THE CONFEDERATE STATES.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 915, 25 November 1864, Page 6

THE CONFEDERATE STATES.

(From the Special Correspondent of the Times.) Bichmond, 23rd August.

I will not disguise the fact that, in common ■with many others, I have been surprised at the eneny mid revivnl of spirit which were evinced by Genera! Grant and a poition of his army in front of Petersburg two days ae;o. I have often in previous letters pointed out to your readers thnt Grant, his never dared to eloneate his line before Petersburg, and to stretch hia left across the Weldon ailroad, for few, if his lines were too long and too weak, of having his centre pierced, nnd (aa I have before phrased it) of having .Austerlilz repeated upon the banks of the James For some weelts pa«t you are nware that, instead <.f reaching as far as possible with his left, and thus interfering seriously with the circulation of rains up:>n tlie Weldoa Kailroad, Grant has pontiacted his lines and drawn closer to City Point, so us to leave the Weldon Railroad as die fmrn molestation as it was belore the Federals crossed the James River. Previous to the springing of his mine on 30ih July, Gram's attention seemed mo-e drawn to the north than to the south Bide of the .lames. And here ib may be desirable to point, out what cannot, fail long ago to have struck miiiiary st.udent-t possessed of pood maps —to wit. that "the configuration of thf ground and the geographical pos tioa of Richmond and Petersburg in reference to the Appomattox and James Kivers, tive to the Federal far greater advantages than to the Confederate army. General Gra/it is operating along the chord, Generul Lee a'ong the arc or circumference of a m mi-circle. Uy means of this pontoon bridge thrown across the James from Bermuda Hundreds to Deep Bott m, cjrai t can, at will, transfer hs wh >ie army from the south to the north of the liver, ana land bis entire force ai-y morning within 12 mile* of Kichmnnd. In order to get back from before Petersburg, with a view to in-terpo-insr between Grant and Richmond, Lse has from 20 to 24 rai'es to traverse. Grant can, at ■will, throw out. a powerful feeler, amounting, if he likes, to bis whole army, at either end of a straight line of fmm 12 to 15 miles. Lee, acting on the < efensive, and having Petersburg and the railroads as well as Kicbmond to cover, is obliged to stretch over vastly more than 12 or 15 miler, and in reinforcing from one end of his line to the other has double that distance to traveise. Throughout tlie s'rnggles of the Federals r.nd Conf derates in Virginia your renders cannot have 'ailed to perceive what advant>i>es have b«n possessed by the former, by reason of the salable rivers which make up towards Ihe west from Chesapeake Bay. It would indeed have been a hold man who at the eommenci-ment of this struggle had dared to believe that, with the free navigation of the Potomac, the Kappa><annock, the York, the James, the Kliiiibeth rivers, and also of ihe North Carolina Sounds, in posse-fi>n of the Federal. 0, the twelve Hundred end thirtieth day since the first cannon shot at Fort Sumter would fiud Richmond still in tl>e Confederate grasp. If the Federals fail in this mighty war (and few rational people doubt that thty will fail) they may rest assured that it is inconceivable that they can ever again engage in a strife where the odds at the commencement will be so lan>ely in their favour. Unhealthy as is the camping ground of bis army, Grant has hitherto had the bess of the position in a mili aty seuse, inasmuch as, acting along a short, and straight line, he threatens R chmond, Petersburg, and a network of railroads, without exposing to his enemy anything vitiil. His gunboat*, his intrenchments, and the shortness of his line have kept him safe. Leeh'is. hs usu-tl,ithe odds against him ; and yet at no moment has the coiifi ence of Seoessia in the security of AUchmund and Petersburg been more sertne.

I hive said that previous to the 30th of July Grant seemed inclined to operate upon the north rather than the sou h r-f the river; or, in_ other words, to act with his light rather than with his left wina. His motive has long been obvious. He wished to force I ee to withdiaw men to ihe ■orth of the liier, in order that, when the mine • is sprung on ihe Baxter-rood (tbat is to say, on ...j Confederate right) most of the Confederates i i :bt be. absent upon ttwir extreme left. We a.l

