The Sun.
London, England, 1863-06-04 00:00:00

THE CIVIL WAR IN AMERICA.

• (From the Times' Correspondent.)
NEW YORK, May 22.

The only free States now left in the North—the
States wherein a man can express his opinions, and
wherein, if he have committed any offence, he is
only liable to punishment after fair trial before a
judge and jury—are, the little States of New Eng-
land, New York, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania.
All the remainder are under the operation of mar-
tial law ; and the lives, the liberty, and the pro-
perty of every citizen at the mercy of dragoons, or
of truculent attorneys transformed by the Revolu-
tion into Brigadier and Major Generals, of whom Gen.
Butler is the type and the representative. Gen.
employment,
Butler is at Washington, soliciting
with the hope, it is surmised, of being appointed
to the military dictatorship of New York. Gen.
Schenck rules supreme at Baltimore, and does
exactly as he pleases ; transports men, women, and
children to the South as if it were a penal settle-
ment; allows no newspaper to criticise his words or
actions under penalty of its forcible suppression ;
bears treason in a melody, and punishes the vocalist
or instrumentalist by fine, imprisonment, or depor-
tation, and makes it a felony in a lady to wear a
riband of a particular blend of colour, or in a gen-
tleman to exhibit the head of liberty, cut out of an
old copper cent, as a badge upon the waistcoat.
Gen. Banks rules with less outward offensiveness
but with as much real severity, at New Orleans, and
treats the population of Louisiana in the style in
which the Grand Duke Constantine of Russia was
in the habit of treating the Poles ere he goaded
them into insurrection in 1831. General Scho-
field has been despatched to St. Louis on a simi-
lar errand—to rule by terror and to trample out the
right of free diecussion under the heels of armed
men. How General Burnside is acting in the same
capacity at Cincinnati all the world knows by this
time, and how he is supported by a petty and almost
illiterate village lawyer of the name of Milo S. Has-
call, whom the misfortunes of his country have con
verted into a brigadier-general, was slightly
sketched in my last, and will be more fully de-
tailed in my present letter. Bad as the conduct of
Gen. Butler was at New Orleans, silly as that of Gen.
Schenck is at Baltimore, these officials, together with
Gen. Banks, who does his strong spiriting with a
gloved hand, as if he did not think it necessary to
cease being a gentleman when he became a Dictator,
had and have the qualified justification of military
necessity. But no such necessity exists in Ohio,
Illinois, and Indiana, which are not in a state of
siege, and no inch of whose territories is occupied
by a Confederate soldier. The high-handed out-
rage committed on Mr.Vallandigham by Gen. Burn-
side was a political, not a military, act; and seems to
have been inspired by Mr. Stanton with the view of
striking terror into the leaders of the Democratic
party, and perpetuating the possession of power in
the hands of the Revolutioaary party, who have re-
solved to overthrow the existing constitution of the
United States, and form a strong consolidated Go-
vernment as the first step towards a centralised im-
perial despotism. At the present writing no one, ex-
cept the Government and a few officials, knows what
has become of Mr. Vallandigham. Gen. Burnside
sentenced him to imprisonment in Fort Warren, and
some reports insist that he was furtively and at dead
of night placed on board a Federal gunboat in the
Ohio river to be conveyed to NN heeling en route to
Boston ; while others, equally credible, affirmed
that Mr. Lincoln, in grim jest, but real earnest, had
modified the sentence of the Military Court to trans-
portation to the South, and that the gunboat on
board of which he was imprisoned was to convey
him4o Memphis, and thence to some portion of the
Mississippi shore of Arkansas or Louisiana in the
occupation of the Confederates.
Does Mr. Lincoln wish to provoke a new Civil
War in the West ? It is not likely that he does.
He is a Western man himself, and ought to know
his people too well to incur so fearful a responsi-
bility ; but if Mr. Stanton, General Halleck, and
the Abolitionist senators, who form a kind of Com-
mittee of Vigilance at Washington, and have the
President in their keeping, have not imagined the
probability of such an issue to the insane violence
which they have instructed their obedient instru-
ments to adopt, the possession of power has turned
their heads, if it have not depraved their hearts.
