The Sun.
London, England, 1862-09-02 00:00:00

rERICA.

7HE

(From the Times' Correspondent.)
NEW YORK, AUGUST 15.
My recent letters have so often expressed the be-
lief that M,Clellan's new base of operations at Har-
rison's Landing was unsafe and untenable, and that
be was silently taking measures to evacuate the
position, that I by no means share the surprise of
the people of New York, who learn this morning
for the first time that he has commenced the with-
drawal of his force towards Williamsburgh, to pro-
tect the city of Washington. The movement is a
wise one. Had he remained where he was three
weeks longer, fever and stench, bad water and bad
food, heat and discouragement, would have spared
the Confederates the trouble of defeating him. Yet
in the face of even so sire-snificant a confession
error and present weakness, the Northern past
press
continue to brae; as lustily as ever. To read the
papers of this morning one would think that Rich-
mond bad ar.tually been taken, that the 300,000 vo-
lunteers )',iad enrolled themselves without bounty
money, out of pure patriotism and superabundant
plu
a-ad u that there was no necessity for a compulsory
unpopular draught, and that in less
than Mr.
SF, ward's 90 days there was certain to be an end of
!the war and a reconstruction of the Union.
The real situation is very different. Unable to
capture Richmond, the Federals are compelled to
defend Washington. The voluntary enlistments
have been stimulated by the fear of the conscrip-
tion and the augmented bounty money (in one
town in Rhode Island amounting to as much as 500
man),
dollars per but not to such an extent as
to have filled up the numbers required by the time
originally fixed in the President's proclamation,
The time expired this day, and has been extended
to the Ist of Paeptember. The mercenaries who feel
disposed to -enlist in the old regiments will thus have
another fortnight in which to make up their minds,
and rece'aee their money. The draught continues to
grow disfavour, and coming into operation simul-
tane,ously with the taxgatherer will sorely try the
patience as well as the loyalty of millions who have
never yet publicly uttered what Mr. Stanton and
"Mr. Seward consider to have thought it never be treasnn, but who may
and so certain to resisted in the Western as in
the Middle States
in New , and, indeed, everywhere except
2ngland, that it is doubtful whether the
Presid'ent will not back out of it on the plea that
the rdolunteerin
der: g is sufficient, an untruth that will
eive nobody on this side of the Atlantic. The pre-
rrliura on gold, which was temporarily checked by
the non•arrival from England of American securities
ordered for immediate sale, has again begun to rise,
and now stands at 16 per cent. Silver has nearly
disappeared from circulation, postage stamps—too
many of them old ones already used, from which
the marks of transit through the post office have
been cleverly obliterated—do all the duty of a minor
currency The most valuable coins handled by the
people are the one cent of nickel, and the 3 cent
Piece, of alloyed silver. Pere:led.
ies, i The habeas corpus is sus-
Every one's liberty is at the mercy of
srdnformers, and extortioners. The will of Mr.
Lincoln is law; as is that of Mr. Seward and Mr.
Stanton, provided the President does not object,
whieda he never does; and the country is defacto a'
IrAre despotism, with the mere form and semblance
a freedom that has ceased in reality to exist.
New York is under martial law, the Superintendent
of Police having been appointed Special Provost
Marshal, to prevent citizens from travelling or aliens
from leaving the country without passports, and
also to arrest all persons who by word or deed dis-
the arm courage enlistments, and to give men the choice of
yor Fe.rt Lafayette. Foreign trade is al-
most wholly at an end, and neither the people nor
the Government know what to think or what to do
to make things better.
And while this, broadly stated, is the condition
of thra North, what is that of the South? Perilous,
no doubt, but full of hope for the Southern people.
Um-recognised as it is, it has succeeded in making
itself a nation. Isolation from the outer world in all
things except in :sympathy, combined with fanati-
cism, intense love of country, and enormous suffer-
ing, have welded it into adamantine unity. It has
been baptized in fire and blood, and stands before
the great commonwealth of Christendom heroic and
undaunted, an object of admiration even to three-
fourths of its late fellow-citizens who are in arms
to resist its independence. The North offers no
such spectacle. It is not a nation, and it is not
united.. The immigrants from Europe who added
so largely to its wealth and power refuse to fight
for it. Its own people would rather do battle for it
vicariously than personally. It is split up into irre.
concilable factions, each clamouring for the other's
blood. Fort M'Henry, near Baltimore, is receiving
political prisoners at the rate of 25 per day. The
abolitionists of New England hurl toul epithets of
treason against such men as Mr. Vallandigham of
Ohio, Mr. Wickliffe of Kentucky, and Mr. Fer-
nando Wood, of New York ; and continually urge
the sorely bewildered President to consign them,
and all who agree with them, to Fort Lafayette or
the gallows. Ou the other hand, the once moderate
and constitutional Democrats call upon the Govern-
ment to stop the tongues of such preachers of dis-
union as Mr. Wendell Phillips, Mr. Horace Gree-
ley, and the Rev. Dr. Cheever, and not to be afraid
of using the hangman's rope if no other instrumen-
tality can be made so readily available. Both par-
ties pretend to love the Union, but love something
else better ; both applaud every act of arbitrary
power, however atrocious provided only that it be
exercised against a political opponent. Like the
ducks and geese in the Fool's Paradise of the
fairy story, who run about with knives and forks in
their beaks, crying aloud Come kill me, and eat
me," the people of the North run after
their Go-
vernment, ready-trussed and bandaged,
and im-
plore it to destroy and feast upon the public
liberty.
Authority wars with authority, and every crotchet-
monger in high place either assumes to set his
crotchet above the Constitution and the law,
make the Federal subservient to the local g or to
ment. The President objects to ar overn-
c m black men, and
alls for a draught of 300,000 eitizens—meaning
white men. Governor Andrews, of Massachusetts,
who is quite as much of a rebel as President Davis,
replies that his State shall provide the proper con-
tingent, but that they shall be citizens irrespective
of colour, and that black men and white men
shad
serve in his armies
on an equal footing.
General Hunter, a man of similar opinions, has '
organised a negro brigade in North Carolina against
orders, and the result has been that four-fifths of
his black warriors have run tyway into slavery to
their old masters, rather than endure the discipline
of military life under such hard taskmasters as
the Yankees; and that those who
rellaain
been so persecuted by their white fello have
w-soldie„
-ivho thini it a disgrace to serve
with than;
-hat the philanthropic and disobedient General has
resolved to disband the corps and trust wholly
to white men for the future. Illinois, by a
populor vote of three against one, has decreed
that no black man shall come within its limits ; and,
br a vote of seven against one, that no black man
-already admitted to, or born on its soil, shall be
considered a citizen, or exercise any political or
municipal function. The President has received a
deputation of free negroes at Washington; told
ahem plainly that they are an inferior race; that
,heir presence in the land makes the whites uncom-
tortable and unhappy; that he, and everyone else
who has a white skin, would be very much obliged
to them if they would forthwith extirpate them-
selves to Central America, and that he will provide
the funds for the purpose, if they will but go
quickly, and take their wives and children along
with them. General Butler, at New Orleans, has
ordered Gene_ ral Phelps, his subordinate, ao employ
escaped slavesin chopping wood, in, putting down
timber, in digging trenches, and, ding the other
are so capable. General
hard work of which they
comply, declaring that he' is
Phelps has refused to c
not ' a nigger , alrty • • " and that if the negroes
ei•,
army at
are to be employed in the all they must be_
and treated m all respects
armed like the white men,
in the earn, manner. General Butler has repri-
manded him for his breach of discipline, and
General Phelps has resigned his command. Butler
has refused to acceptte resignation in face of
the enemy, and New Orleans, which longs for an op-
portunity to be rid of both and all their host, looks

