The Sun.
London, England, 1861-05-11 00:00:00

TIIE SUN, 4LONDON,: SATURDAY EVENING, MAY 11, 1861.

the trumpet notes of her armed Volunteers. And
as if to signalise how much reliance can be placed
upon the word of onr imperial ally—there is that
affair of the Savoy and Nice annexation that we
can all point to ! A Sovereign could not have
spoken more plainly. A Sovereign's Minister could
not have written more distinctly. Savoy and Nice
were " not" to be annexed to France. Nay, France
had not even the wish, had certainly not the
design, of absorbing those provinces of the
ancient kingdom of her intimate ally King VICTOR
EMMANUEL. Scarcely had the Emperor NAPO-
LEON'S word ceased to vibrate upon the ear of
Europe, scarcely was the ink from the pen of his
Minister dry upon the paper—when the provinces
named were absorbed with an air of the most inso-
lent nonchalance. And yet, it is the " good faith"
of the French EMPEROR that Lord JOHN RUSSELL
now complacently relies upon for the fulfilment
of those engagements that Syria shall be
evacuated. Before the period which was
originally marked out for the occupation
of the country of the :Lebanon by French troops,
we said (in our recollection of the Savoy and Nice
affair) that we should believe in the fulfilment of
those terms when—they should have been fulfilled!
when—Syria should, in obedience to that formal
stipulation, have been formally evacuated ! We
all remember, that—it was not so evacuated.
We all remember, that the original pe-
riod set apart for the French occupation was
extended. Well : this time the French EMPEROR
(as Lord JOHN is sanguine enough to believe), this
time the French EMPEROR may really intend to do
what he has said he will do. He may—for once—
be true to his word : and at the date fixed upon—
his soldiers may be withdrawn from Syria. When
they are withdrawn, we shall believe it. Certainly
not before.

ru"
rad -I NEWS.

THE BANK OF FRANCE.
PARIS, SATURDAY, MAY 11.

The Moniteur of this morning publishes the
usual monthly return of the• Bank of France,
which shows the following results as compared
with the April account :

