EUROPEAN & AMERICAN INTELLIGENCE.

Lyttelton Times, Volume XVII, Issue 961, 25 January 1862, Page 9 (Supplement)

EUROPEAN & AMERICAN INTELLIGENCE.

(FROM THE LONDON CORRESPONDENT OP THE 'MELBOURNE ARGUS.') London, Nov. 26. The European outlook grows darker and stormier each successive month. Poland continues her passive resistance to the detested Muscovites, and Russia itself is in the throes of a domestic revolution, in Hungary, the constitution is suspended, the municipalities are dissolved, and the ascendancy of the military is established. The struggle between the Turks and the Montenegrin insurgents, after a brief lull, is again actively raging. The last encounters appear to have been favourable to the Turks. In France, the Government and people are engrossed with a financial collapse and a real ministerial crisis. M. Fould has been installed as Minister of Finance; the Emperor has penitentially confessed his wrongdoings in the past, and has surrendered the power of dipping his hands ad libitum into the nation's pocket. A loan is considered imminent, but the hopes at first inspired that France, to escape ruin, would submit to disarmament, are rapidly being dis • sipated. The Roman question is in statu quo, and the prospect of French evacuation becomes more remote. Owing to their conflicting policies, there is an incipient estrangement between the French and Italian Governments, and the fall of Ricasoli is considered probable. The Italian parliament opened on the 20th, when the Premier communicated the correspondence which had taken place with the Pope and Antonelli in reference to the surrender of Rome. Some very stormy discussions are anticipated. Crossing the Atlantic, we find the relative standing and strength of the belligerents but little changed. There have been defeats and victories on both sides, which leave neither much to exult over. In continuing my narrative from last month, I commence with THE FEDERAL DEFEAT AT LEESBURG. Since the withdrawal of the Confederates from their outpost positions before Washington, the Federal army has been pressing closely upon their lines. By frequent reconnoissances, ending^ sometimes in bloody skirmishes, General M'Clellan has endeavoured to ascertain the actual whereabouts of the enemy, and whether they were really entrenched in force at Manassas, or were merely screening other operations in a different direction. Both commanders are evidently indisposed to incur the dreadful risks of another general action. Each is watching to take his opponent at a disadvantage, and hence strategy rather than fighting has been resorted to. Hitherto, it must be admitted, the Federalists have been out-generalled by the despised rebels. In addition to the reverses of Bull's Run, Springfield, and Lexington, I have now to record a fresh disaster at Leesburg, on the Upper Potomac, where the Union troops were fearfully cut up and routed, to the intense chagrin of the Northern boasters, and the deep discouragement of their " Young Napoleon." This repulse will probably postpone indefinitely the opening of the autumn campaign, which has been so anxiously looked for; indeed it is not unlikely that before any decisive combat can take place, the two armies may be, by the inclemencies of the season, compelled to go into

winter quarters. The first accounts of the affair near Edward's Ferry represented it as a Federal success—as usual; then followed ominous rumours that nil was not right; by degrees the sad facts transpired; and at last the disaster in all its terrible concomitants stood before the world. One of the best descriptions of the reverse appeared in the ' New York Tribune.' , I condense the following particulars from Mr. Russell's account:— The object of the movement which terminated so calamitously for the Federalists, is supposed to have been to seize upon Leesburg, with ttie view of completing the military communications of the Northern army in Virginia, and holding the Confederate forces in check. Although the operation has not been directly traced to General M'Clellan, yet, from its importance, it is generally thought that it would never have been undertaken upon any inferior authority. If this view be correct, this signal failure in the first aggressive movement of the reorganised troops under his command will tend seriously to weaken his prestige. It appears that the division of M'Call, on the extreme right of the Potomac, had advanced to Dramsville, and Vienna was all but occupied by the Unionists. By looking at the map, it will be seen that if Leesburg were seized upon by the Federalists from Poolesville and Darnstown, they could effect a junction with the extreme right of the army at Dainsville, and thus complete the whole line from Alexandria to the chain of mountains which closes in the Shenandoah, and thus they could prevent any demonstration on their right flank in case of an advance towards Manassas, and force the corps which had held Leesburg to fall back on a new line of communications