on with delighted 'wonder at the spectacle of their
disagreement, and hails the day of delivers
ante as close at hand. General M'Cle an would
conduct the war on the principles of a gentleman
and a Christian; and would take not sing for the
needs of his army from the unhap y population{
among whom he is encamped without paying for
it; and is denounced by the Abolitionists as a trai-
tor, a sham General, a digger and trencher, a man
of the spade, to whom the sword is either unfamiliar
or objectionable. Gen. Pope acts on the contrary
principle—would treat the unfortunate people
through whose country he passes like a pestilence
as Napoleon treated the Russians in 1812; would
make the war support the war, take what he wants
wherever he can get it, only paying for it on proof
of the loyalty of the owner, corroborated by his oath.
Pope is, in like manner, denounced as furiously as
M'Clellan, but by the opposite party. Add to this
list of Northern antagonisms, that a war of races is
fast growing up between the Irish labourers and
the negroes in New York and throughout the west ;
that the questions of strikes and Wages and the
growth of pauperism, so long supposed to be pecu-
liar to the Old World, have produced serious riots
in more than one city of the Union during the last
week; and the social disunity of the Federals will
be evident to all who care to see and understand the
truth. Nor are these, numerous as they are, the sole
symptoms of the chaos of Northern interests, pas-
sions, and opinions that underlies all the brag and
" buncombe " of the press. The officers of the Fede-
ral army are publicly denounced as drunk and in-
efficient by the War Secretary, and the Volunteers,
though tempted by 100 dollars, refuse to serve
under them. Even a Brigadier-General was seen
to be " gloriously " drunk at the recent battle of
Malvern heights, and has since been cashiered. At
this moment the police of New York and other large
cities are publicly employed in capturing commis-
sioned officers at five dollars a piece ; and yester-
day they arrested one colonel, one captain, several
lieutenants, and a number ofsergeanis and corporals.
Surely this is a picture presented to the mind's eye
which will hardly realise the idea of a harmonious
union, settled purpose, high aims, or exalted
patriotism in the North.
At a public meeting held in the suburb of
Hoboken the night before last, one of the speakers
called for a " master mind, to understand the
nation and to lead it to victory." There were loud
cheers of course—expressive of thepopular sympathy
with the want of greatness in military as well as in
civil life—which is so plain as to strike everybody ;
—but it will be long before there is any other
answer to the call than cheers, or derision—or of
expectation. There is no master mind in the North ;
—unless, perhaps, it be the master mind of some
unknown subaltern, who will yet open the oyster
with his sword, and gulp up the fat and lazy free-
dom that slumbers in the shell. General Sickles,
whom all admit to be a fighting General, and who
is always either found or thrust into the post of
danger, looked round him at the same meeting on
the stalwart audience that applauded his eloquence,
and exclaimed, " There are enough able-bodied
men here to form a regiment ; will none of you go ?"
There was no reply. Later in the evening one
man, 50 years of age, excited by the fiery words of
another orator, volunteered to enlist; but no one
imitated his example, even although a judge pre-
sent, who thought Mr. Wendell Philipps ought to
be muzzled in Fort Lafayette, offered, if 10 Volun-
teers would step to the platform, to give them each
10 dollars in addition to the regular bounties. He
pleaded in vain. The voice of the charmer had no
effect. The rustle of his green backs (not the chink
of his gold, for gold chinks no longer in America,
except in bank parlours, where it is a commodity,
like tea at a grocer's) was not more effective than
his spoken eloquence, and the Hoboken meeting
produced but the one solitary volunteer-50 years
of age, whom nobody knew, and who probably
changed his mind before the morning. The gather-
ing was otherwise remarkable for a little incident
quite in accordance with the spirit of the day. The
judge already mentioned (Whiting) having con-
demned the mode in which the Government carried
on the war, was arrested as a traitor on the plat-
