The Sun.
London, England, 1863-02-24 00:00:00

Lie :4LN, LONDf(iN, TUESDAY EVENING FEBRUARY 24, 1863

SPIRIT OP THE PUBLIC JOURNALS.

TIMES.—The course of the Civil War in America
has become simplified by the limitation of the ob-
jects and the gradual concentration of the contend-
ing armies. At this moment, indeed, though each
belligerent has three large armies in the field, the
real interest o the conflict is confined to two

points—Vicksburg and Charleston. The principal
force of the Federals, recently known RS the
Grand Army of the Potomac, has been completely
annulled. Its defeat at Fredericksburg left it
little better than a disorganized masa, and the re
moval of M'Clellan from the command completed
the disorganization and discouragement of the
troops. It still lies, as it has lain for these two

months, on the north bank of the Rappahannock,
unable to advance, th3ugh un willing to retire, losing
thousands of men by desertion, and becoming daily

less competent to cope with its vigorous and confi-
dent antagonists. It was even proposed a short time
ago that the force should be broken up and trans-

ported, either wholly or in part, to new scenes of
action in the South-West; but, hough the relics of

he Grand Army might certainly be of more imme-

diate service on-the Mississippi then on the Rappa- I
hannock, the troops cannot be released for such dis-
tant operations. If the army of the Potomac does
nothing else, it protects Washington from the Con-
federates. General Hooker, who is actively exert-
ing himself to restore discipline and confidence,
succeeds at least in keeping General Lee in check.
Were it not for this check, the Southern Commander
might march at any moment on the Federal capital,
and the risk of this invasion has more than once
appeared so imminent that the President and his
colleagues are unwilling to provoke it by the dis-
missal of their covering army. The remnant, there-
fore, of that powerful force from which so much was
anticipated still clings to the vicinity of the Potomac,
but, except for the service which it thus incidentally
renders, it is now of little account in the proceed-
ings of the war.
The point of real importance is the city of Vicks-
burg, already twice besieged by sea and land, and
twice successful in defending itself. On the posses-
sion of this city depends the navigation of the Mis-
sissippi, and on the navigation of the Mississippi
depends the policy of the North-Western States.
These States are fighting for the Union only in so
far as the Union represents to them the free com-
mand
of this mighty river. They were alarmed at
the idea of an independent and perhaps hostile
nation controlling the lower Mississippi, with its
outlets and its ports, and they took up arms in real
earnest to prevent such a consummation of their
fears. They have no sympathy with the Aboli-
tionists, nor any desire to suppress slavery in the
States of the South. They do not participate in
the general views of the New Englanders, but
are actuated by simple and obvious motives of self-
interest. They live by agriculture, and they can-
not afford to lose those markets for their produce to
which the Mississippi admits them. Yet they are
losing them as things now stand. At a bend in the
river stands the town of Vicksburg, commanding
with its batteries the navigation of the stream. An
iron-cased steamer may perchase succeed in run-
ning past these guns, as seems just now to have
been done, but to all ordinary vessels of commerce
the river is closed. Lower down, too, at another
bend of the stream, is the newly fortified post of
Port Hudson, and it may possibly be discovered
that some intermediate points have been occupied
and strengthened by the Confederates. The result
ie, that the North-Western States are blockaded.
They have lost the very thing for which they are
fighting, and if they cannot recover it by force of
arms they will resort to negotiation for the purpose
of regaining it. In short, if the South cannot be
presently subdued, the North-West will make
peace with it on its own account, and throw the
Union overboard for the sake of the only result
which is really prized. Aware of these sentiments
the Federal Government is exerting its last strength
in a desperate effort to open the Mississippi by the
capture of Vicksburg. If it can accomplish this,
the North-West will for the present be saved to the
Union ; if not, these populous and productive
States will either assert their independence, or
will ally themselves with the very people
against whom they are now fighting. At
this time, indeed, the North is fighting, not so
much for conquest as for self-preservation. It
the Mississippi cannot be opened, the Union cannot
be preserved even in its present proportions. The
North-West will follow the South, and the remnant
of the States still adhering to the Federal cause will
be without the power of asserting their pretensions
in the field. As it is, indeed, they are hard pressed.
Their multitudinous armies have been gradually dis-
appearing before the influence of defeat, and it is
openly confessed that it would be impossible by any
agency of bribes or bounties to raise another levy of
50,000 men. The Army of Virginia is shrinking
into an insignificant force, and it cannot be re-
cruited. The Army of the South-West is far
stronger, but it is composed of troops who are pre-
pared, if they cannot conquer in the field, to come
to terms of peace for the accomplishment of their
desires. The soldiers of the Nwrth-West are already
more than half dissatisfied with the turn given to

