The Sun.
London, England, 1863-07-06 00:00:00

THE CIVIL WAR IN AMERICA.

(From the limes' Correspondent.)
NEW YORK, Jurie 23.

It seems to be proved, from the impossibility of
his bring anywhere else, that Gen. Lee, at the head
of a formidable army, is in the Valley of the Shenan-
doah. Where Gen. Hooker is the Government will
not allow the public to learn, except in the vague
manner conveyed in the assertion that Washington
is safe by the disposition he has made of his forces.
As the Government has reason to fear that Lea has
at least 100,000 men, in addition to Ewell's and
Stuart's cavalry of 20,000, and as it knows by offi-
cial documents in the possession of the War De-
partment that Hooker has not more than 70,000, it
is naturally anxious, if not alarmed, for the result.
of the great encounter, which cannot now be long
dela vei, but of which Lee, and not Hooker, has the
choice, both of ground and of time. Hooker's main
oject is to save Washington, but as he does not
know whether Lea's inirm;diate object is to attack
this city or to 'move upoc. Wheeling and Pittsb,arg
on the one side, or HaLii,,burg tend Philadelphia on
the other, preparatory to his grand blow at B ilti-
more, and finally upon Washington, his chief duty
is incessant watchfulness and the holding of his
army well together, so that it may not be beaten in
detail. D.:-..!ading, apparently, that the Northern
public has not sufficient strength of mind to bear
bad news without dangerous febrile excitement,
Hooker has ordered " that nothing shall be said by
correspondents in the front until the grand battle
comes off," and the Government has aided him in
his object of secrecy by renewed activity of sup-
pression at the telegraphic offices of Washington,
Baltimore, Philadelphia, and New York of all facts,
rumours, and surmises that may be thought too
strong for the nerves of the nation to bear without
ill consequences. It is even understood that Mr.
Stanton has ordered the prosecution of a
Philadelphia newspaper which indicated with
too much truth the position of General
Hooker's army at the end of last week, and
of all the other newspapers throughout the country
that copied the dangerous paragraph. The chief
result of this excess of alarm and secrecy is that the
North is filled with all imaginable rumours, except
rumours of victory for the Army of the Potomac.
The public is in the mood to take the gloomiest pos-
sible view of matters. The success of Hooker does
not enter even into its dreams; and it the "grand
battle" on which he calculates for removing the veil
that conceals his present movements and intention
shall end in his signal defeat, no one, however
grieved and distressed he may be, will be in the
slightest degree surprised. One of the most pro-
minent facts of the day is the popular disbelief in
General Hooker's ability to command an army.
Another fact almost equally prominent is the almost
universal conviction of the returned soldiers, of the
fighting element of the population which has not
yet taken part in the war, and of the great mass of
the non-Abolitionist people, that of General M'Clel-
lan were in Hooker's place Washington and Balti-
more would be in less danger than they are; and
General Lee not half so confident as he is known to
be of a speedy and a splendid victory. But if, in
obedience to the popular demand which has already
arisen for his restoration, the President were to re-
appoint General M'Clellan there would be a divi-
sion in the Cabinet, which would deprive Mr. Lin-
coln of the services of Mr. Chase, Mr. Stanton, and
General Halleek. As he prefers the unity of his
Cabinet to any General whatever, as, moreover, he
has confidence in the fighting qualities and sound
judgment of Hooker, as he has pledged his word to
give him another trial, and as, in the last place,
General M'Clellan would resume power as a master,
if he resumed it at all, the President turns a deaf
ear to every remonstrance on behalf of the popular
favourite, and thinks Hooker the very best "peg"
for the very large " hole" into which it is his fortune
or misfortune to have been thrust.

