The Sun.
London, England, 1862-12-26 00:00:00

THE SUN, LONDON, FRIDAY EVE NING DECEMBER 26, 1862.

AMERICAN DIPLOMA7IC CORRES-

PONDENCE.

The selections from the correspondence between
Mr. Seward and the representatives of the Federal
Government in Europe, reprinted by the American
journals, would alone fill a tolerably sized volume.
After reading these official despatches, even in the
form of extracts, it is difficult to understand why
the greatest portion of the documents were ever
written, and still less easy to perceive any motive
for publishing them. We presume, however, that
the Department of the Secretary for Foreign Affairs,
having less to do directly with the management of
the war than any other, had not attracted so much
of the public notice during the excitement caused by
domestic events, and at the close of the year Mr.
Seward felt bound to prove he had not been idle
during that period. Nor has he. We doubt whether
Mr. Obese or Gen. lialleck will leave so much of
their individual ideas, beliefs, and predictions be-
hind them in the archives of Departments of Fi-
nance and War.

In the opening months of the present year Mr.
Seward was full of confidence that the rebellion was
on the point of being crushed. The material power
of the North, organised during the preceding win-
ter, was immense, while that of the Confederacy
was already becoming exhausted. In his despatch
to Mr. Adams of Feb. 10 the Foreign Secretary

says :
" Only 11 of the slave States are practically subject to
the insurgents, and already the flag of the Union stands, as
we think, irremovably fixed upon some points in every one
of the 34 States, except Texas, Alabama, and Arkansas.
Congress has come fully up to the discharge of its great re-
sponsibility of establishing the finances of the country on a
safe and satisfactory foundation. Notwithstanding the pro-
testations of the insurgents that the people of the insurgent
States are unanimous in their determination to overthrow
the Government, we have the most satisfactory evidence
that the Union will be hailed in every quarter, just as fast
as the army shall emancipate the people from the oppression
of the insurgent leaders."
On the 17th of the same month he informs Mr.
Adams that the operations of the campaign by land
and sea had begun, and is sanguine of success.
The great preparations which have been made so
carefully, in defiance of popular impatience at
home, and political impatience abroad, are now
followed by results indicative of a complete and
even early decision of the contest in favour of the
Government." On the 19th of February he was
about to write probably a long despatch, instruct-
ing Mr. Edams " how to answer the querulous
complaints in Parliament," which the representa-
tive of the Federation had anticipated, " the chief
of which is the assumed incompetence of the Go-
vernment to suppress the insurrection," when
chance turned up a bit of evidenee so convincing as
to render any arguments superfluous. " A very
shrewd observer, a loyal, and at present exiled,
Virginian, fell in at the moment, and expressed to
me the opinion that the end of the war is in sight ;
that there will be a short and rapid series of suc-
cesses against a disheartened conspiracy, and then
all will be over." Fortified by the testimony of this
shrewd observer, Mr. Adams was urged to claim
on this side of the water " a suspension of judg-
ment." If the assurance of the exiled Virginian
was repeated here, when received, it must have
misled Mr. Adams into some rash predictions—as
after events so completely falsified them, it is im-
possible to conceive why they are preserved in an
official volume, published so lately in the month of
December. Throughout the year, and especially in
the last months, Mr. Adams must have found it
very difficult to impress Mr. Seward's sanguine
anticipations and " rosy views" of the war on any
section of English society, in the face of the ad-
verse events that pursued the despatches across
the Atlantic so relentlessly.
In the middle of March Mr. Seward's confidence
had, if possible, increased; so much so, indeed, that
he thought the time had come when the Govern-
ments of France and England might be asked to re-
consider the policy that recognized the Southern
States as " belligerents." They were now evidently
only a " dwindling faction," and if the rights con-
ferred by the recognition were withdrawn all the
European trouble caused by the war " would come
to a speedy end." On the 15th of March Mr.
Seward says
Since the date of my last despatch the Union forces
have gained decided advantages. The financial and moral,
as well as the physical, elements of the insurrection seem to
be rapidly approaching exhaustion. Now, when we so
clearly see how much of its strength was derived from the
hope of foreign aid, we are brought to lament anew the pre-
cipitancy with which foreign Powers so unnecessarily con-
ceded to it belligerent rights. The President trusts that
you are sparing no efforts to convince Earl Russell that the
time has come when that concession can be revoked with
safety to Great Britain and advantage to the great material
interests of that country."
On this point Mr. Adams is compelled to differ
from his chief. He admits that a time may come
when " such a proceeding might be of use," but con-
fesses he "does not see it yet," and doubts the ex-
pediency of proposing such a measure. Events, if
propitious, 'would do much :
"Indeed, should it so happen that the existing indica-
tions of an early termination of the struggle continue to
multiply, there will be little occasion for further remon-
strance of any kind here ; for the disposition to help a party
once that it is felt to be certainly sinking is not very com-
mon among either political or commercial men ; and there
are no others in Great Britain who would stop to shed a
tear over the fallen fortunos of the quasi-belligerent of their

