The Sun.
London, England, 1862-04-16 00:00:00

AMERICA,

kart-

QUEENSTOWN, MONDAY NIGHT.
T he Cunard steamer America, from Boston on
the 2d inst., and Halifax on the 4th, has arrived.
In the Senate on the 31st ult. a petition was pre-
sc Jilted from the workmen in the late armoury at
lYclarper's Ferry, asking for the re• establishment of
the armoury and for work. A joint resolution ap-
pointing Theodore Woolsey Regent of the Smithso-
anon Instit'ate,in place of President Felton, deceased,
was passed. The Secretary of War was asked to
furnish the Senate with a copy of Gen. Mansfield's
report of the fight between the Merrimac and the
Meinitor. A bill to create a Bureau of Transporta-
tion was introduced and referred. A bill to provide
a Territorial Government for Arizona was intro-
duced. Resolutions from the Legislature of Maine
were presented in favour of the President's eman-
cipation policy. The bill for the abolition of slavery
in the district of Columbia was taken up, and Mr.
Sumner, of Massachusetts, addressed the Senate in
favour of its passage. The bill was postponed.
In the House the Senate Bill remitting duties on
arms imported by States was passed. The Com-
mittee on Elections reported that S. F. Beach
was not elected a member from the Seventh Con-
gressional District of Virginia. The Tax Bill
-was then further considered in Committee of
the Whole House until the adjournment, and
the clauses relating to leather, enamelled cloth,
skins, hides, wines, varnish, and furs were
amended. A resolution was adopted that no duty
shall be collected on furs until the expiration of the
Reciprocity Treaty. The tax on diamonds, emeralds,
and other jewellery was fixed at 3 per cent. ad valo-
rem ; the tax on flour was struck out ; the tax on
cloth and all textile fabrics was fixed at 3 per cent.
ad valorem. A paragraph was adopted that on and
after the Ist of May a tax of 1 cent per pound
be charged on all cotton. A tax was also placed on
melodeons and organs kept for hire, also on pleasure
yachts, and on dogs. To the section relating to
cattle was added a proviso that the Commissioners
of Internal Revenue may make further rules and
regulations for ascertaining the accurate number of
cattle, hogs, and sheep slaughtered, liable to taxa-
tion under the bill- In the course of the debate
the statement was made by Mr. Spaulding, of New
York, that the existence of the Reciprocity Treaty
with Canada causes a loss to the United States'
Treasury of thirteen millions annually through dis-
criminating duties.
In the Senate, on the Ist, a resolution was adopted,
instructing the Committee on the Conduct of the
War to collect evidence in regard to the barbarous
treatment by the Confederates at Manassas of the
killed in battle there ; also,whether the Confederates
enlisted Indians who committed unheard of atro-
cities, and how this savage warfare was conducted.
A bill was introduced for the better organization of
the District of Columbia Militia. A resolution was
adopted requesting the Secretary of War to furnish
the correspondence of General Wool with the War
Department relative to the movements of the army,
or part thereof, since he has been in command of
Fortress Monroe. The bill abolishing slavery in the
district of Columbia was taken up. Mr. Davis
offered an amendment to the original bill,--Ahat
persons be permitted to retain possession of their
slaves until the money appropriated be paid them.
—Rejected. Mr. Davis offered another amend-
ment,—to strike out the limit of 300 dols. as the
average amount to be paid for each slave.—Re-
jected-11 against 30. Mr. Browning moved to
amend Mr. Clark's substitute by making the aver-
age value of the slaves 500 dols., and providing
that one-half. be paid to the master, if loyal, and
the other half retained by the Secretary of the
Treasury, and when any person liberated
by the bill emigrates to another country
to be paid over to him or his.—Adopted. Mr. Willey
moved an amendment to Mr. Clark's substitute, so
as to provide for the submission of the question to
the people of the district before it becomes a law.—
Rejected-13 against 24. Mr. Trumbull offered an
amendment to the original bill, that no payment be
made for any slaves to any persons who have borne
arms in the rebellion against the United States, or
in any way given aid thereto. After further discus-
sion the Senate went into Executive Session.
There has been no further encounter or move-
ment on the part of the Merrimac or Monitor.
The siege of Island No. 10 had continued without
any important change.
A special despatch to the Times, dated of Island
No, 10, March 31 says,—

"The river is falling several inches a-day. The
rebels have erected a large intrenched camp in the
bend of the river, directly in front of our gunboats.
An embankment half a mile long has been thrown
up on the shore, behind which guns are mounted in
large numbers. They are masked as yet, and we
have no means of ascertaining what artillery they
posted at this point. Several batteries, however, are
plainly visible. Their intrenchments extend from
the centre of the bend to the upper point of the
island. They are constantly busy with steamboats
and men. The mortars were fired yesterday and to-
day every 15 minutes, with what effect we are un-
able to decide. The shells are all thrown upon the
island. The rebels make no answer, except an occa-
sional shot at a transport. Occasional firing is heard
in the direction of new Madrid, caused by engage-
ments between the batteries, which are placed on
opposite sides of the river below that place. We get
no news from there."
Another despatch says,L-• •
" The mortars fire every half• hour, but elicit no
response. The rebel mail, captured yesterday at
Union City, contained letters from the rebel troops
at Island No. 10, representing that the forces
there were disheartened and dispirited. There
is nothing from General Grant's column. To-day
40 or 50 soldiers came into Hickman, gave up their
arms, and desired to return to their allegiance and
join the Federal army. They were a portion of those
who escaped from Union City yesterday. They
report that large numbers of the rebel troops are
also disposed to yield."
A special correspondent of the New York 21nws,
speaking of the rumours regarding the bombard-
ment and the real progress of affairs, says,—

