The Sun.
London, England, 1863-11-28 00:00:00

THE CIVIL WAR IN AMERICA,

(From the Correspondent of the Imes.)
NEW YORK, Nov. 13.
I lave nothing to add to the telegrams that pre-
cede This letter, and no comment to make upon the
intelligence they convey. Military operations are
once mare at a standstill, and the army cf the Poto-
;nac, after its advance to the Rapidan, seems to be
relapeiing into its habitual quiet. I have seen per-
sons late from Washington who assure me that, in
spite of the jealous watchfulness of the Government,
come scrap of information will occasionally leak out
throngh the recipients of the tell-tale electric fluid.
From these unauthorised, yet authentic, sources I
can, gather, first, that Fort Sumter is in no hurry to
at:lke its colours to the Federals ; second, that the

G overnment are by no means easy as to the position
of their army at Chattanooga. The very wreck of

the ssa•wall and the rubbish heaps dug at its base
Constitute, it is said, the best of curtains for the de-

fence of Fort Sumter. New casemates have been
constructed behind the first line of defence, and

while Gilmore's batteries and the ironclads keep

vainly furrowing and winnowing these almost pul-
verised ruins, the Confederates lie snugly hid in
their invulnerabl e dens and burrows, unable, in-
deed, to return t'aeir enemy's fire with correspond-
ing briskness, 'but ready at a moment's notice to
repel their attacks, were they at any time to attempt
a landing. i'Ls to Chattanooga, all that is known at
"Washington is that the Confederates are collecting
almost all their troops for a mighty stroke in that
quarter, and it is doubtful whether Grant will have
it in his power to meet the combined onset of his
foe by a timely concentration of his now sadly dis-
jointed and partially enveloped forces. Thomas
and Burnside may be perfectly safe where they
are; the question is whether they occupy the posi-
tion -which their commander-in-chief might deem
desirable, and whether it is practicable to bring
the m safe and sound into that position.
1 spoke to you in one of my last of a plot on
Oh ao, aiming at the deliverance of the Confederate
prisoners confined in some of the gaols of that State.
A. contemporary effort, it appears, was to be made
by- some of the Confederate refugees now residing
in. Canada to rescue the prisoners of war on John-
Island, in Sandusky Bay, Lake Erie, with
some farther prospects of attacking and destroying
Buffalo and other cities on the lakes, and to co-
operate with Morgan and the other Confederate
leaders whom it was hoped to release from durance
at Columbus. The Conspiracy was detected by the
Governor-General of Canada,
who, by a telegraphic
despatch to Lord Lyons, set the Washington autho-
ri';ies on their guard. Opportune measures were
ir nmediately taken for ordering out gunboats,
Placing strong guards on board the steamers, and
otherwise putting the lake cities in a state of de-
fence.