own creation."
As the war grew in magnitude, and great battles
fought proved at least the existence of armies able
to fight them, it must have become evident, even to
the Americans, that England and France had only
recognised a material fact that could not be dis-
puted. We could not reduce an immense army to
an abstraction, and reason one party in a gigantic
conflict dawn to a legal fiction. Gradually the irri-
tation excited by the European "recognition" of
the state of war died out ; but at one time there was
great confusion in the popular mind of America on
this subject. It is reflected even in the above de-
spatch of Mr. Adams. It seems to have been a
general conviction that in some indefinable man-
ner, by recognising the fact of the South having
armies in the field, we placed them there. Even as
late as the 27th of March Mr. Adams speaks of the
South as "a quasi-belligerent"—only a kind of foe
or fictitious enemy ! And even that simulacrum is
one of "our own creation." We sincerely wish it
had been, for by this time we should have unmade
it in our interest. Unhappily for us all, the sword
of the South was not the "air-drawn dagger" of
an European delusion. We have had to feel too
much of its stroke, and the "recognition" was a
necessity. We cannot understand the importance I
Mr. Seward attached to it, indicated by the perti- '
nacity with which he urged Mr. Adams to attempt
to procure a revocation from the English Govern-
ment. On the 3d of April Mr. Adams acknow-
ledges
the receipt of three separate despatches, all
referring to one subject "the revocation by Great
Britain of her
recognition of the insurgents as
belligerents
But Mr. Adams adheres to and
repeats his
on
suetevions opinion that formal discus-
sionsouth should ‘l3oint would be useless. If the
1,,e
tion
represendcilta would only insure theefeated in the field the ques-
tion would be
P
diffi-
culty. If the without further diffi-
, any _
current of of
ofevents turned the other
way
" needless mortification
a littlepressure
was
btiLrefusal." However,
p
English Cabinetthroughthe (litit to bear on the
vteeirrnent of France.
On April 11th Mr. Adams sta
that
had he had re-
turned from Paris, where he had a
conference
with Mr. Dayton on this question.
with Mr. Dayton the Emperor hadaticuouversa-
tion
the increasing difficulties in France, causer be,a,,e
to
failure of the cotton supply. Mr. Dayton, inr're
dwelt on the "effects of the Emperor's recognitoyn'
of the belligerent right of the rebels in prolonging
the war, and pressed for the withdrawal of it." The
Emperor was not averse to entertaining the ques-
tion, but pointed out that the recognition could only
be revoked in concert with England. Mr. Adams,
therefore, determined again to propose the measure
in London, with a hope that, even should the Eng-
lish Government meet it with a refusal, some advan-
tage would be derived from its negative. " The
effort (he says) will be to concentrate the responsi,
hility for any further protraction of the struggle, as
much as possible, on the Government here." The
determination of American politicians to fasten the
responsibility for their civil waron England amounts
lf A, ~.,..

r:

reports that he bad broached the subject again to
Earl Russell, representing this time that if England
would only declare that the war is not war it would
"accelerate the re-opening of the customary trade
between the two countries." A denial t' at the sun
is on the meridian at noon would have b: en as likely
to produce the dissolution of the Southern Confede-
racy. Earl Russell said that France had made no
reference of the question to the English Govern-
ment, and there the matter seems to have ended.
Next to the attempt to fix the responsibility of
protracting the war on a country that has not a
man, a gun, or a dollar engaged in it, the subject
that occupies the most space in this correspondence
is the possible mediation, or interference of France
and England. Mr. Seward expresses a constant ap-
prehension that these Powers would attempt to put
an end to the struggle, or, at least, to break the
blockade of the Southern ports. He points out that
if the want of cotton precipitated an European in-
tervention, the only result would be to embitter the
strife and ensure the destruction of the system of
slave labour, by which alone cotton could be pro-
duced. On the 19th of May Mr. Seward writes :
"I observe that speculations concerning foreign interven-
tion were again rising in Europe at the date of our last ad-
vices thence, and certain remarks made by one of the Min •
istry at Manchester have been thought here indicative of a
despotism of that kind growing up in Great Britain. It is
regretted that such incidents should occur just at the mo-
ment when this country is so manifestly about to return to
a condition of repose and peace. Nevertheless, they may
exert a salutary influence by inducing Congress to put the
land and naval forces of the country upon a footing which
will not permit it to be agitated again by intrigues to intro-
duce foreign enemies to settle domestic strife."
It was a "lost fear ;" but Mr. Seward persisted
in treating dictation from Europe as an ever impend-
ing peril to the Western Continent. He wastes much
elaborate argument to show that such interference
is needless, rebellion being so nearly dead ; and
that if forced on America the cotton supply would
be more precarious than ever. On the 28th of May
Mr. Seward writes thus to Mr. Adams
"The President asks foreign nations to consider that we
are only at the end of one year now, and yet the whole
effective mass of the insurrectionary region has been brought
into the field by conscription. The credit of the revolution
is dead before the first dollar has been raised by taxation to
support it, and the territory which must bear taxation is
at once reduced to the narrowest limits and is exhausted of
its wealth and supplies. The power of losing faction, under
any circumstances, must continually grow less; but that
of the disunionists is abating under the operations of a
cause peculiar to themselves, which is now my duty to bring
forward—l mean the practice of African slavery.
He then enters into a long argument to show that
if the conflict is indefinitely prolonged, it must
effect a general emancipation,—" Every slave will
become not only a freeman, but an absentee." If
their masters attempt to prevent their escape, it will
produce a servile war. Indeed, Mr. Seward be-
lieves, if the struggle continues, that a servile war
is only a question of time. The problem, then, is
" how to save the Union and rescue society from
that fearful catastrophe." The Federal Government
has adopted a policy calculated to do both. To that
policy foreign intervention would be fatal :
" Let us now suppose that any one or more European
States should think it right or expedient to intervene by
force to oblige the United States to accept a compromise of
their sovereignty. What other effect could it produce than
to render inevitable, and even hurry on that servile war so
completely destructive of all European interests in this
country, which this Government so studiously strives to
avoid?"
In a despatch of the 18th of July Mr. Seward
returns to the subject :
"The correspondence which has just taken place between
the President of the United States and the representatives
of the so-called Border States is herewith transmitted. It
will show you that the revolution is already successfully
arrested by the separation of those States from the company
of the so-called Confederate States. It needs only any real
or seeming danger of foreign intervention in the conflict to
revive and renew devotion to the Union, even with the
sacrifice of slavery, throughout the whole of the United
States. Europe will not intervene or appeal to us except
for cotton. Cotton, perhaps, could be furnished in answer
to such an appeal only by saving the existence of slavery
here to produce it. Intervention will end the exportation
of cotton by extinguishing the slavery which produces it."
The position of the Federal army at the date of
this despatch would not have led an ordinary ob-
server to the conclusion that the revolution had
been successfully- arrested. But Mr. Seward's dis-
position to underrate the importance of adverse
incidents has been as remarkable during the pro-
gress of the war as at its commencement. From
the same tendency, perhaps, he is perplexed by
discovering that facts have such a powerful influence
on the opinions of others. At the end of July the
retreat of APClellan and the descriptions of the
condition of his army published by the American
journals began to have their natural consequence in
Europe, on which Mr. Adams (July 31) remarks
" progressive consolidation of the popular prejudice
against America," by which is meant increasing
doubt of the power of the Federal Government to
cope with the armed resistance of the South. This
growing opinion Mr. Adams ascribes wholly to the

