The Sun.
London, England, 1862-05-08 00:00:00

THE WAR IN AMERICA.

The following letter has just been received in
London from a citizen of the State (If Pennsylvania,
a gentleman of intelligence' and position ; the views
he expresses are those of a large number of persons
in the North, whose political opinions exclude them
from power at the present time :

"PfIILADELPHIA, APRIL 20.

"Dear George,—The papers you have sent me
are interesting, but I confess my surprise at the
change in their tore. Evidently they have lost
their former professed confidence in the Southern
Priwer and determination to resist, and this is the
more strange because their first reasonings were
correct, as will be eventually proved. That the
press of the Northern States, controlled, as it is, by
all that is unfit and unworthy to lead and represent
a wise, a virtuous public, should have gone wild
over the succession of Federal triumphs in Ten-
nessee, Kentucky, and North Carolina which took
place in February and March, is not to be wondered
at, for it is an important feature in the policy of the
Administration to swell and magnify slight success
into magnifisent victory and metamorphose actual
defeat into favourable results; thus stimulating the
fever of excitement and frenzy of their people, in
order to smother-any awakening' sense of the fear-
ful course they are running, and prevent any
glimpses of the fate so surely and closely following
their mad, wild, and desperate career of ruin to the
South and ruin and disgrace to the North. But
that English papers should have so far adopted
New York opinions, and acted upon such question-
able. authority, greatly surprises me.
" Perhaps, however, when we reflect that Euro-
peans have alwayS looked at the South through
Yankee spectacles, and now more than ever they
are shut out from this terra incognita, with its
enormous area and quiet patriarchal agricultural
mode of life, we should be able to account for the
great ignorance of and violent prejudice against
her people and institutions. The information, too,
derived from New York correspondents of the pro-
minent English journals is strangely incorrect—
oftentimes absurdly so. For instance, a writer,
using the nornme de plume of Manhattan,' simply
trifles with the good sense of his readers, as by this
time, I should suppose, they have discerned. His
letters are frequently read aloud here amidst bursts
of laughter, and I have known many persons re-
fuse to believe such burlesques upon truth and
common sense should be gravely published for in-
telligent readers. True it is that the editors take
the precaution of appending a notification over
each letter denying their concurrence in or endorse-
ment of his views or statements. Yet his wild,
insane statements are seen and read in print with,
I presume, the average effect, although it is hard to
read them here with a grave face. Dr. Russell's
letters are by odds the best of all, and, while I
often differ with his opinions and deductions, espe-
cially on political subjects, his familiarity with
military affairs and talent for describing them, com-
bined with the tone and education of a gentleman
manifested by his writings, all give his correspon-
dence interest and entitle it to respect. Personal
and political prejudices, however, are still traceable
too plainly in many of his letters. That his pro-
phecies, military and political, should not have
always been sustained by events only places him in
the category with the rest of mankind ; for there is
no man who has not felt himself confounded by the
events of the past year. It has been a chaos, in
which hopes, fears, theories, and plans have been
tossed, mingled, and broken beyond present recog-
nition.

" But of real events. As foreshadowed by his
message to the Confederate Congress, President
Davis has concentrated his forces, and thus, owing
to the vast extent of territory to be defended, many
avenues of approach to the Southern States are
necessarily left open to their invaders, and slight
collisions are less frequent than heretofore, when
every Federal force was watched by a correspond-
ing detachment of Confederates. On the 6th and
7th of this month the battle of Shiloh was fought,
near the Southern line d Tennessee, in which a
larger number of troops on both sides were engaged
than in any previous encounter of the war. Of
course, the Federals claimed the victory, and the
Presiden£ and Secretary of War even went so far
as to issue proclamations for public thanksgiving
and prayer, but we now know that it was only by
the aid of their übiquitous and never failing 'gun-
boats that the complete destruction or capture of
Major-General Grant's entire army was saved.
Thirty-eight thousand men of the very best Western
troops were driven off their chosen field, and forced
at every point to retire to the banks of the Ten-
nessee river, where, without transportation, capture
or drowning awaited them, when two gunboats,
with their superior rifled artillery, opened upon the
Confederate lines and broke their circumvention.
By the next day Gen. Buell came with 40,000 fresh
men and more boats, and Gen. Beauregard retired
steadily and deliberately, pausing 'occasionally to
inflict repulse upon his foes, to his entreched camp
at Corinth, 18 miles distant. It was a bloody day
and great slaughter occurred ; we have only Federal
accounts of details, and they are sickening enough to
an American. The character of this battle, its con-
ception and execution on the part of Southern Gene-
rals and men, will best answer the weak doubtings
of their cold critics on your side of the Atlantic.
I could here gladly dwell at length upon
the career and fate of that departed hero,
Sydney Johnston, but I refer you to President
Davis's message to Congress and the letter read
there written by Johnston a short time previous to
his death. Humanity must feel itself elevated by
the contemplation of such men and such events;
that man's soul must indeed be cold and dead who
can dwell unmoved and unimproved upon the death
and character of Albert Sydney Johnston, pictured
with such mournful, yet martial eloquence by his
friend, comrade, and chosen superior. But if
Siloh, or Pittsburgh Landing, as the Federals call
their place of retreat, should not sufficiently prove
to :hose who do not know them (and therefore may
require proof) the intention of Southern men to be
free, perhaps the status of General M'Clellan's
Grand Army of the Potomac' may assist in pro-
ducing conviction. On March 7th this mighty
array moved down to see the blackened ruins of
Centreville and Manassas winter quarters, where

