The Sun.
London, England, 1863-06-04 00:00:00

moment they touch American soil. Within 20 yards
of Castle-garden, the great emigration depot, where
all the emigrants are landed, are stationed two re-
cruiting tents, with flaming placards offering large
bounties to young men who will take arms in the
Federal service. No Irishman of military age or ap-
pearance can possibly pass into New York without
being subjected to the solicitations of the recruiting
agents at these tents and at half-a-dozen other offices
which are situated within a stone's throw of the land-
ing place ; and if he have formed no settled plan of
life, and have no friends or relatives in the rural
districts, or in the great agricultural States of the
West, whom he is desirous of joining, the chances
are that the strong temptation of the immediate pos-
session of a larger sum of ready money than be ever
had in his -life, or that in all probability he ever saw,
will induce him to enter the ranks. Many of these
recruiting rgents are Irishmen, who know the
foibles of their countrymen ; and there can be

little doubt that the Federal Government, in en-
couraging Irish immigration so vigorously, had in
view theprobability of converting a largo percent-
ageof the ablebodied new comers into soldiers of
the Union. There can be as little doubt that it has
not been disappointed in its hope, and that if the
British Government should be unwise enough to
complain, it has its answer ready—that the encour-
agement of immigration is a national duty in
America at all times, and more particularly at the
present ; and that if the immigrants prefer the rifle
to the plough, there is nothing that the Federal
Government can or ought to do to prevent them
from indulging their fancy.

May 23.

Postscript.—The systematic falsification and sup-
pression of military news by the War Department,
and its agents in the telegraphic offices throughout
the country, causes the public to receive with incre-
dulity all reports of Federal successes that are not
corroborated by the Confederates. The recent im-
portant and yet pending operations of General
Grant in front and in the rear of Vicksburg are not
only imperfectly understood, but are looked upon
in many quarters as ominous of impending reverses
to the Federal arms. All those who, in this city,
sympathise with the South—a number that could
not bo accommodated in Forts Warren, Lafayette,
and Mac Henry, were those fortresses a hundred
times as roomy and commodious as they are—assert
that Gen. Grant is in a trap, and that he will be
assailed simultaneously in the rear by the garrison
of Vicksburg, and in front by a large force from Mo-
bile, transported by the Tombigbee River to Selma,
and thence by railway to Jackson. The position is
critical enough to inspire the Administration with
alarm, and to paralyse to a considerable extent the
speculation in stocks which has driven Wall-street
wellnigh frantic with the excitement of gain. Nor
is the condition of the army of the Potomac such as
to afford much comfort to the ardent and ever
hopeful patriotism that looks for a decisive victory
over the South as the essential preliminary to an
armistice. The President, fearful as ever for the
safety of the capital, is understood to have urged a
withdrawal of the army from the Rappahannock,
and to have persuaded General Halleck that such a
change of base was a military as well as a political
necessity. But the public feels little present inte-
rest in Hooker or his army ; does not believe that
Washington is in danger, though it may be before
many weeks are over; and looks upon the capture
of Vicksburg and Port Hudson as of more imme-
diate importance than any other point in the game
of strategy which the Government is playing.
There has evidently been a series of hard struggles
on the forty miles of ground between Vicksburg
and Jackson, and authentic news from that region
is therefore expected with almost feverish anxiety.
But it is Confederate, not Federal, news that is de-
sired, for no one believes Mr. Stanton's despatches
until they are confirmed by private letters and
official documents.