" continuous denunciations of the English Press."
If defeats are discouragements to a cause, the army
and generals who lose the battles are rather the
cause of the depression than the journal that describes
them. But, passing over this minor point, Mr. Adams
thought at the close of Juiy that the English Govern-
ment was not in a condition long to resist any popular
outcry for interference, " prompted by the concen-
trated passions of an agitated community." As the
resisting power of the Government was not tested
by any popular pressure, Mr. Adams's anxiety on
the subject had the slightest possible foundation.
But at Washington the events of July had produced
a hasty conclusion in Mr. Seward's mind that must
have totally upset its balance. On the 2d of August
he wrote the following extraordinary despatch. The
idea with which it opens is certainly one that never
occurred to any sane subject of this realm :

" But what warrant have the British Government for ex-
pecting to conquer the United States, and to subjugate and
desolate them, or dictate to them terms of peace. A war
waged against us by Great Britain could not fail to reunite
our people. Every sacrifice that their independence could
require would be cheerfully and instantly made, and every
force and every resource which has hithorto been held in
reserve in a civil war, because the necessity for immediately 4
using it has not been felt, would be brought into requisition
I shall not willingly believe that Great Britain deliberately
desires such a war, as I am sure that every hanourable and
generous effort will be made by the United States to avoid
it. . . I shall not here add to the explanation which I
have made on other occasions of our means and resources for
meeting a final trial of the national strength and the national
virtue. Rather than do this, I willingly turn away from
the spectacle of servile war and war abroad—of military de-
vastation on land, and a carnival of public and private cu-
pidity on the seas, which has been presented to me—to set
down with calmness some reflecti,ns calculated to overt an
issue so unnecessary and ao fatal, which you may possibly
find suitable occasion for suggesting to the rulers of Great
Britain."

Again,on Aug. 13, he states that " sentiments un-
favourable to our cause and country are gaining
more favour (in England) under the inculcations of
a hostile press." Mr. Adams echoes the complaint,
and, on nearly the same date, speaks of the " gradu-
ally spreading antipathy to us among the people of
this city and kingdom, as it has been shown by the
reception of General Pope's announcement that we
have gained a victory. Here it is viewed in the
light of a disaster, and great efforts aie made to dis-
credit it." The suspicion and doubt alluded to were
based on the known character of the commander,
the language of the despatch itself, and the inci-
dental evidence that accompanied it. And a disaster
it proved to have been. The military courts of
inquiry at present sitting at Washington fully jus-
tify the conclusion drawn in England when the
operations took place.

The correspondence comes down to the beginning
of November, and the last despatches refer to the
President's decree of emancipation that was to take
!ff. ect from the Ist Jan. last. Mr. Seward advocates
I,' un the ground of exigency. He says" What ham
cooi r
nc
luym
been discussed so earnestly at home and abroad, as
on time
a en
of morals or humanity, has all the while
been practicall
has now bee
of purchase
the references
of interest,
is devoted to real
ana
cy only a military question, depending
stances." As the proclamation
to
the
eed in
despatches read more like
essays on what the
lieve in despite of all
tediified by the more gradual scheme
the President's Message,
a selearlier document are deprived
business, The
of the correspondence
People of e;iiiers
;robe great mass of the
of lectures and
facts aria ev°11): ought to be-
different conclusions. In the followilin" leading to
r <,,•., mono r:, .tin dorlh's exr7c.;94 i!usag, in
',Proust and

England of the possibility of reconstructing the
Union, Mr. Seward employs an illustration of sin-
gular bad taste. He says—
" The account of public opinion and public feeling in
England concerning our affairs which it contains harmonises
in all respects with Mr. Dayton's report that the statesmen
of France, including the Emperor, are no less sceptical than
the restoration of the Union since the capture of New Or-
leans than they were before. You tell me that in England
they still point to the delays at Richmond and Corinth, and
they enlarge upon the absence of displays of Union feeling
in New Orleans and Norfolk. Ah, well I scepticism must
be expected in this world in regard to new political systems,
insomuch as even Divine revelation needs the aid of miracles
to make converts to a new religious faith,"

Had Mr. Seward consulted his own reputation, he
would not have published many of these private
letters, as they essentially are, though they take the
form of official communications.

THE CAP7URE OF FREDERICKSBURG.

