The Sun.
London, England, 1861-06-25 00:00:00

THE SUN, LONDON, TUESDAY EVENING, JUNE 25, 1861.

ME CIVIL WAR IN AMERICA.

LIVERPOOL, MONDAY.
The Royal Mail steamship America, Captain
Moodie, which left Boston on the 12th instant, and
touched at Halifax on the 14th, arrived in the
Mersey about 9.30 this morning.
The steamship Arabia, from Liverpool, reached
Halifax on the 10th, and the Adriatic, from Gal-
way, arrived at St. John's, Newfoundland, on the

same day.
The details of news come down only to July 12,
while the telegraphic accounts via Newfoundland,
already published, are to the 15th inst.
When the America left Boston the Federal troops

were on the march towards Harper's Ferry, which
place, according to the latest telegram, was evacu-
ated by the Secessionists in great haste. The pre-
sumption is there was no collision.
The following are the particulars of the affair at
Great Bethel :
FORT MONROE, June 10.—This has been a sor-
rowful and exciting day at Old Point Comfort.
General Butler having learned that the rebels were
forming an entrenched camp with strong batteries
at Great Bethel, nine miles from Hampton, on the
Yorktown road, deemed it necessary to dislodge
them. Accordingly movements were made last night
from Fort Monroe and Newport News. About mid-
night Col. Duryea?s Zouaves and Col. Townsend's
Albany-regiment crossed the river at Hampton by
means of six large bateaux manned by the naval
brigade, and took up the line of march, the former
some two miles in advance of the latter. At the

same time Col. Bendix's regiment and a detach-
ment of the Vermont and Massachusetts regiments
at Newport News moved forward to form a junc-
tion with the regiments from Fort Monroe at
Little Bethel, about half way between Hampton
and Great Bethel. The Zouaves passed Little
Bethel at about four o'clock. Bendix's regi-
ment arrived next and took position at the inter-
section of the roads, but not understanding the
signal, the German regiment, in the darkness of the
morning, fired upon Colonel .Townsend's column,
then marching in close order, and led by Lieutenant
Butler, the nephew and aide of General Butler, with
two pieces of artillery. Other accounts say that
Colonel Townsend's regiment fired first. At all
events, the fire of the Albany regiment was harm-
less, while that of the German was fatal, killing one
man and fatally wounding two others, besides seve-
ral other slight casualties.
The Albany regiment, being behind the Germans,
discovered, from accoutrements left on the field,
that the supposed enemy was a friend ; they had,
meantime, fired nine rounds with small arms and a
field piece.
The Zouaves hearing the firing, had turned and
fired also upon the Albany regiment. At daybreak
Colonel Allen's and Colonel Carr's regiments moved
from the rear of fortress Monroe to support the
main body, the mistake at Little Bethel having been
ascertained. The buildings were burned and a
major and two prominent secessionists named Sivery
and Whiting were made prisoners. The troops then
advanced upon Great Bethel in the following order:
—Duryea's Zouaves, Col. Bendix's regiment, Lieut.-
Colonel Washburn's, Colonel Allen's, and Colonel
Carr's regiments. At that point our regiments
formed successively and endeavoured to take a large
masked rebel battery. The effort was futile—our
three small pieces of artillery not being able to
cope with the heavy rifled cannon of the enemy,
being according to some accounts 30 in number.
The rebel battery was completely masked, so that
no man could be seen, only flashes of the guns.
There were probably less than 1,000 men behind
the batteries of the rebels. A well-concerted move-
ment might have secured the position, but Brigadier
General Pierce, who commanded the expedition,
appears to have lost his presence of mind, and the
Troy regimentstood an hour exposed to the galling
fire. The order for retreat was at last given, but
at that moment Lieutenant Grebble, of the
regulars, in command of the artillery, was
struck by a cannon ball, and instantly
killed. He had spiked his gun, and was
gallantly endeavouring to withdraw his command.
Capt. G. W. Wilson, of the Troy regiment, after
the order to retreat, took possession of the gun, and
with Quartermaster M'Arthur, brought it off the
field, with the corpse of the lieutenant, which was
brought to the fortress this evening. There were
probably 25 killed and 100 wounded.
Lieut. Butler deserves the greatest credit for
bringing off the killed and wounded. Several of
the latter are now in the hospital here. It should
be stated that M‘Chesney's Zouaves formed the re-
serve. Col. Hawkins's regiment moved from New-
port News during the day. An armed vessel went
up to Newport News, expecting the Cumberland.
All the regiments are now probably in their former
quarters.
Great indignation is manifested against Brigadier-
General Pierce. General Butler has been übiqui-
tous, doing all in his power to save our men and
the honour of the cause.

