The Sun.
London, England, 1861-12-09 00:00:00

METEOROLOGICAL REPORTS.

This Day, 1
tetween 8 and B. E. M. D. P. C. I. S.
9 a.m. i
I
Nairn 129•46 37 35 S.S.W. 3 9 '-----o 3
Aberdeen ' 29,14 39 38 S. 2 • 9 r. 3
Leith...
Berwick 29•51 41 39 W. 4 3 f. 2
Ardrossan ' 29'51 44 41 S.W. 5 6 in. 't
Portrush
Shields - *.
Galway 29.51 41 40 N.N.W. 22 b. 1
3
Scarborough 29.66 44 42 S.Y. 3 2 b•
Liverpool
Queenstown 29'51 44 43 W. 2 4i c. 13
Yarmouth 29SI 46 45 sS.:‘,/y.,V: 2 27 I T.. ~
229988(7i , 5348 5427 74,5inv,,,. . 4
51 II 1.. 3
London
rover
Portland - . 5
tly mouth
5, C. 4
Penzance
48 S.W. 4

_l3. Barometer, corrected and reduced
sea level; each 10 feet of vertical rise
t E32x aeLgANa
tAT meanto.t.
causing about 1-100th of an inch diminution, and each 10
deg abovg 2 deg causing nearly 3-100ths increase. E.
Exposed thermometer in shade. M. Moistened bulb (for
evaporation and dew-point). D. Direction of wind (true
not magnetic). F. Force (1 to 12—estimated). C. Cloud
(1 to 9). I. Initials :—b,, blue sky; c., clouds (detached);
f,, fog; h., hail; 1., lightning ; in., misty (hazy) ' • 0., over-
cast (dull) ; r., rain ; s., snow ; t., thunder. S. Sea dis-
turbance (1 to 9).

THE MURDER OF COLONEL CROFTON AND CAP-
TAIN HANNHAN.—Patrick Weal:Eery, the soldier charged
with the murder of these gentlemen on the 14th September
last at Fulwood Barracks, Preston, will be tried at the
Liverpool assizes on Wednesday next. The grand jury on
Saturday RAM a true bill for wilful murder in each case,

THE CIVIL WAR IN AMERICA.

(From the Special Correspondent of the Times.)
WASHINGTON, Nov. 22.

The American papers are full of arguments, in-
vectives, and declamations concerning the seizure
of the Confederate ambassadors—who have, I ob-
serve, become rebels since they were sent to Fort
Warren—all to prove that it was and is so clearly
right and proper that not a word need be said to
justify the act. " England cannot, dare not, will
not, must not, ought not—take any notice of the
matter." If she does, "we do not care ; we can,
win, must, and ought to resist her to the last."
But with all this use of the auxiliary verbs in words,
there is very little real contentment or satisfaction
felt in men's minds ; the share market at New York
certainly does not evince confidence or security.
" Capt. Wilkes," says one paper apropos of the
Wall-street fever, " had no instructions to board an
English ship for any purpose. He did so on his
own responsibility. The Government have not as
yet disavowed the act." No diplomatic communi-
cation has taken place: Lord Lyons has no official
knowledge of the matter. He has not opened his
lips to any one connected with the Government or
belonging to the United States respecting ; and
the statements which have been made, ascribing
conduct, and language, and bearing of all sorts to
him, are the work of determined and incurable my-
thomaniacs. Messrs. Mason and Slidell, Messrs.
Eustis and M'Farland, have addressed a kind of
protest to the Government, and have also made
certain representations with respect to their incar-
ceration ; but there has been no official announce-
ment or action of any sort between the Cabinet
of Washington and the representative of her Ma-
jesty near the person of the President regarding
the question on which the minds and conversation
of men turn all over the States. As public opinion
in England will have been fully tested and esta-
blished before this letter can reach the metropolis,
it may be enough to observe that no authority has
been added to the arguments and cases originally
suggested in the American papers, and that the
seizure of Mr. Laurens and of Lucien Bonaparte,
and the destruction of the Caroline, do not bear
upon the question, and can be taken only to illus-
trate essential differences between the present arrest
and the cases which are put forward as precedents.
According to the arguments now used—and they
are furbished up from all quarters—it will hence-
forth be desirable to prevent any vessel sailing from
France or England from carrying arms, despatches,
or persons employed in the service of the United
States. In violation of the Queen's proclamation of
neutrality, immense quantities of arms and muni-
tions of war have been contracted for and sent
to New York and other ports ; " but," says the
Philadelphia Press, " the great principle is that no
neutral can do any act in aid of either belligerent."
The position of Lord Lyons is most difficult, but
there need be no apprehension that he will fail to
maintain the dignity of Great Britain in this re-
markable crisis. Mr. Seward, I believe, in speaking
of the arrest, did not consider it at all necessary to
allude to the mode in which the persons of Messrs.
Slidell and Mason had been transferred to the
custody of the Government, and the subject will
doubtless be approached with due caution and re-
luctance by the State Department, but I have the
best reason for thinking General M'Clellan not only
disapproved the conduct of the naval officer who
made the capture, but expressed his opinion that
the boarding and seizure could not be justified. The
intelligence has, indeed, been received with some-
thing like consternation by thinking and respect.
able politicians, and already there are men talking
of an " ample apology" and feeble reference to the
right of search which has been maintained by Eng-
land, and therefore cannot be, forsooth, objected to
by, her Government when it is practised by the ves-
sels of a nation which has always refused to recog-
nise it.

