The Sun.
London, England, 1862-08-19 00:00:00

711 E AMERICAN WAR.

The influence of climate and education on ihe
human race would be strikingly exemplified in the
contrast between the Americans of August, 1862,
and the British in 1792, or in the midst of their
greatest struggle, if we could prove that the natives
of the Northern States of the present day were the
same stock as the British, or even were of the same
race, undoubtedly British, and removed from the
home people by only a couple of generations ; who
successfully carried to its end the rebellion of 1776,
and in concert with the French defeated all the
efforts which England could make, while engaged
in European wars, to overcome their distant resist-
ance. It is difficult to say, indeed, what " Ameri-
can news" means or is—to determine what is" Stan-
ton," and what is truth ; but there can be no doubt
concerning the depression of the publie, and the
comparative moderation of tone, the enforced de-
cency, and the reasonableness, in fact, of the North-
ern, or more properly of the New York papers,
compared with the style which they naturally in-
' dulged in towards Great Britain in particular and
the world in general before the recent disasters to
their arms, now aggravated by the apparent absence
of the means of redressing them. This is a whole-
some moral change, but it is, we fear, not perma-
nent;
it is the result of apprehension, perhaps, lest
the great slave Confederation shall sacceed in get-
ting,its
produce out of the grasp of what has been
o iu t
called the " Union," and that in dealing directly
with European Powers it may be relieved from the
in necessityrert eto the manufacturerst rbg
n
of contributing a percentageehpitaliete a
of
theits
North.

One New York paper attributes what it is pleased
to call " a change in British
policy" towards the
United States, as exemplified in the
Lindsay debate,
to " the influence of Queen Victoria—our only
friend in the British Government," and, with an
affectation of knowledge we do not care to cha-
racterise as it deserves, declares that Prince Albert,
with " almost the last pulsation of his heart,
softened and amended the first despatches to Lord
Lyons" on the Trent affair. Another New York
journal, not more disposed to look kindly on Eng-
land or her policy, is forced to confess that "the
British Government deserves the praise of having
held to the obligations of neutrality under condi-
tions such as never before urged a people to their vio-
lation." But it also adds, " Lord Palmerston says
the time has not come for mediation to be offered—
the time will never come when British mediation
can be accepted." Perhaps, however, as "the
House of Commons and the British Government
have created new claims to the respect of our
people," their opinion may have its legitimate in-
fluence hereafter. " Never" is a long day, and the
New York 7imes admits that " no sympathy with
our cause can be expected to stand for ever such
trials as the conduct of the war has exposed the
English people to."
Those who once menaced us with war, if we ven-
tured to exercise the right of a non-belligerent in
recognising a State engaged in hostility with
another as belligerent, are now very grateful be-
cause Lord Palmerston resists a proposal to do what
England was almost dared to do ever since the con-
test began. In fact, the North has at least awoke
to the knock at the door. She hears at last the
question, " Can we save the Union ?" where once
nothing was audible but the cry, "We will put this
thing through in 30 days, and then whip the rest of
the world." The answer given to the question by
the North will determine the result, and the most
curious problem solved for many a year, and nut
without significance for us, will be whether the
forced action of the Militia will be more effective
than the voluntary assistance of the earlier levies,
and whether the Militia force itself is not consider-
ably affected in its materiel and constitution by the
volunteer enrolments which preceded. The applica-
tion of the Militia laws will certainly overcome the
repugnance which is stated to exist in a large part
of the people to a life on " crackers and salt pork," in
fever swamps and inactivity. It is to be noted that
food and rations which would be considered luxu-
rious by a Russian, excellent by a French, and quite
good enough by an English soldier, are regarded
almost with loathing by an American Volunteer.
A correspondent of the New York TVorld, with the
Federal army retiring from Charleston, who lets us
know, by the by, that Hunter's force was leaving the
North Edasto River on July 19, attributes a good
deal of the backwardness in recruiting to complaints
about the diet, and insinuates that regiments " have
been left for days on half rations." Then he says,
" You know what tremendous letter writers our
soldiers are. Such cases of privation are reported
home and talked of all over the neighbourhood."
But such cases are not the worst, " a regiment is
crowded for six weeks into a small steamer till the
men swarm with vermin." Another "is sent off
without tents, knapsacks, or equipage, and spends
a week now scorched by sun, now steeped in male-
rious;dew, sleeping on the soaked earth without
kettles to cook their food," or another regiment "is
ordered to march ; all its equipage is sent on board,
and is carried cff. Then it is found out there is not
transportation for the men, and they lie on the
beach, day after day, unsheltered, comfortless, and
miserable," The effect of these full and faithful
records at home is described as " tremendous." But
" a la guerre comae a la guerre! Messieurs," This
bad food leads to " intemperance and the squander-
ing of money upon lollypops." Then, again, the
clothing is wretched—a pair of pantaloons lasts only
three weeks ; men have been obliged to spend 14
or 15 dollars in two months on their clothes, and
the ration, which is nominally worth 30c. a-day,
ought not to cost more than 15c. to 18c. While
reading of these complaints and the account of the
effects produced by them on the Northerners, one
cannot help rendering the greatest praise to the
people of the South, who are enduring, we suspect,
far greater hardships than have fallen to the lot of
the Federals to endure, and who nevertheless swarm
around their standard with unflagging constancy.
Northern " crackers" would probably content them
very well with their pork, and they would be glad
indeed to get clothes at any price, nor can it he ex-
pected their interior economy is much more perfect
in any respect than that of the Northern army.
But it is imperative, we are
ork Times, to send 100,000 men
by the New
innefiogrhebeouAlrhToloedllacna,nbecause
now be little
men at least to re-
short of 250,000
men. The troons which the Confederates in his
ton and Savannah art,
were protecting
o f rce
--- now free to
the army at 1 re 'mond. If weiellan is not
reinforced
must withdraw his
~,v"—if he can
feasible line of
and take up a new and morel
though Charle-
s-"
where
approach" to the Confederate capital,
that
is to be found does
s position
that
journal, indeed, admits
not readily appear., This
must certainly looks unfortunate, if not precarious,"
Confederates
and does not that
,the.
Clellan s right rear, and
affect to disbelieve what appears
al most incredible—namely
have sent a
up a position be low the Chicahominy
have taken
bank of the James River, a step which
on the left
small share of confidence in their own
argues no
force run.d. I
strength and the weakness and want of enterprise
of the enemy. Above Al'Clellan both sides of the
river are studded with impregnable batteries;
Another journal insists on it that the Confederates
have 300,000 men under arms in Virginia, and that
they can make Richmond
quite secure, and yet
move 200,000 men as they please against Pope ,