with the main body of the Confederates. In order to efiect this, it was obvious that a very careful advance, well sustained at all points, should be made. The Potomac—rapid and broad, too deep for fording, and easily swollen by rain—lay in front of the Federalists. The enemy was known to be in possession of the country, and to be in a position to which reinforcements could be rapidly given by the army at Manassas. In accounting for the disgraceful mismanagement, Mr. Russell conjectures that Generals Banks and Stone, who were in command, and were not in immediate communication with the army at Washington, must have considered themselves acting independently, and compelled to rely on their own efforts until some great success had put them in direct communication with the main body of the Federalists. However this may be, at two p.m. of Sunday, October 20, General Stone is said to have sent to Colonel Baker an order, concise and peremptory, to make a dash at Leesburg, promising support and co-operation from another quarter. Poor Senator Baker, who perished in the conflict, is reported to have remarked on receiving the order, " This is my death-warrant." As evidence of the utter want of proper preparation and precaution, it appears that the only means of transport for carrying over the Federal troops consisted of two or three large flat- \ bottomed boats, called scows, and a canal boat or two, which were not easily managed in a rapid stream. Instead of landing with caution, and throwing out sentries and pickets to prevent surprise till the whole force was landed, a company was at once pushed on in advance on a scouting expedition, I nearly as far as Leesburg, in the middle of the night; and from information thus gained, to the effect that there was only a small camp visible, it was considered judicious to send forward a small detachment to attack the force in those tents before the bulk of the column had begun to move across the river. Pursuing their success the enemy pushed the Federalists, who now numbered about 1800 men, hastily formed, and occupying an open field of some twelve or fifteen acres, at the summit of the steep acclivity which forms the Virginian shore at that point, and from which, in case of defeat, no way of safe retreat existed. On three sides the field was bordered by thick woods, in which the Confederates swarmed, and from which, invisible to their foes, they poured forth their death-scattering volleys. The Federalists had three field-pieces, but the cannoniers and horses were shot down by the first discharge from the woods, and were afterwards quite unserviceable. Under these circumsances, the slaughter was terrible. One cannot read without pity the fate of the hundreds of unfortunate men who were thus helplessly shot down by unseen enemies, who, from their familiarity with the ground, knew precisely where to direct their murderous fire. "As each new line was formed," says a writer, " the rebel volleys would seem to meet them, and separate them, as if by lightning strokes, into broken and scattered groups." Late in the afternoon, the unfortunate Federalists, who struggled manfully against these fearful odds, were further disheartened by the fall of Colonel Baker, who, while standing in advance, endeavouring to rally a company of skirmishers, received a shot in his chest or stomach. The death of this highly-esteemed officer has occasioned sincere grief, the President being greatly affected by the loss in him of an intimate friend. His funeral at Washington, a few days later, was attended with de^ monstrations of public respect and sorrow. After the fall of the leader, the position of the troops soon became so utterly hopeless that most of the surviving officers counselled surrender. Some, to avert needless slaughter, actually gave up themselves and their men ; others, however, with desperate courage, continued the unequal contest. The orders became ■irregular, confusion increased, and about six o'clock a perfect rout set in. All organization was lost; each man strove as best,he could to preserve his own life. The drowning of the poor fellows in attempting to recross the river, was a dreadful incident. " The officers and men who could swim, started, half naked, over the river, and the boats were kept for a while for the wounded. This, however, lasted but a little time. Presently all order was lost. A large flat boat was sunk by overcrowding, and scores of men perished, some by drowning, and some by the fire of the rebels, who now crowded the high bank, and poured an incessant fire upon the scattering fugitives. The river channel was choked with dead and dying bodies, but the bearing of the survivors was strangely quiet—the immobility of desperate hopelessness. Hundreds, probably, were here sacrificed. The number of prisoners taken was very large." The Federalists acknowledge a loss of nearly 700, while the Confederates, in their account of the affair, claim to have killed, wounded, or captured 1000 men, or more