The Sun.
London, England, 1861-05-28 00:00:00

the Peiho Forts, where the gallant American
showed the world that " blood was thicker than
water ;" Brigadier-General Lawton, in command
of the forces of Georgia, and a number of naval
and military officers, of whom many had be-
longed to the United States' regular services. It
was strange to look at such a man as the Com-
modore, who for 49 long years had served under the
Stars and Stripes, quietly preparing to meet his old
comrades and friends, if needs be, in the battle-
field—his allegiance to the country and to the flag
renounced, his long service flung away, his old ties
and connexions severed—and all this in defence of
the sacred right of rebellion on the part of "his
State." He is not now, nor has he been for years, a
slaveowner ; all his family and familiar associations
connect him with the North. There are no naval
stations on the Southern coasts except one at
Pensacola, and he knows almost no one in the
South. He has no fortune whatever, his fleet con-
sists of two small river or coasting steamers, with-
out guns, and as he said, in talking over the re-
sources of the South, " My bones will be bleached
many a long year before the Confederate Statescan
hope to have a navy." " State Rights !" To us the
question is simply inexplicable or absurd. And yet
thousands of Americans sacrifice all for it. The
river at Savannah is broad as the Thames at Graves-
end, and resembles that stream very much in the
colour of its waters and the level nature of its
shores. Ricefields bound it on either side, as far
down as the influence of the fresh water extends,
and the eye wanders over a flat expanse of mud and
water and green osiers and rushes, till its search is
arrested on the horizon by the unfailing line of
forest. In the fields here and there are the white-
washed square wooden huts in which the slaves
dwell, looking very like the beginnings of the camp
in the Crimea. At one point a small fort, covering
a creek, by which gunboats could get up behind
Savannah, displayed its " garrison" on the walls, and
lowered its flag to salute the small blue ensign at the
fore which proclaimed the presence of the Commo-
dore of the Naval Forces of Georgia on board our
steamer. The guns on the parapet were mostly
fieldpieces, mounted on frameworks of wood instead
of regular carriages. There is no mistake about the
spirit of these people. They seize upon every spot
of vantage ground and prepare it for defence. There
were very few ships in the river ; the yacht Camilla,
better known as the America, the property of Capt.
Deasy, and several others of those few sailing under
British colours, for most of the cotton ships are
gone. After steaming down '.he river about 12 miles
the sea opened out to the sight, and on a long marshy
narrow island near the bar, which was marked by
the yellowish surf, Fort Pulaski threw out the Con-
federate flag to the air of the Georgian Ist of May.
The water was too shallow to permit the steamer to
go up to the jetty, and the party landed at the
wharf in boats. A guard was on duty at the landing
—tall, stout young fellows, in various uniforms, or in
rude mufti, in which the Garibaldian red shirt and
felt slouched hats predominated. They were armed
with smooth-bore muskets (date 1851), quite
new, and their bayonets, barrels, and locks were
bright and clean. The officer on duty was dressed
in the blue frockcoat dear to the British Linesman
in days gone by, with brass buttons, emblazoned
with the arms of the State, a red silk sash, and
glazed kepi, and straw-coloured gauntlets. Several
wooden huts, with flower gardens in front, were
occupied by the officers of the garrison ; others were
used as hospitals, and were full of men
from measles of a mild type. A few minutes' walk
led us to the fort, which is an irregular pentagon,
with the base line or curtain face inlanch, and the
other faces casemated and bearing on the approaches.
The curtain, which is simply crenellated, is covered
by a Redan surrounded by a deep ditch, inside the
parapet of which are granite platforms ready for
the reception of guns. The parapet is thick, and
the scarp and counter-scarp are faced with solid
masonry. A drawbridge affords access to the inte-
rior of the Redan, whence the gate of the fortes
approached across a deep and broad moat, which is
crossed by another drawbridge. As the Commodore
entered the Redan the guns of the fort broke out
into a long salute, and the band at the gate struck
up almost as noisy a welcome. Inside, the parade
oetgfned a
caoemutomsfteuhtenhe
the casemates,
and provisions, others were at
caiftylifweeanhdadanlerfmt.atmionenvewreyreunbluiksye
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scene of
rolling away stores and
workrse presented
at the gin and shears, others building sand-
bag traverses to guard the magazine doors, as
though expecting an immediate attack. Many
officers were strolling under the shade of the open
gallery at the side of the curtain which contained
their quarters in the lofty bomb proof casemates.
Some of them had seen service in Mexican or border
warfare; some had travelled over Italian and Cri
mean battle fields; others were West Point graduates
of the regular army; others young planters, clerks,
or civilians who had rushed with ardour into the First
Georgian Regiment.' The garrison of the fort is 650
men, and fully that number were in and about the
work, their tents being pitched inside the Redan or on
.he terreplein of the parapets. The walls are exceed-

ingly solid and well built of hard gray brick, strong
as iron, upwards of six feet in thickness, the case-
mates and bombproofs being lofty, airy, and capa-
cious as any I have ever seen, though there is not
quite depth enough between the walls at the salient
and the gun-carriages. The work is intended for 128
gnus, of which about, one-fourth are mounted on the
casemates. They are long 32's with a few 42's and
columbiads. The armaments will be exceedingly
heavy when all the guns are mounted, and they are
fast getting the 10-inch columbiads into position
en barbette. Everything which could be required,
except mortars, was in abundance—the platforms
and gun-carriages are solid and well made, the em-
brasures of the casemates are admirably constructed,
and the:ventilation of the bombproof carefully pro-
vided for. There are three furnaces for heating red-
hot shot. Nor is discipline neglected, and the offi-
cers with whom I went round the works were as
sharp in tone and manner to their men as volun-
teers well could be, though the latter often are en-
listed for only three years by the State of Georgia.
An excellent lunch was spread in the casemated
bombproof which served as the colonel's quarter,
and before sunset the party were steaming towards
Savannah through a tideway full of leaping stur-
geon and porpoises, leaving the garrison intent on
the approach of a large ship, which had her sails
aback off the bar and hoisted the Stars and Stripes,
but which turned out to be nothing more formidable
than a Liverpool cotton ship. It will take some
hard blows before Georgia is driven to let go her
grip of Fort Pulaski. The channel is very narrow

and passes close to the guns of the fort. The means
of completing the armament have been furnished by
the stores of Norfolk Navy-yard, where between
700 and 800 guns have fallen into the hands of the
Confederates; and, if there are no columbiads
among them, the Merrimac and other ships, which
have been raised, as we hear, with guns uninjured,
will yield up their Dahlgrens to turn their muzzles
against their old masters.

MAY 2.

May-day was so well kept yesterday that the
exhausted editors cannot bring out" their papers,
and consequently there is no news; but there is
nevertheless much to be said concerning " Our
President's" Message, and there is a suddenness of
admiration for pacific tendencies which can with
difficulty be accounted for, unless the news from
the North these last few days has something to do
with it. Not a word now about an instant mar?h
on Washington, no more threats to seize on Faneutl-