The Sun.
London, England, 1862-01-17 00:00:00

THE SUN, LONDON, FRIDAY EVENING, JANUARY 17, 1862.

7IIE CIVIL WAR IA AMERICA

(From the Special Correspondent of the Times.)
WASHINGTON, DEC. 30.
The New York journals of yesterday pursue "the
roaring nightingale" line of writing. One rejoices
that Jefferson Davis will be disappointed, because
Mason and Slidell will be surrendered, if demanded,
as nothing must be allowed to prevent the prosecu-
tion of the campaign. Of course the American
people do not dread an English war—" their invin-
cible pluck would carry them through more than
two wars at once," and the foreign question is only
postponed because the nation acquiesces in the acts
of the Administration. By next summer "We shall
have in the field a million of disciplined soldiers,
and afloat a navy of 500 ships manned by 50,000
sailors of the sort that gained us Hatteras and Hilton
Head. It will be time enough then to eall Spain to
account for her Mexican imbroglio and to demand
reparation of England for the manner in which, in
violation of her own proclamation, she has aided
the rebels, and insulted this country. The hour for
a foreign war is not now, but it will come." This
is refreshing and encouraging. The same journal
is kind enough to promise that the United
States will some day annex Canada to Portland
and the State of Maine, and intimates that it
will be necessary to provide work for the million
of patriots by vindicating the Monroe doctrine as
soon as the South is subdued, annexing Canada and
Cuba at one blow, conquering all the West India
Is/ands, and establishing a military empire "like
ancient Rome." The scribe did not know how like
it would be in all but the discipline of its troops and
in their glorious victories, "reducing the neigh-
bouring nations to her sway, but giving them also
her freedom and her power, and at the same time
allowing them to retain their own domestic institu-
tions." Cruel enough, the same sheet announces that
Mr. Chase has not got any means to carry on the
present war with the South after Jan. 15, 1862
three weeks hence. " On or about that day his ex-
chequer will he exhausted. No plan for its replen-
ishment has yet been ventilated. When Mr. Chase
was here last week he laid no project before the
banks, and they laid none before him." But there is
to be a great success. Poor air-fed, promise-imbibing
people! " Man never is, but always to be blest.
" The banks might then place the second 50,000,000
of 7.30 notes." But if no victory comes ? The pre-
tence of there being Union men in the South is fast
vanishing. One officer who is a prisoner in Alabama
writes :

" I have already alluded in a former letter to the
extraordinary unanimity of sentiment of the people
of the South in regard to this war; all whom I con-
versed with—and they were not a few—express ar-
dent Secession views. This dwarfish place appears
almost entirely deserted by its inhabitants ; they
having entered the army to repel (as they term us)
Lincoln's hordes,' Hessians,' Indians,' and many
other silly epithets. It is time our Government
looks this fact square in the face. Our troops have
been worsted in almost every battle. The enemy
have certainly proved themselves a belligerent
Power. Therefore let the war be conducted on civi-
lised principles ; let an immediate exchange of pri-
soners be effected and I think in less than 12 months
more we will be able to bring the Confederates back
into the Union which they are now endeavouring to
dismember,"

All the prisoners are urgent for exchange, and
he pressure on the Government to yield so much

of recognition is increasing daily. The men suffer
privations, and are in need of clothing and
blankets, as well as other necessaries. And, in-
deed, no wonder, for the South cannot clothe its

own troops. The kiPed, wounded, and pri•
soners in the affair at Dranesville were dressed in
cotton clothing, and this in weather which is now

keen and raw, with bitter cold winds and frost at
nights. As the war continues it requires augment-
ing faith to believe in the speedy success—in any
success in subjugating the South, for the arm of
the North will be stricken down for want of means.

The capture of Savannah and Charleston is daily
expected, and the farther the North advances the
more will it be distracted by contending views on
the negro question. The Secessionist organ in New
York, which endeavours to conceal its policy under
the cloak of immense zeal for the Union and the

Constitution, calls on the Government to arrest the

editor of the Tribune and all the leading Aboli-
tionists, and declares such an act would be of more
service than if Gen. M'Clellan won a great battle at
'Manassas. Neither is very likely just at present.
The General indeed may contemplate a movement,
but his victory is by no means assured. Trusting
the defence of the outlying States to their own
people, the Confederates appear to have concentrated

an enormous force on the Potomac. Missouri has
shown how its sympathies lie in one district at least,
by destroying 100 miles of the North Missouri
Railroad, from Hudson to Warrentown, and Ken-
tucky has received less aid from the South than she
has from the North.

