The Sun.
London, England, 1865-04-10 00:00:00

AMERICA.

(Via Crookhaven.)
QUEENSTOWN, APRIL 9.
The Royal Mail steamship Africa arrived at 9.20
p.m., with 90 passengers and $540 in specie. She
landed 123 sacks of mails and three passengers, and
proceeded at 9.35 p.m. All well.
NEW YORK, MARCH 28 (Evening).
It is officially announced that before daylight on
the 25th, three Confederate divisions under General
Gordon made a sudden and determined attack on
Fort Steadman, in front of Petersburg, overpower-
ing the garrison, capturing the fort, and turning the
guns upon the Federals. A battery close by was
also captured, but quickly re-taken. The Confe-
derates also attacked Fort Askell, but were repulsed
with great loss. The Federals on either flank main-
tained their ground. Reinforcements arriving,
they charged, drove out the Confederates, and re-
occupied Fort Steadman, capturing numbers of
prisoners. The guns of the fort were found un-
injured.
The second and sixth corps pushed forward, cap-
tured the Conkederate entrenchments, and turned
them upon the dimafederate.3, who made unsuccems.
ful efforts to retake them. The battle lasted until
eight o'clock in the evening.
The loss on both sides was heavy. Grant esti-
mates that the slaughter of the Confederates at the
point where they entered the Federal lines was
3,000 men. Ile captured 1,800 prisoners. The
Federal loss in killed, wounded, and missing was
2,000 men, including General M'Laughlin, who
was taken prisoner.

Despatches from General Sherman to the 22d inst.
state that he had had severe fighting since leaving
Fayetteville, with very heavy loss to the enemy in
killed and wounded. He had captured over 2,000
prisoners. His loss since leaving Savannah amounted
to 2,500 men, many of whom were only slightly
wounded. The army will now rest.
General Schofield announces his occupation of
Goldsboro' on the 21st. He met with slight opposi-
tion. General Terry would probably reach Golds-
boro' the same night. According to unofficial de-
spatches, a portion of Sherman's forces from
Fayetteville flanked and overpowered the Confede-
rates at Mount Olive on the 21st. The Confederates
retreated in confusion towards Smithfield.
The Federals claim that the engagement at Averys-
boro' on the 16th was a victory for Sherman, and
that after a temporary repulse at Bentonville on the
19th, they drove back Johnston, who retreated on
the 20th across the Neuse River.

Sheridan's whole force crossed the James River at
Deep Bottom on the 26th to join Grant. •
The movement against Mobile commenced on the
17th, the Federals moving towards Secours, and also
from Barrancas, had occupied Pescaguala.
The Confederate Secretary of the Treasury has
proposed to hypothecate to the banks and capitalists
50,000 bales of Government cotton at 20 cents.
the pound, with the privilege of exportation, as se-
curity for a loan of 3,000,000 dole in specie.
The Federals have destroyed the privateer
schooner Anna Dale, in Malagorda Bay.
The Confederate steamer Owl, Captain Maffitt,
has cleared from Havana for Matamoras. It is be-
lieved she is going to Galveston to be fitted out as
a privateer.

Robert J. Walker has written a letter, denying
that he was visiting Canada to promote the annexa-
tion of that country to the United States.
The America mad Virginia have arrived out.
COMMERCIAL INTELLIGENCE.

NEW YORK, March 28 (Evening).
Gold, 153 f. Exchange on London, 1691. Paris,
3.53. Stocks declining. New York Central, 90f ;
Illinois, 56g.
.Erie.,-520. 5-2 t) Bonds, 1051.

NEW YORK, March 30 (Evening).
General Lee's report of the attack on Fort Stead-
man states that he captured 9 guns, 8 mortars, and
500 prisoners, amongst whom were a brigadier-
general and a number of officers. He swept the
Federal lines from left to right for a distance of
500 yards. Two efforts to recover the captured
works were handsomely repulsed, but, finding that
the enclosed works in the rear could only be taken
at a great sacrifice, the troops were withdrawn to
their original position. As it was impossible, how-
ever, to remove the guns, they were disabled. Lee
says his loss was not heavy. The troops behaved
very well.
The entrenchments captured by Grant consisted
of an advanced Confederate piquet line, which he
still holds. The Confederates unsuccessfully
attempted to reoccupy the line on the 27th.
Northern correspondents state that Lee's troops
fight with -undiminished enthusiasm.

