The Sun.
London, England, 1863-12-09 00:00:00

SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALS,

' TIMES.—The most active and successful comman-
der whom the Federals possess has not been long in
gaining what seems a substantial advantage for the
Northern cause. General Grant took the command
of the Army of Tennessee a few weeks since, after
its defeat under Rosencranz. His presence has not
failed to reanimate the beaten troops, and com-
pletely to turn the fortune of the campaign. The
Federal Government, apparently roused to greater
exertions by the hopes they conceived of their new
General, have reinforced his army with men and
supplies of all kinds, having within the last month
hurried some 50,000 men to the neighbourhood of
Chattanooga. Among these have been numbers of
Western soldiers, the most zealous and the most
efficient that are to be found in the Northern
armies. To strike a great blow before the end of
the year would be the natural desire of a Gener 11
in the circumstances of Grant, and when there is
added to this the necessity of relieving Knoxville
and saving the force under General Burnside or
; his successor, it is plain that there were the strongest
inducements to active strategy. Unless the ex-
aggeration of the published accounts passes all
bounds, the attempts of the Federal General have
been rewarded with success. The battle of which
we received the news some days since is now
described as having ended in the complete rout of
General Bragg. Of the battle itself we have but
few details. It seems that even before it took place
there was an intention on the part of the Confe-
derates to fall back, for when General Grant made
a reconnaissance he found, according to his own
despatches, that the enemy was retreating towards
Chickamauga. The attack, however, may, for all
that, have been sudden and vigorous enough to pre-
vent the Confederates from retreating in good
order. They were either driven from Lookout
Mountain or found it necessary to retire, and,
from the intelligence which has now arrived, there
can be little donbt that they have fallen back in dis-
order a distance of several miles. The former ac-
counts stated that when the Confederates were
obliged to abandon Lookout Mountain they crossed
Chattanooga Creek, and took up a position to the
south of Missionary Ridge, on the course of the
Chickamauga river. We now learn that in a few
hours after General Bragg retreated in the night
eastward towards Dalton, destroying the bridges
behind him and the stores which impeded his move-
ments. Generals Sherman and Hooker advanced
in pursuit, and, crossing the Chickamauga river,
Hooker had arrived in the afternoon of the 26th at
Ringold, a place about halfway between the field
of battle and Dalton, at which Bragg may be
supposed to have halted, as it is a railway junc-
tion, and the line is necessary for the maintenance
of the blockade of Knoxville. As to the losses
of the Confederates, it may be that there is
exaggeration in the Federal accounts, but from
the statement of General Grant that their losses in
artillery would amount to 60 pieces, and from their
evidently hurried retreat, there can be little doubt
that a heavy reverse has befallen them. It has for
a long time been asserted that General Bragg did not
possess the confidence of his troops. His recent suc-
cess over General Rosencranz may have done some-
thing to revive his reputation ; but ever since that
time there has been much murmuring in his camps,
and some attempts have been made at Richmond to
obtain the substitution of a more able, or at least a
more popular commander. If the Southern army has
suffered by the continuance in command of an ineffi-
cient General, the Confederate Government will have
supported its nominee at a very great cost. The
Southern soldiers are described as demoralised and
possessed by a perfect panic, and, though this may
be only the exaggerated style current in the country
it may well be conceived that a retreat under a dis-
credited General after a disastrous battle is not likely
to have been conducted with the good order which
allows defeats to be remedied. Bat whatever may
be said of the Confederate commander, or what-
ever explanation may be given of the details of
this battle, we think the true explanation of the
campaign is to be found in the weakness of the
Southern army. This has been the fatal disad-
vantage of the Confederates all through the war,
and they probably suffer from it now more than
ever. They have performed astonishing feats of
arms, and feats of strategy still more wonderful;
they have won victories against overpowering
forces, and have transported armies from one scene
to another so as to make a display of their strength
which has puzzled and daunted their adversaries.
But the inadequate resources of the Confederacy
'save been visible on more than one occasion in the
Western war. While the comparatively well.
populated States of the Atlantic coast have sup-
plied the army of Virginia with reinforcements, and
enabled it to defy during three years all the power
of the Northern Government, the South-Western
States of the old Union have not had the man to
stand against the teeming North. The loss of
Vicksburg and Port Hudson was wholly owing to
the scarcity of men, amounting almost to depopula-
tion, in the State of Mississippi ; Louisiana has not
been able to shake off the hold of Butler and
Banks ; and though the regions west of the Missis-
sippi are not overrun by the Federals, this is owing
more to their vast extent and the wildness of their
natural condition than to the resistance which their
inhabitants have made. 'flee States of Alabama and
Alissisaippi, and part of Georgia, have raised the
army with which General Bragg has hitherto
checked the Federal invasion of the Cotton states,
and even threatened the reconquest of Tennessee.
