The Sun.
London, England, 1862-11-17 00:00:00

" ILLINOIS.

" CHICAGO, Nov, 4.
" The election passed off quietly, and resulted in
the return of Arnold, the Republican candidate, for
Congress. Returns from the State are very meagre,
giving no indication as to the result Springfield
city' gives Stewart (Democrat) for Congress, 413
majority ; Allen (Democrat), candidate at large,
200. Kaukaka county gives Norton (Republican)
for Congress, 1,000 majority. Returns from 70
towns give Ingersoll (Republican), 3,300 majority.'
The New York Times of the sth inst. attributes
the victory obtained by the Democrats to the failure
of the Government to prosecute the war with the
vigour, energy, and success which the vast
7-
sources at its command warranted the country in
expecting at its hands, and adds :
" What is the use of trying to sustain
the country,
tain an admi-
nistration which lags so far behind
and seems so indifferent and
elf the incompetent
go-
vernment to the
•
dreadful task committed to itsmha
victories—if
it had
even shown any just
vernment had given the
P"
appreciation
s
moat
ost ordinary means of
exacting them at the ha of its Generals in the
field, the people would hnd of the need of
victories, and had taken t
have rallied as one man to
its support. They would have spurned with indig-
nationpoofn:lemagogues to sap their
and to array them in
'"ratsl 1
faith
in
the &Inn?
the base atte.m
hostility against it. The vote in this state, as in
Pennsylvania and the West, indicates a profound
dissatisfaction with the method of the administration

STAMI'ED ....sd.

in carrying on this war, and a peremptory demand
for the adoption of one better adapted to the awful
emergencies of the case. The President must not
hesitate nn hour to respond to this demand.
" Let the popular verdict just announced dispel
whatever of hesitation or timidity may have ham-
: perod his movements.
"There must be an end of apologies and delays.
The country will no longer tolerate half-hearted
counsels in the Cabinet or half-hearted leadership
in the field. The fate of the nation must no longer
be committed to generals who, like Essex in the
English revolution, ' next to a great defeat, dreaded

ba
egcr
content
na
tt
evni
tetworiyti.:
It must act upon the offensive—and act with the
deTfeiniedGiuogvietrsnenilf eangtaimnsutsta no longer
vigour and determination that ensure a victory. If
the recent elections shall inspire the administration
with this spirit and prompt it to such action they
will be of more service than results which might
have betrayed it into a delusive and fatal confidence
in the fruitless policy it has hitherto pursued."
The New York Tribune partly ascribes the defeat
of the Republicans to the absence of 100,000 voters
at the seat of war, two-thirds of whom it estimates
are ardent Republicans. But the taus© of defeat
on which the Tribune lays meet stress is the--.

" General dissatisfaction with the slow progress,
or no progress, of our armies, and a widespread
feeling that, through tlut incapacity, inefficiency,
or ibsincerity of our military leaders, the blood and
treasure of the loyal millions are being sacrificed in
vain."

The Tribune concludes by saying :
" We tell the Administration most earnestly that
the country cannot endure another month's inac-
tion of our armies—that a Fernando Wood dictator-
ship at the North in thorough sympathy, if not in
open alliance, with the Jeff. Davis rebellion at the
South, will inevitably result from such inaction.
The war for the Union must be fought out speedily
and resolutely, or it will die out. Defeat would be
calamity, but delay is ruin."

The New York Herald considers the triumph of
the Democratic party as most complete and over-
whelming, but states that this popular demonstra-
tion " does not mean that the war shall be ended
in an ignominious and ruinous peace, involving a
division of the Union into two independent confe-
deracies, but that the war shall be prosecuted for
the maintenance of the Union, and nothing else;
that the malign Abolition influences have brought
defeats and disasters to our armies where we should
otherwise have been crowned with victory, and the
Radical Marplots who in Ccngress and in the Ca-
binet have caused the squandering of hundreds of
millions of money, and the need!ess sacrifice of thou-
sands of our brave soldiers, shall be henceforth re-
pudiated by President Lincoln."

