The Sun.
London, England, 1865-01-31 00:00:00

SPIRIT OF

TEAM—Events are unpropitious to the fame of
General Butler. In the success of the second expe-
dition against Wilmington and the capture of Fort
Fisher that zealous but unfortunate commander has
received a condemnation more painful than any
which a court-martial can pronounce. It has been
shown again, as in countless instances before, that in
war boldness is the best policy, and calculation often
the dangerous forerunner of inactivity. We had
hardly received the report in which General Butler
gave excellent reasons why Fort Fisher should not
be taken when the telegraph announces that the
work is done. The expedition under Admiral
Porter and General Terry arrived off the fort for
the second time on the 14th inst. ; at noon the next
day the fleet opened a heavy fire, which lasted fifty-
four hours. The assault was then made. The
fighting was desperate, the Confederate garrison of
1,200 men using the advantages of its position to
inflict heavy loss on the enemy. But after seven
hours' fighting the Federals prevailed. The South-
ern soldiers were driven from their works, and re-
treated to the end of the long spit of land on which
the fort is situate. Here they were forced to sur-
render, and the Federals have thus made the first
step towards mastering the town and harbour of
Wilmington. The energy with which this enterprise
has been prosecuted is creditable to the military
administration at Washington. Seldom has there
been a more discouraging failure than that of the
expedition in which General Butler bore a part. A
fleet of unprecedented strength, fitted out at an
enormous expense, and provided with a new and,
as it was thought, most deadly instrument of de-
struction, and a powerful land force chosen from
among the best troops of the Federal States, were '
despatched against the Southern port, and nothing
but ill success attended them. The storms of winter
shattered them ; the fireship, filled with twice as
much powder as the Erith magazine, came to nothing
—the tremendous fire failed to produce any effect on
General Beauregard's well-constructed works ; and,
finally, the commander of the land forces held
back, and gave his opinion that success was im-
possible. In General Butler's report it is told
how General Weitzel and the experienced officers
under his command, thought it useless to assault
the place • that no such strong work as Fort
Fisher had been taken during the war ; that
at Port Hudson, where thousands perished in a re-
pulsed assault, the defensive works were less strong ;
that a double assault atFort Wagner was undertaken
against feebler preparations, and the General declares
that " much as I regretted the necessity of aban-
doning the attempt, yet the duty was plain." For
once, however, the civilian power in the Government
has advantageously controlled military operations.
To give the South no term of respite, no opportunity
for fresh preparations, no breathing time which
should refresh it for new exertions, is the policy of
the Cabinet ; and it has been carried out even at the
expense of so devoted a servant as General Butler.
The order to this officer to return to his place of
residence in peaceful Connecticut was a rebuke
under which a soldier must keenly suffer ; but this
almost Carthaginian severity has probably infused
a new spirit into his successor. There is a great
deal to be said for the policy which in the last
century shot a British admiral to encourage the
others. The Washington Government did not go
so far with General Butler ; but they made it
sufficiently plain to his successor that they required
him to take Fort Fisher instead of giving reasons for
not having taken it. Accordingly, we see signs that
in the second attempt a more determined spirit pre-
vailed. The monster fireship was not there to
frighten those who. had constructed it. In the former
expedition the Federal fleet was so apprehensive of
being blown to piece; along with the enemy that it
stood off some 12 miles from the shore, and left
the Confederates to make more thorough prepara-
tion against an attack. This time the assailanti
seem to have been aware that hard fighting alone
could accomplish their purpose, and it must be
admitted that they have shown excellent military
qualities. The powerful fleet of Admiral Porter
used all its strength, and we cannot but admire the
courage of the Confederate garrison, which endured
such a storm of fire for more than two days and
nights. In the fight they must have shown equal
prowess, for the loss of the assailants is estimated
at nearly their own number. But at last they
were driven out, and all eventually surrendered.