The division in the Cabinet in reference to the
treatment of fugitive and captured slaves has now
reached such a point that Secretary Cameron does
not hesitate to lay down instructions to military
commanders which are opposed by his colleagues.
These differences were openly stated the other night
at a quasi public and semi-official supper to Mr.
Prentice—the Sydney Smith of American journa-
lists—whose paper, the Louisville Journal, has done
good service to the Federal cause ; and when Mr.
Cameron expressed his opinion that the negroes
should be rendered serviceable by putting arms in
their hands, Mr. Smith, Secretary for the Home
Department, declared his colleague's sentiments
were opposed to the policy of the Administration.
It may well be that Mr. Lincoln is obliged to act
with prudence in the face of the Democratic party,
which, stricken down for a moment and stunned,
has not only recovered life and activity, but is
rapidly assuming all its ancient strength and pro-
portions. It is idle to pretend for a moment, in the
light of the declarations of that party, that every
guarantee will not be given to slavery if the North
triumphs, so far as the influence of that party can
secure it. At present the cry for the Union over-
powers the voices of the contending factions; but if
the South be subjugated there will be a renewed
struggle over the prostrate body; one will seek to de-
stroy, and then to incorporate the carcass—the other
by dainty treatment and caresses will endeavour to re-
store it to its former healt h and take it as a partner for
life. If failure ensues, then will come the fierce
recriminations of the disappointed, and there is
every prospect that in the Congress which is so
soon to meet the struggle will be commenced with
great asperity. Upon the most important question
which can arise—the very base of all adjustment—
the Government of the United States has no fixed
policy, and confines itself to vague generalities in
order to please both parties, while its officers act on
different principles in different States, and the Se-
cretary of War issues instructions to one General
which are counteracted by the proceedings of
another. General Hallock, the new commander of
the Western troops, has issued orders that no fugitive
slaves shall be allowed to enter the lines under any
pretence. At Fortress Monroe they are cheerfully
received. At Port Royal their presence is encou-
raged and their services freely used in the works.
At Boston a mass meeting of Germans has approved
Fremont's proclamation and policy, and others in
different places have done the same.

WEDNESDAY, Nov. 20.

If any of the fathers of the Republic could have
been awakened this fine morning and told to get up
in order to see a review of some 56,000 men mus-
tered into the service of the United States in order
to
put down a gigantic rebellion with far greater
evidences of strength, permanence, and unanimity
than were displayed by the " Continentals" during
their early contest with part of the power of Great
Britain, he would surely have doubted the utility
of his work, and have sighed in sadness of heart
and sorrow at the
grospect of witnessing a spec-
tacle which afforded
such
pleasure and satisfaction
to so many
modern Americans to-day. In one
word, it was a display military power which
could not have been satisfactoryf
of to a military critic
adopting the standard
Europeanut which,
viewed
criticism in
reference to standing armies, b
per se as a review of a force of volunteers collected
from a vast continent of different populations,
and turned into soldiers by the drill of a few,
months in the face of an enemy, often, indeed,
interrupted by actual conflict, was exceedingly good.
The natural aptitude of the men for carrying arms
as infantry soldiers was indeed shown by the cir-
cumstance that the men were got there and handled
at all. The arrangements for the concentration of
the troops were made by General M'Dowell, and
were under his control exclusively, and it is no
small praise to say that seven divisions of infantry,
with cavalry and guns, were marched by four dif-
ferent and indifferent roads, through a country the
natural difficulties of which had not been diminished
by rough abattis marking where forests have been
laid low by the axe, along a narrow front to a patch
of ground, some three miles long by a mile broad,
were marched past without confusion, and got off
again without delay or intermixture. From Drains-
ville on the right of the line to the extreme left