The following account of the bombardment and
capture of Fredericksburg is from a correspondent
of the New York Herald, who writes under date of
the 11th inst. from the headquarters of the army of
the Potomac :
To-day has witnessed one of those rare, grand
spectacles of war—the bombardment of a city. For
days the attack had been looked for with feverish
anxiety, and with each successive evening the mor-
row was prophesied as the inaugural occasion of the
much-talked-of winter campaign ; but weeks slipped
by and and yet we rested in our camps, while all
along the ridges just across the river batteries
nightly sprang from the earth, as if by magic, and
the increasing smoke of the enemy's camp fires
wrapped hill and vale in undistinguishable gloom.
Wild, exciting rumours were greedily accepted for
facts, and a thousand statements, as ridiculous as
they were contradictory, flew like wildfire from
camp to camp.
Throughout the week there had been indications
that the crisis was rapidly approaching, and each
night the troops retired at tattoo fully confident
that the roar of artillery would be their reveille.
1 Last evening, at sundown, the movement com•
menced. Batteries hastened to the front, waggon
trains were removed from the vicinity of the anti-
cipated battle, the ponderous pontoons joined the
current hurrying river-ward, and nght closed down
upon us bright and beautiful, with our pulses
throbbing quick with eager expectations. Artil-
lery never seemed to rumble noisily before, and
the sharp cluck of the iron axles echoed far
and near, as if in league with the enemy. Down
by the river everything was as quiet as peace. Our
pickets, composed of the 51st Pennsylvania regiment,
sat listlessly about their fires, watching the rebel
sentries and crunching hard tack. The river swept
smoothly by, placid as the sky above, and just over
there, so close one almost wished to tell them of
their error, stood the rebel sentries, while a sooth-
ing movement of rushing waters in the rapids up
stream swelled softly down the valley. From the
thresholds of the city the sharp yelp of curs ran
now and then discordantly upon the ear; but, with
the batteries in position, the cause of 'their outcry
would be removed, and silence again settles down
upon the town, broken only by the tones of the
town clock tolling the midnight hours. And so the
time slipped along. The moon climbed higher up,
and the falling dew whitened into frost upon cur
ponchos, while the horses, restless in the chill night
air, moved to and fro uneasily in their harness.
At two o'clock our pickets were withdrawn, and
at three the pontoon train drove down to the water.
Lumber was noiselessly piled upon the ground, and
the huge boats slid from off their trucks. Then we
hear a splashing in the river—a dark pathway
lengthens out upon the silver surface, shadows flit
here and there along its track, the lusty blows of
the hammer re-echo from side to side. And yet no
sound comes from the enemy. " Have they evacu-
ated the place ?" " Are we not to fight here after
all P" is asked. Suddenly, Crack ! crack ! crack ! from
a hundred muskets tell us the ball is opened. A
cry of pain comes up the bank from the gallant
engineers, mules dash off, with pontoons thunder-
ing after, across the plot ; the musketry grows
louder, and the whiz of bullets more frequent ;
frightened teamsters fly, panic-striken, and the
artillery horses plunge at the caissons. Suddenly,
boom ! goes a gun—another and another, until
thirty pieces are pouring shot and shell upon the
devoted city. Graham, who did so generously at
Antietam ; Kirby, with Ricketts' old Bull Run
battery; Miller, Durell, Tayler, Smith, Hazard,
Kinsey, and Kickson, all join in the uproar, and
musketry is lost to the ear in the mighty roar that
re echoes again and again from hill to hill. Gradu-
ally the fire slackens, and the engineers again at-
ten pt the completion of the bridge, but in vain ;
and after a third trial they fell back, bearing in
their arms their wounded, dead, and dying,
It was designed to lay down two bridges at once,
one at the lower and the other at the upper end of
the city. The enemy, posted in the houses and
cellars, upon the banks of the river, were safe
from our infantry, and maintained a continuous fire.
Our infantry returned the fire spiritedly, but find-
ing it impossible to drive the rebels from their
cover, finally..; withdrew, leaving the disposition of
the enemy to our artillery.
By this time it was sunrise. The engineers (50th
New York) and the 57th and 66th New York regi-
ments had suffered heavily, and the wounded soon
began to erowdithe,floors of the Lacey House. Other
regiments had also suffered, though much less, and
the surgeons soon had work enough.
I About 8 o'clock the artillery fire ceased. The fog
was so dense that objects were invisible 100 yards
from the guns. Fredericksburg was as silent as
before. Again the engineers advance, and again the
enemy drive them back ; orderlies gallop to the dif-
ferent batteries with instructions ; a message orders
from Aquia a special train with solid shot: and again
the thunder breaks out anew. For a time the roar
is indescribably awful. The city from its walls of
brick hurls back a thousand echoes, which beat up
against the Falmouth bluff, roll back again beyond
the town, and then from the distant hills once more
swell over to us, as though the heavens were rent
asunder. At General Sumner's headquarters, half
a mile distant, it becomes difficult to converse in a
low tone, while at the batteries orders must be sig-
nalised. By and by the firing ceases, and one is
almost awe-stricken with the profound silence. The
mist still clings to the river, the sun struggles up
red and fiery, and the air is suffocating with the
odour of gunpowder. Presently the bank of fog
begins to lift a little, the glistening roofs gleam
faintly through the veil, then the sunbeams scatter
the clouds that intervene, and Fredericksburg, ut-
terly desolate, stamds out before. A huge column
of dense black smoke towers like a monument above
the livid flames, and leap and hiss and crackle, lick-
ing up the snow upon the roofs with lambent
tongues, and stretching like a giant. The guns re-
new their roar, and we see the solid shot plunge
through the masonry as though it were pasteboard;
other buildings are fired, and before sundown a
score of houses are in ashes, while not one seems
to have escaped the pitiless storm of iron, A less
number have been fired than was anticipated; but
the damage done by solid shot is terrible, and will
require years to repair. Among the sufferers is Mr.
Garland, a loyal refugee, who witnessed the bom-
bardment from the head-quarters of Gen. Sumner,
of whose staff his son is a member. The residence
of Mr. Slaughter, father of the mayor, Dr. Wallace's,
Mrs. Hayes', and Timberlake's auction and com-
mission store, are among the buildings burned. An
English ensign hung conspicuous!y from one of the
houses, which, fortunately for the inmates, was less
exposed to our fire. Females could be seen darting
through the streets, negroes carrying furniture from
burning houses, and now and then a rebel gliding
from one biding place to another. Our artillery
would drive the enemy from their cover upon the
bank of the river, but when comptiisd to cease, in
order not to endanger the lives of the regiment, the
rebels would immediately steal back and pick odour
men with the rifle.

In the meantime our own troops lined the hills
upon this side as far as the eye could reach, all in-
tensely watching the operations. Artillery, cavalry,
and infantry, in solid columns, covered every pla-
teau, and every csmp in the vicinity was well
nigh abandoned in the desire to witness the bom-
bardment. A number of females appeared at the
wir. do7s In the city from time to time, NtFaVing White

flags and shouting to us that they wished to come
over. As we were in the same predicament, the dis-
appointment was mutual, and the affrighted females
were left to the undisturbed enjoyment of our sym-
pathy. Whenever such signals were displayed,
however, the buildings were spared by our artil-
lerists, so that the inmates were but little less safe
than they would have been upon this side.

As night approached it was found that the enemy
had no idea of yielding to us a free passage across
the river. With their facilities for shie iding them-
selves, our artillery could not permanently dislodge
them, and Companies C and G, of the Seventh
Michigan regiment, gallantly volunteered to cross
in boats and drive them out of the town. Receiv-
ing assent to their proposition, they sprang into
a couple of pontoon boats, rowed briskly across,
dashed up into the city at double quick., broke open
the houses, and captured 36 prisoners, including a
staff officer. This gallant act secured to us the
opposite side until the bridge could be completed,
and our troops are now in possession of the city.
Immediately after taking possession of the place,
the enemy opened upon it with artillery from the
hills beyond, but without effect, and at this hour (9
o'clock p.m.) everything is perfectly quiet. Not a
shot was fired by the rebels from their batteries
during the entire day, with the exception of the
few shots just at night. Some of our own men
suffered from our own guns, however, a few shells
having exploded this side of the river.
Our loss in killed and wounded is not large. The
rebels, owing to their sheltered positions, have
probably suffered less than we, though at times our
shells seamed to burst among them with consider-
able effect.

