The Sun.
London, England, 1862-10-29 00:00:00

WE CIVIL WAR 1N AMERICA.

(From the Times' Correspondent.)
" `The ride of the three thousand" bids fair to be
sung by the future Homer of the war as the most
brilliant of its episodes. Anything more daring,
more gallant, and more successful than the foray
of Gen. Stuart—a Highlander by extraction—ovGr
the border of Maryland and Pennsylvania, has never
been recorded. At the head of 3,000 horsemen, by
every one of whom he is as personally beloved as
a chieftain of old by the members of his clan, he
crossed the Potomac to Mercersburg and Chambers-
burg, to the rear of M'Clellan's army, and thence
rode back again by another road and a long detour
over the Potomac--a distance of nearly 100 miles,
—gathering horses, provisions, shoes, wearing ap-
parel, medicines, and everything else he wanted,
and defying not only capture, but pursuit. If he
startled the public by his audacity, he extorted
their admiration by the bravery and success, and
forced even the bitterest enemies of the Confederate
cause to wish that fate had granted such a cavalier
to the Northern army. Gen. M'Clellan, forgetting
his usual caution, when he first heard of the inva-
sion, telegraphed to Washington that not a man of
Stuart's cavalry should escape; but, unluckily for
his credit, only one of them was captured, and he
not by the Federal army. Now that the brilliant
affair is ended, people are puzzled to know what it
meant. Was it a mere foray in search of horses
and stores ? Was Gen. Stuart in this instance, as
at Cattlett's Station, the jackal in advance of the
lion, and was " Stonewall" Jackson coming after
him for a new invasion of the Border States ? The
question is still undecided ; and the perplexity
which it causes is not confined to the councils of
General M'Clellan and the President, but has taken
possession of Wall-street, and sent up gold to the
highest rate it has yet attained-33 per cent. pre-
mium. It is reported that the army of M'Clellan
is again to make a movement in advance; but whe-
ther in consequence of General Stuart's raid, or of
information not accessible to the public, is not
stated. The " situation" all over the country is grave
in the extreme, and though the journals are filled '
with sensation headings of great and glorious vic-
tories in Kentucky, Tennessee, and Missouri, people
are much slower to believe in such victories than
they used to be, and are fast awakening to the con-
viction that the North has no generals fit for the
herculean task of winning victories that decide
any thing but the bravery of the troops who fight in
them.

New York is fairly aroused by the war newe to
take unprecedented interest in its own local selec-
tions for governors and other State officers on the
4th of November next. Doubts begin to be felt for
the success of the Democratic " ticket" on that oc-
casion. New York city has hitherto supported by
a large majority of votes the Democratic and pro-
slavery party; but New York State has always
yielded a powerful majority to the Republican side.
Could the question of peace or war—Conservatism
or Abolitionism—be settled by the votes of the city
alone, it is highly probable that the terms of acom-
promise with the South would be speedily agreed
upon and carried into effect ; but the rural districts
are as keen against the South, and as strongly in
favour of abolition and a war of extermination, as
the New England States. It is feared by some of
his own party that if Governor Seymour goes to
the poll he will be defeated by a large majority of
the State. Such a defeat would adminster so mighty
a dose of encouragement to the " Jacobins," not
only in New York, but throughout the North and
West, and impel the President so powerfully
to the Abolitionist side, that timid members of the
party—who do not, however, appear to be the most
numerous—urge that it would be better for Mr.
Seymour to withdraw his pretensions before the
day of polling, and leave his opponents to walk
over the course. If this policy were adopted, the
doom of the Democratic party would be sealed. It
would commit political suicide, and its leaders
would find themselves ere many weeks in Fort La-
fayette, and perhaps ere many months at the foot of
the gallows or the guillotine. The cry of blood has
been raised. They will not escape their doom by
cowardly surrender. Their only course is to comport
themselves like courageous and conscientious citi-
ze-as at the polls, as General M'Clellan, who belongs
to their party, incidentally recommends in his order
of the day to his army. If they fall there they will
at least fall with dignity—which cannot be said of
them if they withdraw without a struggle, and
leave the Revolutionists undisputed masters of the
position. It is held out as a bait to
.Mr. Seymour,
if he will withdraw, that he will be placed in nomi-
nation for the Presidency as successor to Mr. Lin-
coln, and receive the undivided support of his party.
.But, in times of civil commotion, two years are a
long period to look forward to ; and Mr. Seymour
may share the fate of Denton, and Mr. Wendell
Phillips that of Robespierre, before a reaction comes
when a Bonaparte shall be possible to establish a
despotism on the ruins of the Republic.
Judging from the tone and temper of the speakers,
and the vociferous enthusiasm of the great meeting
of the party which was held last night at the Cooper
Institute, it would appear as if the discouragement
in the party were confined to a few members, who
have money and fear to lose it; and as if the bulk of
the Democrats were determined to bate no jot of
heart or hope in the attempt to clog the chariot
wheels of revolution, and dismount the drivers. Mr.
Seymour spoke well and earnestly, and Mr. John
Van Buren, son of the late ex-President Martin Van
Buren, seemed to carry the hearts of the crowded
assemblage along with him, as he proposed a truce
and a general convention of all the States of the
Union—South as well as North, to debate the points
at issue, and the terms of a reunion. " I will not
believe," said the speaker, " that the South have
utterly forgotten the glorious and precious history
of our past career. I will not believe that they are
willing to relinquish their share in our common
heritage of fame. I will not believe that they will
consent to see this great model Republic, starting
in its career and challenging the admiration of the
world, strangled in its infancy. I believe the South
would come into a convention, that we might agree
to live under the Constitution as it is. If they
would not consent, then I know that I am in favour
of so amending the Constitution as to let them go ;
saying to them, in the language of the gallant
General Scott, Wayward sisters, go in peace !' "
This was bold speaking for New York, and a bid
for gratuitous lodgings in Fort Lafayette. It re-
mains to be seen whether the government will con-
sider the language to be treasonable, or will dare
to interfere with Mr. Van Buren or any of the other
speakers, laying itself thereby under the grievous
imputation of attempting to interfere with the free-
dom of election—a freedom to which the Northern
Americans still cling with the ancient pertinacity,
Ls the last and most precious part of their inherit-
.ence. It is most probable that Mr. Van Buren's
name will be marked with a black cross in the books
of the Provost-Marshal, in case he should be caught
tripping hereafter, and that until after the election.
but whatever the Government may do, or the
Northern people may think, all who are not Ameri-
cans, and who look upon the question without pas-
Sion t Prejudice, will confess that Mr. Van Buren's
Pr°P"al. offers a solution of the difficulty, which the
nation would
hope et
such e , e wise to accept. But there is no
The aresult, unless from the action of
p
Euroe.
Abolitionists aro so relentless for the
triumph of their
theory, and the North Americans
in general areso much
more desirous of being the
citizens of an immense
liberty than of a smalleundividedand Republic without
divided Republic with
liberty, that they will listen
to 11°
terms that shall
not be dictated by superior force.bfeyatisuirre.ovf
athis important
But the most important
mlturen of a
meeting was the reading
fetter from General Scott, addresyseadn;:iouren. Sewardd.d
on the 3d of March, 1861. Mr.
Si:Ate by what means the letter came into his pou:t
slot), and admitted that he had no authority from,
Scott for making it public. General Scott
at that time thought the President's course of
action was limited to ace of four courses of pro_
cedu re—first,
a compromise under the terms of the
Crittenden Resolution ; second, a collection of cus-
toms duties on foreign goods outside the ports of
which the Government hod lost the command, or a
blockade of such ports; third, a conquest of the
South by invading stinks ; fourth, COLlzent to peace-

