The Sun.
London, England, 1863-12-16 00:00:00

VIE CIVIL WAR IN AMERICA,

(From the Special Correspondent of the Times.)

NEw YORK, Dec. I.
' The triumph of General Grant at Chattanooga
w, is not as complete as he announced, nor is Bragg
al together annihilated. There has been no fighting
in Georgia for the last three days. The Confederates
aria rallying their forces at Dalton, where their
enemies, owing, perhaps, to hunger, exhaustion, or
la ck of means of transport, show little inclination
to come to the scratch. As I before said, it is evi-
dent—first, that Bragg was attacked in the midst.
of the disorder of a contemplated retreat ; secondly,
that only a part of his forces could be brought to
bear against Grant, the remainder being already too
far on their way to be recalled in time ; thirdly,
that, with the exception of a hard fight on some
point of Missionary Ridge, there was really no
serious battle, but merely a hastened retreat, with
such contingencies as will necessarily attend a
movement of that perilous nature. The loss of the
Confederates is 5,000 or 6,000 prisoners and 50 to 60
cannon, and 7,000 stand of arms seems to be con-
firmed. The Federals had from 3,000 to 4,000 dead
and wounded; but that portion of Bragg's army
which was not in action is now showing a good
countenance in and about Dalton, and the straggler*
from the scene of blood at Chattanooga are recover-
ing their breath and rallying round their unbroken '
comrades. Bragg stands still on the defensive, and
.Grant allows bulletins from his camp to announce
t hat " the campaign in this quarter and for this year
is at an end."
From Knoxville there is nothing positive. Long-
street, it seems, had orders to rejoin Bragg as soon as
the latter found himself in conflict with Grant, but
we are not quite assured as yet that the orders were
immediately complied with. Railway communica-
tion has been cut off between the two Confederate
leaders, and longstreet could only effect his juncs
tion with his superior officer by a circuitous route.
Possibly, he may wish before he takes any far-
ther resolution to acquit himself of the errand
on which lie came, which was to meet Burn-
side. Thi a worthy, indeed, assures us that he is
quite safe, and all right, with almost imbecile itera.
Lion. Mee ►awhile, half the town of Knoxville has
been bur nt about his ears. How this came to pass
we are not told, and this is all that we are told.
For five. days, in fact, we have no news from the
south-west.
still the greatest mystification of all hangs upon
the do ings of Gen. Meade and the army of the Po-
tomac. in Virginia. The Rapidan was crossed as early
as be tween the Thursday and Friday of last week,
as we all know. Lee gave up the strong intrench-
me nts which he was said to have reared on the south
bask of that river, and took up his position in the
neighbourhood of Orange Courthouse. Since then
we have hardly heard anything positive as to the
open ations of either army. A " heavy cannonade" is
heat d now and then, perhaps, by men of very lively
imagination; but of real actions we have no symp-
toms, bating the false rumours got up by speculat-
ing rogues at the exchange. The combatants have,
however, bad a few fine days at frequent intervals,
and the roads have been tolerably dry and practicable
heretof arra But yesterday we had the first sight of
snow her e in New York, and the night brought on
a rather sharp frost. Virginian mud will hardly
allow IV leade henceforth any opportunity of making
up for lost time. About Charleston not one word
for a -week.

