The Sun.
London, England, 1862-11-03 00:00:00

THE SUN, LONDON, MONDAY EVENING, NOVEMBER 3, 1862.

!HE CIVIL WAR IN AMERICA.

(From the Ttmes' Correspondent.)
NEW YORK, OCT. 21.

Gold is down again from 37 per cent. premium
to 31:- ; but not from any return of public confidence
in the financial or general policy of the Govern-
ment, or faith in the speedy termination of the
war. The rise was too sudden to be quite natural,
and the fall is a reaction consequent upon the
alarm of the bankers at the excess of unsound spe-
culation of which the fluctuations in the price of that
commodity were the incentives, and which has led
many of them to adopt the extreme measure of re-
fusing to lend " green backs" and other paper cur-
rency upon the security of that which is really the
best security in the world—gold. It is not likely
that they will persist in this determination, though
they may have recourse to such measures as may
be within their power to throw impediments in the
way of the wild class of speculators—such, for in-
stance, as withholding from publication the price
of gold, now notified twice a day in Wall-street in
the official list of the Brokers' Board. But this
measure and any others within reach would effect
but little benefit, even if they did not throw the
business out of the hands of the more respectable
bankers and agents into those of an inferior class,
just as the railway share mania in Capel-court
picked up the rejected business of the Stock-Ex-
change, and made bad worse. The real causes of
the rise in gold are the over issues of paper money
and the belief of the commercial public that a col-
lapse of the national credit must occur if the war
continues—a belief that is aggravated by the whole
course and conduct of hostilities, and by the convic-

tion which, in spite of brag and boasting, forces
itself on the public mind, that if " imbecility" be
too strong a word to express the character of the
administrative incapacity, " gross and glaring"
exactly hits it. No one believes that the alarming
rise in gold is permanently checked ; and if Gene-
ral M'Clellan goes into winter quarters, which
some of his friends and all his foes believe to be
his intention, notwithstanding his recent reconnais-
sance to Charlestown, the premium will inevitably
reach a much higher point than it has yet done ;
and perhaps produce a crisis too unpleasant for
contemplation.
The great question of the hour is what M'Clellan
will do if permitted to retain the command ? Will
he offer the Confederates battle, or will the Confe-
derates reassume the offensive, and force a general
engagement along the lines ? Three days ago a
pitched battle was believed to be imminent. It is
now asserted that the autumnal campaign is at an
end unless the Confederates will it otherwise; and
that if any advance of the Federal forces be made
it will not be under the leadership of Gen. M'Clel-
lan. The most sinister rumours are in circulation,
too wild and improbable to be repeated, and only
of importance as proving the preternaturally ex-
cited state of the public mind. But high above all
the general dislike of the Republican and Abolition
party to this General is heard predominant. The
rescue of Washington and Baltimore out of the very
jaws of the advancing Confederates has not been
sufficient to inspire them with confidence in a man
who is not " square" on the slavery question. The
battle of Antietam—so bravely fought, and so nar-
rowly won, has not satisfied them that he is the
person to lead the national armies to assured vic-
tory, and all the old hints, innuendos, and scandals
are revived to his disfavour. In the meantime the
army continues to have thorough confidence in him
if in nobody else, though his army is but a fragment
of what it might be, and very ill provided. The Re-
publican journals hint of something decisive that is
about to be done, and of some " lofty head" which
is to be struck by a sudden thunderbolt. These
utterances are the results of spite, growing out of the
unfavourable turn which the State and Congressional
elections have recently taken, and which bids fair
to hamper the President for the next two years
with a Democratic Legislature as well as a Demo-
cratic General. But, although the hatred of the
Abolition party against M'Clellan is as Unreasonable
as it is excessive, it does tot follow that the Presi-
dent will not be badgered, or otherwise coerced,
into a course which his cooler judgment might dis-
approve, and that the best general which the Go-
vernment call boast will tot be sacrificed to the
jealousies of the ultra-Abolitionists. _ _

