The Sun.
London, England, 1863-05-19 00:00:00

THE CONFEDERATE STATES,

(From the 'Special Correspondent of the Times.)
RICHMOND, April 7.
_ __

If ever my letter from distant Vicksburg, written
just two months ago, has surmounted the many ob-
stacles and difficulties which interpose between the
Confederate States and England, your readers will
have been prepared for the present attitude of events
on the Mississippi, and for the abandonment of all
hostile enterprises on the part of the Federals against
Vicksburg or Port Hudson. It is perhaps premature
to say that Yankee ingenuity may not yet discover
some pass or creek or tortuous route through which
Vicksburg can be hypothetically turned ; but it is
certain that all the dodges hitherto attempted have
resulted only in disastrous failure; that Vicksburg
and Port Hudson are practically impregnable, that
Grant's army is melting away like a snow wreath,
and that Port Hudson is not likely to be again at.
tacked from below, or Vicksburg from above. The
words which in 1854 again and again thrilled the
Yankee heart with delight, when upon the arrival
of each successive steamer from Europe were an,
nounced in colossal capitals the tidings, " Sebasto-
might at present be stereotyped
pol not taken yet,"
with the word " Vicksburg" substituted for "Se-
bastopol." But Sebastopol fell at length, to the ill-
concealed mortification of New York and Boston,
nor was the satisfaction of ascribing its fall entirely
to French valour an adequate compensation for the
vexation which accompanied the fact. For many
more months than those during which England and
France beleaguered Sebastopol the whole resources
of the Federals have been lavished expended upon
an attempt to reduce a little defenceless inland city,
situated upon a river of which the Federals, at the
commencement of the war, claimed possession as
confidently as they now claim possession of Staten
Island. Does any one believe now that there is
the smallest chance that these mighty efforts of
the Federals will eventually be crowned with
success ? Never will the day dawn when the
words, "Vicksburg has fallen," will thrill the
Northern heart with exultation and delight. The
canal is, as I pronounced it, a costly failure. The
Yazoo river, with its innumerable creeks and tribu-
taries, is easily defended ; the camp on the Louisiana
shore of the river, in which for so many months the
hapless Federals have been exposed to swamp fever,
and ague, and dysentery, and pneumonia, has be-
come one vast burying ground; the practice of the
Vicksburg batteries has lately become so accurate
and formidable that, not only is it almost impossible
for any craft to live upon the river in front of them,
but all work upon the canal has long been suspended
by reason of the fire of the Blakeley and Whitworth
guns, which subtend the lower mouth of the canal.
Chiefly to the skill and activity of Col. Higgins,
originally a naval officer in the service of the United
States, but now in command of the batteries at
Vicksburg, may this improvement in their practice
be attributed. Col. Higgins is favourably known
as a sailor, inasmuch as he was captain of the Van-
derbilt when she made what is claimed as the
swiftest passage ever accomplished by a steamship
across the Atlantic.

From Fort Pemberton (the fort which commands
the point where the junction of the Tallahatchie and
Yallobusha r!vers forms the Yazoo) the information
is that the Federals are in fu'.l retreat towards the
Mississippi, considerably damaged, as they go, by
sharpshooters and guerillas who line the inter-
minable windings and sinuosities of the little
streams. It is impossible to say when the truth
about Vicksburg and Port Hudson will become
generally known in the North. Every day that I
pass in the South fills me with greater wonderment
at the amazing ignorance of the Federals about the
disposition of their enemy's troops and the actual
condition of affairs in Dixie. For instance, the
whole winter through there have been incessant
announcements that. Gen. Longstreet (whom your
readers will have observed that I regard as one of the
most valuable officers in the Confederacy) was
marching through Tennessee to reinforce General
Bragg, that he was threat eningKentucky and about
to march on Cincinnati. The truth is that General
Longstrcet has never been far removed from Rich-
mond, that, had occasion demanded, be would have
been found at his old post at Fredericksburg, atd,
for aught that I know, may be back there whenever
General Hooker again attempts that advance to
which it is known that he is peremptorily impelled
from Washington. The accompanying extract from
the general orders which, since the commencement
of 'April, have daily appeared in the Richmond
papers, will indicate the present whereabouts of
General Longatreet:7
tt The geographical limits of the command of Lieut.-
erabracu3g the defences of Richmond,
General LongstWete