form by an over zealous lieutenant-colonel out re-
cruiting, on the charge of discouraging enlistments.
It does not appear from the published reports
that the lieutenant-colonel actually carried off
the judge to prison, and, as it was the same
judge who afterwards promised 10 dole. each to
10 Volunteers, who never appeared to claim
them, it may be presumed that the patriotic offer
condoned or neutralized the previous offence, and
that Fort Lafayette is not yet to be honoured by
his presence. But the judge must look well to him-
self for the future. Both Fort Lafayette and Fort
Warren are receiving an accession of inmates, and
his turn may come.
Neither of these twin Bastilles (and it is a pity
that the great name of such a champion of liberty
as General Lafayette should be desecrated by be-
stowal upon the ugly prison in New York Harbour)
is so hermetically sealed against the world as to
prevent a cry of anguish from being heard outside.
One young man, son of a former Governor of Mary-
land, lies in Fort Lafayette in solitary confinement
and in chains ; and not even his mother is allowed
to see him. His offence was the endeavour in the
disguise of a woman, to cut adrift a Federal gun-
boat in the York River ; a great crime, no doubt,
in the eyes of his captors and one that may deserve
death ; but that surely does not deserve the punish-
ment of life in chains, darkness, and total seclusion
from the face of man ? The complaint of another
unfortunate, transferred from Fort Lafayette to
Fort Warren, has reached me-
-and need not say how
—and
in the story, which is based on official docu-
ments my possession, I forward, to tell as briefly
as is consistent with clearness. It may suffice to
des ti
afford the
/19
people of England 800 little idea of the
despotism which this country is for the present
content to endure without social convulsion. On
the 13th of September, 1862, Mr. W. H. Winder,
a gentleman of Philadelphia, was arrested at his
own house by telegraphic
Simon Cameronorder from the Hon.
, then Minister of War, and con-
veyed first to Fort Lafayette and subsequently to
Fort -Warren. Immediately on his arrest, for
his office, desks,
chests,
boxes, &c. Was assig, were broken open, and all his
which no causened,
over and ransacked, in the hope or
manuscripts and papers, a collection of 30 years,
were turned
under the pretext of finding treasonable matter.
Garbled extracts from some of these, which per-
verted his real meaning for want of the context,
Were published in the Philadelphia newspapers.
The sanctity of my private correspondence," says
"
Mr, Winder
I
Was violated and
malignantly calumniated by
the publication of pretended contents of letters thus I
seized. Other parties were also grievously slan-
dered by statements of falsely alleged contents, and
I Was debarred from all opportunity of contradict-
ing the infamous publications. Even portraits that
prdsb en
hae
"srPA
slander me."
Mr. Winder being entirely ignorant
of his arrest,
any at that
r
mud. havin been informed
of State would
newspapers, like g
ii:terybcdy else, that the rough the
otfh the causes
Secretary
rectly from a prisonel'rtot, any complaint coming
di-
pay no attention toonl"
he would not J
counsel on a prisoner', 1,1'4 liteations made by paid
treat them as prejudicial to ~1, but that he would
vation of the offence— ~,,rot "1° ekso, and a/i aggra-
e Mr S
sth of December, requesting to kr; eseard on the
his acouseres on what charge was
the names of
permission to go to Washington to meceot7tfined, 4"
it might be. Mr. Seward replied by wh,tevtr
offering
his release if he would take the oath of elle 1
Mr. Winder declined on the ground that hisdoie.
so would lead to the inference that he had been
he of some crime or offence unspecified, and that
he had been pardoned on promise of better behaviour
for the future. Mr. Seward on a subsequent occa-
sion, renewed the offer; but Mr. Winder's objection
beinr, radical, applied to all tests or conditions which
might be supposed to admit that he had done any-
thing inconsistent with the character of a true Ame-
rican and a loyal citizen, and he declined the second
time. Thus the matter rested for five months, until
the 22d of February, 1862, when Mr, Winder wrote
to Mr. Cameron, setting forth that he had been five
months in prison without process or
form of law;
that if any charge of crime
were to be brought