General Burnside remained at General Sumner's
headquarters during the bombardreent, in plain
view of the whole scene.

Subjoined is another account of the capture of
Fredericksburg, written on the 11th inst. by the
correspondent of the New York Times :
I localise this letter Fredericksburg, but it is most
assuredly "living" Fredericksburg "no more." A
city soulless, rent by wrack of war, and shooting
up in flames athwart night's sky, is the pretty little
antique spot by the Rappahannock, erewhile the
peculiar scene of dignified ease and retirement,
The advance of tee right grand division of the
army of the Potomac rests here to-night, after a
series of operations which are certainly among the
most extraordinary of the war. To those who re-
tired to rest uninformed of what night was destined
to bring forth, the spectacle this morning must have
seemed strange enough to be the improvisation of the
magician's art. One hundred and fifty pieces of
cannon covered the circular sweep of the heights of
Fredericksburg : 150,000 men in battle array had
sprung from the earth, and lay, ready for the
advance, behind those heights. But to the initiated,
who spent the night in vigils and knew what
work crowded its busy hours, it was all intelligible
enough. All night artillery came, and came with
its ceaseless, heavy rumble, and as each battery
arrived from the rear it was pcsted in the place
selected for it by the chief of artillery. All night
the perpetual tramp of men moving to the front
filled the air. Pontoon trains unwound their long,
snake-like forms, and were drawn, each boat by its
team, down to the rivers brink.
It had been determined, in council of war, held
on Wednesday, instead of extending our lines of
operations along the river from Falmouth to Port
Con way, the entire army should be crossed at or near
Fredericksburg.
Five pontoon bridges were to be thrown across
the river, the first at the Lacey House, which lies
directly opposite the end of the main street
of Fredericksburg, half a mile below Falmouth ;
the second and third within a few hundred yards
from the first. The remaining two were to be
thrown over a mile and a half or two miles further
down the stream, and on these the grand division of
Gen, Franklin—
the left—would cross, while Sum-
ner's and Hooker's grand divisions—right and cen-
tre—would use the three upper ones.
It was about 3 o'clock this morning when the
boats were unshipped from the teams at the river's
brink. Swiftly and silently the engineer corps pro-
ceeded to their work. A dense fog filled the val-
leys and water margin, through which the bridge-
builders appeared as spectral forms. The recital of
the 7imes special correspondent with the left will
inform you of the details of the construction of the
two lower—Franklin's—bridges. Work there was
performed with perfect success—the engineers being
allowed to complete the first without any interrup-
tion whatever, while the construction of the other
was but slightly interrupted by the fire of the rebel
sharpshooters.
We were not so fortunate with the upper bridges.
The artificers had but got fairly to work, when at
5 o'clock the firing of two guns from one of the ene-
my's batteries announced that we were discovered.
They were signal guns. Rapid volleys of mus-
ketry, discharged at our bridge builders,
followed.immedi-
oaterlysidebythe Thisp en was
promptly responded to on
u severel batteries. The
fog, however, still hung densely over the river. It
was still quite dark, and the practice of the oing of
artil-
lerists was necessarily very much at random. The
engineer corps suffered severely from the fire of the
sharpshooters concealed in the town. The little
band was being murderously thinned, and presently
the work on the bridges slackened, and then ceased.
Meanwhile the firing from our batteries, posted
about a mile from the river, was kept up vigorously.
The effect was singular enough, and it was difficult
to believe that the whole affair was not a phantas-
magoria. It was still quite dark, the horizon
around being lit only by tho flash of projectiles,
which reappeared in explosive flame on the other
side of the river.

Daylight came, but with it came not clearness of
vision for on-lookers. The mist and smoke not only
did not lighten, but grew more opaque and heavy,
hugging the ground closely. Our gunners, how-
ever, still continued to launch their missiles at a
venture. The rebel bacteries hardly returned our
fire, and this chariness of their ammunition they
preserved all day—not a dozen rounds being fired
during the whole forenoon.

Towards eight o'clock a large party of general
officers, among them General Burnside, the corps
commanders, and many others of high rank, had
congregated in front of and on the balcony of
General Sumner's headquarters, Phillips'-house,
situated about a mile directly back of the Lacey-
house. The performance could be heard, but not
seen—the stage was obstinately hidden from view,
and all were impatient that the curtain should rise.
Aids and couriers came and went with messages to
and from the batteries and bridges.
At half past nine o'clock official notification was
received that the two bridges on the extreme left
were completed, and General Franklin sent to
General Burnside to know if he should cross his
force at once. The reply was that he should wait
until the upper bridges also were completed.
Meantime, with the latter but little progress was
made. During the next couple of hours half-a-
dozen attempts were made to complete the bridges,
but each time the 'party was, repulsed with severe
loss. On the occasion of one essay, Captain Brai-
nerd, of the 50th New York Volunteer Engineers,
went out on the bridge with eleven men. Five im-

mediately fell by the balls of the rebel sharpshooters.
Captain Perkins led another party, and was shot
through the neck, and the 66th and 57th New York
Regiments, which were supporting the 50th and
15th New York Volunteer Engineers—General
Woodbury's brigade—suffered severely. It was a
hopeless task, and we made little or no pro-
gress. The rebel sharpshooters, posted in the
cellars of the houses of the front street, not fifty
yards from the river, behind stone walls and in rifle
pits, were able to pick off with damnable accuracy
any party of engineers venturing cn the half-com-
pleted bridges.