below Alexandria the front extends some 16 or
1/ miles in irregular lines, and Divisions from the
extreme points were marched to the space whioh
'8" elemed for the review, near Munson's-hill, so
as to be able to get off the ground before the march

of the other Divisions brought them into position. The
Divisions were massed together in columns of bat-
talions, and occupied the limited area in a de se half-
moon with the horns prolonged nearly at right angles
on the flanks. The day was exceedingly fine—one of
those fine, bright days, with an autumar,l keenness
about it which contributes to the glories of the
Indian summer. All restrictions to the passage of
the Long-bridge were removed, and when I arrived
there it was impossible to push a horse through the
crowd of hacks, omnibuses, gigs, and light waggons
which were pouring out of the city, intermingled with
many pedestrians. People had come from distant
cities to behold a sight the like of which was
never seen in the New World, and, if political eco-
nomists indulged in private head-shaking the world
of Washington was, at all events, determined to let
no care sit upon its heart; Turning away from the
impasse of the Long-bridge, our party rode back
through by-streets of the village-like suburbs to-
wards Georgetown, and succeeded in getting over
in one of the ferry boats to the Virginia side along
with a number of vehicles and horsemen ; and a
smart canter past Fort Corcoran and Fort Albany
brought us soon into the ruck of vehicles which
were proceeding to Munson's-hill, some eight miles
distant, and not far from the outlying pickets of the
enemy. As the road crossed the summits of the small
mound-like elevations which do duty as hills, the
black dotted lines of carriages, horsemen, and pedes-
trians were visible seaming the landscape, and con-
verging on the ridge, crowned with earthworks
and surmounted by the Federal flag, which
was the rendezvous for the spectators. In the
hollow of the roads, where the soft earth was
churned into mad by the watercourses,
there were smashes and crashes not quite
unworthy of a Derby-day, and many an axle and
wheel and splinter-bar :testified to the tenacity
of the soil of the " Old Dominion." By the side
of the camps the guards and the men left for duty
turned out to gaze on the procession, and favoured
the passers-by with the quaintness of remark which
is a substitute for London " chaff" on such occa-
sions. Evidences of the skill of the men in pro-
viding for winter were visible in the log huts,
boarded and plastered, which could not be made
so readily by the men of any other army, and would
have been thought palaces by the occupants of our
subterranean holes in the first Crimean winter.
But the forests are all around them, and hundreds
of hands in every Division are familiar with the
axe. Soon spiral columns of smoke rising from the
midst of a black expanse, which looked at first glance
like an Irish moor, pointed out the position of the
troops and the camp fires at which they were cook-
ing their midday meal. The black surface was
specked with !white, the glare of white flags, and
now and then a bright needle of light flashed out
of it from sabre or bayonet; nearer still, and the eye
catches patches of gray, blue, and neutral tint, and
a certain broken light playing over the inert mass
which had not yet broken. out into the flickering
surf of bayonets and the life of the march. The
crowds of spectators blackened all the hill crests and
ridges, and the flood was dammed up near Munson's-
hill by a line of very dangerous light dragoons, long
haired, open-collared, strapless, with trousers well
up the calves of their legs, displaying great variety
of booting and hosiery, with ungroomed horses and
dirty accoutrements, who, after the fashion of
horsemen on such occasions, made small charges on
the public, and were never tired of shouting to
everybody to got out of every place and to go no-
where. It was very exciting to come near one of
these warriors, for it became a moot question,
whether he was going to commit unintentional sui-
cide by falling on his sword, or whether he would cut
off his horse's head or your own, as he flourished
about on his steed, quite out of hand, but bent on
"keeping back" as long as he lived all who came near
him in reference to an indeterminate line of occupa-
tion. The passes for the inner circle underwent a
scrutiny by the officers on duty, whose views on the
subject were very infirm, as one " kept back"
those the other let in, and vice versa. Bat at
last that business was arranged, and we pro-
ceeded onwards without any obstruction, except
that caused by a sergeant of a Michigan regiment of
cavalry, who stopped me in order that he might let
his friends in England know through me that he was
