The Sun.
London, England, 1861-07-29 00:00:00

THE CVL WAR IN AMERICA.

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(From the special Correspondent of the Times.)
WASHINGTON, JULY 12.
I arrived in Washington the evening before the
of Congress. On my way I had been
meeting
amused by seeing grave men enter the car with
long wands and odd bulging projections at the end
thereof covered with bright paper, which I was in-
formed were " rockets"—in fact, the citizens were
preparing for their great jubilee, " the 4th of July,''
and fathers of families were providing for the wants
of their families in Catherine wheels, Roman
candles, and blue lights all along the line. But for
the density of the crowd before Willard's and the
other hotels along the great avenue which runs from
the State Department and the American Whitehall
to the unfinished pile of the Capitol, one familiar
with Washington would not have perceived any in-
dication that the most important session of the
United States' Congress that ever took place was on
the eve of being opened. He would, indeed, have
seen many soldiers in the streets, many flags floating
from the houses, commissariat carts, and the various
waggons of volunteer regiments rattling over the
stones, and all the signs of war or of a great mili-
tary demonstration ; but there were no placards on
the walls—no parade of pamphlets and speeches,
such as might have been seen in the earlier part of the
contest while there was yet room for argument and
men's minds were vehicles of debate. The follow-
ing morning opened with all the accustomed pomp
of martial display ; the blast of trumpets, the roll
of drums, the roar of distant guns, the tramp of
men reverberated through the highways, and the
New York regiments passed in review before the
President and many of his Ministers in front of the
White House. What a change since the heir of
England stood there by the side of one who may
prove to be the last President of the United States
—united, at least, as a voluntary entirety ! The
feeble courtliness of Mr. Buchanan is replaced by
the straightforward purpose and energy of Mr.
Lincoln, on whose broad shoulders has fallen the
grievous legacy of his predecessor's vacillation and
errors ; and the letters, despatches, and messages
which nurtured civil war are succeeded by speeches
to armed legions who are about to end it by conquest
or in defeat. It is probable the English public ate
already familiar with the lines of the sallow, long,
and strongly marked face of the present President,
which to me is indicative of shrewdness, honesty,
and some love of humour; the eyes are deeply set,
dark, not very bright, but penetrating and kindly;
the tall lank body, set on long loose legs, with
powerful arms swinging by his sides, is inclined
with a slight stoop forwards, and in his movements,
if there be not much grace, there is no lack of
vigour. Beside him, towering over the crowd and
topping even the President, stands General Scott,
the veteran, but for whom it is not too much to
say, in spite of heaven-born warriors and citizen
soldiers in civil life, just as Cabinets exist in the
Militia and Volunteer regiments, the President
would probably not be there at all. The bold leonine
front of the man, the massive head and broad
forehead, the full fine eye, the mouth broad and
distinctly cut, and the square resolute chin arrest
attention and recall the types of some better known
commanders; but Americans are justly proud of
one who in a military career extending beyond half
a century has been uniformly successful, and who
has not been less fortunate in any diplomatic or
political functions he has undertaken to discharge.
The Virginians, who burnt the house in which he
was born lest it should see the birth of another
traitor, and who changed the name of a county in
their State called after him to that of Davis, will
not do him any harm with posterity. His look and
manner indicate that his mind is still vigorous,
though the snows of 76 winters have wreathed their
honours round his brow ; but when the towerlike
frame and great torso are set in motion there is a
feebleness in gait and a want of power in the limbs
which show that age and wounds and hard la-
bour have taken their hostages and securities.
When one turns to the keen, clear face of Mr.
Seward, strongly reminding us of Mr. Douglas
Jerrold, the contrast between the military charac-
ter, as developed in the principal support of the
Cabinet and of the Union, and the civilian element
displayed in the statesman who is considered to be
the best politician for American purposes in the
bI inistry, is very striking.
The march past of the troops would not be
thought much of by the critic in such matters who
has seen the vivacity of the French allure, the
measured beat of Austrian infantry, the automaton
precision of the Muscovite line, or the solid tread
of the British battalions, but when it was known
that these regiments had been called out at a few
weeks' notice as volunteers, and were equipped and
sent to a Government which last April had neither
men, money, nor credit, and was now at the head
of an enormous army, with all the resources of the
Free States of America at its back, the moral force
of the fact overwhelmed all the little exceptions to
uniform, arms, and that which time alone can give—
discipline. The American element is not as yet so
large in these troop! as one would have a right to
expect in American troops, and when the Italian
and other foreign companies threw bouquets and
sprigs of green on the estrude and at the feet of the
President and the General, the vivas uttered in
various tongues were the charters of the emigrants
to freedom, and the rebuke of those Americans who
would accept the labours and the blood of those
men, and refuse them all right save that of living in
and dying for the Union. Let us pass over the noise
and crepitations of the day, which were like a pro-
traction of a bombardment at Cremorne, or of a
b
attlepiece in fireworks in bygone Vauxhall. The
Congress sat and elected their officers, and the
rumour
went forth that the Message would be de-
livered in
the morning. In front the lines were
quiet, but it
was reported the enemy made a de-
monstration in the
in. Thereh„tlimorning which was not perse-
veredus been many a Southern
th
pro-
phecy falsified, and 4th July, 1861, has seen the
opening of the 37th
Congress night 1 visited the camp of the United States.
