The Sun.
London, England, 1865-03-28 00:00:00

lumbia, and if he threatens it, or, as is not impos-
sible, some place, such as Smithfield, between it and
Goldsborough, it will probably be with the view of
compelling the evacuation of Goldsborough. In-
deed, if Sherman can, without opposition, flank
that junction on the west, while Schofield ad-
vances successfully from the east, Goldsborough
must be very strongly fortified indeed if it can be
successfully held. It will be seen that the Confede-
rates under General Bragg have fought a sharp
action for the defence of Kinston, a loss of 2,000
being spoken of on each side. On the Bth General
Bragg attacked the Federal force, which was ad-
vancing from Newbern, and succeeded in driving
them back three miles and checking them apparently
for two days. He repeated the attack on the 10th,
but was then repulsed, and withdrew to the north
bank of the Neuse • and two or three days after-
wards he evacuated and retired upon Golds-
borough, but whether with or without another
struggle is not clear. From the statement of the
prisoners captured at Kinston it would appear that
Johnston's army was expected in the neighbourhood,
and from Sherman's evident intention to march
northwards, it is probable that the next important
movements we shall hear of will centre round Golds-
borough. There are indications that the Confede-
rates attach considerable importance to the place,
and it is not impossible, therefore, that Johnston
may offer Sherman battle as he advances from
Fayetteville. If in consequence of the fall of Kin-
ston and Sherman's strategy the Confederates
evacuate Goldsborough, they will, no doubt, retire
along the Petersburg Railroad upon Weldon ; and
the line of the Roanoke River, which it has been
frequently asserted General Lee has strongly forti-
fied, will witness the next great struggle. In short,
as matters at present stand, the whole issue of the
contest is fixed upon two extremities of the Rich-
mond and Wilmington Railway. At one extremity
are the armies of General Grant and General Lee ;
at the other those of General Sherman and General
Johnston. It is obvious that if the Confederates can
retain command of this railway it will give them a
great advantage that their two main armies should be
thus closely connected, and, as it were, placed back
to back. By mutual assistance they may coun-
terbalance the inequality of force which probably
exists, and as Johnston's army is pushed further
back along this common line it obviously gains
strength. The operations by General Sheridan, which
form the chief remaining feature in the news, may
possibly have an important effect upon the struggle
thus narrowed and defined. That General seems, with
an ease which the Federals had never previously ex-
perienced, to have overpowered or surprised the Con-
federate force in the Shenandoah Valley, and then
to have pushed rapidly over the Blue Ridge, and to
have inflicted immense damage throughout the
country to the north of the James River from Lynch-
burg to Richmond. After crossing the Blue Ridge
he rested two days at Charlottesville, where the
Virginia Central Railway is met by that from Lynch-
burg. Starting thence in several divisions he broke
up the railway from Charlottesville to Lynchburg,
and destroyed the works of the James River Canal,
which runs along on the north of the river from
Lynchburg to Richmond. He seems to have been
unable to cross the river, and consequently to attack
Lynchburg, and in retreating he did not retire again
through Charlottesville to the Shenandoah Valley,
but along the north side of the James towards
Grant's lines on the Pamunkey, destroying the
works of the canal on his way. His letter to Grant
is dated from Columbia, where the Rivanna River
falls into the James, and we hear of him still
further east than this, as having destroyed an
aqueduct of the canal at Beaver Dam, only about
20 miles from Richmond. The James Canal ap-
pears to have been one of the great channels by
which provisions reached Lee's army, and the ques-
tion of how to support their troops is becoming one
of the most critical for the Confederates. It might,
indeed, be the chief disadvantage of Johnston's fall-
ing back upon the same base that a double demand
would thus be made on the existing channels of
supply. At the same time the whole south-west
seems again open to the Confederates, and if they
can maintain the connexion of their armies with
Danville and Lynchburg they may find no insuper-
able difficulty from this source. If General Sheri-
dan's movement, however, could be repeated, the
effect might be very serious, and if Lee is unable to
detach a force sufficient to protect his rear effec-
tively against the attacks of the Federals from the
Shenandoah Valley there may be much truth in the
again repeated rumour that he contemplates the
evacuation of Richmond.
POST.—The Canadian Government have set to
work in earnest to carry out the system of defences
which their long frontier and their proximity to a
powerful military State demand. They have voted
$1,000,000 for permanent defences, and £350,000
for the formation of volunteer forces along theboun-
dary—in all about £300,000 of our money. This is
a good and substantial beginning; but the Cana-
