THE CIVIL WAR IN AMERICA.

New Zealander, Volume XVIII, Issue 1718, 27 August 1862, Page 5

THE CIVIL WAR IN AMERICA.

[From the “ Time’s” Correspondent.]

New York, June 4

Sunday last, for the first time iu two months’ was a quiet day in New York. There were no second, third, or fourth editions of the newspapers hawked about Broadway by the vociferous and extortionate young Celts of the Green Isle who monopolise this branch of business, and bawl themselves hoarse with the news of defeats and victories. People were disappointed, and went to bed with the feeling that they had been defrauded of their usual stimulant. But the few who remained up till 11 o’clock were rewarded for their vigilance by the well known cry of Young Ireland, announcing a “ great victory by General M’Clellun over the rebels at Richmond.” The details were very meagre, but Monday brought fuller particulars in the shape of the official despatch from General M’Clellan to the Secretary of War, dated “ the Field of Battle, Sunday, June 1, 12 o’clock.” The battle took place on the previous day, on the banks of the Chickahominy, the attack having been commenced by the Confederates. General M’Clellan admits it to have been desperate and bloody ; stigmatizes one division of his army under General Casey as having given way unaccountably and “ disunitedly,” and ends by claiming a great victory. The Confederates no doudt claimed the victory also, and with as good reason, for, like the battle of Shiloh or Pittsburg Landing, it left both armies as they were in respect of position—both damaged, and both ready to renew the struggle on the following day, to take and to retain Richmond. On Sunday, accordingly, the fight was renewed by the Confederates, and according to General M’Clellan they were everywhere repulsed, with a Joss which he declares to have been heavy in his own army, find «enoj’ffiQqi}” m that of tbe winy, but \ybieb

subsequent despatches reduce to 800 slain upon iris side, and 1,200 of the Confederates left dead upon the battle-field. During the whole of the engagement on Sunday morning Professor Lowe’s balloon hovered over the Federal lines at an altitude of about 2,000 feet, and maintained successful telegraphic communication with General M’Clellan at his head-quarters. It is asserted that every movement of tbe Confederate armies was distinctly visible, and instantaneously reported.

Up to the time of tbe departure of the steamer for Liverpool no news has arrived of ahy renewal of the fight, so that the u great victory” resolves itself for the present into a great skirmish in which, according to Federal accounts, the Confederates had the worst of it; but which has not resulted in any decided advantage to the victors. Richmond still remains unassailed, and protected by an army which General M’Clellan admits to be superior in numbers to his own, but which is asserted to be, and possibly is, demoralized and discouraged, and aware that the ultimate capture or surrender of the city is but a question of a few days.

Such is tbe intense interest excited by the fate of Richmond—near or remote —that all other war news, however important, dwindles into insignificance compared with it. The rapid and successful march of General Fremont a hundred miles across the mountains of Western Virginia to the support of General Banks would at any other time have filled the country with delight, but is now passed over almost unnoticed. General Fremont came up with the Confederates under General Jackson within five miles of Strasburg on Sunday, and endeavoured to force an engagement, but Jackson declined the offer or the opportunity, and continued his retrograde movement, leaving Fremont to occupy Strasburg unopposed. It seems probable that tbe result of this achievement —the only one of which Fremont has yet been able to boast, will be his junction with Banks, the re-occupation by the Federals of the whole valley of the Shenandoah, and the capture of Jackson’s army; the same that so scared Washington and the whole North only eight days ago. Next to the battle of the Chickahominy, the evacuation of’Corinth by General Beauregard continues to excite in the highest degree the wonder and speculation of the public. It is not believed that Beauregard was confronted by an enemy so much more powerful than himself as to render his further occupation of the place utterly hopeless, or even that his provisions failed him to such an extent as to make a retrograde movement imperative, but that the great object of gaining time, and of driving the war into July and August, when Northern men are liable to worse diseases in a southern climate than lasitude, listlessness, and exhaustion, was themain motive of his masterly movement. Masterly it must be considered, for he was engaged for more than a fortnight in carrying it into effect without exciting the smallest suspicion on the part of an enemy whose outlying pickets were on speaking terms with his own ; and he took away nearly everything that he needed—stores, ammunition, provisions, the letters from the post-office, the invalids from the hospital,—everybody, in fact, who desired to go away, and left behind him only the dogs of the camp and a few women and old men who were too infirm or too indifferent to follow his army. General Halleck has been completely foiled. He had not the remotest notion up to the moment that Corinth was occupied by his own army that he would not have to fight one of the most obstinately bloody battles of the war ; when, as with the stroke of harlequin’s wand at a pantocaine, the foe retreated, no one knows whither or for what purpose. It will perhaps take General Halleck three months after finding out the place to invest tbe new position as he did the old. And in the meantime no one knows what may happen, what cholera or yellow fever may have done, or whether at the last moment Beauregard may not make another retreat into Texas, where it will be difficult to follow him.

