The Sun.
London, England, 1865-04-13 00:00:00

The Federals in the South-West.

NASHVILLE, TENNESSEE, March 21.
Only two divisions of the fourth corps, under General
Stanley, advanced towards Virginia, and are now at
Bull's Gap, a pass in the mountains 70 miles from Knox-
ville, and only a short distance from the Virginia line.
Six thousand or more cavalry are in the advance, and the
usual amount of artillery accompanies the infantry. The
remaining division is still at the old camp at Huntsville,
Alabama. This "army of the Tennessee," which may be
considered the left wing of Gen. Thomas's command, will
advance into South-western Virginia and occupy the fertile
and elevated region of country on the Atlantic slope of the
Alleghanies, west of Lynchburg ; and seize upon and con-
sume the supplies now growing and in store ; and thus cut
a the rebel army under Lee from food in that direction.
• They will also gradually advance to Lynchburg, and form
part of that immense coil which is closing and tightening
around the great centre where will culminate the summer
campaign of 1865, and where the fate of the whole rebellion
may be decided. The great ,military ability of Gen. Lee,
who has no equal on this continent, must soon manifest
itself in some abrupt and bold movement. My own opinion
is that he will flee to the mountains if he can get out. He
sees or pretends to see no cause for alarm. The negroes
were furnished him too late. I think he will soon find that
he cannot much longer prolong the unequal struggle, and
that he will report his inability in that respect to Jefferson
Davis. Davis cannot afford to accept his resignation, and
will beg him to continue. The whole thing will then re-
solve into contentions and strife and partisanship, andper-
haps peace on the basis of the expulsion of the French from
Mexico, or some other adventnre or undertaking which
will unite. the opposing armies by a band of common
sympathy.

The people of the West are by no means so heartily sick
of the war as to accept a dis-union peace. The West is very
prosperous. The farming interest, which is the controlling
and most important interest, isflourishing, and the farmers
have largely invested in Government securities. They have
consecrated the cause by the sacrifice of their relatives in
this wicked rebellion ; and the blood of their sons and
brothers cries around from the ground. They have sold
their produce at enormous prices, and the fall in the price
of gold is, pari passu, increasing and confirming the value
of their paper acquisitions. The taxes and duties required
to be paid are, of course, a great draback, and a source of
much complaint among a certain class ; but the famers
hold the balance of trading commodities, and a bushel of
corn will buy nearly as much as it ever did. They are
therefore incoming rich in stock and land, and Government
securities. They have paid in depreciated paper debts
contracted in gold, and thus easily cleared their farms of
encumbrances. The very scarcity of labour compels them
to do their own work and retain the wages. But there
is a large class at the West as well as at the East to whom
there have accrued no advantages to counterbalance
the enormous cost of living. They have been left high
and dry by the shifting channels opened by the flood of
an expensive war. The treasonable organisation called
the "Sons of Liberty" numbered 75,000 members in
Illinois alone. Professional men, those who live on small
fixed incomes, money loaners, men of middle age who
have no longer the energy and versatility of youth, and
cannot substitute new occupations and habits for old ones ;
disappointed political adventurers and office-seekers, whose
antecedents are of the Copperhead and unpopular stamp,
and many others, all now producers of the same kindred,
including Englishmen and other foreigners of quiet and
steady habits, all lack the enthusiasm of the bellicose popu-
lation, and fail to see anything but ruin to themselves re-
sulting from a " vigorous prosecution of the war." When
the popular spirit begins to flag, it is lashed into fury by a
press dependent to a great extent upon the administration
and the fickle favours of the prevailing party. I have not
room to say more on this prevailing subject.
The 10,000 cavalry who, as I informed you some time
ago, have started on their destructive raid through Missis-
sippi and Alabama, will endeavour to make an end of
Forrest's small force of 5,000 or 6,000, which is prowling
around below Memphis. After this is done, and some
other things, Mobile will fall of its own weight. Kirby
Smith's force is so disposed beyond the Mississippi as to be
incapable of any mischief in this vicinity at present. Dick
Taylor has the remnant of Wood's army, which does not
amount to much. He will probably assist in the defence
of Mobile.

I do not think the draft has been very productive yet,
though many new regiments have passed through this city
to fill up the vacancies left by the advancing forces. Our
cause is eminently prosperous. The rebels are disheart-
ened. They are only flesh and blood like ourselves. Why
should all the heroic virtues be ascribed to them, and no-
thing but venality and self-interest to us? Davis is a hero,
and so is Lee ; but their followers have been enthusiasts,
and are now dupes and victims. Where is their liberty ?
Where is their security? Where is their property? What
is their present condition ? Where is their future ? There
is by no means so much self-sacrifice on the part of the
North as there was at first. Every one is seeking his own
aggrandisement ; but it must be observed that the pa-
triotism of the South has also in a great measure abated,
and very naturally too. What does it really signify to the
ignorant mountaineers of Tennessee and Alabama who is
President ? But it does signify something whether their
wives and families perish of starvation while they are
waging a disastrous war and upholding gratuitously the
falling timbers of the rotten Confederacy.
Forty trains of cars passed through Chattanooga for
Knoxsville, not beyond a day or two since, conveying the
stores and supplies of the fourth corps, and a cavalry
brigade under Col. Palmer, the able commander of the 15th
Pennsylvania Cavalry. Gen. Thomas has just returned
from Knoxsville. He will not take the field in person un-
less in case of emergency.

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