The Sun.
London, England, 1865-01-06 00:00:00

of intimate acquaintance with Confederate affairs
when greater confidence and hopefulness were en-
tertained in reference to the present and future of

Secessia than at present. If Gen. Grant could be

induced to withdraw his eyes for a moment from the
future of the Confederate States, and to contem-

plate the future of his own country, I would ask
him to reflect in what estimation he is himself
likely to be held by the fickle, many-headed beast
of the North if he fails to take Richmond in the
next six months ? Many are the bitter Yankee-
haters in this town, who wish for their enemies no

greater degradation than that, having failed to sub-
due the South, they should find themselves with
such a satrap as Abraham Lincoln strapped on their
backs for four years to come without hope of relief.
Many are the vaticinations already heard in Rich-

mond that the second lustrum of Mr. Lincoln, com-

menced in sunshine and tranquillity, and welcomed

by a slavish and sycophantic community, will go
out in storm and whirlwind amid execrations and
curses. There is in the " Arabian Nights" no tale

so wild and startling as a comparison between the
wealth, progress, actual and prospective prosperity

of the United States in 1860, and the utter humilia.
tion of the record which they will exhibit in 1865.

I have just returned from passing several days in
camp on the north of the James, and have watched
with interest the progress of the Confederate lines
northwards, until they have reached the bluff which
overhangs the valley of the Chickahominy. It is
_ _

curious to observe what an amount of labour the
construction of these elaborate lines exacts. Your
readers will remember that in my letter describing
the abortive Federal attack of October 27 I stated
that the new lines of the Confederates ran only to
the Charles City-road, and that the Williamsburg
and Nine-mile-roads (where the Federal attack
upon that day was mainly delivered) were defended
only by the old lines thrown up against General

M'Clellan in 1862. But since the return of Gene-
ral Kershaw and his fine division from the valley.

General Longstreet has extended his lines north

wards across the Williamsburg and Nine-mile-roads
to the Chicahominy river. One :of the strongest
earth redoubts which I have ever seen is being con-

strutted on the Nine-mile-road, and will be shortly
finished. It is to mount 12 guns, and, although
its construction is necessary as a prophylactic mea-
sure, it takes no prophet to predict that it will never
be approached by the Federals. The war in Vir-
ginia during the last week has been diversified only
by an attack of Grant's upon Stoney-creek depot
(which is the furthest point northwards to which

the cars of Weldon run), and by the destruction
there of some stores and forage, inconsiderable in
amount ; and, secondly, by a success of the Con-
federate cavalry, under General Prosser, against
two stations on the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad.
in which considerably greater damage was inflicted
than was accomplished by Grant's force at Stony-
creek. It is needless to say that these little episodes,
sometimes magnified by the journals on one side or
the other into extravagant proportions, exercise an
infinitesimal influence upon the fortunes of the war ;
but, latterly, the Confederates, as regards the en-
terprise and success of their efforts, have certainly
not had the worst of it. The main interest of the
war centres more than ever at this moment in the
operations of Sherman in Georgia and of Hood in
Tennessee.

Our information in this city of the true history o
operations in Georgia is inconsecutive and incom
plete, but it seems astonishing that with so large a
force Sherman should have moved only 20 miles
during . the last week, and that he should have
effected so little in 23 days. Against no town of
importance, with the exception of Milledgeville
(which has no military value), has Sherman dared
to strike a blow. From the rich counties of
Georgia, which are adjacent to Milledgeville, a cry
ascends to Heaven bewailing barns and homesteads
burnt, cattle, homes, hogs, sheep, poultry, corn,
wheat, and forage abstracted, and negroes carried
away ; but -Sherman will find that he is creating in
Georgia what his associates long ago created in Vir-
ginia—poverty and patriots.
It is idle for me to undertake to comment upon
the movements of General Hood in Tennessee, as
these movements are known to us only through
Northern journals ; but since the date of my last let-
ter a greatly increased feeling of cheerfulness, has
been inspired by the knowledge that Hood and his
army are in motion. If it were worth while to waste
20 words upon the ridiculous mendacity of the
Northern journals, I might point a moral for the
instruction of your readers, upon the text of their
statements in reference to Hood's army, while lying
inactively upon the Tennessee River. I continue to
have the same confidence which I have often before
expressed in . the character and tried courage of
General Hood and in the morale and spirit of his
army, but it is my sincere hope that he will not at-
tempt to march to the north of Nashville at this
seasons of the year, but that he will be satisfied with
descending along the railroad from Nashville to
Chattanooga, and in repossessing himself of the lat-
ter stronghold, -which, if retaken by the Confederates
(and resistance will hardly be possible if Hood de-
scends on it from the north), will necessitate the
speedy, evacuation of Knoxville by the Federals.
With:Knoxville and Chattanooga again in Con-
federate hands, with Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi,
and four-fifths of Tennessee rescued from the Fede-
rals, can it be denied that my words, written at the
commencement of October, will have been abund-
antly verified ?