The Sun.
London, England, 1862-03-24 00:00:00

THE CIVIL WAR IN AMERICA.

(From the Special Correspondent of the Times.)
WASHINGTON, MARCH 7.

The next mail may convey most important news
to Europe. If the present fine weather continues,
the roads will be fit for the march of troops in a day
or two, and lam aware that the orders for the
various divisions are in readiness. Councils of war
have been held, officers have been consulted, the
headsofthe
have been
and commissariat
departments warned,
and in a short time
the army of the Potomac will be in the field. To my
eyes there is no reason why it should not be suc-
cessful. There are no grounds to anticipate a se-
cond Manassas or Bull's Run. But it is obvious
that, unless Gen. M'Clellan means to attack the
Confederates directly along their front (of which
no one thinks him capable), he must execute some
its
hazardous
frontmance uavf extricatertehsetoespital.
lie will be his army out of
fortu-
nate if he succeeds in doing so without bringing on
a general engagement. It would be very unwise to
move his troops, no matter what confidence he may
feel, straight up to the works which the enemy are
said to have thrown up at Centreville. The right of
the Confederates is supposed to rest on the wooded
and difficult country over the right bank of the
Potomac, about Pohick Creek and Occoquan River,
from which there are roads to Manassas. It would
be rather rash to try them along the river, unless a
gunboat flotilla could co-operate to clear the woods
and cover the advance, and I am not all certain
anch a flotilla may not make its appearance from
some part or other. The Confederate centre is sup.
posed to be at Centreville. recent explorations
towards Fairfax having failed to ascertain the
existence of any force so far in advance. Their
right stretches from Manassas Gap Junction line
along the railroad towards Bull's Run Mountain,
and in the rear at Manassas itself their reserves
are posted. Speculation will be set at rest
in four or five days more. Meantime I
send, in my diary below, all I have to say of
matters which have happened since my last,
always excepting the great Fremont controversy,
into the merits of which I have not been able to
look as yet, for the papers, the defence, the speeches,
and the evidence, are all voluminous. Life is short.
It will be seen that a wet blanket has been placed
completely over the eyes, month, and ears of the
American press ; they are restricted to the chronicl-
ing of facts which afford no information to the
enemy, and not much to their friends, and in their
acquiescence they give the best proof of a patriotic
desire to restore the Union :

MARCH 4.

The snow of Sunday, followed by the rain of yes-
terday, has made a joint alliance with the mud,
which is, however, drying up to-day under the in-
fluence of a brisk breeze and a sun which now and
then comes out as if he had made a mistake of a
couple of months in the time of year. It was this
day twelvemonth that Mr. Lincoln was formally in-
stalled as President of the United States under the
most remarkable circumstances which ever attended
the inauguration of the chief magistrate, for half
the Northern States were philosophizing over the
threatened rebellion of the South, the rest luke-
warm or apathetic, and the knife of the assassin had
menaced the Caesar before he entered the gates of
his palace, the capital of the Federal Union was in
danger, and the choice of the people was ratified
under the protection of such hasty and insignificant
military preparations. as could be made by the com-
mander of a vacillating and scattered army. The
States' Rights doctrine and secession were then
maintained on every side. I heard with wonder on
arriving in New York men who had been Governors
of States, or who held high office, or were well-
known politicians, laying it down as indisputable
that each State might secede if it liked, according to
their theory of the Constitution, and that it would be
quite beyond the law and the compact to use force to
keep them in and to prevent their going out. All
these good gentlemen are now crying out for "Our
Union ! one and indivisible," and not a word of the
old story passes their lips. The sword has cut all
their logical knots. The Constitution is to be re-
written with the point of the bayonet. Mr. Lincoln
has passed through an eventful year, but the Repub-
lic itself has gone through still greater trials and
dangers, and it would be bold to say itmhovaysercormeme outote
Instead
no t mucohf
men almost in
unscathed or untouched. in principle.
nilgpfilaecesniet the means of the
laamleyvoeinungtcsr;ehawosslie of the first-rate maritime
larger7oO m etnhaanroaunddivtihsieonCasopwitnol,baronaddrasatr
moving
of the re.
rate Power,
fourth-rate
slowly
li frontiers,wwl
y ofo over
theethere
hrei
teue y
so, are 100,000
the
eofinOova,
rOev Oyi
into
lot
mfoa
erat
the
feasawhmiachnyfor coast
bellion. In lteci
defences,s
tuhneirteedia
Statesartapa
Powers. It is impossible to say when this war will
end. One thing is plain enough—the season
during which active operations in the South can be
prudently undertaken is fast approaching, and Mr.
Jefferson Davis must have reliance on some sources
of resistance which are not visible to most of us
when he says the war will last for years. The towns
of New Orleans, Mobile, Savannah, and Charles-
ton are in danger, and there is every sign of the
Confederates being driven back on the original
Slave States, when they will make a desperate stand
if their unanimity be true, or fall to pieces should
there be a large Union sentiment in their midst.
It must be remembered that when the States con-
tained little more than 0,000,000, with a large
loyalist population, England held the seacoast and
the maritime towns for years without reducing the
Continentals to submission. Now the number of
men in arms, if the figures are credible, is so great
that neither section can pay them for any length of
time. But the Continentals were often paid with
Prlper money, which was never redeemed. Mr.
Davis asserts that he has 400 regiments of infantry,
With a suitable cavalry and artillery force, The