The Sun.
London, England, 1863-08-12 00:00:00

CONFEDERATE CORRESPONDENCE.

The following intercepted Confederate correspon
deuce will be read with interes: :

..kojt.- General's- office, Richmond, June 28.
" General,—While with the President last evening

I received sour letter of the 23d inst. After reading
it to the President, he was embarrassed to under-
stand that part of it which refers to the plan of
assembling an army at Culpepper Court-hnuse,
under Gen. Beauregard. This is the first intima-

lion that he has had that such a plan was ever in
contemplation, and, taking all things into conside•
ration, he cannot see how it can by any possibility
be carried into effect.
" You will doubtless learn before this reaches you
that the enemy has again assembled in force on the
peninsula—estimated between 20,000 and 30,000
men—from 6,000 to 10,000 of whom are reported to
be in the vicinity of White House, and the remainder
at Yorktown. It is impossible to say whether the
estimated number is correct, as the several accounts
vary and are not deemed altogether trustworthy ;
but the estimate, making due allowance for errors,
is quite near enough to satisfy the most incredulous
that he is in this vicinity in sufficient force in
cavalry, artillery, and infantry to do much harm,
whether his purpose be to make a demonstration on
Richmond or to confine himself to 'aids in breaking
your commuLications and devastating the country.
His efforts in the last case may prove more success-

till than in the first, if we may judge by what took
place at Hanover only two days ago, when about
1,000 or 1,200 of his cavalry suddenly appeared
there and did some execution in breaking the rail-
road and burning a bridge, some buildings, and
public stores. It is important that this raid took
place only about two days after Gen. Corse's bri-
gade had left there for Gordonsville. Had it re-
mained at Hanover Junction it is reasonable to
suppose that most of the enemy's cavalry would
have been either destroyed or captured, and the
property saved from injury. Every effort is being
made here to be prepared for the enemy at all
points, but we must look chiefly to the protection
of the capital. In doing this we may be obliged
to hazard some other points. You can easily

estimate our strength, and I suggest for your con-
sideration whether in this state of things you
might not be able to spare a portion of your force to
protect your line of communication against at-
tempted raids by the enemy.
" Very respectfully, your obedient servant,
" S. COOPER, Adjutant-General.
" General R. E. Lee, Commanding Army Northern
Virginia, Wincheaer, Virginia."

" Richmond, June 28, 1863.

"General,—Yours of the 23d received this even- I
ing, and I hasten to reply to the point presented in
relation to the forces on the coast of South Carolina
and Georgia. The hopes indulged as to our opera-
tions at the time which would intervene between
the discharge of the enemy's trained troops and the
substitution for them by others have been die
appointed by the very error against which it was
sought by warning to guard. Grant reached the
river, got reinforcements, made intrenchments, and
General Johnstone continues to call for reinforce-
ments, though his requisition was more than filled
by withdrawing troops from Generals Beanregard
and Bragg. General Bragg is threatened with
attack, has fallen back to his entrenched position at
Tullahoma, and called on Buckner for aid.
" General 13ea.uregard says that no troops have
been withdrawn by the enemy from his front since
those returned toN, wbern, and that his whole force
is necessary to cover his line. This being in answer
to a proposition to follow a movement of the enemy,
said to be to the west, with all his disposable force,
pointing him at the same time to the vital import-
ance of holding the Mississippi, and communicating
the fear that Vicksburg would fall unless Johnstone
was strongly and promptly reinforced. D. H.
Hill boo a small force, part of which has been
brought here. Clingman's brixtide is near Wil-
mington, Colquith's at Kingston, Martin's
nominal, on the railroad at Weldon, and C.
Cook's, Ransom's, and Jenkins's have been brought
here—the two last temporarily from the defence of
Petersburg and the country thereabouts.
defence of brigad e is, you left it, engaged in the
de
Richmondand
serving in the country to
the east of the city. The enemy have been re-
pulsed in large force at the White House, with
indicatioes of an advance cn Fichmoud. We are
organising companies for home duties, and the
spirit of reeietanee is iuceeating. Corzif

in accordance with your orders, has been left at
Hanover Junction. All the artiLery, I am informed,
was taken away, and the singe regiment of infantry
which constituted the guard for the bridges, proved
unequal to the duty, as you have no doubt lea►ned.
Reinforcements were ordered to go up, but some
delay occurred, and they arrived too late to save
the bridge or the brave guard which had unsuccess-
fudy defended it. The Yankees, reported to be three
regiments of cavalry, returned from the Central
Road in the direction of Hanover (old town), and
nothing has been heard of them since.

