The Sun.
London, England, 1861-09-16 00:00:00

THE SUN LONDON, MONDAY EVENING', SEPTEMBER IG, 1861

THE CIVIL WAR IN AMERICA.

(From the Special Correspondent of the Times.)

WASHINGTON, SEPT. 2.

The two events of the week, in a political point of
view, are Mr. Chase's appeal to the people for a
national loan, and General Fremont's proclamation
of martial law in Missouri and the liberation of the
slaves belonging to rebel owners. The military
event is the success of the expedition to Cape Hat-
teras, which is also of considerable political signi-
ficance. While the partridges are having a bad
time of it in England, which scarcely permits them
to be properly thankful for their day of grace yes-
terday, there is a fusilade rising up here
from the
outposts beyond the Potomac, noisy as that 'Which
comes from turnip-field and stubble in the pleasEint
isles three thousand miles away. But the advance
of the enemy is really intended to exercise their
men, and to find ground for their fresh troops.
On this side nothing will be done for three
or four weeks to come. General M'Clellan
is at present incapacitated by a strain received
when out riding, a consequence of the constant
personal supervision and inspection by which he
stimulated so largely the progress of the army,
officers and men, towards efficiency. But the ma-
chine is fairly moving and in working order, and
by the time the season is favourable and other com-
binations are ready for execution, the army will
justify the expectations which are entertained of it,
and will deserve some of the eulogies passed on it
by anticipation. Never, perhaps, has a finer body
of men in all respects of physique been assembled
by any Power in the world, and there is no reason
why their morale should not be improved so as to
equal that of the best troops in Europe. The
skirmishes and petty guerilla which are going on
all over the debatable lands between the North and
South possess no interest except in so much as they
furnish paragraphs and good "headings" for the
newspapers. As a specimen take one. A Captain
Shute goes out with 14 men of his regiment to
watch a ford of the Gualey river, near Summers-
ville, in Western Virginia. They march boldly
eight miles beyond the ford, and are attacked by
men in ambuscade ; the captain falls, shot through
the bowels, and is left, mortally wounded, to die ;
four of his men are killed on the spot, and six are
wounded. Now comes the remarkable fact. There
was, it will be seen, but four men left untouched.
These, however, " drove off" the rebels, and then
retreated, leaving their captain at his own request,
but bringing in with them the six wounded men who
remained of the party. There are such ample details
of these affairs in the American journals that I
shall not in future allude to them, having already
expressed the opinion, which must be that of all
military men, that these scouting parties and ambus-
cades and sentry-stalking turn the art of war into
the art of individual murder. There are some
officers who believe that the guerilla work makes
the men skilful in the use of their arms, and accus-
tomed to face the enemy. This is much to be
doubted, for it is generally " dodging" work,
which, like a long course of trench duty and rifle-
pits, does not encourage a young soldier to stand
before his enemy in the open. The sight of the
Secession flag at Munson's-hill, which is visible
from the capital, is rather aggravating, and I ob-
serve that the want of animosity towards the
Southerners which distinguished the Northern
troops very remarkably in comparison with their
enemies is no longer to be deplored or commended,
as the case may be, and that they are now with
difficulty to be restrained from comin,z to the front
and engaging with the Confederate outposts.
The newsfrom Cape Hatteras, which was received
here yesterday, caused great exultation. It is de-
scribed, of course, in the local paper as a " grand
battle." It is certainly a great success, and it has
been achieved so easily that the original design of
the expedition has been abandoned, and, instead of
blocking up the entrance and destroying the pas-
sages, Gen. Butler and Commodore Stringham ar-
rived at the much more sound conclusion to occupy
the works which they found ready built to their
hands, which course offers the advantages stated in
the general despatch, and must prove of the most
serious inconvenience to the enemy, and a terror
and dismay to North Carolina, I doubt not the in-
fluence of this coup will be felt at Richmond and
Manassas, and it may probably induce the Confe-
derates to risk an attack on Washington, ore march
into Maryland. It must certainly lead to a diffu-
sion of part of their forces to watch the rivers and
cities of North Carolina. It will be observed that
the Confederate account of the surrender of the
forts ascribes the result to want of ammuni-
tion ; and, on looking over the inventory of
the captured material, it certainly appears as if they
had only ten 321 b. shell, and no round shot at
all. They were hammered at from more than
two miles with Dahlgren's 10-inch shell (15-inch
fuzes), and had very little chance indeed in an
open work without casemates, while their retreat
was cut off by the fire of the ships along the spit
and by the landing of the troops on the beach. It
is very doubtful whether the President or the
politicians of the extreme Republican party will
approve the capitulation, inasmuch as the officers
and men surrendered on condition that they were
"to be treated as prisoners of war." Ergo, they
are not rebels or to be treated as rebels. Again,
and perhaps more important, the articles of capitula-
tion are signed by " S. Barron, flag officer, C.S.
Navy, commanding naval forces, Virginia and
North Carolina," although General Butler in his
report observes he was determined " not even to
give an official title to the officer in command of
the rebels !" Strange, indeed ! In that same docu-
ment, and immediately before that very statement,
there is not only the articles of capitulation insur-
ing for officers and men the treatment due—not to
" rebels," but—to " prisoners of war," but after the
words " Benj. F. Butler, Major-General U.S.A.,
commanding," comes the style and title of Flag-
officer Barron, of C.S. Navy.

