The Sun.
London, England, 1862-02-20 00:00:00

.FROM AMERICA TO CANADA.

(Front the Special Coreespondent of the Times.)

TORONTO, FEB. 1.

Snow and frost and biting winds in New Yoik
reached, as the telegraph told us, to the heart of the
Federal Camp on the Potomac. With many feet of
congealed mud beneath his army in narrow paths
and uncertain " corduroy" roads, it seemed little
probable that one so prudent as General M'Clellan
would trust to the chance of the thermometer
being above 32 degrees the fate of a movement on
which would depend the fortunes of tha United
States. The difference of a degree might make or
mar the hour and the man, and all they con-
cerned here. In Kentucky mud was master, The
Americans are fond of comparisons, and no wonder.
Why should they not measure by the standard
of the Old World, from which they came, all
the men and deeds of that New World
which, as yet, has created no standard of its
own ? If the lines of the defensive works
uround Washington, which is not menaced at all,
must be compared to those of Torres Vedras ; if
Beauregard, who is not attacking, and is not supe-
rior in force, is to be compared to Massena, who was
both, why not admit that the mud in Virginia is as
deep as the mud in the Crimea ? Mulligan's defence
of Lexington—and far be it from me to deny its
gallantry—has been compared to that of Saguntum
and of Saragossa. Zagonyi's charge has been
likened to that of the Light Brigade. Pillow's re-
tirement has found its prototype in Napoleon's fare-
well at Fontainebleau, The army of the Potomac
has been discovered to bear for future development
all the tremendous powers of that magnificent orga-
nisation of forces which smote Prussia and Austria
to the earth at Jena and Austerlitz, and was snapped
in the frosts of Russia. Bull's Run has been but a
panic such as the French and English had many
times, and notably the former in the Italian War.
Let the mud of Virginia and Kentucky be as the
mud of Balaklava and Kamiesh was. Whatever
General M'Clellan may have in view, it is obvious
he does not so much aspire to be one of thefulmina
belli as to earn the fame of him qui cunctande
restituit rem. It may easily be imagined that if
there was a Roman Chase in those days he preferred
Scipio to Fabius, as his Treasury bills were much
lighter. The American's Carthage is far away, and
at most he must be content to find its outworks in
Canada. Let us at once say that Mr. Seward no
more thinks of annexing Canada than he dreams of
taking India ; but let us by no means forget that
in the only wars which we had with our rebellious
colonies and the great empire, which the success of
the first insurrection produced, Canada was a special
object of attacks, which were signally defeated.
History records few encounters more fiercely con-
tested, less decisive, more sanguinary, than those
between the British and Americans in the last
war in Canada, which ended in the retreat of the
latter, not without laurels, nor without the fame won
by their prowess on the lakes ; but, great as has
been the increase of the United States since that un-
happy period, it must be remembered that Canada
has, in spite of a frost-bound, harbourless coast in
winter, made the most extraordinary advances, and
that of late years she has excelled her formidable
neighbour in the rapid augmentation of her people,
which, in such a country, is an increment of
wealth.

Of course it was to be expected that the United
States, in the spirit of Mr. Seward's circular, would
turn their attention to the Canadian frontier, not
forgetting that in war works of defence are certain
bases of offensive operations. An able and accom-
plished officer, well known to our engineers, Colonel
Totten, aided by an adequate staff, has been exa-
mining the United States frontier. Gen. M'Clellan
has been recommending or suggesting various steps
to strengthen it. Sums of money have been appro-
priated to works for the purpose. General Scott,
who is intimately acquainted with the country in
which lie the fields of Chippewa and Lundy's Lane,
and in reference to which in the boundary discus-
sions he acquired still more knowledge and earned
the regard and esteem of our officers for his concilia-
tory attitude, and the name of the " Pacificator," is
said to be the author of a most elaborate scheme for
operations in case of a campaign against Canada.
It is obvious enough that the defence of the whole
frontier, so as to make it impermeable, is not to be
effected, but there are certain important points on
the lakes and along the rivers which should be made
secure as matters of the first necessity, and the more
permanent works can be multiplied the nearer will
be the approach to safety, so long as they are pro-
perly garrisoned. The greatest defect in our pre-
sent position lies in the exposure of the road to
Riviere du Loup to any enemy in the adjoining
territory of Maine. The Grand Trunk of Canada
rail is perilously near the banks of the St. Lawrence.
The Welland Canal is now at the mercy of any
hostile band which may make a dash at it. De-
prived, by our famous "capitulation" and by the
suppressio yeri practised upon our diplomatists, of
our proper territory, the security of the Canadas
can be gnawed in two at any moment by the pro-
jecting incisor tooth of Maine. If Halifax is to be
our only accessible port in many months of the year,
it is necessary to make a road which shall be safe
and sufficiently far from the possible enemy, that
troops moving along it in lengthened sleigh trains
shall not be exposed to destruction. But reserving
the consideration of the roads and communications
in Canada for a future letter, the interest deservedly
taken in such a vast territory, ample enough to
furnish kingdoms for all the unprovided princes of
the world, induces me to describe what I see in the
shot t tour I am about to make ere I return to Wash-
ington, or proceed to whatever place may be the seat
of active war when the weather permits. The
military importance attached to Canada, and the in-
flux of British troops, directed with so much rapidity
and against such adverse circumstances into the
Provinces, combined with the daily "all quiet along
our lines" of Washington, and the fitful character
of proceedings elsewhere, were inducements strong
enough to overcome the small disayremens of winter
travel in a country where the thermometer shows a
preference for zero. The condition of the streets in
New York last Monday prepared one for frost and
snow in perfection, and had induced a large exhibi-
tion of sleighs ; but when we started in the evening
by the Hudson River Railway for Albany, there
was nothing to warn us that the line was inter-
rupted, or that there would be any detention of the
train. As the open country was gained, however,
the snow was found to lie thicker, and three engines
attached to a light train could .carcely drag us
faster than a canter. Four hours is the ordinary
time for the journey from New York to Albany;
but, instead of arriving at half-past 9 or 10 at '
the train did not reach the terminus till 3
°l;elcok the following morning. The carriages are,
...27"er, so heated by stoves and the crowd of pas-
sengers, who regard opening a window as an out-
rage on society, that little inconvenience is expe-
rienced
froraeo:ld, ever It tm a may be and are the
discomforts
and little miseries of another kind
incidental to rail
way travel in America. lam not
going to utter a
rd about expectoration or
parabolic discharges
of saliva, for no one can say
what influence
may not have over the
human frame and
habits, and I have met with
Englishmen who were as
remarkable for the display
of such phe me few years' nona after a
.ew yea' residence
the country as any of the nativ„, h
en a man
lives for several hours together on
vvoand7ed
"gum drops,"
apples,
water, and tobacco, it is not to be
b licn
at if the results are abnormal. The
rep
plicity of the railway car certainly places 81In-
rich and
poor on a dead level of uncomfortableness, and the
Introduction of sleeping cars, by which those Nolo
can afford to pay for it have accommodations not
afforded to people who cannot do so, destroys the
theory on which the Americans vindicate their doe-
happiness of the greatest
trine of the greatest unhappiness
number of travellers. In trains where no sleeping
cars are provided, or where all are full, the fatigue
t with no support for the
of travelling bolt nprigh ,
head, can only be imagined by those who have gone
in a third-class Parliamentary train from London
to Aberdeen. And then to be bedless at Albany—to
cross the frozen Hudson in a sleigh, and to stand in
mild submission and teeth-chattering cold at the bar
or office of the Delaware-house, trying to catch the
the eallQ4a elerk, who regards the crowd