against him he was ready to meet it, and that if
there were none he demanded his unconditional re-
lease. Mr. Cameron being in no hurry to reply, Mr.
Winder wrote to him again on the 15th of March,
and received the following answer :
" Lochiel, March 24,1862.
" Sir,—You surprise me by saying in your letter of the
15th inst., received to-day, that it was by my order you
were taken from Philadelphia to Fort Lafayette and placed
in confinement, &c. I knew nothing of your arrest until I
saw the fact stated in the newspapers, and, being at the
time closely engaged in thidischarge of my official duties,
neglected to inquire into 'the case, presuming, however,
that it was done by order of the State Department which
had charge of such cases as I presumed yours to be,—Very
respectfully, ,
"SIMON CAMERON.
" W. a Iririder, Esq."
To this document Mr. Winder replied as follows :
"Fort Warren, March 30.
" Sir,--I have to thank you for your prompt reply to my
request for information as to the cause which induced you
to issue an order for my transfer to Fort Lafayette. Your
letter confirms me in my supposition that your name had
been used without your knowledge, or inadvertently signed
to a paper without heeding its contents. It was obtained
somehow through the district attorney. I give you a copy
of the document by authority of which Colonel Burke took
charge of me, and placed me in Fort Lafayette :
" Philadelphia, Sept. 13.
" ' Dear Sir,—Permit me to introduce to you my deputy,
Mr. Starkey, who carries with him Mr. Winder, to be deli-
vered to your custody per order of the Secretary of War.—
Very respectfully your obedient servant,
" Wm. MILLWARD, United States Marshal.
" To Lieut.-Col. Martin Burke, Commanding
at Fort Hamilton.
" ' I am Sir, yours very respectfully,
" To the Hon. Simon Cameron, Lochiel, H. WINDER.
near Harrisburg."
On the afternoon of the same day, Mr. Winder
wrote a second letter to Mr. Cameron, enclosing
him a copy of the telegraphic despatch purporting
to be signed by himself and addressed to Mr. Coffey,
the District Attorney of Philadelphia, ordering his
arrest and transference to Fort Lafayette. Mr.
Cameron promptly replied in the following terms :
" ochiel, April 2, 1862.
"Sir,--I have enclosed your letter of the 31st, received
to-day, to the Secretary of State, and disavowed all know-
ledge of your arrest, with a request for your release, if you
have been held by my direction.—Very respectfully,
"To Mr. W. 11. Winder," " SIMON CAMERON.
Mr. Seward refused to order the release unless
upon the previous terms of taking the oath of alle-
giance, and transferred the case to Gen. Dix and
Judge Pierpnint, the Commissioners appointed by
the War Department for the examination of politi-
cal prisoners. From these gentlemen Mr. Winder
learnt for the first time that his offence was " his
correspondence with various parties and his writings
for the newspapers," and by them he was promised
to beset at liberty on parole and on taking the oath
of allegiance. Mr. Winder denied that his corre-
spondence or writings were treasonable, disloyal, or
illegal; demanded, if they were thought so by the
Government, to be brought to trial in due form and
course of law, that he might have an opportunity
of defending himself, and declined to take the oath
as a necessary preliminary to his demand for jus-
tice. His correspondence with the Commissioners
is dated in the beginning of May last, since which
time more than three months have elapsed. He is
still in Fort Warren a close prisoner.
Mr. Winder's case is but one of hundreds, but the
state of public security and political morality which
it discloses might well make Americans reflect on
the unhappy position of their once great and free
Republic. They may not be aware of it themselves,
but the Northern people have already lost their
own liberties in the futile attempt to destroy those
of their Southern brethren—and, worse than all,
perhaps, to people who love the " almighty dollar"
so much, they have not lost their liberties gratis,
but have already incurred debts to the extent of a
thousand million dollars by the process, and will
incur as much more in another twelve months,
unless they renounce the idea of subjugation, and
come to terms with a people whom they never can
subdue.
MIDDLESEX SESSIONS, Y,

