The Sun.
London, England, 1862-06-30 00:00:00

THE CIVIL WAR IN AMERICA.

(From the Times Correspondent.)
NEW YORK, JUNE 17.

Though little is publicly said upon the subject—
the fear of Mr. Stanton andthe military censorship
being great among the journals of all shades of
politics—considerable anxiety is expressed wherever
men congregate as the position of the army before
Richmond. Gen. M'Clellan is not at the head of a
force sufficient to risk an attack upon the Confede-
rate capital, and a constant demand for reinforce-
ments reaches Washington from his camp—a de-
mand with which the Government finds much dif-
ficulty in complying, though perfectly aware of the
urgency of the case. Gen. Beauregard is still in
the field in force sufficient to checkmate the large
army of Gen. Halleck ; and Generall "Stonewall"
Jackson, by his brillianttaid into the Valley of the
Shenandoah, has found such ample occupation for
the four armies of Generals Fremont, Shields,
Banks,
and M'Dowell, as to prevent-any reinforce-
ments for M'Clellan being abstracted from their
commands. While such is the position of the Fe-
deral army, and while the Government is not with.
Out anxiety for the safety of Washington, exposed
even now to any daring movement that Jackson or
any other Confederate general might attempt, the
defenders of Riehmonl appear to be receiving large
reinforcements every day, and to be growing in
audacity as they grow in numbers. A small force
of about 2,000 men has been bold enough to make
a sortie from Richmond in the rear of M'Clellan's
army, between him and his supplies, and to " play
the very mischief" with his Commissariat, them-
selves escaping without danger. At Charleston, too,
it appears as if the South had determined to make a
stand as obstinate as that which it certainly intends
to make before Richmond, with the view, in both
places, and especially in Virginia, of avoiding a
decisive battle until the harvest is ready for the
sickle. The beautiful and fertile Valley of the
Shenandoah, which grows grain enough to feed the
whole of the Confederate armies, and which has
the additional advantages of commanding the ap-
proaches to Washington, and of being entirely
Southern in its opinions and sympathies, may yet
be the scene of a new struggle that may weaken
M'Clellan at the hour of his need and keep the
whole North in alarm and perturbation of spirit.
The very elements seem to conspire to procrastinate
the final onslaught. The banks of the Chickahominy
are still flooded, and M'Clellan's inaction is dictated
by a double necessity—the want of men and the
abundance of water.

•
The Yankees, though they have contributed
several able generals and other officers to the war,
have not contributed very largely to the rank and
le of the Federal army Had it not been for the
aid afforded by the Irish and the Germans, who
form at least two-fifths of the whole number of
fighting men now, or hereafter to be, at the disposal
of the Federal power, the war against the South
could not have been carried on, except at odds which
would before this have assured victory to the Con-
federates. This is a grievance to the South of
which the Southern leaders make the most, and
which they take card shall rankle in the minds
of the people. It embittered the hearts of the
Americans in the war of independence to know
that Germans and "Hessians" were employed by
the British Government to keep them in subjection,
and the South has raised the same cry of
" Hessians," and declared that but for the' hireling
foreigner" the detested Yankees could not even
have attempted the hopeless task of subduing a
free people. It is one characteristic both of the war
and of the Germans that, while immigration into
the United States has greatly diminished from all
other countries, Ireland included, since the Battle
of Bull Run, the immigration of Germans has in-

creased. The Germans trained to war by the mili-
tary system of their own little kingdoms and
duchies, seem to snuff the carnage from afar. They
come over here, ready material for the rough work
of war, in which they receive more than double the
pay of soldiers of Europe, and in which they are
cheered on by the hope of advancement, and, ,it is
to be feared, of plunder also, if half the accounts
are true that are published of their doings in the
Northern as well as the Southern newspapers. They
know little or nothing of the merits of the cause for
which they are so ready to fight, and there are
whole regiments of them in which scarcely a man
can speak a word of English. They pillage where-
ever they go, and are as instrumental in exaspe-
rating the already excited passions of the South as

General Butler himself. Were the Federal Govern.
went to notify to General Blenker or General Sige'
—the two most noted German officers in command
—the propriety of shooting or hanging a fevr of
these offenders, a great scandal might be removed
from the Northern army. The South at the same
time might be deprived of a grievance that adds no
little bitterness to the strife, if it does not tend to
prolong it.
At last the commercial world of New York and
the press, which has so long ignored the question,
are beginning to perceive that there may, after all,
be too much inconvertible paper money. Mr.
Chase's last proposal to add 150,000,000 " green-
backs" to the already over-inflated currency has
alarmed the bankers and the great traders, and bids
fair to create a panic if it be not withdrawn. A
year ago gold was at par. Under the operation of
Mr. Chase's " green-backs" it has risen to 7 per cent.
premium, 2 per cent. of which has been the direct
and almost immediate consequence of his proposal
of last week to double the existing amount of these
legal tender notes, based solely upon the credit of
the Government and its power to collect a large
revenue by means of a Tax Bill and a Tariff which
have not yet become Jaw. The probability is that
the rate will increase still further, and that before
a month has passed g sld may be at a premium of
10 per cent. This may be an excellent state of
affairs for speculators on the Stock Exchange, and
for a certain class of bankers and merchants, but it
threatens to bring about a financial collapse, that
will cost the country as much as the war, and much
more quickly. The warnings of the English press
w'lich have hitherto been unheeded, or ascribed to
jealousy of " our great country" are now considered
with a little more respect ; and the science of poli-
tical economy—even
though founded upon what fast
Americans consider thelitaited experience of the slow
and effete old world, and
especially of slow and de-
caying old England—s, found to be of universal
applicution, and not to be set at defiance with im-
by so fast and exceptional a country
pu n ity, even
as the United States. With the trade of the nation
reduced from an annual aggregate of 5,000 millions
of dollars to 2,500, or, at most, 3,000 millions ; wit's
few legitimate opportunities for the investment of
capital, and with 300 millions of floating
and incon-
vertible paper issued by the Government, instead
of about 100, millions of convertible paper, which
was the average issue of the banks prior to the war,
does Mr. Chase imagine that he is building up any-
thing but a house of cards by his financial legerde-
main, cards which the first breath of distrust, or the
first great military reverse to the arms of the Re-
public, will not utterly overthrow ? If he do,
America may teach the nations how to live and how
to fight, but it certainly, under his financial regime,
will not teach them how to calculate.
While the war thus languishes, and while com-
merce scarcely knows what to think or where to
turn, it may not he out of place to bestow a little
attention upon the general condition of the public
sentiment and the new distribution of parties which
the war has created. The political parties that
divide or distract the country are still called the
Democratic and the Republican ; but this classi-
fication is no longer correct. Both have been so
violently shaken by the war that, while they
have been sundered in one sense, they have been
amalgamated in another and have utterly lost
their ancient . '
individuality. Neither of them has
" a platform"
on which it can stand to enunciate
its principles, or a banner which it can unfurl
to summon its supporters to their Former alle-
giance. Into what new or s
ran they will ultimately
crystallise under
the hot blast and glee mical dis-
integration of civil war it is impossible to fore-
see ; but it may help tho European student of
American history to a better comprehension of
the mighty contest that convulses this continent
if an impartial observer attempt to describe the
actual division of parties with reference to the war,'