The Sun.
London, England, 1861-11-12 00:00:00

THE CIVIL WAR IN AMERICA.

(From the Special Correspoulent of the Times.)
WASHINGTON, FRIDAY, OCT. 25.
The effects of the rout at Edward's Ferry on New
York and Boston will not be known here until
after this letter has been despatched ; but the truth
must be fully disclosed at last, and it will be all the
more painful, coming after the anticipations which
ex sted of a very different result to any operation
in which the reorganized army might be engaged.
General M'Clellan's promise that " there would
be no more Bull's-Run affairs" has not been
altogether carried out. This fresh reverse is a
striking example of the evils of want of military
knowledge on the part of the officers, and of lack of
du cipline, perhaps, in the men. Who ever heard
of such a thing as a night reconnaissance, and that,
too, in a wooded country, known to be held by an
en my close at hand? There is an infatuation
about this " scouting," as it is called, which, in every
ca as far as I have seen—and I have marked 27 or
26 down already—leads to some loss or disaster.
Mrnths ago I ventured to point out the inutility
and absurdity of the practice. It seems as
if an officer can take off twenty or thirty men
whenever he likes, and march them towards the
enemy. Then comes a stereotyped account, in
which " ambushes, ambuscades, masked batteries,"
and the like, play their part till our hero retires,
" having killed seven, and wounded, perhaps,
seventeen of the enemy, some probably mortally,
with only two men on our side hit," and nothing
geined whatever in a military or in any sense
except the making of a paragraph. The action at
E Award's Ferry came on suddenly, and before the
ws reached Washington all was over, so that it
would not have been possible for me to have wit-
nessed the affair; and, indeed, a reconnaissance on
my own part, as soon as my letter had been sent
off, on Tuesday afternoon, was not at all encourag-
ie g as to the prospects of reaching Darnstown or
Poolesville through a drenching rain and roads knee
deep in mud, in time to ascertain any particulars of
what had taken place. I suspected a disaster, but
the positive information which was given to me,
that the Federalists held the Virginia shore for
atveral miles, diminished the importance which
euld otherwise have been attached to the affair.,
To-day, however, it is clear that not only were the
federalists defeated with loss, but that they were
eventually forced to retire across the river, and that
t hey have fallen back to the Maryland shore once
more, fearing another attack in force. There is
reason to believe, indeed, that a small landing of
Confederates in Maryland has taken place from
Acquia Creek. It was reported at the navy-yard
that no movements had taken place up to 11
o'clock on Wednesday night ; but it is certain that
the George Page, a.heavily armed steamtug, doing
service on the Potomac as a Confederate man of war,
was busy during the night in landing men, and she
was seen as late as yesterday afternoon crossing
between Evansport and Badd's Ferry, about 25
miles below Alexandria, where the river is a mile
and a quarter wide, with a deck-load of men.
The Brigade " Sickles" is stationed on the Mary-
land shore, and reinforcements of infantry and
two batteries were sent off on Thursday to the
Brigadier, whose force had been undergoing some
shelling from the saucy Confederate cruiser. To
all intents and purposes the river is now closed
and the project of establishing mortar batteries on,
the Maryland side to shell the Confederates out of
their works is not likely to be realised without
some hard fighting. As affairs stand, it would be
possible for the latter to send over an army into
Maryland without interruption, but the arrival of
the flotilla from New York and Baltimore at For-
tress Monroe may tempt the Federalists to divert
it, or part of it, to make a descent and turn the bat-
teries, covered by the fire of their shipping. It may
easily be imagined there is a general impression
here that "something must be done ;" but it is not
so clear what the thing is to be, for the plain,
straightforward way of solving all difficulties by.
fighting and beating the enemy is not in favour at
present. No one is afraid and everybody is anxious
for an action ; but somehow there is a notion that
everybody is not to be depended upon " yet," and
that the preparations are not sufficiently complete ;
and, as is often the case, while there is some im-
patience on the one side on account of delays oc-
casioned by reverses and deficiency of organisation,
there is on the other side an impatience, because
considerable successes in much of what they at-
tempted are not absolute success in all they (the
Confederates) boasted they would accomplish.
The vaunting three months' men who came
down from the North filling the air with their
promises to be in New Orleans in a few days dis-
appeared with the 21st of July, and there are now
a more sober set of men in the army who would be
content to compromise with Richmond before winter
is over. On the other hand, the Confederates who
wished to dictate peace in Philadelphia and "old
Faneuil " itself would perhaps be glad to put up
with Washington and Baltimore as a base of nego-
tiations, although the Richmond papers are begin-
ning to groan over a long war in prospect, arising,
as they think, from the defensive attitude assumed
by the Southern armies. For the details of the
action at Edward's Ferry I must refer you to the
American papers, which gradually are getting at
an idea of the truth. In one regiment there " were
only two swords and no firelocks left." All the
others were lost, captured, or thrown away. The
15th Massachusetts regiment may be looked upon
as non est for the time. Two guns have been taken
by the enemy, who, it is admitted, had no cannon
whatever. The scramble to the river is described
as frightful—another Beresina—masses of drowning
men. One colonel escaped by swimming, having
thrown his pistol and sword into the river. Had
the enemy been provided with artillery there would
have been a pitiable massacre, for the posting of 30
men on the island "to check pursuit," which was
done by one of the officers, would scarcely have
effected the object. There is some reason to think
the force of the Confederates suffered severely, for
they might have driven the Federalists out of Vir-
ginia if they had advanced in the moment of success,
as the guns on the other side could not have played
on them without destroying their ownmen. There
is a regiment marching out now towards Darnstown
which looks beaten already, the men gloomy and
silent—do what they will bad news flies through
the air. It was reported at head-quarters on
Tuesday that large columns of troops were seen
marching from Manassas towards Leesburg, so
Beauregard does not intend to have his corps of ob •
servation, which is posted there, disturbed without
a fight, and General M'Clellan, if he moves, will be
exposed to harassing demonstrations on his right
flank and rear, unless General Bankes succeeds in
another effort to establish himself on the Virginia
side of the Potomac. There seems no inclination to
renew the attempt at present. His retreat to the
Maryland side can only be accounted for by the
supposition that he was afraid of being • driven into
the river or cut off by the enemy, who cannot have
more men than he has, or
could get if it were de-
sired. But the movement was probably dictated by
returned
Gen. M'Clellan himself, who to the city
late last night, He has been lauded for a hard ride
of 40 miles in the papers. lie actually drove over
in a waggon.

