The Sun.
London, England, 1861-07-25 00:00:00

THE SUN, LONDON, TH URSDAY EVENING, JULY 25, 18GL

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THE CIVIL WAR IN AMERICA.

(From tice /Special Correspondent of Site Times.)
WASHINGTON, JULY 8.

The rail and the river still connect South and
North together. With all the hate of the South
towards the North, and with all the anger of the
North towards the South, there is vet some linger-
ing aversion to the total disruption of all ties be-
tween the belligerents. The trunk is torn from the
limbs, but the political surgeons are loth to cut the
tendons, and seem to act as though they thought
conservative surgery would effect some miraculous
recovery. Although Postmasters-General cut off the
mails, they wink at the devices of expressing agencies
and railways to keep open the communications, and
thus a man or a letter may, at risk of certain con-
tingencis,.be sent through. The contingencies are
that he or it may be opened if there be aught
treasonable in expression inside or out—and
treason is determined by both sides as they list.
So it is I am here without being opened, and I am
bound to say that of all the myths—and they are
many and magnificent—which have been hymned
and hummed on the lyres of the type, none have
been so quaintly fanciful, though stupidly menda-
cious, as those which have been published to the
effect that I have complained of my letters having
been " tampered with."
There never was a people who rushed so rapidly
to the conclusion that the argument of force was the
great solvent and settler of disputes as our American
brethren. See New York now—just recollect what
it was towards the close of last March. Sumter
cannot have made all these banners, filled all
these streets with soldiers, turned the Laodiceans
into phrenzied Unionists, and shut the mouths of
the disaffected. People who argued philosophically
about the right of secession and the impotency of
the Federal Government to restrain States from
exercising that right have all of a sudden begun to
find out " We must maintain oar glorious Union !
We must have a country ;" and then they go off into
sophistical arguments on the other side about the
hainsd political neces-
language, good
sAiltiisessi.s s i pHpai
da ny do
uu nailownaoyfs phe
held
Ipdl e st
gentlemen, you might never have had this present
the hands of the
te indifference or
contest. You strengthened the hands of the Seces-
suionnitiestds
Statesjnst as you
weakened
Government,by the
actual hostility to its measures which you displayed
when it most required support. One half of the
indignation, one half of the strength you exhibited
after Sumter had fallen, might have prevented its
ever being attacked. Why are the Southerners so
much more irritated against New York than any
other part of the Union but becatse, in their own
words, " she deceived us at the last moment ? Up
to the taking of Sumter she Pretended to be
friendly, and then, when that hapFened which she
seemed to approve, she turns on us more savagely
than even the Black Republicans." In fact, though
the Government may not now wish t) recall the cir-
cumstances, the tone of the North in reference to
vital points in policy must have perplexed it almost
as much as the hostility of the Secessionists. It is
all very well to talk of the outrage on the flag, but
before Sumter was fired on, the flag had been ex-
posed to insults sufficient. It had been hauled
down by force from United States arsenals. The
Star of the West carried it as much as Major An-
derson's command, and she was fired on ; one shot
as a casus Belli or casua belli is as good as 20. Why,
when I arrived in the United States the newspapers
were treating of the surrender of Sumter as an ab-
stract question, and the headings about it and Pickens
barely excited a languid curiosity in the minds of
many men, and Northern journals, not merely in
New York, but in Pennsylvania and other States,
seriously warned the Government that if they at-
tempted to hold the one or reinforce the other they
would be responsible for the destructicn of a Union
which at the time was manifestly destroyed. How
the tone is changed now ! I can recognise no rea-
son for the change in events, but I can understand
that behind all this surface show—this varnish
coating, which pretended to reflect public opinion
—there was a solid, deep, and powerful mass, inert
however, and needing strong excitement to set it
in motion, which only began to heave upwards and
burst through the glaze when heated by the news
that the Stars and Stripes had been shot away by
rebel bullets. The mass is now at work in earnest.
It is rolling over the land in lava streams. It
may be that if an attempt be made to check
it the red-hot floods will again break through
the official crust. While Mr. Seward, with
the modest confidence which distinguishes his
vaticinations, was prophesying that the " policy" of
the Government would win back the rebel States
at the rate of one a month, not only were the Se-
ceded States preparing to hold their own in the
course of secession more strongly than ever, but the
Northern States were beginning to agitate the
questions at issue in a manner which might have
inspired one with doubt as to a peaceful issue. It
is not improbable that up to the moment of the fall
of Sumter there were in the Cabinet at Washington
statesmen who thought they could patch up the
quarrel, and unite North and South by running
Canada as a drag scent dun er their noses. Indeed,
it would certainly be an agreeable result if the
250,000 Northern troops now in the field could be
united with the Southern forces in a common raid
on British North America
andon the Spanish pos-
session. But North and South will not agree to
join. What may Come after battle who can say ?
At present dismiss entirely from the mind of Eng-
land the idea, no matter how it may originate, that
there will or can be peace, compromise, union, or
secession till war has determined the issues.
How gay New York is with flags ! The Stars
and Stripes float on the fainting air in the warm
highways ; the shopwindows are full of prints of a
martial character—soldiers, firemen, or corps of
eccentric costume, Ellsworth, Scott, Greble, battles
and' charges, Tanopkins and Big Bethel. There
are little Zouaves led by nurses and old light in-
fantry men, abd ominous and spectacled, on the
trottozw. All the cleric tribe are in gray or blue
glories. There are tents in the public squares,
rows of sheds in the "places," wherein are soldiery
quartered who came hither on their way to the seat
of war; placards about books of tactics, illustrated
with staring red and scarlet 3Puaves in impossible
attitudes. (Oh! dear me, how tired lam become
ing of these imitations of my
excellent friends, in
which little is successful, escept the bagginess of
the breeches and the colour of the uniform.) Adver•
tisements concerning arms and equipage meet the

