The Sun.
London, England, 1863-05-29 00:00:00

The Southern States of America.

The following is an extract from a private letter
which has been received in Manchester from
Mobile:—

" Mobile, April 22, 1863.
" Dear —, —My last was of Jan. 20. Yours,
March 18, with circular, came to hand on 20th inst.,
covering order for 500 bales from —. I agree
with you that it is useless to get orders now, not
only as to the uncertainty of what prices may be
when peace is restored, but that the prospect of
peace is more remote now than ever. My opinion
has been, and is still, that the war would last during
Lincoln's administration. I thought that the Demo-
crats would get into power, and restore peace by a
recognition of the independence of the Confederate
States. I believe they will get into power and elect
the next President, but I fear now, from the present
action of the Democratic party at the North, that
any idea of their being a peace party has been a
mistaken one. Their recent successes in elections
have made them bold to show their true policy ;
either that, or they are changing to meet what
seems now to be the growing feeling at the North,
' a determination to prosecute the war till the South
is brought back into the Union,' and they are car-

rying out this idea by styling themselves ' the con-
stitutional war party.' If, therefore, they elect the
next President upon this platform, another four
years after Lincoln's term may be added to the
duration of the war. I know well the power
of the North in superiority of numbers and
resources, but what can those avail to con-
quer such a people as the Southerners. It
is out of all human possibility. It seems

that nothing but a long war will convince the North
of this, and a long war, therefore, it must be. The
impression no doubt exists at the North that a long
war will exhaust the South and she will have to
yield.' What a fallacy this is. We must not judge
from past experiences as to the resources and energy
of the South. Nothing ever occurred to call out
their energies before this war, because everything
was furnished them by other people, but we see
them now full of energy, spirit, and enterprise. Be-
fore the war they were almost powerless in military
strength and internal resources. They had no arms,
no ammunition, nothing apparently to sustain them-
selves with in the great struggle they had entered

into. But what do we see now ? An immense army
all armed to the teeth, and with the best military
Equipments,ammunition,and war vtateria in abund-
ance. All this with ports closed. We see every
where around us the internal resources of the
Country being steadily and rapidly developed—
such as coal, iron, and salt mines springing into
existence, old dilapidated iron foundries being re-
built and worked with heavy profits, turning out
cannon of the heaviest calibre, powder, shot and
nail factories and all sorts of small manufacturing
establishments growing up, such as match, candle,
soap, &c. Then that part of the agricultural re-
''sources of the country that has heretofore been
used for the production of cotton and tobacco
are now being turned to the production of food,
and ere long food, will be no longer a question
of any anxiety. With all these increasing re-
sources, the military strength of the country is
increasing in like ratio. Every place is being
thoroughly fortified and strengthened ; our soldiers,
from long experience and severe trials, have become
veterans, and acting on the defensive are equal to
thrice their number. Where, then, is the South
getting weaker ? It is true she has not the men to
fall back upon to replenish her armies that the
North has; but as the South never can act upon the
offensive to any great extent her strength is in her
defensive policy, to carry on which she has men suf-
ficient for a 30 years' war; and the longer the war
the stronger she becomes, because all the elements
of strength are growing up within her herself. The
duration of war depends, therefore, upon how long
the North will stay unconvinced of the impossibility
of subjugating the South. From the immense war
'nateriel they have brought into play, and their
spirit of determination in the contest, we may look
for a long, long war. We did think the north-west
would soon withdraw from the contest, and thus end
the war; but now the signs are that they are as de-
termined as the east to restore the Union. All their
protestations for peace only amount to reconstruc-
tions.' rhey are less bitter than the east, inasmuch
as they would favour an armistice for reconstruc-
tion, and receive the South back with forgive
ness and open arms, while the other section is
for effectually wiping out the rebels. Neither
plan can prevail. The South is not so bitter
against the west, for with a treaty of peace
now the west separate could obtain the mos*
advantageous terms ; but the east will be blottea
out from existence so far as commercial al-
liance is concerned. From what I have said you
can judge yourself how little hope there is for an
early peace, and you know me well enough to
feel satisfied that I do not write from passion or
undue enthusiasm. I write only a cool, dispas.
sionate, and truthful statement of things that
have come within my knowledge, and I do this
simply to give you some grounds to make up
your opinion of matters as they exist in this
country, not, however, wishing you to take as
your chief guide what I say, but merely to weigh
my statement in the balance with others.
" There has been very little cotton planting
this spring, and my estimate of 700,000 to 1,000,000
bales as the probable production is a very full
one. I should now incline to reduce it to 500,000
to 700,000, as the planting is mostly for the pur-
pose of keeping up seed. There is a good deal
of cotton going out by the steamers running the
blockade, and that sort of business is increasing
rapidly. There seems now to be but little
i trou-
ble in evading the blockaders ; the reason
s that
steamers adapted to the business are nos
worth
obtained from abroad. Middling cotton
to-
in the interior from 20c. to 30c. acyordingoca
Sterling exchange is selling at 6co per

flan.

cent.
"Congress has now passed a direct tax bill,
which will, no doubt, arrest the further depre-
ciation of the currency, and in time will mate-
rially improve it. Amongst farmers the tax is
.in kind,' that is, instead of money, they take
at market value articles of fcod to the extent of
the tax. You have, of course, heard that the at-
tacks on Vicksburg and Charleston have proved
serious failures, though, of course, it is ,
under-
stood that they will be renewed at some future
time."