The Sun.
London, England, 1862-09-20 00:00:00

only hope, Pope fell back in three columns, two

of them retiring towards Centreville, and the third,
under Gen. M'Dowell, having been despatched to
gain Thoroughfare-gap and intercept Jackson's re-
treat, Jackson, having secured at Manassas station
such an amount of supplies as to suffice for his men
for several days, and having then burnt a large
amount of rolling stock on the Orange and Alex-
andria Railroad, sent a hasty messenger to Long-
street to hurry up through Thoroughfare-gap, and
turned himself fiercely upon General M'Dowell.
Then was fought, on Friday, August 29, what
is called the Battle of Groveton, concerning
which Pope's despatch has long been before the
public, claiming the victory and promising to cap-
ture Jackson the next day. A telegraphic message
from General M'Dowell to Mr. Chase was simul-
requesting Mr. Chase to
taneonsly published,
make known to Mrs. M'Dowell that her husband
had safely passed through another battle of Bull
Run, and had gained a decided victory. It appears
now that the actual despatch sent by General
M'Dowell was that he had passed through another
battle of Bull Run with a worse result than before.
Instead of the victory claimed by Pope, instead of
Thoroughfare-gap being closed by M'llowell, Jack-
son had more than held his own; and upon Satur-
day, August 30, he again advanced, reinforced that
morning by Longstreet and Ewell; and, supported
by Lee advancing from theßappahannock, drove the
Federals with great loss back towards Centreville.
From this moment, in spite of the constant asser-
tions in the Northern papers that there had been no
lighting on Saturday, the Confederates pro:sed con-
stantly upon the Federals and drove them first off
the battle-field of Friday, then back to Centreville,
then through Centreville to Fairfax Court-house,
near to which, at a little place called Chantilly, fell
one of the most gallant officers of the Federal army
—General Kearney. The Englishmen who passed
last winter at Washington, and especially those
who witnessed General M'Dowell's review near
Alexandria, will well remember his alert soldier-
like form, his empty sleeve telling of the Mexican
war, his grey charger, the partner with him of
Mexican battle-fields. A better and more dashing
officer served not in the Federal army, or one more
adapted to conduct such raids
as those which have
made Stuart famous. Throughout this lamentable
war there has never been, on the Federal side, any
disposition to search out men peculiarly adapted for
special services, and to
H detail them f
or the discharge
of congenial duties. ad any such disposition
existed, General Kearney would not ha,,, fallen
without leaving a reputation behind him commen-
surate with his worth and ability as a soldier.
From the time of his death and that of General
Stevens on Tuesday, the 2d of September, the re-
treat of the Federals has been rapid and continuous,
On Wednesday, September 3, the whole army was
safe, cowering behind the fortifications so long
occupied last winter, which gird the southern bank
of the Potomac opposite Washington. Within those
fortifications it is absurd to think for a moment
that they will be attacked by such a general
as Lee. Immense reinforcements have constantly
been pouring for days past from the North into
Washington, and there must be at least 150,000
which protect it. The &-
nun defending the forts
Hi,gs of the Confederates are already patent, and
seem to he to make a dash between Lessburgh and
Harper's Ferry into Maryland, where a Confede-
rate force will probably be a snowball growing and
gathering step by step as it advances northward.
Meanwhile Gen. Pope, under whose guidance the
Federal fortunes, which have long ceased to be
brilliant, had fallen to their lowest ebb—without
clothes, without papers, with nothing but his re-
covered commission, beaten, baffled,' disgraced, has
taken up his position close to the quarters occupied
Ipet winter b 7 General 'Wadsworth. on Upton's Hill,

and has given over the supreme command once
more to General M'Clellan. It is understc od that
the President and General Halleck waited in person
upon General M'Clellan, and requested him once
again to accept the post from which he had been
deposed. He accepted upon condit:( ns that he
should for the future be free from control. In the
midst of unparalleled gloom and depression, a cer-
tain degree of satisfaction has resulted from the
restitution of M'Clellan. That he is far from bril-
liant, that his constitutional prudence has led him
to miss more than one chance of taking Richmond,
nobody will deny. But, on the whole, no superior
to M'Clellan has as yet shown himself on the Fede-
ral side. There existed for a long time between
him and his men a reciprocity of affection which
has never been evinced towards any other Federal
General, and which is not, even now, wholly extin-
guished. That he is a fitting leader to oppose Lee
and Jackson no man, even on the Federal side,
would assert ; but he is less likely to involve his
men in danger than any other commander. To
fight for some time on the defensive seems his ine-
vitable lot.
It cannot be said that the President's interference
with military matters has had happy results. The
appointment of Gen. Pope was entirely the Presi-
dent's act. They were old Western friends. There
is a certain quickness and smartness about General
Pope which commend him superficially. But . the
public, weary and distrustful of swagger, saw with
suspicion his first vaunting pronunciamientos, and
bitterly has he been compelled to eat his words. He
has raised up by his proclamation calling upon his
men to subsist themselves on Virginian property a
fierce vindictiveness in the Southern heart, which is
only paralleled by the feeling towards General But-
ler. In these recent battles the officers belonging
to Pope's force who were taken prisoners have all
been sent to Richmond, and refused their parole,
and ominous threats that they will be proceeded
against as land pirates, in accordance with Presi-
dent Davis's threat of retaliation, are loudly heard.
It is not necessary to add that Mr. Stanton, whose
chief pleasure it seems to have been from the begin-
ning to thwart and oppose and depreciate General
M'Clellan, warmly approved of his subordination to
General Pope, and encouraged the latter to reflect
upon M'Clellan by his public orders as much as he
hoped that Pope would be able to do by conduct in
the field.
It is generally believed that as a necessary conse-
quence of General M.Clellan's restoration Mr.
Stanton will be superseded in the War Department
by General Halleck. It is impossible to mention
any change which would be more welcome to the
American public, not so much from affection to
General Halleck as from detestation of Mr. Stan-
ton.

