The Sun.
London, England, 1863-08-18 00:00:00

THE SUN, LONDON, TUESDAY EVENING, AUGUST 18, 1863.

stopped; though only for a short season—a halt was
permitted—food and absence of rain exercised their
restorative influence, but as we set forward again in
the afternoon the pertinacious downpour was re-
sumed. Another wretched night, passed half on
the march, half in a saturated wheat field, another
long day's march, and on the night of the 6th we
reached the little town of Hagerstown, distant
aboat five miles from the Potomac.

RICHMOND, July 28.
Upon the 14th inst., the army of General Lee,
which had lain passive in the neighbourhood of
Hagerstown since the evening of the 6th, courting
rather than expecting an attack, was withdrawn
across the Potomac into Virginia. To take this step
there were many circumstances which moved
General Lee. In the first place, the same unprece-
dented weather which had accompanied almost the
whole of his march into Pennsylvania continued
until the end, and the heavy downpour of rain
which ushered in the month of July and had been
scarcely intermitted for 14 days, pursued and pelted
us mercilessly as we again approached the Poto-
mac, swelling the river until it threatened to burst
its banks, and driving the quartermasters and com-
missaries of the army almost to distraction. Secondly,
there was difficulty in finding mills which, in the
swollen condition of the streams that fed them,
could be made available for grinding wheat, and
supplying the army with flour. Thirdly, the dis-
astrous and unexpected tidings of the fall of Vicks-
burg and Port Hudson, coming on the top of the
failure of General Lee's Pennsylvanian campaign,
induced him to abandon the hazardous measure,
which he at one time contemplated, of again ad-
vancing against the enemy, flushed as he was with
the triumph of having for almost the first time in
this war zepulsed a Confederate attack, and inspirited
beyond expression by the fall of Vicksburg. But at
a less serious =meat it would he laughable to read
the feigned indignation of the Northern press at the
lathes of General Meads in not gobbling up General
Lee and his army. In the history of all previous re.
treats from the Anabasis of Xenophon up to the pre-
sent hour, never was army withdrawn with so little
molestation from its enemy as General Lee's. That
there was considerable anxiety entertained by Gene-
rals Lee and Longstreet during the night of the 3d
and the day of the 4th of July, in regard to the pos-
sibility of General Meade's assuming the offensive, I
am far from denying. But such anxiety was early
dispelled by the capture of a Federal courier bearing
despatches, which announced that on the night of
the 4th General Meade's head-quarters would be at
Westminster, or in other words, at a point much
nearer to Washington than Gettysburg, and at
which the indications are that a strong position had
been selected by General Meade, where, but for the
attack which he was obliged to accept at Gettys-
burg, it was his intention to have made his final
stand.

How cumbrous and unwieldy a machine was the
army of General Lee will be evident to all who
reflect that he advanced into Pennsylvania for an
unknown and indefinite period, with immense
(although not sufficiently
immense) ordnance trains,
and with vast supplies of stores connected with the
Commissary and Quartermaster-General's Depart-
ments. It is a mistake to suppose that the trans-
portation of the Confederate Army is unusually
scanty and limited. Compared with the sumptuous
trains and countless sutlers that accompany the
Federal hosts, the Confederates, it is true, carry little
indeed ; but it is not likely that the war economy
pursued for the last two years by the Federal Go-
vernment will be accepted as furnishing any other
precedent for European nations than the shortest
cut to ruin. lam assured, however, by competent
and experienced judges that the Confederate trans-
portation trains rather exceed than fall short of the
European average. Specially is this the case with
Stonewall Jackson's corps, now for the most part
under Ewell's command, which under its famous
leaderfrequently undertook campaigns in the lightest
marching order, but of which the normal trains
were large and cumbrous, and scrupulously guarded
at all times by the ceaseless vigilance of General
Jackson himself. But on this occasion General Lee,
in addition to his own very sufficient trains, had
accumulated in Pennsylvania an amount of farming
wagons which is so
_variously estimated that I dare
not assign a figure to it, but which, from personal
observation, I can state to have been very conside-
rable indeed. These wagons were principally at-
tached to the Corps of Gen. Ewell, who was always
in the van as we entered Pennsylvania, and their vast
aggregate heightened the difficulty of adopting one
of the possible plans which I indicated in my letter
from Hagerstown, and which by some empirics
General Lee has been blamed for not selecting. I
allude to the plan of falling back into the gorge of
the South Mountain, and there awaiting an attack
from General Meade. This course was rendered im-
possible—first, by the premature engagement be-
tween Hill and Ewell and the two Army Corps of the
Federals on July 1; and secondly, by the distance
which separated Gen. Ewell and his vast transpor-
tation trains from the bulk of Lee's army. It is still
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at Gettysburg, played for a mighty stake which he
and which,
How nearly the Confederates succeeded in driving
their opponents from the heights is probably fully
known only to Gen. Meade and Gen. Halleck ; but
some measure of the damage inflicted upon the
Federal army may be taken by one who witnessed
the faintness and feebleness of Gen. Meade's pur-
suit. With the exception of a brief cannonade be-
tween some of the Federal cavalry and the rearguard
of Gen. Ewell on the sth, pursuit there was none.
Some damage was done to Gen. Ewell's train, prin-
cipally,' believe, through the agency of Pennsylva-
nian citizens ; but altogether there were not 100
wagons destroyed. Gen. Lee returned to the Vir

