GENERAL SUMMARY.

Hawke's Bay Times, Volume II, Issue 53, 3 July 1862, Page 6 (Supplement)

GENERAL SUMMARY.

(From the Home News, April 2G.J The course of the war in America developes more and more every day the inability of the combatants to bring it to a decisive conclusion. Ever since the defeat at Bull's Run, fortune lias been on the Federals, almost without a break. At Fort Donnelson 13.000 men surrendered ; one by one all the strongholds of the Confederates were evacuated ; New Madrid, on the Western bank of the Mississippi, capitulated ; the whole of (he Southern array on the Potomac disappeared, leaving the river and the capita! free ; Manassas was abandoned without a shot; and this long track of easy victories by considerable captures of guns, stores, and ammunition. The young general, upon whose abilities the noblest eulogies have been pronounced, and who, before lie won a battle, was called the Alexander of his age, had under his command the largest army America had ever seen, reported to be admirably equipped, and well disciplined. The Potomac being open, and the enemy gone, MWlellau was at last enabled to move this formidable host, and on the 10th of March he set out amidst a storm of enthusiasm. An animated address to the troops, distinguished by its earnestness rather than its English, prepared them to look for hardships, but promised them ultimate victory. Exactly one week after that army had started fall of life and vigor, it was scattered like chaff over the hills and valleys of Virginia, not by the enemy, for there was none, but by dismal torrents of rain, ami the consequent impracticable condition of the country. Thus, says an intelligent eye-wit-ness of this utterly amazing route, a mighty host, provided lavishly will everything which is supposed to constitute etliciency, with an amount of artillery exceeding that which fought on both sides at Solferino, issues forth, and in less than one week recoils, broken and baffled by twenty-four hours of rain and the viscous slime of Virginia. Regiments, we are told, which went forth on one Monday 1000 strong, dropped Jn on the following Monday nor, mustering mure than half that number. The roadsides, the woods, the whole surface of the country were covered with prostrate bodies of soldiers, either dead, disabled, or drunk. Perhaps there never was an army, after such cost and care, such nursing and expenditure, so totally broken up in so.short a period of time. It was found on reaching AEauassas that any attempt to pursue the enemy would be in the last degree hazardous, and the notion was given up. It was necessary to feed the mighty force ; and as there was no means of provisioning the troops at Manassas, it became indispensable to full back on the Potomac. They got as far as they could to Alexandria, about seven miles from Washington, without order, without, oilieers, whhout instructions, scattered over the face of the country, and working back their route in independent groups. Tire whole plan of the campaign was at once altered by these calamities, which ought to have been foreseen and provided against. M'Clellau determined with great promptitude to carry this army down the Potomac in the direction of Fortress Monroe, and from thence to advance upon Richmond. Two serious considerations presented themselves on the threshold of this plan ; the diliicidtv of providing speedy ami eliicient transport for so large a force ; and the hazard of being intercepted by the Mcrnmcie before a landing could be effected. The energy and tact of the commander was equal to the occasion. The troops, estimated variously at from 100.000 to 150,000 men, were convoyed to their destination not only with safety hut with extraordinary rapidity. Landed securely at Fortress Monroe, which stands at the extremity of a neck of land between the York and James Rivers, they advanced about 28 miles on the direct road to Richmond. Up to this point they encountered no impediment ; but, arrived at Yorktown, their further progress was suddenly arrested. Here they found the Confederates posted in a strongly entrenched position stretching across the entire country from river to river, and commanding the whole peninsula. It was on this very spot Lord Cornwallis capitulated to the Americans in 1781. The actual force Oi Liic Confederates is not known t but it is supposed to amount to 00,000 men, which is capable of considerable augmentation whenever it may bo necessary from Richmond. The position.is one of great strength, and it is said to be supported by 500 guns. Jefferson Davis is believed to be present with the troops. No action has yet occurred; nor is either party likely to risk an engagement until preparations shall have been made to meet all the contingencies incidental to the situation, which is grave on botli sides. Delay is of the last importance to the Con-

