The Sun.
London, England, 1863-09-21 00:00:00

THE CIVIL WAR IN AMERICA,

(.Front. the Special Correspondent of the Times.)
NEW YORK, Sept. 8.
The A merican mind is greatly troubled, or, in
America n phrase, "exercised," by the creation of a
monarch y' n Mexico, under the protectorate of the
Emperss of the French, with the goodwill and con-
sent of Great Britain and Spain. Such an event is
held t o be equivalent to the recognition of the
South( era Confederacy, and its final establishment as
an in dependent power. The Democrats and the
Repu' olicans—the peace party and the war party—
are a like indignant. Had Great Britain alone been
the originator of the project, there can be little
question that it would long ago have been made a
cases belle by the Federal Government, that the
dry bones of the defunct Monroe doctrine would
have been galvanised into the semblance of vitality,
and that an army of occupation would have found
in Montreal that scope for its valour which is ne-
cessarily denied it in New York. Bat, with Franc©
the case is different. France was once and often the
en erny of England, and is therefore entitled to the
gratitude of all true Americans. France aided Wash-
ington to make rebellion successful, and it is in some
degree the foun derof American independence; there-
fore, much must be forgiven to so early and so
powerful a friend. But there are some things not
to be tolerated even from France ; and the establish-
ment of a monarchy in Mexico is one of them. But
how to resent it is the question. The fire-eaters,
the blusterers, and the Bobadils call fur im-
mediate war ; but the Cabinet, finding that the
subjugation of the South is much more than it
can manage, is content to await the further develop-
ment of events, before it compromises itself, even
by a protest which the Emperor of the French may
be in a mood to treat with contemptuous silence.
It is thought, under the circumstances, that Mr.
Seward will trust to the chapter of accidents, and
especially to the chance that the Archduke Maxi-
milian may refuse the perilous dignity, and, in
default of any one else, that not even Mr., or
Prince Patterson, Bonaparte, will lend himself to
the schemes of his cousin of the Tuileries. But the
feeling of anger is none the less bitter; and as it
seems to be at this moment the predominant one
among American politicians—professional and non-
professional—and of all ranks and degrees of men,
it is possible that Mr. Seward may endeavour to
make capital out of it in order to strengthen his
party at the ensuing elections and catch the vote of
such wavering War Democrats as prefer the Union
to liberty and extended territory to happiness. But
the Emperor is master of the situation, and the
Americans know it. They know, moreover, that if
he carry out his Mexican designs he will have the
moral, jr not the military and naval support of Great
Britain, and that the reconstruction of the Union
will be utterly impossible, unless the South, in a
revived love for the Monroe doctrine, should forget
its insults, forget its wrongs, forget the Emancipa-
tion Proclamation, forget the blood of its best and
bravest sons poured out like water for the last two
years in countless battlefields, forget its ruined
homesteads and its devastated provinces, turn gall
into honey, and its immortal hate not only into lik.
ing but into love, and in this beatified state of mind
unite with the North to drive France out of Mexico
and England out of Canada. The hope that such
may be the solution is but the shadowy reflection
of a needle's point, and yet there are thousands of
otherwise sensible people who indulge in it, and
call upon Mr. Lincoln to stultify and humiliate
himself; his Cabinet, and his party by proposing an
amnesty and reconciliation with the South with this
object. But if you ask these worthy souls what they
would propose to do in case the South should reject
the proposal, and what verdict the Americans would
afterwards pass upon Mr. Lincoln for so ignomini-
ous a failure, they have no reply to make.
Another phase of the American mind in reference
to this question deserves notice. While the South
manifests the loftiest self-reliance, and has not the
slightest misgiving of its power to stand alone,
the North continually asserts the impossibility of
any Northern Union, if the South be taken from its
grasp. United with the South they can defy the
world—disunited from the South they must drop to
pieces. Such is the invariable cry of the war
Christians, the war patriots, and the whole Repub-
lican party. Mr. Everett—who was once of opinion
that the " wayward sisters" should be allowed to
depart in peace, but who veered round to the oppo-
site faith as soon as the "stars and stripes," " the
:flaunting lie and the hate-polluted rag," immorta•
lised by Mr. Greeley, was shot down at Fort Sum-
ter in 1861—sees no hope for the North, if the
South should win its independence. In a letter
read to the Springfield Convention immediately
after Mr. Lincoln's, in which he urged the people
to forego, during the progress of the war, even
their right of criticising those in power, ho gave
expression in this cowardly sentiment—or, per

