The Sun.
London, England, 1865-04-05 00:00:00

SOUT,

'EDERACY.

(From the Times' Special Correspondent.)
RICHMOND, March 4.
It is impossible to be blind to the fact that the
personal character of General Sherman, seemingly
destined within the next few weeks to be the
greatest power upon this distracted continent,
is at this moment well worth studying, as likely
to furnish a key to the future, and to indi-
cate the attitude and policy of the victorious 20
millions who, after unparalleled efforts, seem at
length about to triumph over the first stage of re-
sistance so long and so heroically_offered by their
sturdy and still unsubdued antagonist. It can
scarcely be denied that up to the present time the
Northern Generals who have tried conclusions with
Robert E. Lee have had no occasion to boast of the
encounter. At a moment of such Northern intoxica-
tion as the present it is necessary to repeat that
neither M'Clellan, Pope, Burnside, nor Hooker can
point with much pride to the record of the past ;
nor can it be claimed even by the most rabid parti-
sans of the North that any other Federal Generals
than Grant and Meade have met Gen. Lee without
disgrace. I have reason to know that Gen. Lee has
always entertained a very favourable opinion of the
character and ability of Gen. Meade, and that neither
by Meade nor Grant have the loathsome cruelties
which have disgraced Hunter, Milroy, Sheridan, and
most of the Federal Generals in the Shenandoah
Valley been encouraged or stimulated. Nevertheless,
if Grant and Meade are to be judged by the Pro-
crustean military code which European critics of the
American war, knowing nothing of the difficulties
and makeshifts with which Lee has had to contend,
insist always upon applying to him, it seems to me
that the fact of the Federals having been held in
check for nine months before Petersburg and Rich-
mond by Lee's vastly inferior army is a sufficient
indication that Grant and Meade are no match for
Lee in military ability. It must never be forgotten
that Lee's army, during almost the whole of its
existence, and especially during the last 12 months,
has been scantily fed from hand to mouth, gene-
rally destitute of such stimulants as coffee or
spirits ; that it has usually been outnumbered in the
ratio of three to one ; that it has endured all that
can test the persistency of man ; and that the force
which it has so steadfastly opposed has been pam-
pered by an abundance of food to stimulate its
courage, coaxed by luxuries such as have hitherto
been unknown to armies in the field, and inflated
by the ceaseless gasconades of such a daily press as
never constituted a material element in the history
of any previous war. It is difficult for one who
during these long months of agony and suspense has
watched the career of Robert E. Lee, has been cog-
nizant of his stately simplicity, his unostentatious
self-abnegation, his ceaseless and ever active un-
selfishness, his lofty courage, his uncomplaining per-
sistency, to speak of him otherwise than in the lan-
guage of extravagant enthusiasm. To measure such
a man by the cold standard of military criticism, to
weigh him in the balance with men who conducted
war under vastly different circumstances, seems
little less than treason to those who live under his
influence and example, and recognise that he has
been to this great struggle more than Washington
was to the Revolutionary War, more than Laroche-
jacquelin to La Vendee, more than Kosciusko to
Poland, or Garibaldi to Italy. But there will be
little dispute in Europe about his rank as a great
captain, if, while still holding with vastly inferior
numbers the lines around Petersburg and Richmond,
he is able to detach a large force to the South,
and to hurl Sherman back to the sea coast. Such, I
believe, will be his effort. About the result I should
have no misgiving if the spirit of Secessia generally
in 1865 were as good as it was in 1864. But noble,
without example noble, as has been the attitude of
Virginia throughout the war, the tenacity of the
Cotton States, and especially of South Carolina
and Georgia, has partaken of the passionate tem-
perament of men who live " under the sun,"
and who lack the patient endurance and bulldog
persistency which men sprung from the same
blood but living in a colder clime are wont to claim
as the proudest elements of British valour. I
dare not speak with confidence about the future at
a moment when so many of the best and noblest of
the Confederates have fallen, when politicians have
shown more energy in undermining their own Go-
vernment and sapping General Lee's strength than
in breasting the enemy, when the vastly superior
forces of the Federals in men and (and what is still
more important) in water-carriage facilities, are be-
ginning to be more felt than at an earlier stage of
the war. It is necessary, while still retaining un-
bounded faith in General Lee, and much confidence
in the men who follow such divisional and corps
commanders as Longstreet, Mahone, Wade Hamp-
ton, and Gordon, to contemplate as possibilities
circumstances which may be upon us almost before
these words have met the eyes of your readers. The
long arrest of Grant before Richmond will be
hardly compensated by his capture of that city if
Lee should eventually be forced to evacuate it, for
it will be attributed more to the strategy of Sherman
than to the coercion of Grant. Sherman, within a
few weeks of this time; may by possibility be auto.
crat of this continent,but no conceivable concatena

tion of circumstances can, in my judgment, place
the crown upon the head of Grant. It will, there-
fore, as I have said, be profitable to study the cha-
racter of Sherman, as our best guide to the possible
shape of the future. Not forgetting that there is a
possibility of Sherman, when brought into collision
with Lee, although fighting with every conceivable
advantage upon his side, suffering such an eclipse as
has overtaken all of his predecessors, let me proceed
to the task which I have proposed for myself.
The record, it must be confessed, is not alto-
gether unexceptionable. During my recent visit to
Charleston I was told that when Sherman, some 20

years ago, was a young lieutenant in the United

States' army, he was long quartered near that city
upon Sullivan's Island. Such was then his character

for steadiness that no objection was ever made by
ladies in Charleston to permitting their daughters to
join parties given by the officers at which it was known
that Lieut. Sherman was to be present. We lose

sight of him until he quitted the United States army
and established himself as a banker or broker (in
this country usually the terms are almost identical)

in California. In this business he failed, and some
few years before the war repaired to New Orleans,
in
~ a condition, if not of destitution, at any rate ur-
gently needing assistance and advancement at the
hands of his former friends or fellow soldiers. This

assistance he was not slow in finding. Gen. Beaure-
garcl was one of the mostpopular men inNewOrleans,
of which city (I think subsequently to the time of
he became mayor; and Gen.
which I am speaking)
Bragg had a large plantation in Louisiana. By the
influence of his two former associates in the United
States' army, Sherman, whose worth, steadiness of
character, and military ability were well known to
both, gained the appointment of President to the
Louisiana Military State Academy. This office he
held with much dignity and propriety for some years.
In January, 1861, when the war between the two
sections was manifestly coming, Sherman resigned
his office in Louisiana, and approached Gen. Bragg
with a view to taking leave of him. He said to Gen.
Bragg, " I see plainly that war is at hand. Edu-
cated as a soldier, I cannot remain in the South
without taking up arms, and I do not see my
way to fighting against my own kinsmen from
Ohio. But come what may, no human consi-
deration—no human cosideration " (General
Bragg told me that Sherman repeated these words
twice)—" will ever induce me to take up arms
against the South. The South has, I know, many
grievances to complain of, and I shall go to Ohio
with a view to instructing my countrymen about

them." It was not without considerable astonish.

ment that after this speech General Bragg read the

name of Brigadier-General W. T. Sherman figuring

as a prominent actor in the battle of Bull Run. But

I must add that General Bragg (who told me this

story a few weeks ago) seemed little disposed upon
_ _

reflection to censure General Sherman harshly for his

change of opinion. The strange, enthusiastic temper

of Sherman seemed to be fully known to Bragg, and
the latter gave the former credit for sincerity on the
occasion of their conversation in January, 1861, and
for sincerity on the occasion of Sherman's acting at
Bull Run in a manner diametrically opposed to his
professions at the commencement of the same year.