The Sun.
London, England, 1863-07-29 00:00:00

sitions as to the military genius of Gen. Lee, but it
may be remarked that the circumstances under which
war is conducted in this country necessi Li' e abnor-
mal action on the part of Gen. Lee, which in pre-
sence of the disciplined armies of &tope, com-
manded by enterprising generals, might be hazard-
ous in the extreme. There are men y dozens in
this tatterdemalion army who have been (not to
speak of skirmishers) in 32 engagements, and yet
have never known one decided repulse. Surely,
with men of this stamp, enthusiastic about their
general, and animated with a deep sense of
the batter outrages which the Yankees have inflicted
upon every State in the Confederacy, some risk may
be ventured on? It seems that little more was wanted
than the safe transference of Gen. Lee's army from
Fredericksburg to Pen nsylvan ia to insure at least sub-
stantial successes for the Confederacy, and to de-
monstrate the worthlessness of Gen. Hooker's re-
peated assurances to his Government that " he had
Gen. Lee just where he wanted him"—" that it was
impossible for Gen. Lee either to advance or to fall
back." How safely and dexterously this transfer-
ence has been made your readers are now aware.
Nothing shall persuade me that any amount of
force which the North can spasmodically throw
into the field, backed by all the
prestige of the
Grand Army of the Potomac and its commander—
an army which is believed at this moment not ootff and
obde
numerically superior to Gen. Lee's—can cut
preventwh en
he the
llikes
es
a Confederatend w her
where
General e froms iinto
Virginia,
re u r i g
should occasion arise. In the meantime, so long as
he is on Pennsylvanian soil the North will be sup-
porting both armies, to say nothing of the extem-
porised soldiery thrown into the field by Penn-
sylvania in her agony, and likely to be thrown out
of the field by the shriek of the first Parrot shell
which bursts over their head. The contempt enter-
tained by Napoleon's Old Guard, by Wellington's
veterans of Orthez or Toulouse for citizen soldiery,
could not be more sublime than that which is felt
by the tried ragamuffins of Gen. Lee.
The actual crossing of the Potomac, which was
effected by Generals Lee and Longstreet at Williams.
port on the 25th inst., and by various divisions of
the Confederate army at the same point, and at
Shepherdstown about the same date, had in it much
of the enthusiasm which accompanied the last entry
of the Confederates into Maryland before the battle
of Sharpsburg. It was then the impression of
the Southern army that they were entering into
the friendly State of Maryland, ground down
under the iron heel of a despotic Government,
and anxious and willing, upon the first opportu-
nity, to arise and burst its bonds. But the unmis-
takeable sympathy of Hagerstown, Boonsboro,
Sharpsburg, and other small towns in Western
Maryland with the Federals, the jeers and taunts
of the women at the expense of the rebels, have
taught the latter to expect in the western counties
of Maryland no more aid and comfort than would
be extended to them in Massachusetts. The men
stare gloomily but timidily on the invaders, getting
abjectly out of the way as the Confederates stalk
through the streets ; and whatever spirit is left in
the population finds expression, as usual, from the
lips or by the gestures of the women. To-day, as
General Hood's division of Texans was passing in
front of a house, a young lady showed herself osten.
tatiously in front with a small Union flag pinned
on her bosom. One of the Texans, with an air of
great respect, remarked to her, "You had better
lower that flag, madam ; our boys are tigers at
breastworks, especially when they mount the Yankee
colours."

June 30.

This day has witnessed a change in our apparent
programme. Harrisburg and the Susquehannah are
no longer our destination, but reports of the move-
ments of the grand army of the Potomac, now no
longer under the command of General Hooker, bat
instrusted, as is rumoured, to General Meade, a
Pennsylvanian General lately in command of the
sth Corps of the Northern Army, have decided
General Lee to turn his face eastward, and confront
the only formidable enemy which be has to fear.
Our eyes, therefore, are looking unto the hills,
which are the continuation of the Blue Ridge
which strikes southward from Harper's Ferry
across Virginia, whereas the range which we are
this day to cross strikes northward, though at a
lower elevation and only for a short distance, into
Pennyslvania. Upon this same range of hills
was fought last autumn the battle of Sharps-
burg, at a point considerably nearer to the Potomac
than the pass which we shall cross to-day, and in a
different State. These hills are not unlike a diminu-
tive Jura, with pretty sylvan scenery interspersed
with rich meadows of clover and hay, and watered
by small sparkling streams. The population seems
almost entirely German, containing in its midst a
large Quaker element, with conscientious object-
tions to war, never so heartily expressed as when it
comes to their own threshold.