for tight months the Confederate forces have lain,
in -what numbers we know not, but free from moles-
tation, yet threateningly near, and fatally so to
reconnoitring foes. By April 7th, M'Cleilan, now
in command of a single department only, is found
on the peninsula formed by the James and York
rivers, having Fortress Monroe as his base, and
attempting with a perfectly fitted army of 120,000
t 0150,000 men to march by land to Richmond. This
distance is 20 miles from his point of disembarca-
lion, his way seems positively barred ; between the
rivers is a width of six to eight miles, and this land
is intersected by small water•courses or creeks.
Fortifications of a very formidable character, and
23rg° forces of troops to guard them, are before him.
For two wct1..,,, has failed to msu..Aly impres-
sion, and although rigid regulations and an iron
censorship of the telegraph and public press are
' -maintained, coupled witn silence as of the grave on
the part of the Government, rumours of his frequent
repulse find their way up here. Surgeons, curses,
down; skeleton &c., are hurrying regiments are
hurried forward ; hospitals are ordered of large
ticeommodation, end we are told' all is quiet before
Yorktown.' No mail communication, save of
matter, is allowed ; no
examined and approved
passes to see sick friends or bear home dead ones;
\VC even hear that Southern newspapers are not to
come hereafter under flags of truce. Is not the
accumulation of anxiety hard to be borne, and
is it Lot very unlike the enroll toe to J.?, clirrond,
pictured to the fond hopes of the frenzied populace
f.,0 long and so often ? I am, perhaps, incompetent
to make military criticism, bet the Confederates
having contra of James and York Rivers above
their lines (Gloeester point being also held by them
on the Northern side of York River) would, I be-
lieve, have selected M'Clellan's position for him had
they been consulted. This may be very
crude and
ignorant, and may be contradicted by the results of
the week, but it is my opinion.
The Merrimac continues the bete noir of the
Northern marine, and, after all their vaunts or the
preparations made to destroy her, she has coolly
planted her flag for hours in the face of their guns,

and plucked, by the shadow of her presence, some '
transports from their anchorage near the fortress,
just as a specimen of her power. Her de':.y in ope-
rations is not without good reason, and I think her
co-operations will soon explain it. Coed-bye to
wooden walls and stone fortresses. T age of iron
seem to have revived in more senses an one. Fort
Pulaski is knocked away in a few hours by improved
artillery, and heavy frigates are cracked like egg-
shells by an iron prow. One letter, or a hundred,
would not cover decently an enumeration of all the
results these two conflicts by land and water will
establish. The whole world will be startled by it,
and a people not even recognised as a Power is the
pioneer in the road to naval supremacy. Why is
not the Southern Confederacy acknowledged?—
fairly, frankly, and kindly acknowledged by the
European States ? If English accounts be true,
England has, by refusing her co operation in this act,
prevented other States. Is this wise, or is it just ?
From my point of view it is too plainly alike incon-
sistent with her duty and her interest. The
Southern States will form a Republic, a form of
government in which (unlike England) the sym-
pathies of their people will mould their national
legislation and commercial relations. We, of the
United States, have seen the effect of the hereditary
sympathy and friendship which even the present
generation of our people have for France. And
why ? Because of her generous aid in our season
of trial. No matter what motive caused its be-
stowal ; the benefit was felt and not forgotten. I
have experienced myself, and witnessed in others,
the emotions produced by the presence of a great-
grandson of Lafayette in this country. That name
will ever be a passport to every American heart,
for he was a' friend in need.'
"The wild suicidal efforts of the North with her
astonishing exhibitions of power to crush and dao-
late the South, are met as they should be by the
South, but when girding her loins bravely_and un-
flinchingly to meet such fearful odds, how can she
regard those nations who coldly criticise her efforts
and suggest her points of weakness and possible
failure, withholding even that formal recognition
which all European precedent authorised Southern
people to expect?
"I tell you, British statesmen may have exhibited
cool prudence in this business, but no higher qua-
lity of statesmanship, and yet there are higher
qualities. I honestly believe the sentimental states-
manship which 30 years ago converted Jamaica
and her sister islands from gardens of plenty into
idle wastes was not more one extreme of mistaken
philanthropy than the cold and selfish refusal of the
British leaders, considering present interest alone,
errs in the present case, where civilisation and hu-
manity, no less than the Ni orld's convenience, call
for her best efforts and influence to end this wicked
cruel, useless war. But the South will be free, and
if a generous love of right, and an abhorrence of
wrong, cannot influence other nations to stay the
furious force directed against her existence, she
will gather her sons, and, trusting in the Great
Ruler of human affairs, go resolutely forth to that
battle which

"'- tho' baffled oft
Is ever won.'