SATURDAY, 28th.
General M'Clellan is slowly recovering from an
attack of fever of a mild typhoid type, which has
been treated homoeopathically, and was probably
much exasperated in conseqaence. General Marcy,
his father-in-law, and chief of his Staff, has also
been undergoing homoeopathy and an attack of
some other illness, from which he is getting better,
but neither is fit at present to direct operations.
There are no indications that the long talked of,
much expected advance is to take place very
speedily, but to the eye of faith things look pro-
mising. It is certain than Jan. 15 is approaching
rapidly, and that promises must be fulfilled. The
troops who have been sent down to points along
the coast are suffering from sickness. Those at Hat-
teras are in a miserable plight. The corps of occu-
pation at Beaufort is much reduced
.by sickness.
In Missouri the indefatigable Price, having been
threatened by the successes and activity of the Fede-
ral General Popo with the loss of communications, is
making a retreat once more to Arkansas, whence he
will no doubt emerge in a few days to lay waste once
more anything left to be wasted in that unhappy
province—or State. General Siegel, in the West, is
disappointed because ho has not an independent
command of 20,000 men, and threatens to resign.
General Wool, in the East, is eagerly looking for
a force of 30,000 men under his orders, to operate
on the rebels from Fortress Monroe. General Rose-
crans is here to prosecute his charges against General
Benham. General Sherman, in Kentucky, is said to
have gone mad. Brigadier-General Phelps, at Ship
Island, is excused by some organs for his proclama-
tion on the ground that he was formerly deranged.
As to the row at Paducah between General Smith
and his subordinates nothing further has come to
my kne-Medge ; but I know that much of the time
of the authorities is occupied by settling disputes
between the higher officers. The great Mississippi
expedition, which was to have sailed at
the end of autumn, is not yet ready, inasmuch
as the troops are not properly equipped ; but the
mortar vessels and gunboats are nearly all in readi-
ness. It is believed that in a fortnight or earlier
Generals RoFecrans and Reynolds will move forward
from Romney on the right, while :11`Clellan advances
on Manassas, and Burnside turns up somewhere on
the right flank of the Confederates in Virginia. The
Confederates say they desire nothing better, but
they will meet different men from the three months'
volunteers encountered at Bull's Run; and though
they may have improved in discipline, they cannot
have effected any great alteration for the better
in their own arms and equipments.

DECEMBER 29.
The lack of ordinary political common sense—of
any sort of common sense in the comments of the
American journals on the relations of the great
Powers with the Government of the United States
is astounding. They are really open to the charge
of the Confederate paper which accuses them of
judicial blindness and ineanity. Tho known senti-
ments of France are supposed to be counterbalancd
by the alliance of Mr. W S. O'Brien, and an Irish