dians can hardly disguise from themselves that much
more will be required before their work is complete.
We are glad to recollect that within another week
the inspiriting character of the late debate in the
House of Commons, and the bold declarations of
the First Minister of this country, will have reached
them. The assurances which this language will
convey cannot fail to increase their energy in mak-
ing those preparations which every nation is bound
to' provide for its own security. The question of
Canadian defence as against the United States is
one which ought to be dealt with in the same spirit
and under the same principles with those which have
regulated similar questions in Europe. It is not
that either the Canadians or ourselves are really ap-
prehending an attack from the forces of the Federal
Government. When this country formed its militia
force in 1852, and its volunteer force in 1859, it was
not that we really thought that France had any in-
tention of attacking us. In the former case, we saw
la powerful and Imperial Government formed on the
other side of the Channel ; in the latter, we had just
witnessed the facility with which it had overthrown
some of the most formidable legions of Germany.
Those events struck us with the undue disparity be-
tween our own forces and those at the command of
our neighbour. Both the dignity and security of
this great country demanded that the means of de-
fence at its disposal should be equal to the means of
attack existing elsewhere. But there was no notion
of war between this country and France, although,
if equality of position were to be preserved, it could
be done only by an equality of means. It was
a measure of prudence, even of necessity ; but
instead of provoking a war panic, it served to re-
assure the public as to the continuance of peace.
The same feelings ought now to prevail in Canada.
The fact of a preparation against the eventuality of
war is so novel in that country that it is no wonder
at the first moment to observe the difficulty that
seems to exist in distinguishing between actual
danger and prudent precaution. While these ques-
tions as to defensive measures continue in agitation,
there is of course some excitement observable in the
public mind. But we have no doubt that the passing
of the resolutions now proposed to the Canadian
Parliament will have the effect of quieting and re-
assuring the public mind in Canada. Such cer-
tainly was the result of our own defensive mea-
sures when they were once undertaken ; and the
Canadians will feel in like manner that, having
adopted the course taken by the mother country in
circumstances to a certain extent analogous, they
may confide in their own precautions, coupled with
our alliance, without at the same time distrusting
the pacific intentions of their powerful neighbour.
It is only just now that the President of the United
States has announced the abolition of the passport
system on the two sides of the frontier, and the with-
drawal of his notice for the termination of the Treaty.
of 1817. The Government of Washington has there-
fore rescinded the two declarations given at the
opening of the Congress in November last which
have been the immediate cause of so much disquiet
in Canada. Its fortunate change of policy ought
to contribute to the reassurance of the Canadian
people, when they have adopted the defensive
measures which their exposed situation requires.
The Canadian frontier, including that of New
Brunswick, is probably the longest and most de-
fenceless in the world for so inconsiderable a com-
munity to be charged with. It begins with the
Western corner of Lake Superior, about one thousand
miles from the mouth of the St. Lawrence. From
thence it runs eastward along the margin of the
five lakes—Superior, Huron, St. Clair, Erie, and
Ontario—and for a short distance down the River
St. Lawrence. But even the protection afforded
by these intervening lakes is not a uniform one—
whatever that protection may be worth where it
exists—for each lake is separated by a narrow strait,
which alternately forms the boundary with the lake
on either side of it. But where the boundary runs
away from the line of the St. Lawrence towards the
sea, it is an artificial and impracticable one, like a
great part of the frontier between France and Bel-
gium. There is, for the most part, not so much as
a stream or a ridge of hills to divide the English
colonies from the New England States. The cele-
brated Ashburton capitulation, under which Maine
was given up to the United States, still further in-
creases the difficulty of maintaining a line of efficient
defence ; because the territories of the States thus
object into the angle which they form between the
Canadian and New Brunswick frontiers. It seems,
however, to be so generally agreed that frontiers
will scarcely avail to stop well-appointed armies,
that perhaps the natural defencelessness of this part
of the boundary is hardly of so much importance as
its geographical extent. A population of four mil-
lions in a new world ought certainly not to be with-
out the means of assuring itself for its own safety.
Such a number means a community of which six
or seven hundred thousand are capable of volunteer-
ing in the event of au invaaioa, if one-half of that