With the exception of the cavalry raids which have
so sadly scared the people and Government of Penn-
sylvania, and a few cavalry skirmishes at the gaps of
the Bull Run mountains between the outposts of the
rival armies, the main event of the new aggression of
the Confederates has been the humiliating defeat of
Milroy at Winchester—the key of the Shenandoah
Valley, and a position which it was of the utmost
importance to the Federals to hold. Gen. Milroy,
one of the political adventurers of the school of
Butler, Schenck, and lianall, who have left the desk
for the camp, for their own advancement and the
shame of their country, is the same redoubtable
warrior who threatened the " Copperheads" and
peace party that as soon as the war was over the
soldiers, "having their hands in," would turn their
attention to the suppression of disloyalty in the
North and West, and who otherwise rendered him-
self notorious by armed hostilities against newspaper
offices that were unable to resist. Like the rest of
his class, he has shown himself much better at blus-
tering than at fighting. Appointed to command for
political, not for military, reasons, at a moment
when the President was out of temper with the slow
and cautious movements of all the officers who bad
received a military education at West Point, and
chiefly because he was not one of them, Gen. Mil-
roy was stationed at Winchester several weeks ago,
when the threat of an advance of the Confederates
up the Shenandoah Valley was openly discussed.
For such an advance it was his duty to have been
prepared, and at Winchester and the neighbouring
posts he had 15,000 under his orders. No sooner
did two divisions of the Confederates, under Gen.
Ewc)l, appear in eight of Winchester than
he became alarmed, and lost his self-con-
trol and presence of mind. Instead of holding
out or offering the best resistance passible, until
Gen. Hooker -eleould send or come to the rescue,
lie made up what little of his mind was lefc to the
sad c:::clusion that he wan outnumbered and out-
generalled, and that nothing was to he done but
to retreat as rapidly as he could. He retreated ac-
cordingly, and the telegrams of a few days after-
wards, despatched to the Government by himself,
informed the world that he had most gallantly and
desperately cut has way through a vastly superior
force, with the loss of only 2,000 men. It turns out,
however—for private letters from officers and sol-
diers will come to light, facts, however carefully sup-
pressed, will be made known, and truth will vindi-
cate itself, whoever may be hurt in.the process—
that Gen. Maroy reached Harper's Ferry with
only 1,700 men out of 7,000; that ha left behind
him all his artillery, ammunition, baggage, and
stores, estimated to be worth to the Confederates
nearly 5,000,000 dots ; and, moreover, that he rah a
great deal faster than any of. his army, portions of
which 300 or 400 strong, continue up to the pre-
sent hour to present themselves at his new head-
quarters, wondering at the remarkable agility of
their commander, It is stated that the great rea-
son for the remarkable precipitancy of General
Milroy was his personal fear of capture at the
hands of the Confederate General, who, in conse-
quence of his (Milroy's) ultra-Abolitionism and his
running off and kidnapping negro slaves from the
farms of people whom he suspected of disloyalty,
had offered a reward of 10,000 dole for his head,
with the intention of hanging him. It is scarcely
to be expected that the Democratic and Cop-
perhead press—which General Milroy was
in the habit of threatening with such awful ven-
geance when he was not in face of a more formid-
able enemy—will not animadvert with a severity
somewhat keener than usual upon this flagrant case
of incapacity or cowardice. Gen. Lee, in reporting
the capture of Winchester, announces" that God has
once more crowned the valour of our troops with
victory." The New York World takes exception
to the phrase, and thinks it ought to have been
stated that " God has once more crowned the folly
of Gen. Milroy with confusion ;" while the Herald,
less sarcastic and more appropriately in earnest, de-
clares that the public warfare demands that Milroy,
whose incompetency was well known to the War
Depertreent, should be immediately arrested, tried
by couri..-martial, and shot, as an example for the
future; and that Mr. Stanton should, at the same
time, be removed from the War-office to make room
for an abler administrator.

As the Central Government, in a day of emer-
gency and peril, was not able to come to the relief
of Pennsylvania when threatened with fire and
!word, it is now urged that, considering Ow proved
ir•competence und i)awerledsness of the Navy De"