rebellion is confidently reckoned on as the result of
a war with Great Britain by the "Know-nothings"
and " Native Americans." I have to rub my eyes
over and over again as I read. Here, now, is a
State official writing under a nem de plume to a
journal of position in Philadelphia, who gravely
declares that if the Government here had been as
"precipitate" as that of England we should have
had inevitable war. The President maintained a
significant reticence, and the Secretary of State
awaited the course of events, while the patriotic
press and the people were honouring Captain
Wilkes ; but the British Ministry, it appears, on the
ex parte statement of their prejudiced officers, rushed
to the extreme of madness, and encouraged their
people to the most inflammatory demonstrations,
forgetting how they had encouraged the abolition
excitement by their British emissaries—Trellope,
Bank, Hall, and George Thompson —and by
luxurious banquets to Mrs. Stowe, and would not
wait for the President's explanation, who had
in his significant reticence none to offer; or the
action of the Secretary of State, who was awaiting
the course of events. "Insensate pride," " drunken
rage," "hatred," "ambition," "unreasoning mad-
ness," "British tyrants," "Irish unanimity"—such
phrases and sentiments to tickle the palate of the
vulgar are used by the Philadelphia oracle, without
the smallest sense of shame, in reference to a just
and calm demand made by the British Government
for restitution and redress, with which his Govern-
ment is about to comply. While all the nations of
the world are exclaiming against the outrage, the
multitude are told that " the civilised world will
not hesitate, while applauding the magnanimous
course of the United States, to affix the lasting seal
of condemnation on the arrogant and domineering
proceedings of the British Government."
However, as the people have found out that
"France
a commonwill"a nd" England dare" in this matter
follow policy and expect a concession to
the principles of international law, which cannot be
refused without a practical test of the indifference
of Americans to the public opinion of Europe, they
will probably forget all these sesquipedalian words
and sentiments, and "permit Mason and Slidell to
slide." "When Lord Lyons shall send back to his
masters the moderate and dignified answer of Mr.
Seward the discomfiture of the British aristocracy
will be complete." There is a perfect lunacy here
about this" aristocracy," which is generally supposed
to be connected with large cotton manufactories, and
which is fiercely opposed by Mr. John Bright and
Mr. Cobden, who are probably regarded as country
gentlemen of the Hampden type, and by Mr. Iron-
-IPePll°,se'to be connected
and by Mr. O'Brien
o
h of the Irish people.
sswoi side,
hi wso wah wu i isnt he tr,OouOliverngehd t
mr looi r
MONDAY, DEC. 30.
Lord Lyons this day arranged with Mr. Seward
for the reception of Messrs. Mason and Slidell
under the protection of the British flag. So little
confidence had the American Minister in the
obedience of the American multitude that he desired
the preparations to be made as secretly as possible,
It was, after a good deal of argument and compro-
mise, decided that a vessel under the American flag
was to proceed to Fort Warren, and there receive the
prisoners, and that then she was to repair to the
rsn
war, in which they
would sail for Halifax. It will thus be observed that
Americanse port
to ofa
British Ptovin
man-of--war,
fr them ow
.on. where she would
f
the captives will leave the shores of the United
t
States under the shelter of the flag from which they
were forcibly removed. In acceding to this arrange-
ment, Lord Lyons was prompted by the desire to

spare the feelings of a people so proud and so irri-
table as our American brethren. When the refugees
are at Halifax they can act as they please, but it is
doubtful if the Admiral has a comfortable vessel to

spare for their passage to England. The statement
which appear in the journals here do not deserve the
smallest credence, and are hazarded without the
smallest foundation. It is not true that Lord Lyons
dined with Mr. Seward on Friday last, and that the
matter was arranged there.

FRIDAY, JAN. 3.
The papers having suspended their circulation
for one day, in order to enable their printers to
enjoy. New Year's-day, have re.appeared this morn-
ing with some expressions of gratification at their
finding the world had been able to survive their
absence. It is almost ludicrous to read their la-
borious efforts to prove that the people were
quite indifferent to the surrender of Mason and
Slidell, and to watch the faces which the indifferent
‘ g people make as they swallow their "great triumph
of diplomacy," or. " Mr. Seward's New International
Law," or whatever else the fact is called. One
paper candidly admits, in a letter from Boston,
that the people were exceedingly angry, and
would have made short work of the Commis-
sioners ; or as it calls them in another place, " the
Ministers to France and E ngland," had they
fallen into their hands. It is admitted that the
country was in a state of "intense excitement"
atthe
" the two noteriou3 rebels,"
butas i '
not rr. capture
Seward
l in
found out that they were
`comparatively
insignificant," and that their arrest
w form, the country as suddenly
le
became quite resigned to the surrender. The tone
of public feeling in Great Britain is still regarded
with apprehension, and is fiercely denounced, but
the American press does not consider how entirely
its language and the acts of its Government are to
blame for the national irritation. Let them remem-
ber the writings, and speeches, and acts which
have been reported to England, mail after mail,
since the seizure, all of them justifying it, after de-
31aring the intention of the people and the Govern-
ment to sustain the act. Even as it stands it would
seem that the American Government are of opinion
the law of nations would justify them in seizing
any of our mail steamers in which any "rebel"
emissary was a passenger, or in the mail-bag of
which a "rebel" despatch could be found, and
taking her into port for condemnation. Everything
which has gone to England has been of a nature
to increase the national excitement, and it will be
great surprise to discover that the articles and
speeches and public excitement meant just nothing
at all but readiness to do whatever the Government
liked. In Great Britain we attach weight to
such manifestations. Hero they mean, on their
own showing, nothing whatever so far as fo-
reign Governments are concerned, and the little
piece of information thus afforded to us may be
useful on future occasions. There are rumours, to
which some credence should be attached, that a vast
slave conspiracy has been discovered in the South,
and that the leaders have been executed or destroyed.
It is affirmed, with alarming probability of truth,
that the negoes on Dr. Duncan's plantation, on Dr.
Mercer's, and on General Quitman's estate, have
been or are in a state of insurrection. The Demo-
cratic party wash their hands of any complicity in or
approval of such assistance from our natural allies ;
but the abolition organs for some time past have
been rebuking their leaders for a coyness and un-
willingness to encourage the slaves to emancipate
themselves, and the readiest way of procuring
emancipation is to murder their masters.

