THE WAR IN AMERICA.

Press, Volume III, Issue 69, 6 September 1862, Page 2

THE WAR IN AMERICA.

Wr have arrived at tbc second act of tliegrmfc i drama now boing enacted at the other side oi tliei* tlautic. In the first, the Confederates were the liwms of the day, and the difference between the coEnlimnls was j such as might have led us to expect that,illt dio first ouset, victory would rest upon the barmen • of the South. Tho leading tnen of those states wcreststiongly imbued with the military spirit they had from their cavalier ancestors, and having passed llicidr lives among a slave population, over whom theymloed with the absolute sway of a dominant and snpiorer race, had acquired that fervor of independe im, tldiat assumption of personal superiority, and readi mlck> appeal to the sword as the best arbiter of diffcE-eiw and to make might the test of right, which su..<;liisi Ituation has in other instances bern found naturralljlo c excite. Moreover, the never very distant possibility of a slave insurrection had fimiiliiirized their mindnviiith the idea of a life and death struggle, and acctj&tie-sd them to ostenaive combination for ihe purpose o»fs(lf-Eadifencc. The Northern army—if an unruly mob may bo dig n : Bod with the name—was made up of —veryd lilFerent elenienti». Its ranks were crowded with tlurecfusc of

NW York, who went out to battle a3 to the greatest c row , they bad a chance of engaging in; others were drawn thither by love of the easily earned dollars, and characteristically threw down their muskets and retired from the field during the hottest part of an on discovering that " their lime wa3 up." "With such materials nothing could be expected but defeat and disaster. Accordingly when at Manassas Gap they for the first time came into collision with their opponents, at the first repulse a panic spread through the ranks, they abandoned their guns, their baggage, an ' their accoutrements, and fled from the field in beadlong rout, perhaps the most disgraceful ever known in the history of war. Thus, at the first, victory rested altogether with the j Confederates. But the leaders of the Federals learnt < wisdom from their misfortunes. They learnt that war ennnot be carried on by ill-armed undisciplined levies, however numerous ; that they must take the armies of Europe as models, and endeavour as far as practicable, and at least in essential points, to bring their own forces to a similar state of efficiency. General M'Clcllan, the new commander-in-clikf, accepted iliis as the chief duty of his position. For upv/ards of six months, during which he wisely abstained from any attempt at offensive operations, he labored indefatigably to restore the morale of his army, by assiduous attention to drill and practice, and the strictest enforcement of military discipline. His exertions have been attended with considerable success; and though no doubt the Federal army now before Richmond would be no match for a far inferior force of English, French, or Austrian troops, it is not to be compared with the disorderly crowd over which M'Clollan assumed the command on the Potamac, and, to use au expression of the General's,' there will be no more Bull's runs. . The difference we have noticed between the Northern and Southern armies, is not unlike that which existed between tlieir respective ancestors, the Cavaliers and the Puritans, at the commencement of the civil war in England. At the first outbreak of hostilities the superior equipment and practice in the use of arms, and the dash and spirit of the cavaliers, everywhere gave them an easy superiority over the city tapsters and discarded serving-men who formed the bulk of the Parliamentary forces. Had there been on the side of the King a man capable of forming a plan of operations and conducting a campaign on an extended scale, instead of frittering away his troops in a desultory partizan warfare, he might have marched upon London, and put an end to the war in a single summer. Such a mnster-mind was not found on the side of the King, but on that of the Purliarnent. The sagacity of Cromwell detected the weak point and devised a remedy. Under his direction the army of the Parliament was entirely remodelled; with what effect was shown on the field of Naseby, where the undisciplined valor of Prince Rupert and his cavaliers recoiled from the well drilled ranks of the London pikemen, and was crushed before the irresistible charge of Cromwell's own regiment, the famous Ironsides. With tbe advance, then, of General M'Clellan info Virginia, we cuter upon a second stage of the war, i and henceforward, with two or three brilliant exceptions, the tide has run steadily in favor of the Federals. Along the line of the Mississippi, New Orleans, Baton Rouge, and Memphis, have been taken or have cnpituhUed, and Vicksburg is the only place of importance that still remains in the hands of the Confederate. In Virginia, General Beauregard, though he has twice turned fiercely at bay when too closily pressed, lias been driven back step by step before the advance of the Federals, and is now in the immediate neighborhood of Richmond, the capital of Virginia, where, according to some accounts, it is probable that a decisive engagement will be fought. But though the Federals have been so far successful, it is l>y no means clear that they have gained any permanent nilvantage. No latent. Unionist feeling has becu roused, as was confidently expected, by the presence of their troops in those towns which have fallen into their hands. On the contrary, we read how " at Norfolk, the pcop'e rent the air with cheers when tlie Confederate mayor, iii his address, Fpoke of tbeir attach-