number were ready to volunteer, the defence of
Canada would probably be put beyond doubt. Ac-
cording to the history of the world, small commu-
nities are rarely, if ever, overrun and subdued by
large ones, if they are of stout heart and of one
mind in resisting the invader, and if they have pre-
pared themselves betimes for the contingency of in-
vasion. The civil war in the United States is the
opportunity of Canada. It exhibits to her the mi-
litary strength of her neighbour, and at the same
time affords her time to emulate his military re-
sources while these resources are being expended
elsewhere. But, above all, we rejoice in the reso-
lution of the Canadian Government, which we
make no doubt the Parliament will readily sanction,
as one that will probably have for its result to put
an end to undignified apprehensions, and to exhibit
the spectacle of one of the oldest and most extensive
colonies of the British Crown going hand-in-hand
with the mother country in securing the maintenance
of its own independent liberties.

Launch of Her Majesty's Ship AgiLeourt,

Yesterday morning her Majesty's ship Agincourt,
armour-plated ram, 6,680 tons, 1,350-horse power,
and 26 guns, built for Government by Messrs. Laird
Brothers,', of Birkenhead, which we described so
fully yesterday, was successfully launched without
the slightest accident beyond the breaking of a few
ropes. The yard was crowded with spectators, and
every accessible point on both sides of the river com-
manding a view of the scene was thronged. The Ad-
miralty was represented by Mr. Luke, and among
those present were Lord Richard Grosvenor,
Mr. John Laird, M.P., Mr. William Laird, Mr.
John Laird, jun., Mr. Al‘Gregor Laird,
Captain Leycester, Mr. Littledale, Mr. Bold,
Mr. Lyster, dock engineer, and other local
gentlemen. The graving dock in which she was
built had been closed in from the river with masonry
at the commencement of the work, but this was re-
moved some time ago, and the only process neces-
sary to admit the water was to remove the iron
caisson at the mouth of the dock. The tide, accord-
ing to the tide-table, was 21ft. IM., and it was at
its full height at 11.17 a.m. It was expected that
24ft. of water would float her over the dock-sill, and
as the tide would rise 27ft. over the sill it was not
expected that there would be any difficulty in tow-
ing her out. At 10 o'clock exactly it was perceived
that she floated forward, and by half-past 10 she
was also afloat astern, drawing 22ft. forward and
24ft. abaft. The word was then given to " Go,"
and the six tugs in waiting drew her slowly out.
As she left her position Mrs. Laird gracefully per-
formed the ceremony of christening, and the Agin-
court glided easily out into the Mersey. The band
of the sth Cheshire Artillery Volunteers (a corps
composed of men belonging to the works) played

" God save the Queen," and the immense concourse
of spectators joined in one prolonged cheer as a
welcome to the noble vessel on her entrance into
that element whereon she is destined to achieve no
mean reputation. Having obtained headway against
the tide, she was towed slowly up to the entrance
of the new Morpeth Dock, Birkenhead. As she
again passed Messrs'. Laird's works she received a
salute from the battery attached to the works for the
use of the artillery corps. After some careful
manoeuvring, under the direction of Capt. Hookey,
R.N., Birkenhead harbour master, she was towed
safely through the rather complicated entrance, and
by 12 o'clock was safely moored on its south side.
She then drew 21ft. Sin. forward and 24ft. 6in. aft.
Her remaining works will there be completed, and
she will now soon be ready for sea, as all her ma-
chinery was placed on board in the graving dock.
She is the first vessel of large size that has entered
this new dock, and she certainly does it credit. Im-
mense numbers of people visited her during the day,
and, indeed, the event produced quite a holyday in
Birkenhead. The people on both sides the river are
very proud of this, the finest specimen of naval
architecture yet built on the Mersey, and they are
confident that she will not only prove a credit to her
builders as a sea boat, but that she will bear wor-
thily her part in the sternest work that may arise for
her to do.