The new year opens with a general disposition on
the part of the Government and the politicians to
tax the people to carry on the war by some proces-s
of direct taxaticn. Here is the new era coming.
One writer in the New York Times supposes that
that the war will impose a debt of 2,000,000,000
dols., and demands a tax large enough to pay the
interest and to keep the Government going; and in
proof that such a tax is very easy states that the
valuation of real and personal estate in the United
States, according to the censuses of 1850 and 1860,
was in 1850, 7,135,780,227 dols. ; in 1860,
16,159,616,068 dols.; increase, 9,023,835,841 dols.,
or 126.45 per cent. in the 10 years. Ho further
adds that the amount of personal property in the
United States, according to the last census was five
billions eighty-one millions six hundred and sixty
thousand dollars, and it is, proposed to raise a re.

venue of more than
.£60,000,000 in the follow-
ing manner :
A. tax of 1 per cent. on all real and personal Dols.
property, to produce net 110,000,000
The tariff, readjusted „, ... 80,000,000
Excise (ales, cider, and liquors)..... 25,000,000
Tonnage of 1 dol. per ton on all vessels,
canal -boats, and railroad companies (an-
nually) 15,000,000
Stamps
Income-tax 15,000,000
Legacies, transfers of real estate and of cor-
porate stocks
Tax on soap, randlcs, oil, gas, salt, and other
articles, on which it is easy and convenient
to collect
25,000,000

15,000,000

Aggregate (annually) 300,000,000
The blessings of free institutions are becoming
rather costly, and it is my humble opinion that the
peOplo will not pay that price for them in many
parts of the United States, even supposing the
figures to be above suspicion.

THE NAVY.