the war. They are offended by the President's
Proclamation ; they repudiate the designs of the
Abolitionists, and the only coercion they wish to
apply to the South concerns the navigation of the
Mississippi. If they can open this navigation by
the capture of Vicksburg, they will be content to
do so; but if the place proves too strong for them,
they will bargain otherwise for what they want.
Such are the present prospects of the war. We may
look for intelligence of the greatest interest; but
while decisive triumph may be the lot of the South,
it is hard to anticipate anything better for the
North than an exploit or two which may redound
to their military credit, and enable them to listen
with less reluctance to propositions of peace.
POST.—The King of Prussia is experiencing the
truth of the old proverb that misfortunes never come
single. No sooner had he placed himself in direct
antagonism with the national sentiment than he
finds himsolf in a position in which the support of
his people becomes indispensable to him. With a
revolution pending in the eastern portion of his own
dominions, with the mass of the German population
outraged and indignant, he has had the infatuation
to enter into aConvention with Russia which might
effectually afford France the opportunity of com-
pleting her " natural frontier.' He has alienated
from himself the sympathy of a Government well
disposed towards him on dynastic grounds, and bas
rendered the task of interfering to save him from
the consequences of his own folly, one of extreme
difficulty. If the result of his policy be only the
loss of Prussian Poland, he may congratulate
himself on having escaped from his present pre-
dicament more fortunately than he deserves. His
fate lies in the hands of the three Great Powers;
and unless they combine to force him into a
safer policy than that which be has followed
hitherto, he will fail a victim to the most aggres-
sive of them. We can hardly hope that remon-
strances from the Government of this country
alone will be of any avail; but the moral pressure
which might be exerted by England, France, and
Austria, acting in unison, and supported by public
feeling in Prussia itself, would undoubtedly force
the King to recede from the false position he has
taken up with regard to the Polish insurrection, and
from which the Powers acting in concert might
yet secure for him an honourable means of escape.
It may be that he looks to a war with France as
the best means of obliterating from the mind of his
own people the constitutional wrongs under which
they are suffering ; but circumstances are changed
since the Prussian army was mobilised in defence
of the southern German frontier, and when a vic-
torious campaign on the Rhine was to relieve the
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bilious schemes. It is in the interest no less of
Austria than of this country that the Rhine pro-
vinces should not be embraced within the French

frontier. It is no less in the interest of both coun-
tries that France and Russia should be in antago-
nism. To advance the liberation of Poland should
be the object both of Austria and of England, and
this is to be done by bringing moral pressure to bear
upon the King of Prussia. The task will be more
grateful to Austria than to this country, but it is the
only way by which a disastrous war can be averted
from Prussia, and the cordial co-operation of the
people of the country be secured, Nothing can be
more trying to the people of England than to find
their sympathy
dragging them in one direction and
their interests in another; and yet this must always
be the case if we impose upon the Emperor alone
all the trouble and responsibility of doing the
" freedom and oppressed nationality" work of
Europe, and then acre frightened and indig-
nant when he indemnifies himself for his pains.
Were this a case in which an alliance with France
and Austria for the settlement of the Polish
question was likely to involve US in a war, we
should hesitate to recommend a policy fraught with
such grave consequences, but the present internal
condition of Russia would render her powerless for
aggressive purposes, while as an ally Prussia would
be worse than useless. It is clear, then, that these
two weak and partially disorganised Powers would
be compelled to submit to the decision of the rest of
Europe ; and when, by a rare combination, the
most despotic and revolutionary elements had be-
come merged for the achievement of a common
object, moral resistance would beeome as impossible
as physical. When the Emperor Napoleon, Lord
Palmerston, Count Rechberg, and Garibaldi are
working for the same result, the alliance may be
unholy, but it would appear to us irresistible. .