" It was stated that Gen. H. F. Lee was captured
at the house of Mr. Wickham, but I trust it will
prove to be one cf the many startling rumours which
the newsmongers invent. The advance of your
army increases our want of cavalry on the north
and east of the city, but except one regiment from
North Carolina, I do not know of any which we can
expect soon to be available to us. In yours of the
20th you say, If any of the brigades that I have
left behind for the protection of Richmond can, in
your opinion, be spared, I should like them to be
sent me.' It has been an effort with me to answer
the clamour to have troops stopped or recalled to
prot€ct the city and the railroad communicating
with your army. Corse's brigade has gone, and
Vise's is the only other left by you.
Cook's was in North Carolina, and Davis's
brigade was sent to complete Heth's division in
pinee of Cook's, and Ransom's and Jenkins's
constitute the defences of the south side as far as
Weldon, and are relied on for service elsewhere
from Wilmington to Richtnond.
"General Ely is positive that the enemy intend
to attack here, and his scouts bring intelligence
.which, if I believe it, would render no more anxiety
for the city than at any former time. Ido not be-

lieve that the Yankees have such force as is stated,
but they have enough to render it necessary to keep
some troops within reach, and some at Petersburg,
at least until Suffolk is truly evacuated. Do not
understand me as balancing accounts in the matter
of brigades. I only repeat that I have not any to
send you, and enough to form an array to threaten
if not capture Washington as soon as it is uncovered
by Hooker's army. My purpose . was to show you
that the force here and in North Carolina is very
small, and I may add that the brigades are claimed
as properly of their command. Our information as
to the enemy's intentions may be more full and
trustworthy hereafter. It is now materially greater
than when you were here.

"Very respectfully and truly yours,
" JEFF. DAVIS."

Naval and Military Intelligence.

THE NAVY.
His Grace the Duke of Somerset, the Hon. Capt,

Drummond, Mr. Mansfeld, Mr. Milner Gibson, and
Mr. Romaine, arrived at Portland on Saturday

night, and on Monday morning commenced their
inspection by going over the Britannia, training
ship for naval cadets, after which they landed and
went over the Breakwater works, where the loan-

dations of a large circular fort, at its extremity, are
being put in. This work is in 50 feet of water, and
will mount about 60 guns, in three tiers. Their
lordships were accompanied by Mr. Conde, Admi-
ralty engineer, by Capt. Parnell, R.N., Captain
Sotheby, R.N., Lieut.-Col. Henderson (successor to
Sir Joshua Jebb), Capt. Du Cane (Director of Con-
vict Prisons), and Major Nugent (commanding
Royal Engineers). They afterwards proceeded in
waggons up the tramroad to the Convict Prison,
where are now about 1,200 prisoners, over which

he official party was conducted by Captain Butler,

in charge of the establishment. After examin-
ing this their lordships made an inspection of
the works of fortification cn the Verne-hill, the
strength of which is, perhaps, as great as that of
any works that have been erected in modern times.
The• casemate barracks and fortifications were

minutely examined and explained to their lord-
ships in detail by Major Nugent and Lieutenant
Home, in charge of the works. These, as well as
the breakwater, have been principally erected by
convict labour. The official party did not leave

the works till near six o'clock.
The whole of the mortar vessels built for the Ad-
miralty during the late Russian war, and since laid
up in ordinary at Yantlett Creek, Chatham, have
been surveyed by the dockyard officials, and those
found in a sound and serviceable condition are being
brought forward for the service of the dockyard.