While the Defence, 18, Capt. R. H. Powell, C. 8.,
was under steam on Wednesday, in the run from
Chatham harbour to Folly Point, her rate of steam-
ing was exceedingly satisfactory, a speed of 13
knots an hour being attained with only two boilers
at work. From the trials already made to test her
steaming capabilities, it is confidently believed she
will reach a speed of 18 to 20 knots an hour with
her full boiler power. As she will have to depend
a great deal on hersails she has been what is termed
bark-rigged, in order to spread the greatest possible
amount of canvass. Cunningham's patent self-
reefing topsails, which have been manufactured at
the dockyard, were yesterday fixed on board. On
the occasion of her run from the harbour to Folly
Point her rudder was found not to work satis-
factorily, the " yoke" was accordingly un
shipped yesterday, and landed at the dockyard,
in order to have some alterations effected in it.
A much larger rudder yoke has been forged
at the smithery to take the place of that which
has been unshipped. The vessel is to be fitted
with Clifford's boat-lowering apparatus. Up to yes-
terday no date had been given for the departure of
the Defence from Chatham, and from the large
amount of work still requiring completion on board
it is doubtful whether she can leave her present
berth for at least ten days or a fortnight. It is
now understood that before proceeding on her
cruise, to test her sailing capabilities during the
equinoctial gales, she will be tried as a ram in run-
ning down a vessel selected for the experiment, in
order to enable the Admiralty to ascertain her
powers in this respect. The sister iron steamship
Resistance, now fitting in dock at Chatham, is being
pushed forward as rapidly as the resources of that
establishment will permit, and will probably be
completed in about six weeks or two months from
this date.
The Caesar, 86, screw, Capt. Thomas H. Mason,
arrived at Spithead yesterday morning from Ply-
mouth and the Mediterranean. She is ordered into
Portsmouth harbour to dismantle and be put out of
commission.
The Warrior, 40, iron frigate, Capt. the Hon. A.
A. Cochrane, C. 8., arrived at Spithead yesterday
afternoon from off Osborne, where she has been
relieved by the Vigilant, 5, screw, Commander
J. W. Pike. The Warrior is ordered to embark
supernumeraries at Spithead for the Mediterranean
and West India stations, which she will convey to
Lisbon. On arrival there sho will transfer those for
the North American and West India squadron to the
Edgar, 86, screw, flag of Rear-Admiral S. C. Dacres,
C. 8., which sails immediately afterwards to join
VicgoAdiniral Milne's squadron. The supernume-
raries for the Mediterranean will be transferred to
some other ship, and, according to present orders,
the Warrior will await further instructions at
Lisbon.
The Black Prince, 40, iron frigate, at Portsmouth,
has now 340 mechanics and labourers employed
upon ber, exclusive of hands from the factory de-
' partment or in connection with engines of the ship.
This number of men is to be further increased on
Monday next by another division of shipwrights,
and probably of labourers, &c., in proportion. The
plan for the fitment and application of the hydraulic
apparatus for steering the ship is still before the
authorities, receiving their final consideration. It
is proposed to inclose the cylinder and pistons in a
box of 31 and 4-1- inch iron abaft the rudder head,
under the beams of the upper deck, and the appli-
cation of the power to be brought to bear upon the
rudder head by a right and left threaded screw,
similar to the one fitted on board the American
frigate Niagara. It is also proposed to supply the
Black Prince with a 90-horse power engine and
steam capstan for heaving up the anchor, raising
the screw, &c., and thus keep the hydraulic power
intact for steering purposes.

The hired scre;late;m transport Adelaide, Capt.
Lambert, bound with the 15th Regiment from Cork
for Halifax, which put back to Plymouth on Wed-
nesday, went yesterday (Thursday) from the Sound
into Hamoaze, where she she will discharge 25 tons
of ball cartridge and disembark her troops, in order
that she may be repaired.
The screw steamship Revenge, 89, Capt. FeHowes,
went on Wednesday from Hamoaze into Plymouth
Sound, and received her powder yesterday (Thurs-
day) morning.

The Osborne, paddlewheel steam-yacht, Master
Commander Bower, is receiving her boats and stores,
preparatory to proceeding to Osborne to embark
the luggage, &c., belonging to his Royal Highness
the Prince of Wales, after which she will leave for
Trieste to meet his Royal Highness, who is about to
make his intended tour, which was delayed in con-
sequence of the death of the Prince Consort.

The Britannia, naval cadet ship, Captain Harris,
wiii be tukeu Jut,u the ship basin to-day, and from
thence into No. 2 dock, as soon as it is clear of the
Meteor, floating-battery, which is being broken up.
An American man-of-war screw-steamer, flying
the Federal flag, passed through Spithead on Thurs-
day afternoon, and anchored off Osborne. Shortly
after the Pigmy, paddle-wheel steam-tender, Master
Commander Johnstone, went out of harbour and
procceeded with instructions from the port-admiral
that the steamer should remove from that anchorage
either to Cowes or Spithead, so that the retirement
of her Majesty might not in any way be likely to
be disturbed.