M'Clellan, Washington, or Baltimore. If there be •,;s4e!
any approximation to the truth in these fikiires„.it.-71,4
is indeed time for the North to feel anxiThe,:iiiilez.t..e
for General M'Clellan to make every exertiotl'ia
ascertain his real position. It is only with such an
object that he can have made his recent reconnais-
sances, of which we have news by the Asia. The
crossing of 1,500 men hi the neighbourhood of City
Point or anywhere else is. , utterly inexplicable in
conjunction with the statem,tlnt that the Confede-
-n"s have massed great bod:es of men near the
9 of the James. it,
Appomatox and on the south sin:
is eaually difficult to reconcile withthe assertions,
that the Confederates are in immense force between
Richmond and M'Clellan his reportect" ?:econnais-
sance to the Malvern Hills and to the le7h:te Oak.
Swamp
range of hills in question is in continuation of the
Bridge, within ten miles of Richmo UCL'• The
high ridges at the other side of the James, on v,•11. ich
Fort Darling is built, and the Confederates sh o% V
some weakness or other designs if they permit it
be permanently cecupied. The epemy is also m'.
both banks below him. He is connected with the
osztcr world by a thread of gunboats, and if
this is cut or destroyed he is lest also.
Such •s
the result of
which h
mobility. could no t
s beo
long broughtas the to
:` boa constrictor str,%-
tegy” arid an tiffeciation of high campaigning anti
bear
rtaorn boycdt.sinelas whohn ci t w
Confederates hesitate ie attack, the Federals are
not only safe, but are like 1y to in'aprove their con-
dition, if they receive reinforeemee'ts, and Pope's
diversion on the north-west of Richmond may lead
to material consequences if that officer...o perform-
ances be at all equal to his promises. B. t, with-
out such conditions there is small hope of lib
escaping with any large portion of his fo, "ces,
unless the new rams are delusions and the Con fe-
derate gunners above and below him are as ba d
shots now as they proved when they manned the
batteries of the Potomac blockade. The James
River at Harrison's Point has a breadth of about
three-quarters of a mile across. At City Point,
higher up the river, it is more then one mile broad,
and then nearer Richmond it contracts to half a
mile. Here the Confederates occupy, it is skaid, both
sides of the stream. Below Harrison's Point, where
M'Clellan is posted, the river increases in breadth
to 11 miles, with a channel varying in depth frt.=
18 to 100 feet, gradually widening to Dancing rein .t
and the mouth of the Chickahominy, 11' miles below
Harrison's Point, and nearly 30 miles from Rich-
mond, where it forms a bay four miles across. Lower
down it becomes narrower, and at James 'liver
Island, the last point of danger from Confederate
guns, the Southern Channel, is only one mile wide.
Harrison's Point is 22 miles from Richnlond as the
crow flies, and is about 60 miles from Newport News
and the cover of Fortress Monroe. The Yew I ork
World, reviewing the suggestion, suggests deepair-
ingly that it may be a good thing the army is
menaced with destruction, in order " that it may bo
compelled to fight to save itself," and canvasses the'
chances of M'Clellan's escape with much diffidence
and despondency. Should these gunboats indeed
be driven down by the rams, and the batteries bc
permitted to work their will with the overcrowded
transports, while an attack its made on the force
covering the embarcation, all the horrors of which
we have heard bid fair to be edipsedf but they may
at the same time be finally termit'ated. The
World trusts to Pope's diversion, and thinks that
M'Clellan may cross the river in his transports
covered by the flotilla, and proceed to take Fort
Darling, with which Richmond itself would fall. It
is assumed that M'Clellan has several weeks' sup-
plies even if the Confederates establish a transport
blockade, and enough to hold his own till Pope is
ready to act in concert with him in an attack on
Richmond. If M'Clellan succeeded in getting away,
nothing could save Pope's army from annihilation ,
as all the Confederate army would be sot free to
attack him, and it would be quite possible to seize
Washington in that case before M'Clellan had even
disembarked his army.
It is singular, beyond ail explanation, to find, ac-
cording to Federal accounts, these facts admitted
—Firstly, that the great army of the Potomac,
vastly outnumbered, is surrounded on all sides sa re
one, and in danger of being destroyed, or forced to
capitulate; secondly, that Buell, before Chatta-
nooga, is held motionless by a superior force of the
enemy ; thirdly, that Morgan is held in cheek at
Knoxville by a superior force of the enemy ;
fourthly, that the Federal fleet does not think it
Prudent to take Vicksburg, because " the rebels
outnumber any force we have in that neighbour-
hood to maintain possession of the place ;" fifthly,
that General Hunter has had to retreat from
Charleston because the Confederates were stronger
than he was ; sixthly, that they have not been able
to get nearer to Savannah, though they reduced
Fort Pulaski long ago. The list might be indefi-
nitely extended. Burnside has for the present aban-
doned all active operations, and the Federal gene-
rals elsewhere are content to fight Secession with
proclamations and Cossack severities. Some papers
find fault with the President, others with the Aa
ministration, others with the generals, others with
the policy. No one dare say that there is an utter
absence of enterprise, military skill, and ability on
the part of the officers of the army, or of the quali-
ties which render armies formidable in the field.
If a battalion could be formed out of the extra bri-
gadiers of the United States' army, and exposed to
one of these murderous fires we read of, the service
would be all the better for it, though some excel-
lent lawyers, able stump orators, adroit " wire-
pullers," and active contractors suffered severely.
" A fugitive British subject" named Dolan, who
passed up on his passport by the authorities from
the South, where he had been employed as a printer
in several offices, instantly rushed off to a Phila-
delphia newspaper office to tell what he could, and
from his story we learn that all persons in Charles-
ton who refused military service were
obliged to
leave the city, and that several hundreds of per-
sons calling themselves British subjects fleeing
from
the South, were in the single city of Norfolk when.
he arrived there, waiting for passports from the
acting British Consul. The most interesting part
of his story relates to the
Merrimac No. 2, of
which he avers he was on board on or about July
the 11th. She was taken on the 12th of July to
the Tredegar Works to have her plates put on, and
is described as being smaller than the original, her
ironed sides rising to a sharp peak almost from the
water, with a beak ' •
rising 4ft. above the deck and
projecting Gft. or Bft into the water. The plates
are 10ft. long, and only 10in. in width, punched en-
tirely through,
with holes for the bolts, and will
overlap one in plating extends
another position, the
below the Water-line, and her armament consists of
three broadside, one bow, and one stern rifled gun,
with steel-pointed balls, and she is manned by the
crew of the old Merrimoc. What she has been doing
for the week since she first fluttered the Volscians
at Corioli to the latest dates we know not, but, if
she is not an utter failure, it is impossible to exag-
gerate the importance of the part she may play
Times.

