The Sun.
London, England, 1865-06-06 00:00:00

claiming to be a part of the Confederacy, and that
it is held by a large army and a capable leader, is
pronounced to be either a lunatic or a traitor ; or, if
he be a foreigner, a decided enemy of republican
institutions. Nevertheless, it may be of interest to
Europe, and possibly to America, to know what
force is actually under the command of Gen. Kirby
Smith, in the Trans-Mississippi region, and what
spirit animates the leader and the army at a time
when all other portions of the Confederacy yield
enforced obedience to the Federal authority. It is
possible that Gen. Kirby Smith may be convinced
of the uselessness of any further struggle. It is also
possible that he may be in his heart a Unionist, and
equally possible that if he have the desire to carry
on his back the burden of the Southern cause, and
hold aloft in his hands its banner in this day of its
humiliation, he may not possess either the energy,
the genius, or the good fortune necessary to insure
success. Without speculating in this respect one
way or the other, or asking what will or can be done
by the Federal Government to trample out the last
embers of the civil war in that region, I proceed to
place before your readers some facts in relation to
Texas which are not publicly known, and which, if
not sufficiently grave to embarass the Federal Go-
vernment in its domestic policy, are serious enough
to impose the utmost caution upon it in reference to
Mexico, and, above all, in its attitude towards the
Emperor of the French. I learn from an intelli-
gent English gentleman, who has just arrived in
this city from Texas and Louisiana, where he
passed two months, part of the time in the camp
and tent of Gen. Kirby Smith, whose friendship
and hospitality he enjoyed, that the Trans-Missis-
sippi army has 150,000 men upon its muster rolls,
and that its effective force is fully 85,000, to which
number rations are daily issued. In this number are
included 30,000 cavalry, well Mounted on good Texan
horses. Were it desirable, he says, to convert the
whole force of 85,000 into cavalry the want of horses
would be no impediment to the realisation of the
project. So great has been the quantity of clothing,
ammunition, material of war, and other supplies
from Europe run into Texas, via the Rio Grande,
that Gen. Kirby Smith calculates on unmistakable
data that if not another ship were to run the block-
ade he would have sufficient stores of all kinds to
supply all the wants of his army for two years. The
vast plains of Texas swarms with herds of cattle, but
in consequence of the vigilant patrol of the Missis-
sippi night and day by the agile and numerous gun-
boats of the Federal army, he was not able during
a whole twelvemonth to transport more than 700
head across the river to the relief of the famishing
armies of Lee, Hood, and Johnston. For the same
reason, although he made four several attempts to
throwreinforcements into Tennessee and Mississippi,
he was utterly unable to aid Mr. Jefferson Davis
with the 30,000 or 40,000 men whom he could well
have spared from Texas, and whose timely assistance
might have retrieved the fallen fortunes of the Con-
federacy. Texas, he added, is not only much more
prosperous, but more populous than it was at the
commencement of the war. There has been a large
immigration of planters and landed proprietors from
the Gulf States, bringing their negroes with them.
One of these gentlemen brought 600 negroes, and has
purchased a large estate, in which he is successfully
cultivating cotton. Another, from the eastern bank
of the Mississippi, got over with nearly 1,000 slaves,
and has produced by their labour during the last
year a highly profitable crop of sugar. Altogether,
about 250,000 slaves and their masters have been thus
located in Texas, since the fortunes of the war began
to turn against the Confederates, and have greatly
aided in developing the resources of the country.
Last year the cotton crop was partially destroyed by
the worm, and only about 50,000 bales were secured.
This year the crop is healthy, and will yield on a
fair estimate 250,000 bales. The Germans—a nu-
merous body in Texas—were at one time inclined
more or less to favour the abolition of slavery, but
have modified or renounced their opinion in this re-
spect, in consequence of the great immigration of
rich planters and their negroes, and the immensely
profitable cultivation of the soil by their agency.
Supposing that Gen. Kirkby Smith, or, in his de-
fault, Generals Magruder, Buckner, and Stirling
Price, were to determine upon holding Texas to the
last extremity, several questions remain to be answered
before the European or American public could form
any opinion as to their chances of success. Is the'
army to be depended upon ? And is the country
capable of a prolonged defence ? On the first point
nothing can be positively known. Events alone must
determine. On the second, information is clearer
and more precise. Throughout the whole length and
breadth of Texas there is not a river or stream
pouring more than five and a half feet of water over
the bar, a physical condition which would eliminate
from the problem of battle all assistance to be ren-
dered to the Federal armies by gunboats, except of
the very lightest draught. The country is for the
most part as level as Lincolnshire, abounding in
horses and cattle, and well adapted for the move-
ments of cavalry. It is subject to long periods of
drought in the summer, rain not falling for 4 months
at a time, a circumstance which compels the people
to preserve water in tanks, as they do in Bermuda
and other countries exposed to the same affliction,
and which in case of a summer campaign would act
as a very formidable obstruction to an invading
army. Add to this tact that the southern frontier
of the State of Texas is no portion of the territory
of the United States, and is therefore unsusceptible
of a blockade by either the land or naval forces of
the Federal Government, and another condition
favourable to the Texans, if they continue the
struggle, is introduced into the problem to be solved.
General Buckner with from 20,000 to 25,000 men
holds the strongly fortified city of Alexandria on the
Red River, which from that point to Shreveport,
the present headquarters of General Kirby Smith,
is not navigable by gunboats on account of its shal-
lowness, and bristles with defences on either bank.
General Stirling Price is said to be somewhere in
Arkansas, in -which State the Federals with a slight
force hold no more ground than is covered by the
guns of Little Rock, the State capital ; and General
Magruder commands at Galveston. Gen. Kirby
Smith is represented by my informant as a man of
strong health and vigour, apparently about 50
years of age, ambitious, and with a strong faith in
the ultimate triumph of the Confederate cause. Now
that Mr. Jefferson Davis is removed from the chief
place, it is his opinion that the General will make
a desperate fight for Texas as the nucleus of a new
Confederacy.