" When it is known that for the last week we
have laid from two to three miles from the nearest
batteries, and, added to this distance, there have
been clouds of smoke along the horizon, whereby,
with the most powerful glass, we are unable to see
the enemy and not even his cannon, the value of
such information will be at once highly appreciated.
After laying for 48 hours, unable to catch a single
glimpse of the enemy, and not firing at him more
than half-a-dozen shots in the same time, it is in-
P'rillg to learn from the daily files that during that
period Re have dismounted a dozen cannon, killed
a score
°!rebels, shot down a flagstaff, and created
in general no small panic amon the sons of the
sunny and
gallant South. It is these accounts
which cheers's:aur flagging spirits and encourage us
to persevere with the hope of a speedy and glorious
end. The day before
yesterday Capt. Steiner made
his long looked.fr„
aerial reconnaissance. The
balloon was filled en a fiat boat, and thence, by
means of a cord, was
allowed to ascend slowly a I
distance of some 600 feet, or thereabouts. The
ascent was made from a point
about a mile above I
the Point, and hence was probably not less than
three miles from the nearest battery. Capt. Steiner
'went up first, and after him Col. Buford. The day
was as smoky as an Indian summer one, and;conse-
quently,some
the prospect was
not of the best. However,
they succeeded in learning that the rebels bad -
batteries on the main orlien tacky shore, besides forti.
fications and guns on the island. This was learnt,
together with the fact that there is a floating battery
on the side of the island and several transports
lying at the foot—all of which was eminently satis-
factory. We knew all this before, but then it had not
been discovered from what particular point of ob-
servation, and consequently was novel in one sense,
if not in another. The tents having disappeared
from the banks and the head of the island, it was
isf,rred that they had been removed back, in order
to get them out of range. This circumstance was
fully corroborated by the aeronaut, to the extent
that not being able to see any of the tents, from the
atmospheric haze, it was concluded that they had
been removed somewhere. No enemy was seen
from the balloon, from which circumstance it was
inferred either that the rebels, frightened at the

uprising of a monstrous unknown object above the
national fleet, had run into their holes, or else that
that the distance being so great, and the atmos-
phere so hazy, an object the size of a man would be
invisible. The information obtained concerning the
gulls was somewhat misty and unce ain, and did
not at all contain those elements of satisfaction and
exactness which distinguished the other points as-
certained during the reconnaissances. Several ob-
jects were seen which were probably neither stumps,
logs, nor four-horse waggons, and hence in all like-
lihood were guns ; but how many, or of what ca-
libre, or exactly how located, could not be learnt,
owing to their minuteness and their great distance
from the observer. Taken in all, tne balloon re-
connaissance was eminently satisfactory, with few
exceptions, arising from the great distance, the
smallness of the objects, and haziness of the atmos-
phere."

The Detroit Advertiser says :
" From a gentleman just arrived from Island No.

10 we have a satisfactory explanation of the appa-
rent delay and inaction of our forces in that quarter.
One reason given for the little vigour with which the
bombardment has been prosecuted for the past week
or ten days is that it is only desired to keep the enemy
at Island No. 10 diverted, while Gen. Grant strikes a
blow somewhere on the Upper Tennessee. In the
meantime our forces are not idle. For several days

they havebeen busily employedin cutting a channel
across the pointjust above the island, and by this time,
it is thought, the gunboats may by this means have
passed the terrible batteries of the island without
exposing themselves to the enemy's fire. Owing to
the rapid current of the river the gun and mortar
boats have had great difficulty to contend with in
having:to fight down stream. By getting below
the island they will be able to attack it from an
unexpected quarter, and will have the advantage of
keeping head up stream, which all vessel-men will
readily appreciate. We should hesitate to publish
this information were we not assured that the enter-
prise was, when our informant left, so far advanced
as to render its full completion by this time un-
doubted. The river, which just now is very high,
was expected materially to aid the work with its
rapid current."
Union City has been captured by a portion of the
army of the West. A special despatch to the Chi=
cage Journal, from Cairo the Ist, says,—
" Colonel Buford yesterday, accompanied by the
27th and 42d Illinois Regiments, and a part of the
Wisconsin from near Island No, 10, with a detach-
ment of cavalry and artillery from Hickman under
Hay, made a descent upon Union City, after a forced
march of 30 miles, and fell upon the rebel encamp-
ment at 7 o'clock in the morning, dispersing the
entire force stationed there under Clay and King,
consisting of both cavalry and infantry. They fled
in every direction. Several of the enemy were killed,
and a large amount of spoils was captured, includ-
ing 150 waggons filled with commissary and quar-
termaster's stores, &c. Our loss is one man killed
from an explosion in burning a tent. The rebel
force numbered 700 infantry, and between 700 and
800 cavalry."
The line of defence of the Federal army is de-
scribed by a special correspondent of the Cincinnati
Gazette, who is with the Federal army near Sa-
vannah, Tennessee, under command of Generals
Smith and Grant ;

