The Sun.
London, England, 1863-11-16 00:00:00

ELE CIVIL WAR IN AMERICA,

(From the Correspondent of the Tunes.)
NEW YORK, Nov. 3.
It n lay appear incredible, but we have up to this
moment no intelligence to communicate of the pro-

gre.3e of military operations. The experience of the
last two years has sufficiently familiarised us with
the phenomenon, yet it tasks all our powers of com-
prehension to realise the fact that some of the
v,reatest armies the world ever mustered, stirred by
,the most intense feelings of Cain-like animosity the
?human heart ever harboured, under the most auspi.
cious circumstances of bright, bracing, inspiriting
weather, should run on week after week, month
after month, so close to each other that the pickets

on one side fling "chaff," when they do not pop lead
at the sentries of the other ; and yet the news from

beginning to end of a whole autumn season should

be no news.

The summary of one week's information reads
like a parody and, a mockery, rather than a repeti-
tion of the foregoing one. " All is quiet in the army

of the Potomac." " Sumter has undergone from the

Union batteries the heaviest bombardment that ever

took place. From sundown on Wednesday till sun-
down on Thursday the Federals fired 1,200 shots
from 15-inch mortars and 300-pounder Parrots."
"They might as well have fired at the moon. The
enemy gave back noise for all this noise. The rebel