1 >w thehistoiy of the blomly repulse wliioh the ';• .ierals Misiau.ed alter the expl sion of their v;,ne; Hnu some of jour renders may have oba.;rv<«l the corifirrnatior which the events of that dav ravn to thf assertion which I hazarded, that it would he difficult to ertiruate the minimum of men r> quiai'e to hold General Lee's lines before Pet'-rsburL' or bi-iore Hiebmond. It is certain that a handful of Confederates drove out five or six times their number from the falient in which the inin-B exploded. For some time subsequent to the 30ih of Ju'y Grant showed symptoms of being ttreatly staggered and stupified by the incidents which accompanied the unmasking of his " great Napoleonic device." * t the same time lie p.ave do indications of Blackening tenacity or infirmity of purpose. At a moment when Wiithington was in infinitely greater peril th ui Hiuhnvnd Grant never relaxed for a" instant his cluteb upon the James river, which is the throat if Ki'-hinond. For pertinacity, unexampled in any other prominent Frderal Genet al. it. would he urjupt to deny credit to General Grant But it is difficult, in presence of the a.mittid fret that G'iierai Giant is an amc damnee of President Lincoln'*, to believe that tht! vigor and tenacity which he has displayed have reference so much to the success of the Un>on cause as to the re-election ot President Lincoln.

When Grant recovered from the langour and vacillation into which hi fiasco of the 80th of July had thrown him, he again addressea his attention cbhfly to the nTih side of the river. It was thp general impression in Richmond that ■whereas Grant had deceived hee before the 30th of July, and induced him to throw men uselessly to 'he north of ihe Jurats, tbere was veris mi'i'ude in the notion tint Grant meant real mischief again-t Richmond when for the seiond time he threw a large force to the north of the river. Accordingly, Lee met this second move of Gram's hy ci vedng Richmond effectually. Availing himself of thp advantages which I have alrea.iv pointed out, G ant during last week secretly massed most of his army on his extreme left, while Lee was keeping an unnecessarily large force between Hiclimoud and the Federal r!ght. Attention was first called to Grant's operations against the Weldnn Rnilioad upon Friday last, the 19th inst Lee attacked him with two brigades on Kiiday afternoon, and drove back his foremost liuts and seured a haul of 2700 prisoners ; but Grant's mnin intrenchmenta, which stretched across lhs Weldon Railroad, were held firmly by the ruain body of the Federals, who ■wire far too stro'p; iu numbers and in position for the two Confederate brigades to inierfere with. Finding his entray strongly rpaesed upon the Confederate right, Lee h»A tbe'difficulty which I have already p»intfd out to encounter —I mean the Un th of line over which it was necessary for lijru to reinfoic?. Saturday, the 20th inst., •was ipa-sed by Lee in g'lthertnp; together his troops, arid (contraiy to 'lie usual traditions of the Uoi.ferleraU- arm>) there was much talk and publicity in regnrl to ilm intended rittack of the next day. Meantime, ihe Federals worked like beavers tiurinc the whole of Saturday and Saturdny night, gnt several cannon into posiiion, covered their fit ks and re»r with massive intrenchnie'ts, and held their extreme left with full> 30 000 men. I.rS' attack at 9 in the morning of Mimlay, the2lst, was made with far too insufficient a force to prevail against such large odds, it was repulsed with a loss to the Confederates, according to general rumour (I have not ytt teen the official repoitN of about 1000 in killed, wou ded, and piisoners. Such is the finiple nmrative of the events of la3t Sunday, upon which (in the j-xisting oearth of Fedcra1 bucc'ss'.;;.) t!'eve is little doubt but that the Uo'tliem journals, especially tbo?e which nve "desigmd for Kurnpe, wi 1 rt-ar a fabric as towerin<r as though a victory like Austerlitz had been Won.

nut, if your readers have followed me.thua far, they will jierc ive thut by extending his lelt across the Welduii Railroad, Grant haa materially nllertd the pesitii.ii or affairs. To begin—he haa withdrawn entirely from Ihs north bank of the river, leaving only enough men to guard the northern end of his pontoon at Beep Bottom. Secondly, by extending across the Weldon Railroad to what is culled the Vaug'.iau-road, he has lengthened his lines so tar as to carry his extreme left 18 miles, instead of 12 miles, away from City Point. It is known that he has received no reinforcements, and therefore, with an army