" This seems to be the centre of rebel operations.
Their new line of defence has for its base the
Charleston and Memphis road, the preservation
of which is absolutely necessary to any pre-
tence of resistance through Northern Mississippi,
Alabama, and Georgia. Along this railroad are
Tuscumbia and Florence, at the foot of the muscle
shoals and the junction with the Nashville and
Florence road, where the rebels have had forces
since Donelson; Decatur, near the head of the
lower muscle shoal, where the greater part of the
Donelson and Bowling Green forces are said to
have concentrated at first after the retreat from
Nashville ; Huntsville and Bellfontaine, at both of
which there are said to be small bodies of troops ;
Stevenson, important as the junction with the rail-
road from Nashville through Murfreesborough,
through which the rebels retreated ; and Chatta-
nooga, a strong and important position. All these
points are east of Corinth, and all, except the last,
are in Alabama. To the west of Corinth the road
runs in a tolerably straight line to Memphis, 100
miles distant; and north-west runs the road to Jack-
son, almost in the centre of West Tennessee, where
rebel fortifications are said to be preparing with
great rapidity. Such is the new line of defence for
the rebel ' army of the Mississippi,' the command of
which their crack General, Beauregard, has re-
cently assumed. Beauregard's department is un-
derstood to extend at least as far as Decatur,
Alabama, and Memphis. He is known to have
been making his head-quarters last week at
Corinth, within 10 or 15 miles of our picket
lines, and during a portion of the week it is also cer-
tain that he had around him at the same point
Generals Polk, Johnston, Pillow, Cheatham, Free-
man, and Wright. Oar line, on the other hand,
for the present is simply the Tennessee River, from
Smithland Kentucky, to Eastport Mississippi. There
have been numerous ineffectual attempts to oppose
our free passage along.the river, by the two wooden
gunboats, the Lexington and A. 0. Tyler, have
served an admirable purpose as a roving police, pre-
venting the erection of batteries, and silencing the
only' one that had been completed—that at Pitts-
burg Landing, nine miles above. Above Eastport,
at Chickasaw Bluffs and other points, the rebels

arethe unnad,ueiarsattoioond
otfothheavreivebra,ttaenrdi;sprtohteactt cFomlomreannd
Florence
and Decatur from attack by water for the present.
The general understanding of the rebel movements
is that, with Corinth as their base of operations in
opposition to our fozca at Savannah, they are en-
deavouring to station troops and erect defences at
the exposed points east and west along the rail-
roads, so as to be ready to oppose our advance, and
concentrate their forces by rail at any point we may
attempt to pounae upon. Accordingly, for the pre-
sent, the rebel troops are pouring into Corinth,
both as the nearest point to the body of
our army, and as a convenient rendezvous
for the railroad line. In two days last
week our scouts saw 15 trains, laden with
soldiers, enter the town. Many of their troops are
supposed to be the raw militia, half-armed and un-
organised, that have been gathered by the recent
levies, but the numbers are becoming formidable.
Sixty thousand is the lowest figure to which the
official information will reduce them; and after
making all the necessary discounts and deductions,
I cannot see how we can work them down to an
actual number of less than 35,000 or 40,000. With
Beauregard at their head, it will be seen that this
force will not let our expedition remain without
anything to do. How soon we shall do anything
depends on the powers that remain behind."
There are indications of activity in the army of
the Potomac. The Confederates in large force were
on the 26th driven from Warrenton Junction, 10

miles beyond Manassas, and crowded steadily back
until they were forced to cross the Rappahannock
towards Gordonsville. They blew up the railroad
bridge behind them, to stop further immediate pur-
suit. There are now believed to be no Confederates
between the Federal army and the Rappahannock.
There had been considerable skirmishing for two
or three days, but with no loss on the Federal side.
Mr. Seward had paid a visit to Winchester, and
inspected the battle-field. The official report of the
battle has been published. Gen. Shields has written
to a friend a description of the event :
" Headquarters, General Shield's Division,
Winchester, Virginia, March 26.
" I will give you a brief account of our late ope-
rations. My reconnaissance beyond Strasburg, on
the 18th and 19th inst., discovered Jackson rein-
forced in in a strong position near Newmarket, within
distance of the main body of the rebels
under Johnson. It was necessary to decoy him from
that position
; therefore I fell back rapidly to
Winchester on the 20th, as if in retreat, march-
leg my whole command nearly thirty miles in
ono day. My force
was placed at night in a
secluded position, two miles from Wincester, on
the Martinsburg read.
On the 21st the rebel
cavalry, under Ashby, showed themselves to our
pickets within sight of Winchester. On the 22d all
of General Banks' command, with the exception of
my division evacuated Winchester en route for