The Sun.
London, England, 1863-05-26 00:00:00

SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALS,

TIMES.—The Confederate laurels won on the field
of Chancellorsville must be twined with the cypress.
Probably no disaster of the war will have carried
such grief to the Southern hearts as the death of
General Jackson, who has succumbed to the
wounds received in the great battle of the 3d of
May. Even on this side of the ocean the gallant
soldier's fate will everywhere be heard of with pity
and sympathy, Not only as a brave man fighting
for his country's independence, but as one of the
most consummate Generals that this century has
produced, " Stonewall" Jackson will carry with
him to his early grave the regrets of all who can
admire greatness and genius. From the earliest
days of the war he has been conspicuous for the
most remarkable military qualities. That mixture
of daring and judgment which is the mark of
heaven-born Generals distinguished him beyond
any man of his time. Although the young Con-
federacy has been illustrated by a number of emi-
nent soldiers, yet the applause and devotion of his
countrymen, confirmed by the judgment of Euros
peen nations, have given the first place to General
Jackson. The military feats he accomplished moved
the minds of people with an astonishment which it
is on 4 given to the highest genius to produce.
The blows he struck at tee enemy were as terrible
and decisive as those of Bonaparte himself. The
march by which he surprised the army of Pope last
year would be enough in itself to give him a high
place in military history. But perhaps the crown-
ing glory of his life was the great battle in which
he fell. When the Federal Commander, by cross-
ing the river twelve miles above his camp, and
pressing on, as he thought, to the rear of the Con-
federates, had placed them between two bodies
of his army, he was so confident of success as to
boast that the enemy was the property of the Army
of the Potomac. It was reserved to Jackson by a
swift and secret march to fall upon his right wing,
crush it, and, by an attack unsurpassed in fierceness
and pertinacity, to drive his very superior forces
back into a position from which he could not extri-
cate himself except by flight across the river. In
the battle of the Sunday J ackson received two
wounds, one in the left arm, the other in the right
hand. Amputation of the arm was necessary, and
the Southern hero sank under the effects of it. He
was only 38 years old, and was known before the war
as a a man of simple and noble character,and ofstrong
religious faith. Of the battles little more is told by the
telegraph. It appears, however, that they were as fatal
to the Federals as the most gloomy thinkers foreboded.
Not even the great battles of last autumn so much
diminished the Army of the Potomac as the three
days' fighting on the Rappahannock, Hooker had
considerably more than 100,000 men in all, and
these were defeated with the loss of 8,000 prisoners
and 30 pieces of artillery. The number of killed
and wounded we can only know approximately. But
if Sedgwick's corps lost 5,000 men, we may conclude
that the main body, which had been previously so
beaten as to be obliged to leave its wounded on the
field of battle, must have been diminished by very
many thousands. The Southerners, in fact, admit
that their own loss was from 8,000 to 10,000 men,
and we may therefore conclude that the enemy can
hardly have lost less than twice that number. As
a general rule it is useless, as well as painful, to
speculate on the extent of a bygone slaughter; but
the attitude of the Federal Government and the
braggart nature of Gen. Hooker make it necessary
to recur to the subject, and point out not only the
completeness but also the calamitous nature of the
defeat. If anything were wanted to set off the mo-
dest courage and self-contained purpose of the Con-
federate Generals, it would be the boasting of the
beaten Commander. When a General fails there is
in men's minds no wish to exult over him, however
hostile they may be to his cause. Even Gen. Hooker,
who, more than any of his Federal predecessors, has
laid himself open to sneers by the style of his procla-
mations previous to the battle, as well as by his for-
mer unsoldierlike calumniation of his superiors,might
be spared if he did not actually persist in inviting
our contempt. But what can be said of a man
who, having escaped in the night from an enemy
who less than a week before he had described as
his army's property, publishes, as soon as he gets
back, such an address as that which may be read in
our columns to-day ?If this document were re-
ceived without authentication it might pass for a
hoax of some one who desired to ridicule the Fede-
ral commander and his style. Certainly carica-
ture could go no further than this—" I❑ with-
drawing from the south bank of the Rappahannock
before delivering a general battle to our adversaries
the army has given renewed evidence of its confi-
dence in itself and its fidelity to the principles it
represents. By fighting at a disadvantage we would
have been recreant to our trust, to ourselves, to
our cause, and to our country. Profoundly loyal,
and conscious of its strength, the army of the
Potomac will give or decline battle whenever
its interest or honour may command it. "
The soul of Bobadil must certainly have migrated
into the unborn Federal Commander. The idea of
an army decamping in the night, leaving all its
wounded in the hands of the enemy, out of " confi-
dence in itself" and " fidelity to the principles it
represents," is something that has hardly yet been
conceived by the European mind. The ill-disposed
might, however, take a fancy to say that the General
has a just appreciation of his army's "principles,"
and that retiring in haste before the enemy "from
prudential motives," and executing masterly retro-
grade movements for strategical reasons, are among
the most undeviating traditions of the service. But
still facts must be to some extent regarded even at
Federal headquarters, and we should therefore like
to know what General Hooker means by saying
that he withdrew " before delivering a general
battle to our adversaries." Does he hope to
persuade that part of the army which he brought
back that they have been executing a simple re-
connaissance, and have been engaged only in one
or two unimportant skirmishes ? Is a gap of 20,000
men or more to escape observation in that highly
confident and well-principled host ? It is wonder-
ful that a man in any country should have attained
the position of General Hooker, and commanded

