The Sun.
London, England, 1865-03-04 00:00:00

stroying two ironclads, ands piking the guns in the
fortifications. A disastrous accident accompanied
the process of destruction. Six thousand bales of
cotton, in the upper part of the city, were ordered
to be burnt, when the flames reached a quantity of
ammunition stores, and a fearful explosion took place,
killing and injuring great numbers, and spreading
the fire in all directions. Two-thirds of the city are
said to have been destroyed, thus leaving another
Moscow in the hands of the conquerors. The explo-
sion apparently communicated the evacuation to

the Federals, who took possession on the morn-

ing of the 18th. They found the city in a lament-

able condition, the upper part having been the scene
of the explosion and the fire, while the lower part

is described as being completely riddled with shot

and shell. The actual value of the town is there-

fore not very great. The chief material advantage
of the victory is its loss to the Confederates.

Supposing the capture of Charleston to precede, as
it is likely to do, the fall of Wilmington, the Con-
federates will be completely cut off from communi-
cation with the outer world. Henceforth, the sys-
tem of blockade-running is over, though it is sug-
gusted that light vessels may be constructed to run

up the creeks. By the abandonment of the sea-
ports, however, the Confederates have resigned
themselves to the loss of regular supplies, and of
the power of turning their cotton to profitable ac-
count. It is not surprising that there should be
great excitement in the North over the fall of
Charleston, so long wished for, or that Govern-
ment and people should unite in demonstrations of
joy and exultation.
But the friends of the Confederates have no oc-
casion to despair, although a long list of reverses
and disasters has been crowned by the fall of their
cherished city. All these successes of the Northern
arms are not due only to the fortune of
war, but forms part of a deliberate scheme which
rightly or wrongly the Confederate leaders have
determined upon. It was some time since openly
announced that General LEE held that the wisest
policy would be to surrender all those cities and
possessions, even Richmond itself, which detained
great numbers of men, and were an encumbrance
rather than a help. If he were free to avail himself
of the services of the whole of the troops under his
command, he could leave the South behind him
and teach the North what war meant. He would
show the speculators and fanatics, who find
war-making so easy at a distance, that it does not
only consist in making profitable contracts andvehe-
ment speeches, in decreeing the expatriation of the
whole Southern people, and in buying off themselves
and their relatives from public service when included
in the conscription. They may have to learn that
there is another side to the question, when fire and
sword sweep through their own cities and desolate
their own hearths and stores.. This is the object
which the C onfederate Commander-in-Chief has in
view, and the abandonment of the Southern cities
was a necessary though painful preliminary, even as
in a time of the utmost danger a French General
desolated the fairest province of the kingdom,
choking up the wells, trampling down corn-fields,
and burning the houses, so that the progress of the
enemy might be stayed by the ruin. The evacuation
of Charleston was a deliberate act, having been
commenced three weeks ago, and it is likely
enough to be followed by the evacuation of Wil-
mington, and even of Richmond, which is said to be
imminent. Still the Federals had better not be too
confident of ultimate success. There is an old
French saying, " Se recueille pour mieux sauter,"
1
and it may be on. this that the Confederates are act-
ing. Whether a wiser disposition of their
forces might not have averted the necessity,
r and 'by arresting SHERMAN'S march at the 'outset
have reversed the fortunes of the campaign, May be
very fairly questioned. Hood's expedition into
Tennessee was altogether a mistake, and has
cost his country dear. Even had he succeeded in
capturing Nashville and routing THOMAS, the gain
would have been nothing compared to the loss of
suffering SHERMAN to penetrate to the very heart of
the South. He will now probably endeavour to
reach Petersburg, and combine his forces
with GRANT'S, and this anticipation will
probably expedite the proposed evacuation of
Richmond. The Confederates, in their turn, may
concentrate their armies, and, by a decisive battle,
recover their loft ground, and inflict a serious blow
on the North. We may yet see another battle of
Pharsalia, and the fortunes of war may be reversed.
Should LEE abandon Richmond and penetrate to
Ohio and Pennsylvania, the Northern armies
must necessarily follow him. The Northern
fleet has now done its utmost, and is
henceforth useless for the purposes of war. The
Richmond Examiner says that if SHERMAN cannot
reach the Danville Road, he had better have stayed
at Atlanta, for BEAUREGARD may yet lead him such
a dance over the Carolina swamps as GREEN led
C ORNWALLIS. " BEAUREGARD,” it adds, "is be-
lieved to be carrying out a deliberate
design, and SHERMAN is near the end of his tri-
umphs." The evacuation of Wilmington, says
another journal, would render 5,000 more men
available, and we cannot but hope that part of
LEE'S scheme consists of the arming of the negroes.
Were he to make his appearance in Pennsylvania
with 100,000 blacks, the fervour of the abolitionists

might cool.
If the recent triumphs of SHERMAN had been
won by the sword, the North would have more
reason to exult ; as it is, the continual system of
retreat and evacuation on the part of the Confede-
rates is too foreign to their national character to
be otherwise than deliberate and for a purpose.

The second reading of the County Courts Equit-
able Jurisdiction Bill may be considered as a satis-
factory thing on the whole, for the measure pro-
Ceeds in the right direction so far as it goes, and
inaugurates those reforms in the law which are so
much called for, and yet have been so often and
strenuously opposed. There is so much ado made
about the propriety of not instituting this reform,
and the desirability of that suggestion, that
delay is the order of the day, and procrastination
the thief that steals away the time of the session,
and we find ourselves year after year in no improved
position, and with no prospect of a definite and
decided change. At all events, something has now
been done, and this session—otherwise so dull in
foreign politics and domestic questions—seems des..
tined to be hereafter memorable for its achievements
and alterations in a legal form. The bill for the
site of the law courts has been successfully brought
through its stages, and now some advance has been
made in the measure of the county courts charges.
So far it is gratifying to witness some exertion being
made to attain the necessary improvement. The
objections that were made to the bill in the House
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