The case was perfectly clear. Nothing can be
done till Mel,
are dislodged from their lurking
places. There is but ono way
of doing this effectu-
ally—shell the town. At ten nciook General Burn-
side gives the order, " Concentrate the l:® of all

your guns on the city, and batter it down." You

may believe they were not loth to obey. The artil-
lery cf the right—eight batteries—was commanded
by Colonel Hays ; Colonel Tomkins, right centre
—eleven batteries; Colonel Tyler, left centre—tau=

batteries; Captain De Russy, left—nine batteries.
In a few moments these 35 batteries, forming a
total of 179 guns, ranging from 10-pounder Par-
rott's to 41 inch siege guns, posted along the con-
vex side of the arc of the circle, formed by the bend
of the river and land opposite Frederickbburg,
opened on the doomed city. The effect was, of
course, terrific, and regarded merely as a pheno-
menon, was among the most awfully grand con-
ceivable. Perhaps what will give you the live-
liest idea of its effect is a succession, absolutely
without intermission, of the very loudest thunder
peals. It lasted thus for upwards of an hour, fifty
rounds being fired from each gun, and I know not
how many hundred tons of iron were thrown into
the town.

The congregated generals were transfixed.
Mingled satisfaction and awe was upon every face.
But what was tantalising was, that though a great
deal could be heard, nothing could be seen, the city
being still enveloped in fog and mist. Only a
denser pillar of smoke, defining itself on the back
g►round of the fog, indicated where the town had
been fired by our shells. Another and another
column showed itself, and we presently saw that at
least a dozen houses must be on fire.
Towards noon the curtain rolled up, and we saw
that it was indeed so. Fredericksburg was in con-
flagration. Tremendous though this firing had
been, and terrific though its effect obviously was on
the town, it had not accomplished the object in-
tended. It was found by our gunners almost im-
possible to obtain a sufficient depression of their
pieces to shed the front part of the city, and the
rebel sharpshooters were still comparatively safe
behind the thick stone walls of the houses.
During the thick of the bombardment a fresh at-
tempt nad been made to complete the bridge. It
failed, and evidently nothing could be done till a
party could be thrown over to clean out the rebels
and cover the bridge head. For this mission Gen.
Burnside called for volunteers, and Colonel Hall, of
Fort Sumter fame, immediately responded that he
had a brigade that would do the business. Accord-
ingly the Seventh Michigan and Nineteenth Massa-
chusetts, two small regiments, numbering in all
abuut 400 men, were selected for the purpose.
The plan was that they should take the pontoon
boats of the first bridge, of which there were ten
lying on the bank of the river, waiting to be added
to the half finished bridge, cross over in them, and,
lauding, drive out the rebels.
Nothing could be more admirable or more gallant
than the execution of this daring feat. Rushing
down the steep banks of the river, the party found
temporary shelter behind the pontoon boats lying
scattered on the bank, and behind the piles of plank-
ing destined for the covering of the bridge, behind
rocks, &c. In this situation they acted some fifteen
or twenty minutes as sharpshooters, they and the
rebels observing each other. In the meantime new
and vigorous artillery firing was commenced on our
part, and just as soon as this was fairly developed
the Seventh Michigan rose from their crouching
places, rushed for the pontoon boats, and pushing
them into the water, rapidly filled them with
twenty-five or thirty each.
The first boat pushes off. Now, if ever, is the
rebels' opportunity. Crack ! Crack ! Crack ! from
fifty lurking places go rebel rifles at the gallant
fellows, who, stooping low in the boat, seek to avoid
the fire. The murderous work was well done.
Lustily, however, pull the oarsmen, and presently,
having passed the middle of the stream, the boat
and its gallant freight come under cover of the
opposite bluffs.
Another and another boat follows. Now is their
opportunity. Nothing could be more amusing, in
its way, than the result. Instantly they see a new
turn of affairs. The rebels pop up by the hundred,
like so many rats, from every cellar, rifle pit, and
stone wall, and scamper off up the streets of the
town. With all their fleetness, however, many of
them were much too slow. With incredible rapi-
dity the Michigan and Massachusetts boys sweep
up the hill, making a rush for the lurking places
occupied by the rebels, and gaining them, each
man capturing his two or three prisoners. The
pontoon boats on their return trip took over more
than 100 of these fellows.
You can imagine with what interest the crossing
of the first boat load of our men was watched by
the numerous spectators on the shore, and with
what enthusiastic cheers their landing on the oppo-
site side was greeted. It was an authentic piece of
human heroism, which moves men as nothing else
can. The problem was solved. This flash of
bravery had done what scores of batteries and tons
of metal had failed to accomplish. The country
will not forget that little band.
The party once across, and the rebels cleared out,
it took the engineers but a brief period to complete
the bridge. They laid hold with a will, plunging
waist deep into the water, and working as men
work who are under inspiration. In less than half
an hour the bridge was completed, and the head of
the column of the right grand division, consisting
of Gen. Howard's command, was moving upon it
over the Rappahannock. A feeble attempt from
the rebel batteries was made to shell the troops
in crossing, but it failed completely.
Your correspondent found an opportunity to cross
the river along with the party who first went over
in a boat, having been curious to take a closer view
of the city which we have for near a month been
observing over the river, not 800 yards wide, with-
out the power of visitation. As the rebels were in
very considerable force on the heights, back of the
city, one could not extend his perambulations be-
yond the street fronting on the river. Every one of
the houses which I here entered, a dozen or more, is
torn to pieces by shot and shell, and the fire still
hotly ranges in a dozen parts of the city. A few
citizens—a score or two perhaps—male and female,
presently made their appearance, emerging out of
the cellars, whither they had taken refuge during
the bombardment. Three women—white—whom

we found in a cellar, told us that they, with a ma-
jority of the inhabitants, had moved out of Frede-
ricksburg a fortnight or so previously, but that
growing reassured by our long delay, they, with a
good many others, had come back the evening be-
fore. The former inhabitants, they report as now
living in various parts of the environs, some in
negro huts, and others in tents made with bed-
' clothes, &c.
During the afternoon of the bombardment we
observed a couple of white handkerchiefs waved out
of the windows of a house in the city. This was
taken by some for a flag of truce, and the chief of
artillery was on the point of causing the shelling to
cease. General Burnside, however, decided that it
was probably merely only the wonted rebel ruse, and
ordered operations to be continued. We found out
that the demonstrations were made by two of the
women referred to, with the desire that we should
send over a boat and convey them away from Frede-
ricksburg.