THE CIVIL WAR IN AMERICA,

(From the Special Correspondent of the Times.)
NORFOLK, VIRGINIA, APRIL 15.
Sumter has fallen at last. So much may be ac-
cepted. Before many hours I hope to stand amid
the ruins of a spot which will probably become
historic, and has already made more noise in the
world than its guns, gallant as the defence may
have been. The news will produce an extraor-
dinary impression at New York—it will disconcert
stock jobbers and derange the most ingenious spe-
culations. But, considerable as may be its results
in any part of the Union, I venture to say that
nowhere will the shock cause such painful con-
vulsions as in the Cabinet of Washington, where
there appeared to exist the most perfect conviction
that the plan for the relief of Sumter could not fail
to be successful either through the force of the ex-
pedition provided for that object, or through the
unwillingness of the leaders at Charleston to fire
the first shot, and to compel the surrender of the
place by actual hostilities. The confidence of Mr.
Seward in the strength of the name and of the re-
sources of the United States Federal Government
must have received a rude blow, but his confidences
are by no means of a weakly constitution, and it will
be long ere he can bring himself to think that all
his prophecies must be given up one after another
before the inexorable logic of facts, with which his
vaticinations have been in " irrepressible confliet.'t
It seems to me that Mr. Seward has all along under-
valued the spirit and the resolution of the Southern
Slave States, or that he has disguised from others
the sense he entertains of their extent and vigour.
The days assigned for the life of the secession have
been numbered over and over again, and secession
has not yielded up the ghost. The "bravado" of the
South has been sustained by deeds which render re-
treat from its advanced position impossible. Mr.
Seward will probably find himself hard pushed to
maintain his views in the Cabinet in the face of re-
cent events, which will, no doubt, be used with
effect and skill by Mr. Chase, who is understood to
be in favour of letting the South go as it lists with-
out any more trouble, convinced as he is that it is
an element of weakness in the body politic, while
he would be prepared to treat as treason any at-
tempts in the remaining States of the Union to act
on the doctrine of secession. But the Union party
must now prevail. As yet I do not know whether
the views I expressed relative to the destination of
the greater part of the troops and stores sent from
the North were correct, for it cannot be learned
here how many ships were off Sumter when it sur-
rendered ; but notwithstanding what has occurred
I reiterate the assertion that the Washington
Cabinet always said and say they had no inten-
tion to provoke a conflict there, and that had
the authorities at 'Charleston continued their per-
mission to the garrison to procure supplies in their
markets, there would have been no immediate action
on their part to precipitate the fight, though they
were determmined to hold it and Port Pickens, as
well as Tortugas and Key West, and to victual and
strengthen the garrison of the former as soon as
they were able. Fate was against them. The deci-
sion and power of their opponents were against them.
But their defence will be that they could not do
anything till they got troops, and ships, and muni-
tions of ivar together, and that they did as much as
they could in a month. Sumter, in fact, was a mouse
in the jaws of the cat, and the moment an attempt
was made to release the prey by external influence,
the jaws were closed and the mouse was disposed
of. The act will produce, I believe, in spite of what
I see, a very deep impression throughout all the
States, and will tend to bring about an immediate
collision between the high-handed parties on both
sides. When Mr. Lincoln came into office it was
discovered that a promise had been made by out-
going members of the preceding Government to
surrender the Southern forts. That promise was
ignored by the incoming Ministry. The Southern
Commissioners insist on it that, apart from the com-
pact of Mr. Buchanan's Cabinet, a pledge had been
given to the South that no attempt would be made
to reinforce the forts without notice to the Govern-
( meat at Montgomery, and so far as can be ascer-
tained the authorities at Washington did cause to
be conveyed to the Southern Confederation the ax-
presiion of their intention to victual Sumter ; but
whether they do so in respect to their pledge, if it
existed, or in consequence of the decision at Charles-
ton to prevent the issuing of further supplies to
the garrison, is uncertain. The withdrawal of the
permission to market was all but an act of war. If
the United States Government would act on the
hypothesis that the Southern Confederation was an
independent power, it would surely have consi-
dered the proceeding as a prelude to immediate
hostility. But the course thus adopted arose out of
the preparations made by the United States Go-
vernment in fitting out expeditions, the object of
which was scarcely dubious. The Commissioners of
the Southern States at Washington, never acknow-
ledged, at last met with a decisive rebuff just as
Virginia saw her representatives from the Conven-
tion on their way to ask Mr. Lincoln to explain his
intentions. The Commissioners were given to un-
derstemd that their presence was useless, and that
the forts would be reinforced, and on the intelli-
gence thus furnished to the Government at Mont-
gomery it was resolved to act by summoning Major
Anderson to surrender before succour could arrive,
and in event of refusal by compelling him to yield
in the sight of the would be relieving squadron.
As soon as the Commissioners found that Mr. Lin-
coln had made his decision, they departed in no very
yielding temper, and washed their hands in a vale-
dictory paper of the results. It was my intention to
have left Washington early in the week, and to
have reached Charleston before these gentlemen
had departed, but the heavy storms and floods which
washed away part of the railway between Wash-
ington and Richmond at the other side of the Poto-
mac prevented my departure, and not only arrested
the mails from the South and the journey of the
Virginian delegates for several days, but obliged the
Commissioners to take the round-about course by
rail to Baltimore, thence by steamer to Norfolk,
Virginia, and then on by rail to Charleston, which
I am now pursuing one day later.
Although the Ministers at the capital affected to
discredit the existence of any design to seize upon
the city, their acts indicated an apprehension of
danger, or at least a desire to take all possible pre-
cautions against treachery. The district militia were
called out and sworn for service, and the result
showed that there ware more citizens in the ranks
ready to stand by the Government than there were
Secessionists who would not defend it. Tuesday,
Wednesday and Thursday last were very busy days.
The companies forming the battalions of the district
militia were mustered and marched off from their
quarters to the enclosure in front of the War De-
partment, where they took or refused the oath of
service, as the humour moved them. It is scarcely
possible to imagine a more heterogenoua body of
men; the variety of uniform, of clothing, and of ac-
coutrements was as great as if a specimen squad.,
had been taken from the battalions of the Grana
Army of 1812. The general effect of the men an d
of their habiliments is decidedly French, and there
is even a small company of Zouaves, but ! cannot
understand how these little independent bodies are
to be brought into line of battle, or depended on for
united action. On the days above mentioned the
monotony of ,the wide, lifeless streets was broken
at intervals by the tap of the drum, beating a pas
in the French fashion, and then came the crowd of
idlers who are fond of cheap martial display. To
a company of 40 rank and file there are generally
two drummers and six or seven officers or more,
and the glory of epaulettes shines out bravely
through the cloud of French gray, and light and
dark blue capotes. The musters are not, I am told,
as they should be. There are some pale faces,
rounded shoulders, and weak frames in the ranks,
but the majority are very fair specimens of a fine
race of men, and some companies were composed of
soldier-like, stout fellows, who only required active
service to set them up for any military duty. Not
a fourth of those bound to serve were ready, how-
ever, to come forward and fight for the Government
at Washington ; and it is probable that nothing
short of a struggle for life or death would induce
one-half to take the field. Not one-half of the
militia is properly armed. It is a great army on
paper ; no army in the world 00 magnificently