than half the full force engaged, and to have taken 1,200 stand of arms. The appearance of the routed men was distressing in the extreme ; many of them were nearly naked, some had on nothing but overcoats, some only a pair of pants, and but few with shoes, while most of them were without arms and ammunition. "-This battle," the ' Times' remarks, "is important as being, perhaps, the type of those to come. What can the Federals hope for in a country like Virginia, but a succession of Leesburgs, fought against enemies strongly posted, and ending in defeats or dearly purchased victories, almost as fatal as defeats ?" Mr. Russell says :—"The worst effect of the action has been produced by the attempts to make it a success, and to suppress the truth. So far as I can form an opinion, it was a deplorable loss of life, caused by gross ignorance and neglect, not only of military principles, but of common-sense precautions, and the Confederates have every right to claim a victory and the safety of Leesburg, as the result of their superior numbers and skill. If General M'Clellan mean to occupy Leeaburg as part of any general plan, he must be mortified by the termination of the attempt, and his plan must await further development. If he did not why was the movement made at all, and who directed it ? One thing was clear enough—there was a complete ignorance of the strength of the Confederates, or stupendous recklessness on the part of the United States generals." Apropos of the deplorable unfitness of some of these newly fledged generals, the truculent' New York Herald' fiercely demands a vigorous weeding out of all incompetent pretenders ; and the mode suggested for the adoption of the Government is that furnished by revolutionary France. The French Republic, like America at present, was jeopardised by the swanna of unsuitable aspirants to official positions. " But " says tho diabolical counsellor, " in the outset, the guillotine made such examplos of her incompetent, timid, and treacherous generals as to teach all the others that they had but the alternative of victory or death before them. We may thus pretty safely assume that the summary punishment of a

faithless general or two, and the weeding out of all incompetent officers, old and young, from our army,, would soon be followed by the grandest results of victory." The exterminating process is to begin at Washington. But who is to be the judge of tho delinquents, and who the executioner ? Perhaps the 'Herald' would like President Lincoln and General Scott to set the patriotic example by executing tho " happy despatch" upon themselves. The latter, indeed, has performed the feat. On the 23rd of October, General M'Clellan made a reconnoisance in the neighbourhood of the scene of the battle, and took a survey of the country. A large body of troops crossed the river, and were formed in line of battle from twelve to fourteen hours, without moving, and without water or food. They had no sleep for two days and nights, and were in a state of utter exhaustion by the time they had recrossed the river. The Confederates, it was ascertained, had thrown up a mud fort near Leesburg. Their troops were moving about near the Potomac in considerable numbers, and it is reported that large reinforcements have been sent from the camp at Manassas. These movements have caused a concentration of Federal troops on the Maryland shores, opposite the Confederate batteries down the river. So numerous, indeed, and formidable are these batteries, which have been planted on every available point on the Virginia shore of the Lower Potomac, that that river has been entirely closed to navigation, to the no small alarm of the authorities at Washington, who, thus blockaded, are threatened with a cutting off of the supplies of forage for the Federal army. A Confederate force of from 30,000 to 40,000 men is said to be stationed at Shipping Point; large numbers are flocking down to the neighbourhood of the fords, and they are especially strong between the two creeks, Occoquan and Acquia. To the force occupying this ground is intrusted the duty of covering the railway station and town of Fredericksburg, which is in direct communication with Richmond. To obviate the inconveniences arising from the partial blocade of the capital by the Potomac, it is proposed to lay down a second line of rail from Annapolis to the junction with the Washington branch of the Baltimore Eailway, and thus obtain supplies by the Chesapeake beyond all danger of interruption. In both North and South, a spirit of impatience and discontent is spreading in reference to the inactivity of the two immense armies, which month after month confront and jostle each other. The people long for such a tremendous collision between these opposing forces as shall give a chance for a solution of the difficulties of the position. This is especially true of the Secessionists. The low undertone of complaint is at length breaking out into fierce demands for immediate action.

