The Sun.
London, England, 1863-09-14 00:00:00

THE CIVIL WAR IN AMERICA,

(From t he Special Correspondent of the Times.)
NEW YORK, Sept. 1.
Last week the praises of Admiral Dahlgren. and
Gen. Gilm' Ire were in all men's mouths. The almost
total destr action of Fort Sumter was held to be egni-

valent to the capture of Charleston. The raising of

the " stars and stripes" over the ruins of theFort—
where eight and twenty months ago that haughty
banner had received its first humiliation—and the
triumphal entry of the Federal commanders into
the doomed city, were held to be facts as clearly de-
ducible from foregone circumstances as that night
would follow day. The Union Leaguers, the war
Christians, and the Exterminators were loud in the
expressions of their joy ; and to the quick imagina-
tions of the Northern people it seemed as if the war
was entering upon its last half hour—that the grand
finale was about to be performed amid a crash and
thunder of great guns such as the world had never
heard, and a magnificent display of red and blue
light—the Greek fire being predominant in bril-
liancy of effect and destructiveness of execution.
Mr. Lincoln was ready with a proclamation of am-
nesty—that, come what will, is never to be issued
until vengeance is done upon Charleston ; and the
contractors and speculators who have waxed fat
upon a war expenditure, were to be kept in good
humour by the prospect of a reconciled North and
south, uniting their legions to chastise Great Bri-
tain and France for their insolence and want of
sympathy. The journals of all shades of politics
were busily engaged in proposing or opposing the
conditions of reconstruction, and settling among
themselves whether slavery was or was not to be
tolerated in any portion of the regenerated Union.
Int this week all is changed. Disappointment has

succeeded to extravagant hope and anticipation
Sumter is a heap of ruins, it is true—but

upon that heap of ruins the Federals have not
yet been able to hoist their flag. The Confederates
hold the place tightly in their grasp. Admiral
Dahlgren's or Gen. Gilmore's guns may shoot down
the Confederate banner 10 times in a day ; but 10
times in a day it is raised again in its place, amid
the delighted huzzas of the people of Charleston,
who watch the spectacle from the windows. Fort
"Wagner is neither taken nor destroyed. The mon-
ster guns that bombarded the city from a distance
of five miles have all burst under the stress of the
-work they had to perform. The Greek fire has ceased
to rain upon the streets, either because the Federal
officers were shamed out of the use of it by the re-
monstrances of Gen. Beauregard and the foreign
Consuls ; or because—which is more likely—the
supply of the " villanous compound" is exhausted.
And Charleston itself is as strongly guarded, and as
difficult of capture, as it was before a gun had been
fired at Sumter. Even if Sumter were taken, and
Northern pride, not to say vindictiveness, gratified
by the display of the old flag on its ruins, nothing
would be aocomplished towards the possession of
Charleston, the great object on which the Northern
people have set their hearts. Sumter seems to be
but one of a score of obstructions equally formid•
able—and each to be as obstinately contested,
before Charleston itself can be considered in
real danger. Last week four hours were to make
an end of the rebellious city and to crush the spirit
of the South. This week the public is told that
perhaps three or four months may elapse before
these great ends are achieved, and we are in the
meantime advised to moderate their impatience, or
give it vent, as they usually do when they are dis-
appointed in abuse of old Mr. Welles, the Secretary
of the Navy, and; of obstinate Mr. Stanton, the in-
tensely unpopular Secretary at War, for having
combined to deprive Dahlgren of guns and Gilmore
of men sufficient for the task they had undertaken.
Under the circumstances Mr. Lincoln has decked up
his original proclamation of amnesty in his writing.
desk, and prepared a diftbrent document, in which
Mr. Seward has not bc' allowed to insert even a
word, which is to be read the day after to-morrow
to the Republican conventions that meet at Syra-
cuse in the State of New York, and Springfield in
Illinois.
Both of the great parties are to hold their eonven-
.