cfficered, even in proportion to its numbers. The
strength of the militia of the whole of the ex-
United States is nearly 3,000,000 men of all ranks.
Of these there are no less than 3,839 generals of
sorts, 9,800 colonels and field officers, 38,680 cap-
tains and subalterns—Kentucky boasts of 188 ge-
nerals, New York has not less than 392, Michigan
is rich in 383 generals, and so on. But, unless there
were some popular passion to excite the country,
the actual force available for the field would be a
fractional part of these grand totals. The American
Minerva which sprang from the womb of the
great revolutionary war with panoply of proof,
believes that she is invincible, and there is un-
questionably a strong military spirit among the
people, generated by the incidents which attended
their national birth, and developed by the subse-
quent small wars in which they have been engaged
with rather impotent enemies. Whether this spirit
will be called forth in the North and West as largely
as it has unquestionably been in the South remains
to be seen. The evidences of the near approach of a
civil war are now beyond all dispute, but the nature
of the conflict will depend on the steps taken by the
belligerents. If the Southern States await invasion
they fight over a loaded mine. To avoid the hor-
rors of a conflict on their own soil they will pro-
bably seek to make good their boast of marching
upon Washington ; but whether they reach it is quite
another matter. The present means of defending
it are very contemptible, but vast populations are
close at hand which can furnish thousands of men
for its protection. The city contains no strategical
points, and in a military sense its possession is not
so important that it would be worth while to risk
all to gain it ; but its political significance is enor-
mous, and it is likely enough that the capital will
become the object of military demonstrations on
both sides. With the Potomac and Chesapeake Bay
strongly held by the Federal Government, Virginia,
in case she casts in her lot with the South, will find
herself menaced in the most formidable manner.
Southern men have complained to me in terms of
the strongest indignation that Virginian Secessionists
have applied to South Carolina for 5,000 men to
enable them to seize the forts which commands the
rivers and the sea coasts. It proves that little active
aid can be expected from that State if the Confede-
rate party cannot do that little piece of business on
their own account.

From the date of this letter it will be seen that I
am on my way to the South, and although I shall
not arrive in time to give any account of the recent
operations against Fort Sumter, I hope to gain
some insight into the actual condition of the army
of the Confederated States.

On Friday evening I bade good-by to Washing-
ton, and none of the Ministers had any idea that
Sumter had been attacked, nor had Lord Lyons re-
ceived any intelligence from Charleston.

(FIWM ANOTHER CORRESPONDENT.)

NEW YORK, APRIL 27.