Doubtless the peaceful population of the Cumber-
land Valley is under the impression that it has seen
war in its most terrible aspect, and that nothing
which Virginia or any other Southern State has en-
dured can be compared with the desolation which
the Confederate army has left in its track. " 0 for-
tunati niniium, sua si bona norint!" It is not neces-
sary to go further than a few miles across the border
into Virginia to see bow the Federals make war,
and to compare their system with that of General
Lee. In a dozen instances in the dozen miles which
separate Martinsburg from the Potomac—a region
which is rgarded by the Confederates as tainted by
the influence of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad,
and strongly Yankee in its sympathies—l noticed
large farmhouses and all th. it outhouses and farm
buildings given to the flames. " Who destroyed
that house ?'' was the first question of every passer-
by. "The Yankees." " Who lived there ?" "A
strong Secessionist." It:is waste of time to talk of
rails universally burnt, agricultural instruments
destroyed, horses, sheep, and cattle stolen without
a word of compensation, havoc and wilful rapine
and ravage sown broadcast over Virginia. We are
now in Pennsylvania. Every motive whicn ordi-
narily guides human action prompts to direct re-
taliation,but here is the programme of General Lee :
GENERAL ORDERS, No. 73.
Head-quarters, Army of Northern'.Virginia,
Chambersburg, Pennsylvania, June 27.
"The Commanding General has observed with marked
satisfaction the conduct of the troops on the march, and
confidently anticipates results commensurate with the high
spirit they have manifested.
“No troops could have displayed greater fortitude, or
better performed the arduous marches of the past ten days.
" Their conduct in other respects has, with few excep-
tions, been in keeping with their character as soldiers, and
entitles them to approbation and praise.
" There have, however, been instances of forgetfulness on
the part of some that they have in keeping the yet unsullied
reputation of this army, andthat the duties exacted of us
by civilisation and Christianity are not less obligatory in the
country of the enemy than in our own.
"The Commanding General considers that no greater dis-
grace could befal the army, and, through it, our whole
peciple, than the perpetration of the barbarous outrages upon
the unarmed and the defenceless, and the wanton destruc-
tion of private property, that have marked the course of the
enemy in our country.
" Such proceedings not only degrade the perpetrators and
all connected with them, but are subversive of the disci-
pline and efficiency of the army and destructive of the ends
of our present movement.

"It must be remembered that we make war only upon
e
Wrongs our
armed men, and that we cannot take vengeance for the
people have suffered without lowering ourselves
is the eyes of all whose abhorrence has been excited by the
atrocities of our enemies, and offending against Him to
whom vengeance belonged, without whose favour and sup-
port our efforts must all prove in vain.
"The Commanding General therefore earnestly exhorts
the troops to abstain with most scrupulous care from un-
necessary or wanton injury to private property, and he
enjoins upon all officers to arrest and bring to summary
punishment all who shall in any way offend against the
orders on this subject.

It is not too much to sa "R. E
that substantially, LEE, General."
bstantially, and
thheegsereatest surprise
orders have
to a
hithertoall e ff
beecetns
rigidly and pnubrp eyoyes eds.,
T
has been expressed to me by officers
trian, Prussian, and English arrnie from the Arts
-
has now a representative here—.one each
hofWhich
them (the
Prussian) quasi-official, the other two '
Private indi-
viduals travelling for their own pleasure—that
volunteer troops, provoked by nearly 27 months of
unparalleled ruthlessness and wantonness of which
their country has been the scene, should be under
such control and willing to act in harmony with
the long-suffering forbearance of President Davis