THE CIVIL WAR IN AMERICA.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 83, 20 February 1862, Page 5 (Supplement)

THE CIVIL WAR IN AMERICA.

(From the Special Correspondent of the Times.) "I November (i. ' As I am two clays from Boston by mail, and the t ileetric telegraph will carry the latest news lip to the n jailing of the packet on Wednesday, I shall not iv- n hilge in any [speculations' in reference to the liews a from the Great Expedition, meagre and unsatisiae- J tory, and even doubtful as it is ; hut I may be allowed c io record my opinion, from the tone of those in the a public departments, that the success is not very dooi- i: sive, and that the ships have been receiving a very ii warm reception. "When I -was in Port lloyal this '1 Bpring, on Mr. 'l'rescot's Sea Island, the advantages oi' o the position ami the probability of an attack struck ii me ; hut I was told that the inhabitants were aware a of their danger, and that batteries had been erected 11 to cover Beaufort and the banks of the river at the t entrance of Port lloyal. That was so far back as v May. Since then the defences have probably been r, greatly strengthened, and although Broad lliver and t Port Royal afford depth of water, for any vessel ex- f cept the very largest meu-of-war, there is a bar on f the branch to Beaufort which will prohibit the en- \ trance of the heavy frigates of the expedition. lam s informed are 23 vessels inside pounding away at the i place ; the town itself will no doubt be destroyed, but, s even if the troops land and take possession cf it, they I will not find it of much use. There is—there can 1 be—no intention of marching the force inland. If t there should be any movement of the kind, it will be J a fatal error, for the country can be inundated at plea- c sure, and is, above all I have ever seen, suited for de- t fence, and the force would be too small to take mili- q tary possession of tho district. But if they land and 1

