The Sun.
London, England, 1862-11-20 00:00:00

THE SUN.

LONDON, THURSDAY, NOV. 20, 1862.

It seems quite possible that the war in Vir
ginia may yet be resumed with vigour even on
the very verge of winter. Snow is reported to
have covered the whole country from Maine to
Virginia, and even Kentucky—that is, from
the most northern States to the most
southern of the Border ones. The storm lasted
twenty-four hours, and for twenty years had not
been surpassed in violence. This was on the 6th.
The date of the telegram is on the Bth; it tells,
however of the movement of M'CLELLAN'S army,
at the game time that it says the snow must have
impeded the armies' movements on both sides.
Hardly anything, indeed, can be conceived mole
obstructive of the movements of an army, with all
its artillery and baggage, than snow, especially in
the parts where the Virginian armies now are.
Snow is not only an obstruction to traffic ; but, as
every one who, from the roadside, has looked into
a wood when covered with snow will remember,
it wonderfully reveals everything which, even in
winter, would not be otherwise seen. It is as ad-
verse to the secrecy desirable in military move-
ments as to the progress of men and carriages.
Yet it seems as if M'CLELLAN were really making
a steady Southern advance.
The reader must remember that the grand armies
of Virginia are no longer before Washington. The
inroad into Maryland changed all that. He must
carry his eye on the map about eighty miles north-
west of Washington, along the Potomac, to the
well-known Harper's Ferry, across which, princi-
pally, the Confederates retreated, and over which,
after some delay, M'CLELLAN followed them, first
with his right wing and centre, and afterwards
with his left also. Harper's Ferry is at the junc-
tion of the Shenandoah, which runs northward
along its large and fertile valley, with the Potomac.
Near the westward bank of the Shenandoah, com-
mencing at Harper's Ferry, is the long ridge of the
Blue Mountains. Along these, we are informed,
M'CLELLAN is moving ; and he is said to have occu-
pied Ashby's Gap in them, about thirty miles from
the Ferry. We may presume, therefore, that he has
control of the Manassas Gap, which is but a few
miles to the south, and through which the railway
of that name runs, which leads ultimately to Wash-
ington ; the more so, since he certainly has pos-
session of Warrenton, which communicates with
the same main railway. Indeed, we are told that all
the approaches to Manassas are in the hands of the
Federals. The position of Lee's army is uncertain.
STONEWALL JACKSON'S division, however, cannot
be far from NI•CLLELLasr, as we read of his taking
up a position near, and of a slight encounter of
o tvalry.
What the plan of the Federals may be is not
very apparent. Their main army is now sixty or
seventy miles from the capital, and hardly so near
Richmond as it would be if there, yet an advance
on the Southern capital in that direction has been
spoken. of. There may be "strategic reasons" for
this, but what they are we cannot perceive in this
country.
Washington, and M'CLELLAN'S present
position on
the Blue Mountains, with the rail-
roads connecting
them, form the southern base
of a triangle, of which
the Potomac and
the Blue Mountains form respectively the eastern
and western sides
the Northern v ertex
(
end of tih? b ,
with
is the nearest
easy to see Wla _me Y
a move on Harper's Ferry as
As the Washington
Richmond, itin:
itonnot
that city should be at-

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