lions within, the next few days, the real though not
the ostensible objects being to " roll logs" for the
Presidential campaign that 'will speedily convulse
the Northern States. The Republicans, desirous of
a new designation, have fixed upon that of
4" Unionists ;" but as the Democrats claim to have a
greater right to that title, inasmuch as they would
necept "union" even with guarantees to slavery,
toe Republicans object to union with slaveholders
on any terms, suggest that instead of Unionists the
party iu power adopting Mr. Theodore Tilton's and
Wendall Philipp's ideas on the subject of a
mixture of the Aoglo-Saxou and Negro races should
call themselves " Amalgamationists.'"f he Demo-
crats on their part have no wish to change either
their name or their principles, and will, during the
remainder of Mr. Lincoln's term of office, organize
themselves into a strong and compact phalanx, and
make one last and desperate effort to save their coun-
try from the military despotism into which it is
rapidly drifting under Mr. Lincoln's guidance. Cer-
tain it is,if they fail this time by their own dissensions
or by any species of mismanagement,and allow either
the re-election of Mr. Lincoln or the election of Mr.
Chase, there will be an end, not only of the De-
mocrats as a party, but of the Democratic form of
Government which the people have inherited from
the immortal signers of the Declaration of ludepen-
dence. The Republican ;party is not only in the
minority in New York, New Jersey, and Pennsyl-
vania, but generally throughout the middle and
north-woatern States. It will continue to lose sup-
port in, proportion as the war languishes or the
South achieves victories. The Democrats, on the
contrary, gain in strength by the protraction of
avar--whether that protraction be due to the incom-
petency or ill-fortune of the Federal generals and
administration—or to the valour, the perseverance,
teed unflinching determination of the South. Every
act of the Government tends to swell the Demo-
cratic army. The policy of emancipation, the inva-
sion of State rights, the harsh conscription, the ar-
bitrary arrests, the military insolence, the rise in
Price of all the necessaries of life, and the conse-
`l4ently increased cost of maintenance to the work-
ing
o and struggling classes, and, last of all, the new
garden
ell of Federal taxation, which begins to be felt
befoeaasands of middle-class families that never
bine jjperienced the unwelcome sensation, all com-
party thatiltaw into the ranks of the Democratic
camstaneeesolintless waverers who, under other dir-
ties, .we'lltaight have held aloof from party poll-
-hitherto cones:
tt:ast numbers of reflective men,
have awakened t: with the Republicans, but who
licanism is but the sad conviction that Repub-
a strong Government
4°ther name for ceatralisation and
strong Government aeleatta that centralisation and
but other names for despot-
ism. At the present t•
bone the
only republican can-
didates for the Preadency vh
anti ; have the ghost of a
chance are Mr. Lincoln
Democratic side Genera Chase; and on the
Seymour. All four may posMb, lellan and Governor
7 disappear fr o th
arena in the progress of events, %nal
perha s mll e
Buell candidates of the extremists et, o_ I) a ow
en Fremont
on the one hand and Gen. Butler on th •
e other but
indications Mr, ~
according to present eh iuse is the
Republican and GGen.M •iClellan the t, "loeratie
however.
favourite. Mr. Chase must beware,.
• Cheat
diminish as tb
as his chances are, they will pre-
miumf
on gold increases—asct of which he is said
to be painfully cognisant, and of which on all ()ma.
lions, and in every emergency he does his utmost
to prevent the realisation.
Mr. Seward, accompanied by IMBt of tho foreign
Ministers, has been making a tour of the lakes of
Western New York, and after visiting the Falls of
Niagara has crossed over into Canada-3 country
where no ringing of a bell on his right hand or his
left can consign a real or supposed opponent either
to Fort Lafayette or the cell of a police-office, as he
boasted to Lord Lyons that it could in Washington.
He has visited among other places the " ambitious
little city" of Hamilton; and if he has associated
with any Englishman, Scotchman, or other colonist,
has perhaps discovered that the conquest of Canada,
if attempted by his Government, will be almost, if
not quite, as tough a job as the subjugation of the
South. On this subject it iscurious to note the igno•
ranee or malice of the American press. The Demo-
cratic, equally with the Republican journals, affect

