as much right to
forge a State paper as the .S n 1 newspaper, Which
had been greatly applauded for the act, and that
Mr. Beecher and his father, a deacon or elder of

Plymouth Church, had only to intercede with the
Government to procure his release from Fort La,

Fayette in a day or two, none the worse except for
the fright. Bat although the wretched man and an

equally wretched accomplice do not appear to have
had any other motives than a speculation in the rise'