which is believed not much to exceed that of General I ee, he is holding a line at least six miles longer than he has hitherto succeeded in holding. It follows that the long line of intifinchments which connect with City Point must, over a considerable portion of their length, be very weakly manned. Id is o iviou* that there is a great chance for General Lee to cut G' ant's line in two in the centre, and to bar him off from Ciiy Point and the Junies. 1 do not sny Unit this policy will actually be adopted by Genera) Lee. although before this letter reaches you you may have beaid of its adoption Whp.t wil be attempted and what has already been taken in hand is by throwing Confederate batteries upon the now unoccupied northern bank of the river to interfere with the passage nf transpoi ts along the stream to City Point. In >he meantime the accumulation of General Lee's forces at the town of Paersbuw sug!!C>t!i thoughts of his con templating a rußh through hi* opponent's centre The temptations uliich urge the a 'option ot tins step are many, but it i.» possible ihat pruiienceand desire to spare his meu's lives mav indue- Lee to lie quiet, and to leave the Weldon ailroad in his adversan's hands. It muse be understoo i that tne inconvenience to the Oonfe ierates of the extension of Grant's left is oi.ly an inconvenience. The railroad btill runs from Wel ion to Stony Creek 20 miles s-outii of Pttersburg, and close to Stony' Creek is encamped General EUmpton iu command of a large buoy of Confederate cavalry Supplies iof Lee's army fl >w without interference to Stony Creek, and are waggoned thence to Petersburg while the waggons thus employed are protected by Bamp'on. There is very liitle reason to fear that a Federal cavalry rai.l cm be successful'y sent out. wiih a view to attacking the Danville Railroad, by which uninterrupted communication with Richmond from the South is kept up The Confederate cavalry under Hampton is superior in numbers to that possessed by Grant, and is infinitely better in morale and efficiency. It is safe to conclude tint, one of the two following alternatives will be witnessed. On the one bam', it is possible that Lee will cut Grant's centre and isolate half the Federal army from the other half; or, on the other ham), it is possible tbat Lee will lie qaiet in front of Petersburg, while he keeps up his communications with Stony Creek. Nothing will in all probability be done until the effect of tie Confederate batteries, about to be • pened on the Federal transports from the north bank of the James, ia ascertained. In the meantime, the Confederates possess the great advan'aae of knowing that lapse of time is working in their favor, and that Grant is no nearer the capture of Richmond than when he cress- d the Rapiilan. On the other hand, Gr^.nt has the disadvantage of being compelled by Mr Lincoln's political oe cessities to hazard activity and to act more as an electioneering agent than as a Geneial. There has never been a moment since the beginning of the war when more confidence as to its ultimate resu't was entertained throughout Secessia It was anticipated, directly Grant threw himself aenss the .lames, two and a half j months a«o, that the railroad between We'don and Peter.-burg could liofc be kept open by the Confederates; but it was not until two days ago that Grant suspended communication along this line, and he has now only succ eded in interfering with 20 milts of its lenutb Whether Lee be temijtJd to make a dash through Grant's line- or not. it is felt that the Virgintun campaian of 1864 in the neighborhood of Hichmond is over tfut lam still under the impression th\t the fine Confe erate force in the Val ey, soon to be under the command of General Anderson (now at the head of Longstreet's old corps) will make itself felt gravely before long. The operations of the ]?■ derals and Conferterates in the Valley for the last two tnoi.thshave resemMed the set figures of n quadrille. KaHy has executed a forward chasse, to which Sheiidan has responded by a retioarage movement. In his turn, SheridaD, af'er receiving reinforc me.nts. has advanced, to find Karly in retreat How much longer this swaying of two powerful armies up and down the Valley is to last i cannot say, but I can only empare. it to the " gong-fiiduing" of the Chinese. Jt is possible that Ge eral Anderson, if he assume the command to which his rank entitles him. may alter the o mplexion of affairs; but it is rvidei't tl"?t nothing important will be achieved by General Early. At this moment a forward glissade of the Confederates has carried them to the Foomac. while the corresponding backward glissade of the Federals has been exfeuted on the toil of Maryland. *t ii not impossible tha' while Grant makes desperate efforts to subtract wind from the sails of the Chicaao Convention by a successful electioneering move on the banks of the Jami-s. which m ive will be credited to Mr Lincoln, the C"' federates will hazard a counter move on tin- Potomac, which wi'l greatly strengthen tin ham's of Vatlnnrtigliani and his associates Up \n the present time, neither Federals nor Confrder ten have gained any advantages in the Valley which will be likely to have any effect on the ifsue of the war But, as is usually the case, anguish nnd poverty have, us the wave of war rolled backwards an 1 forwards, boen brought home to many an unoffending woman and child. In tlie miifßt of the accounts of Sheridan's retreat through burning barns and homestead", with the wiil of destitute women and starving houseless children wafted upon every breeze, it is impossible to read without stem satisfaction the narrative ot an incident which has just hapnenfd in Clark c unty, Virginia. A par-y of from 12 to 13 Yankee soldiers werp miayed in their cu*t mnry avoca'ion r>f burning a Virginian homestead. The women who had latily been its tensn'B gathered a short distance from the bl.jzing rafters, and one of them, lifting up hr voice and weeping, prajed God that veneeance might overtake the oppressors of harm'ess and helnles1* women The worfN' were scarcely out of her month when a body of Mosbv's Southerners burst upon the Yank"" marauders, ami caught them reil-handed in flagrante delicto. Hiii-fc .thrift w ns giyn, an in « few secomJs s imn 12 or 15 bodies were swinging from the neighboring trees It is possible that, in reference to this occurrence, we may hear some sickly wail from FVera' sympsthisers'ic England about the usages of civihVe • war. It is time that \our readers shuuld understan I that this American struggle (apart from the gre t armies on either side* has long ago cease'l to he conducted according to the nominal code of civilised warfare. I have again and agtin endeavoured to call attention to nets of special barbarity, nnd. littlo hew! as Knglnnd now gives to the details of this war. I nm in h'pes thn> t.he recent infamous atrocities corn-1 it.eo in Westmorland c.minty by Federal officers, who instigated the Vu'al African s r'vazps to pnact''eerls of lust and shame upon white women such as make the b ood run cold with horror, will not have fallen upon entirely n<<hepdingr ears But if it is imagined tint Southern men. and i specially Virginians, will look quietly on at burning farms, nnd merely capture tlie Ynnkce p«rpefraror3 of these atrocities when they catch ihem red handed, your readers enn know very little of Southerners, or, indeed, of human nature. 30th August. The position of the two armies before Pete'B burg is not rontprnlly n'tered since the date of my last letter, but what chance there is is in favor of the Confederates It will be remembered that on tlie l^ih inst. Grant nppoared upon the Weldon K.iilrcari in force, that he-, attacked him there on the 19t,h and 21st, sutfeting upon the I laet of those days a decided ret uls«. Upon the evening of the 25th a body of Yankee cavalry, which was engaged in teari g up the line southwards, was Gallantly attacked by General Wade Hampton's cavalry, and driven ba'k into the infantrv Jntrenchtnptits. Dismnunting/rom their horses Hmnnton's:squadrons thr?w tb'enwlvs on foot upon the int>enckments, and, being supported by A. P. Hill's infantry, succeeded in carrying a considerable lengib of breastworks and in rapturingnine pieces ofartil'ery and some 2000 prisoners. It. was a (;nUaat achievement and specially c editable to the cavnlry, whinh has during this campaign gained auuh credit fors'riking hard lntocks, that ih* sneers at its expense which wptc audible in 1862 and 18G3 f<om the. mouths of the infantry are now converted into w.irm expressioi.s of gratitude and admiration.