bops, it should be called instinct—which seems to
possess and actuate the whole Northern people.

" Considering," he says, " the war which has
been been forced upon us by the ambitions dema-
gogues of the South as a question of na.

tional life or death ; that to have the doctrine 01
secession established at the mouth of the rebel

cannon is simply to consign the country to a
future of eternal Border war, and to lay its dis-
honoured fragments at the feet of foreign Powers,
I cannot but think it unpatriotic, for the sake of a
party triumph to make political capital out of the
difficulties, or, if you please, the errors unavoidably
incident to the conduct of a war of such gigantic
dimensions." It was not thus that British states-

men, of the rank in which Mr. Everett would like
to be placed, spoke and acted during the rebellion
of the American colonies. They did not desire to
Hence the free opinion of the country. They did not

choose to hound on the Administration of the day to
its own ruin, They did not despair of England even

if the empire should be dismembered ; and did not
fear that the brave old land would continue to be

as great and brave when separated, although at the
cannon's mouth, from her reluctant colonies as she

bad ever been before. The result proved how wise
es Well as how patriotic they were. Bat Mr. Everett
end the Northern politicians seem to be above learn-
ing a lesson from the history of England. They have
forgotten the traditions of liberty. They love em-
pire so desperately that they have no room in their
heart.
for any other affection. They belie their own
glorious origin when they talk as they do, and
superabundantly prove their readiness for the
Strong despotism which is surely coming to bind
together the
broken fragments" of a Union which,
on their own
showing, is certain to fall to pieces,
as soon as it shall have a strong and independent
neighbour of their own blood and language to the
south of the Potomac It is not thus that freemen
worthy to be frail'
should either think or act
;
and not with such
craven misgivings that the North
separated from the South can ever succeed in
making itself a great nation.
While public attention is al
most exclusively
the
defences
of
di-
rected to Mexican affairs, and the slow progress of
the attack onCharleston varied by
an occasional twitch of discomfort
whenever a
rumour crosses the Atlantic of the launch of a new
indications,Confederate war steamer, there are
neither few nor faint, that the Federal occupation of
Louisiana, with the exception, perhaps, of the city
of New Orleans, is seriously endangered ; and that
events are on the eve of taking place in that quarter
which will render nugatory all the cost and sacrifice
incurred by the capture of Vickeberg and Port
}Judson- General Banks is an excellent officer, but
the Federal Government cannot or will not spare
him men sufficient for the heavy task it has set him.
He is a good administrator and man of business,
bat, being presumptuous enough to keep a con-
science, and to wish to act as becomes a gentleman
and a Christian, he has found it impossible to govern
New Orleans on the .of his predecessor. He
neither insults women,
eprisons men unjustly,
himself,
levies black mail to enrich or in other modes
plays the part of the brutal Beshaw which Butler
rendered so popular among the spectators of the
drama who happened to be so far out of reach of the
stage itS NOV York and New England. It is true
that the subordinates of General Banks are tot so
pure as himself, and that he has been unable to pre-
vent, or even to discover, many acts of cruelty and
extortion whieh have been practised in his name.
The results are that Federal rule in New Orleans

