The Sun.
London, England, 1862-09-01 00:00:00

THE WAR IN AMERICA.

(From the Times' Correspondent.)

AUGUST 19.

It appears to be certain--though nothing is very
certain in this land of fiction, especially if it appears
in the newspapers, or is held forward as authentic
by the signature of a civil or military functionary,
—that M'Clellan has evacuated his position on the
James River, crossed the Chickahorniny once again
and succeeded in reaching the York River. Whether
he has done this without material loss is the point
on which further information is needed, but on which
it is scrupulously withheld by the 'War Secretary
and the military supervisor of the telegraphic lines.
Few people believe that the Confederates have been
kept in ignorance of M'Clellan's movements—which
have been in progress for three weeks—or that,
knowing them, they did not attempt to harrass his
retreating columns ; but as it is positive that he
and his army have escaped destruction, with or
without serious damage, it is only due to M'Clellan
to confess that he has for once done a great thing,
and to wait for further details before attempting to
apportion the degree of glory or of credit to which
he may be entitled for the achievement. The
quiescence of the Confederates under the circum-
stances, if they were as quiescent as Mr. Stanton
would have the world believe, may be accounted
for on other suppositions than that of their in-
ability to strike a :blow. They may have desired
tosstrike a blow. They may have desired to faci-
litate the operations of their retreating foe, because
those operations might conduce to their objects
more than to his, and because, while General '
Haileck was concentrating his attention on this
little business, they might have been concen-
trating theirs in another direction, and preparing to
make a final onslaught with an overwhelming force
upon General Pope in the valley of the Shenandoah.
The result of M'Clellan's movement, whatever may
have been its success, has been to reduce the Great
Army of the Potomac to the second rank, and to
leave that of the Shenandoah in the first positioe,
both for danger and importance. News from the
Shenandoah may be hourly expected, and whatever
the issue of the battle may be, the battle itself will
assuredly be one which will try of what metal Pope
is made, and perhaps decide the question whether
he can fight at magnificently as he can boast.
The atmosphere of the Mississippi river does not
appear to be favourable to calm judgment and cor-
rect statement, whether the narrators of events be
Federals or Confederates. Vicksburg was captured
ten times over by the Northern flotillas and armies
(in the newspapers), though it still remains in the
hands of the Confederates, and blocks the whole
course of the Mississippi against the armies and
trade of the West. With equal untruth, Baton
Rouge has been twice or thrice taken (in the news-
papers) by the ex-Vice-President Breckinridge. The
last time the story appeared to be confirmed under
the hand of Breckinridge himself, in an official
despatch to President Davis at Richmond. But the
story was a fabrication, though whether invented
by General Breckinridge or by some forger of his
name, does not appear. Breckinridge assaulted
Baton Rouge with a large force, but General Butler
had time to send reinforcements from New Orleans,
and the Confederate General was repulsed with
heavy loss, and forced to retreat to a distance of 10 '
miles, to prepare for a renewal of the attempt.
It is alleged on the authority of some in this city
who are in a position to know that the movement
was in reality a feint, that its object was to dis- 1
tract the attention of the commander of the Federal
flotilla in the Mississippi, so as to enable the Con-
federates
to pass over 20,000 head of cattle further 1i
up the stream, that had been driven from the rich
grazing country of Opelousas, and were intended j
for the subsistence of the armies of Generals Price 1
and Van Dorn. It is added that this movement I
was perfectly successful. If this be so the failure '
of Breckinridge to capture Baton Rouge is not of
so much importance as it would otherwise be. One
cause of the retreat of Breckinridge appears to have
been the mishap that befel the Confederate ram the
Arkansas, which got aground. Though cased in a
panoply of iron six inches thick she was destroyed
and set on fire by a wooden vessel pouring shot