100,000 men in the field, without being sufficiently
gifted with common sense to know that such
ridiculous manifestoes are just what most disgusts
and alienates the soldier. Tnese men, who were led
on a desperate enterprise by their commander,—
who were divided into two bodies and passed across
a river with 12 miles of country between them,—
these men, who were kept fighting two days against
powerful enemy, and driven back in a conflict
which cost the victors some 10,000 men,—this
army, which feels itself so broken as to be un-
able to renew the campaign, is told that
the encounters it has had with the enemy are not a
general battle. It can only abase the commander
in the eyes of his troops when they find that he so
little appreciates the disaster into which he has led
them. Nor can they fail to reflect that the events
of the preceding week are a singular commentary on
" the Army of the Potomac will give or decline
battle whenever its interest or honour may demand
it." They will ask whether the interest or the
honour of the army was consulted at Chancellors-
ville when General Hooker, perhaps unwillingly,
"gave" battle, whether he chooses to call it a gene-
ral battle or not? Who also is responsible for the
fact that to have fought again instead of retreating
would have been to fight at a disadvantage ? As to
the " ceierity and secresy of our movements,' so
far as it refers to the advance, it is untrue ; so
far as it refers to the retreat, it is a ludicrous
piece of boasting. That a General who has just
been totally defeated within a week of crossing
should presume to say that "our advance and the
passage of the river were undisturbed," is absurd
"
enough ; but it is equalled by the assertion that on,
our withdrawal not a rebel dared to follow us,'
made by a General who hurried back his troops in
the darkness of night over bridges strewed with
pine boughs. We cannot but think that the army
will show that it has had enough of " Fighting"
Joe Hooker. A General cannot with impunity
make his soldiers blush for themselves and him.
Such a proclamation as this must have made their
defeat doubly bitter.
POST.—The recent victory of the Confederates at
Chancellorsville has been purchased at a wry heavy
price. " Stonewall" Jackson is now reckoned
amongst the slain. He was shot in both arms, one
of which was afterwards amputated below the
shoulder, and under the effects of that operation he
subsequently sank. If ever the loss of a general on
the field of battle could be considered as irreparable,
it might be regarded in the present instance. On
one occasion during the summer campaign in Vir-
ginia of last year, President Lincoln, when speak-
ing of the Confederate army, estimated its numeri-
cal strength at 30,000 men more than it was known
to possess. When his attention was directed to the
apparent discrepancy, he said, "I consider Stone-
wall' Jackson alone to be equal to a force of 30,000
men." This is the testimony of an opponent, and,
although overstrained, Mr. Lincoln only paid a just
tribute to one of the boldest, most skilful, and most
successful of the Southern generals. Jackson, un •
like many others, more especially in the Northern
armies, holding the same rank, was a soldier from
his youth, and, if we mistake not, received his edu-
cation at the military college at West Point. Im-
mediately after the secession of the Southern States,
and when their newly-elected President was busily
engaged in organising their first army, Jackson
