The Sun.
London, England, 1863-11-13 00:00:00

THE CIVIL W AR IN AMERICA,

(Front the Special Correspondent of the Tones.)
NEW YORK, Oct. 30.

Unless the been' ',ling, blundering, eccentricities of
American stra%ef fists for the hundredth time disap-
point the world , we are, indeed, on the eve of some
great feat of, aims in East Tennessee. Gen. Grant,
in comman d of all the forces stationed in Tennessee,
Kentucky , Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, and part
of West Virginia and North Carolina, is bringing
up as T.nany men as he can muster from distances of
200 and even 500 miles to, the rescue of Thomas's
array, hemmed 'in and almost beleagured by Bragg's
Southerners at Chattanooga. On the other side,
Gen. Lee, hating put a spoke in the wheel of the
Federal Army of the Potomac by the destruction of
the Alexand.rin and Orange Railway, is believed to
have sent a, large division of his troops against
Burnside on the borders of West Virginia, while it
is stated a portion of Bragg's army threatens the
rear of the same Burnside on the Tennessee side.
The latest tidings of the Northerners at Chattanooga
were ':e ther disheartening, for their communications
were out off in most directions, and provisions could
only reach them by a tedious march over a long
and. wretched mountain road, rendered almost im-
passable by recent heavy rains. Lately, however,
if we can give credit to a despatch of the 27th,
lenich reached the Cincinnati Gazette on the 29th,
% new communication has been thrown open for the
benefit of the Federals between Chattanooga and
Bridgeport, a place down the Tennessee river, about
30 miles below the Federal headquarters, and this
Was effected by a sudden attack of the Federals, who
succeeded, not only in clearing the left bank of the
presence of the? Southerners, but also in driving
them from their commanding position on Lookout
Mountain. We have, up to this time, no other
account of this combat, which is said to have cost
tti' Federals only five killed and fifteen wounded,
than the somewhat meagre telegram in the Cincin-
azati Gazette, which, in some unaccountable manner,
has in this instance, stolen a march upon the all-
monopolising Washington official press.
The Army of the Potomac, unler Meade, enjoys
a happy holiday.
Some changes in the position of
his forces are said to have taken place, with a view
to protect the men engaged in the repairs of the
damaged railway. The work of construction is
pushed on with great eagerness and 15 miles-4 e,,
nearly up to Warrenton Junction, are reported as
ready for use. General Gilmore seems to have
started up from his prolonged nap at Charleston,
and, as if to rouse ale other sleepers in the neigh-
bourhood, has been, on the 26th, firing away from
Batteries Greg.; and Wagner against Forts Sumter
and Johnson. It was, however, mere noise, and no
hurt. One hundred shots were thrown from Morris
Island and 160 from two Monitors which took part
in the noisy fireworks. Fort Moultrie thundered
in return from the besieged side. It is reported that
Gilmore is making ready fora bombardment of the
city of Charleston in dread earnest.
The New York State election for which the 3d
day of Lve •
alber is appointed seems likely to turn
out rathee a tame affair; It is not about the choice
of a n' •tiv Governor, nor about the return of new
meathe rs to Vaeir Legislature,
astir, 8.8 Yu'a are undoubtedly well aware; they are
Simply co atending about the refilling of some megis-
terial offices and naming a few second rate function-
airiest a matter rather of personal than of great
genet al interest. Every trifle is welcome, however,
Whirl offers the least opportunity for a fight. The
Der aocrats, borne down by the results of the late
struggles in Pennsylvania and Ohio, are further
W eakened by internal dissensions; and it is very
d eubtful whether all the eloquence of Governor
`Seymour, who is expected to address a grand meet-
ing at the Cooper Institute tomorrow evening, will
have power to give weight and consistency to the
Conservative vote. By his indecision and faintheart-
edness during the riots of last July Mr. Seymour
threw away a golden opportunity which will never
offer itself again. Moreover he is, or professes him-
self to be, a Unionist, or partisan of the war, " to
the, utter subjugation of the South." Now a freak
of fortune, some great calamity in East Tennessee,
c,r some terrific panic in Wall-street, may perhaps
open the way for the triumph of the peace-at-all-
;price men of the Fernando Wood and Valland!gham
:school; but the views to which Governor Seymour
is wedded are already represented in the Cabinet,
and are even supposed to be entertained by the head
ie'elf of the executive power, and are consequently
of lio weight as au instrument of opposition. Pieced
at the top of that see-saw in which the 13Iair-Seward
party ore striving to outbalance Mr. Chase, and all
tee burden of his million greenbacks, President
Lincoln shifts and shuffles with a dexterity little cal-
culated to confirm the titles of " idiot" and " half-
witted fellow" with which some journals salute him.
Letely he has deemed it good policy to exhibit some
leaning towards the Blair faction.