OCTOBER 23.
By degrees the extent of the loss in the action
near Leesburg on the 21st is oozing out, in spite of
all the efforts of the authorities to prevent undue
disclosures. Telegraph clerks have been dismissed
or cautioned, newspaper correspondents have been
refused permission to send despatches, and the New
York papers angrily boast that the Post-office is
not yet submitted to similar censorship, although
the telegraph is under a surveillance quite Russian.
Colonel Baker, whose loss is so much deplored,
wail senator from Oregon. He was born in Eng-
land, and originally a newsboy and then a weaver
in Philadelphia, but by extraordinary perseverance
and natural acquirements he rose to be one of the
leading politicians of his party, after a career of
laborious industry in California and Oregon. Mr.
Lincoln was deeply affected at the news of his death,
and it is said he paced up and down his room all
u
light. Mrs. Lincoln refused to see any visitors at
the White House, It was the desire of the President
to have the body carried to one of the apartments
the house,
but at present the upholsterers and t

I decorators are in pOssession,.and the corpse will be
deposited in the city, and will probably receive the
honours of a public funeral.
The telegraph was not permitted to send 4ny news
whatever yesterday, and the morning journals
"babble of green fields," and avoid all u.ention of
the action, except in the old versions, From which
it was i-npozsiblo not to gather that their friends
had been worsted, notwithstanding that they assert
the whole object of their movement has been gained
by the success of S tone's column. There is a reverse
hidden under these phrases. The inconsistency
which is forced upon the Government of the United
States by this unhappy conflict is most forcibly
developed by two proceedings nearly simultaneous.
While they consent to an exchange of prisoners,
covered by the formula of an oath which is more
easily broken than understood, their officers are pro-
secuting in New York the crew of the Savannah
privateer as pirates who were carrying out the plans
of robbery of certain citizens of Charleston, South
Carolina, on the authority of a pretended " letter of
marque from one Jefferson Davis."
There has been no attempt to deny the truth of
my statement that the officers of the regular army
are by no means disposed to carry on this war with
the view of securing the ulterior success of Aboli-
tionism. They are prepared to fight for the Union,
for their country, for their flag, but not for negro
emancipation. The Washington papers which have
discussed the subject admit the truth of what I
have advanced as the result of personal experience.
Indeed as the contest goes on there is a development
of a spirit hostile to abolition which may be pro-
duced by considerations of temporary policy, or by
permanent conviction that it is better to accept
slavery than lose the Union, its profits, its glories,
and its power. That development takes place not
only among the people, but among the members of
the Government ; and Mr. Seward, laden with the
responsibility of office, throws off the incubus of his
former career with graceful vigour and steps more
firmly onwards in his career. Mr. Sumner's recent
speech, classical illustrations and all, fell flat and
dead on the ears of his audience, once so ereet for
the well•known sounds. The act of Congress is
interpreted in no penal sense for the slaveholders ;
and in Kansas there has been an open fend between
the regular officers and the volunteers with respect
to the treatment of negro property in the rebellious
districts. General—l do not know if his name is
James, but he is always called Jim—Lane has, in a
speech at Leavenworth, openly denounced the
United States officers, and declared no good will be
attained till the slaves of rebels are confiscated. His
Union remedy is simple. " Destroy, devastate,
desolate," he says, " for this is war." Brigadier-
General Viele, on the other hand, before hi• brigade
sailed from Annapolis this week, issued a strong
order against the practice of carrying off the slaves
in the district through which the troops pass. It
is called running, as if the creatures were spirits
or the proceeds of distillation—the making of some
sort of essence. And a Republican paper
of Washington thereupon says, " that with
such pro - slavery orders we shall soon
have an army capable of sustaining Southern
rights." On this question of slavery the North is
divided, while the South is united as a man, and
if the Tribune speaks the truth es to the actual
supercession of Gen. Fremont there will be an
amount of dissatisfaction expressed in the West
which will indicate the measure of the difficulties
Government will have to encounter in the contest,
as it persists in its endeavour to carry it on to the
battle cry of " the Union" merely. Mr. Everett,
in his recent address on the state of the country,
has expressed his conviction that the sole belief of