quite well, which I hereby do, with the qualification
that I have reason to think he must have had
a headache next morning. Yes ! there was also a
friendly gentleman who insisted on shaking hands
with me on general grounds, and another who did
it for special reasons of his own ; but on the whole
we parted very good friends. The line of march of
the Divisions was indicated by flags of different
colours Lod on posts along the ground, and al-
though there were no police in attendance the lines
were very well kept, and there was no pressing or
crowding. The carriages were collected opposite
the head-quarters' flag, or at the-other side of the
avenue, which was left broad enough for a front of
two companies to march abreast. General M'Clel-
lan, who had left the city with a very strong escort
—the M'Clellan Dragoons, one squadron, the 2d
Cavalry, and the sth Cavalry—attended by a large
staff, rode down the lines about 1 o'clock, and was
received with hearty cheers as he galloped
through the dense masses of the regiments. On his
right rode the President, with Mr. Seward, who
was on horseback fcr part of the day; the Duke of
Chartres, in the uniform of a captain of the United
States army, and with the star of the Legion of
Honour on his breast, the Prince de Joinville, and
General M'Dowell wore also in the General's suite.
As he passed round the left of the line the field bat-
teries on the hill fired a very irregular and ill-
timed salute, owing, I presume, to some misunder-
standing of the order of firing, but it was all the
same to the multitude, and through the hurrahs of
the soldiery, the noise of the guns and the cries of
the spectators, the idol and hope of the hour dashed
past, seated well, if not altogether gracefully, on his
charger. Every tongue was busy ;—" Where is
M'Clellan ?" or " There is M'Clellan !" or "Hurrah
for M'Clellan !" But the President was taken for
granted. On assuming his position at the flagstaff
the troops began to move, and the review com-
menced—a march past in heavy marching order, in
any " time," with haversacks and supplies of ball
cartridge in case of any demonstration from the
neighbouring enemy or any attack on the weakened
flanks. To European readers it would be of little
interest to enter into details or to attempt to discri-
minate between the many Divisions or regiments.
It is enough to say that the cavalry were bad, slo-
venly, ill set-up ; in person, accoutrements, and
horses, showing a want of care ; not badly horsed
—light serviceable men on light active beasts, but
inferior in appearance and regularity to the Cos-
sacks of the Black Sea. There were exceptions to
the remark, but not to any great extent, and Lord
Cardigan would have evaporated at the sight. The
artillery was the best part of the display, looked as
if it was ready for work, but a considerable portion
of the guns were held in reserve along the front.
The infantry was varied in character and air; the
regiments with a large foreign element had the
most soldierly bearing, but were inferior in material
to the native regiments, some of which, such as the
44th New York, could not be exceeded in any
army in Europe. There is still a diversity of arma-
ment in the artillery, and of small arms and uni-
form in the other branches of the service. As the
tun passed in close column of double companies
it was not possible to examine them very narrowly.
Some regiments came by carrying arms, some with
arms
eloped,
some with fixed bayonets, others
without
dayhideous ; som
bye h
had t
eir
discord excellent ba. T
n ds ,hef
othersrenderedorce
which
follows wentG e
npeareasl
wCasall'esornprisseidonas—
tryG,e2nbearattleHrieesin, ltzreeinigiamne,snifveisarivici •na.—cnts of infan-
try,
regiments of
infantry, 2 batteries, 1 regimentofeavalry.
General Smith's Division-10 regiments of in-
fantry, 2 batteries, 1 regiment of cavalry.
General Franklin's Division-42 regiments of
infantry, 3 batteries, 1 regiment of cavalry.
General Blenker's Division-11 regiments of
infantry, 2 batteries, Deckett's regiment of mounted
riflemen.
General Fitz John :Porter's Division-13 regi-
tnents'of infantry, 3 batteries, 2 regiments of cavalry. M
General 'Dowell's Division-11 regiments of
infantry, 3 batteries, 1 regiment ofcavary.
Making total of 76 regiment sof
infantry, 17
bat-
teries, and 8 regiments of cavalry.
Taking the regiments of infantry at 600 strong,

which, considering camp guards, reserves, &c., is
rather a high average, there may have been 46,000
or 48,000 men on the field, with 3,000 cavalry—the
average of the regiments of the latter arm being
high—and 100 guns. The American papers contain
long accounts of the affair, but I must beg to remark
there is not a syllable of truth in one " anecdote"
contained in one of them, where that article is, in-
deed, a rarity respecting myself.