placed his sword at his service, and was shortly
afterwards entrusted with an important command.
It was not, however, until the commencement of
the summer campaign of 1862
.that opportunities
presented themselves for the exercise of his strategic
powers. From that time to the present his history
is that of the war in Virginia. i
His first and most
important successes were achieved n the Shenan-
doah Valley, when by a series of rapid marches he
managed to surprise General Banks at Winchester
and compelled h:m to cross the Potomac in Mary-
land. Frequent were the raids which he conducted
within the Federal lines, and so rapid were his
movements that to his perplexed opponents he
might well seem übiquitous. When the lines at
Yorktown were abandoned and M'Ciellan'a army
had taken up its position within a few miles of
Richmond, General Jackson returned from his
expedition into Northern Virginia and joined his
forces to those which, under the command of Lee,
covered the approaches to the Confederate capital.
Soon after was fought the celebrated battle of the
Chickahominy, when Jackson led the Confederate
columns against the right wing of the Federal
army, doubled it completely back upon its centre,
cut off the line of communication between the Fede-
rals and their depots and transports on the York
River, forced M'Clellan to change the base of his
operations, and ultimately to re-embark with his
entire army and return to Washington. A few
weeks later was fought the campaign in Northern
Virginia, in which the Federal army, under the
leadership of Pope, sustained so many and do disas-
trous defeats. The series of movements by which
the Confederates drove their opponents back from
their lines on the Rappahannock, and subsequently
all but completely annihilated them at Ball Run,
will always command the admiration of military
commentators on the history of the Americ in war.
To the success which attended those operations,
General Jackson's skill and intrepidity contributed
in no small degree. Though subordinate to Lee, he
at this time, as on many others, held an indepen •
(lent command, and by forced marches succeeded in
placing the Federal army between his division and
the main body of the Confederate forces. When
Pope, with the remnant of his army, sought shelter
under the fortifications of 'Washington, the Confe-
derate Generals, flushed with success, crossed the
Potomac and invaded Maryland. Lee, with the main
body of the army, pushed forward as far as the bor-
bers of Pennsylvania, whilst Jackson proceeded to
invest the Federal position at Harper's Ferry. Here
he gained one of the most brilliant, if not most sub.
stantial, of the many successes which have shed such
lustre on his name. Harper's Ferry was held by a
Federal garrison, and was strongly fortified. Having
taken by assault the heights on the north side of the
Potomac, which commanded the Federal position, he
bombarded it until the garrison were fain to lir-
render, and, having occupied the place and parolled
no less than eleven thousand prisoners of war, he re-
joined General Lee in time to take part in the great
battle of Antietam Creek, which closed the brief
Maryland campaign. Since then he took part in the
only two engagements which have been fought in
Virginia. At the first battle of Fredericksburg his
division, in common with others, defended the en-
trenchments which had been constructed in the rear
of that city, and in the recent battle of Chancellors

