GENERAL SUMMARY.

New Zealander, Volume XVIII, Issue 1717, 23 August 1862, Page 3

GENERAL SUMMARY.

(From the “ Home New»,” June 26.) The narrative of the civil war in America during the last month is, upon the whole, favourable to the South ; but it leaves the problem of the future as difficult of solution as ever. The first incident is a very complete victory by water. The Federal iron-clad squadron was completely beaten by the Confederates, at a point about seven miles below Richmond. The flotilla consisted of the redoubted Monitor ; the Nangatuck, which is not exactly a sister ship to the Monitor, although constructed on a somewhat similar principle ; the Galena, a steam sloop, which had been hastily equipped to match the Merriraac ; and two other iron-clad ships, carrying, we arc told “ long guns.” These vessels proceeded up the James River for the purpose of co-operating with General M'Clellan’a army; and their ascent up the stream appears to have been unimpeded till they arrived at Fort Darling. At that place, the navigation was artificially closed by chains and sunken vessels and piles, and a strong battery had been thrown up on a precipi- — Ki.'tr t,

After four hours’ fighting, and a loss of® oP ° lloo ° men, they were forced to retreat. The Monitor, it appears, could not elevate her guns in the cupola to hit the high battery. The 100-pounder of the Naugatuck exploded at the first fire, and she too was rendered useless. The Galena was pierced by no fewer than eighteen shots,—a fact which shows that the vertical fire from the fort must have found out some weak points in her armour. The whole squadron, thus disabled, dropped down to Jamestown Island, off Williamsburg. The next success of the Confederates was on land, and in another direction. Confident in their power of overrunning Virginia, and with their forces close upon the capital of the South, the Federate appear to have concentrated their whole attention upon Richmond, and to have thought it advisable, and, strange to say, not unsafe, to strengthen M'Dowell by drawing off large bodies of troops from the division under General Banks, who was in possession of Winchester, upon which he had fallen back after his recent repulse. By this movement, General Banks’s command was reduced to 4000 men, the Federate never dreaming of the likelihood of a renewal of the attack in that quarter. The opportunity, however, was good to be lost ; and the Confederates advanced upon him 15,000 strong. Against inch odds there was nothing left but flight. Winchester was, accordingly, precipitately abandoned, and the flying General never slacked rein till he put the Potomac between him and his pursuers. Along the whole of their route, the slaughter was heavy and incessant. The loss of the Federate is not known, but it must have been considerable ; and at Winchester, a vast amount of military stores fell into the hands of the Confederates. The bare prospect of the Southern troops entering Maryland, and following up their triumph by an advance upon Washington, which would have been quite easy, produced a panic in the capital. It never witnessed such a scene of terror before. The people, however, were soon reassured. The President took immediate possession of all the lines of railroad for military purposes, recruiting began afresh, with as much alacrity as of old, and Banks’s division was speedily reinforced. Several regiments hastened to the protection of Washington ; but in the meanwhile, the threatened danger had passed away. The Confederates having driven the enemy off the soil, had quietly returned to Winchester. Banks being reinforced, speedily retrieved his misfortune by re-crossing the Potomac. At the same time, General Fremont executed a rapid march of a hundred miles through the mountains of Western Virginia, for the purpose of effecting a junction with him, Jackson’s army abandoning Strasbourg as he approached, according to the tactics now almost universally adopted by the Confederate generals. The valley of the Shenandoah is, therefore, again occupied by the Federate.

