The Sun.
London, England, 1865-02-20 00:00:00

PRICE 4d.
STAMPED sd.

Conference in the Hampton Roads resulted in suc-
cess or failure. Those who believe that the South
is exhausted in men and money, in courage and in
hope, by no means an inconsiderable section of the
Northern people—assert that the negotiations, in
scope, spirit, and tendency, were all that the most
ardent lovers of peace could desire ; that Mr. Lin-
coln's sole condition was the Union, which, if. con-
ceded by the South, all questions of amnesty, debt,
and confiscation would be settled in the most gene-
rous and conciliatory spirit ; and that even the
emancipation of the slaves, which Mr. Lincoln
thought essential to future harmony of action among
the States of the restored Union, would not only be
made as gradual as the South desired, but would be
accompanied with a liberal compensation to the
slaveowners. They add that as Messrs. Stephens,
Hunter, and Campbell were merely emissaries, and
not plenipotentiaries, they could do no more than
listen respectfully to Mr. Lincoln's ultimatum, and
return forthwith to Richmond to report to Mr.
Davis. In due time it is promised that the nego-
tiations will be resumed on this basis ; and that the
world will witness the glorious—and to Europe
the threatening—spectacle of a restored Union,
trained in war, hardened in suffering, and ready for
any enterprise of pith and moment, that may teach
all other nations which presume to incur its wrath,
or excite its jealousy, that America and not Europe
represents modern ideas, modern civilisation, and
modern power.
But, although this is the notion of the credolous
multitude, it is not that of the wiser few in the po-
litical circles of Washington and the financial centres
of New York. There is not a particle of evidence to
prove that the South is exhausted, though there is
much to prove that it is disaatified with the conduct
of the war, and with the preferences which Mr.
Davis is alleged to have exhibited in the appoint-
ment of incompetent and the dismissal of competent
generals. Neither does the reported evacuation of
Mobile, or the approaching surrender or evacuation of
Wilmington, and Charleston, and probably Rich-
mond itself, lead careful and unimpassioned stu-
dents of current history to believe that any or all of
these events would sensibly damage the cause of the
South, or do it greater injury than the loss of a mo-
mentary prestige, which the fortune of war at other
points might suddenly restore. Gen. Lee has more
than once declared that the temporary loss of the
Atlantic cities would be of advantage to the Confe-
deracy, and that if he were relieved of the duty of
defending them, he would be better able than ever
to teach the North what the war meant, and the
scale on which it should be conducted. As General
Sherman—who if success be the test of ability—is
by far the ablest general in the Federal army, is of
the same opinion, it is argued that the cause of peace
has not been advanced by the Conference, and that
the only result will be to give each of the two Pre-
sidents a text to expatiate upon to his people in
support of a more vigorous prosecution of hostili-
ties. The theory that the Confederate Goverment
is really " the master of the situation," and that it
has received positive assurances from its agents in
Europe that the Emperor Napoleon will recognise
its independence early in March, in return for cer-
tain commercial and political advantages, grows
rapidly in favour, and is entertained by many who
believe that Mr. Lincoln will prove more than a
match for the Emperor in diplomacy, and secure for
the North those terms which the South is supposed
to be willing to concede to any power that shall
acknowledge and make alliance with it. The Ame-
ricans are in the habit of boasting that the petty
experiences of the old and effete world of Europe
and Asia do not apply to their young and vigorous
country, or serve as lights to guide them in their
brilliant career ; that they have a way of their own
of doing things ; that they make war on a grander
scale than the paltry Xerxes, Sennacheribs, Calsars,
Genghis-Khans, Napoleons, or Wellingtons of by-
gone days, and that when it suits them to make
peace they will make it in a mode and at a time
which shall astonish such " one-horse nations" as
Great Britain and France, and be generally a " cau-
tion to the universe."

Whatever be their ideas on the subject of French
recognition, the Wall-street people do not encou-
rage the hope of speedy peace. Gold keeps remark-
ably steady amid all the exciting rumours of the last
few days, and if it moves at all moves upwards. The
failure of peace negotiations means more money ;
and no one knows where it is to come from, unless
from the printing-presses of the Treasury depart-
ment at Washington ; and it is not only the ques-
tion of money but of men that is embarrassing to
all who admit the probability of continued hostili-
ties even for short a period as a year. Supposing
that the recent negotiations have utterly failed, that
the Northern Government will listen to no term
that do not include, and are not based upon, the
restoration of the Union; that the South is
equally firm and intractable on the question
of independence, and that no European Power,
or combination of Powers, will cut the knot
of the difficulty by recognition, to be followed, if
necessary, by armed intervention, the North will
find itself face to face with these its two oldest and
most imperious perplexities and dangers. A scar-
city of men and a want of hard money will continue
to embarass if not to confound its schemes. Great
as are its resources, and obstinate as may its deter-
minaiion to sink all things for " Union," of what
value are resources that cannot be utilized, and de-
terminations that are backed only by moral and not
by physical agencies ? The revelations of the stu-
pendous frauds committed upon the Government
and upon the several States and townships engaged
in furnishing recruits by the bounty brokers and
the officials whom they have bribed to aid in their
forgeries and robberies are enough of themselves
to
warrant, if not to compel, the Government to re-
nounce all future reliance upon such a mode of
recruiting its armies—a mode that costs immense
sums of money, and procures either worthless re-
cruits or " bounty-jumpers," as they are called,
who no sooner enlist than they desert, sometimes
receiving the bounty-money no less than twenty-
seven times in as many different towns. The native
born American no longer volunteers his services ;
he has ceased to do so for at least two years, except
in cases where his term of enlistment has expired
and he has renewed it for the sake of the bounty
money. The only other sources of supply are the
emancipated negroes of the Sea Islands and the
border, or the free-born negroes of the North, and
the Irish, German, and to a smaller extent, the
English immigration. These combined do not suffice
to :maintain the Federal armies on the footing at
which they stood when Grant and Sherman com-
menced the campaign of 1864. Since May last the
Northern Generals are reported to have lost by the
casualties of the battle-field, of the camp, of the
swamp, of the hospital, and of the nefarious
andtr have
ofe
bounty-jumping, at least 200,000
not been supplied with as many as 507n0eOcOtpotificlail
toe
gap. The Government threatens consrid
it lest
procure volunteers, but hesitates to enforce
frighten the great cities into redoubled efforts to
situation more pro-
, Nor is the finoarnteo.
the 15th January—a
armed resistance to its authority should be the con-
sequence.mising. For 60 eepxrpeepnasreastioonf s
the
' the capture of IVllnun
period which inelduda.yed.pthgtone imn
7
—mtelnsie
estimate which places its ordi-
nary expenditure at less than one thousand mil-.
any-
thing like regularity, a fact well known but not
lions per annum.
hitherto published except by journals hostile to the
Administration though now admitted by so faithful
and honest a supporter as the Tribuue, which
sounded the alarm on the subject so lately as Satur-
day last, in depreciating the outlay of V 0,000,000
for frontier forts and defences on the Canadian fron-
tier as beyond the ability of the nation to lavish at
a time when its veteran armies were unpaid. " Our
heroes in the field," said that journal " are vainly