entrench themselves at Beaufort, they qp.:i cause immense inconvenience and consti'.nt anxiety to the Confederates ; and they come close on Poeotuligo, wliic'i 'iis a station on the railroad from Charleston to S:ivau''liinb, and eift off tlie comiuimicaUoii b-jtween these ~ places. i Tiie lines run through vast swamps ami forests, rice-fields, and half-cleared cotton plantations, span- . ninjj rivers and creeks, on wooden bi'idge.s, easily ile- ) stnictible, and running for many miles on trestle work, so that it can be rendered useless by cutting the woodwork, or, better :*till, by tlinging the rails into the ( water. The planters* are scattered widely apart : through this region, Avhiuh becomes more cut up with ' water and rice tic-Ids as you approach Savannah. A? -' there were Materials for hutting on board the transit poits, it is probable the troops will endeavor to esiub- - lish themselves in a fortified camp outside Beaufort, and, if so, they had better make a more eligible selection than they did at Hatteras. There, all sorts of troubles have come upon them. It is positively affirmed that the 20th Indiana Regiment is to be withdrawn, and that the colonel is to be tried by court martial. It will be a singular Avealcness if the United States abandon its barren conquest, but it is now discovered that Oregan inlet, in the same series of sandreefs, will permit egress and ingress to the vast inland navigation which the jjossession of Hatteras was intended to close. From the West there is the usual unsatisfactory and unintelligible farrago of telegrams. One fact seems clear, that General Fremont's dismissal has not produced as yet any of the serious inconveniences or dangers which were anticipated by his friends and his enemies. The part of his career which most becomes him seems to have been his retirement, and his conduct in taking leave of his troops. The American papers contain the results of the committee of inquiry into the management of his troops, and it is not" possible to read it without coming1 to the conclusion that any General who permitted such frauds to be perpetrated—supposing always they nre fully proved—was not fitted for the service of any State which could not bear periodical ruin at short intervals. His su.cee.wor has a difficult game to play, and it is to be hoped he sees what it is more clearly than any one here can do. There are reports of two aifairs in the West —one an expedition from Caiio against Columbus, in Kentucky, which was partially successful, though attended with heavy loss and followed by a retreat to their camp, on the part of the Federalists, after they lad, as they say, taken guns they could not carry off, and destroyed the enemy's camp and stores. The other expedition was under the command of Colonel Oglesby, and " broke up" a camp of Confederates in Missouri, some sixty miles from Cairo The loss of life at Belmout was considerable. This is all we can learn, except the old news that something great is going; to happen. " The army in good spirits ;no battle expected at present." Such is a sensation heading in the papers to-day, of which an ill-natured person might say the apposition was argumentative, but it does not. nevertheless, correctly convey the state of the situation here. I have made a very curious collection of some of these same headings, us illustrations of the condition to which a portion of the cheap American press is reduced, and of the state to which it has brought its readers. The most degraded of these journals, one which is supposed to be in the pay of the South, and which certainly by the style of its advocacy brings the North into contempt and does much to 'damage the interests of the Government abroad, advises us! now and then to take it and its contemporaries as the only sources of information on which reliance can be placed. If we did, a more deluded people coidd not exist on the face of the earth, or one more distracted by contending statements, by the contorted falsehoods of the hour, by the assertion of to-day made to be contradicted to-morrow. The citizen of New York is quite accustomed by this time to find that the "glorious victory" of Monday turns out to be a defeat on Tuesday, and the" " una- : bashed," though not the unscarred " Defoe" leers horribly as he hears the rush of the crowd outside his office after some big lie in a second edition, and pockets the cents of his dear public, in the full knowledge that do what he may they will come to him!: again, it is a sort of mental dram-drinking—thol! "sensation" must be produced night and morning",! and so many times in the day. The poor victims!: when the elfecta are over swear they will never touch | a drop again, but the craving U unsatiabie, and at the] accustomed hour off they run to the bar and swallow. their moral juleps and cocktails, notwithstanding! their experience of their evil effects on the con-| stitutiou. Had wo listened to the advice tendered with such delicious impudence, we should have actually taken Bull's Hun as a victory, the surrender of Lexington as a splended feat of arms, and a number of pitiful skirmishes as so many Vittorias or Waterloo^. Many of these actions are brought on by the lenders on both sides, apparently without an object. General Scott w:is opposed to them; but in fact, the Commander-iu-Ciiief has as.little power as the head of any other department over his subordinates, separated by thousands of miles from him. If he wants the power he must take it. It is announced in the papers that Major-General Havelock, of the British Army, has tendered his services to the President, and that Captain Short, R N., has been equally kind to Mr Jefferson Davis. The rank of the former gallant oiiicer, of whom, as brother of Sir Henry and uncle of the present baronet, one wishes to r-peak with every respect, must have been bestowed by some foreign power, or some unrecognised brevet. The latter officer is unknown to fame on the Navy list. But what of that? One man is as good as another; so is out; story as bad as another. As a charming specimen, however, of the manufacturing ingenuity in that line of some of our contemporios, take the veracious statement that Lord Lyons received Mr. Semmes, Captain of the Sumter, in the Confederate navy, gave him an English passport, and introduced him to Mr. Reward, at the State department. November 9. There is moderate exultation over the votes in Maryland. The result gives the Federalists a clear working majority in the Legislature and-Stato (xovernuujnt, and would dispose of all pret.-nce that there is a numerical majority for secession if the voters had been uninfluenced in any way. Kentucky, Missouri, and Virginia, subjected to the same process might produce the same results, and if they could be put under it, there are thousands of Unionists who would be content to withdraw from the contest, and leave the other states to their own devices. The departure of Mr. Thurlow Weed and Bishop Hughes for Europe is in pursuance of the resolution, the existence of which I announced in a previous letter, to send unofficial ambassadors or representatives to England and France, to counteract the effects of Mr. Mason and Mr. Slidell's mission, and to make explanations, and enter upon negotiations Avith the two Governments, as as well as to sound the depths of popular feeling, and ascertain the views of leading me;i in the political world. There were several candidates for the important mission. Mr. Everett appeared in Washington, and had several interviews with Mr. Seward about the tune the project was started, and Bishop M'Jlwaine and Mr. Kennedy were mentioned as: coadjutors in the mission. Whatever the cause? tlies? gentlemen did not go, and Mr. Weed and Bishopi Hughes, two of Mr. Seward's best friends, faintly disclaim the notion that their voyage to Europe is on diplomatic business. The former is the Nestor of the outside politicians who pull the le:;a and hands of the players on the stage ; he is an astute, clearheaded, able man, who has managed the company on his side of the House for many years, with success and profit, aud the newspaper he edits is one of the best written and. most decent in the United States. Bishop Hughes is a Roman Catholic prelate of attainments and political experience, moderate for one in his position, skilful, and anti-English. He has worked the Irish element in the states for a considerable period, and has used it in favor of Mr. Sowar;!. It will bs a keen encounter of wits. Mr. Sli.lell. when he finds himself alongside of Mr. Dayton iv Paris, will, doubtless, feel very much like an otter swimming alongside of an alderman. November 11. Unless the Confederates obtain a signal success at Beaufort, and force the Federalists into the sea, it is plain they have been placed in a hazardous position, 'flic end of the wedge will have been driven into " the peculiar institution" in its softest place. In those .Sea Islands live vast populations of ignorant negroe«, subject to the scanty and scattered whites, most «f wh'ini must bs called away from their homes and plantations to form the Home Guard and Local ?ililifia. It will be impossible, if they really de-ire to escape, to present them flocking to the Federal fleet and camp, and coercion may precipitate the country into the horrors rif servile insurrection. Of thc4o,oo() inhabitants in Denufoi-t county, 34,000 are r.JavM. There cannot be more than 1200 white men capable of Ik!,i inn: arms, of whom probably one-half are away in the Conii'iierafe ranks, leaving few, indeed, to look after the plantations and t.lie"b!acks. If Use Confederates can enclose their enemies witii a living wall.' they may prevent the fearful calamities which impend over tiifin ; but the alarm and apprehension which must prevail all over the county and in the large towns, cannot fail to renew the horrors of war, and to fill every heart with fear almost as bitter and dreadful as death itself. But has the North considered what it will do in casp. there is a levee en masse of the slaves, and that they form their unwelcome myriads upon the Federal camps? General Cameron's instructions to General Sherman authorises him in effect 1.0 protect such slaves as can get into the Federal lines, and Congress lias declared those who have been employed by their masters on military works ijitso facto "freed 'men. Suppose the 34,000 of Beaufort came inside the lines of the category.' But, indeed, there is no settled policy in regard to the most vital question of all after that of the actual contest. Gen. Kelley, in Virginia, according to statements in print,

■ confines all slavos w'.io co::-.o to him li,l they arc claimed by their masters. The Navy Department iin expectation of receiving despatches, the substance of which will bo communicated to the papers in liiiif ] I'm1 th« sailing of the steamer from Uostori on the ltMii | of November." News lias reached us Unit, the French J fripitu "Cleopatra" lias been lost at Hntteras; crew s saved. - i , - > . l - { < , » [ c - c [ j l \ r ! ' \ ! I | j ; [ , i 1 I I ] , | - i ! ~ l ' 1 ; l I i . ,