the 12th New York
Regiment, commanded by lgott Butterfield, which is
situated in one of the squares he outskirts of the
city. The huts and tents were gaily illuminated
led
with
lamps, and a crowd of well-dressed People, never
tired of the novelty of actual military lire, Strolled
about among the lines, and enjoyed the music of the
regimental bands. There was no drunkennesa
-, bat a
great deal of gaiety, and finally a dance before
visitors were compelled to withdraw. As an in-
stance of the good conduct of the regiment, let
me say that the colonel gave all the men leave,
en masse, for the day up to 4 o'clock.
At that hour,
every man had returned out of the 900 except two,
who afterwards appeared much bemused
with lager
beer. And this is a large city, with many grog-
shops, and spirits very cheap, and dreadfully in-
toxicating. The sick list shows 30 invalids, mostly
suffering from diarrhoea. On the surgeon's table
lay returns furnished by Professor Henry, of the
Smithsonian, to be filled up with statistical facts as
to the birthplace, age, height, weight, and size of
chest &c., of the men. The sheet I looked at referred
to a section of 12 men. Of these only two were
citizens of the United States, born therein, four
were natives of England, six were Irishmen, and of
these one half showed more beef and bone and
Etatiire than their comrades. Colonel Butterfield
is a New York merchant, who held Militia rank
before he commanded this regiment, and his men
are', without a word of flattery, a credit to him and
his officers. .The following day (July 5) I went to
She Capitol to hear the President's Message read,
anti through the courtesy of the Hon. Charles
Stunner, Chairman of the Committee on Foreign
Relations
and Senator, and of the Hon. J. Wilson,
Chairman
of the Committee on l‘lilitary Affairs and
W
Senator, I introduced on the floor of the Senate.
The halls and
Swill, when Passages in the vast building which
completed,
fitly occupy a commanding
site, and present externally
altogether sustained by the
but a grand aspect, not
interior, were tolerably
well filled with people, there was no crowd, no
eagerness, no excitement scarcely even the noise
of conversation. The heavy ill-ventilated cham-
ber in which the Senate sits was by no means
crowded, although free ingress was permitted
till the Vice-President took the chair, and
the sitting commenced ; nor were the sommo.
diomi—at least very spacious—galleries open to

the public at all thronged, even in the ladies'
seats. But many citizens, and among them a num-
ber of private soldiers, seemed to take pleasure in
sitting down in the chairs assigned to individual
Senators, and just before the Senate proceeded to
business, a fine snore, proceeding from a bearded
and belted man in a scarlet shirt, showed that one
of the Garibaldini, a corps of whom are quartered
here, had sought oblivion in the very centre of de-
bate.
A more dreary proceeding than the reading of
the Message cannot well be conceived. The clerk's
voice was low and monotonous, the silence in the
Senate was unbroken by a single note of approba-
tion, but in the other House I hear there was more
animation. An attempt was made to sit with closed
doors for the better despatch of business, but this
was not agreed to by the great majority.
An enthusiatic lady who came over with me in the
Arabia was very indignant with a countryman of
hers because he affirmed that he had never seen a
more dignified assembly than the House of Lords.
0 What 1" she said, " do you mean for one moment
to say that they are equal in appearance to our Sena-
tors 9" In one respect the Senators are certainly des-
titute of the air of wisdom which is given by white
hairs and venerable aspect. Few of the Senators
are men of advanced years, and Mr. Crittenden is
pointed out as a kind of obsolete semi-fossilised
politician, as much out of place as Nestor would
be in a revel with Achilles and Patroclus. In an-
other phase they are not so dignified. They do not
consider it unbecoming to write at their desks in
the midst of debate. Writing is a bare mechanical
process, after all, and no man looks well while he is
engaged at it. Senators are like other men. Per-
haps they are a little fonder of stationery. When
the last Congress was coming to a close I saw a
large man, covered with perspiration, dragging a
huge box after him into the railway station. He
was followed by two other men with similar boxes.
This was a Senator who was taking home by mail
his supply of public stationery contained in these
boxes. Then it must be " conceded" that dress has
something to do with the aspect of a deliberative
body, and that Jim Crow hats and linen blouses
would detract from the appearance of the most
aristocratic mob in the world. Pretermitting these
things in the United States' Senate, there are noble
heads, commanding forms, and high intelligences,
nearly equal to the greatest of the issues before
them. Business is transacted colloquially and easily,
but there is, I am told, a practice of making set
orations which at one time threatened the House of
Commons. The young gentlemen who act as pages,
or messengers, would not violate Republican sim-
plicity by its appropriate neatness of attire, but
they, as well as all the servants of the house, and
the employes of the public all over the State, display
a readiness to oblige, a civility, and courtesy which
produce a pleasing surprise in the mind ofan English-
man who remembers how the gentlemen at home,
not liable to removal at the end of their four years,
assist him in his inquiries at the Circumlocution-
office. But as we remark such trifles the Message
is going on. Mr. Hamblin, Vice-President, who is
popularly believed in the South to be a gentleman
of colour, sits in his chair above the clerk who
reads it very much as a Commissioner in Bank
ruptcy may be seen in Basinghall-street listening
to the perusal of a document from an assignee.