The publication of General Scott's letter to Mr.
Seward has created a profound impression. The
general stands so high in the estimation of the
people—and he has proved his loyalty to the Union
so thoroughly by that hardest of all sacrifices to a
man of Southern birth, disloyalty to his native
State—that his words fall on the public ear with
greater impressiveness than those of any other liv-
ing man in America. He at least foresaw the mag-
nitude of the struggle, though Mr. Lincoln, Mr.
Seward, Mr. Cameron, Mr. Chase, and all the Re-
publican party leaders deceived themselves. Mr.
Lincoln diffidently called for 75,000 men, as if that
number might have been considered too large for
the purpose, and Mr. Seward and the Northern
press, with few exceptions, were of opinion in the
excess of their confidence that 90 days would restore
the Union, none the worse, and, possibly, somewhat
the better for the shaking it would have received
in the interval. General Scott declared to them in
words of solemn warning that not four times 75,000
men, disciplined soldiers, led for three years by a
young general of the highest military genius, and
the greatest good fortune, could mend the broken
Republic ; but that at the best such a general and
such an army, at an untold cost of treasure and suf-
fering, could but temporarily re-establish the Fe-
deral authority over 15 discontented, troublesome,
and never-to-be-conciliated provinces and depen-
dencies. The warning voice was unheeded, mainly
because of the ignorance of the men to whom it was
addressed ; men who had never resided in the South,
and who, with the exception of Mr. Lincoln in his
syouth,ippi,
uognhththee
and rice-producing regions, and to whom South Caro.
neavveingatrtaevdehlliesdbatrhgroe
hadwh when he
lina,Georgia, Alabama, and Louisiana were as strange
M cottoniMissis-
sippi, s is-
and unfamiliar (except through the superficial know-
ledge acquired by books) as the interior of Africa.
But the voice has now reached the ears of the North-
ern millions in the powerful shape of a prophecy
fulfilled—of a prophecy to which they cannot but
be aware their leaders were wrong in refusing to
listen while yet there was time, and which, by its
fulfilment in part, startles them for the worst fulfil-
mentthat possibly may remain behind. Great as
are the
prepared pride a t
and passion
h
the of
South a
thoeut North,sa conquered
thep e o pl e
are
not
dependency, even were they able to reduce it by
force of arms to that perilous condition. The pub-
lication of that letter has come opportunely to the
aid of the Democratic party in the strenuous endea-
vour which is making in every part of the country
to stay the tide of advancing despotism and recal
to the minds of th
the mercilessmAubstolb'eti
that have taken
Abolitionists
tasr rtobgea nf
at u Rt etphuabt l
li
icba
enrst
yand
gain to the Democraticieh
alnnddiaanlwa,ayins place
h. in Pennsylvania, Ohio, and
aided by its publication, and it is not too much to say
that it has done more
e, a compromise. The elections
all w States there has been a
party, have been materially
reason of the Northern and
dwaken the slumbering
to
Western people than
any incident of the war.
success of Mr. Seymour and
n
t for the State and city of New
Dheemchuaentacteisu otfinke
the
theT
York have so much improved that the War Party,
or Union Party, or whatever name be the cor-
rect designation of that branch of rhay
Republican
main stem which does not approve of the immediate
abolition of negro slavery, or care for negroes,
whether free or slave, except to avoid association
with them, but which objects for old and well worn
party and personal reasons, to the success of the De-
mocrats, have agreed to nominate Gen. Dix for the
Governorship of New York. Gen. Dix is supposed
to be agreeable to the trimmers and waverers on both

aides. He has little if any other distinctive claim
to support than his order to his soldiery a year ago
at Baltimore to shoot any one who attempted to
haul down or insult the national flag. He is there-
fore believed to be a thorough and uncompromising
friend of' the Union, and if he goes to the poll will
certainly attract voters from both of the other can-
didates,bat whether in sufficient numbers to imperil
the election of Mr. Seymour is the point to be ascer-
tained. There can be no doubt of the strong Con-
servative reaction that has commenced, of which
Gen. Wadsworth, the Ultra-Abolitionist candidate,
is far more likely to be the victim in the State of
New York than Mr. Seymour. Gen. Dix refused
to become a candidate a month ago; and, as he is
one of those real soldiers of the Union who think
that their proper place in the day of peril for their
country is the battlefield, it fs probable that he will
persist in his refusal to enter political life, especially
to take part in a contest where success is doubtful.