the American people which could be safely and
certainly employed to save the Union is what we
may without irreverence term " Washington wor-
ship." " That (says he) is the only feeling with
which the Northern and Southern breast beat in
unison." But, though Washington left behind him
proofs of what his personal feelings were in regard
to that question, he certainly never did any act
which could satisfy the world that the South is
quite wrong in asserting he would have been with
them in this struggle if he were alive at the present
moment. His farewell address proclaims principles
not opposed to those which the Democrats would
carry out if they had the power; and all the Re-
publicans can say is, that he would probably have
strained every nerve for the Union had he survived
to take part in this great conflict,

OCT. 24.

There is something in the individual freedom of
Americans which renders it impossible for them to
produce the effect attained in other countries by
State ceremonial and the pageantry of processions.
A jealousy, morbid perhaps, but strong, prevails
against military display where one man directs all,
although there is a great liking for military displays
where all men are equal, and where the result is
correspondingly unimpressive, except in mere
numbers and massiveness. For instance, the
State funeral of Senator and Acting-Brigadier-
General Baker to-day was not by any means a
grand or imposing spectacle, although a little care
might have made it so. To any foreign spectator,
indeed, there was much that was wanting in dignity
and proper respect in the ceremonial. The absence
of attention or regard to details in these matters
may be consistent with the simplicity of Republican
institutions; but, if so, it were better, perhaps, not
to attempt any exhibition of the kind, for their
utility is lost if they do not produce their effect on
those who see them. The honour is paid to the
dead to impress the living, and to satisfy a senti-
ment universal in civilised man.
When General M'Dowell took command of the
army, he was actually subjected to rebuke because
he reviewed his troops ! It was considered that he
was ambitious, and that he desired to gratify his
vanity by an empty parade. General
more fortunate, can and does review his soldiers
whenever he pleases, but it is owing to an ascen-
dancy
derived from the belief that he is a neces-
sary man, rather than from ready acquiescence
the thing itself. Out of the abundance of troop.
Washington, men might well have been sparea
line the streets through which the cortege passed,
and Pennsylvania-avenue would have appeared to
advantage with the tapering fringe of uninformed
men and glistening arms along the pavement. But,
instead of that, elrts, waggons, and vans were per-
mitted to drive along till they
-encountered the head
of the procession, where they were halted with diffi-
culty and in noisy masses by the exertions of a
solitary constable, in plain clothes, who led the van.
The national flags were lowered half-mast, but no
bells tolled, no guns boomed, as the cortege pro-
ceeded towards the Capitol. The military band
which headed the column played a slow but not a
mournful strain, and the ear listened in vain for the
melancholy grandeur of the " Dead March in
Saul," or for some music appropriate to the scene.
The first regiment appeared with arms reversed
marching in sections of companies at quarter-dis-
tance, a fine set of men, well;uniformed and tolerably
clean and neat ; next came, for what purpose it is
difficult to imagine, a regiment without arms, dirty,
undersized, and ill•clad in blue flannel smocks, just
reaching over the hips; full of boys and ingrown
men. This was followed by a battalion of very sol-
dierly fellows, from Rhode Island I think, who were
well dressed, and marched with steadiness. A few
unkempt men on horses to match closed up the mi-
litary part of the cortege, and then followed the staff
and the clergy, and the hearse on which lay the
coffin, covered with the American flag and funeral
wreaths. The President looked pale and sad enough
and wore mourning, but white and gray felt hats
and light coloured coats were visible in many of the
carriagesraise asthe coffinandh
hackney coaches. Not a hat was
was borne by, except by a small
knot of people, who were regarded with surprise
by their neighbours. Not a hat was raised except
by the same persona for the President,
supposing
that all the spectator s behaved similarly to these I
saw near me. The bystanders, among whom were
many coloured people; were anxious to see M'Clellan
but he was not there, nor was General Scott nor
any of the Ministers of the principal Powers. Lord
Lyons who was acquainted with tile deceased sena-
tor, would have gone, b ut for an accidental delay in
receiving his invitation. While the procession
was passing Mong Pennsylvania avenue,
contrary
way, twoofficers in uniform. rodeas
smokingith ng a
cigar,