Happen what may, in short, no efforts could
enable the Federals to come to an end of their en-
terpril ie before the winter is over. Actual prostra-
tion the South in the field is not to be thought of,
though the prolcngitiou of the war may eventually
leld to its exhaustion. There are not a few men in
the Sec&ted States, I have no doubt, who would be
williwg to die in the last ditch. The behaviour of
those Southerns in the field has been throughout
above. all praise. The leaders have exhibited genius
and -heroism ; the mass have given evidence of a
power of endurance unequalled perhaps in the
-world's history. Still, behind the ranks of the com-
batants, there is a pec.ple whose fortitude may pos-
sibly be unequai to the rude contest to which it is
exposed. The Sonth is not generally suffering from
want of provisior,s, whatever the Federals may say
to the contrary. But the condition of their money
market is suc‘rt as to give great uneasiness to those
who wish for an indefinite prolongation of the
struggle. I have no very high opinion of the num
bers and energies of the so-called Union party in
the Confederacy. If they really were strong and
many, 7 none shame to their cowardice for allowing
a feebl e majority to ride rough shod over them for
the b est part of three years. No, the danger to the
Soilt.h does not arise from the Union opposition,
but, there are in every community a vast mass of
re en without a mind or will of their own—men
:Always ready to bow to the powers that be, to
accept any change that chance may bring about,
to accommodate themselves to any public combina-
tion, only striving that it should not too harshly
clash with their private interests. It is this last
class of persons, " who never were alive," as Dante
has it, the neutral, passive, unimpressionable class,
that begins to tire of the strife in the South. In
the Border States, and in those invaded
by the Northern troops, this class suffers
itself to be mustered up into a republican, and
(Mt
•ta an anti-slavery party. Theycarrytheelectio3s
'4l,rfour of the United States' Government; they
hoi United meetings and councils for the reorganization
't)off ttilEeiirr r
State administration, and for the election
thehy show no
to Congress. Altogether,
bygones, and little readiness to let bygones be
La to open the way for reconciliation and
'cciaprolni". The disturbances in those Border
States become
aily less significant and less fre-
quent. Even
th6,n it has been foouthri is comparatively quieter
last two years. Quantrell
VeCiaS to have taken
himself off to Arkansas
several other guerilla chiefs d
pri-
soners, and the an„,
General Schofield have been taken
sleet, Jet conciliating role of
,
he carried the victory
over the rabid RePtibliesau
his adversaries, has
had a soothing effect upon
Lae troubled waters
parties. In New of conflicting
efforts for the reconstitution of the
--e'se Orleans we hear
and thenbatitntion of a civil
of constant
State of Louisiana,
administration to military rule. ,
Kentucky4-tqawareMary-
Union party
land, Tennessee, and
the upper 4,„.0d in
have, at least apparently,
all
political conflicts. Those contests may not 15
true, but tiia,
it is
e fairly
and honourably fought,
willing „, t more
than one-half of the people ate wl ° vote for
the Union is no matter of doubt. infusion Toe of
Northern elements, especially in the cities of %ht.
more, St. Louis, Loui,ville, New °:lea?9' C" 11'41
given the Union party an ascendancy which it..never
had before; and it has easily dragged alter it, that
inert and sluggish mass who, as I said, are always
too happy to follow any lead, to submit to any
pressure.
That the prolongation of the struggle may
within
five or six months wear out the South I, candidly
speaking, believe by no means impossible. Heroes
of the Lee and Davis stamp may choose to break
rather than to bend, and for them death or exile
will be the more bearable lot ; but if resistance in
the field is overcome, I do really incline to believe that
men will be found in the South willing to put for-
ward or to accept proposals either of submission or
compromise; and if the two fractions of these dis-
united States can ever come to terms, and the im-
placable leaders of the secession movement are pro-
videntially removed, the pacification and concilia-
tion of the rebel districts may turn out less difficult
a task than
People are now fain to imagine. The
States of Georgia
Alabama, South Carolina, and
especially North '
Carolina, may eventually come
under the management of the Washington Govern.
ment with no
greater trouble than Maryland or
.Missouri, if it so be that the Government finds a
plaus;ble solution to .the slavery question—a matter
which, to my mind, is not so very difficult. The loves
of a multitude, says the old Italian statesman, are
short-lived and fleeting, and so are their hatreds and
fivkle
land inconsistent a race as any
can be, so far ns
For my own part, I have found the
Araalnce(lruicrsnalBsos.
pOed prieciples are concerned.
The only point ,
to which they stick, most of the
Northerners and
aioo many of the Southerners,
is
the preservation of
n the, the glorification r
eountry d nation,
13i
their big country fitli
Mr. Beecher el-gantiY ezPl'"-'ed himself in