able separation. It is evident that at that time,
whatever may be his opinions now, th general
hoped more from the first course of procedure than
from any other ; and that if tht first were ineffectual
be preferred the last to the second or the third.
The second could have done little mi• chief beyond
exciting rancour, and would infallibly have led to
the third. And as regards the third, he was of opi-
nion that a young and able general, with an army
of 300,000 disciplined men, might conquer the
South in two or three years, though at a cost far
disproportionate to the gain, leaving as the result
of the war, besides a debt of 250,000,000 dols and the
misery, " 15 devastated provinces, not to be brought
into harmony with their conquerors, but to be held
for generations by heavy garrisons, at an expense
quadruple the net duties or taxes which it would
be possible to extort from them—followed by a
Protector or an Emperor." General Scott erred
somewhat in his calculation of the means. The
young and able general has not appeared. Three
hundred thousand men have perished or been dis-
abled in 20 months. A million of men are required
to supply their places and carry on their work, and
the debt has long ago overtopped the modest esti-
mate of 250,000,000 dols. But the conquest of the
South, if ultimately it were to be effected in three
years, or in 20, would be accompanied with every
other result of which the general, with the mystical
lore of the sunset of his life, foresaw the shadows
at that early period of the contest. A forcible Union
is absurd and impracticable. " Extermination," or
the holding of the South as a dependency, as France
holds Algiers, or Austria Venetia, are the only
possible results. The Northern Jacobins, however,
do not see it. They cry " Union or Extermination,"
as the French cried " Fraternity or Death," with-
out pausing to reflect that if the war lasts much
longer and the passions become much more excited,
the least pleasant horn of the dilemma may be re-
served for themselves.