-~. .. _

to believe that the Canadas are a hotbed of disaffec-
tion, that Great Britain retains them by the strong
arm of military power, and would resist to the last
any attempt on the part of the Canadians to
achieve their independence, or to vote themselves
into the American Union. Understanding nothing
of the facts, they express incredulity when told that
the Government and people of England are in per-
fect accord upon the subject of Canada; that if
Canada wishes her independence she has only to
say so by the votes of her people, and Great Bri-
tain will let her go without firing a shot or forming
any other wish or thought than a simple "God
bless you; go on and prosper !" Bat that if the
Canadians, on the contrary, desire to retain their
connection with the mother country, and will only
give their desire the practicable shape of self-defence
against Federal or other aggression, the Govern-
ment and people of Great Britainwill aid them with
their last soldier and their last shilling. The Ame-
ricans, engaged in coercing the South, cannot ima-
gine that the English would not coerce Canada,
and are continually talking of the damage they will
do to Great Britain in that quarter at the first
breath of war, and urging upon the Canadians to
accept their inevitable destiny of annexation. Even
the World—so well-informed and sensible on the
politics of its own country—shares the errors of all
Americans on this subjeet, and recommends the
Canadians to apply for immediate admission into the
Federation for the following singular reasons :
First, " It would insure them exemption for ever
from all the horrors of war." As the United States
are not themselves free at this moment from the hor-
rors of one of the most horrible wars that ever de-
solated a country, and may have before macnyahmsodniathliss
to snperadd foreign to domestic strife, the
position that has so little to r
may well be excused for turningecaomdemafehd
earittooanptrhoe-
score presented.
expenses the mother cou
4.
Second, "It would sahvterythis trying em the
to enormousim-
pose upon them in the way of sortifications."
Such canny Canadians as do not laugh at
this will ask themselves whether in saving ss. on
this item they might not have as a consequence to
incur the expenditure of twenty in another, and
less pleasant and secure direction, and debate the
matter accordingly.
'third, 4‘ It would give them the boon of absolute
free trade with the States." As it is as much the
interest of the Americans to offer as of the Cana-
dians to accept free trade, it is just possible the
sensible Canadians will think it better to wait for
the natural growth and development of commercial
intercourse than to bargain away their indepen-
dente for a benefit which needs no such sacrifice to
secure it hereafter.
Fourth, "It would give them the benefit of Yankee
energy and capital, to develop° their resources."
As it will employ more energy and capital than
the Yankee possesses to develope within the next 12
years the resources of such states as Wisconsin,
lowa, Michigan, Minnesota, Kansas, Nebraska, and
the Far West, more than two-thirds of the superficies
of 'which are in the original condition of wilderness,
the Canadians may think it possible that the Yan-
kees would do well to look at home before they look
abroad, and may calculate, moreover, that the " re-
sources" so highly vaunted have been so seriously
diminished by the waste of upwards of two years
incurred in one of the most extravagant wars ever
known, as to leave but little surplus for the existing
generation, even if the war were brought to a close
to-morrow. As, however, the war may last for
two, four, ten, or even 20 years, the Canadians may
incline to think that their particularly kind friends
to the south of the lakes may need all their energy
and all their cash for themselves. What Canada re-
quires is men. And as the men of the old world have
hitherto emigrated into the States, because there
was no enforced military service, no public debt, no
taxation except for local purposes, and that ex-
ceedingly light ; and, better than all, because the
public liberty was thought to be so well secured as
to be beyond the reach of time and revolution to
destroy ; they may, perhaps, think it better to look
for these advantages in British territories, as it is
no longer possible to find them under the protection
of the stars and stripes. The emigration within the
next three years of half a million of stalwart English-
men, Scotchmen, Irishmen, and Germans, would do
far more to develope the resources of Canada than
all the energy and capital that the Yankees are
likely to have to spare until a dozen years after
they shall have been at peace with ono another.
Fifth. and last, "It would give them a share in
the destiny of this great nation." If this be not in-