This matter is of greater consequence than may
be supposed. It is not a mere verbal criticism.
Hitherto the authorities at Washington have resisted
all entreaties and arguments to negotiate for an ex-
change of prisoners with the Confederates, and have
preferred to let their officers remain in captivity
rather than make such an admission of equality and
independence as would be implied by an exchange,
for which, indeed, they had scarcely any materials.
The capture of these officers and men will nearly give
them an equivalent, and it is probable the wishes
of the officers of the regular army and others will be
in:some sort attended to. Indeed, unless the act of
General Butler, at once kind and judicious, be re-
pudiated, it is not easy to see now on what prin-
ciple the Government can justify the refusal to treat
for an exchange of prisoners. It is plain they can-
not affect on all occasions to consider the enemy as
rebels, and to treat them as such even when in their
power. The Confederate leaders have already shown
that they will not permit any approaches to be made
to them unless in such a form as to imply their in-
dependence as belligerents, and they refused to com-
ply with the demands for Col. Cameron's body be-
cause it was not made officially. The terms of the
surrender at the Hatteras Forts will make persist-
ence in the determination to deal with the Con-
federates as rebels and pirates very like affectation.
" Flag-officer Barron " can scarcely be treated as a
pirate captain of a pirate navy, nor the officers
"commanding 7th Light Infantry North Carolina
Volunteers" as rebels. The revelations of the state
of things in the Confederate States must be very
comforting and full of hope to the Federalists.
There is an evident scarcity of cannon and material
of war, such as shot and shell of the larger calibres,
percussion caps, and lead. The whole of North
Carolina will be thrown into agitation and alarm.
The waters of Pamlico and Albemarle, and the
river systems connected with it, are placed at the
mercy of the Federalists.

Cape Hatteras is relighted—a secure haven for
the Confederate States' privateers destroyed. The
bloodless success is not less so because it is blood-
less, but then it is not either a " grand battle " nor a
"glorious victory." The Navy Department, which
originated the expedition, will recover popularity ;
the navy itself will be encouraged after its season
of comparative inaction and obscurity.