For the moment the army before Washington occupies less attention than the naval expedition which is to make a descent on the southern coast. On the 28th of October everything was ready; the troops were on board the large fleet of transports, General Sherman had embarked in the Wabash frigate, and had issued his directions respecting the landing of the men. A powerful naval force, comprising 24 gunboats, each carrying four guns, is to protect the troops in their landing, and, unless the published orders are intended to deceive the enemy, it may be possible for those acquainted with the coast to form a guess as to the point which this powerful force is threatening. The surf boats and others are capable of landing at once between 3000 and 4000 men. The largest can hold 100 men, the smaller ones 70 each. The landing is to be in three lines; the boats, not only of each company, but of each regiment and brigade, will land abreast, and, as far as possible, in order of battle. The number of the troops commanded by General Sherman is not as great as first reported, but it is still sufficiently formidable. There are about 20,000 soldiers, principally New Englanders and New Yorkers, and the fleet will furnish a naval brigade, should the landing be successfully effected. It is of no use to speculate on matters which will be certainties in a few days; but from the general feeling of the Northern people and the past policy of their Government, it is pretty certain that this expedition is intended for the capture of some Southern city or harbour which will not only give a good military position, but also enable the Government to proclaim the raising of the blockade at one point from which cotton can be brought. The Cabinet at Washington is, of course, desirous that the charge of depriving Europe and the world of one of the great necessaries of life should cease to be valid. The immense interest of England, and in a scarcely less degree of Prance, in the export of cotton from the South, cannot but prejudice the commercial classes of both countries against a government which aypears to be the obstacle to the world's trade. In spite of the affected indifference of the Northerners to European opinion on the war, they must feel that with the growing embarrassments of our manufacturers and the distress of our working classes there must be an increase of bitterness against themselves, which may produce inconvenience and even danger. It is desirable, therefore, to show that not they, but their opponents are the real withholders of the cotton supply. If they seize a port and open it even nominally to the trade, they thereby take away the grounds of complaint which Europe has against them. They show that it is not they who prevent cotton coming out, but that it is the Southerners who keep it in. That they will get cotton in any large quantity no one can believe, for the Confederate or the State governments will, of course take care that every bale, and probably every negro, shall be removed from the neighbourhood of the enemy. But still the Federals will have satisfied to some extent the demands of foreign nations, inasmuch as they will be able to say to us or to the French, 'Here is a port, enter it and take all the cotton you can get; you are at full liberty to trade with all whom you can find to trade with you.' The military objects of the expedition do not seem quite so clear. Seldom in the history of war has much good been done by the occupation of points on an enemy's coast, and on such an immense territory little impression can be made by an expeditionary force advancing from the sea and having no base of operations except its vessels and some half-ruined town. The hope of weakening the Southern army on the Potomac by a diversion has, no doubt, had much to do with the despatch of the expedition." The 'New York Herald' of the 22th October stated that the objects expected to be realised from the above expedition were fourfold : — 1. To carry the war into the cotton States, which are chiefly responsible for the rebellion, and by doing so to produce the disorganisation and dispersion of the immense rebel army now collected in Virginia. 2. To secure winter quarters for our troops and harbours of refuge for our naval and mercantile marine. 