At Corinth, General Beauregard has pursued a similar course, quietly evacuating the town, and carrying away with him everything he required. It is suspected that this noiseless and mysterious retreat—for nobody knows in what direction ho has retired—is merely the screen of ulterior designs. It is very likely that the Confederates are playing this Parthian game simply to gain time. Summer is coming ; and summer is their most powerful ally. At New Orleans the spirit of resistance to the new powers continues to manifest itself in all possible shapes short of open violation of the law. General Butler has allowed himself to be so much incensed by the patriotism of the ladies, that he has issued a proclamation against them, which has the merit of being the most disgraceful military order that ever appeared in the civilised world. It is decreed by this order, that ladies who offer any offence to the soldiers, shall be treated as women of the town “ plying their vocation !” The effect produced by this announcement upon the people of every country in Europe may readily be conceived ; and the burst of indignation which broke out from the whole press of the Continent at once drew a marked and shuddering ■line between the moral sense of the new world and the old. The subject has been alluded to in both Houses of Parliament, and Ministers have not hesitated to speak of it in those terms of manly indignation which it is peculiarly calculated to provoke. It is by no means clear that the American government has thought it necessary to visit this monstrous act with any mark of displeasure. A Washington paper announces that General Butler has been succeeded as military commandant of New Orleans by General Sheplcy ; but in fact, General Sheplcy was appointed to that subordinate function by General Butler himself, who, for all we know to the contrary, still holds the supreme appointraenfof general commanding the department of the Gulf. We shall be ready to acknowledge that the American government has purified itself of this infamy, when we hear that General Butler has been dismissed the service, and declared incapable of carrying arms under the Federal flag for the rest of bis life. Returning to Richmond, the present centre of interest in this war, we find the Federals moving slowly forward towards the capital, taking possession of Hanover Court-house, which stands between Richmond and Fredericksburg, and establishing their lines almost within sight of the town. This position excited the most intense anxiety, and the universal hush of expectation was soon followed by the roar of battle. The conflict took place almost under the walls of Richmond, and although in no sense decisive, the engagement was fierce and sanguinary. In order that the action may bo properly understood, it is necessary to indicate the nature ot the ground on which it occurred. The Chickahominy River, running from the north of Richmond in a south-easterly direction down to the James River, is crossed by two roads—one leading direct to Richmond, by railway, and the other to a turnpike road lying to the south, at a place called Bottom’s Bridge. A part of M'Clellan’s army had crossed by this latter road during the week ending on Saturday, May 31; and General Casey’s division, consisting of 6000 men, was posted in advance between the two roads. On the morning of Saturday, a terrific storm burst over the camp, and the valley of the Chickahominy became flooded. In this state of things, communication with the Federal troops on the opposite bank of the river became difficult; and the Confederates, promptly availing themselves of these tempting circumstances, descended in great numbers, some say no less than 35,000 strong, upon the division of General Casey, which was soon thrown into disorder, and, after a vain effort to rally, fled in confusion, leaving twelve batteries of artillery and all its baggage in the hands of the enemy. The Federal troops, however, were speedily made aware of the havoc that was going forward, and in the course of the afternoon two divisions were brought up to the rescue, followed by reinforcements from the main body of the army. The contest continued till nightfall, and was renewed by the Confederates on the following morning. By this time the Federals had collected in force, and making a desperate struggle to recover their ground, succeeded in driving the Confederates back at the point ot the bayonet. The final result was the re-occupation of their original positions by both armies, with a loss variously stated, but admitted by M'Clcllan to amount at his own side to nearly 6000, between killed, wounded, and missing. The victory is claimed by the North. But all the advantages of it arc obviously on the side of the South. If the North had succeeded, something more would have happened than the bare recovery, at a heavy loss of life, on the second day, of the ground from which they had been beaten on the first day. It is very certain, upon Mr. M‘Clcllan’s own showing, that the North has gained nothing by this engagement; and not to gain in such a case is to sustain a moral discomfiture. The issue, one way or the other, does not much alter the aspect of affairs at Richmond. It is to be expected that the capital will ultimately fall into the hands of the patient general who is investing it; if not by military skill, perhaps by starvation. But the sequel of the war is as far off* as ever. The Southerners are not to he subdued by an invading army. Vanquished in one place, they spring up in another; and the restoration of the heptarchy may be considered quite as probable an event as the restoration of the old republic of America. Nothing of moment has occurred since. The flood in the valley has extended over a surface of about three-quarters of a mile in extent, and M'Clellan is endeavouring, day and night, to construct bridges to enable him to cross the river. Should he succeed in this object, ho will take the enemy in flank, and advance his troops to within an hour’s march of Richmond. It is believed that M'Dowell is on his way to form a junction with him, and that the final attack is delayed till his arrival.

From Charleston news comes of an engagement in which the Federal® claim the honours of war. They have established themselves close to the town, but have not yet taken it. The Confederate garrison has been reinforced by troops said to have been detached by Beauregard from the main body of his army. A strong desire exists in Europe to bring this fruitless war to a conclusion, and rumours of negotiations have gone the rounds of the principal journal*. No actual negotiations, however, have been opened, nor is it likely that any mediation will be attempted until the Americans themselves are prepared and willing to receive it. In the present state of things voluntary interposition would be mischievous. England and France must wait a decisive blow, for which they may long wait in vain, or they must wait to be asked.