ville to him was entrusted (as it was a year since;
the Chickahominy) the duty of conducting the at-
tack against the Federal lines. Hew successful he
was the present position of the Northern army
abundantly testifies. His last battle has, however,
been fought. He has fal,en in the arms of victory,
but not of decisive victory, for to his brothers in
arms he has left much still to do. If anything can
embitter the feelings of regret occasioned by his loss
in the minds of his fellow-soldiers, it will be the
impression that has gained ground that his death
was accidental. It is said that whilst leading his

men he was unintentionally struck by two bullets

fired from his own division-. In the confusion of

battle such accidents will occur. The Confederates

have been fortunate in their generals, and we are
justified in hoping that hie place will be fittingly
filled. But though his place may be occupied by
as good a general (although that is doubtful) his
successor can never expect to secure thE same popu-
larity or to emulate his deeds. Of " Stonewall"
Jackson it may with truth be said that he died too
soon for his country, but not too soon for his fame.

HERALD.—In a merely military point of view the
defeat of General booker is not, perhaps, to be
ranked amongst the heaviest disasters which the
North has sustained. The loss of men is very great,
no doubt; the disgrace and discomfiture are very
complete ; and considerable apprehension appears
to be felt lest the enemy should push his advantage
so far as to endanger the safety of Washington.
But if, as seems probable, this last alarm should
prove to be groundless, and matters should remain
much as they are until the beaten army is quietly
withdrawn into safer quarters, then we think that,
so far as its actual effects on the fortunes of the
campaign are concerned, the blow may be less
severe than others which the North has heretofore
had to endure. The victors have probably suffered
considerable loss, and their losses signify far more
than those sustained by the vanquished. The South
gives her best blood to the cause for which she
is fighting ; a large part at least of the Northern
army—and, if report speak true, the part which is
made to bear the brunt of battle—consists of the
lower class of foreign immigrants and city rowdies,
ten thousand of whom can be better spared than
one regiment of the splendid troops of the Confede-
racy. The death of Stonewall Jackson is in itself a
blow that will be felt throughout the Confederacy
as second only to a great and irretrievable disaster.
It is true that the defeat of Hooker must be consi-
dered to have finally settled, for all sane men, the
question of an advance on Richmond from the north.

That question
questi ought to have been held as settled
after the first battle of Fredericksburg, and the re-

cent frightful sacrifice of life must be to
the perverse credulity of the Northern people, the
weakness of the Government, and the disgraceful
mendacity and reckless ambition of the unprinci-
pled officer whom it pleased the President to entrust
with the command of which INPClellan and Burn-
side were deemed unworthy. It may be thought,
however, that a disaster which shall cure the Fede-
ral Government of campaigning in North-Eastern
Virginia may be ultimately better for their cause
than a success which might have encouraged them
to persevere in their original policy. That country
is about the worst seat of war that the North could
have chosen. Ir is well suited to the operations of
the Confederates, who are fighting with inferior

numbers of excellent troops, merely with a view to
render impossible the advance of an enemy who has
every advantage which numbers, artillery, and ma-
terial resources can give, for it abounds in defensive
positions of great strength, and in lines of comma'
nicatio.a which enable the defenders rapidly to con-
centrate their strength where it may be most
needed. It is peculiarly unfavourable to the
Federals ; for its climate renders the trans-
port of heaxy artillery at some seasons'
simply impossible, while the absence of great
navigable rivers deprives them of the assistance
of those gunboats in whose absence they baps
never won a victory. They are thus brought int°
the field under circumstances which render the two
best arms of their service powerless. Nor do NY°
think the object of the war in Eastern Virginia vira,g
of sufficient iir.portance to justify a contest at such
disadvantage. The fall of Richmond would hale
humiliated and discouraged the Confederates; It
would have postponed indefinitely the recognitletd°
of the Government by foreign powers ; but it Wow.,
not have seriously affected their means of military
resistance, even in Virginia itself, and therefore I',
would not have exercised any great effect on ale
issue of a war which, from its very nature, al
never be ended except by the withdrawal of the
invaders or the total prostration of the assailed'
Jefferson Davis is reported to have said that the
war could be maintained for 20 years in Virginia
itself after the loss of the capital. And wnether
this phrase were used by the President or not,l
t
represents the feeling of the South, and probable
the actual condition of affairs. Charleston, a
great Atlantic seaport of the South, and the cradle
e
of secession—Vicksburg, the key of the MississipP,ll
endeared to the Confederacy by its long and obso:
nate defence—are of as much value in point of Wl!'
tary importance, and of almost as much value In
point of honour, as the city which has been made
the seat of the Confederate Government mainly be;
cause it happened to be the capital of the 0"1
Dominion. If, therefore, the defeat of Gene!
Hooker should lead the Federal Government to tr
their thoughts elsewhere, and abandon the vain ides
of crushing the rebellion by the capture of Bic',
mond, in order to concentrate their forces for more
practicable and more useful efforts, it may have the
effect of saving them from an overwhelming discs,
ter in Virginia—which might terminate the wart
'
a blow—and of enabling them to press the Confede'
rates hard in quarters where their power of inflict'
ing injury may be greater and more formidable
We can hardly conceive it possible—although the
conduct of the war on the part of the North 06
savoured of an utter incapacity to profit by warning;
or to learn by experience—that any further atteul
will be made to prosecute their favourite designs
on Richmond.