and he passed the hearse with it in his
month, and halting at a ;:orner with his comrade,
surveyed the cortege with the philosophical indiffe-
rence to which tobacco is supposed to be favourable.
A foreigner cannot help being stfuck by such things,
but the genuine grief of the pei•sonal friends and
many of the attendants of the decoased disarms cri-
ticisin in reference to other matters which were ob-
I Tious enough.

WASHINGTON, OCT. 25.

There is no use in giving advice to an angry man.
The North is very angry just now, and all the coun-
sels which are addressed to it from Europe in the
interests of moderation and peace are disregarded,
or employed to incite it to fary as affording proof
that the great Powers are determined to interfere
with the blockade, or that their sympathies are with
the South. It is certainly difficult for the North, or
for the Government of the United States, to listen to
such advice as long as the South is in arms. Defeat
exasperates the Northerner, but does not intimidate,
and it will be long before he can believe the South-
erner is able to meet and beat him in the open field.
If two large armies are assembled, at vast expense,
to look at each other for indefinite periods, the peo-
ple on both sides will become tired of paying for an
empty and enormously expensive pageantry; and it
is of some moment to see which is likely to show
the first symptoms of weariness. have already
Pointed out the difficulties in Gen. M'Clellan's posi-
tion here. The last thing he would like to do
would be to attack the lines at Manassas in his pre-
sent state. And yet he cannot venture much beyond
his present lines without bringing on an engage-
ment which would lead him to that very point; nor
can he debouch his columns on either flank with-
out incurring similar danger and risk, which the
results of the 'action on Monday will not induce
him to encounter. But there is impatience breaking
oat now and then. It shows itself North and South.
The latter will show greater self-control and greater
qualities than their enemies give them credit for if
they bear the depressing effects of inaction better
than the Northerners. Any offensive movement
would be an indication that their leaders were
obliged to yield to popular pressure, for in a defen-
sive attitude they are infinitely stronger ; it is, in
fact, the exponent of their whole case, and the best
representation of their strength. It fortifies the
arguments of their friends, and furnishes excuses
for the lukewarmness of those who would be forced
into the ranks for the Union if any invasion of the
Free States were attempted. On the other hand,
the North is bound, by its declarations and by the
nature of the war, to invade the Southern States.
" It is humiliating to reflect," says an American
journal, "that the world would go on if the Great
Republic were broken up." The expression indi-
cates very clearly, though unwittingly on the part
of the writer, the sentiment which has an enormous
influence on the actions of men in the United States.
In the old days in Ireland there was a small yeo-
manry corps much given to convivial meetings, at
which the standing toast was " The Kilkishen "Yeo-
manry, the terror of Bonaparte !" But the gallant
fellows scarcely ventured in their finest moments
to imagine that the great orb would suffer serious
disturbance in its course if they were by any means
to become non-existent. Why should Americans be
" humiliated" to find the world was not regulated
by special reference to the cohesion of the United
States ? Unquestionably, any serious shock to the
system of the Confederation would be felt by Eu-
rope and by the rest of the world, and no people
would deplore any disruption of the happy and
prosperous communities which existed on this side
of the Atlantic more sincerely than the people who
are so industriously abused for want of sympathy
with their kinsfolk. As there is no necessary man
in the world, so there is no necessary nation or form
of government ; and we all feel, without being
humiliated, that if we disappeared, or underwent
total metamorphosis, the world would adapt itself
to the change without any sustained difficulty. Both
sides have abandoned all hope of a short war,
although in the secret heart there is some lingering
hope that an unexpected event may finish it or lead-
to an adjustment. If, as I am assured by the Balti-
more papers, the great bulk of the people of Mary-