Northern accounts of the battle at Bentonville
state that on the 19th two Federal divisions were
driven back two miles, losing three guns. The Fe-
derals were reinforced on the 20th, and on the 21st
drove the Confederates through Smithfield, in the
direction of Raleigh, capturing 10 guns and front
5,000 to 7,000 prisoners.

Southern accounts of the fighting on the 20th
and 21st state that it consisted of heavy skirmishing
in which the Federal attacks were repulsed. John-
ston brought off all the wounded. On the 20th,
Sherman's, Schofield's, and Terry's armies were at
Goldsboro' refitting.
The Richmond Sentinel declares that Sherman hag
been forced to take up a fortified position, and was
acting on the defensive. Johnston's army was full
of enthusiasm.

Sherman arrived at City Point on Monday, and
held a council of war there with Lincoln, Grant,
and Sheridan.

It is reported that a movement by Grant's army
commenced immediately afterwards.
Lincoln's visit to City Point has caused the
revival of peace rumours, it being asserted that
Lee, convinced of his inability to hold Richmond,
had renewed his request for a military peace con.
f erence. _

General
has prohibited all travellers except
e
from entering the United States by sea
The old issue of 7-30's has bebn fully subscribed
without
ts Dix
passports.
for. The new issue will commence immediately.
Sherman issued an order, dated 22d, near Ben.
tonville, stating that the concentrated armies of the
enemy had, on the 21st, been beaten on their chosen
ground, and were fleeing in disorder, leaving their
dead and wounded, and burning the bridges in their
retreat. On the same day Schofield occupied
Goldsboro'. The campaign has resulted in a glori.
MIS success.

The steamers Asia, City of Manchester, anti
Damascus have arrived out.

COMMERCIAL INTELLIGENCE.
NEW YORK, March 30, Evening.
Money abundant. Gold, 1511. Exchange on
London, 1651 ; on Paris, 3.34. Stocks tending
downwards. New York Centrals, 831. Illinois,
911. Erie, 45. 5.20 Bonds, 1051. Cotton dull.
Middling Upland, 48. Flour and wheat declining.
Corn dull. Provisions heavy. Coffee quiet. Sugar
steady ; molasses slightly firmer. Petroleum quiet;
crude, 331 ; refined, 53.
NEW YORK, March 30, 10 P.M.

The Government is said to be endeavouring to
`cheek any decline in gold below 150, fearing it
would interrupt the sale of their securities. The
last quotation to-day is 1511. Exchange on Lon..
don, 1654. New York Central, 841. Illinois, 918 ;
Erie, 461. 5.20 Bonds, 1051.
NEW YORK, March 31, 1 A.M.
It is semi-officially denied that Lee has demanded
a
conference.
has yet been received of the
peaceNo confirmation
reported movement of Grant's army.

LONDON, MONDAY, APRIL 10, 1865.

SHERMAN'S successful, if not victorious career,
has at length received a check, and instead of
marching at the head of his army to effect a junc-
tion with GRANT, his interview with that general
has only been effected by means of a personal
voyage by sea. RALEIGH, the capital of North
Carolina, has not, as the Federals fondly hoped,
proved a second Columbia, and the opposition which
ought to have met SHERMAN in Georgia has at last
encountered him in North Carolina. JOHNSTONE
has proved a formidable opponent, and so vigorous
and determined was his attitude that SHERMAN
abandOned his intended advance. The battle of
Bentonville, of which we have heard by the last
mail, is admitted by both sides to have been furious,
and the losses of Federals and Confederates were
alike heavy. It seems that on the day following the
engagement severe skirmishing was kept up, and
that SHERMAN finally decided that it was useless to
attempt to proceed further in that direction. He,
therefore, proceeded to Goldsborough to join SCHO-
FIELD, leaving JOHNSTONE to intrench himself at'
Smithfield. We find an amusing example of the
skill with which the Northern leaders make the
worse appear the better cause, in the substance of
SHERMAN'S address to his army after what may be
called a retrograde movement. He informed them
they had a won a victory after a gloriously success-
ful campaign, and that it should rest to enjoy the
products of a rich and magnificent 'country before
again embarking on fresh dangers. The fact of the
matter is, that the first strong and well-organised
resistance which SHERMAN has encountered has
sufficed to turn him from his path ; and if the Con-
federates had had promptitude and energy enough
to have faced him before they might have earlier
arrested his progress. • SHERMAN'S expedition to
City Point, to which he went via Newbern, was
for the Purpose of joining a conference of war be-
tween LINCOLN,GRANT, MEADE, SHERIDAN, and ORD.
The result of this conference is not known, but it is
probable that some line of action must have been de-
termined on since the whole of the principal leaders
of the war were thus present. SHERMAN returned
to his head-quarters at Goldsborough the next day.
and it is asserted that a movement of GRANT'S army
commenced immediately afterwards. The PRESI-
DENT'S visit to City Point'. has revived the peace
rumours, and it has been reported in the North that
LEE, being convinced of his inability to hold Rich-
mond, had renewed the request for a military peace
conference. It scarcely needed an official denial to
contradict this statement. LEE'S intentions do not
seem at present to be very pacific, for the most im-
portant part of the military news brought by the
Africa is the account of an attack upon the Federal
lines on the 25th. GRANT'S version of the story is
that early in the morning of that day the Confede-
rates attacked the extreme right of his army, and
succeeded in capturing Fort Steadman, and two
Union works, besides taking General M'LAUGH-
LIN and many other prisoners. Afterwards
the Federals were reinforced, and drove
back the Confederates to their own lines with the
loss of 3,600 men, the Federal loss being 1,000.
LEE'S object was thought to have been to seize the
military railway from City Point, an achievement