federates ; amt a failure at this spot would be fatal to M : Clellau’s expedition. While the army of the Potomac is thus engaged ai one point, the Federal army of the ''.Vest has been busily occupied in endeavouring to clear the Mississippi, and ultimately to obtain possession of New Orleans ami Mobile. For a considerable time Island - ,y . 10 in the Mississippi checked tin* progress of Commodore F«.,.te and General Grant ; imt it surremiored at last, and im Jess than 100 siege guns, and a vast number ot prisoners, fell into the bauds of the Federalists. But a still more important position com nines to be held by the Confederates under Beauregard, who collecting his whole ioree, numbering about 60,000, has given battle to the enemy, and apparently, for the accounts are not very satisfactory, obtained a considerable advantage over them. Corinth, in the neighbourhood of which, at Pittsburg Landing, this battle took place, is a stratagetical point of prominent importance, at the junction of the Memphis and Charleston, and Mobile and Ohio railways. Beauregard advanced upon General Grant to prevent a junction between Ids troops and those of General Buell. The entire of the first day's engagement was directed to tins object, and was entirely successful. The Federal army was forced from its encampments, and General Prentiss, who commanded the left wing, was taken prisoner. In the evening, however, General Buell’s reinforcements appeared, and the battle was renewed on the billowing day with increased vigour, when, after one of the most arduous and sanguinary conllicts on record, Beauregard retired on ids fortified position, having inflicted a heavy loss, amounting, it is supposed, to 7000 men, upon the Federalists. The loss of the Confederates has not been reported, but it must have been very large. The carnage on tins occasion is perhaps without parallel, considered relatively to the numbers engaged, ami tiie worst of it is, that all this blood is spilt to no purpose. The final issue is not advanced, a single step.

The prominent question before Europe just now is that of the iron-plated ship, the fort, and the last new gun. Certain experiments which took place recently at Shochuryne'S were believed to have practically demonstrated the frailty of the iron-sides, whose miniature operations off Norfolk appear to have revolutionised the whole theory "f uava' warfare. From that moment there was n .thing like iron. The building of stone i.uis was slopped, notwithstanding the large .-urns voted for their erection, and already haif expended ; monster mcn-of-war, old hearts of oak that nine held the world in awe were pooh-poohed and set aside ; the wooden walls’’ were to he turned into metallic screens; and the defence of our coasts, not to say of the open waters of the earth, were henceforth to bo composed of wooden slops built within two cases, or sheaths, of iron. \\ cather-heafen sailors began to fear that the science of navigation, and the breed of the true Jtrilish Jack Tar would ultimately die out. ami that our fleets, like our theatres. instead, of being manned by skilled ar--1 isrs. wouid, for the future he left entirely to tlte »!np. or stage, carpenters and mechanics. As .Air. Alfred Wigan said at the theatrical fund dinner, it was no lunger to be ■’ Shiver my timbersp but “Draw my rivets!’' A change, however, has again passed over tlte dicam of the d 'ekyards. Sir William Armstrong has shown that the iron ship can he shot through and through as easily as a piece of brown paper by a certain gun at a certain distance with a certain charge of powder, ail of which arc capable of the clearest mathematical exposition. Of what exceptional value, then, is the iron ship from the itn uh’.er.dde point of view ? None whatever. 1 he only difference iu this respect between the iron and the ■wooden ship is a difference. not of kind, but of degree. It takes a greater gun and a gteater charge to shatter an iron ship than to shatter a wooden ship, and the question thus becomes reduced to very much the same sort of question as might have arisen under the ancien regime between vessels of comparative degrees of That a limit must finally he established beyond which neither ship nor gun can trespass is obvious ; and wc apprehend that the whole responsibility of scientilic experiment points at the present moment in that direction. Ships cannot carry more than a certain weight, consistently with the requisite ease and security in sailing and manoeuvring ; and guns must not ho mounted in ships that cannot be worked with safety, convenience and effect. To h it the happy medium between those extremes, and to secure the highest amount of efficiency at the lowest cost of danger, is the problem to which the Genius of Slaughter is now directing her terrible ener-

