The Sun.
London, England, 1865-03-06 00:00:00

ARRIVALS AT LIVERPOOL.

Gemma, Gownsman, Tony Lumpkin, Arbury, mean_
wood, Joe Maley, Ladbrook Lass, Wild Duck, Gamecock,
Valeria, Vision, Overton,• Emblem, Balder, Demon, Em_
blematic, King of Clubs, Edith, Occoneil, Jarnieoton
Cutler, Lady , Bom, Nu, Trueheart, • Stanton, Usher,
ln
Aurelian, Plover, Dover, Twilight, Filbert, North Encl.

''HE CIVIL WAIL IN AMERICA.

- -••--

(From the Times' Correspondent.)
NEW YORK, Feb. 21.

The retreat of Beauregard before the steadily ad-
vancing columns of Sherman, the evacuation of the
line of the Congaree River without a battle, Sher-
man's unopposed entry into Columbia, his forward
march upon Charlotteville, with the supposed in-
tention of effecting a junction with Grant, and the
sudden, though by no means unexpected, evacuation
of Charleston, are events that have followed too
rapidly upon each other to permit of a due apprecia-
tion of their actual importance or their probable in-
fluence upon the future fortunes of the war. The san-
guine people who habitually look upon every victory
as final, who " break the backbone of the rebellion"
with every little or great success of Federal strategy
or valour, are more sanguine than ever that the cause
of the South is hopeless, and that on the day of his
second inauguration Mr. Lincoln will be able to
announce that he is the President de facto and dejure
of the whole Union, and that the " stars and
stripes" float not only over all the sea-board cities
of the South, but over rebellious Richmond. This
roseate anticipation, however, finds more counte-
nance from the sensational press than from the
public ; and military critics, so far from lending
the weight of their knowledge and character to
support such expectations, assert that Beaure-
gard's tactics in retreating before Sherman are
sound, that a junction between his forces and
those of Lee can be sooner effected than a junc-
tion between Sherman and Grant, and that Sher-
man's army is in imminent peril of being sud-
denly attacked and defeated by the combined
armies of Beauregard,Hardee,and Lee before Grant
or any portion of his force can come to the rescue.
Whether the South will win its Austerlitz or suffe r
its Waterloo within the next ten days is a question
that is everywhere discussed, and almost invariably
decided by the political bias of the critic rather than
by cool calculation and dispassionate judgment of
events 'and probabilities. It is evident, however,
that great events are at hand, and that neither the
slaves of the South, nor the new and as yet unen-
listed levies of the North, can be brought into the
field in time to take part in the spring campaign—
that will, in all human probability, decide the for-
tunes of the Confederacy.
The evacuation of Charleston will be celebrated
to all future time as among the grandest and
gloomiest events of the war. It appears to have been
determined upon by General Lee immediately after
his assumption of the supreme military power con-
ferred upon him by the President and the Legisla-
ture, and heartily approved by the people of the
South. There are indications that the first move-
ment to this end commenced fully three weeks ago,
and it is positively known that the principal citizens
and the bulk of the army had withdrawn four days
before the Federal commander had any suspicion of
the fact; and when the Northern forces entered the
almost abandoned city, they found that the Confe-
derates had determined to make a Moscow of it, and
that the arrival of the foe was to be the signal for its
destruction. Six thousand bales of cotton. and two
ironclads were ruthlessly destroyed lest they should
fall into the hands of the enemy; the arsenals, con-
taining large quantities of arms and ammunition, the
quartermaster's stores, the railroad station and
bridges, the vessels in the building yards, and fully
two-thirds of the once beautiful and flourishing city
were reduced to ashes ; the other third, fronting the
sea, having been so riddled by the shot and shell of
the besiegers during the last six or eight months as
to be virtually uninhabitable. None but the poorest
portion of the population, chiefly negroes, were left
behind. All the rest had departed, bearing with
them, there can be no reason to doubt, a spirit of
vengeance which will yet blaze forth in new and
fiercer struggles. The news when first received ope-
rated upon the gold market to only a slight extent,
sending down the premium from 202 to 1961, or 5i
per cent. The fall, however, was not maintained,
and the price advanced gradually to 1991, as men
of business began to calculate that the evacuation of
the proud city by a proud enemy meant, under the
terrible circumstances in which it occurred, not peace
or negotiation, but stern resolve and unrelenting
war.

It may sound strangely in Europe, but it is never-
theless the fact, that New York, whatever may be
the case in other cities and districts of the Union,
has almost ceased to look at the war from a political
or patriotic point of view, and that it is far more
alarmed at the financial consequences of peace and
a reconstruction of the Union than at any possible
prolongation of hostilities. A victory or a defeat, or
even such an event as the evacuation of Charleston,
is mainly of interest or importance because it sends
up or sends down the price of gold or stocks, and
enables the gamblers of Wall and William streets,
and the Fifth-avenue Hotel (the latter gamble by
night, the former by day), to buy or sell fictitious
gold or shares, and to grow rich or become poor by
the early possession of exclusive information, which
they turn
ingto account
business.
theirAgreeindylu
st hazardous
gain but h
astaken f asc i np ao ts
session of all men's minds, and has infected even the
women, with whom it is as familiar to ask one an-
other " How's gold to-day ?" as it was in healthier
times to inquire after husband or children, or the
style of the last new bonnet. But so fierce is the
money mania of the time that even gold and stocks,
as influenced in price by war, seem as if they would
be deposed from their pre-eminence in favour of pe-
troleum, the price of which is in no way affected by
the progress of hostilities. Everybody that possesses
a few acres of land in the immense district of country..
from Canadato Pennsylvania which produced petro-
leum is boring and digging oil-wells. To "strike oil"
is to become rich at a bound, and farms on which
the precious commodity has been discovered, that
were formerly considered dear at $5 or $lO an acre,
now sell for thrice as many thousands. The portion
of America in which the oil is found is called by a
D o r perversionado.
„ oNf
ne-t
eSnpt isuhf
tEhle Ds
poereaudl oa
vteh ee
e‘
rOg
yi
s e
and intellect of this city have been absorbed in this
new mania. Petroleum companies are established
by scores
rurefsam his stool,ndhund a hundreds, and
a thing f h
and" Shoodtdye past, by
is
pushed
by i the
new Oil King, who elbows him out of society, out-
glitters him in diamonds, outdinners him at Del-
monico's, and counts his gains by millionosfa,stwhthhoileuyo-
s,a,
nSdhso.ddym"anwyasofcotnhteesneted,,
iliveitlairishutonedrrae:ists,,,
are called, are illiterate Germans and Irishmen,
and
the airs they give themselves, and the ludicrous
con-
straintid in which they find themselves when they are
for the first time imprisoned
scope n the trammels a omf
utshe
ment of the laughing philosophers as well as of the
cynics of society. America exported to Europe last
year petroleum to the value of $30,000,000, which,
although no more than sufficient to keep the war-
torch blazing at its present egg of incandescence for
ten days, is a commercial fact that foreshadows how
great a future trade may arise in this article when
the wells are more extensively pumped, and its
mechanical as well as chymical value is more
thoroughly investigated. As far as it goes, petro-
leum has undoubtedly served by its acceptance in
Europe to abate the premium on gold, and thereby
to maintain greenbacks at a higher rate, as com-
i‘piarr.edF
emsistelni
dt he
ne pe
or ewe ido uhs
have hoped
edthafn Morl
rm.dCehr"oethoerr
circumstances.