Naval and Military Intelligence.

THE NAVY.

The Channel fleet, under the comman-1 of Rear-
Admiral R. Smart, R.H., lying at Spithead, are i
under orders for the Wore, in order to welcome the
arrival of the Princess Alexandra of Denmark to
the coasts of England. Each ship is now laying in
coal, and filling up its complement of stokers, in
readiness for leaving Spithead, the exact time for
which is not yet known. A survey was held yes-
terday on the machinery of the Black Prince, owing
to its defective state, to decide upon the fitness of
the vessel to go with the remainder of the squadron
to the Nore. The screw shafting is seriously
damaged, and both her steam capstans are disabled.
She has other minor defects, but there seems to be
no reason why she should not accompany the other
ships to the Nore, even if, as a matter of precaution,
she should only use half-boiler power. There are
various rumours in circulation as to the actual de-
fects of the squadron. Some are to the effect that
the injury done is but trifling either to hulls or
machinery, while others assert that although the
Black Prince represents the maximum of defects in
the engineering department, yet all have suffered in
their hulls, and especially in the rigidity of their
armour plating. The plates are said now in many
instances to be very loose, a result that might natu-
rally be expected from the way in which they are
hung on to the ship's side and the weather the
ships have gone through since being commissioned.
It is not at all improbable that as other ships can
be brought forward the officers and crews of our
present iron fleet will be turned over to them, and
our four iron ships at present afloat—the pioneers
of the future—be laid up in ordinary in readiness
for an emergeney. There are two reasons, each
sufficient in itself, to lead us to believe that this
course may be followed. It will certainly be ne-
cessary to test our ships that carry armour all
round, such as the Hector, Royal Oak, and Mino-
taur, ag fully as we have tested our present partially
cased fleet, and we may do this with the officers
and crews of our iron-cased fleet at Spithead. The
second reason is that we cannot afford, with all
our proverbial extravagance in naval matters,
to continue experimental cruises with our iron ships
at present afloat in search of gales of wind, without
increasing the looseness of the plates and otherwise
injuring them. The working consequent upon
their looseness would result in a compelled removal
of the ship's armour and the employment of new
Plates—for, of course, no one would pretend to argue
for a moment that the same " tongued and grooved"
plates could ever again be placed on a ship's side
after being once taken off, especially after such a
knocking and buffeting about as Admiral Smart's
squadron have undergone.
Three more of the old class of 50-gun sailing
frigates—the Chichester, the Nankin, and the Wor-
cester—attached to the sailing reserve at Chatham
are to undergo a thorough survey at the hsnds of
the dockyard officials, who are to report to the
Admiralty on their condition and the number of men
and probable time it will take to prepare them for
sea. The Nankin was built at Chatham not many
years since, and is the only modern 50-gun sailing
frigate which has not been " converted" into a screw
steamer. The Worcester and Chichester are both
older vessels. The Admiralty have also ordered
the sailing frigates Diamond, 27, and Iris, 26, at
Chatham, to be surveyed preparatory to being made
ready for sea. The particular object for which these
sailing frigates are required is not known at the
dockyard.
Capt. F. A. Campbell (Sept. 13, 1854), who has
been appointed to the Royal Oak, 34, 800-horse
joined that vessel at Chatham dockyard on Friday,
and took up his commission. The Royal Oak is
complete in her rigging, has her anchors, cables,
and a considerable portion of her stores on board,
and will be ready to leave dock about the middle of
next month.

