THE LATE ENGLISH NEWS.

Hawke's Bay Times, Volume 5, Issue 274, 5 June 1865, Page 3

THE LATE ENGLISH NEWS.

The following summary of American news ■ from the 6’. M. Herald .- _ “ The course of events in America seems to indicate that the time is rapidly approaching when Richmond must be evacuated by the Confederate army. Now that Charleston, the very cradle secession, lias been surrendered, there is no sentiment of pride that should induce a retention of the political capital if military reasons urge its abandonment. The place is being slowly surrounded, and its supplies cut off. The defence in front is as impregnable as ever, and Grant’s enormous assailing force is still kept at bay. But on both flanks it is now seriously assailed by armies almost' as large as the garrison itself. “ After a long struggle the command of the Shenandoah Valley has as length passed definitely into the hands of the Federals. Early, who has lately kept this gate to Richmond, has been at length overborne by Sheridan who has probably been reinforced by troops brought from the west. This gives the Federals the command of the railway from Lynchburg to Richmond ; and this, it would appear from the telegram, has been so broken up as to be rendered useless for the further supply of the beleagured city. Grant has long ago broken up the railroad that ran south to Weldom. This leaves Richmond dependent on the one lino that runs to Danville, and it is not surprising to hear that Lee’s army is sorely pressed for provisions.

At the same time Sherman has been advancing trom the south, has reached as far as the heart of North Carolina, being within a few miles of Raleigh, the capital of the state. The latest telegram, which is dated London, April 6th, reports that he had been defeated by Johnston, and that there had been great slaughter near Richmond. But presuming that this is correct, it does not prove that Sherman has been dislodged from a position to the south of Richmond. The Federal army can supply whatever losses may have been incurred in the most sanguinary engagement. The Confederate army cannot. That the latter would fight desperately uuder.such a general as Lee, and in the last struggle to save Richmond, was to be expected; but even a victory would be dearly bought, and would so weaken the army as to do little more than purchase liberty for an unmolested retreat.

“Thereseems to be a rumor that President Davis has advised the destruction and evacuation of the city. The destruction of the city would be no gain to the Confederates, and no appreciable loss to the Pedersls, and would only serve to express the wild passion of despair that possesses the defeated army. The Confederates have not as yet destroyed any of their cities, though at the onset of the war they threatened to do so rather than surrender. Two ; thirds of Charleston, it is said, has "been burnt, but it was by accident, the result of the explosion of a magazine. “ The extreme pressure to which the Confederates are brought for want of men has once more brought up the question of arming the negroes. It is astonishing how prejudices get consumed in the fire of adversity. It took the free North more than two to get over its prejudice against negro soldiers. It has taken the South double that lime, but the process of conversion would seem to be very near its accomplishment. By the last mail we are told that the Confederate Congress had decisively rejected the proposal for a negroe conscription, believing that it could do without. But now we hear that the House of Representatives has acquiesced in the proposal though'the Senate still hangs fire. But so urgent is tlie need that, the process of enlisting the negroes is said to have commenced, in spite of the lack of legislative sanction. But the effort will come too war—if the South had loved independence more than slavery, it is possible that a large and effective negro army might have been raised. But|the pride of the South was not sufficeintly subdued then to admit of so politic an act. And now that the negroes see freedom within their reach without fighting for it, they are hardly likely to bo very lavish of their blood for masters who have kept them in fetters up to the very last. “ President Lincoln’s inagural speech is said to recognise very fully the fact that the war is a Divine punishment for the sin of slavery, Most assurredly the future historian will recognise the fact, even if the present generation had failed to do so. It is a fixed law of pivine Providence that sin brings its punishment. This is as true of nations as of men, and never in the whole history of the world was there a more signal illustration of this law than has been exhibited in America. The lesson has been written in letters of fire and blood across the whole face of the slave territory, and has been taught in the North by the decimation of families and by the exhaustion of the resources of the country. President Lincoln probably does but express the convictions of a large majority of his countrymen when he persistently acknowledges the sin ad recognises the punishment.