' Thus far my informant. The telegraphic de-
spatches from New Orleans received this morning
report that General Kirby Smith lost his life in a
personal encounter with a Major Mackee, who had
accused him of fraud in some cotton speculations
in which they were jointly interested. The state-
ment may or may not prove to be correct ; but, con-
sidering how many times General Stirling Price has
been reported killed in telegrams from the South,
and that he is still alive and vigorous, and that Gene-
ral Forrest, the dashing, and as some have called
him " the heaven-born soldier," has been assassi-
nated at least five times within the last five months
in the newspapers, but still lives and writes, there
needs corroboration of the story before it can be ac-
cepted as a truth. Supposing it to be correct, Gen.
Stirling Price will probably assume the vacant posi-
tion of commander-in-chief of the Trans-Mississip-
pian army, and be master of the same opportunity as
his predecessor to uphold the fortunes of the Confe-
deracy. There are not wanting men who believe
that for this purpose he would be more formidable to
the Federal Government both as a soldier and a
fitatesman that General Kirby Smith. However this
may be, there is in the position of affairs west of the
Mississippi a sufficient element of future trouble to
moderate the extravagant elation of the hour. So
violent a storm as has for the last four years been
raging on the ocean of American politics cannot
subside in a day. .The force of the hurricane has
passed, the clouds have lifted, and the sunshine has
streamed into many long darkened places, but the
waters still heave and swell, tossing upon their
bosom the helpless hulls of the mighty
ships that
have been wrecked, and cumbering the shore with
the relics and ruins of the great commotion.

ADMIRAL FITZROY.—The following resolution
was unanimously adopted yesterday by the council of the
Liverpool Chamber of Commerce :—" That this council re-
cord their profound sense of the loss sustained by the sea-
faring and mercantile community of this country by the
death of the late Admiral Fitzroy, and of the benefits he
has conferred upon it."