The Sun.
London, England, 1862-05-27 00:00:00

TI:fE CIVIL WAR IN AMERICA.

LIVERPOOL, MAY 26.
The Cunard steamship America has arrived,
bringing mails from New York to the 13th, from
Boston to the 14th, and from Halifax to the 16th
inst. She brought 61,153 dols. in specie on freight.
In the Senate on the 12th the bill providing for
the collection of direct taxes in insurrectionary dis-
tricts was taken up, debated at considerab)e length,
and finally passed with only three dissenting votes,
after being amended so as to provide for an addi-
tional tax to cover all the expenses of the collec-
tion and the salaries of officers appointed under the
bill.

In the House of Representatives on the 12th Mr,
Wickliffe, of Kentucky, introduced resolutions de-
claring the Emancipation and Confiscation Bills un-
constitutional, but objection was mede to them, and
they were withdrawn for the present. Mr. Love-
joy's bill, assuring freedom in all the territories, was
hen taken up, and, after considerable debate, was
passed, with modifications suggested by Mr. Love-
joy himself. The title was amended so as to read,
" An Act to Secure Freedom to all Persons within
the Territories of the United States." A bill was
introduced to define and punish as a high crime and
misdemeanour the adhering to or giving aid and
comfort to persons in rebellion against the Govern-
ment. The bill giving bounties to soldiers injured
in the present war was debated at considerable
length, and finally passed. It appropriates sin
millions for the bounties.
A committee of 'Conservative members of Con-
gress had held a meeting, and adopted the following
resolutions :
" First—That the Constitution, the Union, and
the laws of the United States must be enforced, and
the rebellion against them put down, and that it is
their duty to vote for every measure necessary and
proper to that end.
" Second.—That it is the dictate of policy, as well
of humanity, that no more war, -violence, or injury
should be inflicted than are absolutely necessary to
suppress the rebellion. That while to blow should
be spared the rebellion as long as it is in arms
against the Government, we should remember that
those engaged in it have been our fellow-citizens,
and they and their descendants must again make
and partake in a common destiny.
" Third.—That the States are component and
essential parts of the Union, bound together by the
Constitution ; that rebels cannot divest States of
their rights and powers as such parts of the Union,
and, though they may obstruct for a time the enjoy-
ment of these rights and powers, upon the removal
of the obstruction, by the suppression of the rebel-
lion, the States must revert to their original rights
and relations, and so remain as long as the Consti-
tution of the United States, which binds them into
one Government, shall endure.
" Fourth.—That while condign punishment
should be visited on leading rebels to mark and
stigmatise their detestable crime, the masses of the
people of the seceded States are not equal offenders,
anddeserve immediate amnesty on abandoning their
opposition to the Government.
" Fifth.—That on these principles the general
Confiscation and Emancipation Bills pending before
Congress are impolitic, unconstitutional, and highly
dangerous to the future peace of the country, and
should not become laws.
" Sixth.—That the members of Congress, uniting
in the expression of these sentiments, while not all
fully indorsing everything that President Lincoln
has done, do nevertheless have an abiding confi-
dence in his honesty, patriotism, and desire to pre-
serve the constitutional rights of the States."
On the 10th a disastrous fire occurred at Troy ;
the damage was estimated at 2,000,000 dols., and
some lives were lost.
A vessel had arrived at New York with 1,943
bales of cotton from Port-Royal.
From the correspondence, dated May 10, of the
.New York Times, we extract the following account
of the operations at Norfolk :
" Norfolk and Gosport Navy-yard again belong
to the United States. Our troops under Gen. Wool
entered and took possession of the town at 5 o'clock
this afternoon, receiving its surrender at the hands
of the Mayor and Common Council. AU the troops
who had been holding it under Gen. Huger were
withdrawn yesterday; the public) buildings and
public property in the Navy-yard were all de-
stroyed ; the people remained in the city, and our
forces entered into peaceable possession, being en-
camped two miles out of the town, in what is called
the entrenched camp, which was very strongly for-
tified, and in which 30 pieces of cannon fell into
our possession. Brigadier-General Egbert L. Viele
has been appointed Military Governor of the place,
and the strongest assurances were given by General
Wool and by Secretary Chase, who accompanied
him throughout the march, that the persons and
property of all the inhabitants should be treated
with the utmost respect. After the fall of York-
town, and the withdrawal of the great body of the
rebel army it was believed that the abandonment of
Norfolk would speedily follow as a necessary con-
sequence. When General M'Clellan, therefore, on
Monday, after the fall of Yorktown, telegraphed to
Gen. Wool asking for more troops in order to make
an effective pursuit of the rebels up the York
River, General Wool declined to send any, on the
ground that it might become necessary for him to
take and hold Norfolk. On Thursday the little
steamtug J. B. White came in from Norfolk,
having deserted from the rebel service. She had
been sent to bring in a couple of schooners
from the mouth of Tanner's Creek, the officers in
charge of her being Northern men. On arriving,
they reported to General Wool that the rebel troops
Were evacuating Norfolk. Under these circum•
stances General Wool decided to make a military
demonstration upon Norfolk. A large body of
troops was embarked upon the transports lying in
the Roads, and all preparations were made with a
view to a landingon Sea all's Point during Thursday.
Several vessels were sent to shell the Point the
preceding day, and, as you have already heard,
they did it with a good deal of effect. But they re-
ceived very vigorous replies from the batteries there,
and were finally put to flight by the appearance of
the Merrimac, which came up to take part in the
conflict. This vigorous demonstration on the part
of the rebels satisfied the military authorities that
the attack could not safely be made at that time or
at that point. The troops were accordingly dis-
embarked on Friday morning, and the expedition
was for the time abandoned. On Friday Secretary
Chase, who had been spending several days here,
as had also President Lincoln and Secretary Stan-
ton, learnt from a pilot familiar with the coast that
there was a place where a 'eliding could be effected
a mile or so beyond Willoughby Point, and that a
very good road led directly from that shore to Nor-
folk.
In company with General Wool cud Colonel
T. J. Cram, of the Topographical Engineers, Secre-
tary Chase, on Friday, crossed over in the steam
revenue cutter Miami, and sent a boat to sound the
depth of water and examine the shore, with a view
to a landing of troops. While doing so, they per-
ceived
signs of a mounted picket guard on the shore
above, and not deeming it safe to venture too far
they pulled back for the Miami. On their way, how-
ever, a woman was seen in a house on shore waving
a white flag. She gave the party a good deal of valu-
able information concerning the roads and the con-
dition of the country between there and Norfolk,
Secretary Chase and Colonel Cram went ashore and
satisfied themselves that a landing was perfectly
feasible. On returning to Fortress Munroe they
found that President Lincoln and Secretary Stan-
ton, on examining the maps, had been led to make
a similar exploration and had come to a similar
conclusion. The result of all this was that General
Wool decided upon an immediate march upon Nor-
folk from that point, and orders were at once issued
to carry it into aff, ct. The steamer Adelaide,
which-was filled with freight and passengers for
Baltimore, was stopped half an hour before her time
of sailing, and with half a dozen others was at once
occupied by the infantry and artillery destined for
the expedition. They began to embark about four
o'clock on Friday afternoon,
and by midnight seve-
ral of them had started fur the opposite shore. A
vigorous bombardment was opened
from the Rip
Raps upon Sewall's Point, and kept' up- for two
hours, t') induce the belief that this WAS the la-