and throughout Louisiana is as hateful as in But-
ler's time, and that resistance has assumed a shape,
secretly as well as openly, which is likely to prove
unpleasantly to the Northern Government the inn
conveniences of keeping a Poland without employ.
ing a properly qualified butcher and a terminator
to hold it in subjection.
The great object aimed at in the siege and cap-
ture of Vicksburg and Port Hudson was not the
mere possession of these places, but the opening of
the Mississipi from St. Louis to New Orleans to the
trade of the West. The object has not only not been
obtained, but has been thwarted and prevented by
the Government itself, In order to crush more ef-
fectually the spirit of the Louisianians and of the
citizens of New Orleans, and to throw all possible
chances of money-making into the hands of the few
" loyal" inhabitants who yield a real or pretended
allegiance to the Federal Government, and of those
speculative "loyalists" of the North who have fol-
lowed Butler or Banks to the South with the hope
of turning a dishonest penny out of the miseries of
that once rich but now sorely oppressed and impo-
verished region, no one not known to be "loyal."
or who will not, if challenged, teke the oath of fealty
to the Union, is allowed either to send a cargo up
the river or to receive one if it comes down. If a
merchant in St. Louis, Memphis, or Cairo consigns
produce or other goods to any one in New Orleans
with whom he was accustomed to trade before the
outbreak of the war, there is great danger that the
goods will never reach their destination, for the
consignee must take the oath of allegiance before he
is permitted to touch them. And if it be remem-
bered that about nineteen in every twenty of the
commercial classes of New Orleans sympathise with
the Confederates in heart and abhor the Govern-
ment at Washington, it will be seen that the up-
river trader has but small inducement to resume
his trade in the old channels through which he was
accustomed to run. Nor is this the worst part of
the business. The rule in New Orleans applies to
the whole of Louisiana. If a man buys a coat for
himself, or a dress or shawl for his wife, or any
article whatever that he wishes to take or sand
beyond the city boundaries, he must first apply
to a permit agent, to whom ho must pay a tax
of five per cent. on the cost of the commodity.
He must next take the " permit " to the Pro-
vost-Marshal and personally await—it may be
for a whole day--the certificate in writing of that
functionary that all is right. If a sugar planter
desires to purchase a barrel of flour, pork, lard, or
beef in St. Louis or any other Western city, he
must go through the same:process. In like manner
if any merchant of New Orleans would purchase
sugar or molasses from a planter up or down the
river, he must pay five per cent. on its assumed
value for a "permit," and on its arrival 2c. per lb.
for Internal Revenue Tax, and 5 dollars for " hos-
pital fee." If a permit to bring cotton into the
city is required, the applicant must deposit 20
dollars per bale, as the tax levied at random upon
its pre.supposed quality and quantity ; and if upon
proceeding to the depot where cotton was supposed
to be stored he finds that the planter has not the
quantity or is indisposed to part with it, or that
freight has risen to an all but prohibitive rate, ren-
dering the trade uncertain of profit, he has to MEMO-
raiise the Provost-Marshal for a return of his deposit
and wait months, perhaps, before he can receive either
the money or an answer. And on the least sus-
picion, or perhaps from the mere caprice of that
functionary, he may be required to take the oath
of allegiance to a Government which he detests ;
which if he fails to take, his deposit becomes
forfeited, and he himself may be consigned to prison
for contumacious disloyalty. Under circumstances
such as these it is not surprising that trade on the
Mississippi is anything but brisk, and that the per-
secuted people, condemned to take the oath or to be
ruined in their business, should take it with a men-
tal reservation, and only wait until the pressure of
Federal occupation be removed to give, with heart
and hand, that allegiance to the Confederate Govern-
ment which has been extorted from their lips by
the agents of an administration which they would
despise if it were weak, and which they abhor be-
cause it is powerful. Thousands of such worse than
useless oaths have been imposed upon the mercan-
tile community of Louisiana since the nominal open-
ing of the Mississippi; oaths taken with a flippancy
and sometimes with an insolence that ought to con-
vince the Federal authorities, who know the ante-
cedents of the persons subjected to the ordeal, of the
little security, for the present or the future, con-
tained in such hard or such light swearing. Re-
cently a merchant, known in the slang of the
Unionists for his "secesh proclivities," was desirous
of sending some goods from Memphis to New Or-
leans. He applied to the Provost-Marshal for a per-
mit, and the Provost-Marshal, knowing his man,
asked him pointblank the question, " Are you a
loyal citizen ?" "No, sir, I am not in your sense of
the word loyal." " You can have no permit unless
you will take the oath of allegiance." " I will take
it," lie replied, and did so accordingly. " Now, sir,"
rejoined the Provost-Marshal, " you have taken the
oath, do you know what it means and implies ?"
" Perfectly," said the merchant, " it means a pad-
lock cn my mouth, and implies a bayonet at my
rear." The word thus emphasised may be rendered
more truthfu)ly, if more coarsely, by an em-
phatic Anglo-Saxonism, if the substitution ac-
cord with the taste of the reader. Another
merchant in circumstances somewhat similar was
asked to take the oath as a preliminary to a
very ordinary piece of mercantile business. He
took it without scruple, and when he had done so,
coolly told the Provost-Marshal that he considered
him no better than a highwayman. "You have
extorted an oath from me," he said, " as Dick Turpin
might have extorted a purse of money. I yield the
oath be;;
ause I am powerless in your hands, and
resistance would be useless. But I consider that I
have been robbed, and, should circumstances per-
mit, I will resume possession of my oath as if it
had never been stolen from me."
It is evident from such facts as these that those
Western people who have speculated on the renewal
of their former trade with Louisiana have not much
reason to congratulate themselves on their prospects,
and that Vicksburg and Port Hudson might almost
as well, as far as their interests are concerned, be in
the occupation of the Confederates as in those of
the Federals. The planters have little to dispose
of, and the disposal of that little is rendered unne-
cessarily difficult by the mingled tyranny and cor-
ruption of the Federal officials. Such is the corn.
mercial aspect of that once teeming region. Nor is
the military aspect any better. General Banks
conquered the country of the Bayou Teche in Apri