The mortar vessels No. 5 and No. 7 are to be fitted
at Gravesend for harbour service•

The Brisk, 16, sere +V steam corvette,Capt. J. Luce,
arrived at Spithead from the West Coast of Africa
yesterday. On anchoring she exchanged the
customary salutes with the flagship Victory. She
sailed again from Spithead yesterday afternoon for
Plymouth to be paid off, taking with her a few
supernumeraries for the flagship there.
The Orontes troopship, Captain W. H. Hire, went
out of Portsmouth harbour yesterday morning, and
proceeded to the measured mile in Stokes Bay, to
make her official trial of speed, under the supervision
of Capt. H. Broadhead, of her Majest3's ship Asia,
and commanding the steam reserve at Portsmouth,
Mr. Murdock, chief inspector of machinery afloat,
and Mr. Ward. Mr. Langdon, who represented the
firm of Messrs. J. Watt and Co., the makers of the
engines, was also on board. On coming out of the
harbour a schooner yacht, with a string of boats
astern, was anchored in mid-channel, so that the
greatest care had to be exercised by the pilot to pre-
vent this new and valuable ship from getting ashore
or running the schooner down. She made six runs
at full speed, with steam pressure at 221 b., vacuum
22in., and 60 revolutions of engines, giving an ave-
rage of 12.352 knots; and at half-boiler power, with
steam pressure at 251 b., vacuum 25in., and 46.5 re-
volutions . of engines, giving an average speed of
9.755 knots. She then made the circle, with helm
e port, at full power, in i`Orrin.24sec., and at half-
power, with helm a-port, in llrain. lsec. ; and with
helm astarboard, at full power, the circle was made
in 9min., and at half-power in 9min. 28sec. The
half-circle was made, with full power and helm a-
port, 9min. 26sec., and at half-power, 4niin. 45sec.;
and with helm astarboard, full power, 9min.l7sec.;
half-power, 4min. 41sec. Her draught of water
was—forward, 21ft. 6in. ; aft, 22ft. bin. The trial
was considered very satisfactory. The Orontes re-
turned into harbour about 2 p.m. to complete her
fitting out, prior to further service.
In consEquence of the success which has attended
the ventilating arrangements carried out on board
the iron-cased frigate Royal Oak, Admiralty
directions have been forwarded to Chatham direct-
ing that the iron frigate Achilles, 6,000 tons, 1,250
horse-power, now rapidly approaching completion
at that dockyard, is to be ventilated on the
same principle. The leading feature of the
new system is that a constant circulation of air is
kept up between the decks by means of open gratings
to all the berths and cabins, instead of the old-
fashioned plan of bulkheads. The adoption of such
a system on board the Achilles will, however, be
attended with some difficulty, as that vessel is con-
structed with as many as 18 watertight, and conse-
quently airtight, compartments, which will consi-
derably interfere with the ventilating arrangements.
As in the case of the Royal Oak, all the four huge
iron meets with which the Achilles is to be fitted
will serve the purpose of ventilators, as they will
be hallow, and contain an opening from each ikck.
stem of ventilation will be fitted on
Mr. Baker's system
board the Achilles for ventilating the engine loct,
and stokeholes, by which a uniform temperature of
between 80 and 90 deg. will be maintained. The
Lords of the Admiralty have within the last few
days directed Messrs. Penn and Co. to fix their tell-
tale apparatus to the engines of the Achillee.
The following a;,pointnaents were :Lade yesterday
at the Admiralty Simons and M. Salt hove
been nominated to naval cadetships ; yir. P. O'Brien,
paygoaster, to the Formidable; Robert Crosewaite,

Yesterday a detachment of the 9-Ith Regiment,
numbering 190 non-commissioned officers and men,
left Chatham garrison, RP d proceeded to Gravesend,
where they embarked for Kurrachee, to join the
service companies in ludia.
The Royal Stuart, hired transport, arrived ai
Shithead from Madras yesterday with militia in-
valids and time-expired men. The militia invalids
will be disembarked and sent on to Netley Hospital,
and the time-expired mea to their several depots,
to-day,