The Confederates will have to look out now for
their seaboard. The towns on Albemarle Sound and
such places as Beaufort and New Haven are of no

small importance. A railway from the former city
leads direct to Richmond, via Goldsborough, Bal-
don, and Petersburg, and is connected with the line
to Norfolk, to Wilmington, and Charleston. There
is one thing remarkable about the wounded—their
youth. They vary from 17 to 27, with the exception
of one man, who is 51 years of age, and will never
be more. _

With reference to Mr. Chase's proposition, which
will go over to England by the same mail, probably
with some indications of the way in which it has
been received and is working here, it is sufficient to
say that the appeal has not been made without
considerable debate and reluctance, as the effect on
the banks of saving and deposit all over the States
excited considerable apprehension. lam so far from
the actual seats of trade and commerce, as well as
of money, that it would be useless for me to specu-
late on subjects respecting which more recent facts
must be alade known in Europe from Boston, but I
may state that the Government will be very much
disappointed if the response to their appeal is not
prompt and liberal. The real force of the Repub-
lican party is now to be tested, for the proclamation
of General Fremont is really bringing the issue to
that which, I, for one, believed it must come if the
war went on—a war of abolition—a fight between
the Northern Abolitionists and the Southern Slave-
holders. How many in the North will stand by and
see the fight out ? None will do so in the South, be
_ _

assured of that. Hitherto the South has been clad
in impenetrable armour. There has been a coat of
steel thrown around the peculiar institution which
it was impossible to pierce. The attempts to

reach the slaves as a mass have all failed--the

wedge inserted by the Federalists at Ma-
nassas was bent and broken. But General
Fremont is working at the soft places ; he is getting
his knife in between the chinks of the plate mail,
and the very vitals tremble. By way of comment
on this act of the Commander of the Federalists in
the Mississippi Valley, the authorities in Washing-
ton have resolved to seize and imprison any black
or coloured person whom they find in uniform or
wearing soldiers' clothes, There are hundreds of
servants of the race in attendance on the camps who
attire themselves in cast off uniforms in their harm-
less vanity, and henceforth they will be arrested.
General Fremont's bold proclamation is by no
means in accordance with Mr. Secretary Cameron's
instructions to General Butler for his guidance in
dealing with runaway negroes, or " contraband," as
they were called at Fort Monroe. As the Savannah
Republican at least affords proof that there exists
a desire in the South among some people to make
slaves of the Federalist prisoners, it may be ima-
gined what the nature of the contest will be if the
truculents on both sides have their way. The paper
alluded to recommends the Confederate Government
to hire out " the Yankee" prisoners, and the writer
states he knows a rice planter who wants 200 of
them to work on his dams ; he wishes to find out if
the North is right in saying that the work can be
done by white labour. The answer is coming from
Cairo and St. Louis ; for the Mississippi expedi-
tionary force will be ready by the end of this month,
and must produce the most important result in the
course of this war if it be not destroyed. General
Pillow on one side and General Prentiss on the
other have gone forth into the outer darkness with
large armies, and are fighting perhaps tremendous
battles, but we know nothing at all of their move-
ments here.