[ast, but the small force he left to maintain posses.

sion has been overpowered and overwhelmed, and

according to the latest accounts is in full retreat
towards New Orleans. General Grant, in view of

this new difficulty, has been ordered to take Banks's

place; and Banks, always ready—as a preux che-
valier should be—to do the duty assigned to him, is
to take a command in Texas, and hold himself pre-
pared to checkmate any designs which the French
Government may have formed on the Rio Grande
and in the port of Matamoraa.

Though not of any particular importance, a little
incident which has just occurred may be cited to
show the inferior materiel out of which the officers

of the Federal army is composed. This inferiority
is one of the most patent facts in the daily history
of America. In other countries an " officer" and a
" gentleman" are supposed to be synonymous terms.
A "rowdy" private, if properly drilled, disciplined,
and led, may
f d
officer-13,
laa pn rg our
aa
gnbe converted by time and experience
into a brave
an excellent soldier; but a "rowdy"
reqnenter of bar-rooms and grog shops,
ea ,
aswearer,nd
promoteddirtya
tl iok em ii ni i
the his pd prearnsko nfoarn dp
ohi iis
.
tical and not military
and being incapable
Fkely to govern others, e reasons, remains a "rowdy :''
of governing himself, is not
years ago the army as a bully and a
tyrant. Two
army swarmed with
such officers,
nbut
f time,the W
the accidents of war, and the
determination Department to reform
the matter unsparingly, have done much to weed
e t
out these black sheep and supply their places with
men of a higher character. From a recent meeting
of the army chaplains—gentlemen who receive the
allowance of 100 dole. a month and rations, and who
consider themselves aggrieved at not being placed

❑ every respect on the same footing as captains—

would appear that there Are rowdy eergymen in