Mr. Lincoln's
propositionwaited upon him by invitation some time ago at
Washington, that they should emigrate en masse to
to the coloured men who
Central America, or anywhere else, provided they
would but leave the United States, proved him to be
deeply imbued with the prejudices of his own State
of Illinois against that unfortunate race. How
strong those prejudices are in America—except in
Massachusetts and the other bleak and bitter little
States of New England—has never been sufficiently
appreciated in Europe. As an element in the solu-
tion of the slavery question the prejudice or anti-
pathy deserves to be taken into account, and the
proceedings that have just occurred in that very
State are of a character to cause even Mr. Lincoln
himself to reconsider the policy of Abolitionism to
which he seems to have been impelled against his
instincts and his judgment by the guiding of the
Tribune and the goading of Mr. Wendell Phillips.
The number of freed negroes—fugitives who have
recently sought refuge in the free States, and who,
both prior and subsequent to the publication of the
President's proclamation, have come within the
lines of the Federal armies or congregated at
Washington and New Orleans to be maintained
at the expense of the Government—has been
such as to alarm both General Halleck and
General Butler. Washington and the district of
Columbia are overrun with negroes, for whom em-
ployment cannot be foundi'"and whom the Go-
vernmentof:diked to feed ; while
is consequently
General Butler has an imniense population of old
and infirm negro men and women and large num-
bers of children to maintain, at an expense which is
so heavy as to alarm even that Imperial personage.
To lessen the difficulty the Government, in some
districts, has been billeting the able-bodied black
labourer upon the farmers, and has even introduced
them into Illinois, where a State law exists against
their importation. The order draughting negroes
emanated from the War Department, and has
created such dissatisfaction throughout Illinois
that mass meetings have been elsewhere summoned
to protest against it " as a gross and flagrant out-
rage on the laws of the State and the rights of the
people." At one of these meetings, held on the 11th
inst., at Pittsfield, fears were expressed that the
solders who returned to their native towns and vil-
lages at the conclusion of the war would find it im-
possible to procure work at their ordinary avoca-
tions, inconsequence of the number of negroes that
would be brought into competition with them at
lower wages. Many angry speeches were made
and angry resolutions passed. One resolution
stated " that the influx of a large population of
blacks could only tend to destroy the dignity of
white labour, by bringing black labour into ruinous
and disgraceful competition with it." Another
" that it was not only the duty of the people to pro-
tect the homes and property of those who have
volunteered to defend the country, but to protect
and keep open all the channels of industry through
which those volunteers, when they return home,
can earn by honest labour a support for themselves
and their families." Both of these were passed by
acclamation. At another meeting at Broadwell, in
the county of Logan
es
hwerebringing
fiercerng
in
a in
f
their tone, and declaredhte
negroes was calculated to disturb the peace and
impair the growing prosperity of the State, and
introduced them set the laws
that any one who tsaetechthe
and Constitution at defiance. One of the reso-
lutions warned all such persons that we,
the people, would see that the Constitution
and laws of the State were enforced to the
very letter—peaceably, if possible; forcibly, if
necessary." This significant threat was clearly a
declaration of war against Mr. Stanton and the
Government. The concluding resolutions, three in
number, called upon the Governor and all others in
office under him to execute the laws, to prevent
Illinois from being overrun with " worthless ne-
groes," and to protect the white labourer; adding,
in the following words, a pregnant reminder that
Judge Lynch was still alive, and
'`Lynch-law"
still current in Illinois:_" We hereby give all those
who will encourage, harbour, and give any aid to
negroes in this precinct warning that they will be
summarily dealt with if those whose duty it is to
enforce the law fail to do so ;" and that " we hereby
pledge our lives to the maintenance of the fore-
going resolutions." The same Chicago journal,
which report this and similar meetings contain also
the report of a law case in which the salary due to
a school teacher in Montgomery County was re-
fused on the ground that An was " at least one-
fourth negro." The Judge ruled that " good taste
and sound policy" forbade the employment of ne-
groes and mulattoes as teachers in the public
schools. The Constitution, he said, did not ex-
dppiarderstniseloyatldpariesrfuniatel
ag
ar adt ieohnj
enjoy
y into
th the h
he e state,o benefit
t
ti
negro
on,
hg uohc
but
th pai
laedrirsteo
npn
rs
to fohr
iohamti
tt
eee xdn edtrhc
aei ssi
their
n thispupils
andof
the
ee Commonschools,
it
w Schoolas clear
ea
awr
that the employment of negro teachers was contrary
to the spirit if not to the letter of the Constitution,
and he decreed accordingly. Mr. Wendell Phillips,
Mr. Greely, Mr. Chas. Sumner, Mr. Ward Beecher
and the President, together with the whole Abo-
lition party, would do well, in the face of facts
like these, to leave the question of slavery to the
settled upon a more Christian foundation than that
management of the South until they shall have
on which it stands at present. The question that
more intimately concerns all true philanthropists is
that of the social and legal status of the negroes in
the North and West. the question of slavery is a
very difficult and dangerous one, with which, if
the Federal Government were wise, it would have
nothing to do. The question of the mere exist-
ence of the negro in the Western States is equally
difficult and perhaps more dangerous, as the Federal
Government may discover at no distant day
if it
should be so unhappy
as to succeed in its double
purpose of restoring
the Union and emancipating
the slaves.
The habeas corpus casein Varmont, mentioned in
my letter of Sept. 9, has been .:.decided in a manner
that is scarcely gratifying to the friends of consti-
tutional liberty, though it must be highly distaste-
ful to Mr. Stanton and the instruments of his arbi-
trary decrees. Three persons, named Lyman, Barnes,
and Field, were accused of disloyalty at Burlington,
—why or by whom they knew not, and committed
to prison by the Provost-Marshal. The Provost-
Marshal was cited to bring up their bodies before
the civil tribunal, and refused, pleading military
authority from Mr. Secretary Stanton as his justifi-
cation. The Court leniently gave him time to con-
sider the point ; and when the time elapsed without
production of the prisoners the Provost-Marshal
was cited for contempt of Court and fined 100 dols.
He paid the money, declaring that he only desired
to perform his duty faithfully. But the question
will be asked, what has become of the prisoners ?
Are they still in custody ? And can a Provost-
Marshal, for £2O, which the Government will reim-
burse him,
detain men in prison, without trial,
although a judge on the bench declares his conduct