into her from the opposite side of the river. If the
statement be correct these iron clad monsters are
not so invulnerable as they were thought to be
when the Merrimac destroyed the Cumberland amid
the world's wonder, and hearts of oak not quite so
useless as the first circumstances of their collision
with an iron-clad seemed to indicate. Hitherto
the Confederates have been unlucky with these
vessels. The Merrimac and the Arkansas,
after exciting vast curiosity as well as alarm,
have both perished without fulfilling the expecta-
tions that were formed of them, and left un-
proven many problems of which maritime nations ,
would have been pleased to watch the solution at 1
other expense than their own. Perhaps before this 1
the second Merrimac or Virginia, as she is called by
the Confederates, may have appeared on the waters
to renew the struggle, the retreat of M'Clellan from
the James River having left her at liberty to run
past Fort Darling and show the fight that may be
in her. The South has at least three other vessels
of the same kind ready or nearly ready—one at
Savannah, one at Mobile, and a third at Charles-
ton, so that there will yet be opportunities, if this
cruel war is allowed to continue, of testing iron-
clad against iron-clad,and giving England or France
the benefit of American experience in the construc-
tion of deadly warships.
The fragmentary intelligence received from time
to time from the Border States shows that the
guerilla movement is extending ; and, though the
details are confused and contradictory, there is
enough cohesion in them to prove that the capture
of Richmond by the Federals either under Pope
or Al tClellan, or the capture of Washington by
Stonewall Jackson and Lee, are not the only in-
cidents that R ill give gigantic proportions to the
struggle. If the whole of M'Clellan's army were
this day removed into Kentucky it would not be
more than sufficient to maintain order in that
State; and if Pope were in Tennessee with all
his force he would have enough to do to retain
it in subjection. Louisiana is in a state of chronic
rebellion. New Orleans is quiet, but only becalles
of the iron hand with which Butler grasp' its
neck; and the banks of the Mississippi
fr° that
scene of outrages committed by both Pa
make one sick to read of. Bands of gritllas fire
-ueiside into
from the shelter of the trees on the river ,
of the Fede-
rals ascending or descending war ship'
;keel Fveanrrgaegaina tc'es
the town of
rals, and the Federal commandesio:ra
on the first town they come to.
vessel having been fired into
lab
oift Louisiana, he
Donaldsville, the former c a I):,,ths
ants to remove
sent word on the 9th to the '"-.
be intended to shell the
g
the women and children, as He was as ood as his
place on the followingodfial;ed
a broadside into the
word. On the 10thoto,
and then sent a party of
town of nine-inch :00 shore, who set fire to the
Inarinisecee. Before they left the greater
in ashes. Another party went
sailors and
planter and
town in s, e v:eorova:. P,,,, a sarich
part of the phrlip Landry,
Jrilla.b.and. They did not succeed in
but the b
bin], ey urnt his house, furni-
-1 capturing les outbuildings, and
_ill: 10'0,000 dole, i "We burnt," says the
1 e ina
psteaa; ohr °af e
ture,
value" - of
narrator
in the the incident,
expedition, " 24 houses,
ow-mills, &c., destroying
more than half a million of dollars,sugar refinery,
a seaman engaged
including hotels,
property to the value of
and returned to
the fleet without losing a man." And while the
Federals have men enough in Louisiana to commit
such acts, but not enough to keep the peace, it is
not to be expected that the Confederates will not
retaliate whenever they have the chance, or that
the war will [not assume a deadlier and more dis-
graceful character the longer the humanity or in-
humanity of Christendom permits it to continue.
Two prominent merchants of this city were yes-
terday arrested and committed to prison on the

treacherous testimony of their servants, who

played the part of spies and eavesdroppers. The
one for stating " that Mr. Lincoln ought to be

hung, and that he would advise all his friends if
they were liable to be draughted to leave the coun-
try and go to Canada ;" the other for stating "that
the war was an unjust and unholy war; that God
did not approve of it; and that if he had to
fight, he Would fight for the Southern ConfJede-