AMERICA.

Wellington Independent, Volume XIX, Issue 2176, 7 March 1865, Page 5

AMERICA.

(From the Times, December 20.) The interest of the American war news still centres in Sherman and his army. The point at which he will ' come out' is still, as Mr Lincoln said, a problem. According to the intelligence received by the China, Sherman was still approaching the City of Savannah. The distances from this point at which the reports, exclusively Southern, place him, vary so much as to defy calculation, By the preceding mail he was left at Millen, a town on the Augusta and Savannah railroad, at least seventy miles from the latter city. By the present accounts the Federal army was at any distance from Savannah the reader of the telegrams may prefer betsveen live miles and fifty. However doubtful may be the point of distance, there can be none as to the direction of his march. A few days must bring him close to the city on the land side, and then arises the more important question what Sherman will do. The Confederates assert that the place is fully prepared to make a stout defence ; and as Beauregard, the best engineer offiuer of the South has been constructing or completing the works covering the approaches to the city, the assertion is bj no means improbable. But it is difficult to believe that Sherman has any serious intention of attacking Savannah. His object is to reach the sea without delay or loss- The force he has with him is only half that of the army with which he left Atlanta. His second corps he detached and left behind him at Macon, or between Macon and Augusta. Assuming Sherman took half of his army, or about 25,000 men, with him when he struck southward along the Georgian bank of the Savannah river, his force must now be considerably reduced by the casualties of the inarch. The assault of a city is not an operation to be saft-ly risked under such circumstances. It is still less probable that any attempt will be made to besiege the place. For the escape or safety of Sherman and his army it is. essential he should reach Beaufort, or some neighboring point on the seacoast as rapidly as possible. Delay would be equivalent to ruin, and he will do nothing to create it. It is, therefore, supposed he will merely threaten Savannah as a feint, and then pass it by crossing the river into South Carolina, and attempt to join the force sent eastwards from Port lloyal to assist him. But to pass so large a river as the Savannah, which is navigable quite 400 miles above the point where , Sherman is approaching it, must be a difficult . operation ; and it is now certain that, if accom- > plisbed at all, it must be in the face of an enemy. [ The Coufederate troops, regular or local, that i drove back the detachment advancing from the i seaooast under General Foster are on the Chiot liua side of the Savannah; ond if a part of Shert, man's force is held in check on the Ogoochee > River, one of the tributaries of the Savannah, , ' by battatious of Confederate flying artillery, r there must be an active Southern force observing the Federal movements. What means he has of crossing the Savannah, whether J by pontoons, boats, or rafts, the Southern • journals profess themselves totally ignorant and y hint that he may uot attempt the passage at all. . He can avoid it by pushing beyond Savannah, i. on the land side of the city, to some point of j the coast south and east of it to which the s Federal fleet can be directed. Whatever course g he may take, the Southern people seem quietly -. confident as to the result and are congratulating n themselves that the interior of Georgia has seen y the last of the invasion. (] But by quitting Georgia the Federals so d weakened their grasp of Tennessee that it is not d unlikely the whole State will be lost to the ii Northern Government. The cost of the camj.i paigns and expeditions in the south-west dutis i»g the last two years has been thrown away, b- All they had accomplished is undone. ll' the ie South is to be recovered by conquest, the worl cv must be commenced again. Atlanta was tin of turning point of this period of the war. Then ;s, the rival commanders completely reversed thei original positions. Sherman plunged deepe ;1 e into the South to find a road of escape. Hoo< us faced to the North, leaving his late opponent 1 •e } advance or retreat unmolested to attack Thomas iv- Notwithstanding the heavy loss of the Southeri cc army in the battle of Franklin the Federal >jr were compelled to retire on Nashville, wher SSi General Thomas is still shut in. 'No chang of in the situation' there is all that can be re a ported. But the situation itself is the const ] )e queiice of a very considerable change indee< a t From the army of the Potomac there is no new rh of importance. Winter and the state of til ,ey toads render army movements difficult, and ft

& fasv wocka there may be no. extensive or aotiv. operations to record. But two corps of Grant' army have made a recownoissance on the Wei. don Railway to the south of Richmond. Thej found the Confederates in force in that quarter and too strongly intrenched to be attacked, sc the regiments returned to their lines after destroying some miles of railroad. But more important than these imperfect military details are those items of intelligence that affect the relations between the United Slates and Canada, and of both countries with England. The refugees from the Southern States who were tried before the Canadian Court for murder and robbery, committed during a raid into Federal territory, have been aquitted, the Court deciding it had no jurisdiction in the matter, on what grounds we have yet to learn. Since the commencement of the trial the local authorities of some of the Northern States have received threats or warnings of similar attacks to be made on a larger scale. The rumour that a whole Southern regiment has been disbanded with orders to steal into Canada, a man at a time, or in such small parties as to pass unnotived, we hope is unfounded, if they are fuiv ther instructed to reassemble on British territory for purposes hostile to the Federal States. The Canadian Government we trust will watch such proceedings very sharply. Sympathy of opinions is one thing, but robbing banks and shooting the clerks is another. We have no wish to see a second St Alban's expedition traced even by report to persons who had found refuge on British soil. The terror excited by the warnings received may be exaggerated, but the Federal Government has acted on them as if the peril were real. Under the name of revenue cutters, gunboats nve to bp stationed on the Canadian lakes. It is not quite clear whether they are intended for the defence of the Federal soil or the protection of the Federal revenue. If the flotilla is in the service of the Customs Department exclusively, we fear the Government has commenced a system that to be efficient must be extended much fur" ther than the St Lawrence and the Lakes. If the Government calls the smuggler into existence where he ought never to have beeti heard I of it has a a right to vindicate its own laws and make contraband trade as difficult as possible. The commercial relations between Canada and the United States are not in a satisfactory condition. As long as the Reciprocity Treaty had fair play, it was of inestimable advantage to both countries. But the commercial freedom it established could notexist with the excessively high and avowedly protective tariff adopted by the Government of Mr Lincoln. That mildewed ear has "blasted its wholesome brother." It is impossible to read the announcement that ihe two treaties between England and the United State 3, which have hitherto worked so well, are likely to terminate, without some misgivings, as to the probability of ever re-estab-lishing the beneficial system which war and its necessities have destroyed.