The Sun.
London, England, 1865-04-05 00:00:00

federate army of the South. In Georgia there wag
no force numerous enough to cope with Sherman.
In North Carolina he is confronted by an army
which is at least his equal, perhaps his superior, in
strength. Both armies have been gathering, like snow-
balls, as they rolled northwards. Each has been re-
inforced by troops from Savannah, Charleston, and
Wilmington. But while the whole Confederate
garrisons of these places have taken the field the
Northerners have to leave behind them at each a
strong corps of occupation. The Confederate army
has thus gained more than its Northern antagonist,
though the disadvantage to the latter is to some
extent counterbalanced by the accession of the force
under Schofield from Newbern. It will be remem-
bered that a short time since General Schofield was
encountered by Bragg and very roughly handled at
Kingston, on the Neuse River, 30 miles above New-
bern. It was his intention to march to Goldsboro',
20 miles farther, a place of great importance to
General Sherman, as being on the direct line from
Fayetteville to Richmond. Though he occupied
Kingston he was prevented from reaching Golds-
boro' by the army of Bragg, 40,000 strong, which
stood in his way. Schofield appears then to have
turned towards the south-west, in the hope of join-
ing Sherman near Fayetteville. On the road, about
half-way, near a place called Bentonville, he was
attacked by the Confederates, apparently the same
army of Bragg which hadpreviously confronted him,
but now commanded by General Johnstone in per-
son. This battle was fought on the 19th March,
but three days earlier another fight had been fought
some distance further to the west. From Fayette-
ville the Cape Fear River makes a bend to the north,
so that Averysboro', on that river, is in the direc-
tion of Raleigh, and rather more than,3o miles from
Fayetteville, or one-third of the distance. On the
16th March, Sherman reached this place, and found
Hardee entrenched near the junction of the South
and Black Rivers. The Northern army is said to
have made three desperate charges, and each time
to have been repulsed with great slaughter. The
Federals are reported to have lost 3,300 ; the Con-
federates only 450. The check to the other Federal
army seems to have been equally decisive. General
Johnstone attacked Schofield at Bentonville, 20
miles south-west of Goldsboro', on the 19th March.
He drove him back for one mile, and captured three
guns. The Federals raffled, but were again attacked,
and driven back. Night fell, and both armies en-
trenched themselves. We are quite in the dark as
to what has happened since these engagements.
There are rumours in New York that the forces
under Schofield have effected a junction with the
right wing of Sherman's army. It is also stated that
thd Federals have occupied Goldsboro', but as the
date mentioned is anterior to that of the battle at
Bentonville the announcement must be considered
as at the least premature. It is, however, probable
enough that the Confederate general, satisfied with
having checked the ardour of Sherman's advance,
and inflicted two such blows upon his army in three
days, will not fall back upon the strong positions at
Raleigh and Weldon, and dare the enemy to con-
tinue his march towards Virginia. If Sherman and
Schofield have joined, it is clear also that the armies
of Bragg and Hardee have effected a union with the
main army of Johnstone. A very formidable force
disputes the further progress of General Sherman
northwards. His junction with Grant becomes
'more and more improbable. The communications
between Lee before Richmond and Johnstone in
North Carolina remain open and undisputed. The
armies of the North are still separated by the watch-
ful care of General Lee and his subordinates. It
does not appear that Sheridan has yet been able to
effect a junction. with Grant. By latest reports he
was still at White House on the Pamunkey River.
Between his troops and the camp of his friends on
the James River are the Confederates under Long-
street, who swarm along the Chickahominy. Grant
on the Appomattox may be in communication with
Ord, on the north of the James River, he is cut off
by a considerable interval from Sheridan on the
Pamunkey, and from Sherman on the Neuse River.
The armies of the Confederates, as we have said,
form one vast camp, maintaining the closest rela-
tions with regard to supplies and the interchange of
troops, ammunition, and guns. The closer they
approach the greater will their advantage be. They
will be able to engage in succession with overwhelm-
ing force the three armies opposed to them, whose
isolation will be their ruin. The future of the cam-
paign is brighter for them than it has been for a
long time past. After a long period of gloom the
dawn has broken. The winter is over, and in
Europe and America, at one single bound, as it were,
the spring time has come to us.