These Biaira are a mighty family. They have at 1
their head still living, and from his retirement, still
swaying their councils, that Francis P. Blair, sen.l
the right-he nd man of Gen. Jackson, " whosetren-
chant batll).e-axe hewed down all impediments that
stood in old Hickory's way," and who carried the
election 1
of that little Dutchman Van Buren, whose I
glory was limited to "treading in the footsteps of his
iliust rious predecessor." The Blairs have only one of
their name in the Ministry, Mr. Postmaster-General
Mnatgoniery Blair, but without the walls they reckon
l'er4
new P. Blair, sen., warrior and statesman, in
tim u selfhost, a man gifted, it is said, with all the
e7rnyttlnlistments of an Admirable Crichton, stirred
tiee,"who :ion fully commensurate with his abili-
but e4O, __as said to aspire to Presidential honours,
posi,.inn
oldt,,ehis father, probably considers the
of a King, -kmatag-malter fix more enviable than that
7", like his father and the whole
set of there, is .
art the ins and
outs,
with all the machinery,
-all the Pipes,
wiretes, all the highways and byways,
the strategy and to'nrilleYs, and trapdoors, and all
the country, and every of every political party in
of Old Cresidential candidate, from
the uprising
, r•nrar to the advent of ' Old
.Abe.' " These Blain;
are told, are causing the Frank and Montgomery, we
Trrnoinistration a vast deal
of trouble. The Chicago
Withene says their course
completely identifies them
the Copperheads ;
and the St. Louis Democrat, a
the ace of spades," says that th4t?ter " as black as
akifrom anyt,
line, bob, and sinker, over to the ere gone, "hook,
real fact is, however, that the Blairs,P
g apartr Pertleade
The
oirdizemen
scheme they may have of personal g
are peace men, promoters of the ea,,,e
any terms that may be found consistent peace on
the
restoration of the Union ; and they are in s°o fa
drawn knives with Mr. Chase and the ,diceaer at
lt
these latter will only hear of peace and of the Union
s
itself conditionally upon the total and final abolition
of slavery. The President, as I said, by his answer
to the Missouri Deputation, and by his abandonment
of the measure of the draught, at least for the pre.
sent, is thought to have evinced a wish to snub
the too zealous Republicans, and to let the
sun of his countenance shine upon the Conserva-
tives. There are letters in circulation, signed by
some of Mr. Lincoln's intimate friends in Illinois,
asserting that `` the President is, and has been for
a long time, in favour of peace ;" and hints are even
thrown out in some eccentric papers that he is
sending out trusty messengers, in the guise of ped-
lars, scouts, and deserters, to see how the land lies,
;lad acquaint him with any chance that may present
lis, lf for negotiation, whether it be with the rebel
e 118, or with any party among the Southern people
whicha
miht show any disposition to come to terms.
Without attaching the slighest shape of import-
ance to this idle gossip, I thnk it is just possible
that it may snit the President's present mood to
humour the B
and that peacefully inclined sec-
tion in his
ealbaiiiirs, t
and‘ among the public at large
which, rejecting the lymphatic" Mr. Seward as a
candidate, show a
dthsle ,ostion to place him, Mr.
Lincoln himself, at head of the ticket for the
n.,xt general election. "SecretarySeward and the
Blairs," it is already freely blurted out
candidate
, " have dis-
covered that the Republican ate for the suc-
cession sr_ands six feet three inhis stockings, and
that his name is ' Honest old Abe:.
sa great a part of the future destinies of this
zountry depends on the vicissitudes of the war, and
it seems so probable, in despite of the ungenerous
efforts of the War-office to nip all military
vegeta-
tion in the bud—that some successful commander