This army has been to a certain extent re-
inforced during the last two months, but
the accessions have been small in comparison with
those of the Federals. General Grant's troops from
the West were a powerful force in themselves, and
the Washington Government has been diligent in
marching men from Ohio and other Western States
to the scene of war about Chattanooga. We have
iittie aoubt that the main cause of the retreat of
General Bragg from the point where he has done so
much, and was expected to do more, has been the
belief that at present he is not in a condition to
oppose the powerful levies which have been placed
under the commeuu of General Grant. In a few
days we snail probably learn something more of
the intentions of the Confederate leader; but it
would seem that if he really retreats into the
interior of Georgia, the siege or blockade of Knox-
ville must be shortly raised by General Longstreet.
With regard to the other points at which the two
parties are opposed to each other there is little
w be said. There is no news from Charleston,
there is no news from Texas. Tne desperate defence
of the Southern seaport continues, and gives a fresh
proof of the capacity of land fortifications to resist
all that fleets, oven of the newest construction and
the extremest power, can effect. The expedition to
Texas is probably intended to take possession of cer-
tain points with a view to completing the blockade
by land as well as sea. To come to what was once
the chief army of the North, we find Gen. Meade
marching on Nov. 26 in three columns towards the
Rapidan, with the intention, it is said, of crossing
that river and attacking the Confederates. The
army of Lee, said to be same 60,000 strong, is not
likely to permit an unmolested advance, and it is
possible
that another battle may already have been
added to those by which the year has been distin-
guished. President Davis was with the Virginian
many, and had reviewed it ; the men would
therefore fight under the eye of the chief of the
Confederacy, and, no doubt, equal all her former
achievements. Whatever their failures, there seems
to be no shrinking on the part of any class of the
Southern people.
HERALD.—After we have grinned comically at
the Schleswig-Holstein conundrum and shrugged
our shoulders with a sardonic smile at the Congress
riddle, there is nothing like a right hearty look at
thorough English Christmas fare to make us truly
cheerful and merry. The Smithfield Cattle Show
is the most practical thing of the year. There you
see what science and sentiment can do in bringing
out first-rate beef and mutton and swine's-flesh for
a substantial dinner. The poet who cannot feed on
sirloin and stout will never have the vigour and fire
of the true bard ; and the man of abstraction or
mechanical contrivance who does not feed on solid
viands and take in a just libation of cheery liquids
is not fit to deal with the facts and figures of this
rough material world. There have been philoso-
phers who said that the souls and intellects of men
resided in their chests. Unquestionably the broad-
shouldered men—the Platos of our farms, factories,
rdwe
gserer
elle
at
tit
ea
womenr t y t
and warehouses—are the mortals of thorough„
energy. They push the world before them
and-
make it get on. Progress is with theta and beam"
narrow,
Your
provement of the human race.
specul,tions
spare-ribbed creatures are only good at
they dispLay
and dreams. Even the fair sex,
when
nold anti firm
strong mind and power, p
fronts resembling wen-. no means models
his-
tory were very mascui:ne, at by
Their biogra-
e beauty.
'cto;drers—of feminine gentleness any
In
df
au
yr
s-
phies, also, tell us that the_rv.me _ _
that t thorough devotees to a
livpwesewmeraeytshaL of scholastic
ot lit el roanngc el
lasts
sour n
(l argument,ascetic
the banishmen t
disputes
lion end common
of abstinence.
The English Church has kept back
enough of the penitential end rigorous discipline
to remind us all that there is not a propensity, want,
or desire of the senses which was not given us to be
heed in check, and regulated by religion and wis-
dom. But the life of the Hindoo or the Christian
anchorite has been exploded amongst us as a weak
perversion of the plain, temperate laws of Provi-
dence. We acknowledge the
happy medium in
social
t system.wise, prudent,l‘re
England, and glorious old Christmas is the centre
of
because they are ourha own, well-grounded, and natural
vea prideand s t
ai
nmpthethsee aehghS: