The Sun.
London, England, 1863-07-06 00:00:00

THE CIVIL WARE IN AMERICA.

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(Front the limes' Correspondent.)

NEW YORK, June 23.

It seems to be- proved, from the impossibility of
his being anywhere else, that Gen. Lee, at the head
of a formidable army, is in the Valley of the Shenan-
doah. Where Gen. Hooker is the Government will
not allo w the public to learn, except in the vague
manner conveyed in the assertion that Washington
is safe by the disposition he has made of his forces.
As the Government has reason to fear that Lee has
at least 100,000 mui, in addition to Ewell's and
Stuart's cavalry of 20,000, and as it knows by cffi-
cial documents in the possession of the War De-
partment that Hooker has not more than 70,000, it
is naturally anxious, if not alarmed, for tho result
of the great encounter, which cannot now be long
delayed, but of which Lee, and not Hooker, has the
choice, both of ground and of time. Hooker's main
object is to save Washington, but as he does not
know whether Lre's immediate object is to attack
this city or to move upon Wheeling and Pittsburg
on the one side, or H krrishurg and Philadelphia on
the ether, prrpire.,)ry to his grand blow at Bali.
more, and finally up ,n Washington, his chief duty
is incessant weicelulre-ss and the holding of his
army well together, so that it may not be beaten in
detail. Dreading, apparently, that the Northern
pubic has not sufficient strength of mind to bear
bed news without dangerous febrile excitement,
Hooker has ordered " that nothing shall be said by
correspondents in the front until the grand battle
comes off," and the Government has aided him in
his object of secrecy by renewed activity of sup-
pression at the telegraphic offices of Washington,
Baltimore, Philadelphia, and New York of all facts,
rumours, and surmises that may be thought too
strong for the nerves of the nation to bear without
ill consequences. It is even understood that Mr.
Stanton has ordered the prosecution of
Philadelphia newspaper which indicated with
too much tenth the position of General
Hooker's army at the end of last week, and
of all the other newspapers throughout the country
that copied the dangerous paragraph. The chief
result of this excess of alarm and secrecy is that the
North is filled with all imaginable rumours, except
rumours of victory for the Army of the Potomac.
The public is in the mood to take the gloomiest pos-
sible view of matters. The success of Hooker does
not enter even into its dreams; and it the "grand
battle" on which he calculates for removing the veil
that conceals his present movements and intention
shall end in his signal defeat, no one, however
grieved and distressed he may be, will be in the
slightest degree surprised. One of the most pro-
minent facts of the day is the popular disbelief in
General Hooker's ability to command an army.
Another fact almost equally prominent is the almost
universal conviction of the returned soldiers, of the
fighting element of the population which has not
yet taken part in the war, and of the great mass of
the non-Abolitionist people, that of General M'Clei.
lan were in Hooker's place Washington and Balti-
more would be in less danger than they are; and
General Lee not half so confident as he is known to
be of a speedy and a splendid victory. But if, in
obedience to the popular demand which has already
arisen for his restoration, the President were to re-
appoint General M'Clellan there would be a divi-
sion in the Cabinet, which would deprive Mr. Lin-
coln of the services of Mr. Chase, Mr. Stanton, and
General Halleck. As he prefers the nn:ty of his
Cabinet to any General whatever, as, moreover, he
has confidence in the fighting qualities and sound
judgment of Hooker, as he has pledged his word to
give him another trial, and as, in the last place,
General M'Ciellan would resume power as a master,
if he resumed it at all, the President turns a deaf
ear to every remonstrance on behalf of the popular
favourite, and thinks Hooker the very best " peg"
for the very large " hole" into which it is his fortune
or misfortune to have been thrust.

With the exception of the cavalry raids which have
so sadly scared the people and Government of Penn-
sylvania, and a few cavalry skirmishes at the gaps of
the Bull Ruu mountains between the outposts of the
rival armies, the main event of the new aggression of
the Confederates has been the humiliating defeat of
Milroy at Winchester—the key of the Shenandoah
Valley, and a position which it was of the utmost
importance to the Federals to hold. Gen. Milroy,

one of the political adventurers of the school of
Butler, Schenck, and llascall, who have left the desk
for the camp, for their own advancement and the
shame of their country, is the same redoubtable
warrior who threatened the " Copperheads" and
peace party that as soon as the war was over the
soldiers, "having their hands in," would turn their
attention to the suppression of disloyalty in the
North and West, and who otherwise rendered him-
self notorious by armed hostilities against newspaper
offices that were unable to resist. Like the rest of