gies. It would be sufficiently strange if the solution uf l lie Roman question were to cuuie from England after all; yet there is nothing improbable in the supposition. Should it turn out so, the world would he indebted for that happy delivery of the Gordian knot of i .uo i jman politics to Sir George Buwyer, Mr. i ’ope Llennessy, and Sir. Maguire. These gentlemen, whose advocacy of the temporal power lias acquired for them so undesirable a prominence in our parliamentary debates wound up their zealous efforts ou the last night before the prorogation by an assault upon the policy of the English Government, which brought out from Lord Palmerston and Mr. Gladstone certain declarations respecting Italy that have produced the most profound sensation ou the continent. It is extremely likely that had those ardent Romans let things take their course, her Majesty's Ministers would not have though! it any part of their duty to express an opinion upon the occupation of Rome, or the prolonged mystery maintained on the subject by the Emperor of the French. But the most celestial patience may he worn out at last by perpetual inueudos and insolent accusations; and so Lord Palmerston and Mr. Gladstone, seeing the necessity of putting an end to this species of mosquito warfare, delivered themselves on the night of April 11, of such a statement of their views respecting the policy that ought to be adopted in regard to Italy as cannot fail to take practical effect sooner or later. It was clearly laid down by Sir. Stansfield that non-intervention did not mean indifference ; and Lord Palmerston illustrated the force of the observation h}' showing that, while he abstained from interfering between the opposing parties, he sympathised strongly with the Italians, and thought the occupation of Rome by French troops, though not strictly a violation of International law, is a gross violation of that principle of nuninterference which is proclaimed by France as well as England, and at variance with the programme upon which the war was commenced. This is frank speaking for an English Minister. It is of a nature not to he disregarded with impunity; and rumor already whispers that negociations are afoot between the Cabinets of St. James' and the Tnileries with a view to the withdrawal of the troops. Certain it is that the differences between the General and the Ambassador are not yet accommodated, that the Marquis ile Lavalette is now in England, and that there is a report that Goyon is to be recalled, and. by way of patching up his wounded sensibility, to be made a marshal. The proceedings of the French press with reference to this memorable debate show what a dee]) impression it has made. The Moniteur published Mr. Layard's speech in full—which was significant for the Moniteur. The Dehats declares tiiat Sir George Bowyer ami Mr. llennessy “ have done a very bad service to their cause,'’ and does not hesitate to intCrm its readers that Lord Palmerston “formally protested against the occupation of Rome;" the Temps says that those speeches set in a vivid light the contradiction of the French policy in Italy: the Sircle declares that the great majority of the French press has long field the same language without being listened to; and the Opinion Nationale believes that the temporal 'power must speedily disappear. To have extracted all these expressions of accord from the journals of France is to have struck a blow which will resound through every Cabinet Council in Europe.

The dullness of the Parliamentary session has been unexpectedly relieved by a caustic speech on the liunuces of the country from Mr. Disraeli. This speech was delivered upon the occasion of going - into a Committee of Ways and Moans, and consisted principally of a rhetorical attack on Mr. Gladstone. Cue of the chief points set up was that during the last three years we have been plunged into a deficit of seven millions and a half owing to the financial errors of Mi’. Gladstone. The reply was complete. During, the last three years, filled with wars and rumours of of wars, and unprecedented military preparations abroad and at home, the expenditure has raisen from sixty-three millions, at which it was estimated for 1859, to upwards of seventy millions. Again, unon the French treaty it was in the power of Mr. Gladstone to show that the country has already largely benefited by that arrangement; and lie was abundantly justified in maintaining that to a steady perseverance in the same policy we nave a rigm. io iooiv iOi suu mruicr and more important advantages. The revenue returns for the quarter just terminated show an increase of upwards of a million, with a decrease of more than half a million on the year. The decrease is considerable, remembering the expenditure in-

curred, the diminished imports of corn and tobacco, the repeal of the paper duty, and ihe reduction ol the income-tax. The increase may be fairly referred to as satisfactory evidence of the wisdom of the policy adopted against much outcry by the present Chancellor of the Exchequer. The opening of the Exhibition is the absorbing domestic tropic of the hour. The journals groan with letters full of criticisms and suggestions; good and evil auguries abound; and curiosity is piqued from all points of the compass by the descriptions and anticipations ot the gorgeous ceremonial which is to inaugurate the month of llowers. Looking at the Exhibition building, even with the incredible advance towards completion, within and without, which lias been made during tiie last ten days, the practicability of having everything in order by the Ist of May seems wholly out of the question. | Nor will everything be in order. The build- : iug will open in a stale of iinisli in some cle- , partmenfs and chaos in others, and the pro- : babihly is that as long as it continues open it will continue to betray the same fragmentary and incomplete character. But, nevertheless, tiie ensemble will be marvellous in in its vastness and variety. Tiie building itself* is, perhaps, the must unsightly that ever encumbered tiie earth; hut magnitude makes some amends for want of beauty, and the mind ot the spectator becomes so speedily ; enlhrallod by the grandeur and magnificauce | oi the contents, that lie soon ceases to think i of tiie ugly outlines by which lie is surroundj ed. | The subscription for the Prince Consort i Memorial proceeds, but it proceeds slowly, : for it is being forced. It is much to be la- ; mented that committees, and subcommittees, . should be in course of organisation over the ■ country for tiie purpose of collecting dona- ' turns, especially from tiie working classes. - It would have been wiser, on many accounts i and we are sure it would have led to a more satisfactory result, to have left tiie subscriptions open to the people, without any organisation except such as they might think tit to put in motion themselves.