The Message is written on separate sheets ; it has
been brought in by the President's secretaries, I
believe, who appear on the floor and simply an-
nounce their object, and the clerk then, by order of
the Vice-President, reads it sheet by sheet at the
desk upstanding. The Senators sit and listen.
Now and then one hears a whisper " It's too long."
" What's the use of going into that 9" " That point
is not badly put." The demand for men and
money pr, du2ed no sensation. They would have
swallowed twice the totals readily and silently.
The general impression seemed to be that the argu-
mentative. and historical parts of the message sv, re
unnecessary, but, as a Senator observed, the people
had a right to know the facts of the case as they ap-
peared to the mind of the Executive in making such
propositions, and that nothing should be taken for
granted or be supposed to be known to those who
were so materially interested in the result.

JULY 6.
Marching of many troops through the city. Some
soldiers have h. bad habit of begging money for
whisky. ''here was a riot in consequence of the mur-
der of a soldier in a house in the city. His comrades
assembled to avenge his death, and burnt three
houses of the same kind ; finally they were dispersed
by United States' Dragoons. There has also been a
mutiny at Alexandria in a foreign regiment, and a
captain refused to obey the orders of his colonel,
was supported by his company, and quietly marched
away into Washington, where he gave up his sword,
and surrendered to be tried by court-martial.
Volunteers are not regulars, but their mutinies
and riots are not so dangerous as those of regulars.
But the mischief which threatens the United States'
forces arises out of the jealousies which exist be-
tween the regular army and the volunteers. The
civilian Generals, or " political" chiefs, are ob-
noxious to the regulars, and General Scott has a
battle to fight very much like that in which Lord
Clyde contended so vigorously and successfully
against his " politicals" and "civilians" in India.
There are men high in influence and actual capacity
for good or evil who declare that the United States'
army is a nuisance, and that it would be much
better to employ good stump orators, or men who
know the wants of the " people," to conduct the
United States' armies, than men who have studied,
at least theoretically, the art of making war all their
lives. It may be readily imagined how General
Scott deals with such opinions and their organs.
All these gentlemen are for pushing on ahead and
making a general attack on the enemy. They think
an army is like a round of canister which can be
fired off whenever the match is applied. It strikes
me from what I have seen that the Federal troops
will have to be managed with skill and caution in
face of the Confederates. The latter will fight with
animosity and desperation, tempered by military
knowledge of a certain kind that may neutralize the
advantages possessed in numbers by the North as
well as other points. The politicians are eager to
grasp the prize and to bring their machinery into
play, to round off its rough edges, forgetting that
they must first clear the ground by armed force for
the lever. Every man, of course, here believes he
can write a leading article, row a boat, drive a gig,
or fight a battle, and I have heard of men, with
htiagikh inali:roiettittry titles, who for their lives could not
form 9. - • .
elementary
has to:come:led
are not the only
tar;ment in square or occupy a farm-house,
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portions ootffhtehree
havearithmetic table. These
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enter-
tained on questions
have ended in most
not been fortunately overcome
danger from this source, or
still exists. serious
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JULY '7.
Last night an intoxicated warrior addressed me
from beneath a tree, at the base of which he 'was re-
cumbent, in an attitude of utter abandon, and de-
manded "baksheesh," for quoth he, " I'm a Britches
subjix, and I wannA a drink." I exposed to him
lucidly the inconsecutiveness of his logical formula,
but he had detected my nationality and insisted on
his right to a subsidy. As I could run, albeit not
like the swift Camilla, and he, I surmised, could
not, I maintained my thesis. "
city ?" " No, I don't," was my reFly. ig Then I con-
gratulate you. There's no jistis for Britches subjiK
—not to-drop to drink in the whole
place."
The soleier was mistaken, but did not require any
demonstration of the fact, and I mention the circum-
stance only for the purpose of pointing out the great
increase of British subjects which has suddenly
taken place here. The Legation is overwhelmed
with them, and this war would give Queen Victoria
or restore to her many thousands of devoted sub-
jects if they were only encouraged in their affec-
tionate efforts to return to the fold: There is also
a large accession to the number of Canadians in the
world. Tt e United States could, nevertheless, get
up an army of a million of foreign subjects who are
cow naturalised here, and could fight its battles
with enormous hosts of Germans, Irish, Italians,
French, English, Scotch, Swedes, Norwegians, and
Dutch. When I see some of the strong fellows who