Indiana State sentinel. (Indianapolis, Ind.) 1861-1865, 1863-03-09
From Washington.
PRoeREss OF TIE SIEGE OF CHARLEsroN-OPERA-
TIoSs OF THE ENEMY IN NORTH CAROLINA
REsULrs OF Mr. SEwARD's DIPLoMAcY-PRos-
Poets OF A WAR WITH FRANCE
Especial Correspondence of the Chicago Times.I


PEcrs OF A WAR WITH FRANCE
Especial Correspondence of the Chicago Times.l
WASHINGTON, Feb. %.
The Administration received intelligence from
Charleston to day which confirms what | stated
in nv letters of Feb. 18Th and 18th, in regard to
the probability of the failure of the expedition
against that city. The Administration refused to
listen TO the suggestions made BY Gen Foster
when he was here some days ago. in regarc to
negroes being allowed to serve with the soldiers,
and in regard to the relative rank of Gen Foster
and Gen. Hunter. On the contrary, private in
structions were sent down to Gen. Hunter. the
consequences of which now learn The dis
affection among the troops there has reached to
such an extent that their efficiency may be re-
garded seriously impaired ii not entirely de
stroyed. The disafecton is no longer confined
to the men; it has extended to the officers OF all
ranks The report states that LieuteDants, Cap
tains. Majors, Colonies, and even two Generals
have been placed under arrest and some of them
sent under arrest to Washington, because of their
refusal TO serve with negro troops and negro
officers 1t is stated also that all of the officers
OF Gen. Fosters staff have been sent away from
the Department in disgrace. This latter state
meut NAV be well doubted Whatever his in
structious may he, Gen. Hunter would hardly
venture on step like that If true, it is equal
to saying that the expedition against Charleston
will have to he abandoned; for Gen. Foster will
most certainly not Kermit himself To be so
degraded; his troops will npt-indeed, they can
nOt-serve without their officers; and without Gen.
Foster S troops, Charleston cannot be taken Gen.
Hunters force alone is utterly inadequate. To
such pass have matters been brought by the
insane obstinacy of Mr.. Lincoln in perSisting to
ride his favorite hobby.
The sending of Gen. Fosters army to South
Carolina will prove to be. besides one OF the most
fatal blunders of the Administration. 1t has left
the whole of North Carolina exposed again to the
ravages OF the enemy. In sending Gen. Fosters
army from North Carolina. we abandon to the
enemy the whole of that State. and give up, with
out blow, all the advantages which were gained
there by our own brave troops under Burnside,
and after such terrible expenditure of blood
and treasure. This is the way, however that the
Administration makes war. We tit out costly
expeditions for the capture of places territories
the possession OF which will not be of the least
advantage to Us. Oceans of blood and millions
OF treasure are expended in an expedition. Ii it
succeeds, and we take possessions OF the coveted
spot. we find that its continued possession re.
qures that we keen there an immense army. the
support aud reinforcement of which cause heavy
drain on the resources OF the country. After
many months of such possession. during which,
for the want of the troops thus occupied, our
military operations elsewhere have been crippled
aud frustrated, we begin TO derive some slight
benefit from the possession of the place In the
case of North Carolina, for instance, the Occu-
patton of that State by our forces Just now
would cripple the operations of the enemy by
weakening his forces at other points. At the
very moment, therefore, when the possession of
that State would be useful to US. abandon that
possession.
The enemy are too sagaciOus not to take i'm
MEDIATE advantage of this palpable bunder
Thirty thousand Confederate troops have ad
vaDced to BlackwateT and the ChOwan rivers,
and taken possession OF the points which Gen
Foster was ordered TO eyacuate, And this is not
all. While Gen Foster was in North Carolina
his troops covered Norfolk l he removal Of his
forces uncovers Norfolk, and renders the place
comparatively defenseeSs, unless other troops
have been sent there for its defense. The Rich
mond newspapers state that the greater part of
Hooker's army has been moved down in the
direction of Norfolk. This is of course, mis-
take. But, even if a large number of Hooker's
troops have been so moved, it Is so many take
! from the deienses of Washington. 1t is ALSO
lutey necessary. however. that some troops be
sent to Norfolk, it we wish to retain that place
The critical condition of our foreign relations.
particularly as regards France. has assumed II
phase that is positively alarming. While Mr..
Lincoln has been amusing himself by "playing
soldier" he has left the entire management of
foreign afftirs in the hands of Mr. Seward Those
of the renders of the Times in Illinois who know
Mr. Lincoln need not be informed that he is
utterly unable to comprehend the nature of our
relations with foreign countries. His mind is not
construed like the mind OF a statesman. HenO
m re comprehends foreign diplomacy than child
cOmprehends the most abstruse geometrical prob
lens. This is the secret OF his clingng with such
pertinacty tc Mr.. Seward. He has sense enough
to know that Mr. Seward does comprehend these
things. and that it he loses Mr. Seward he is
himself lost OF Mr.. Stewards ability as states
man. there can be but little doubt. But the
trouble with him is his INSCRIPTIONS ambition.
He is quite rs much to blame Sumner, or rs
Lincoln himself. in bringing about the present
happy sectional war.
1t was Seward who predicted the 'irrepressible
conflict" between slavery and free white labor,
long before Lincoln adopted that catchword. Ii
was Seward who secured LincOn's nomination
after he had gained LncOln'S promise that he
should be made Secretary OF State; because he
knew Lincoln well, and WIS cO1tden. that, ms
Secretary OF State. he would he in reality the
supreme power in the Government, and would be
able to give tone and direction to the Admins
tratiOn 1t was Seward who, after LincOns
election aud before his inauguration, prevented
Lincoln from calming the rising tempest BY CON
ciliatory assurances, while he himself was deud-
ing the nation by his magniloquent phrases about
/ the "magnanimity" which the new Administra-
ton going TO display-magnanimit which
coon distinguished itself in the unjust incarcera
ton OF hundreds of his fellow citizens, thou
sand times better patriots than he is ia dungeons,
| from which many of them emerged only To enter
insane asvlums or To be carried to the grave. Ii
was Seward VINO arranged the Fort Sumter
affair throw the odiutn OF firing the first
gun upon the South and this, too. after detain-
ing the Southern Commissioners at Washington
while his secret military preparations were being
made, and while he WAS privately assuring them
that they would be heard. Ii was Seward who
prevailed upon the President to appoint as Minis
ter TO France "a post where we need the very first
] diplomatic talent) a man utterly incompetent,
and who cannot even speak word of the French
language.
/ If il had been Stewards design to embroil US
/ in a war with France, he could not have carried
out that design more effectualy than By what he
has done. Great Importance has been attached
/ by some of the papers 10 the question, whether
/ or not Mr.. Seward reads all of his dispatches 10
our foreign Ministers 10 Mr.. Lincoln, as well as
their dispatches to the State Department. I he
TACT is, he does not. Mr.. Lincoln is entirely
ignorant OF the course of the diplomacy of the
country But the question is really of no i'm
portsnce AZ all. Even if the dispatches were
read 10 Mr. Lincoln, he could no more c0mpre.
bend them than If they were written in Hebrew
As matter of form Mr. Seward has sometimes
read paragraph, here and there, out of a dis
| patch 10 Mr. Lincoln, and tried to explain TO him
the meaning of the rest But the idea that Mr.
Seward sends only such dispatches Mr.. Lin
coin has seen and approved. is simply ridiculous
Mr. Seward has been left 10 manage our foreigi
affairs in his own way, aud the consequence u
that we are on the verge of war with France.
As matters look now. the probability is that in