eye in all directions. There is a crowd around a
window in which is displayed a Secession officer's
cap, and as it is all stained with blood the exhibitor
is justified in saying, as he ,foes, that the owner was
The tree under which Bri-
kfoirllreednesTinhitsbies
sa
t,a,
treesl.
gadier-Gen. Sickles shot a gentleman inic ;"there is a strong feeling
Washington
has been denuded of the bark for 15 or 25 feet above
the ground to furnish relics of the remarkable event.
ed the indig-
nationprovnklincurorefdathferireensdentbmyent and
as a precious
my indifference to relics at
my chimney-piece.
a fragment of
Ctrhoaprblyestoofn.tbHee
~ carriedbattle
o:nftosmumytreoro,,m, room,
window
us lrel
hurled forth,
impossible. I arose in
at night ; Dshoeglls, aasnsdenounbNlvedittbinengelyatblefrot
my window
on
hem—noises
available, the
mak-
ing dif-
ferences
ni
gb of
hideous
and arose
sleepamong
irop to_
mS
uymt e being
rth, and I did
ri wrath,
an and
frag no
n t other
w a
sm ibs
what it and none of its fellows had yet accomplished
—hit something, to wit a dog, and dispersed the
assemblage. " Where is my bit of shell 9" I did not
know I was such a monster till I saw my conduct
plainly depicted in the ingenuous face of friendship,
on its owner ascertaining that his shell had gone
out of the window and could not be found on the
pavement. This was a digression, I know; but I
have only to say further that New York is up in
arms and eager for the fray, even though there is
i much loss and great suffering caused by the war.

See, for instance, that assemblage of women, young
and old, some with children by their sides or infants
in their arms, before that large house. There are
wives and mothers of Volunteers, reduced by their
absence in the wars to dependence on charity, and
awaiting their turn to come before the distributors
of the fund raised in New York for the purpose.
The appearance and dress of many of these
women would lead to the belief that they did
not belong to the class usually exposed to such
trials. I could not judge of the justice of the im-
pression on my mind that the ladies are not as busy
in cartridge making, lint scraping, and uniform
sewing as they are down South ; but I dare say they
are busied with works of charity as much as their
fair sisters. The invective which was formerly
directed against universal suffrage and cognate in-
stitutions is now, apparently, employed in denoun-
cing the corruption of contractors, and evil at the
War Department; and one journal openly speaks
of "swindling and plunder" as agencies and results
not unknown in the transaction of business there.
There is also much unsound advice tendered or
forced on the authorities respecting the plan of the
campaign, and writers who are quite ignorant of
war or its requirements demand that the Generals
shall immediately push for Ward to Richmond with
an army which has neither transport, artillery, nor
cavalry adequate to such an operation. As it was
nearly four months ago, so it is now. The public
are amused by daily assurances that something de-
cisive will take place to-morrow, and "all their
yesterdays have lighted fools the way to dusky
death." So the public goes to bed happy in the
knowledge that "it is expected (by some one un-
known, at a place not indicated) that a great battle
will shortly be fought." One effect of these reite-
rated statements must be the concentration of the
enemy on the points in front:of the Federal columns.
Another change which I observed on getting into