Among the Federal successes this exploit will be
distinguished, if not for the importance of the vic-
tory, at any rate for the circumstances under which
it has been gained. Usually the winter has been a
time of involuntary armistice, either the exhaustion
of the armies or the difficulty of carrying on cam-
paigns by land or sea having led to the suspension of
actual warfare. But in the depth of winter and amid
the dangers of sudden tempests and a fatal coast the
Federals have won their last victory, and may suc-
ceed in totally closing or destroying the last con-
siderable port of the Confederates. As to the effect
which the capture of Fort Fisher and the future ope-
rations of Terry and Porter may have on the foreign
trade of the Confederacy, the assertions of the South
are confident, but are hardly to be trusted. They
deny that the loss of Fort Fisher will close the river,
and this may be true; but it is difficult to believe that
the capture of this fort will not lead to other suc-
cesses which will either place Wilmington in the
hands of the Federals or render it useless as a port
for blockade-runners. Wilmington itself is situated
at the head of a long inlet of the sea, which is
guarded at the entrance by an island forming two
channels, and Fort Fisher, now in the hands of the
Federals, commands one of these. The other is still
open, and ships may enter by it ; but after this first
success it can hardly be doubted that the Federals
will either force the passage of the river up to Wil-
mington itself, or by holding Fort Fisher and the
promontory which commands the Western Channel,
endeavour to make the place useless to the enemy.
Thus, after long and laborious exertions and an ex-
pense equal to that incurred in many European
wars, the Federals may be said to have almost suc-
ceeded in shutting in their enemies from communi-
cation with the European world. The South has
gradually lost port after port, and though cargoes
will continue to be landed in obscure places along
those hundreds of miles of coast, yet the blockade
will be as effective as it is in the nature of such an
operation to be. It will be seen then how far the
South is capable of doing without that with which
England has hitherto furnished it. There are
persons among the Confederates who pretend that
it would be no loss to the South if every harbour
of its coast were in possession of the enemy and a
foreign craft never unloaded a cargo for their use.
The legislation of the Richmond Congress and the
orders of the President have certainly gone so far
as to discourage and partially prohibit the introduc-
tion of luxuries, confining the foreign trade of the
Confederacy solely to the purchase of arms and
other materials of war, or objects of necessity, such
as medicines. But we cannot believe that the South
is indifferent to those large supplies of arms which
have been hitherto furnished by Europe,
and we
doubt not that if Wilmington be taken, and the
spirit of Confederates remain unbroken, the Govern-
ment of Mr. Davis will use every effort to open new
channels for the trade. The Federal Government
has, no doubt, means of judging the value of the
assistance with the South receives from foreign
material, and the vast efforts which have been made
to shut up the Southern ports, the costly expeditions
which have been fitted out, and the perseverance
with which the design has been pursued prove that
in the opinion of those best informed the isolation
of the Confederate States is necessary for the suc-
cessful termination of the war.
POST.—Conservatism—in the prospect of a gene-
ral-election—is exerting itself with much diligence
and not a little acrimony to disturb Mr. Gladstone's
seat for the University of Oxford. The agitation
is at present chiefly confined to clerical and Univer-
sity papers, and notably to the correspondence of
our 'contemporary, the Guardian. But it is in pre-
parati6n on a much larger scale, and no stone will
be left unturned in Oxford to secure a triumphant
opposition. But it is uphill work. It would have
been easier some years ago than now. When Mr.
Gladstone was last opposed his hold was not greater
on the University than it is at present, while his
general popularity was undoubtedly less. His policy
as a financier was to some extent tentative, and the
omnipotent merit of success had not yet been
achieved. He had not then become, as he has
now, the central figure of a group of men
whose services the country cannot dispense with,
and whose talents it will not suffer to lie idle.
His opponents feel that they have no case
as against his administrative triumphs. They
know that it would be useless to ask any other
constituency in the kingdom to turn out so
brilliant, so versatile, and so successful a represen-
tative. But a university is the seat of other influ-
ences than those which reign in county or borough
constituencies. It would never do in any place out
of Oxford to make it a ground of opposition that
its member was not a sufficiently High Churchman.
It is in Oxford alone that the question of Mr.
Gladstone's Church principles could ever be raised.
Yet this is the cry on which an attempt is to be
made to oust him. Like many another man of
great mind, he takes the liberty of thinking for him-
self ; he claims 'the right of modifying his views if
experience so teach him ; and if on any subject he
retains his old opinions, he claims the privilege of
judging for himself how far they shall govern his
conduct as a public man, and in relation to ques-
tions of public policy. The University is to be asked
to disapprove these high principles of public con-
duct, and to send a man to Parliament who will
act more in accordance with Conservative tradi-
tion ; who will run in a groove, and not take upon
himself to act or vote otherwise than with his party.