"The state of affairs in the North transcends all
I ever imagined, and foils all reason based on pre-
cedents. Business of all kinds, excepting in connec-
tion with army supplies, is dull and unprofitable ;
many branches of internal trade are dead. Expen-
ditnre by the Government only increases. Members
of committees of Congress, Cabinet Ministers, and
their counsellors, estimate the expenses at 4,000,000
dole. per day. With no tax laid or law modelled
which is likely to pass to raise it we are in a sea of
paper, deepening every hour. First, the Treasury
Department issues demand notes' made legal
tender for all payments, excepting dues for imports;
then, certificates of debt' from the Government to
individuals, payable at various dates and convertible
at the will of Government into 6 per cent. loans ;
next, quartermasters' certificates' for claims audited
are in large quantities in the market; the two and
three year 7, 30, 100 per cent. loan closes the list
of paper floats for the present. This sort of thing
buoys the Government ship along through the
breakers for awhile. Meantime the banks through-
out the whole country are putting all the paper out
they can print and sign. Engravers are up to their
eyes in work, and presses print money night and
day, and with value thus represented gold has a
premium of 2 per cent. or less, leaving the country
weekly and being forgotten in daily exchange,
where it is rarely ever seen. How long will this
last ? How long has it lasted ? Answer the ques-
tions, ye who can, but remember you are dealing
with a mad nation who know not what they do. I
send you a newspaper clipping from the Ledger
of this morning :
" Washington, April 19.—The prospects for
passage of the Tax Bill are as remote as ever, and
there are not a few who predict that it will finally
be turned over, as was the Bankrupt Bill, until
the next Session. The main reason for this is the
diversity of opinion that is found to exist in the two
Houses upon the question, and the well-known fact
that a large number of the members are anxious to
feel the pulse of their constituents before casting
their vote in the affirmative for this or any other
tax bill that may be offered. With regard to
the bill already framed by the House, the Senate
Committee have so dissected it that a long discus-
sion must follow ere it is put to a vote, and even
should it go through that body it is exceedingly
doubtful whether the House would agree to sanction
the change that has been made. Altogether, the
subject is found a most intricate and troublesome
one, and it is next to impossible to tell what will be
the upshot. That something must be done, how-
ever, by the present Congress is a fact that will
admit of no questioning, as otherwise the country
will be entirely at sea during a long and anxious
summer, with finance and trade in a most un-
settled and wretched condition.' "

BUR.STING OF A SLUICE NEAR LYNN

The Denvers Sluice, about two miles, from Lynn, has
burst, and the whole district of the Middle Level, the
drainage of which was one of the greatest engineering
exploits of modern times, is in danger of being again
submerged.
The existence of a hole against the eastern door of the
sluice has been known for more than three weeks, but the
authorities, placing implicit reliance on the stability of the
work, leisurely advertised for tenders to repair the damage,
and took no immediate precautions, About a week since,
however, the hole was found to have seriously increased
in size, and puddling was tried, but as the hole continued
to deepen at the rate of about 16 inches an hour, alarm
began to be felt. Early on Sunday morning last great
masses of earth caved in, and in less than two hours there
was a breach 20 or 30 feet wide round the end of the sluice,
and a hole 19 feet deep under the first pair of doors. The
imminent nature of the danger which threatened the district
was then made apparent, and in a very short time 18 or 20
men, with as many carts, were on the spot, and the most
strennous efforts were made to fill the hole with earth and
straw. About 11 o'clock, while the men were at work, the
tide began to rise, and its first impetus smashed in the wing
next the cut. This obstacle removed, the tidal waters
rushed up with increased violence, and a few minutes after-
wattls the two arches fell, crushing the iron doors, with a
report like a cannon, and smashing groat barges almost like
bandboxes. "Altogether," writes an eye-witness, "it was
such a scene as has never been witnessed hero before, and
will never be forgotten by those who saw it." The tide
now rushed up the Ouse with unrestrained fury, and the
strongest fears are entertained that a high spring tide will
burst the banks of the river, and lay thousands of acres of
the most fertile land in the Fens under water. On the
western side of the cut the water is already trickling through
the bank, and a high tido may do injury which years of
labour will scarcely be sufficient to repair, The Middle
Level Commissioners are fully alive to the danger which
threatens them, and are making every effort to avert it.
Still the utmost excitement, as may easily be imagined,
prevails throughout the whole district drained by the
Ouse. It is estimated that an outlay of at least £30,000
will be required to repair the damage at present done.

[ADvEnafstmExer.]—Holloway's Ointment and Pills.—
Diseases of the Glands.—When the glands about the neck
or elsewhere are inflamed or enlarged, Holloway's Pills
may be rubbed in with the most implicit confidence of its
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affected part should be fomented with warm water before
friction with the Ointment, Which thus more readily enters
through the cutaneous pores, and acts mote directly on the
blood,l
mis
;lymphatics and glands both in and beneath the
slain,
and
out the malady without irritating or annoy-
ing tlielenderest skin, Holloway's Pills should be taket`
while this treatment is pursued ; they are remedies, which
acting through the medium of the constitution, exercise a
moat beneficial influence over the local disease.