The part played by the Southern women in the war lias often been remarked. General Butler, at New Orleans, has found it difficult to deal with them ; and has only made bad worse by his blundering attempt to punish the spiteful enmity which he could not prevent. A more powerful person than General Butler—the President himself, has not been more fortunate in his efforts to control the uncontrolable tongues of a few fair rebels; but he avoided the General’s blunder, aud punished the ladies without them calling bad names, or forgetting that bis own position was that of a gentleman, A Mrs. Greenhow and some others, long held in a kind of half durance and surveillance at Washington, to the great discomfort of everyone who had anything to do with them, were politely expelled the city last week, and conducted under proper escort to Baltimore, where they were set at liberty, with a caution to be discreet. But, having much zeal and no discretion, they made their exile their triumph. Having a whole host of sympathizers amid the belles of Maryland, they look care to let their arrival be promulgated by the busy voice of fashion. The result was that they held a great reception all day, and were visited by everybody who thought himself or herself worthy of being thought anybody ; and that in the evening they were serenaded by a band that did not play “ Yankee Doodle,” “ Hail Columbia,” “ The Star-spangled Banner,” or any other tune that is supposed to express or to represent the martial ardour or national patriotism of the North.

The hideous enmity of-the North against the South, and vice versa, lias risen to such a pitch that scarcely any one in either section of this once great and free Republic dares to breath a word in favour of peace. Millions may secretly pray for it, but so great is the dread felt by prominent men of the excited public opinion which raves and roars around them that few have courage to utter what many thousands feel. There has, perhaps, been more courage in this respect in Congress than anywhere else; for if a free thought—even should it be an unwelcome, or unpopular one—cannot be spoken in that Assembly, the liberties of the United States are already at an end ; but even in Congress one of the representatives of the city of New York, the Hon. Benjamin Wood, a popular man, and certain it is alleged, of re-elec-tion when his term expires, is so doubtful of his reception that he prelers to print his thoughts rather than to speak them. He had written out, and was prepared to deliver, an elaborate argument in favour of conciliation, but mistrusting the temper of his auditors and the personal reception he might meet if he ventured to stand up in bis place and speak of peace, he contented himself by informing the House in few words that he had a speech ready, that he was disinclined to speak it, and that he requested permission to have it printed and circulated among the debates of Congress. The request, which is quite proper and Parliamentary in Washington, though somewhat unusual, was at once granted, and the document has been given to the public and circulated extensively in New York, especially among the hon. gentleman’s constituents. It is a feature of the tyrannous public opinion of the time that not one of the daily journals has deemed it expedient to bestow a word of comment upon it, either in the shape of approval or of condemnation. The document is a very remarkable one, and as creditable to the courage and patriotism as to the ability of its author. As a disclosure of the unspoken sentiments of thousands of men, who only await the opportunity to break silence, it has importance here, and may have some interest in Europe. After deprecating any interference with the slave question, or any aggravation of sectional differences of opinion, and earnestly calling upon men of all parties to do their best to heal existing acrimonies and restore a free Government, Mr. Wood continues,—