The Italian Parliament has passed a vote of confidence in ministers, with direct reference to the arrests at Brescia and Bergamo; and the accounts given on all sides lead to the conclusion that harmony has been restored between Garibaldi and the government. The ghostly carousal that has been going forward in Rome, in celebration of a new' batch of saints, is not without its political significance, The cardiualS|

bishops, and priests of all degrees assembled to assist at the canonisation of the Japanese roartrys, have addressed the Pope in defence of the temporal rights of the Holy See, and his Holiness in reply has appealed to their support on that vital point in an Allocution which declares the temporal power indispensable and indefeasible. It was originally understood that; this gathering was to be strictly ecclesiastical for religious purposes, and here is the fruit of that understanding. The problem is getting more and more knotted every hour. The Pope is said to have transmitted an official communication to the French government, announcing his final determination never to enter into any compromise; and the Turin Parliament, with the consent of the government, have agreed upon an address, in reply to the Pope’s Allocution, the object of which is to set aside the doctrine of the temporal power, and to assert the opposite doctrine that Rome belongs to the Italian people. The King, upon receiving this address, has not hesitated to endorse the national doctrine. Thus when an adverse wind blows from the Vatican, it is sure to be answered by a hurricane from Turin,,

The news that a check had been sustained by the French in Mexico has been fully confirmed. Reinforcements, at first to the number of five thousand, to be increased if necessary', are to be forwarded immediately to the scene of contention, and no efforts are to be spared to insure the success of the enterprise. _ The conduct of Franco in this business is altogether inexplicable; not only because it is not at all apparent what she can gain by conquest, but because the war itself, contrary to all example, is really unpopular in France. Nor can it bo pushed much farther without exciting jealously in other quarters. The Spanish government does not affect to conceal its vexation, and the minister has already declared that, if there be a throne in Mexico, he is not prepared to sec it filled by any but a Spanish prince. American prejudices and theories have also to be conciliated; so that the troubles of France in that quarter cannot be said to have fairly commenced yet. So far as England is concerned, the whole affair is a matter of indifference. It does not concern us in any way; except that wc may be supposed to have an interest in the distant, and perhaps not very profitable, absorption of a considerable portion of the French array.

The question of retrenchment was brought forward by Mr. Stansfeld in the House of Commons in a speech distinguished by ability, precision, and moderation. There was, in fact, as Lord Palmerston observed, no difference between Mr. Stansfeld and the Government in this matter of economy, but a difference of substantives and adjectives. Had the discussion lain between Mr. Stansfeld and the Administration, it might have been very easily settled; but at the eleventh hour Mr. Walpole announced his intention to propose an amendment which, although by no means hostile in expression, possessed a peculiar significance, coming, as it did, from so prominent a member of the Opposition. Lord Palmerston at once took up his ground on this amendment; and before Mr. Stanfield addressed the House, he narrowed the whole debate to this single issue, declaring that he regarded Mr. Walpole’s amendment as involving literally a vote of confidence, and distinctly informing the House that he should consider any debate which arose upon it as bearing upon that point alone. This bold and adroit proceeding made him at once master of the situation. The Opposition declared that they had no intention to upset the Government. There had been a meeting at Lord Derby’s the day before, when it was unanimously agreed that no such attempt should be made. Lord Palmerston, however, refused to receive any assurances. It was a vote of confidence or nothing. Driven to this extremity, Mr. Walpole withdrew his amendment, the discussion was taken on Mr. Stansfeld’s motion, and a majority of 367 against 65 declared in effect that while economy in the public business was highly desirable, the country had the fullest confidence in the administration of the revenue by the present Government. Debates have been raised also on the cotton supply from India, and the continuation of the fortifications now in course of completion for our coast defences. On both questions the views of the Government were adopted by the House. Our current domestic annals are unusually scanty of incidents. The Exhibition absorbs nearly all other topics. The receipts have considerably improved since the doors were thrown open to the masses, and the management finds its account in the rush of shilling visitors. I3ut the guarantors arc by no means out of the wood yet; and although their prospective risk is diminishing every day, nobody is sanguine enough to expect its extinction. But it is not yet quite safe to prophecy. If the weather be favourable, there is no saying what may happen. The largest number that has yet visited the Exhibition in one day by payment was 61,311, and should the attendance keep near to that rate during the 90 days still before us everybody will be secured, and a surplus remain over.