Can these men read the spirit of the people? Do
they understand the very rudiments of constitu-
tional liberty ? Have they eyes to see and ears to
hear ? There was but one newspaper in the
whole North that had a word of approbation to
bestow upon General Burnside—his military
spies, his obsequious court martial, and the das-
tardly judge who refused to issue the writ of
habeas corpus in Mr. Vallandigham's case, and even
that solitary pander was converted at the eleventh
hour to a purer faith, and joined its contemporaries
in denunciation of the whole scandalous and perilous
proceedings. There has not been anything like the
same unanimity of opinion displayed upon any one
subject since the war began, and yet the reckless
gamesters who control the destinies of the North re-
fuse to open their eyes, or be warned of the danger
they incur. The Western people have done more of
the fighting and less of the talking of the war than
those of the Atlantic States, and while they have
fought harder, their friends and relations who re-
mained at home to plough their fields and carry on
their business have gained less. In fact the West has
gained nothing. It has no manufacturers to be en-
riched by a protective tariff. It has not been rewarded
by fat contracts. Its mug Sates have not stained, or
been allowed the chance of staining, their hands
with public plunder. Its trade has not been in-
creased, like that of New York and Massachusetts,
but has been wofully diminished. It has lost its
best customer, the South, and gained no other as an
equivalent ; and because, under these circumstances,
its most popular and virtuous citizens, of whom
Mr. Vallandigham was but one, have dared to ima-
gine that their country was still free, that the con-
stitutions of their own States were living and bind-
ing realities, and that the Federal constitution was
still urrepealed, and believing this, have raised
their voices to denounce the imbecility and cor-
ruption of the Government, and to express the
honest conviction that union with the South might
possibly be restored by a cessation of hostilities, but
never could be restored by war—the Government
at Washington has appointed a military despot. to
establish a reign of terror, and act as if his sword
the sceptre of justice, and his brutal will not
°l'l7 the law
The ot.v. but the source of law and right, and
wesa 4ernute by which men who but yesterday
zy. Telata hecsed hold either life, liberty, or pro-
st Vallandigham's case is not to be
tered and
vthha,t. the. Government has en-
eiti
on
of
arzautt_ittizzioiF
ol lf etnhde\evtetshtetro i n
the a
en
oe
nw.
intelligence
la.
fn
New
edsviegluosrtktllliti;cya.daibausetei,olgssevfiodretnhatsstfeorrotsmstatrththaleet
the publication ofe
the is ai%vl'artik'h,weahwoold prohibit
for presuming to do4"s
meet to which his august, ""4.:utiZtng RzPress,
a , but hitiltetZ:i docu-
not ignoble, name was
suppressed two Indiana nPeranded' hue
til'atmlif 1
himly
cot: or w t
famous order No. IX. twhicherdfore7
of treason against any kind ojfusplV t.he Pent!lti:
that had a " tendency" to bring
The first journal that fell under his displeasure Ut.e
the Columbia City News, to the editor of which he
despatched the foAowing curt epistle :
TO THE EDITOR OF " COLUMBIA CITY NBA's."
head-gusrters, Fistrict of Indiana, Department of
the Ohio, Indianapolis, May 8, 163.
Sir,— A copy of your paper of May 5 has wen handed
me, and my attention called to your comments on General
Order No. IX, from these headquarters. You can now take
your choice—publish an article taking back your threats of
-resistance to that order, and your comments designed to
destroy its usefulness, and publish a loyal paper; or you can
discontinue the publication of your paper until further
orders. Any violation of this order will receive prompt
attention.

3fiLo S. HASCALL, Brigadier-General Vols.,
Commanding District.