Among other prominent objects during the bom-
bardment was a large British flag, flying over the
house of the English consul. This personage, how-
_ _

ever, was not found in his house when he entered
the city, and the flag was taken possession of and
brought away.

A number of rebel dead were found in various
parts of the city, some exhibiting frightful mutila-
tions from shells, and I took as a ti ophy a rifle, still
loaded, out of the grasp of a hand belonging to a
headless trunk.

The infantry in the city appear to have been
Mississippians, South Carolinians, and Floridians.
Those of them that we took prisoners were wret-
chedly clad, and mostly without blankets or over-
coats, but they generally looked stout and healthy,
and certainly in :far better condition than they
could have been in were there any truth in the re-
port of some deserters the other day, to the effect
that for three weeks they had nothing to eat but
the persimmons they were able to pick up.
Although we are not yet fully informed of the
present positions of the enemy, there seems to be
go d ground to claim that General Burnside has
succeeded in outgeneraling and outwitting them.
His decoys to make them believe we were about to
cross our main force at Port Conway seems to have
succeeded admirably. I suppose there is no harm
now in my mentioning that among the ruses he
employed was zending down the day before yester-
day to Port Conway 306 waggons and bringing
th•na by d' ''rent road, f,,r the Bole purpose

of making the rebels believe that we were about to
cross the river at that point. To the same end
workmen were busily employed in laying cause-
ways for supposed pontoon bridges there, while the
gunboats were held as bugaboos at the same place.
Completely deceived by these feints, the main rebel
force, including Jackson's cjmmand, seems to have
been two or three days ago transferred 20 to 25
miles down the river. It must be remembered,
however, that without the utmost celerity on our
part they can readily retrieve this blunder by a
forced march or two. Signal guns, at five o'clock
this morning, gave them the cue to what was going
on, and doubtless they have not been idle during
the intervening hours. To-morrow will disclose
what unseen moves have been made on the chess-
board.

The New York Herald of the 12th has the follow-
ing remarks upon the capture of Fredericksburg :
The stirring news which we publish today from
the Rappahannock shows that the winter campaign
has fairly opened. The Union army has crossed
the river in the face of the foe. The devoted city
of Fredericksburg, bombarded by our guns, and
partially destroyed, is already occupied by our
troops. Franklin's corps has landed on the south
side of the river, and the greatest battle of the
war is now began, if the rebels will await the
shock. They are said to be in great force around
the city. Fifteen miles below they are also in
force, and are being shelled by the gunboats. A
crossing will probably be effected there, and
perhaps also above Fredericksburg. Meantime we
hope there will be a bright lookout for Jackson,
who may turn up where he is least expected. If
the entire Union army succeeds in crossing the river
without great loss, and if the enemy will fight there
with all his force, it will perhaps prove the decisive
battle of the war, casting into the shade the battles
of Shiloh, Bull Run, and perhaps Antietam. If it
should be won by Burnside, the fate of Richmond
would be sealed. On the other hand, if it should
be won by Lee, Washington would be in imminent
danger. But we have every confidence in the skill
of the Union general, taught, as he has been, in the
school of M'Clellan. But we hope that his plans
will not be interfered with in the critical moment,
as were those of his predecessor in the former cam-
paign. If he wins a decisive battle on the banks of
the Rappahannock, it will be his good fortune to
have given the blow which virtually terminates the
war. If the rebels do not fight in force on the
Rappahannock, nor on the other streams further
south which obstruct the march of the Union army
to Richmond, they will have to fight on the James,
or surrender their capital without a struggle. "On
to Richmond!" is now a cry with some meaning
in it. If they will not fight on the James they
must fight on the Roanoke, and if they will not
wait to give battle anywhere they will be driven
into the Gulf. Their retreat to Mexico by way of
Texas is now cut off. There was a time when that
escape was open to them ; but the opportunity has
now passed away, and nothing remains for them
but submission to the authority of the Union, or,
like Pharaoh and his host, to find a watery grave.
How much better to have proposed an armistice and
a convention to settle the terms of reunion than to
be brought to so miserable an end!

7HE DOINGS OF THE ALABAMA.

Respecting the proceedings of the Alabama, we
have the following information, published in the
Nov York Express :
" The T. B. Wales left Calcutta with a cargo of
saltpetre, linseed, gunny cloth, &c., on the 15th of
June, and Sand Heads on the 18th. She touched
at St. Helena, where she took on board the Hon.
G. H. Fairfield, of Salem, late consul of the United
States at the Mauritius, his wife, two children, and
two servants, and sailed thence on the Ist of Octo-
ber. Captain Edgar Lincoln, of the T. B. Wales,
had his wife with him. On the Bth of November,
when in long. 58 W., lat. 28 30 N., a steamer was
descried at eight o'clock a.m., which was chasing a
schooner, but on sighting the ship she hauled up
and made for the latter, then about ten miles to the
leeward. The steamer apparently put on all steam,
and as the wind favoured her every stitch of canvass
she could bear was set. A large American flag
was flying from her gaff, while from the masthead
signals were displayed designating her the 'Ame-
rican sloop of war Tuscarora.' Capt. Lincoln, glad
to hear from home, hauled his courses, and when
under the guns of the steamer the latter hauled
down the stars and stripes and sent up the Con-
federate flag, at the same time firing a shotted
gun across the bow of the Wales. A boat from
the pirate at once shoved off, and the first
lieutenant of the latter stepped on board and
ordered Capt. Lincoln on board the vessel with his
papers. He was courteously received by Captain
Semmes, who, unfortunately, first laid hold of the
bill of lading for the saltpetre, which at once settled
the fate of the Wales. He directed Capt. Lincoln
to be rowed back to his ship and to bring over the
personal effects of himself and lady, also his instru-
ments and everything of value. This order was
complied with, and Capt. Lincoln, with a boat load
of pirates, went back to his ship, where he informed
his crew of the sad affair. Every man was allowed
but one bag of clothing, while all their money fell
a prey to the pirate. Capt. Lincoln and Mr. Fair-
field, with their families, were taken back to the
Alabama, and the crew, including the first mate,
Mr. Joshua Atkins, of Provincetown, Massachusetts,
placed in irons. Arrived on board the Alabama,
Semmes gave the captain and his passengers the
liberty of the ship, but signified to them that he
would place them in double irons if they attempted
to speak to any of the prisoners who were confined
at night on the boiler deck, close to the boilers,
while in the daytime they were on the forecastle.
On the first day the second mate of the Wales,
Joseph Neal, anEnglishman,with eight of the crew,
voluntarily took the oath of allegiance to the Con-
federacy, and were at once placed on the books of
the ship. The prisoners, 123 in number, found on
board the crew of the Levi Starbuck, numbering 28,
who were treated like them. The captain of the
Starbuck and his officers were also in irons among
the crews. The prisoners received no unkind words
from their captors, and were fed the same as the
piratical crew. Captain Seannes and his first lieu-
nant were very haughty, and never spoke a word
to any of the prisoners. The discipline on the
Alabama is very loose, and the only men good for
anything are the first and fourth lieutenants, both
of whom alternate on deck. A nephew of Jeff. Davis
is lieutenant of marines. He told them that the
Alabama would never stop until every Northern
vessel bad been destroyed by her. The crew of the
Alabama numbered 120 men, all told. Semmes, it
is said, makes considerable money out of these cap-
tures. He generally made the searches in person,
appropriating the quadrants, mails, money, and all
other valuables that are easily moveable, to himself.
After all has been removed from the vessel that is
of any value the cabins are stove in, and the fire
started in the cabins, generally at night, and when
the flames are under full headway, so that there is
no possibility of a failure, the pirate vessel moves
off. The scene of the vessels as they are thus in
flames is described as awfully grand, the heavens
being lighted up for miles."

