The Sun.
London, England, 1863-08-11 00:00:00

AMERICAN AFFAIRS.

(From the Special Correspondent of the Times.)
ALBANY, NEW YORK, July 20.
There is something indefinable in the feelings of
the Americans towards England. Whatever might
be the disposition of the public mind before the
battle of Gettysburg, there is no doubt now as to
the full confidence of ninety-nine out of a hundred
Northerners in the destinies of the Union. Indeed,
the transition from crestfallen despondency to bois-
terous sanguineness must have been so complete and
sudden that a newcomer among these people has
some difficulty in crediting the accounts he may
have heard or read of their being weary of the war,
hopeless of success, and almost esger for a reverse
which might put an end to the struggle, no matter
on what terms.
I must say, for the truth, I find no trace of such
dastardly feeling anywhere I go. The retreat of Lee
end the conquest of the Mississippi have re-assured
the wavering. The subjugation of the South is now,
the Americans think, in any event a mere question
of time, and, whatever difficulties there may arise as
to the footing upon which the Union is to be recon-
stituted, there is no doubt as to the Union itself
being saved.
Full of this conviction, the Americans seem very
heartily ashamed of tied angry with themselves for
having even for a moment given way to misgivings ;
they are loth to accuse themselves of little faith,
and have no patience with those who were in too
great a hurry to take them at their own words, to
share their apprehensions, to echo their complaints,
and to look forward either with exultation or with
scarcely less crushing pity on the approaching in-
evitable dissolution of their mighty Republic.
This readiness and willingness to look upon the
cause of this country as desperate constitutes the
unpardonable offence of England towards the
Americans. Mix freely with the gentler classes of
persons unbiassed by party spirit and removed from
publio life, search deep into the heart of those who
are less ready to endorse the views and opinions of
their ranting press or of their fanatic politicians,
and you will find, I believe, that these people
are above all things Americans, and that they
look upon their vast and mongrel community with
all the tenderness of an all-embracing, all-engross•
ing nationality. Strange enough the most polished,
most amiable among them, are, to all outward ap-
pearance, so perfectly English in their tone of
thought, in their language, in their manners, the
descent of one people from the other is so imme-
diate, and the ties of kindred are in many instances,
especially in these Eastern cities, so close and so
direct, that you cannot help avowing that it is " only
the sky and not the soul that these men have
changed by crossing the seas ;" you are satisfied
that between the father who landed on these shores
a score or so of years ago and the son who was born
to him after landing, but who made one family with
his parents ever since, there can be no great diver-
gence of wishes or purposes—yet between the two
generations there stretches a vast impassable gulf.
On any great international question the father will
be prompted to die as he has lived, a Briton ; the
son will cast his lot with the people among whom
he was born—he will feel and act as an American,
Not many are to be found, even among the most
rabid partisans here, who will have the assurance
to declare that English intrigue was at the bottom of
all this Southern war and rebellion ; some are fair
enough to admit that the Queen's Government
have on the whole performed the duties of a strict,
honourable neutrality. The last speech of Lord Pal-
merston, the withdrawal of Mr. Roebuck's motion,
have done not a little towards smoothing the ruffled
feathers of the American bird ; bat England as a
nation has inflicted on America wounds which time
can hardly heal. She has looked unconcerned on
the American struggle ; she has stood grinning
round the ring, goading on the combatants, gloat-
ing on the gashes that tore them limb from limb.
The long-smothered rancour, the ill-concealed
jealousy of the old country for the thriving new
community, burst forth with insolent exultation in
this hoar of trial. Not an unfriendly word was ever
spoken by an independent member at Westminster,
not a sneering remark or a sinister presage ever
was printed in any of the organs of the free London
press, but was laid to the charge of the whole British
people. " The English envy their good ; the English
desire their evil," such is the conviction that has
sunk deep into American hearts; and, with all their
veneration for the Bible, these are not the people to
return "a kiss for a blow."
No doubt the Americans had all along far greater
cause to complain of the French Government, and
their irritation against the Emperor Napoleon—who
cajoled them even while he put forth his scheme for
the recognition of the South, and who is even now
invading a North American territory, and laughing
Monroe's doctrine to scorn by erecting a so-called
Imperial edifice on their Southern frontier in Mexico
—ought to be all the more vehement, as they
foolishly enough flattered themselves that enmity
to England would, from sheer spirit of contradic-
tion, win them the good will of France. But Eng-
land is and ever will be all that America cares for
in Europe ; England is Europe in her estimation.
" I tie my right hand behind my back," said one
of the first Yankee braggarts I ever came into con-
tact with, " and with my left I will spar with the
stoutest Briton and lick him ; I will lick any two
Frenchmen ; lick any four of all other European
people." Even in his fondest conceit Jonathan
sees in John Bull his only worthy antagonist.
Throughout the worst humours of his Wag-cherished
spite, throughout the long list of his real or
fancied grievances, there shines the American's
respect for his stout Transatlantic cousin—his
anxiety to secure his good opinion, even if it be
necessary to come to blows for it, and wring it from
him by main force. Men laugh at the Frenchman
when he professes that " were he not a Frenchman
he would be an Englishman," but the American
knows he is an Englishman, and only trusts " he is
something more."
Whatever may be thought of the causes of rank-
ling surviving old quarrels, there is no
doubt but fresh additional resentment is now being
4,treasured up here against England ; even among
Lew,
for
Liverpool
Vila of " going
.home". .when they sail
the settle) the thought is gaining ground that
trent of the Southern question may be-
some the signal England. r.. for an outbreak of hostilities with
Government papers here assert that the Ameri-
canit will not alloy ~has signified to Earl Russell that
'" the fitting out of rebel vessels in
British port,
that this must and they express their conviction
vitably lead to an immediate war
with England. The
theless, but even these day may be put off never-
moment by widely - threats, repeated at every
itmetperular animosity,
eireulati
to
popular
journals, have a ten-
dency to minister
create a longing for and to
and objectless, revenge. ate, however causeless
Only, how far are the
Americanseeings from the grati-
fication of such uncharitable f
How long
will they have to wait for the settlementv of the
Southern question ? The Federals re
other day repulsed at Charleston wityehe
aonly the
y losses
--losses computed by themselves at
no iv
1,300 men, with some of their general e"ffitiuusl
-
Geeenal Lee has mode good his retreat into Vi;
and has now taken up again that position
near Fredericksburg in which he has so long b
invincible. All we hear about rebel prisoners and
refugees describing Lee's army as demoralized and
broken in spirit is not only contradicted by what
we hear from other sources, but far more forcibly
by the fact that the retreat has been
littlo molested
so slow, so
orderly and deliberate, and so very
by the Federals in pursuit. Events,
however, have
lately turned greatly against Southern valour.
re than
not South has been wearied out
and used
mo
up, if
not conquered. The Federalu sos mayhey did at Fort
meet
one repulse at Charleston, bt t
Port Hudson, and all
Donelson, at Vicksburg, at
falling
these strongholds ended by into their hands.
A cause that shelters behind walls and trenches may
be looked upon as hopeless. The Alississippi is lost
and Jackson, Mobile, and most of the Southern
cities, with Charleston and Richmond itself, are
likely—are sure to follow. Lee alone is the Southern
tower of strength, and we incline to think him still
unbroken, and so long as he holds his ground he is
fully a match, more than a match, for the adversary
he has now in front. But vast forces are said to be
moving from the West and South-west. Grant,