The Sun.
London, England, 1861-08-06 00:00:00

METEOROLOGIC

I REPORTS.

This Day,
between 8 and B. E. M. D. F. C. I. S.
9 a.m.
---.—
Nairn 29'65 59 58a W. 4 2 b. 2
Aberdeen
Leith 29/8 63 53 ', • 4 4 e, 3
Berwick 29•69 61 58 W.N.W. 5 3 b. 2
Ardrossan
Portrush
Shields
Galway 2919 64 60 w. N. w. 4 6 0. 2
Scarborough 2910 60 57 W. 3 5 4. 2
Liverpool
Queenstown 3013 60 59 W. 3 4 c. 2
Yarmouth 3012 62 60 W. 5 1 b. 2
London
ePoorytesrmouth . ; 330012007 7602 6647 NS :WW: 88 51
m.
11
Portland
Plymouth
Penzance
W. 4 3' c. 2

THE CIVIL WAR IN AMERICA.

THE DEFEAT AT MANASSAS.
(From the Correspondent of the Times.)
WASHINGTON, JULY 19.

The army of the North is fairly moving at last,
and all the contending voices of lawyers and dispu-
tants will be speedily silenced by the noise of the
cannon. Let no one suppose that the war will be
decided in one or two battles, or conclude from any
present successes of the Federalists that they will
not meet with stern opposition as they advance.
The Confederates uniformly declared to me after
their failure to take either Faneiul-hall or the
Capitol they would wait in Virginia and entice the
Federalists into certain mysterious traps, where
they would be " destroyed to a man." There is great
reliance placed on masked batteries in this war, and
the country is favourable to their employment but
nothing can prove more completely the unsteady
character of the troops than the reliance which is
placed on the effects of such works, and indeed
there is reason to think that there have been panics
on both sides—at Great Bethel as well as at Laurel-
hill. The telegraph is faster than the post, and all
the lucubratiens of to-day may be falsfied by the
deeds of to-morrow. The Senate and Congress are
sitting in the Capitol, within the very hearing of
the guns and the sight of the smoke of the conflict
which is now raging in Virginia. Senators and Con-
gress men are engaged in disputations and speeches,
while soldiers are working out the problem in their
own way, and it is within the range of possibility
that a disastrous battle may place the capital in the
hands of the Confederates; and the news which has
just come in that the latter have passed Bull's Run,
a small river which flows into the Potomac below
Alexandria, crossing the railroad from that place,
is a proof that Fairfax Court-house was abandoned
for a reason. It is stated that the Confederates
have been repulsed by the 69th (Irish) Regi-
ment. and the 79th (Scotch) New York Volun-
teers, and as soon as this letter has been.
posted I shall proceed to the field (for the cam-
paign has now fairly commenced) and ascertain
the facts. If the Confederates force the left of
M'Dowell's army they will obtain possession of the
line to Alexandria, and may endanger Washington
itself. The design of Beauregard may have been to
effect this very object while he engaged the bulk of
the Federalists at Manassas Junction, which you
must not confound with Manassas Gap. The re-
ports of guns were heard this morning in the direc-
tion of the Junction and it is probable that M'Dowell,
advancing from Centreville, has met the enemy
prepared to dispute his passage. There are some
stories in town to the effect that General Tyler has
met with a severe check on the right, but the ad-
vance of M'Dowell was very cautious, and he would
not let his troops fall into the ambuscades against
which they have been especially forewarned. Let
speculation, which to-morrow's news must outstrip,
cease here, and let us examine the composition of
the forces actually engaged with the Confederates.
The head of the naval and military forces of the
United States is the President, in theory and in the
practice of appointments, but Lieutenant-General
W. Scott is " Commanding-in-Chief" of 'the United
States' army. His staff consists of Lieut.-Colonel
E. D. Townsend, Assistant Adjutant-General, Chief
of the Staff ; Colonel H. Van Ransselaer,
(Volunteer); Lieutenant-Colonel G. W. Callum,
United States' Engineer, A.D.C. ; Lieut.-Colonel
Edward Wright, United States' Cavalry, A.D.C. ;
Lieutenant-Colonel Schuyler Hamilton, Military
Secretary.

The subjoined General Order gives the organisa-
tion of the Staff and of the several Divisions of the
army under Brigadier-General M‘Do well, now ad-
vancing into Virginia from the lines opposite
Washington :

GENERAL ORDERS, No. 13.
Head-quarters Department, N. E. Virginia.
Washington, July 8, 1861.
Until otherwise ordered the following will be the organi-
sation of the troops in this Department :
STAFF OF THE DEPARTMENT COMMANDER.

Adjutant-General's Department.—Captain James B.
Fry, Assistant Adjutant-General.

AidPc.iie-Lamp—First Lieutenant H. W. Kingsbury,
sth Artillery; Major Clarence S. Brown, N.Y. State
Militia; Maj,4r Jas. S. Wordsworth, N.Y. State Militia.

Acting Inspector-General—Major W. H. Wood, 17th
Infantry.

Engineers—Major J. G. Barnard; First Lieut3nant F.
E. Prime.

Topographical Engineers—Capt. A. W. Whipple ; First
Lieutenant Henry L. Abbott ; Second Lieutenant Haldi-
mand S. Putnam.

Quartermaster's Department—Capt. 0. H. Tillinghast,
Assistant Quartermaster.

Subsistence Department—Capt. H. F. Clarke, Commis-
sary of Subsistence.

Medical Department—Surgeon W. S. King; Assistant.,
Surgeon David L. Magruder.
FIRST DIVISION.

Brigadier-General Daniel Tyler, Connecticut Militia corn -
mandin g.

First Brigade—Col. E. D. Keyes, 11th Infantry, com-
manding. Ist Connecticut Regiment Volunteers ;2d ditto ;
31 ditto; 4th Maine ditto; Capt. Varian's Battery of New
York Bth Regiment; Company B, Second Cavalry.
Second Brigade-Ist Ohio Regiment Volunteers ; 2d
ditto; 2d New York ditto; Company E, 2d Artillery (Light
Battery).

Third Brigade—Col. W. T. Sherman, 13th Infantry,
commanding. 69th Regiment New York Militia; 79th
ditto; 13th ditto, Volunteers; 2d ditto, Wisconsin ditto;
Company E, 3d Artillery (Light Battery).
Fourth Brigade—Col. J. B. Richardson, Michigan
Volunteers, commanding. 2d Regiment Michigan Volun-
teers; 3d ditto; Ist ditto Massachusetts; 12th ditto New
York.