“ There may be a craving for martial glories in the hearts of men, and an instinct of contention which we share iu common with the brute creation. But if ever there can be a time when a more Christian impulse should possess our souls it is now : now, when the triumph and consciousness of strength give us the noble privilege of extending the hand of conciliation without fear of degradation, or of self-reproach for cowardice. If adversity has been our excuse for sternness, let success be our plea for magnanimity. Providence has placed within the reach of the North a greater triumph than countless armed legions could conquer ; the triumph of subduing a brave enemy with a generous aud merciful policy that will disarm resentment and rekindle the old brotherly flame that perhaps is not yet totally extinct. For, after all, they are our brothers, and some softening of the ikon) Roman rigour which our Rulers have ftssunimJ

if due to that brotherhood which by untimely fereri*y may be cancelled for ever. There are gentlemen who will aay that the South must be subdued; that every armed Southerner mutt throw down his weapon and tue for mercy. Should a freeman ask so much of his brother-freeman ? Would they be worthy of companionship in our fraternity, being reclaimed at such a sacrifice of manly feeling t What would you have them dof Would you have them crouch and cringe and strew their heads with ashes and kneel at your gates for teadmiision ? They are Americans, and will not do it. No, though Roanoke and Fort Henry and Fort Donelson should be re-enacted from day to day through the lapse of bloody years, they will not do it. Give them some chance for an honourable return, or you will wipe out every chance, and the two sections will be twain for ever. You may link them to each other with chains, and pin their destinies together with bayonets, but at heart they will bo twain for ever. They are the ehildern of the same heroic stock, the joint inheritance with ourselves of the precious legacy of freedom; and it seems a sacrilege and an insult to the memories of the past that so many. Sir, should sit in your presence here to-day to goad them on to" desperate resistance, and so few—alas! so very few— to mediate and restrain. Of those few I thank my God that I am one.’’

It is a pity such noble words were not actually spoken to the Assembly they were intended to convince. Mr. Wood was equally eloquent and was possibly prophetic in the picture he drew of the fate of the American Union, should no friendly sword in Europe cut the knot of the difficulty which the North refuses to untie. “Is it possible,” he asked, —

“ That gentlemen can hope to reconstruct the Union by pursuing a policy of unrelenting severity ? Can they expect to re-establish concord and brotherly love by pushing hostilities to the extreme verge? What is the Union worth without mutual respect and reciprocated amity to bind the sections ? What! a Union of unwilling Stater, driven into companionship at the point of the bayonet, and held there hereafter by military power! Such a Union would not be worth the shedding of one brave man’s blood. We want their hearts, or we want them not at all. And we cannot conquer hearts with bayonets, although they should ontnuraber the spears of Xerxes, If not brought back by negotiation, they are gone from us for ever. To conquer them may be possible. To slay their soldiers, lay wast their lands, and burn their cities may be within our power. But to hold them in subjection, having conquered them, would in itself be a final repudiation of the first principle of Republicanism. Prosecute this war until you have established the necessity of holding a subdued section in subjection, and the world will not look in vain for a Republic on the western hemisphere.”

Nor is the peroration the least striking part of the warning voice that Mr. Wood raises in the ears of his countrymen ;

“ when the Executive hand, for the first time in our history, was interposed between the citizen and his tights, the germ was planted of a danger mightier than rebellion in its most gigantic phase; for I believe encroachments by an Executive to be in itself rebellion against the only sovereignty I acknowledge—i;he majesty of the people. I believe each step towards absolutism to be more fatal to the welfare of the Republic than any possible act within the power of the citizen to conceive and execute. 1 will resist every grasp that may be made upon an attribute of sovereignty not heretofore acknowledged to tfie Chief Magistracy; for reason and instinct, no less than the fearful examples that history has furnished from the ashes of republics, teach me that the first step, unchecked, will not be the last, but only the precurser of those giant strides by which, over the necks of betrayed freeman, ambitious men have mounted to a throne. We want a Union, Sir, of Sovereigns, not of subjects. And that our Government shall extend over a vast area to me is of less moment than that it should be purely, and strictly, and unequivocally Republican, at all times and under all conditions.’’