The editor published this letter with an indignant
comment, surrounded by the mourning border
which is usually employed in England on the death
?f the Sovereign, the mourning in this case being, it
1„18,2) I'B,6llPP:wed, for the murdered freedom of the
press. said the editor, " Gen. Haman be higher
the constitution, the supreme law of the land,

then he can enact such laws as he, in his superior
wisdom, may deem proper; bat if he, like our own
self; owes obedience to the constitution a e, and
that instrument is as sacred and dear to masit to
us, then he is more than a tyrant to ex . cise such
unwarranted authority. We claim t
we are pub-
lishing a loyal paper. What constit ,
es loyalty .
If it be in favour of the constitution, as transmitted
to us, then we are loyal; but if, on the contrary,
loyalty consists in a disregard of that instrument,
we are not loyal. We honour and respect that
noble chart of liberty. It is our guide in everything,
and we know no higher authority. We have nothing
to retract. Our comments were made with an eye
to the public welfare. We await the order of Gene-
ral Hascall with pleasure. The wicked alone flee
from the wrath of an offended Deity."
General Hascall's reply to this dignified assertion
of the right of free discussion was to send a com-
pany of soldiers to close the office of the Columbia
City News, take possession of its presses, and pro-
hibit its publication. Whether he caused the
editor to be arrested and sent to the South or to
Fort Warren, to keep company with Mr. Vallan-
digham, is not stated. The other unfortunate
journal which incurred the wrath of this egregious
potentate, who is described as having previous to
the war eked out a miserable livelihood by his
scanty earnings as a village attorney, was the South
Bend lorum,whose editor was accused of " boasting
of an intention to violate Order No. IX.' The
editor denied the boast; and Hascall, not conde-
scending to bandy words with him, suppressed, or,
in Western parlance, " squelched" his paper.
Thus the Forum died, on the funereal pyre of
American liberty, to reappear perhaps, like the
phoenix, after General Milo S. Hascall shall have
passed into the maw of that great revolutionary
Saturn, who, according to all experience, devours
his own children.
Bat General Hascall does not confine his atten-
tion to newspapers. He has as much dislike to oral
as to written liberty of speech ; and on Wednesday
last, when a grand Democratic mass meeting was
held at Indianapolis to protest against the impri-
sonment and condemnation of Mr. Vallandigham,
' he marched 500 soldiers to the spot, and under
pretence of providing against any possible disturb-
ance of the peace, stationed a military guard at
every commanding position in the city. The terror
was such that the resolutions were hurriedly passed,
—no set speeches beyond a few formal words of
introduction were made, and the meeting adjourned
sine die, in great confusion. About 50 persona were
arrested for carrying concealed weapons, although
the Federal Constitution expressly guarantees to
all citizens the right to bear arms. As many more
were taken into custody for cheering at the name
of " Jeff. Davis," which, it is alleged, was first
shouted by a spy sent into the meeting by General
Hascall for the express purpose of creating a
disturbance. Burnside and Hascall are worthy
compeers; but Burnside, being the superior officer,
is a little, though very little, in advance of his
subordinate. Hascall punished the offence com-
mitted ; Burnside carries his paternal rule still fur-
ther, and takes pains to render offence impossible.
Upon the rule of the good physician, that preven-
tion is better than cure, he has given notice to the
journals of Ohio that they must send him proofs of
the leading articles and the news which they intend
to publish, in order that his imprimatur may be
attached to them. The Emperor of the French has
been accused of harshness to the press, but he is the
mildest of despots compared with Burnside.

The question that forces itself upon the minds o,
the observers and students of this revolution—for it
is a revolution, if the fierce Democracy of America
have been drilled and dragooned out of their liber-
ties, or if they have been reduced to such a deplorable
emasculation of spirit as to love the shadow of the
defunct Union better than the realities of law, jus-
tice, and security for person and property—is,
whether, the people are docile and patient enough
to endure that tyranny for the remainder of Mr.