The Duke of CAMBRIDGE presided on Friday at a
meeting in the Royal United Service Institution,
Whitehall. Many noblemen, gentlemen, and offi-
cers assembled to hear a lecture from Captain
CHESNEY, of the Royal Military School, Sandhurst,
upon the recent campaigns of General SHERM..kN in
America. The lecture was a very interesting one,
and entered fully into the suggestive subject under
notice. Captain CHESNEY observed, with great
accuracy, that the time had gone by when men
looked upon the American war as a chaos of inde-
cisive engagements. The history of the contest has
shown that the Americans can fight, and the affair
at Bull's Run was a " panic" that was not a
test of their powers, nor should it be taken as an
instance of their capabilities. The lecturer con-
sidered that President Davis made a fatal error in
superseding JOHNSTONE and appointing HOOD. This
is, no doubt, true; for the course pursued by the
latter was a very mistaken one, and in the summary
of the campaign tells greatly to the disadvantage
of those who proposed and carried it out. The
praise accorded to JOHNSTONE may be said to be
borne out by consideration of the difficult position
in which he was placed, even when it goes so far as
to say that his retreat in some parts "was a master-
piece of successful caution." One of the chief points
worthy of special notice in this campaign was the
dexterous manoeuvre of SHERMAN, in allowing
HOOD to think he was drawing him back into
Tennessee, while all the while he was only wait-
ing to get clear of him to proceed on his march
into Georgia. Of course such a series of events
could not be given without due notice being taken
of the manner in which SHERMAN obtained his sup-
plies ; and the lecturer observed very truly that we
had reason to fear that the accounts given were
correct ones, and that the " atrocities" said to have
been committed in the Carolinas were only too
well founded on fact. The savage spirit that has
been evoked in this struggle cannot be too much
deplored ; and, indeed, more than all other cala-
mities, it may be regarded as the chief evil of this
civil war. It has shown that the intellectual and
prosperous nation needed one thing, which may be
called the one thing needful—a spirit of Christian
feeling, and the remembrance that they were
fighting with their own race. As a brilliant mili-
tary manoeuvre the campaigns of SHERMAN deserve
attention and study ; and this last achievement of
his has been the greatest exploit of the war in de-
sign and execution, although his fame has been
tarnished by the cruelties which defaced his pro-
gress.

The meeting at Wolverhampton on Saturday,
a
concerning the labour dispute in the iron trade, is
efeecitliendg.
it h
has
displayed, and the op
worthy of notice, on acincoiounnst of h
it has
t
elicited.
Not-
withstanding that the question was -virtually
settled, in many places the Unionists seemed to
'
take great interest in considering the points
of notice relating to the exertions which they
had made. The chairman congratulated the as-
semblage upon the appearance of things, and said
that the termination of the lock-out found the men
more united than ever, which could not be said of
the masters. lie also gave them some very good
advice, which, it is to be hoped, they will follow.
Nothing can militate more effectively against any
future prosperity than ill-feeling and jealousy
existing between employers and employed, and
therefore we hear with satisfaction that wise counsels
emanated from one placed in an influential position
towards many operatives. The chairman urged the
importance of not giving way to bad feelings, and
truly said that to use such language concerning