Fugitives from Virginia assert that all the males
in that State between the ages of 16 and 60 had
been ordered to enrol themselves for immediate ser-
vice previous to the 13th inst. Another account
estimates the Federal loss at 30 killed, and it was
feared Major Winthorp, aid to General Butler, was
among the number, as he was not to be found.
3,000 Federal troops were engaged in this matter.
A Washington telegram of the 11th says :
" From the best available sources it is believed
that the entire rebel force in Virginia does not ex-
ceed 50,000 or 60,000.
" General Beauregard has issued a proclamation
from Manassas, extravagantly picturing the horrors
experienced by her invasion by Federal troops.'
The Secession forces were retreating from Harper's
Ferry on Manassas Junction, where they had a large
park of artillery in a semicircle commanding the
approach by rail.
It was reported that no important attack would
be made until all the fortifications around Washing-
ton were completed.
A correspondent of the New York, Herald says
there was reason to believe that General Scott would
soon leave for Frederick, to command the Federal
troops in person.
The breastworks on the Virginia side of the Poto-
mac, opposite Washington, were nearly completed,
mounting one hundred 32-pounders, commanding
the approaches to Washington for a distance of ten
miles.

It was reported that the Cabinet, after a long
session, on the 11th, decided to instruct General
Butler not to receive any more fugitives into Fort
Munroe, but no instructions were given him to send
them back, but to let such property alone.
The Virginians had destroyed about 25 canal
boats in the vicinity of Harper's Ferry, with the
intention, it is supposed, of preventing their being
used to transport Federal troops across the Potomac.
A report was current that a Michigan regiment
had been attacked in Baltimore, but a denial had
been put forth. _ _

A despatch to the New York Tribune, however,
reiterates the report of the attack on the Michigan
regiment, and the shooting of a rowdy by an orderly
sergeant. Also that a shot was fired into the cars
two miles from Baltimore.

1 1 tAh it
nelsetg.,rsaamys from Louisville, Kentucky, of the
" The Surveyor of Customs at Evansville, Indiana
has notified steamboat officers that the transporta-
tion of provisions to Smithland and Panducah, Ken-
tucky, is a violation of the instructions and cannot
be allowed."
The New Orleans mail boats were stopped on
the Bth.

The British ship
Independence and the Bremen
ship Gahain went to sea from New Orleans on the
Gth. The ships Monaroneck and Parsons from
Liverpool were abandoned inside the bar at Pass
l'Outre.

Two small war vessels appeared on the 6th at
the mouth of Bay Blenville, 10 miles from New
Orleans, where the British landed in 1813.
General Twiggs had occupied Martello Tower at
that point.
The Charleston Mercury of the 6th reports that a
privateer has captured off Georgetown a Portland
brig valued at 40,000 dols.
Savannah papers of the 7th state that the ship
Sebasticook, of Bath, Maine, was seized by the col-
lector of the port in consequence of her remaining
longer than allowed by law.
A special despatch to New Orleans, dated
Charleston Bth, says that Governor Pickens pub-

lished a notification against sending funds North, as
being in conflict with law.
It is asserted that General Beanregard had deter-
mined on concentrating between 60,000 and 70,000
troops at Manassas Gap, in the belief that their posi-
tion would be impregnable, and that they would
be able to destroy the Federal army that might be
sent against them.

The steamer Vanderbilt had been chartered by
the United States Government for the conveyance of
troops and munitions of war to the Gulf. The
steamship Atlantic left New York on the 11th for
Fort Pickens.

The Washington Administration had resumed
diplomatic relations with Peru, suspended by
Presidentßuchanan, and had appointed Christopher
Robinson, of Rhode Island, Minister Plenipoten-
tiary to that country.
The appointment of Edwin Joy Morris, of Penn-
sylvania, as Minister to Constantinople is also
announced.