►t. 1.

The September General Sessions of the Peace for
the county of Middlesex commenced this morning,
at Clerkenwell, before Mr. Sergeant Gaselee, pre-
siding for the Assistant-Judge ; Mr. Payne, deputy ;
and the following justices :—Mr. Dixon, Mr. Mar-
tin, Mr, Kepp, Dr. Bateman, Mr. Rigg, Mr. Good-
hart, Mr. J. D. Fletcher, Mr. Summers, Mr. Prance,
Mr. Miles, and Mr. Charles White.
The learned Sergeant delivered the charge to the
grand jury.
The calendar for this session is very light, there
being only 36 prisoners for trial, in consequence of
the heavy list of business last week. There were 32
cases of felony and 4 of misdemeanour.
Wm. Bishop, 30, described as a billiard marker,
was indicted for stealing a purse, containing Bs. 6d.
in money and 100 postage stamps, from the person
of Lucy Ayling.
Mr. Gent prosecuted ; Mr. Besley was counsel
for the prisoner.
The case for the prosecution was that the prisoner
some months ago went to a shop kept by Mr.Ayling,
493, Oxford-street, where photographs were sold,
and while looking at some picked Mrs. Ayling's
pocket, and making some excuse went away. Some
time after he called again, and was recognised by
Mrs, Ayling as the man who took her purse; but he
said he had never been there before.
Mr, Besley addressed the jury for the prisoner,
contending that, upon all principles of law and jus-
tice, the prisoner could not be convicted upon such
evidence of so serious a charge. There was a mis-
take as to identity.
The learned Judge very carefully summed up, and
the jury found the rrisouer not guilty.

