The Sun.
London, England, 1863-07-13 00:00:00

THE CIVIL WAR IN AMERICA.

(From the Times' Correspondent.)
NEW YORK, July 1.
Whatever may be the alarm or panic that may
prevail in those portions of the hitherto safe end
peaceful North which have experienced for the first
time within. the last few days the actual presence of
that grim and gaunt fiend of war whose aid the
Northern people have invoked for the subjugation
of their Southern brethren, New York takes the
invasion of Gen. Lee with almost as much coolness
as if Pennsylvania were as remote as Japan. The
Confederate commander, at the head of at least
100,000 men, occupies large districts of Pennsyl-
vania and Maryland, threatening at one and the
same time the great cities of Pittsburg, Wheeling,
Philadelphia, Baltimore, Washington, and 50 minor
towns. His hosts seem to be übiquitous. They are
heard of at one moment within five miles south of
Washington, carrying off stores, provisions, horses,
and cattle. At another they are discovered 14 miles
to the north of it, tearing up the railroad that con-
nects Washington with Baltimore. They are within
sight of Harrisburg, the State capital of Pennsyl-
vania, which can offer no effectual resistance—a
place more than 100 miles in another direction ; and
it seems as if they had only to decide which of the
rich cities of the North they first desired to capture,
in order to be able to pounce upon it before aid could
arrive from any quarter. Philadelphia is in a state
of absolute terror, for it is believed to be the inten-
tion of Gen. Lee to make the wealthy storehouses
and overflowing granaries of that thriving commu-
nity the first prize of his bold invasion. The bankers
are packing up their gold and securities and sending
them to New York for safer custody. The ladies are
making the same disposition of their plate and
jewelry. The timid of both sexes are disappearing
from their homes, as fast as steam can carry them,
to New York, New England, and Canada. Those
who cannot get away are making the best of circum-
stances, and the clergy are volunteering, a hundred
at a time,to dig in the trenches that are being hastily
constructed for the protection of the city. But, not
even in Philadelphia does there seem to be a real
patriotic ardour. Whatever is done is done out of
fear. The slow Germans and the slower Quakers
are either as stupid as sheep, or they have so little
heart in the war as to hail the victories of the
Southern hosts as substantial blessings which will
speedily bring peace in their train. War when it
raged on the Mississippi or the Rappahannock was
all very well in their estimation, but war on the
Delaware and the Susquehanna is an abomination
on which they did not calculate. If the Confede-
rates will but spare their city and pay their way
honestly for the provisions and dry goods they may
need they will be tolerably satisfied.
At Baltimore the only alarm that exists is on the
part of General Schenck and the Federal troops.
The streets continue barricaded, the guns of Fort
Mackenzie are pointed towards the city ready to
lay it in ashes should its people attempt an insur-
rectionary movement in favour of the Confederates;
while General Schenck finds time amid the multi-
plicity of his duties to close the Maryland club, an
association of gentlemen which would not admit him
to the honours of membership, and take military
possession of its saloons, its reading rooms, its
kitchen, and its wine-cellar. At night, when the
air in that Southern clime is cool, balmy, and re-
freshing, and the moonlight so clear and beautiful
es to tempt everybody into the streets and gardens,
the ladies sit upon their doorsteps in their silks and
satins, talking what General Schenck considers foul

treason, but what the ladies themselves consider
patriotic devotion to the rightful cause. Sometimes
they join in chorus as a Federal soldier passes by to
taunt him with the melancholy music, or the bold
defiant words of " Maryland, my Maryland." At
others, if the sound of a bugle or the crack of mus-
ketry is heard in the distance, they rise from their
seats to listen more attentively, and to pray for the
speedy arrival of that "dear Southern army" upon
whose coming to deliver them they have never
ceased to speculate since the war began. In New
York the apathy is incredible. No public meetings
are held. The redoubtable Mayor, so great at
Loyal League meetings, is unaccountably silent. The
war contractors make no sign. The fiery orators of
extermination are mute. The youth of the city, in-
stead of rushing to the relief of Pennsylvania, attend
to their work and business as if nothing was the
matter. An invasion, greater in its objects and
more formidable in its numbers than that of Eng-
land under William the Norman, has commenced,
and cities less than 150 miles from New York have
opened their gates to the conqueror, and yet New
York gambles in gold and stocks as fervently as of
old, and talks with contempt of the suggestion of a
few newspapers for a levy en masse to confront the
audacious foe. In fact, it seems—so complete is the
change in the public sentiment—that if Gen. Lee
would only be good enough, having captured Wash-
ington, Baltimore, and Philadelphia, and left Gens.
Hill, Longstreet, and Ewell in charge of them, to
march to New York, everybody would be well
pleased. People who six months ago were almost
rabid in their passionate assertions that under no
circumstances would the North consent to a separa-
tion are resigned to the catastrophe, while many
who still believe that the Union can be restored
consider that Gen. Lee is far more likely to achieve
the object than Mr. Lincoln. " Let Gen. Lee come
to New York," they say, "and declare the South is
the legitimate representative of the Government
founded by Geo. Washington —that it is the North
which is in rebellion, and which has destroyed the
Constitution; and let him at the same time invite
the separate States to return to their allegiance,
and decide to which party they will adhere, and
the Union will be restored. New York, New Jer-
sey, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Kentucky, Tennes-
see, Missouri, and the Great West will all cast
their fortunes with the South. The only dissentients
will be the six little States of New England, and
we will either hold them as a conquered depen-
dancy, and lay them waste with fire and sword, as
a punishment for having brought this war upon us,
or we will exclude them from the Union—to join
Canada if they see fit—or to govern themselves in
their own way, as a free, though a despicable little
nation." This is the substance of the opinions that
are openly and earnestly expressed, and if it enter-
ed into the calculations of the Southern leaders to
restore the Union in the mode proposed, it is scarcely
a question that Gen. Lee, after his first great vic-
tory—whenever he may choose to win it—would be
supported in such a project by three•fourths of the
Northern people, except those of New England;
and that he and Mr. Jefferson Davis might ride in
triumph up Broadway, amid the acclamations of a
more enthusiastic multitude than ever assembled on
the continent of America. It is possible, however,
that a different state of feeling may exist to-morrow.
The Americans are a people not easily to be under-
stood. They do not affect even to understand them-
selves. They are impulsive, and yet cautious. They
love liberty, but they love money much more. They
respect the Constitution, but they allow it to be
trampled under foot. They despise such men as
Pope, Burnside, and Hooker, who have been fight-
ing their battles ; but they respect the memory of
Stonewall Jackson, and consider Gen. Lee the
bravest gentleman, the gallantest soldier, and the
most consummate general in America, if not in the
world. If they have any feeling except that of con-
tempt for their constitutional chief magistrate, and
the civilians and military men whom he summons
to his aid and admits into his confidence, it is diffi-
cult to discover it; and, if they are not at the pre-
sent time heartily disgusted with the war, and
utterly hopeless of bringing it to an honourable
issue, it is quite impossible to account on any other
supposition for their remarkable apathy and un-
concern and the astounding progress of Gen. Lee.
But short hours may bring great changes. The North
has no great men, not one who has risen to the height
of the might argument that has to be solved by the