It has been decided here to submit to the terms
for which the workmen of all classes have lately
"struck." There was some opposition, but I find
nowhere the people's demands resisted for any
length of time. The working classes show them-
selves, as yet, by no means unreasonable, and they
are aware they have unbounded power whenevee
they choose to put it forth. Nowhere else in the
world, nor even here at any previous epoch, did
the industrial classes enjoy so universally spread
a well-being as they have attained in this country
before the war, and the war itself has hitherto
apparently only added to their prosperity. The
Savings-banks in New England, New York, and
throughout the north-east and west, have nearly
doubled their capital with the deposits of the
careful and thrifty labouring poor. Were labour
to engage in an earnest war against capital, no
doubt the means for a prolonged struggle would
be every where ready at hand. But there will be
for the present no occasion for a trial of strength.
Most of the Trade Unions are coming to terms
with their employers, and the compromise almost
universally turns out in favour of the pretensions
of the operatives. In some instances, as was the
case with some of the city railways, or, as we would
call them, tramway companies, the masters
have been beforehand with their servants, and
granted an unsolicited 25 per cent. increase of wage.
All the companies in that line of business have not
exhibited the same foresight and moderation, how-
ever, and the consequence is that the cars were not
plying in most of the avenues and great thorough-
fares either yesterday or to-day.
But, although compliance with the workmen's de-
mands is matter both of justice and necessity, it is
difficult to see what the upshot of this momentous
social revolution may be. The rise of prices, as a
matter of course, necessitates the increase of wages;
but by granting a more liberal retribution to labour
you in turn enhance the price of all the commodities
-which labour produces. There is here mutual reac-
tion between cause and effect, and the titles of the
industrial classes to double wages are no more indis-
putable now than will be their claims to quadruple
'wages six months or a year hence ; for the rise of
prices at that date will infallibly have followed that
proportion. No fixed salary, it will soon be found,
can keep pace with the exigencies of a market dis-
turbed by the action of an inflated currency. It is
found that in New York clothing sells at rates 50
per cent higher than in former years ; and hotel ac-
commodation, no unfair criterion of the value of the
first necessaries of life, board and lodging, has risen
2 dole. to 3 dole. 50c. Coal, the best anthracite coal,
eost 5 dole. 50c. to 6 dole. per ton before the war ;
1t:ells now at 11 dole., and it will be 25 per cent.
4 mer before the end of the week. The reasons for
tlae •
ais high prices are said to be the scarcity of labour,
the uomber
of
men gone to the wars, the high wages,
strikes,
and riots—a very sanguinary one at Manch-
chunck, in Pennsylvania, the other day—frequent
in the mining
that 9,oooAdietricts. The real fact is, however,
1;0:e of anthracite coal have already
been dug free:l
mines in the course of the pre-
sent year, and th:
qnantity extracted before the end
of December will
d2osuobtless exceed 10,000,000 tons;
which will be
tons more than the
wines yielded in arolooo
into jecopurevious year. All this,
without taking
Jet the large quantities of
bituminous coals, where
iaeotre inceease in pro-
duction and consumption
able, The dearth
of coal, in the midst of allthis
abundance,
by the great demands of the is caused
of railway, and
by the increased
traffic in every line _
4101 the extension of
steam engines to almost every branch ofindustry,
The coal mine proprietors, however, are
charged
with keeping up prices y among
themselves, and hints are thrown
th out to
vrovernmengt
of the expediency of baffling, eir.enpieity
moving, or at least reducing, the import
"e 5 on
coal, so as to allow the free competition ot the
British colliers with these niggardly starvers el the
people. I hear also loud complaints that the gas
price of coals, supply
companies, pleading the highquality of gas. I eft,
the cities with an inferior
York is con-
bear witness to the fact so far as Nov
cerned. That human avarice and stony-hearteduli
covetousness will conspire with any great
public
calamity calamity to aggravate the miseries of a multitude
the evils
no news to men of experience; but that a
11
formerly
now afflicting and threatening this
wealthiest and happiest of communities have their
origin in the war, and in the tampering with the
currency by which an attempt was made to support
the war is also beyond a doubt. Let Mr. Chase
swell the currency by every contrivance in his
power, it will be found that man " lives not by
greenbacks alone."

A- great sensation has been created throughout
the u •
p nu:yr by the fact that the Supreme Court of
ti_ee
conacaula has decided against the legality ot
Radical
pription, or National Enrolment Act. The
of Nir.ljuiatipeeeirs,and those attached to the interests
that only three judges Government do not fail to observe
, end,
of
tudges out of five agreed to the
decision
these three, two belonged to the
Copperhead party and were defeated in the late
State elections, sentence, however, is a
legal and, for aug'ir:%
:Y one knows to the con-
trary, an honest on
and
l will have no slight
weight with the people a
may have an interest in blackaerng-e. The Americans
blackening
choice,
character ot
gets
the magi4rates of their own
fault with the elective system which, or in finding
them OE►
the bench, but the whole operation of the
draught
in Pennsylvania is no less, for aii that, at least tem-
porarily ai,nu I ied.
Adjutant General nomas gives a most charming