Lincoln's term of office, with the hope of being able
to restore the action of the constitution by the agency
of the ballot box,and the election of a democratic and
Conservative President, such as Gen. M'Clellan or
Mr. Vallandigham ? If they are so over patient—if
they are so engrossed with a dull materialism as to
think of nothing but money—if for two years they
will quietly submit to the usurpations of military
power, and the insolent domination of a faction
that is numerically not half as strong as the oppo-
sition—they will be entitled to the credit of being
the most sordid and quiet people who ever spoke
the language of Milton and Hampden, and who re-
verence in name, if not in spirit, the laws that trace
their origin to such venerable roots as Trial by
Jury, Magna Charta, the Bill of Rights, and the
Writ of Habeas Corpus. If all these great triumphs
of their British ancestors, which are their lawful
inheritance, are to be suspended for two years—do
the Americans think they will ever enjoy them
again unless they fight for them ? And if they are
to be fought for at some future time, would it not
be better to have a small fight of words now, last-
ing, perhaps, for Mr. Seward's famous " ninety
days," instead of having a fight of words hereafter
that might last for 20 years, and that might not,
perhaps, be concluded within the lifetime of any
man now treading the soil of this continent ?
The increase of Irish immigration to this port
within the last three months has been so large as to
excite universal remark. It is doubtful, however,
whether the influx is in all respects natural. There
is so much poverty in Ireland, and there are so
many prosperous Irishmen in America, who an-
nually send money to the land of their birth, to
pay the passage of their kindred to new homes,
that emigration will not cease, as long as Ireland
continues poor and overpeopled. Bat since the be-
ginning of the present year the arrivals have ex-
ceeded the sverage almost threefold. One obvious
explanation of the fact is, that the war bas taken
from productive industry an immense number of
labourers, and that the inconvenience suffered
from this cause in the north and north-west is
known in Ireland—and gives an impetus
to emigration. Any man who can dig a
field or garden, drive a cart, carry a heavy load, or
perform any other piece of unskilled oruseful labour,
can readily earn a dollar and a quarter, or a dollar
and a half a day. The want is so urgent that a
hundred thousand of such men would be absorbed
in the great cities and rural districts from New York
to Chicago in less than six months. This fact has
not only been made extensively known in Ireland
by private correspondence from America, but has
been systematically promulgated by order of the
Federal Government, and notably by a letter from
Mr. Seward, which has been published and com-
mented upon in most of the Irish newspapers. The
object of that letter was to stimulate emigration;
and it has produced its effect. Whether there ware
not another object, that of procuring recruits for
the Federal armies, may be surmised, bat need not,
perhaps, be discussed. Not only have its agents or
friends in Ireland represented in glowing colours
the scarcity of labour in the field and farm, and the
golden rewards it would obtain if it could but be in-
duced to come here, but they have publicly made
11aownlin Ireland that no less than 10,000 labourers
were Wanted on one railway in the West, the
ma.
rst,„ iters of which were willing to pay wages at the
" a doll
of the ikbo__ae: a day, besides the passage money
it is that ;ell from Ireland to New York. Who
e raily%y T 13''3's the passage money—whether
another name for
a tnythor
whether . but
[ IplaeerBstolnosns representing not
ottitoit
Government, are
some instances the" ""
an
be the officers
I
othrea proasiliwtivaey testitaT to
tha'
thet,„„ives-
thou been paid by
Pa issed7:4o:evered ; but that in
the Federal it is -
arrived emigrants,
number. Anothera and
jf
; :I; I 11: i°;areeaetifitythaoleft Itvtßiblst7ll:l6l:ll:ervlpaoleynr
theams a
tbeenjcai
iytheen
cfoeuarra,
Government is about to that the British
gration to the United States. This apprehension"bidaiug emi-
gration
many hundreds, or it maybeth has
who had friends, kindred, and relatives in the Northad;
and West, to expedite a departure on which they
had previously resolved. Possibly it may turn outy
Pass a InPav7valent, anr:blis
that this fear has been instilled into the minds of the
Irish peasantry by agents of the Federal Govern-
ment. Whatever the truth in this particular may be,
the emigrants are beset by the recruiting officer the