The Abolitionists and ultra-Republicans are be-
ginning to express their dissatisfaction with the
President's proclamation for confiscating the slaves
of " rebels." They refuse to look upon it as a decree
of emancipation. They accepted it as a step in the
right direction, and no more; and urge that the
time has already come to take a second and more
effectual step, to the end which they have all along
proposed to themselves—emancipation, complete,
unconditional—and without compensation. Mr.
Lloyd Garrison has already denounced it as a half
measure, settling nothing and satisfying nobody.
Mr. Ward Beecher has fulminated his disapproval.
Mr. Wendell Phillips has not said a word publicly,
but is asserted to be preparing such an onslaught
as people expect from a man so mercilessly logical,
so severely consistent, and so unpractically philoso-
phical. The Rev. Dr. Cheever, who ranks as high
as these gentlemen among the apostles of Aboli-
tionism, has commenced the pulpit crusade. On
Sunday evening he sounded a war-note of defiance
from the Church of the Puritans, to gather together
the more timid politicians who are content to follow
the slow and cautious movements of the President,
and to embattle them in a solid phalanx to oppose
any further trifling with the subject. The church
was so crowded that there was scarcely standing
room in the aisles and galleries. Taking for his
text the disobedience of Saul in refusing to slay the
Amalekites until they were utterly consumed, the
reverend politician drew a picture of the parallel
disobedience of Mr. Lincoln in refusing to free the
slaves, irrespective of the loyalty or the treason of
their owners, and denounced to him the same
punishment which had been meted out to Saul—
" that he should be rejected of the Lord from
being King in Israel." The " slaves," he said,
" who were the parties principally interested, were
not all consulted in the matter, but were kicked
about like a foot ball to serve the purposes of
the Government. A declaration of immediate
emancipation would have torn the conclave
vault of Heaven, so grand would have been the
shouts of the people. It was the conduct of the
nation towards the enslaved, and not towards the
rebels, that would decide this contest on the part
of the God of Justice. He prophesied that if the
Cotton States continued in rebellion the Border
States would be placed between two fires, and that
Congress would be compelled to abolish the Fugitive
Slave Law and make the proclamation universal.
lie was opposed to the proclamation, because it de-
prived the loyal Slave States of the blessings of
emancipation. It was, in this respect, like admit-
ting the Rebel States to the joys of Heaven, and
keeping the Border States in the fires of Hell. The
President had no right to set at nought the com-
mand of God by recognizing slavery in the loyal
States. God had not allowed the nation to hold
slavery as its reserved capital, by the use of which
it hoped to conquer in this war. We must have
justice rather than the Union, supposing the Union
to be founded on injustice. If the rebels returned
to their allegiance before the Ist of January the
continuance of slavery would be our act, and all the
waters of the ocean would not wash out the stain."
It is not the fashion in the Church of the Puritans,
as it is in that of the Rev. Henry Ward Beecher, for
the audience to cheer or to laugh, or to exhibit any
signs of approval or disapproval, but several times
during the sermon the sensation produced by the
rev, gentleman's denunciations was as palpable as if
it'had been expressed in the more vulgar manner of
the theatre. The Abolitionists are determined that
the President shall not be allowed to stand upon his
1 proclamation if any efforts of theirs can 'move him
to go further. They have succeeded in coercing
him already, and will coerce him again. In his
inaugural address he said, " I have no purpose,
directly or indirectly, to interfere with the institu-
tion of slavery in the States where it exists. I be-
lieve I have no lawful right to do so, and I have no
inclination to do so." The war and the passions of
the people have moved since that time, and the
President has moved along with them. He is on
what the French call a pente, and can scarcely stay
himself if he would, even if the Abolitionists should
restrain from pushing him into the abyss.
Nor has he been more fortunate with the scheme
of expatriation of the negroes, which he was in-
duced to encourage, against his better judgment, in
order to conciliate the negro haters in Illinois, who
will not allow a black man to settle in their State,
and the Irish in all parts of the Union, who detest
these poor people, not alone for the colour of their
skins, but for their competition in the labour
market. The negroes have, with few exceptions,
declined to entertain the point, and Senator Pome-
roy, of Kansas, who was to have been the white
Moses of the black race, and to have led them to a
Central American Canaan, called Chiriqui, has
project, as far as that place
finally abandoned the proj
is concerned—the Government of New Grenada,to
which it belongs, having peremptorily refused its
permission. -Whether he will proceed to Liberia
with the first 500, who were to have been ready to
start for Chiriqui by the 20th of this month, is not
yet known ; but, whether he do so or not, it is clear
that the expatriation of negroes on a large scale win
never take place, and it is very unlikely that Mr.
Lincoln will ever again recommend it.
' The Federal newspapers indulge, at times in a
good deal of merriment at the expense of the shoe.
less and ragged regiments of " Stonewall" Jackson
and other Confederate generals. But none ot them
attempt to raise a laugh at the expense of their own
regiments, who suffer more from the effects of too
much shoe than the" rebels" do from the effects of
too little. The shoes of the Federal army, supplied
on contract by rich shoe manufacturers in New
England—none of whom very ardently desire the
speedy conclusion of the war—are not better fitting
than the shoes of soldiers are generally found to be
in all parts of the world ; and they produce in a
few days callosities on toe and heel that impede the
advance and aggravate the retreat, and sometimes
render an army with shoes no match for an army
without them. But the Federal Government, with
plenty of paper dollars to buy shoes, has a watchful
eye over its soldiers. It is not so cruel as to depria e
them
of shoes altogether; it will nut interfere with
the contract articles duly provided at a high but
and regard
ac-
cepted price; .
and it cannot force shoemakers to con-
struct shoes upon
toth the principles of common sense
it can previa, edelicate anatomy of the foot; but
has lately been
qualified corps ohs armyd
d!c'llee ibeures" and chiropodists. This
with an authorized and
To
each
4i2.express command of the
President.
"bot). of the army is to be 0