tended as a grim joke it is tho reason least of all
likely to recommend itself to the Canadians. A
destiny that includes enormous debt, cruel conscrip-
tion, and a series of civil wars and social convulsions,
only to be ended by the establishment of a military
despotism, is not a destiny to bo envied, or which
any one out of Bedlam would desire to share.
The destinies of the Canadians are to be shaped
by themselves. If they really desire annexation,
they eau have it. But if they value liberty, under
the protecting eyes of Great Britain, sufficiently to
fight for it, Great Britain will stand by them with
all her wealth, all her power, and all her tenacity of
purpose. This is the strength of the case as regards
Great Britain, but it is one which the Americans
cannot understand, much less appreciate.
The Government is using the most vigorous efforts
in every direction to prevent the election of Mr.
Vallandigham. By a recently enacted law of the
State of Ohio, soldiers absent in the field are to be
allowed to vote in their camps; and it is calculated
that the whole number, under the guidance of their
officers, and the dictation of the War Depart-
ment, will cast their votes for Mr. John Brough, a
railway contracter, who opposes Mr. Vallandigham
on the Republican anti-peace and anti-liberty
ticleet. As, however, Ohio has not furnished more
than 40,000 troops to the Federal armies, Mr. Val-
landigham's friends are of opinion that their cause
is sufficiently strong to bear the weight of even
that large number in the opposing scale, and to re-
turn Mr. Vallandigham by a clear majority of up-
wards of 50,000 votes. As the unpopularity of the
conscription was as great, or even greater, in Ohio
than in New York, and was serving the purpose of
increasing the number of Mr. Vallandigham's sup-
porters, the Government has just caused it to be
announced that " there will be no draught in Ohio."
This piece of strategy, however, has already been
diverted to Mr Vallandigham's use from that of the
Administration, and become a weapon in the hands
of his friends, to denounce the Government for its
want of courage on the one hand, to enforce a law
merely because it was unpopular, and for its un-
fairness on the other, in subjecting New York and
other States to a hardship from which, ex proprio
motu, it chose to relieve Ohio. Mr. Vallandigham's
arrival at the little town of Windsor on Canadian
soil was no sooner known at Detroit, on the oppo-
site side of the river that separates the Federal from
the British territory, than a committee of his fel-
low-countrymen waited upon him to express their
sympathy in his unmerited exile, and their determi-
nation to spare no exertions to carry him back in
triumph as the Governor elect of the native State.
Mr. Vallandigham, in his reply, dwelt upon the
strangeness of the spectacle he offered to his
countrymen—an American citizen exiled for no
crime known to the laws, and compelled to seek
the protection of the British flag in order to be
able to utter the free sentiments which it was the
States
inalienable right of every American to entertain
and_ to promulgate. He declared that the ballot
was
the
true and proper
remedy in the Uuited
for all
a
ballot w
political wrongs, but that when the
hostile as
agedeniedne by military power, or any other
—a
right 'which In der such circumstances would
he a sacred duty. Mr. ,
Vallandigham's election will
test. the courage, if it do not test the strength, of
the Government in the Nest ; and if the attempt be
not made to defeat him—
per fax ant nefas—by theext
incitement of
riot, as a pret .
for the declaration
of martial law, and by every other means which
the
and power can adopt against an opponent
so d one whose success would be such a
bpataerd, ntycondemation of their acts and polie:y--itwill be
for want of courage', not for want of will.

_
The friends of Dr. Childs, the author of the pla-
card addressed to the " Sons of Liberty," have sue_
ceeded in rescuing his case from the hands of tho
miiitdry tu.a tuubfariDg it to tho civil power: The

r police handed him to the Provost-Marshal to avoid
the penalties of disobeying a legally issued writ of
habeas corpus ; the Provost-Marshal sent him to
Fort Lafayette for the same purpose ; and General
Canby, foreseeing difficulty in the matter, got rid
of his inconvenient prisoner by sending him to the
" Tombs," the Old Bailey of New York. The head
jailer or superintendent of that establishment
having been served with the writ of habeas corpus,
produced the body of the over-ardent friend of every
man's right to refuse to be a soldier; and he was
ultimately ordered to find bail in the sum of 1,000
dols. to answer the charge of treasonable resistance
to the Conscription Act. It now remains to be seen
what decision a jury will pronounce upon the case.