land, particularly of the landed gentry, are strong
Unionists, and it nevertheless requires martial law,
General Dix, Federal Hill, Fort M'Henry, fortified
camps, and some 25,000 men to keep down the wise•
rable minority of Secessionists—if their violence is
so great that in order to keep them from walking
Maryland out of the Union it is absolutely neces-
sary to break up the Legislature by armed force,
and commit the members of it to prison without a
chance of appealing to a jury—what, I ask, must
be done with the States in the South, where, it
must be admitted, the Union sentiment is so sound
asleep it is to all appearance stone dead ? The
Northern papers are beginning to find out the
whole South is in earnest in the matter ; nay,
more, they, are actually holding up their unanimity,
their sacrifices, their resolution, as examples to
be imitated by the Unionists. In proportion as
the time when England was to be suffering the
extremest partgs of want from the exclusion of
cotton draws nigh, without any exhibition of the
dangerous symptoms, the North renews its invec-
tive against our neutrality, and the South reiterates
its assurances that France and Great Britain must
recognise the Confederation. Tobacco is the prop of
the French Tnrone, as cotton is the base of the
English Monarchy. But cotton has a good deal to
say to the destinies of the Bonaparte dynasty also.
It is largely used, not only in the factories of Rouen
and the valley of the Seine, and at Mulhouse, but it
is essential to the manufacture of numerous fabrics
mixed with silk made by the dangerous people who
live in that terrible city of Lyons. M. Belmont,
whose visit to the Charleston Convention is said to
have been attended with such direful results, has
had a severe lesson in the seizure of his tobacco at
Richmond, and may now feel that his quondum
friends are very sincere enemies. But beyond the
personal question there is a real conviction that
L France must have tobacco and cotton from America
eg perish, and I am assured if the Northerners sue-
-,IE din landing at any port on the Souththe planters,
proof of their determination, and as a punish-
ment for nen-recognition, will lay their cotton in
flames on every acre of their soil threatened by an
enemy. I, who have seen the fierce beatings of
that fervid Southern heart, can well believe in a
cotton Moscow—nobody here does. They all be-
lieve in dollars; they are satisfied the planters will
yield to so many cents per lb. for cotton. Stand by
and let us see. In spite of the animosity which
exists, the efforts of the regular officers to abolish
the savage practice of sentry stalking have met
with success, and the war is now conducted in a more
civilised manner. It is, however, lamentable to wit
ness the depredations committed by the troops in
Virginia, and I shall have occasion some day to de-
scribe what I have seen over there lately as illus-
trations of the excesses of the contest between North
and South. The debateable land between the out-
posts must be indeed a land of grief and mourning,
of dreadful suspense—days of fear, and nights of
torture.

As the facts of the Leesburg disaster become
known doubts arise respecting the capability of
commanders higher than those who were actually
engaged in the operation. The loss is three guns
and some 600 men out of a column of I,Boo—a de-
moralising depression among the survivors. Who
ordered the movement ? It is incerdible that Gen.
Banks or Gen. Stone, on their own responsibility,
and without the direct command of the General-in-
Chief of their army should have ventured on such
an important operation. The division of M'Call, on
the extreme right of the line at the other side of the
river, had advanced to Drainsville, and Vienna was
all but occupied by the Federalists. It is obvious,
on looking at the map, that if Leesburg were seized
upon by the Federalists from Poolesvillo and Darns-
town, they could effect a junction with the extreme
right of the army at Drainsville, and thus complete
the whole line from Alexandria to the chain of
mountains which closes in the valley of the Shen-
andoah,
andon
their thu s
rightthey
aoxukl di
a case
towards Manassas,
demon-
strationaildforc
Leesburg to faslalabsa,ck on anee
new
the
li
ne corpsof
communica-
tions with the main body of the Confederates. In
order to effect this it was
obvious
that a very care-
ful advance well sustained •in all points should be
e made. The Potomac—rapid and broad—too deep