Since my last letter we have been in a state of
comparative quiet. The calm of preparation and
work has succeeded the fever of the first excitement.
No new regiments have gone forward. Washing-
ton, after having been for four or five days cut off
from all communication with the North, is now
occupied by the New York and Massachusetts regi-
ments sent from here last Saturday, Sunday, and
Monday. Fort Munroe is fully reinforced and
guards the entrance of the Chesapeake; the Go-
vernment have a sufficient naval force there to pre-
serve the control of those waters against any force
the rebels can bring against it ; and, these things
being assured, we have now time to look about and
see what has been lost and gained in the first week
of the war, and what are the relative positions of
the two parties.
The call of the President for 75,000 men will be
more than responded to. About 10,000 troops have
already been sent to Washington frow New York,
and 1,000 or 2,000 have been sent to the Chesapeake
from Boston directly by sea. Troops have also been
sent there from Pennsylvania, but in what numbers
I am not able to say, as the troops .of that State
have been sent forward and backward for arms.
Massachusetts is also raising more troops. Two
more regiments are ordered from that State at once.
The people are responding to the call with great
alacrity, and are actually paying premiums for
places in the ranks. The feeling of hostility against
the Baltimore mob is extremely bitter in that State.
As one of their regiments was passing through New
York a bystander asked one of the privates where
they were going to. " To look for two missing men"
was the reply. The President himself appears to be
of the same mind. The other New England States
are not behind Massachusetts. The little State of
Vermont, with a population of only 300,000, has
appropriated 1,000,000 dols. to the war, and has al.
ready sent forward a regiment, and the still smaller
State of Rhode Island has done even more. The city
of New York continues her exertions on the same
grand scale. We have a camp for two regiments
(enlisted for the war) at the Battery, three more are
already encamped at Staten Island, and two more
at Fort Schuyler, at Hellgate, on the East River.
The park in front of the City hall is rapidly becom-
ing a settlement. Large wooden sheds for the
troops fill the whole of the Broadway and Chatham-
street fronts of that place, and as soon as they are
finished there will be more than troops enough to
fill them. A regiment of Zouaves has already been
organised from the New York firemen, and I think
I may say without exaggeration—fonit is impossible
yet to speak with perfect accuracy—that in addition
to the 8,000 troops already sent from the ordinary
militia of this town, and to the volunteer regiments
from Fort Schuyler, Staten island, and the Battery
organised for the war, there are 6,000 men already
officered and enrolled from the city of New York
alone, and new enlistments are constantly going on
and new regiments forming. General Wood's head
quarters are transferred to New York, and the work
of organisation is superintended by him personally.
Nor are the civilians, and especially the women, less
busy. Under the direction of some of the leading
surgeons of New York the medicai and surgical de-
partment, which has been sadly neglected with
the troops that have already left, and the hospital
department, are being rapidly systematised. The
organisations for local charity connected with the
various churches have also taken up the matter
vigorously, preparing clothes for the troops, and,
what is equally important, bandages, lint, medi-
cines, and other things connected with the hospital
department. The ladies daily meet in the vestries
of the several churches, and give their whole time
up Lu tht. ',auto= work. Nor are the substantial
citizens, who cannot go to the war in person,
less active or less patriotic. Money flows in
streams to supply wants. A regiment has but to
indicate its wants, and they are supplied. A
Central Union Committee, composed of the prin-
cipal citizens of New York, administers the ge-
neral fund ; but this is but a small part of the
means profusely supplied. One citizen, Mr. Astor,
has already contributed 22,000 dols., and several
others have contributed 5,0 00 dols., 10,000 dols.,
and 15,000 dells. each. All feel that it is a war for
national existence, and are ready to sacrifice
everything rather than have the stars and stripes
blotted out. The vigour which has characterised
the movements of the merchants begins to be felt
at Washington, and I venture to say that there will
be no more burning of steamers and men-of-war to
save them from the enemy shands. Unfortunately,
the last attempt at destruction turns out to be less
complete than was hoped. The Government have
chartered nearly, or quite, all the American steamers
in New York, some for transports, and some for war
service. They have even taken one of the Cunard
screws into their service, notwithstanding the Na-
vigation Laws, and perhaps when they find how
useful English tonnage can be made they may be
induced to modify those laws. At any rate it is a
happy beginning of the breakdown of the monopoly.
New Jersey reports her four regiments as completed
and mustered into service. They are yet at Tren-
ton. The troops of the interior of New York are
reported as ready. They are mustering at Elmira.
More troops have been offered in t;,e city of New
York alone than were called for from the State.
This is felt to be of little consequence, however, as
the President will make another call soon. In
Pennsylvannia about 30,000 troops have been of-
fered, and 2),000 accepted. Delaware has called
,out its troops for the Union. It does not attempt

to ally itself with the South. The West is repor-
ted as all alive. Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois will
offer more troops than are wanted from them.
The six regiments called for from Illinois were
full a week since. It is understood that these
troops are to remain in the West. A portion of
them will undoubtedly be assigned to hold Cairo,
at the mouth of the Ohio, and the rest encamped
in some healthy locality. I am writing with
great rapidity to catch the mail, and have time
only to indicate these principal points. From the
South we have, of course, little information that
is reliable. We have good reason to think, how-
ever, that some of the Carolina troops have been
moved North ; that it was the purpose of
Davis to seize Washington,—Harper's Ferry being
first occupied by Virginia and Kentucky troops,
the arms then seized, the troops armed by them
occupying the line of the Baltimore and Ohio Rail-
road, and Baltimore itself occupied by a Secession
mob. It was believed that this move would be suc-
cessful, and that New York and Philadelphia would
then declare for the South. The burning of Har-
per's Ferry by the Government troops, the unex-
pected vigour of the Massachusetts troops, the still
more unexpected unanimity of the North, and the
alacrity of the New York troops to respond to the
call of the Government, have defeated this plan,
and the Government now stand for the moment
masters of the position on the Potomac.