the railway train on Tuesday morning was the ap-
pearance of many men in uniform among the pas-
sengers. They were on their way to the camps,
and belonged, apparently, to a respectable class of
citizens—staid, steady people, without the swash-
buckler, gallant, bravado air of the Southerners,
but possibly animated by a proper amount of
pugnacity. When last I travelled this way the
train was filled with office-seekers. At the villages
along the road and in the towns the flag of the
United States is displayed from available points in
wild profusion. Soldiers and Volunteers get in at
every station. On going on board the steam
ferryboat at Philadelphia, I observed over the door
of the saloon a wood-hatchet hanging up, on which
was inscribed, " State Rights fire-axe." Other
passengers observed it, and smiled. There is less
earnestness and rancour, or more good-nature, in the
North than in the South. The owner of an axe in-
scribed " Federal Union axe" in an Alabama or Mis-
sissippi steamer would have a " mauvais quart
d'heure," or, as it is called here, " a pretty hard time
of it." But as the carriages approach Baltimore
the signs that war was in the land, and that we
were in an enemy's country, thickened, and evinced
most forcibly of all the immense magnitude of the
change which has taken place since I first journeyed
towards the capital. There are many rivers and
watercourses which run across the line of the rail-
way in the valleys between the undulating wood-
lands and pleasant fields of Maryland. These are
traversed by bridges of wood or causeways on piles.
At each bridge the white tents of an encampment
gleamed through the trees and foliage of the bank,
and groups of armed men turned out to take a look
at the train as it passed. These men are stationed
to prevent the friends of the Secessionists destroy-
ing the bridges. Their presence is significant.
Sentinels are on duty and pickets are thrown out
as if in the face of an enemy, and by these means
communications are kept open with Washington.
At Baltimore itself the evidences of a military oc-
' cupation were more striking. For several miles on
the northern side of the city, camps crowned the
knolls and hill, and close upon the river the tents
were so thick that one might imagine the city was
about to be invested by an enemy. The Federal
flag floated from some public buildings, private
houses, and shipping in the river, but there were
some proofs on the walls that " old Abe" was not
popular. Theinfluence of the dark faces which show
that Baltimore is in a slaveholding State begins to be
manifested. The political predilection is determined
by that ingredient of colour. I take up my Balti-
more paper of the day, as lam crossing to the
Washington terminus in one of those horrid
street railway cars. (May I beg of you, paren-
thetically, to save us from that train in our streets?
All comfort and speed will go for ever, and the
thoroughfares will no longer be endurable.) First
I read of a bad practice, not to say an unusual one
in civilised war, which is said, with circumstance, it
exist in the South, and am informsd of a gallant
officer whose troop scalped 23 Federalists in a recent
action. This is, we will hope, a flight of fancy.
Next, however, is a plain matter-of-fact statement
that the magistrate of police had the day before
sentenced a woman of colour, who was called " a
plucky darkey," to be flogged severely for an as-
sault, I wonder what manner of men it is who do
such things. Barclay and Perkin's draymen, why
are ye not at Baltimore ? Here is Haynau esta-
blished by law and cultivated by justice. But as
we now flog our little criminals, perhaps Baltimore
may be right in togging its darkeys in the nude
wherever it pleases. The streets of the city are
guarded at the corners near the main avenues, by
pickets of soldiers, and the houses are militarily held
at the angles. The inhabitants don't look cheerful,
and in Pratt.street there are still the marks of balls
on wall and window-pane. "They won't try a fight
again as long as the soldiers is here," said the driver
of the train to me.

From Baltimore to 'Washington the camps in•
creased in number, and as the unfinished dome of
the Capitol came in view, and the spires and domes
of churches and public buildings rose on the wooded
shores above the Potomac, the rays of the setting
sun lighted up the canvas cities whose denizens were
keeping watch and ward over the seat of the United
States' Government; and from the dark highlands
across the river, on the soil of Virginia, other en-
campments cropped out from the dense green ; and
on all sides boated the Stars and Stripes, visible
even in the distance on land whence their ex-
pulsion was promised long ago to the faithful. I have
heard the Message read. X have visited some camps
and heard of some movements soon to take place,
but of all these matters there is no time now to
speak, as the mail -is about to close for the Boston
steamer, and I must defer the rest of my letter till
the next despatch of mails from Washington. One
think I may mention—the relations which were
almost jeopardised by the use of language and the
adoption of a tone not provoked by England are in
a much more satisfactory condition. Another—the
party of action are gaining ground, and General
Scott will be forced to moved upwards, though he
will do as little as he can till he is ready for decisive
work. Still these movements will amuse the public,
and may possibly produce some actions of greater
importance than it is intended. M'Clelland's column
is this day moving on towards Beverly, and if Wise
lipids his Virginians together there, there must be a
collision. It does not appear to me that Beauregard
will be directly attacked at Manassas. The real
base of operations is from Fortress: Monroe and
Hampton on Richmond. Of this more by and by.
The civilians and the military are of course divided
in council. The former are for immediate action ;
they want to walk without legs. Tenders are out
for a million pairs of shoes and for a thousand
waggons.

AFFRAY AMONG NAVVIES.—Several disturbances
took place on Saturday night last at Penton, on the New
Border Union Railway, from Hawick to Carlisle, on the
occAsion of the fortnightly pay. There were several fights
in the Bridge Inn. In the last of these John Donelly, a
Scotchman, was killed. The man who inflicted the fatal
blow is supposed to have been a navvie named Wm. Flan-
naghan, who was apprehended on Sunday morning. The
inquest has been adjourned for a week.