The appointment of Captain Foote to the com-
mand of the steam and gunboat flotillas on, or to be
on, the Western rivers is a proof of the desire of
the Government to put forth its greatest power and
resources in that direction. He is an able and ex-
perienced seaman, well known to many of our offi-
cers who have met him on the coast of Africa or in
the Chinese Seas, and he is at once cautions and
bold. So far as I can judge, he does not apprehend
much damage from the riflemen on the banks or
sharpshooters concealed in the dense forests which
line both sides of the rivers for much of their course.
His vessels will be protected by mantlets, and he
trusts to shell and shrapnel to clear his front and
flanks, even if the columns moving down on shore
are not sufficient to prevent in all cases parties of
the enemy creeping in between the roads and the
banks to annoy him. There is an apparent lack of
vigour on the part of the Confederates at present.
Mr. Davis is said to be suffering from fever at
Richmond. I would like to know any one who is
not suffering from fever in Washington! Nature has
made this a lovely country,but she has also established
a fine fever system, and it cannot be enjoyed without
quinine. When last I say Mr. Davis he was recover-
ing from an attack of ticdouleureux, to which he is
subject, and its agonies have been so great that he
has lost the sight of one eye, I was assured, in
consequence. He is a slight, spare man, who
did not appear to be capable of resisting violent
disease. There are those who think the Southern
Confederacy depends on his life alone. They might
have been right at one time. Ido not think they
are so at present, for although Mr. Toombs, Mr.
Benjamin, or any other civilian, might be unable
to take his place, the military leaders would afford
ample materials for such a President as the South
desires at present. There is a report that
Mr. (John) Slidill, of New Orleans, is about going
as a Commissioner to Europe. How he is to get
there is not so obvious, for the Government would
give a good deal to seize upon such an able and
dangerous man. The system of surveillance is now
very nearly as complete as it is in Austria—and so
it may well be, when there are so many persons dis-
affected to Government in the midst of the Noz'thern
States. I took occasion to observe some time ago
that on going into the Post-office I was surprised to
find a gentleman whom I had reason to regard as a
Secessionist, in the inner office, engaged in sorting
letters to forward to his southern friends,—and
that, too, within a few feet of Mr. Blair, (the Post-
master-General), of the sangre azul of Abolitionism.
The American papers, taking me au pied de la
lettre, have proved that Mr. Blair was not within a
few feat of the gentleman in question. What I
meant was that within the building presided over
by Mr. Blair, in which his office was, and separated
from him by only a few feet, was a gentleman of
different ways of thinking, engaged in giving com-
fort to the enemies of Mr. Blair's Government and
principles. It is only justice to the gentleman in
question to add that he had the permission of the
authorities to pick out those letters for his Southern
friends, as I am since informed, and that he was not
engaged in any clandestine proceeding. Some time
after I saw him, however, his wife was taken into
custody for treasonable practices, and still remains
a prisoner. Two fires occurred in the neighbourhood
of the house in which she and another lady are in
custody, on Sunday night, and it is suggested by
some suspicious circumstances that they were
the work of incendiaries, who intended to
liberate the captives in the confusion, and
whose plans were only frustrated by the firm-
ness of the guard. I am glad to think there
are no captives in my immediate vicinity—for,
however gallant a man may be, it is not unreason-
able in him to object to be burnt alive in the cause
of two ladies whom he never saw. Washington is
very tranquil. Now and then regiments march
through and proceed out to camp, and vast trains
of horses, mules, and waggons attest the activity
of the Quartermaster-General Meigs. All the hills
on both sides of the Potomac are posted with tents
—camps gleam out through the forests, and in high-
ways and byways, in morning and evening rides one
meets commissariat trains, and sees in every field
squads of soldiers drilling, I went out to see the
18th Massachusetts the other day, and found them
pitching their tents with all the rawness of new
hands ; hut their equipments were excellent, the
transport magnificent, and the men equal in youth,
health, stature, and bulk to any regiment (not
picked like the Guards) in our service.
The gallant little State has raised no less than 20
regiments, and is ready to do mere. South Carolina
cannot be more determined. The troops we have
here now are not only better behaved, but they are
not allowed to behave badly, at least in the city,
and they must be content with rural joys and re-
creations. It is well for the United States to get
rid of the rascaldorn of its cities, but it does not do
to rely on it as a military element ; and the police,
who delight in the process, are doing no good to the
army. Men of a different stamp are now flocking
to the field. As the pressure creeps upward the re-

emits will-come from the higher levels. Tens of thou-
sands of respectable Germans and Irish are joining
the native-born Americans—formerly the Americans
joined them—and exhibit zeal not less than that
which their countrymen in the South show for the
Confederate States. The New Orleans Delta states
that the vast majority—l think three-fourths or
more—of the regiments from that city are Irish. If
they and the New York Hibernians can get a fair
" vacancy" at each other, there will be the materials
for a new epic at once. In the district of Columbia
recruiting does not prosper. I fear there is a good
deal of " sicesh" in the population, and the only con-
siderable number of men enlisted are of the two
foreign stocks who have done so much of the Eght-
ing for the United States. As a reward for his
steadiness, and acknowledgment of his military
merit, the Government have made Brigadier Blen-
ker a Major-General. The Irish are delighted with
the appointment of their old favourite, Gen. Shields.
Scotland, I believe, may claim M'Clellan and
M'Dowell as descendants of her children. England
can claim many of the best by a similar process of
descent.