The Racoon, 21, 400-horse power, Capt. Count
Victor Gleichen (Prince Hohenlohe), remains in the
Medway, where she is moored off the west shore,
receiving the remainder of her supplies, stores, &c.
According to orders received at Chatham last week,
she proceeds round to the Thames for the purpose of
shipping her provisions at Deptford. It is probable
that the illness of hisßoy-al Highness Prince Alfred
will change intentions regarding the departure and
course of this vessel.

A court-martial was held on board her Majesty's
ship Victory, at Portsmouth, yesterday, for the trial
of Mr. Alex. Wilson, boatswain of the third class of

her Majesty's ship Asia, on a charge of having,
" while on actual service and full-pay in her Ma-
jesty's fleet and doing duty on board her Majesty's
ship Eurydice (in ordinary), absented himself with-
out leave for a period of seven days." The Court
found the charges proved and sentenced prisoner to
forfeit 26 days' pay, and to be dismissed her Ma-
jesty's service.
The following appointments were made yesterday
at the Admiralty :----Commander John C. Soady, to
the Fisgard, for service in the Royal Oak ; S. Swan,
engineer te, the Victory, for the Sprightly ; Richard
Elias Denison, in the Petrel, promoted to be engi-
nee'. ; W. B. Trenwith, second-class assist-engineer
to the Megrera ; W. Crichton, acting second-class
assist.-engineer to the Russell; Cecil G. Horne,
midshipman to the Virago; and Wm. H. Hemming,
assist.-clerk to the Excellent.

quarters and forwarded to Aldershot, to augment
the 2d and 24th companies of Royal Engineers.
The Royal Engineer Train is ordered to be aug-
mented by an additional troop, which will be formed
on Ist April next. The situation of the new troop
has not yet been determined upon ; but it is pro-
bable that it will be quartered at headquarters,
Chatham, or at one of the camps.
During the past week, owing to the fine weather
and the dry state of the practice grounds, the troops
at Aldershott have been enabled to execute a variety
of field manceavres which are generally suspended
at this season. On Tuesday morning the division
was drawn up in the Long Valley in review order,
in lines of brigade, the first brigade in advance,
facing eastward, and the second and third at equal
distances in its rear; the cavalry brigade forming
the fourth line. The Royal Horse Artillery and
field batteries formed on the flanks of their respec-
tive brigades. In this order the division was in-
spected by the Lieut.-General commanding, and,
after mare. ing past, was formed in order of battle,
the first brigade being in advance, in line, the
second brigade forming the right support, and the
third brigade the left, with the cavalry and Royal
Horse Artillery in reserve, the whole facing east-
ward. The engagement was commenced by an
advance of skirmishers of the first brigade on to
Barns's Plain, supported by A and B field batteries,
4th brigade Royal Artillery, the whole division
advancing in the direction of the camp. The skir-
mishers halted until the artillery was in position in

,heir rear, when they retired and the artillery opened
ire. The cavalry brigade then came to the front

in three lines, at a troi; the Royal Horse Artillery,
with a battery on either flank of the cavalry, next
dashed up, and fired alternately as the cavalry ad-
vanced. The Carabineers, who were in advance,
took ground to the right, and the 12th Lancers
came up on their left, and thus extended the front.
Position was then changed to the left, the third
brigade forming line and advancing, supported by
the second and first brigades. The cavalry again
formed the reserve, and a steady advance was made
to the north-west, the whole force being brought to
bear upon Pyestock-bridge and the canal-side.
After advancing in this direction to the north-west
extremity of the common, the engagement was
brought to a close shortly after 12 o'clock. A con-
siderable number of spectators witnessed the evo-
lutions.

A new church for the accommodation of the
troops at Aldershott is fast approaching comple-
tion. Its dimensions are 140 ft. by 70ft., and it is
calculated to seat 1,200 persons. It is constructed
of brick, with Caen stone dressings, and the cost of
erection is estimated at £16,000. The architect is
Mr. Hardwick, of London, and the builders Messrs.
Myers and Sons. This extension of the means of
accommodation for Divine worship was greatly
needed in the camp.