Another matter in which the President is much
animadverted upon is in reference to the withdrawal
of General M'Dowell from Fredericksburg at the
time when General M'Clellan was advancing on
Richmond. M'Dowell, with 43,000 men in the
highest state of efficiency, was burning to descend
from the North as M'Clellan advanced along the
peninsula. " Stonewall" Jackson appeared at this
moment in the Shenandoah Valley, driving Banks
before him. The President, alarmed for Washing-
ton, withdrew M'Dowell and his force from Fre-
dericksburg and transferred them westward. In the
midst of the many recriminations and explanations
advanced in exculpation of the failure of M'Clellan's
expedition against Richmond, the opinion of the
wisest seems to point with warmest censure at the
removal of M'Dowell from Fredericksburg.
It has been mentioned that General Pope's de-
spatch, falsely calling the Battle of Groveton, on
Friday, August 29, a victory, was warmly hailed
in Washington, and preparations were at once
made to show solicitude for the wounded. A train
of 200 ambulances was sent forth, containing many
Goverment employes and private citizens, who long
will remember their experiences on that eventful
trip. Shortly after they had started the disastrous j
news of Saturday's battle reached Washington, but
the ambulances were beyond recall. They travelled
all Saturday night, and arrived on Sunday near the
field of battle. They found it in the hands of the
Confederates. A few ambulances went boldly for-
ward, and fell at once into the hands of the Southern
pickets. Such of the wounded as were able to drag
themselves towards the ambulances were accommo-
dated on them, and the Government employes and
civilians repaired to the nearest station with a view
to returning by rail. Here they were perempto-
rily refused admission and all the accommodation
reserved for wounded soldiers. Weary, footsore,
half-starved, out for two nights without sleep, these
good Samaritans dragged themselves back on foot
to Washington, heartily enraged at their treatment
by the Government. It was of a piece with its
action in all other matters. Hundreds of surgeons
have been telegraphed for from Northern cities.
They repaired to Washington, where no accommo-
dation, no orders, no patients awaited them. Many
of them returned in high irritation to their homes.
One of the most heartrending thoughts, in con-
nection with all these recent battles, is that, com-
paratively, a very small number of wounded has
hitherto been brought into Washington. That the
number of wounded in these battles is enormous
seems generally believed. Humanity shudders
and recoils at the thought of thousands of frail,
suffering, anguished bodies, many of them
famished when they received their wound, lying
for 48 or 72 hours without food or water or kindly
care—many a poor wearied soul escaping from its
racked and fevered casket from sheer want of human
tenderness and sympathy. But, though there are
thousands of sufferers left behind, Washington has
this week seen a eight which might well draw
tears from a stone, but which seems scarcely to
have ruffled the serene indifference of the stolid
American nature. On Monday a long train of
maimed and bleeding and mangled wretches, most
of them wounded the Friday before, approached
over the Long-bridge. No one was there to look
after them, and there for hours lay this mass of
tortured and writhing humanity, while pools of
blood trickled from the carriages and left a ghastly
trail behind. Many a poor fellow not deprived of
the use of his legs, untended in the churlish and
bewildered city, wandered to the railroad station,
with heart fondly turning to some far-off home,
possibly among the hills of what was once happy
and peaceful New England. He who could witness
that sight and not from his heart abhor the grasp-
ing vaulting nature of those politicians who, rather
than accept what has long been inevitable, would
month after month subject poor human nature to j
such unutterable anguish. must have been cold in-
deed. But no sign of emotion did Washington deign
to give or betray. The same idle poco-curante
crowd at Willard's Hotel, the same knot of sharks
and contractors fattening on a nation's woes, the
same frail and miserable women Profaning with
repulsive levity streets and buildings which the
Angel of Death had marked for his cwn—well may
the bewildered stranger ask himself with sickening
horror, Is this a Christian nation which conceives
the best tenants for its churches to be the maimed
and agonised and dying, and can look at such sights
undaunted and unmoved ? Can it bear the thought
that thousands of its sons should lie for days starv-
ing and with wounds festering on the field of battle,
find no relief till mortification, more merciful than
Christian man, preludes a final and painless repose.
STONEWALL JACKSON.
Upon one topic only did Washington show any
excitement. Strong and eager was the anxiety
shown to obtain
a photography of the hero of the
moment, Stonewall
Jackson. A few appeared in
one of the shops, and were instantly snapped up.
Thousands, and tens of thousands, could be sold in
The interest excited by
tthhieseibttireas4fe
man the North.
.
is as curious as it is unprece-
dented. A classmate of IVl'Clellan's at West Point,
Heavy,
riac and
unfavourably
aknndowthne!eincolivisaidsherlicigdtsolnowaasnd ochondah
malade inaaginaire, be has exhibited for the last
ten months qualities which were little supposed to
reside in his rugged and unsoldierlike frame,
but
which will hand his name down for many a gene-
ration in the company of those great captains whom
men will not willingly let die. More apt for the
execution than conception of great movements,
leaning upon Gen. Lee as the directing brain, and
furnishing the promptest hand, the most dauntless
heart, the most eseetio and rigorous self-denial, the