THE VOLUNTEER OF HALF A CENTURY AGO.—
Among my earliest recollections is that of troops of little
boys playing at being volunteers. That was when Mr. Pitt
and the country gentlemen were reported in the newspapers
to be training their volunteers in expectation of the land-
ing of the French. In the streets of towns troops of littlo
boys were marching and halting, and scaring horses with
their drum and fife, under souse ragamufrui who called
himself Mr. Pitt, or King George,
or tho local lord. We
who saw these things from the windows might not go out and
join them ; so we drilled in companies of three or four in a
garden, and longed to go to school, that we might'do it with
more effect in the playgrvund. It seems to me that boys
found more scope for their physical energies then than since,
helped
a us
set of about
boss
o a
yss cho
out olfe
in ll
to:
though we certainly felt ourselves very small in comparison
with our father, judging by what they told us of their early
feats. An uncle
of his,—Horatio Nelson,—who led in such enterprises as we
dared not attA-111)
pt.
of
InNme:ounsehd
to
p tell
night, to rob an orchard, in a very daring way. We climbed
apple-trees : but it was not in the night ; and somehow we
fancied it was tame work in comparison. An aunt of mine
used to tell us of her frolics in country ;4-
vis., —s, when a whole
village was filled with young people who ca me to one of the
great balls of those days. The ball was all very well; but
there was better fun when the girls jumped up behind the
boys on any horse they could catch, and rode the country
round, with or without hats and bonnets, ast°lli,slling the
farmers, and mystifying L
" the cottagers, and being lost some-
times for hours together. The practical jokes involved
feats of activity which we knew ourselves to be unequal to;
and wished we had
been born a generation earlier,—Once
a Week,