The New York Daily Times say ;
" The Administration has not yet received any
official advices from Mr. Adams, our Minister to
England; but from private letters received in
Washington from authoritative sources in London
it is evident that the British Government is disposed
to recede from the extreme ground it occupied
at one time, in reference to the recognition of the
Southern Confederacy. There is now hardly a
doubt that the ministry had fully determined upon
the extreme measure of recognising Jeff. Davis'
Government, and that an effort was made to preci-
pitate this event before the arrival of our minister.
Mr. Adams, it is understood, in his interview with
Lord John Russell, expressed his belief that such
an intention had existed, and charged the ministry
with a want of common diplomatic courtesy in thus
attempting to decide upon a vital question before
affording the Lincoln Administration an opportu-
nity of explaining its position and that of the
rebels. He is also understood to have warned the
British ministry in the most emphatic language,
that the United States Government could not per-
mit any foreign interference to prevent the subju-
gation of the rebels. It is probable that the next
European arrival will bring official despatches from
Mr. Adams, giving the details of his interview
with Lord J. Russell."

THE NORTHERN STATES.
(From the .I'Vetv York Correspondent of the Times.)
NEW YORK, JUNE 11.

We learn from Washington, as I begin this letter,
scattered details of an engagement near Fort
Monroe, in which the troops of the United States
attempted to surprise a rebel battery, and were re-
pulsed with loss. The accounts in the different
newspapers are so contradictory that it is impossible
before the mail leaves to furnish an intelligible
statement of the affair. The Boston papers of to-
morrow, however, being 12 hours later than this
letter, may perhaps furnish you with more reliable
details. All accounts agree that the expedition
was intended as a surprise upon a rebel camp at
Great Bethel, nine miles from Hampton, on the
Yorktown-road ; that it was so ill conducted that
one column of Government troops fired upon an-
other column of the same troops; and that the
officers (Militia officers) handled the men very
badly, end needlessly exposed them to a fire which

they stood uncommonly well.
The military policy of the Confederate Govern-
ment, in face of the enormous display of force by
the Government of the United States, would seem
to be, so far as we can judge here, to intrench its
forces at all the commanding points and invite
attack. General Scott's plan for meeting this is
kept in commendable secrecy. It is possible, how-
ever, to reason from what is taking place under our
noses to that which is to take place soon. Having
completed his intrenchments on the Virginia side of
the Potomac, opposite Washington, and having put
into his camp there enough troops to protect the

lines, and having put under General Butler's com-
mand at Fort Monroe sufficient men to menace both
Norfolk and Richmond from that point, he is now
moving his forces from the North, from the West,
and from the East simultaneously towards Harper's
Ferry. The westerly part of the Baltimore and
Ohio Railroad to Cumberland, within 178 miles of
Baltimore and 97 miles of Harper's Ferry, is occu-
pied by loyal troops. Between 150,000 and 20,000
troops are at Chambersburg, in Pennsylvania, or
between there and Hagerstown, in Maryland, for
which place they are in motion to-day. And from
Washington and its neighbourhood, yesterday, the
New Hampshire Regiment, a Rhode Island Regi-
ment, one of the New York Regiments, one of the
Pennsylvania Regiments, one of the Washington
Volunteer Regiments, a troop of Cavalry, and a
battery of Artillery left for the purpose of march-
ing up the Potomac towards Harper's Ferry.
Thus, without disturbing the lines at Washington
or at Fort Monroe, about five-and-twenty thousand
men are moving upon Harper's Ferry, apparently
with a view of forcing General Johnson to retreat
towards Manassas Junction, where the rebels are
said to be strongly intrenched. This move takes
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from the people, and selected for that purpose, pro-
poses to depose the disloyal oMeers, and to organise
a new Government for the State of Virginia, to
which the people throughout the State are to be in-
vited to accede, and which the Government of the
United States are to be requested to support with all
its power. If this is done, the Federal Government
will recognise the Government ao created as the de
facto Government of Virginia, already in posses-
sion of one-third of the territory of that State, and
shut out from the possession of the remainder only
by the foreign arms of citizens of South Carolina,
Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, Tennessee, and
North Carolina, and it will give to it, if necessary,
the support of the whole army of the United
States.
As the time for the opening of Congress approaches
the coming Budget begins to be discussed. All
agree that it will be poor economy to spare force ;
the Government will, therefore, have all the men
and vessels voted that, through its military autho-
rities, it asks for; and, so far as I can judge, the
estimate of the people will outrun that of the Go-
vernment, How to pay for this is another matter,
about which there is some difference of opinion.
The West may advocate a loan by Treasury notes,
some of them in such small sums as to furnish that
section of the country with a circulation, and may
resist taxation. But I find the feeliug here, so far
as I have seen the members from this section, averse
to such unsound legislation, and in favour of a
heavy direct tax, calculated to raise, if necessary, a
hundred millions, upon which to found a tempo-
rary issue of Treasury notes. Without a tax lam
convinced that the Government would find it im-
possible to negotiate a loan ; with one, there is
plenty of capital idle and seeking investment, and
plenty of confidence in the stability of the Go-
vernment to command it.

