The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1861-05-13
Il ROM T. u ROP E.
The London Times on the Fall of Fort
sumter.

| New York, we have the views of the English
| press on the bombardment of Sumter, one of
| which we suhjoin. We also fnd iu the papers
| this paragraph
In the House Of Commons on the 26 ult
| MIR. W. E Forster gave notice that if the hon.
| orable member for Galway (Mr. Gregory
| brought forward his mo ton on Tuesday mex l.
| with regard to the recognition of the Sou thern
| Confederacy. which, after the intelligence re-
| ceiyed this morning, he hoped he wonld per-
| sist in doing, he (lMr. Forster) should with
draw the amendment of which he had given
notice, and move instead the previous ques
| ton.
| From the London Times, April Ell
Nature, or something that stands In its
stead, is still strong IN the Americans
| They fight " willing, but with unwilling
minds They lift The hand to strike, they
| wing the instrument of death, but a mys-
| terious power averts the stroke, or blunts the
| edge, or deadens the blow. Are they in earnest
or are they playing at war. or dreaming that
| they strike and stilI strike not? 1t sounds
! more Ike dangerous game than sad reality
| Seven batteries preached and bonn baried Fort
| Sumter for forty hours, burnt down it's bar
| racks, blew up several magazines, threw
| shells into it innu1perable, and did a vast
| show OF destruction. The fort replied with
| ike spirit At length it surrendered, the gar
| rison marched out prisoners Of war, and it
| was then found that not a man WAS killed or
/ an oIhCer wounded on either side. MANY
| IL "dlficuItY at bar has cost more blood
| shed. Us this preconcerted feat OF conjur-
| ing I Were the rival Presidents saluting one
another in harmless fireworks 10 amuse the
! groundlingsl The whole affair is utterly
| iuexplicabie. 1t sounds like the battles
when the coat OF mail had come to its
| perfection, and when the only casualty,
| alter 1t days hard fighting, was a case
| of sufocaton and a few bruises. Odin's
| heroes as they renew their daily war
| fare are really wounded, though their wounds
are quickly healed. This is sparring with
boxing glot the loaded caestus of mod
ern warfare. 1t is u mere spectacle The
popula alton and even tha> ladies OF Charleston
poured tOTth 10 ste the 81 ishL, Ten thousand
soldiers lined the works, watching the sport
tud contributing their snare. our own cock
neys have seen az much, and done as much,
at CreInorne, or the Surrey Gardens, not more
unscathed, and, let Us hope, in not more pa
c1lic mood. But perhaps this is only the in
terchange of Cour.esles which III olden times
preceded real war. The result is utterly DIFF
ferenJ from all We are accustomed to hear of
the Americans. There Il word and a bio ~
has been the rule. In this case the blow
when 1T does at last come, falls like snow and
lights as gently as thistle DOWN. Surely III
cannot be u cross p If it be- half The Old
Union is in the conspiracy, for all are arIning
and rushing TO war Us il they expected serious
work.
W mat next? An attempt TO recapture Fort
sumter? A contest at Fort Tlckens A strug-
gle for the Capital? A diversion III Texas?
renewal OF negotiation No one knows,
and, what Is worse, no one credits President
Lincoln for any plan. We can only compare
North there is an army, and navy, and mo-
ney, and a more numerous white population,
without, too, the incubus of slavery. There is
also the tradition OF the Union, the Capital,
and the successor of Washington. Modern
warfare cannot go on wit hout money, and the
Northern States can more easily raise and
spend hundred millions of dollars Il year
than the Southern can raise ten millions. All
that Is outside and material is i'll favor OF the
North. 1t has the prepOnderance of every
thing that can be counted, measured and
weighed; that can be bought and sold that
can be entered in ledgers and put on a balance
sheet. 1t has the manufac tories, the building
yards, the dock yards-the whole apparatus of
national wealth and strength lthis the mo-
Dey market and il borrows more els-
lily than the South, where. however,
political zeal sustains Il fictitious credit
So in the North we read Of numerous ga ther-
ngs of State forces; OF many steamers char
tered, stripped OF their tinery, filled with sol
diers, food and ammunition, ana steaming
southwark. so much for the North. In the
south, on the contrary, there is little or
nothing but that Whice often becomes the
the men OF action, who can combine, conspire
keep the secret. have a plan, and carry it out
without wayerng or fiinching. The politi-
clans at Washing ton have been vacillating
between peace and war, between COMPROMISE
and resistance. Ia the South there has been
one steady, uninterrupted progress, towards
secession and way. TO the very last Presi- |
dent Lincoln has been behind hand. His ships
sent to relieve Fort Sumter only arrived in |
time To be distant spectators Of the scene; |
they came, in fact, but to contribute TO the |
glory OF the captOrs, and to bring shame and I!
distrust on themselves and their cause II |
this is 10 be an omen of the result, the rich |
and unready North will be no match tor the |
fiery forwardness Of the South.
But long shots are very different from close |
quarters. fight of batteries across river
watched with telescopes and quietly wit |
messed by large population, affords little |
clue for the result or a btttle hand to hand
step by step, with reYo!vers, knives and what
not, round the very buildings Of the capital |
That appears TO be the next thing apprehend- |
ed, and President Lincoln has Summoned TO |
his aid all the miscellaneous local corps of the
several Northern States that may choose to |
hear him. Strange that the spot once held SO |
sacred and SO carefully insulated from local |
or partial associations should become the OBJ |
lect of the first civil war That is, indeed |
what We have come to. Many OF us remem- |
ber, not without a tingle OF shame for our own
country. the wan ton attack OF the British ar
my on the Capital and the foolish III aries done
there, dies tined soon to be more than avenged
That was bat Il souvenir OF the older War of
Independence. No British officer would have
dared TO Insult the great shrine of American
Union and liberty, had it not been felt that
besides the question then at issue, there was
an account still to settle for tue former war |
Since the year 1913 there has been genera
ton OF mutual respect-of even affec ton. -
That is all gone by. Other comba tants gather
round Washington. The War Minister OF the
Southern Contederacy publicly promises that
by the lst of May. Any day it is expec ted
that Virginia, whether by choice or by neces-
sity, will join the secession, and then the sa-
cred District OF Columbia, which was To have
been the common ground OF the worlds great
VIII be the debateable border of |
IA divided allegiance and a bloody quarrel
Mean while time brings around anniversaries
which are celebrated RS Of yore, but with the
feeling that they are now a solemn mockary |
w hat the Declara ton OF Independence |
the battle OF Lexington, the birthday of |
Clay, aud the other red letter ddys in the
American calendar, now that the glorious fab
rlc is itself in the dust and the mountain
made with hands shattered to pieces IL
was but the other day that All eyes were
liked on the Capital OF the Old World as the
single OBJECT OF interest, and the expected
scene OF the great events that were 10 mark |
he later years OF this century Rome occu-
pied the attention of all men. A hundred
questions We're asked, but all were OF Rome
W Ill Rome Ge still a capital? VIII it be the
lead OF Confederation, or the throne of a |
King, or the seat of a foreign Ficeroy, or the
National Republic? Before these questions
,ould be answered, and while they are still |
Sked, the Capital of the New World comes 10
he foreground, and is the object of much the |
anne inquiries. The TWO clues of Rome and
gas hing ton are not SO differently situated at |
his moment, nor are their prospects SO iffer. |
mt as might be. For the present, indeed we |
hall all think more OF Washington than of
rome.
ARRIVAL MoKE TRooPs.-The Western
raus yesterday broughti in abont eleven hun