ginian side of the Potomac with 5,000 Federal pri-
soners ; with his immense trains all but uninjured ;
with an amount of Pennsylvanian waggons and

horses which I dare not attempt to estimate ; with

out the loss of a caisson or a gun, except two, which
were abandoned because the horses broke down ;

without paying any other toll than that which was
exacted in the three days of battle at Gettysburg,

and for which no doubt full value was given by the

Federal army; and with his own army in such
heart and spirits as I have never seen excelled.
Considerable credit is duo to the engineer depart-
ment of Gen. Lee's army for the ingenuity which

they displayed in building, with great rapidity, the

pontoon bridge at Falling W' aters (about four miles
from Williamsport), which upon the 13Lh and 14th
inst. conveyed Gen. Lee's army trains and most of

his army across the Potomac. During our absence
in Pennsylvania the Confederate pontoon bridge,
which had been left in the Potomac and was insuf-

ficiently guarded, was, as some say, by the inhabi-
tants of Martinsburg. and, as others, by the inhabi-
tants of Hagerstown, in great measure destroyed.
It will be recollected that General Lee's army

reached Hagerstown on the evening of the 6th. For
some days we lay there without thought of further
retreat, but when the calamitous tidings from
Vicksburg and Port Hudson overtook us, and when
simultaneously the rain continued to descend, it was
deemed advisable to stand once more upon Vir-
ginian soil instead of striking deeper into Mary-
land in pursuit of an enemy who had obviously no
intention of attacking us, and out of whom another

fight could only be got by following him and
assailing him in his own chosen position. It be-

came abundantly evident, when by slow and
tardy marches, protracted from the 3d of July

(the last day of battle) until the 11th, when the
Federal army bEgan to approach Hagerstown in
force, General Meade drew near to General Lee
again, that no hop.: of a general engagement could
be indulged unless it was brought on by General
Lee. The Federals reconnoitred our position near

Hagerstown, which consisted only of a few hastily
thrown up breast works, and not liking the look of
it, fell back for two miles, and began to ply dili-

gently spade and pickaxe, according to their almost
invariable practice. It is singular how frequently,
since General Lee assumed command in Virginia,
13 months ago, the Confederates, in the numerous

battles which have occurred, have been the assail-

ants. For seven days in the battles around Rich-
mond they acted always on the offensive; it was the
same in the series of battles which extinguished

And few things are more
tGeneralbethe setae at ChanCellorsville,
it
the
; Gettysburg.weet
evident than that, in spite of the homage which
Federal Generals all concur in paying to Mei": same Patope
re-
spective armies, nothing is further from the policy
of each General than to follow the example of
General Burnside at Fredericksburg, and to attack
Gen. Lee in a position chosen by himself. It was
the opinion of General Jackson, it is the opinion
of General Longstreet no less than of General Lee,
that upon the soil of Virginia it makes no difference
ss hat the disparity of numbers may be, if the Con-
federates fight behind even the most insignificant
breastworks and receive their enemy's attack. It
is difficult, so long as the spirit and morale of Gen.
Lee's army remain what they are now, to compute
how many men the Federals would have to bring
before they could carry such works as defendßich-
mond and Petersburg, if ever they should succeed
in driving the Confederates from the open field into
these works.

accident happened after thedeceased placed himself in,the
position in which he was struck.
Mr. H. J. Dalrymple, 34, Great St. Helen's, gave corro-
borative evidence.