3. To open one or more Southern ports to commerce; and thus satisfy all demands and obviate all difficulties about the supply of cotton and the efficacy of the blockade ; and 4. To form nuclei in those rebel States near which the long-suppressed loyalty and good sense of the people may find safe and appropriate expression, and to encourage and stimulate this reactionary feeling, of which we have seen such a remarkable and oncouraging manifestation in North Carolina. The most contradictory rumours concerning the ! whereabouts and welfare of this geat expedition have obtained currency from day to day. At first it was positively stated that the fleet had been scattered by a storm, and many vessels lost; this was subsequently contradicted, and in a day or two it became clear that nearly the whole fleet had anchored in safety in Bull's Bay, about 25 miles north of Charleston. A telegram of the Bth of November, from New York, states that the fleet was bombarding Port Royal, and was meeting with a desperate resistance. One report speaks of the probable speedy surrender of the place, but it is admitted that the accounts are very confused. Port Royal is at the mouth of what i 9 called the Broad River, but which is really an arm of the sea. It is a large estuary, penetrating the swamps between Charleston and Savannah, v few miles north of the Savannah River, and the establishment of ah army there in any force would menace both towns, and look really formidable. It might induce the Confederates to detach from Eastern Virginia, and the latest telegrams refer to symptoms of such a movement. General Beauregard is reported to have gone to South Carolina. We referred in our last to the enormous propor-

tion of the American community who had taken up arms in the present struggle. This fact, which is one of the most striking features of the war, may be further illustrated by a few figures which are published on good authority. The State of Massachusetts had less than a million inhabitants in 1850; it has since increased by some 200,000 or 300,000; but even with this increase the number of its levies is something astounding. It has actually raised 25 regiments of infantry, five batteries of artillery, and one regiment of cavalry, amounting together to some 30,000 men, and it has given a quota of 10,000 sailors to the Federal fleet. In other words, this State, with a population not half as large as that of London, is maintaining in the field a force as great as England used to despatch on her greatest wars. Rhode Island, again, from a population in 1850 of 147,000, raises four battalions of infantry, two regiments of cavalry, and eight batteries of artillery— the total contributions of the New England States alone being reckoned at 100,000 men. THE BOMBARDMENT AND CAPTURE OF PORT ROYAL. At last the destination of the Federal fleet is known. On the 7th of November it entered Port Royal harbour, in South Carolina, engaged the forts, and, after a fight which lasted four hours, forced the enemy to abandon them. The next day the troops, to the number of 15,000, were landed at Beaufort, which they found totally destroyed, together with the neighbouring plantations. We now know the point against which the Federal operations are directed, and there is, of course, much speculation as to this subsidiary campaign, and the designs of the Government in sending an army to the coast of the Atlantic cotton States. In the first place, it appears certain that the fleet was handled with considerable skill. In spite of a succession of very heavy gales, in spite of the dangerous nature of the coast, and in spite of the resistance of the Confederates, who seem to have been not unprepared for a visit, the Federals have established themselves on another spot of Southern ground, and in much greater force than they did at Hatteras. Beyond the wreck of two, or perhaps four vessels, in the storm, the Northern forces met with no disaster. Along with the two forts at Port Royal, they captured 43 guns, a quantity of military equipments, and, as the telegrams state, " valuable papers." All this was effected with the loss of eight men. Of the Confederates, 100 are reported to have been killed during the bombardment. Port Royal is a deep inlet running between two islands on the coast of South Carolina. It is situated about 35 miles in a straight line from Savannah, and between 50 and 60 miles from Charleston, the county of Beaufort, in which it lies, being the border county of the State, and divided from Georgia only by the river Savannah, on which the city of that name is situated. At the top of Port Royal is the town of Beaufort, the ruins of which the Federals now hold. The whole district is one of the richest but also one of the swampiest parts of the coast. It is, indeed, the great rice-producing reigon of South Carolina, and the plantations which the Confederates destroyed were probably the rice estates of some Secessionist millionaires. Beaufort and Port Royal and the Federal camp are divided from the mainland by the Broad River and the Coosan, which, with various little tributaries, form a number of sea islands, of great fertility and with a large population. The islands themselves are healthy, but as much cannot be said of the country a little way inland, which extends its dreary marshes over many miles. As a position to be held during a long war on an enemy's coast, there is probably none better than Beaufort. Port Royal is one of the best harbours in the South.