Mr. Wood is right, though his countrymen lag far behind him. This is the view of matters that all men not blinded by passion have long since taken—the view of all the impartial and clearsighted observers abroad, who owe the Union no allegiance, but who wish it well, and would regret to see so far an experiment of liberty as it once seemed ruined for ever by the madness of a moment. The time has not yet ceme when Americans may speak out; but it may come sooner than is generally imagined. The position of the “ irrepressible negro” is ever thrusting itself upon public attention. The war has been ostenisbly commenced on his behalf, and the rights and wrongs of poor Sambo, who seems personally to care very little about the matter, or, if he has any likings at all, seems to like his Southern master better than his Northern friend, are continually canvassed by angry patriots, the great bulk of whom wish most devoutly that there were no negroes anywhere except in Africa. The mass of the Northern people do not care a straw for the emancipation of the blacks in the South, and were they all set free to-morrow would commence a social crusade against them if they turned their faces Northward, of which the results might be more awful to the race than slavery to which the South has doomed it. All that the Northern people have hitherto desired, and all that they desire even now, is that slavery should he confined within its exisiting limits. They look with alarm and disgust at all the propositions that are made from time to time by the Abolitionists for arming the slaves against their masters, and with disapproval at the more moderate proposal of enrolling regiments of free blacks to serve under M’Clellan and Ilalleck, or wherever else they might be made useful. If they entertain at all the idea of arming the slaves it is only to put it aside as premature—a thing not to be thought ol except as an expedient to be reserved for the last extremity of national peril; and only to be adopted even then with repugnance and a deprecation of the world’s unfavourable judgment that they should resort to so desperate an expedient. But, although this is the present feeling of the North, the popular passion for conquest grows so much fiercer as the war widens, that the minor proposition of arming the free blacks is not received with the same disfavour as before, and has at last found supporters in the Council Chamber of the President. For the last month it has been rumoured that a black brigade, destined for service in Virginia, was in process of secret organization in this city, though nobody knew the place of rendezvous or the white men who were at the head of the movement. It turns out that the rumour was correct; that the Black Brigade, or Regiment, numbers already about 800 men ; and is to be commanded by a white colonel and white captains. But among the many peculiarities of this war, not the least remarkable is the erroneous estimate which the North has formed of the Southern negroes—individually and in the aggregate. It has scarcely entered into the calculations of any one that, if black armies are raised to support the Federal cause, they may be opposed by black armies in support of the Confederates, and that black may fight as desperately against black as white is fighting against white in this unnatural contest. The Southern people, allege that they are certain of the attachment and honesty of their slaves; and the Northern generals are for the most part so distrustful of the fidelity of the negroes that bring or pretend to bring information to their camps of the movements of the enemy that they discourage their visits, disbelieve their statements, or treat them either as spies, or prisoners. Ninety-nine people out of a hundred, whatever may be the colour of their skin, take their opinions from the mass around them. The Northern negroes are for this reason Federals; the Southern negroes are for the same reason as decidedly Confederates. A proposition which was first'made in a Richmond journal for the immediate levy of a negro army of 10,000 or 20,000 men, to oppose either the “ Yankee niggers” that may be brought into the field or the themselves, has met with the general approval of the South. If such an array were raised, and commanded by white Confederate officers, it is the opinion of the Abolitionists here that it would strike for its own freedom and for that of its race, or desert on the battle-field. But is not this opinion founded in misconception of the negro character? Hitherto the whole experience of tho war supports the view that, as a rule, the Southern negro is warmly attached to his master, and that be would not only obey his orders with the utmost faithfulness and docility, but fight for him to the last extremity. And should the war last for another year, or be protracted far into the present summer, it will not surprise those who know the negro character best to learn that not 20,000 negroes only, but 100,000 have been enrolled in the South, and that they will hate the “ Yankees” quite as intensely as their masters do, aud fight against them with as much determination.

ouly bo irksome but also expensive, and that the cost must finally fall upoq the articles themselves.