Edward Gilbert, a cabdriver, said he had measured the
ground „her, the accident had taken place, and found that
the urinal near which the first omnibus stopped was 29 feet
same about 12
from the kerb, and the near whem,, of the
feet from the kerb. He considered the fileCOM Omnibus was
going at the rate of seven miles an hour. At the Um.: the
deceased was struck there was three or four feet distance
between the two omnibuses. Langley, the driver, tiled to
pull up directly after the deceased was knocked down, and
did so about 20 yards from where the accident happened.
He did not try to pull up before the accident. He was driv-
ing about seven miles an hour, and he considered it would
take 20 yards to pull up horses going at that speed. The
road was down-hill, and there would always be a difficulty
in stopping an omnibus under such circumstances, as the
strain was all upon the collar, although it might have been
stopped in a less space.
Benjamin Watkins said he was drivel of the omnibus to
which the deceased was conductor. The other omnibus runs
from Notting-hill to Mile-end Gate, the time of starting
being about the same; he generally started first. He
started on that occasion from St. John's Church at ten
minutes to three. About Furnival's Inn witness heard his
conductor say "We j wo I" and he pulled up. The con-
ductor sever said a word else to him—in fact the direction
to stop were the last welds he heard him utter. Hearing
something coming his near side he turned to see what it was,
and then saw the deceased knocked down by the defendant's
omnibu&, In answer to questions he said he never heard
the conductor give him directions to pull in and stop the
other omnibus; he might have said so, but witness did not
hear him. The omnibus works in with the London General
Omnibus Company's omnibuses. There was neither oppo-
sition nor racing on that day. There was plenty of room
for the Whitechapel omnibus to pass him on the near side,
The distance Langley went after the accident was not more
than would be required to pull up in, although it might be
done in a yard or two less. The speed was about 8 miles
an hour.

Geo. Cook, of 2, Holford-mews, Holford-square, said he
was a cab-driver, and at the time of the accident was first
cab on the rank. Saw the omnibus of which the deceased
was conductor stop. It belonged to the General Omnibus
Company. Hearing a scream, he looked round, and saw
the conduetor in front of the pole of another omnibus. (He
then described the accident), and added that the driver,
Langley, did not stop when first spoken to,although he gave
two checks to his horses. He slackened the pace and looked
behind, and then pulled up about 10 or 12 yards from where
he knocked the deceased down.

By a Juryman—Langley stopped before the police came
up.

Walter Woolfe, a general dealer, said he was on the de-
ceased's omnibus at the time in question. He then described
the occurrence, and said the omnibuses were going at the
ordinary speed, and there was no racing,
Harriett Briggs, wife of James Briggs, said she was in the
dark-green omnibus, and observed the horses of another om-
nibus dodging very close behind them. She said the dark
green omnibus did not stop until the conductor was on the
ground ; in fact, it was partly in motion then.
Chas. Waters, a barman, said he was a passenger by the
light-green omnibus, and saw the dark one hailed by a pas-
senger. The deceased jumped down while the omnibus was
in motion, and told the driver to drive over to the near side,
He was then standing by the side of the omnibus, and wit-
ness heard him say, " Pull to the near side." The driver of
the omnibus I was in called out to the deceased, and the off
side horse trod on his heels six or seven times, the pole at
the time pushing him along. The driver of the light om-
nibus pulled up and tried to stop as soon as he called out to
the deceased, and stopped 15 or 20 yards from the spot where
the deceased fell. The deceased jumped down from his own
omnibus right in front of Langley's horses. He was going
about eight miles an hour, and called out, but within two
or three seconds the pole struck and knocked him down.
Witness also called out to him, but there was no time to
stop the omnibus and avoid running over him. There was
no room for a vehicle to pass on the off side.
Mr. Christopher Williams said he was one of the house
surgeons of St. Bartholomew's Hospital, and deposed to
the deceased being brought there dead. The death he con-
sidered arose from a fracture on the base of the skull.
Sarah Hetworth said she was waiting on the pavement at
Furnival's Inn when the deceased's omnibus drew up, as if
to take her up. She did not require it, and shook her head.
She then corroborated the other witnesses as to the occur-
rence. She added that the accident would not have occurred
if the deceased had remained between the omnibuses, but he
persisted in running. The driver of the light.green omni-
bus could not have avoided a collision.
After some further evidence, the coroner summed up,
and the jury deliberated for a lengthened period.
The learned Coroner (finding that there was no chance of
their agreeing, the numbers being nine to eight) discharged
the jury at five o'clock, without giving a verdict.
It is understood that the majority (nine) were in favour
of a verdict of manslaughter; and the minority (eight) for
accidental death.