But as the new Congress cannot, unless specially
convened, meet until December, 1863, the Herald
suggests that to enable the new representatives
" fresh from the people," to give their counsels to
the President, they should hold an informal meet-
ing, after the fashion of the late Altoona conference
of the governors of the loyal states, " in order that
they may agree upon a sei ies of recommendations
and declarations of the general policy which they
believe would meet the cordial support of our loyal
people."
"Let a meeting of this character," continues, the
New York Herald, "be held in this city before the
re-assembling of Congress, and it may contribute
much to aid the President in the recommendation
of the annual message, and in the importont work
of a reconstruction of his Cabinet."
The New York Herald of the sth inst. contains
the following summary of military matters :
"Our army is making rapid advances into the
different gaps of the Blue Ridge, heretofore held
by the rebels, and we are now in possession of all
the gaps as far as Ashby's, our force being in front
of that position. Yesterday General Stahel, with
a portion of Sigel's command, drove the enemy out
of Thoroughfare Gap, and General Carl Schurz
immediately occupied it. General Bayard's force
meantime holds Aldee and all the country between
that and Sigel's front. Buckland Mills is alse in
our possession. Thus the rebels are pretty closely
outflanked, hemmed in, and cut off from Richmond.
General M'Clellan is 50 miles nearer the rebel
capital than General Lee's army, and a vigorous
movement—protected of course by a cautious atten-
tion to his rear—may at any moment put him in
possession of that place.
" Among the most melancholy portion of our war
news to-day is the announcement of the death of
two of our brave generals—O. M. Mitchell and J.
B. Richardson ; the former died at Beaufort of
yellow fever on the 31st ult., and General Richard-
son died of the wounds received at the battle of
Antietam, at Sharpsburg, on Monday night.
" Some of the rebel cavalry made an attack on our
pickets near Bolivar Heights yesterday, and cap-
tured three of them, whom they sent to Charleston.
The rebels were observed in some force yesterday
between Charleston and the river.
" General Banks in a few remarks which he
made from the platform of a railroad car in Boston
on Saturday last, said the approaching winter was
not to be lost in inaction. The Government was
determined now to put forth its strength. Nume-
rous expeditions were on foot that could not, if
vigorously pressed, but be fatal to the revolted states.
"The second edition of the draft in Connecticut,
which was to have taken place to-day, has been
postponed until the 19th inst."
The following are the latest dispatches from the
army of General M'Clellan :
" Head-quarters of the Army of the Potomac,
Bloomfield, Nov. 3.
" The advance of the army of the Potomac
valley, on the left side of the Blue Ridge, up the
is being
pushed forward with all dispatch.
" General Pleasanton occupied UPPervil thele this
afternoon after a spirited engagement with
enemy for about four hours.
"We had none killed, but several wounded. The
rebels left three of their dead on the field.
which the
Upper-
villa is four miles from Ashby's
rebels are endeavouring to hold..
of
all the gaps up to Ashby's, with prospecteveryam
OGuarpstrwoops hold
e force of
having that to-morrow. There
p, onthe
the enemy to-day in front of $
• pute our passage
left bank of the Shenandoah, to dis
nicwkaesess Ga
at that point. by way of Downs-
" The rumours of the invasion d
-quarters. The
vile h are not believed at these ea
last report from the rear shows that these reports
are unfounded.
Addy, and prepared to fight a
The army is r---
hen the rebels may see proper to
general battlell w. is in better condition
The
army
than
meet them. 1.
it has ever been, with
want that the exception of the want of
is greatly felt."
more eavalrY—a „ Harper's Ferry- Nov. 4.
I, About daylight this morning a squad of rebel
cavalry surprised and captured three of our pickets
within two miles of Bolivar Heights, near the rail-
road track, and carried them off pri •
soners to
Charleston. The rebels continued to show them-
selves in force in the neighbourhood of Charleston.
"Longstreet is at Paris_ Jackson just passed
through Ashby's Gap, and Hill is close on him.
"The general impres • sion among the Federal offi-
cers is, that the rebels are fast retreating to Gor-
donsville, and all their
movements are only feints to
cover this movement
• They told the people of Pur-
cellville several days •
since that they had no idea of
wintering in the Shenandoah Valley.
"It has been beautiful Italian summer weather
for the last
three or four days, but this morning is
cold and cloudy, denoting :rain. The Potomac is
still low, but a sudden and great rise is universally
expected."

THE WAR IN THE SOUTH-WEST. I
" Louisville, Nov. 4.
" It is reported that Bragg's army is at Murfrees-:i