loss is seven wounded."
From Tennessee the bulletins are even more fiat,
stale, and unprofitable. General Thomas nevertatreosf
of exalting the heroism of the victors.titees,
took the figh
many
prisoners, 28th. " General Hooker," h
prisoners, among whom were feouwrrolfficers and 14
men." The rest must have been cattle. Hooker him-
self had 350 officers and men dead and wounded.
Gen, Grant had reached the camp at Chattanooga,
where "since the bloody battle on the Chickamauga,
the army had settled down.. in the usual quiet of
camp life." Some way, it is generally felt, must be
found to break this dead lock. Bragg must be
evicted from his present position. This is the busi-
ness of General Grant ;" but he takes his time
about it like his predecessors. Complaints are raised
by people competent to form a judgment on such
matters that the Federals are leaving too many
troops in their rear. "It is held to be necessary to
guard strongly all roads, and to garrison all towns.
An immense army is held between Nashville and
Louisville. In those cities themselves the military
authority is omnipresent. The streets are swarm-
ing with soldiers, the military hand is everywhere."
From these statements we may gather-1, That the
position of the army of the Cumberland is yet in-
secure; 2, that:rebel guerillas overrun the land in
every direction, gathering together, sometimes,
when strengthened by Bragg's cavalry, into bands
several thousands strong; 3, that the allegiance of
Tennessee and Kentucky, even in the largent centres
of population, is not to be relied upon.
This is election day in New York. We learn it
from the newspapers, for otherwise one would not
be made aware of the fact by any unusual stir per-
ceptible in the town. The truth is, these State elec-
tions. have been not inaptly compared to those
"scrub races with knock-kneed, broken-winded
screws with which the multitude are entertained,
while their betters are making ready for great
sweepstakes." No popular vote of importance will
be elic:,ted in America, till the time comes for the
Presie,ential election, a year hence.
Go vernor Seymour has been " stumping " at
Utica, at Rochester, and on Saturday evening at
the. Cooper Institute in this city. It is difficult
to, dislike Mr. Seymour, for he is a gentle, amiable
man, or to withhold one's esteem from him, for he
is well-meaning and honourable—though he is
reviled by his adversaries in downright American
fashion as if he were a common pickpocket. But,
whatever regard one may have for the man, it is
difficult to deny that, as a politician, he is in a false
position. No one can dwell at greater length on the
horrors of the American civil war, no one can with
greater minuteness enumerate the evil it inflicts
npon the country. "The President," he informs
us, " has in progress of this war demanded a
total of two millions of men ; he asks for eOO,OOO
more—more than 1,400,000 have already gone forth
to the battlefield." " Experience has shown," he
continues, " that every year wastes one-half of our
armies. If it now numbers 700,000 men, each day
diminishes its number by 1,000." To carry on this
mur.erous war the country is " burdened with a
debt, which is variously estimated to be from I
1,500,000,000 dols. to 2,000,000,000 dole.. ;" and so
he goes on, talking of "inevitable bankruptcy,
national ruin, social anarchy, and disorder." But,
when he has said all this, could any man believe
that he ends by declaring that " he is in favour of a
vigorous prosecution of the war ?" He is as willing
to "put forth the exertion of every material power"
as any one of his opponents. Only, while the Re-
publicans wish to employ " force, force alone," he is
disposed to " superadd the power of conciliation."
What cannot be achieved by subjugation he would
hope to effect by compromise.
This is, and ever will be, the stumbling-block for
these amiable Union-Democrats. They agree with
the Republicans that " the Union must be saved,"
that " the Constitution must be upheld." Were
they to come into power to-morrow, they would con-
Bider themselves bound to carry on the war—nay,
to push it on with still greater vigour, but they
would give the Southerners to understand that they
wished for peace ; that they would make peace with
Ile" on any terms that might save the Union
"" uphold the Constitution. This presupposes,
of etmvi
e, that there is a corresponding dispo-
mr."slo reconciliation and reunion in the South.
thousanrur tells us " there are hundreds and
believes r Unionists at the South ; nay, more, he
that
people, if thaet this hoer a majority of the Southern
folds of this Uniy
on,
return once again within the
by its Constitatien, and feel themselves protected
°l3, 7ould again come back to their
This allegiance."
Jr.Whoconceit of a man Seymour's opinion, the
vial business, and hues in Albany, deep in offi-
more about the South
than what he learns hoßro 'l
hearsay,
etusay. But, place him
to-morrow at the head 01 the
Government, invest
him, not only with the President's
dictator's powers, and What but with all a
would he do ? What
Would he do if he found that the s
would hear
nothing of conciliation or Compromisesaukebut7 insisted
all probability, on separation from the abhorred
the Republican answer to all Mr. sem° This is
• and since, in 11! s speci-
ous arguments , they
Opposition would get
say, the
of the
Present Ad
sefape of this war any sooner than the
ministration With all the pe?Fle.'safor.ces, as it only
can best be secured by undivid, 1
lelr. Sestina% It is very
possible, indeed, that, long as
his Fernando
was, it did not convey the whole
friendsoYf thilet'aoSrpaeteoerh'
mind. It is possible that, like
Wood and Vallandighaml the Governor of New
York cares less for the Union and the Constitution
than for peace, and that,
where conciliation might
be found impracticable, he would not shrink from
that
separation ; but, were it so, it would prove
strong, or
either his character is not sufficiently
that the time has not yet come for him to be out-
that
for
spoken on this subject. The hour and the man
that object may, perhaps, never come. The longer I
live among these Americans the stronger I feel the
conviction growing upon me that it is neither power
of elcquence nor prestige of authority that can move
them out of their fond conceit of national Union.
They must have their country, their continent,
their world all to themselves. They will make
one
attained
so long as such an object can be
by " the expenditure of the last
dollar, or
the sacrifice of the last man." They
are a boasting,
vainglorious race, and delight
in hyperbole; but in this matter of the Union I
believe they are
mainly in earnest. They will not
go forth themselves as fightinglong men so as con-
scripts can buy substitutes, and natives
d can bribe
foreigners, and whites can impress 6rB n o As
with all commercial and industrial people, they will
fight with gold (or paper) rather than iron-; but
will not give up the
desperate strife ; and they will side with
they game Without a
stubborn,
those, no matter bow ruthlesson and fanatical, who are
" la the
least likely to y hands Plough and look
bzckward," ostracising the Peace-anall-price
poli-
ticians of the Vallandigham school, and sneering at
Seymour and his milk and-water Peace.union
and
conciliation theories.
There is, in the meanwhile, no lack of efforts