The Evening Traveller publishes the following
letter from a commissioned officer on board the San

Jacinto, explaining the circumstances attending the

escape of the pirate Alabama from Martinique, and
giving the reason why the commander of the San
Jacinto did not take the responsibility of attacking
her while in the harbour and under the flag of the

French Government :
" United States Steamship San Jacinto, Island
of St. Thomas, Nov. 26'
"I suppose that lcng before you receive this the
papers will have denounced the officers and crew of
the San Jacinto for allowing the rebel steamer Ma-
barna to escape from Fort Royal, Martinique, and
to vindicate the officers and crew of this ship is
principally my object in writing to you. The fol-
lowing are the particulars :-4, On the
morning of
ofe
openedseeing
the 19th inst. we stood in for Fort Royal Bay, in
the Island of Martinique, with the view
what vessels were in the harbour. As we
the harbour we saw a steamer, with steam up, at
anchor under the guns of Fort St. Louis. We stood
in towards her, aud, When about tv'f9 naive off, titav

hoisted the rebel rag- The San Jacinto was im-
mediately prepares. 1• for action and everything got
ready for desperate . 6ght. At :3 a.m. a pilot came
off, and offered his st' xvices to take the ship in to
an anchor, which wer e declined. Shortly after we
-01 •war steamer come out from
bah anchor alongside the oAla-
bama,sewillad Frenchbetthe-e f man
en fort and.
her and us. About noon a French
naval officer came off with despatches from the go-
vernor of the ioland to Capt. Ronekendorff, order-
ing him to either come to anchor or keep three
miles off from the nea, -est point of land. Of
course we chose the lath course, and kept our
ak
position in the middle of the bay. Here let me
say that Fort Royal Bay is six miles wide, with
high land on either side, with very bold shores.
In the evening Captain Nickerson, of the
brig Hampden, came on board, accompanied by a
whaling captain, whose ship, the Levi Starbuck,
had been burnt by the Alabama. Shortly after they
came on board we dispatched two boats to go out
and watch the rebel. At this time it was very dark
and cloudy, with a light drizzling rain. From the
whaling captain we learn that the Alabama was
armed with 100-pounder rifle and 1 64-pounder on
pivots, and six long 32's, with a complement of 150
men, most of whom V7Cre English. At 7.30 p.m.
Captain Nickerson left NS, promising to co-operate
with us in watching the ,movements of theAlabanas•
Previous to his leaving we gave him four rocketss
with instructions that Lc the Alabama got under
way, and stood over the bay for the south side he
was to fire rockets in that direction, and vice versa.
At eight p.m. we saw three rockets go up to the
southward. The San Jac.into was immediately
kept for the south shore, every man at his gun, loch
string in hand. We stood as near the land as the
rocks would permit, and kept off and on until day-
light our boats returned, neither of which sow all"
thing of the steamer. Our first lieutenant went 011
shore to see Captain Nickerson, whom he found 1.0
trouble with the authorities for firing the rock etB-
- expressed his opinion that the rebel was not
out of the bay, on the strength of whieh he re-
mained until the next day having sent acting
master Coon up to the head of the bay in 0116, of
our boats to see if she was behind any of the
islands. He returned on ethe morning of
the 21st, and reported that she was not
in the bay. Our hearts sank within us at this'
but we cheered ourselves with the thought that We
had done all we could. Whatever comments the
papers may make on this affair, the above state"
ment is the truth. If it had been a clear night sve
might have seen her; but the night was dark, clou.d9
and rainy—just the kind of a night the rebel wanted'
My opinion is that the French aided him in his
escape all they could. There were lights passing
to and fro from one point of land to another,
from one part of the bay to the other, till past mid'
night. The position our captain was placed in wad
a trying one, and his first impulse was to run into
her and sink her, but then what would the conse'
quences have been ? A war with France; the SO
Jacinto sunk by the guns of the fort, or, perhalA
getting the vessel ashore before we got up to her,
for we had no chart of the harbour, and did net
know at the time the depth of water she was an'
chored in."

GOUN2RI MARKLIS.


BIRMINGHAM—DEc. 24.
English wheat was sold at 50s to 60s for white, and 4651
355 to
to 56s per 36 stone for red, Barley, new malting,
42s per qr ; grinding, 27s ;to 30s. Oats, old, 25s to 3°,.°
per 30 stone; Irish, 21s to 255. Beans, 418 to 44s per q`'
Peas, 38s to 48s per 36 stone.