SECOND COURT.
(Before Mr. Payne.)
Joseph Small was indicted for an assault upon a
warrant-officer of the Hammersmith Police-court
named Acres.
Mr. Gresham prosecuted ; Mr. Pater was for the
defence.

This case arose out of domestic matters of an un-
pleasant nature, and the prosecutor went to execute
a warrant upon the defendant in the middle of the
night. The prosecutor did not say who he was, or
in what capacity he visited the house; but flourishes
a stick, according to the case for the defence, and
then an assault was no doubt committed.
The defence set up by Mr. Pater was in effect
justifiable, and the jury adopting that view found a
verdict of not guilty.
A number of ordinary eases were disposed of.

POLICE IN7ELLIGENCE.--S'ept. 1.

-40--- ----
CL ERK E NWE Lt . GROSS ASSAULT. AT-
TEMPTED MURDER OF A POLICE-CONSTABLE.—A
respectably-attired man, with a large profusion of
beard and moustache, who gave the name of Charl-
ton Dive, aged 31, a clerk in the employ of Mr.
Rydon, the extensive btiekmaker of Ball's-pond,
residing at 0, Paradise-terrace, Milton-road, Stoke
Newington, was charged before Mr. Barker with
committing a felonious assault on Mary Ann Faint,
aged 14 years; residing in College-row, Elder-walk,
Islington. Owing to the peculiar facts connected
with the case, the court was crowded.
Mr. Wontn.er, Jun., of Bucklersbury, attended for
the defendant, and Mr. H. Allen, prosecuting officer
of the Associate Institute for the Protection of
Women, attended to watch the case.
Mary Ann Faint, of No. 1, College-row, Elder-
walk, a tell girl, looking much older, said—l was
H years of age on the 22d of last month. On Fri-
day evening, between eight and nine, I was return-
-1
ing home from Highbury New Park, through Ry-
don's brick fields, and there were a little girl and
boy with me. It was quite dark, and I was in-
suited by the prisoner. Before that the little boy
called out, " Look at that man looking about in
the bricks." I turned round, and said I could not
see any man. At that moment two men came
up to me, and one of them put a white handker-
chief round my throat. The prisoner spoke to me
first., he being one of the two men. He said to me,
~ Where are you going P" and I said, " I am going
hoe He said, " You come here ;" and he said
to hisli3 companion, " Clark, run after the others who
h war." The prisoner then tied a hand-
kerchief over have run a jray mouth, and he said, "You come
here " and I went a short distance with him. H©
said,,,, You Wait
here," and I said, "No." He laid
hol(1 of both my hands very tightly and kept them
4"1 In a few
. The witness then deposed
ule N'e'Y much indeed.
that th ' threw her down, and then co.m-
'' prisoner
mitted.the offence of vvhic.l
i he was charged, having
been with
her about a
her got up and ran
ness then quarter of an hour. The wit-
priso h
Proceeded—The
dl walk, and
ar y
away. giddy got up I could
v ay, I was so
w
was ver 1
went out Of n2J
self, and
giddy. I
-n a few minutes I came to
Inl
saw the lights and I followedd
and some people,
them. I did not them. I stayed
say anything to
but
on the railway bridge for about five
not seeing an/thing like either of the men I went
father,
away home. I did not tell my mother or my as r was afraid. I told my mother that I had not