The newspapers continue to discuss—sometimes
with great asperity—the attitude of England to-
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upon this subjectfhich one meets with every-

" On its face it is strange enough, that of the two
nations—England and France—one of kindred blood
to us, of the same language, and the same religion,
and the same system ..af common law and similar
principles of political freedom, should be against us,

and the one of alien blood, different language, dif-
ferent religion, a different jurisprudence, and dif-
ferent rule, should be for us—that the nation which
originally NV as alone instrumental in fastening
slavery upon us, and afterward made peculiar pro-
fessions of hatred to slavery, should be the nation
first to turn against us when slavery seeks to assas-
sinate us, while the nation which had no responsi-
bility in the premises should be the one to befriend
us. If it is said that England has large material
interests involved, so has France. France manu-
factures and consumes American cotton as well as
England, and has no colonies, like England, from
which to draw a future supply. If it is an object for
England to have free trade for her hardware and
woollens and linens, it is also quite as much an
object for France to have free trade for her wines
and silks and laces. The true reason of this ano.
malous difference between the courses of the two
nations towards us is, that France has known how
to rise at once above all those low material considera-
tions, and judge the case with a regard to the
principles of natural justice and national good faith,
while England thus far has not. Say what we please,
there is a degree of truth in the sneer of Bonaparte,
that ' England is a nation of shopkeepers.' It is
always the national interest that rules her councils
at first: In any new state of things, the world over,
her first question is—Where and how will it pay ?
We say the first question. She is not incapable of
asking others, and, when once the heart of the
people is thoroughly aroused, nowhere on earth
are other questions asked with more earnestness and
effect. The time for this, in our own case, we have
not a doubt will come. But for the present we must
leave John Bull to his calculations of profit and loss.
" Though iNall probability England will in the
end favour the side of the Federal Government, yet
this first conduct will be remembered against her.
The heart of every loyal American has been too
deeply wounded for it to throb toward England
this many a year yet as it once did. History is now
recording the difference between the English and
the French policies towards the United States, and
no time can efface that record, nor any change undo
its mischievous impression. England set herself
against us when the hour was darkest. She may
turn in our favour, but such turn will go little to
her credit if she makes it after foreseeing the sure
fate of the rebellion. Principle, however honest,
makes but a poor show in abandoning a failing
cause."

If it has no other effect, the war will, at least,
ruin the merchants of New York. Everybody is in
extension, and two-thirds of the extended must fail.
As an instance, I may cite a statement I saw yester-
day at a bank of the condition of a leading whole-
sale dealer in the Southern trade. Among his
assets were Southern bills and accounts receivable
to the amount of 750,000 dols., which were estimated
as good six weeks since. The Congress of the Con-
federate States, responding to the popular wish for
repudiation, has forbidden the payment of Northern
debts. Thus one great item of assets is swept away.
The statement also shows an item of real estate to
the amount of 650,000 do's., but this is unsaleable
now at any price; and, thus a man, who has nomi-
nal assets to the amount of nearly 1,500,000 dols.,
can't raise money to pay even the discounts and
interest for the extension of liabilities of less than
500,000 dols in amount. With such a state of
things as this revival has now become hopeless,
short of a general bankruptcy, and already the
public begin to agitate the subject of such a law.
The Western merchants also are in great dis-
tress, growing out of their miserable system of
currency. based upon Border State stocks. The
depreciation in the value of those stocks has forced
a redemption of the currency, and in consequence
the bills have ceased to represent their nominal
values even iu the States in which they are issued,
and are almost worthless beyond the borders. This
state of things has forced many of the Western
bankers into liquidation, and has completely de-
ranged the exchanges on New York. But Ido not
understand that the farmers are affected. On the
contrary, they are getting good prices for their
grain, and are hurrying it forward to market as
fast as the state of the exchanges will permit. The
exports from this port continue unusually heavy.
For some time past they have averaged over
2,000,000 dollars per week, and last week they
were nearer 3,000,000 dollars.