to be illegal and punishes him for it ? There is
nothing in the published reports to show that the
judge has ordered the release of the men; and if
they are still in prison the victory in the case rests
substantially with the Government (minus the cost
of 100 dols.), and public liberty in Vermont is as it
was before, at the mercy of any one who chooses to
infringe it, at the expense of a slight penalty to be
paid out of the public taxes.

Gen. Scott has published a long memorandum
2.
in
the Washington Intellzgencer which he addressed
to the Government in March, 1861, prior to his
second, and shorter, communication to Mr. Seward,
read at the great democratic meeting in this city last
week by Mr. Van Buren. The object of the publi-
cation is to show that the General submitted a plan
to President Buchanan for the garrisoning of the
Southern forts before the civil war actually burst
forth, which would, if adopted, have prevented that
catastrophe. The publication was not necessary to
vindicate the General's loyalty to the Federal Go-
vernment, which was not at all impugned:by his letter
to Mr. Seward. Its effect will be to strengthen the
public conviction that he was almost the only man
of his time, not a member of the Southern councils,
who thoroughly appreciated the seriousness of the
impending crisis, and the fearful magnitude of the
war, and that President Lincoln and Mr. Secretary
Seward were as wrong, but from different motives,
in not listening to his advice, as President Buchanan
and Mr. Secretary Lloyd.
The Chamber of Commerce of this city passed
yesterday a string of violent resolutions on the sub-
ject of the injuries inflicted upon American com-
merce by the Confederate steamship Alabama, in
which they endeavour to throw the whole blame
and responsibility upon the British Government,
that does not prevent private speculators from
building such ships in English ports. The resolu-
tions breathe war and bloodshed, and are very gene-
rally condemned as alike unjust, impolitic, and in-
temperate. The Chamber had nothing to say upon
another little matter, of which everybody is talking,
though the details have not yet found their way
into the newspapers, and which threatens to assume
very formidable proportions—namely, the seizure
and destruction on the coast of Cuba by the Federal
ship of war Montgomery of the British ship Blanche,
laden with cotton and bound from the neutral port
of Matamoros to the neutral port of Havannah.
The seizure and destruction were accompanied by
gross personal violence to the Spanish Alcalde, and
will doubtless bring remonstrances from both the
British and Spanish Governments. The subject has
created a very unpleasant feeling in commercial
circles, and has been jealously excluded from the
newspapers, by order, it is supposed, of the War-
office.