The Sun.
London, England, 1863-02-14 00:00:00

THE CIVIL WAR IN AMERICA.

( Front the limes' "orresfioneent.)
NEW YORK, Jan. 30.
Another disaster to the northern arms as great
and demoralising as that v,t Fredericksburg will
break the spirit of the IN)rthern people. Their
patience is so soreiy tried that a victory of some

kind is absolutely neeessaty to restore their self-

respect or to infuse into their minds the smallest

paiticle of confidence in tle men who pretend to
govern them. Possibly one o' the many blows that

are to be simultancously struck against the Confe-

derates within the next thrii weeks over an area of

800 or 1,000 miles square ma 3 be successful, but the

most sanguine believErs in tie invincibility of the

North and the indivisibility of the Republic scarcely
anticipate that all of the will be victories, or that

the result in any case will be the conquest of the
South and the collapse of the rebellion. Of the
thousands who hope there and not five who believe
in the final victory of the Northern cause; while

nine out of ten persona have come to the conclusion

that separation .is better that the prolonga' ion of a
war without other results than mischief to both
parties, and most of all to the free institut,, ns and
the future prosperity of the north. But wt :le such
is the under current of men thoughts, tl,e outer
surface of society betrays no sign of the gloom
within. This gieat city seems to revel in the hey-
day of luxury and enjumcat. The streets are
blocked with traffic. Die thra. tres r.ever before at-
tracted such immense crowdi, end what calls itself
" Society" was never more reselutelybent on amuse-
ment. The only signs of war that meet the eye are
the flags at the recruiting Offices, and now and then
a legless or an armless hero—the victim of the
bungling ana brutal surgery of the battle field—
who bobbles through the streets or lounges at the
Park Barracks. In all other respects the city would
seem to be the home of untroubled peace and un-
precedented prosperity. The rowdies and black-
guards have all gone to the war, and one half of
them at least have left their bones on the battle
fields of Virginia and Tennessee, so that the city was
never before so free from the turbulent scum of the
population. Greenbacks fly from hand to hand in
unexampled profusion; and such is the daily ex-
penditure of the Government, and so enormous are
the gains of contractors and speculators and stock.-
gamblers that all the trades and manufactures which
administer to luxury are more prosperous than at
any time within living memory. So many once
penniless adventurers and beggars have become
rich, that the jewellers, the silkmercers, the carriage
manufacturers, the horsedealers, the upholsterers,
and others, are kept in perpetual activity to supply
the wants of the new class that has arisen to storm,
many diamonds
sold in New York as are now sold within a week.
the avenues
Never eSrocbieefteyr'e by their hospitality and
were so
Never before did the mercers dispose of so many
rich silk, damask, and velvet dresses at extravagant
prices ; the purchasers being the husbands of wo-
men who three years ago may have had visions of
satins and velvets in their sleep, but never thought
to see the day when they would be able to wear
either in a waking state. A "shoddy" aristocracy
has arisen, to whom all things in the way of wealth
are new, and who surround themselves with every
luxury that greenbacks can purchase. The piano-
forte manufacturers were never before so busy, and
cannot supply instruments of the highest price and
finish with sufficient rapidity to keep pace with the
demand, although the purchasers too often require
them for show rather than for use, and have yet to

learn the first rudiments of music. And it is not
only the class of nouveaux riches who indulge in
prodigal expenditure on articles of luxury. Men
who acquired wealth years ago by honout able trade
and industry make haste to invest their greenbacks
_ _

In 2-cal estate, in gold, in j.....31pry, and in dia-
monds ; in anything, in fact, that is likely to fetch
a price in the markets of the world in the days that
seem to be fast approaching, when the paper dollar
will fall to 30 or 40 cent. Wall-street is in a

frenzy of speculation. Gold is al: 581 premium, and
cotton at 92 cents per pound. Mr. Chase is at his
wits' end, and poor Mr. Lincoln—if he do not—
might well exclaim, with Hamlet—
" The time is out of joint—oh, cursed spite I
That ever I was born to set it right,"

The Democratic party is closing up its broken
ranks, preparatory to a new onslaught on the plea-
sant places of power, from which its own divisions,
rather than the strength of its opponents, expelled
it two years ago. On the other hand, the Republican
party is breaking up. Its leaders lose faith in its
cause, and yield up its most vital principles, one
after the other, as the war proceeds. The retire-
ment of Mr. Thurlow Weed from the editorship of
the Albany E vening Journal, which he has conducted
for 33 years, with unflinching devotion to the inte-
rests of his party, is an event in the history of the
war. Mr. Weed does not retire because of failing
energies, for he is still in the maturity of his intel-
lectual powers. Neither does he renounce his con-
nexion with the journal which he founded because
it no longer answers as a commercial speculation,
for it is still prosperous. But he withdraws from
Inblic life and editorial duty because he finds him-
eif in hopeless disu
h
disagreement with the party of which
has long been the ablest and
least ambitious
leader. The war has made him a Conservative. He
c nnot follow the Abolitionists down the jagged
precipices of revolution. In his valedictory address
he says, "We have fallen upon evil times. Our
country is in immediate and imminent danger. I
differ widely with thy party about the best means
of crushing the rebellion. That difference is radi-
cal and irreconcilable. I can neither impress
others with my views nor surrender my own
solemn convictions. The alternative of being in
strife with those I have esteemed or withdrawing
is presented. I have not hesitated in choosing the
path of peace as the path of duty." The confession
is more creditable to Mr. Weed's kindliness of heart
than to his civio courage, and almost amounts to
the crime of despairing of the Republic. What-
ever opinion may be formed of it by those who think
that the greater the perils of the State, the more
imperative the duty of the true patriot to aid in
its salvation, whether by tongue or pen or strong
right arm, no one can fail to See that words like
these uttered at such a time by such a man are a
scathing condemnation of the Republicans, tried
for the first time by the duties and responsibilities
of office, and found miserably wanting in every at-
tribute of statesmanship. Mr. Weed has studied
history. He knows that the Girondins have had
their day, and he, their Nestor, gives them notice
of their impending doom. Mr. Seward, Mr. Blair,
aad all the other moderate Republicans who think
that the Union, with guarantees to slavery, was
better than disunion, accompanied by servile as
well as civil war, must resign or be dismissed.
Their hour has come. The President is in the
hands of the Jacobins. Marat, Denton, and Robe-
spierre, in the persons of Mr. Horace Greeley, Mr.
Charles Sumner, and Mr. Wendell Phillips, are in
the ascendant, and will mould him to their pur-
poses. Not all the ridicule and opprobrium hurled
against him by Mr. Wendell Phillips has prevented
Mr. Lincoln from extending the right hand of fel-
lowship to his formidable opponent. Mz.. Phillips
went to Washington on an errand of me; :lon, and
he coerced. The President is in the tui of the
theorists. He is no longer his own ma, t r. The
men of one idea have got firmly hold of t iin, and
they will use him as they please. No sentiment of
loyalty will stand in their Wita—.
Their cause is
desperate, and, being convinced, about a year after
Europe had arrived at the same
conclusion, that
t hey can neither conquer nor exterminate the South,
and that emancipation is disunion, they have deter-
mined to struggle for the mastery of the North. An
Illinois journal—and at this moment both Illinois and
Indiana are as restiff in the Union as South Carolina
was 30 months ago—defines their position and in-
tentions. "To what," it asks, " are the Abolitionists