POLAND.

(From the Correspondent of the Times.)
WARSAW, JUNE 22.

Within a period of about three months Warsaw
has witnessed two public funerals. In all respects
they presented a marked contrast to each other—a
contrast that must have struck every spectator. I
allude to the funeral of the five victims of General
Zablockoy's inhumanity on the 2d of March, and
that of the late Viceroy of Poland, Prince Gort-
schakoff, on Saturday last, June 8. In its arrange-
ment, ceremonial, adjuncts, and idea, the one was
national, the other official; the one popular, the
other bureaucratic; the one military, the other
civilian ; the one the embodiment of the spirit of
self-government, the other of the spirit of officialism.
And, as a result of this difference, the one stirred
the heart to its very depths, and will find a lasting
plqce in the memory of every spectator; while
the other was a spectacle for the eye to dwell
upon as it went by, but which will pass from the
recollection as soon as its image fades from the
retina. Nor were the two funerals unconnected.
Had it not been for the first, the second would not,
in all probability, have followed so speedily. It
was the anxiety, the care, the responsibility which
the events springing from the first interment caused
the Prince that brought him to his own grave so
soon after.

But I must attempt to give you some description
of the ceremony. For some days the body has been
lying in State in the chapel attached to the Summer
Palace at Lazienki, to which it was removed from
the Belvedere soon after death. In this chapel,
then, the funeral service was performed by the
Russian Archbishop and clergy prior to the depor-
tation of the body on Saturday morning. The spe-
cial train which was to carry it to Vienna, on its
way to Sebastopol, was ordered for 1 o'clock; and
soon after 11 o'clock, all those who were to take
part in the procession from the chapel to the railway
station having assembled, the cortege commenced its
march. Instead of the scholars and guilds of trades-
men that headed the funeral procession of March 2,
that of June 8 was preceded by a detachment of
Cossacks of the Line, followed by a squadron of
mounted Gendarmes. The only insignia of the
dead on the former occasion were the branches of
palm and the crowns of thorns on their coffins ;
while on the latter nine cushions of velvet, borne by
nine military officers of rank, alone sufficed to dis-
play the orders and decorations of the deceased
Prince and General. Next, in place of the mitred
Bishop and surpliced priests of the Roman Church
in the Polish ceremony, came the Archbishop and
clergy of the Greek Church, with their gorgeous
vestments of green and gold, in the Russian, fol-
lowed by the choir, chanting from time to time, with
their deep rich voices, some of those glorious tones
of the Eastern Church. In this last particular the
ceremonial of June 8 had a decided superiority.
The singing of the choristers of the Russian Church
is wonderfully beautiful. Next followed, not five
black, unadorned, unpretending coffins, borne lov-
ingly on men's shoulders to the burial, as on the
former occasion, but on a hearse, rich with canopy
and drapery of scarlet, surmounted by nod-
ding white plumes, one solitary coffin covered
with crimson velvet and gold embroidery. Imme-
diately after the coffin—on both occasions alike, on
foot, according to the custom of the country—fol-
lowed the personal mourners for the dead. And
here Nature, forgetful of politics, and system, and
ceremonial, had her own way alike on both occa-
sions. The tears of the sorrowing Princess and her
family were as true, and from as deep a source, as
were those of the mothers, and wives, and daughters
of the dead whG were borne to the grave on the 2d
of March. Whatever he was as Viceroy, the Prince
was a tender husband and father. Then came a min-
gled mass of general followers—the acting Viceroy,
General Souchozanet ; the foreign Consuls, gene-