The Sun.
London, England, 1863-09-19 00:00:00

THE SIEGE OF CHARLESTON.

(From the Index.)
Notwithstanding Greek fire, Parrott guns, and iron-
clads, this stronghold of the South has not yet fallen.
There was a great shout of triumph in New York over the
news that Fort Sumter was a heap of ruins, and the
Federal organs in this county jumped
elusion that, the fire of Fortie Sumtere subdued, it at once to the con
prer was al
over with Charleston. h
of the siege hall
dispelled this illusion, and proved tghatsste key to the de-
fences of the Palmetto city is not in
the casemated
fortress which, two years ago, seemed to biddefian
to the navies of the world. In fact, the destructionocef
Fort Sumter would almost seem to be the "be all
and the end all" of Federal triumph. With this, the
main obstacle to the approach of Charleston harbour re-
moved, it was th-aight that the iron-clads would easily
effect a passage. The surprise was great in the Federa 1
camp when day after day was allowed to pass by with the
vaunted iron squadron floating. idly within the bar, or
steaming up just within range of the land batte4es to der •
liver a casual shell and make all haste out of reach of the
Confederate guns. By-and-bye it was rumoured that the
Federal batteries erected on Morris Island ware also played
out. The great gun which had poured its flaring missiles into
the defenceless city had burst; the Parrott guns which had
shattered the walls of Fort Sumter were used up ; most of
the ammunition was gone; the six days' bombardment had
exhausted the Federal stores, and General Gilmore found
himself at the end of the artillery duel brought to a dead-
lock, with the enemy repairing damages with impunity
under his eyes and within reach of his guns. On the 21st
August Sumter was in ruins ; on the 23d it had ceased to
exist as a fortification according to General Gilmore's re
port, though the Confederate flag waved over it ; and a day
later the Federal batteries declined to waste their amiaiuni •
tion upon it. Another day, and we learn that heavy firing
was going on between the Federal batteries and Forts Sum-
ter and Wagner : and finally, it is officially reported that
on the Ist inst. a general engagement took place between
the iron-clads and forts Wagner, Sumter, and Moultrie,
and that the attack on Fort Sumter was to be renewed.
Either the Federal accounts of the damage done to Fort
Sumter have been scandalous exaggerations,or Beauregard,
emboldened by the enemy's inactivity, has refortfied the
ruins. At any rate it is certain that after a bombardment
of a fortnight the garrison of Fort Sumter not only held
out, but was taking a very active part in the defence. The
probability is that that skilful engineer, Beauregard, has
constructed new fortifications on the ruins of the old case-
mates with the aid of sand-bags and cotton bales, and that
on the Ist instant Sumter was really stronger than it
had been at the commencement of the attack. A valu-
able addition to its defences had, we believe, arr;ved at
Charleston in the latter part of the month of August,
via Wilmington, in the shape of some of the heaviest
guns, with their ammunition, that have yet reached the
South; and it is possible that in the late encounter be•
tween the forts and the iron-clads the latter were first
introduced to their fire. Certainly the iron-clads had the
worst of it. The utmost the Yankees can claim is
" much damage to the forts." As they eventually retired,
and as the attack was to be renewed there cannot be much
doubt that they met with a decided
repulse. But it speaks
volumes for the success of the defence, and it augurs well
for the permanent safety of Charleston, that the Federals
could only report damage to the forts, We strongly sus-
pect that General Gilmore foresaw a failure on the night of
the 21st, when he threw his incendiary shells into the
sleep-
ing town, and that he hoped to intimidate the townspeople
into a surrender, although he could not drive the brave
garrison from their guns. He did not know the
strength of Southern patriotism, or he would never have
given an order which, so far from terrifying the people of
Charleston, has only nerved them with a still sterner re-
solve never to surrender their beautiful city to the cruel
invader. The Greek fire and the big guns have apparently
failed, but there remains the spade. General Gilmore has
fallen back upon his earlier programme, and is sapping his
way to the parapet of Fort Wagner. At the latest
date the approaches were so near that the men were
throwing shells and grenades from the trenches
and the fort, and the assault could not long
be delayed. One account states that a night attack was
made on the 26th and repulsed, and the report is exceed-
ingly probable. En revanche, the Federals claim to have
stormed some rifle-pits in the night from whence a very
annoying fire was kept up on their working parties, and
captured 70 prisoners. We are, however, entirely at the
mercy of the North for news. If any disaster has hap-
pened to the Federal army it will not be published. There
has been a suspicious absence of intelligence from Con-
federate sources in the columns of the New York press
for the last week or two. We shall not be surprised to hear
that another assault has been made and repulsed, and that
the Confederate flag still floats proudly and defiantly over
the earthquake of Fort Wagner. The panic at New York
has not yet been satisfactorily explained, but there are plenty
of indications that things were not going on favourably, and
that, practically, little or no progress had been made towards
the reduction of Charleston since the day the Federals sur-
prised the seaward batteries and gained a footing on Morris
Island. Altogether the siege of Charleston reflects as
much lustre on the soldiers of the Confederacy as any epi-
sode of the war, The press in this country has been startled
by the enormous array of force brought to bear against them.
It has dwelt with something like alarm on the unparalleled
calibre of the Federal artillery, on the destructive effect
and terrible accuracy of the Parrot guns, and the solid in-
vulnerability of the turreted iron-clads. It has contrasted
the shells that swept through and through Fort Sumter
with the deadliest missiles of the Old World, and confessed
to a doubt as to the superiority of European artillery. The
North, too, has had the run of every market in Europe.
Whatever we had of newest and deadliest invention it
could freely purchase and import. All our resources have
been placed at its disposal; and it is fighting the Confede-
rates with every appliance that the ingenuity and skill
of man can furnish. The South has 110 such advantages.
Isolated and unaided, she has to fade the conflict. A purely
agricultural country, sho has to struggle with a nation of
vast mechanical and engineering aptitude and rescources.
Out of her own scanty means she has to provide the de-
fences which time after time beat off the Federal flotillas.
With the industry, devotion, gallantry, and indomitable
energy of her sons she has to make up for the superiority
which the Federal Government enjoys, with its numerous
fleets and the vast means a one-sided neutrality places
at its disposal. Charleston may yet fall, but at least the
chivalry of South Carolina has not belied its reputation.
Nowhere has Southern heroism been more nobly illustrated
than amidst those battered casemates of Fort Sumter, where
day after day the war-flag of the Confederacy was re-hoisted
almost as soon as the Federal shot had cut it down, to show
to friend and foe that the brave garrison held out, and that,
despite the enormous disproportion of odds, B-auregard's
order of " No surrender" would be obeyed literally to the
last,