It. may be within the recollection of some of youiM'rarti'i's that in a recent leiter I estimated the mortality os both nioe^ consequent, upon tiiis war as heinjr at the rate of 100U lives every 24 hours. There are many to whom this estimate will appear extravagant. I ivgret to say that increased thought and inquiry have only served to convince me that it is viot far from the mark. I need hardly say tiiat by far the largest portion of those who perish fall victims to disease. Tlii' k of the immensity of this war ;of the numberless bodies of men scattered in unhealthy garrisons over the Tast area oi Becessia, and some conception of the

waste of human life (sacrificed to the Moloch of s»_r_,«^irAsyf«iss rather lea* numerous, as the Northern climate is healthier in ftimmer. Here we have SCO deaths (or thereabout;) occuning every 24 hours amomr ihe pri-oners alone. It ft not much of a stretch to conceive th,.t each day's fighting, when .here are six large armies in the Held (to wit Lee s ■ind Grant'*, flood's and Sherman's, arly s and rih-ridanM not to mention countless clesul.ory bo'ies of combatants, adds 700 men to the list ot perishing victims. The picture ot this fair American continent, which four years aR" any man to whom human happiness and pros' eritj z e dear might have delighte.i to con teni|.Ute. i» one from which an Apollyon voa\a at this moment recoil with shuaderiiig. What, pen is there to write, what eye to witness the unnumbered ghastly deeds of horror wl ic!i somewhere or other iu the vas-t and v iceless :.oht.udes of Dixie the sun daily looks down upon ? May it be granted to this confluent, now tvasted with misery, to learn the lesson which aiverMty teaches, both to nations and individual, and of which the choicest is humility ! Would that 1 could see any indications that, this war is teaching tither section the lessons, or is likely to be productive of the qualities, without which id tin opinion of all impartial aud not unlrieudly spectators, it Li irr,pos>ibie f..r an American community, whether cotnp set! of the Nortln-rn or of the Southern States, or of both together, ever to •ittua to the dignity of a great and honored nation ! ' ■'