The Sun.
London, England, 1862-04-24 00:00:00

Savannah, which is a flourishing post village of
_Hardin county, Tennessee, and is situate on the
eastern side of the river. The Landing is about 120
miles from Nashville, in an air line; nearly 100
miles from Columbia, on the Nashville and Decatur
Railroad, by turnpike road, erossing the river by a
ferry, about 25 miles from Corinth, in an air line,
and about a dozen miles from Purdy by the turn-
pike road. The country is very wild, the surface
rising on both sides of the river after the mi-nner of
inclined planes, the ascent being gradual. Iron ore
is abundant in the neighbourhood.
" Savannah is the capital of Hardin county, and
is a place formerly noted for its active business.
Previous to the rebellion it had been considered of
rising importance, and the progress made therein
during the years from 1854 to 1860 inclusive had
been the matter of general remark. A good trade
had been done there in cotton and staves, which
were shipped from Savannah In steamers by way
of the Tennessee river. The population in 1853
was but 800, but had since been much increased.
The area of the county is about 650 miles, and the
Tennessee river flows through it, dividing it into
nearly equal parts. The river is navigable for
steamboats all through the entire county, which
has a population of over 10,000 persons, nine-tenths
of whom are free. Iron ore abounds in this
county.
" Corinth is a very important strategical point.
It is situate in a hilly, semi-mountainous country,
a branch of the Apalachian range, which diverges
from the Allegheny Mountains, and forms the
mountains and gold bearing regions of Georgia
and Alabama. The village is nearly surrounded
by an irregular circle of hills, rising on the
north, about four miles distant, with the State line
between Tennessee and Mississippi crossing their
summit. The Mobile and Ohio Railway crosses
ridge through a cut 75 feet in depth. Similar cuts
of lesser depth penetrate the hills on the east, west,
and south, where the railways enter. Beynna these
hills, in the direction of Pittsburg and Savannah,
the ground becomes more level, and much of it is
low and swampy. The particular location of the
rebel fortifications at Corinth we are unable to indi-
cate ; but from the topography of the region it is
not difficult to perceive that the place is one sus-
ceptible of strong defence. The village of Corinth
was formerly called Farmington, and is so men-
tioned in the gazetters. It is a post village of
Tishomingo county, Mississippi, distant 262 miles
north-east from Jackson, the capital of the State.
There are but three or four stores in the village,
and of course its population must be relatively
small. Tishomingo county forms the north-
eastern extremity of Mississippi, bordering
on Tennessee and Alabama, and has an area of
about 1,400 square miles. The Tombigbee river
rises in the county ; the Tennessee flows along
the north-east border, and it is drained by Tus-
cumbia creek. The surface is diversified by small
hills ; the soil is fertile, especially in the valleys,
and generally has a substratum of sand. A large
part of the county is covered with forests of oak,
hickory, walnut, and pine. The head streams of
the Tombigbee furnish valuable motive power.
" The principal military value of this last-named
place consists in the fact that the railroads from
Memphis on the west, Columbus, &c., on the north,
the principal cities of rebeldom on the east, and
Mobile on the south, cross at this point. Jackson,
the rebel head-quarters in Tennessee, is thus con-
nected with Mobile and the east, and New Orleans,
via Grand Junction, is also in the same manner
united with other paints of the rebel confederacy.
To hold this junction is all-important to the rebels,
and if compelled to leave it a most complete isola
lation of their forces east: west, north, and south
is at once effected. It will thus be seen why the
final stand will be made here if anywhere."
A despatch of the llth reports that the Merrimac
and Yorktown advanced out of the harbour, and cap
tured two or three small craft. The Monitor and
Stevens' battery were lying in wait for her. The
latter fired four shots at the Merrimac, to which the
latter only replied with one shot, and then steamed
back to Craney Island.
General Gault, one of the subordinate Confede-
rate officers captured, is reputed to have stated that
the four weeks' bombardment of Island No. 10 had
only killed one man.
The situation of affairs at Yoiktown appears to
be unchanged. A letter in the New York Tribune
says :

"The storm had prevented active operations for
several days, and caused no little discomfort to both
armies, the bulk of the rebels not being so well
sheltered as our men, who eke out their tents
d'abri with pine branches. The mud was knee
deep everywhere, except under the pines. One
civilian, who penetrated on horseback to General
headquarters, was three hours in
achieving three miles. Our men were working
cheerfully and with a will.
" The main work so far has been done by one or
two batteries of light artillery and Berdan's sharp
shooters. The latter are doing wonders. When
they first came within range the rebels were in the
habit of insolently dancing upon the top of their in-
trenchments, with jeers and uncouth antics, but it
was soon found out that every man so amusing him-
self received a rifle bullet from an unseen marks-
man. The gunners also soon discovered that it was
unwise to expose themselves, and now every gun
is protected. But 30 of our men have been killed
since the commencement of the siege. The loss of
the enemy is of course unknown, but is probably
greater.

"There is no disguising the fact that the enemy's
position is, both by nature and art, very strong.
The York River is dammed so as to overflow what
was already a marsh. Whether the line be, as your
diagram indicates, a semicircle or not, is uncertain.
Every reconnoissance develops new batteries, and
residents with rebel tendencies say that au army
which should carry the first line would have to deal
with a second, still more formidable, beyond. An
inference as to the strength of the works held can
be drawn from that of those abandoned.
" The fortification at Ship Point, whither our sup-
plies are now brought, mounts but three guns, but
is constructed with admirable engineering skill, and
in many respects is more complete in its appoint-
ments than any of the works about Washington.
" The log huts in which the men were lodged, and
which are left untouched, as though the rebels ex-
pected to re-occupy them, are better habitations
than those on many a Western farm. They are
whitewashed, and have doors and glass windows.
The other works and entrenched camps which the
rebels occupied are characterised as of similar ex-
cellence; and it is believed that the works which
they occupy are even more formidable.
"A recent visitor at Manassas says that the
rebels have vastly improved their position over what
it was at that place.
" General Jo. Johnson arrived on Sunday and
took command on Monday. General Lee, reported
to be there by today's telegram from Fort Monroe,
had not been heard of at Ship Point."

AL.

a
FINANCIAL A 3 72
1D 0 M MERC:
per cent.
(From the New York Times)
FRIDAY, APRIL 11, P.M.
The Stock Exchange was lower to-day by
on the rumour in the morning papers of a much larger rebel
force at Yorktown than was previously estimated. The
sellers for the decline availed of this rumour to increase
their short contracts, while the Bull support to the market
was evidently weaker than yesterday. The despatches to
the afternoon papers mat erially corrected the rumour re-
ferred to, and represented the progress of the National arms
before Yorktown as progressing satisfactorily ; but the
isifluence of this later news had
no particular effect
on prices, and the closing quotations in the afternoon were
at much the same prices as in the printed sales. The Go-
vernment Securities wore less affected than the Railway
Shares. The decline on the funded Six per Cents. was only
A per cent., while a further advance of /to per cent. was
realized on the Treasury Certificates of 1863, sales of which
were made at 97i per cent. The Treasury 7.30 per Cent,
Bonds of 1864 were also in demand at par, and the Six per
Cents. of 1863 at 100 to 1001 per cent. The credits of the
Government generally are improving in public favour.

LITERARY NEWS. Three new and greatly
emended editions of the anonymous epic poem, "The Last
Judgment," are in the press, and will shortly be published
by Mum. Longman,