FRANCE AND VIE ISLAND OF
SARDINIA.

PARIS, WEDNESDAY, JULY 24, 7 A.M.

The smart reprimand given to the Patrie, anti
which the Patrie was directed to print in its first
page at the head of its first column, has not pre-
vented the other journals from treating the question
of Sardinia and Sardinian annexation pretty much
in the same spirit. "d'i'e are not in the secrets of
the policy of our Government," observes the
Frame,—
"We approved the annexation of Savoy and
Nice as poor compensation for the great sacrifices
of France for Italy in throwing off the yoke of
Austria. We frankly declare that we attach but
little importance to the possession of Sardinia. Un-
doubtedly this island, together with Corsica, would
afford an advantageous station for the French
navy, 'lad serve as a tete de pont for our African
colonies. Its occupation by France would be less
absurd, and less shocking than that of Gibraltar
and Malta by England. We ask why the cession
of Sardinia, as Lord John Russell pretends, should
not be a simple transaction between the King of
Sardinia and the Emperor of the French ? And
ithimraalhpl byaritte
spwabeerl vietnsahsgc: unn aukgtnsiaomss
unlimited
edir
in what respect would the balance of Europe
thereby suffer? Before exhibiting susceptibilities
so much out of place, and threatening the rupture
of the Anglo-French alliance, the English Ministry
should set an example of abnegation and disin-
terestednessValette, and loosenineofflt
obstinacylp selaaen ed
ws . al
armaments,v
ae
si nt
of Lord John Russell is the avowal of this blind
the declaration that England is ready to renounce
the
h the
securityspeech aLed a
of its commerce and industry, in the interest of a
great cause.' Now, nothing can be more vague and
elastic than these last words, which leave the field
open to every sort of interpretation. One may
always transform into a great cause' the most
paltry event, the most secondary interest. For our
part we have no taste for violent conquests, or forced
annexations. Sardinia has but very slight import-
ance in our eyes. We have for our country more
elevated views. and a wider ambition. We have
the certain conviction that Franco has a right to a
territorial augmentation far more important."
Another paper, Le Temps, thus alludes to the
speech of Lord John Russell :

" This manner of regarding the contingencies
which may arise out of our policy in France is quite
novel. Hitherto the apprehensions which we have
more than once witnessed abroad with regard to
us, and which it would be puerile to deny, arose
from quite a contrary supposition—the supposition
of one sole will, all powerful, and superior to any
control of the Chambers and public opinion. Lord
John Russell has changed all this, and it seems it is
the impatience of the Chambers and of public opi-
nion that he now distrusts. If Lord John Russell
were serious he (as the Journal des Debats very
truly remarks) labours under a strange delusion
respecting the Legislative Body, its ambition, and
its power, and, still stranger, about public opinion
and the press, its organ. We assure him that we
have no means of constraining the French Govern-
ment to conquer Sardinia. There is another point
worthy of notice in this part of Lord John Russell's
explanation. If anything could provoke this pres-
sure of opinion which he apprehends, it seems to us
it would be the veto which he announces in the
name of a nation which has always shown itself the
most expert in the world in matters of annexation.
No one will maintain that England possesses in the
Mediterranean Gibraltar, Malta, and the lonian
Islands in virtue of a right superior to that which
France might advance for the possession of Sar-
dinia; and nobody in France can think that the
pleasure or displeasure of England would be re-
garded. So far as we can judge, we do not see that
public opinion in France is much excited in favour
of the annexation of Sardinia."

Though the Monikur is still silent, the discussion
of the question is, as you perceive, going on, and
will perhaps go on until the public mind is
thoroughly saturated with it. What Lord John
Russell said about the pressure on the Em-
peror by the Chambers or the press, to annex
Sardinia in spite of him, is very probably the
answer given by the French Foreign-office to his
inquiries ; but, that Lord John Russell should have
thought it serious is, indeed, strange. The Em-
peror's unwilling compliance with the demand of
the Chambers would be as curious a sight as Glos-
ter's yielding to the pressure of the Lord Mayor
and Aldermen, who Ns anted him to accept the crown.
The coyness would be equally sincere in both
cases. Several months ago I mentioned that the
ex-Police Chief, who did good service in Savoy and
Nice, was then taking a similar interest in Sar-
dinia. That person, or his agents, were busy in
Sardinia at the time of M. Cavour's death, and I
hear that at this moment similar agents are ac-
tively at work in the island. When the impatience
of Piedmont for Rome reaches the proper point,
France will probably withdraw her opposition, but
the compensation expected is Sardinia, and the re-
sistance of Baron Ricasoli may he vanquished as M.
Cavour's was.