The Calypso, 18, sailing-vessel, Captain F. B.
Montresor, which has lately returned to England
from the Pacific, where she has been stationed
about four years, is now being rapidly dismantled
at Chatham, and her rigging and other stores
returned to the dockyard. The Mary, victualling
lighter, has been alongside the vessel, taking in
the remainder of her provisions for conveyance to
the victualling yard at Deptford. Her water tanks
have also been taken out. So energetic have been
the proceedings of the officers and crew with regard
to the stripping of the Calypso, that although she
only entered the harbour on Sunday last, she is
already divested of nearly everything which it is
intended to take out of her. Her crew, numbering
about 180, including marines, will, according to
present arrangement, be paid cff on Monday next,
Admiral Sir Edward Durnford King, K.C.H., ex-
pired on Tuesday evening, at his residence in Devon-
shire. This distinguished officer entered the navy in
1788, and first went afloat in 1789 on board the
Director, 64, Capt. T. West. By his gallantry in
the actions of the 29th of May and the Ist of June,
1794, he obtained promotion to the rank of lieuten-
ant, he having been midshipman on board the Bar-
fleur in Lord Howe's action. In 1795 he was ap-
pointed to the Dryad, 44, of which he became flag-
lieutenant under Lord A. Beauclerk. He assisted at
the capture, after a spirited action, of the French
frigate Proserpine, 42, and was promoted to the
rank of commander for his conduct on that occasion,
haying been strongly recommended by his com-

PRICE ...4d.
STAMPED ....sd.

' mending officer to the Admiralty: In Sept., 1800,
and Swedish of 86:aCroix,
he was appointed acting captain of the Leviathan,
74, flagship of Sir J. T. Dackviorth. After assisting
of ttl? French island of St. Martin
a, ale.'on the
.iannathtehereDduacntiiscrhn
'hSet.wThasom appointed in'lNeo3llBol,
as,andSt. 0 Ittt 12;111 oziot'd
West India station, but was shortly afterwards
obliged to return home invalided. His next appoint-
ment was to the Endymion in the spring of 1805.
In that frigate betook part in the blockade of Cadiz.
In the same ship he assisted at the defence of Gaeta
in 1806. As captain or the Monmouth, 64, he as-
sisted at thecapture of Tranquebar. He was actively
employed afloat until 1828. In 1833 he was knighted
by King 'William IV. In July, 1840, he was ap-
pointed commander-in-chief at the Cape of Good
Hope and Brazil station, and in 1845 was selected
for the chief command at the Nore. His commis-
sions bore date as follows :—Lieut., Sept. 5, PH ;
commander, June 23, 1796; capt..," Jan. 8, 1801;
rear-admiral, July 22, 1830; vice-admiral, Nov. 23,
1841; and admiral, Oct. 30, 1849. Sir Edward had
received the medal for Lord Howe's action, also the
naval medal and two clasps. He was among the
flag- officers in receipt of a good service pension.
The following appointments were made yester-
day at the Admiralty :—Commander E. W. Wilmot,
to the Agamemnon ; Lieut. Hugh H. Knocker, to
be flag-lieut. to Commodore Dunlop, C.B. ; Lieut.
Philip E. Luard, to the Imaum ; Lieutenant Henry
J. F. Campbell, to the Royal Adelaide; Lieutenant
John Liddell, to be flag lieut. to Vice-Admiral Sir
Houton Stewart, Commander-in-Chief at Devon-
port; Lieut. Ferrand F. Waddington, Lieut. A. H.
Gilmore, Lieut. J. M'Neill Boyd, and Lieut. E. D.
Law, to the Shannon; Sub Lieut. F. C. Vincent,
Sub-Lieut. Edward C. Royse, and Sub-Lieut. the
Hon. Henry H. Molyneux, to the Shannon ; F: R.
Henwood, master, to the Shannon; Augustus G.
Whichelo, master, to the Dauntless for the Coast-
guard; H. D. Sarratt, master, to the Fisgard for
the Black Eagle; John G. Morgan, master, to the
Majesty ; David Thomas, surg., to the Donegal ;
Walter Lawrence, surg., to the Shannon ; Danie]
O'Connell, assist. surg., to the Shannon; G. Ro-
bertson, acting assist. snrg., to the Shannon ; H. T.
Gimson, Charles R. Alarcon, and Edwin H. Cun-
ningham, masters' assistants, to the Shannon; M.
F. Moresby, paymaster, to the Shannon; Henry P.
Brenan, assistant paymaster, to the Shannon ; F. A.
Carter, clerk, to the Shannon; and James Tatlock,
assistant clerk, to the Shannon.