ment to their own Government. They hurrahed f or Jefferson Davis, and groaned and hissed Vv* o \a Lincoln, in the midst of the Federal troops" "a Williamsburg no scrutiny with candles or by daytim can discover a single Unionist, man or woman " « \ Virginia, in the trail of the retreating army, the cor respondents and reporters who accompany the march to Richmond do not find the slightest traces of Un" feeling." The attitude of tho Southerners is onetf intensely stubborn resistance. They are willing to make any sacrifice rather than yield a grain of advantage to the enemy. From New Orleans, for example" we learn that " the planters not only declare that tb would rather convert the whole country into an howl ing wilderness than leave a bale of cotton or a pouuu' of sugar or tobacco for the detested " Yankees," but they carry the threat into execution. They continue to make bonfires of the unginned cotton wherever the Fedderal armies advance, rolling their sugar and molasses in immense quantities into the Mississippi " Men actuated by a spirit like this may be defeated but can never be subjugated. And as summer comes on their climate will be a new and very formidablo ally thinning the Federal ranks with far more deadly rapidity than the Confederate rifles. The Northern forces will either be compelled to evacuate the places they have gained in the far south, of which their temporary occupation will only have roused against them the bitterest animosity of the inhabitants; or, if the? attempt to hold their ground, army after army will find a resting place in the cemeteries of New Orleans, and fleet after fleet consign its crews to a sailorV grave in the Mississippi. When Napoleon invaded Russia it was remarked that tho Russians had two generals who would prove of moru account than Napoleon and all his marsh:: , ls, General Snow and General Frost, and the Federal armies will find no less terrible an opponent in General Yellow Fever. It is a peculiar feature of ihe American war that we cannot sympathize heartily with either side. For many reasons our good wishes would incline to the South. Totally at variance as they are with tho North in origin, manners, feelings, find interests, it is idle to expect till these considerations to be outweighed by an abstract idea of Union. TLu the United States would speedily undergo separation has been predicted on these grounds by thoise foreigners who have had the best opportunities of funning an opinion on the subject, and even by statesmen in America itself. Moreover the Southerners are fighting in self-defence, and it is impossible not to admire the patriotic selfdevotion which leads them to welcome any sacrifice that may help to drive the'enemy from the soil. But a noisome taint clings heavily to the land, and the martial drum and the shout of a people rising up to war cannot drown the wailing of the slave. If, on the other hand, wo might for some reasons be inclined to wish success to the Northerners, we are sickened by their eternal and al>surd brnggodocio, insulted by their rancorous spite against England, and disgusted at their barbarous exultation over the ruin of their enemy and their gross breaches of the laws of civilized warfare. Iα particular, the inlamoud proclamation of General Butler at New Orleans i» a foul blot on their escutcheon, and unless at once and peremptorily disavowed by the government, will rest as an indelible stain upon the American name. After all the lavish expenditure of money and fearful loss of human life, them appear no signs of any approaching termination to the struggle, and it w difficult to see in what manner it is to end. That the Tnion could ever be restored was from the first improbable, and is now utteilv hopeless. The worst passions on both sides have been too fully reused. We find no longer any trace of » wish on the part of the North to conciliate the South ; absolute subjugation and unconditional submission alone are spoken of. The intervention of foreign powers, which otherwise appears the only method of solving the difficulty, in the present state of affairs would only i'crea-e tho mischief. This if clearly perceived by the Government. Earl Ihisscll, in replying to a question on the subject in the House of Lonte, declared ihst "no good could come uf mediatioD if attempted v: t. c

resent state of the war and embittered feeling on hoth 6ides»; and such an offer would prevent good results being attained if such a step should be taken hereafter." It may be, however, that if tho Northern - were to gain ;i victory so decisive as to wipe out the memory of past di.-asters, and to allow it to retire from the h"eld with all the glories of conquest, the Federal Government would then be willing to accept t | ie mediation of England or France, as the readies 1 nieans of retreating with honor from a conflict which it seems impossible that the resources of the country can much longer maintain.