American affairs have scarcely advanced. In the East, General M'Clellan
is ready, it is said, for a serious advance, and this time the rumour is sufficiently authentic to recal Mr. Russell to Washington ; but nothing as yet has been achieved. In the West, General Fre- mont, giving up the expedition to New Orleans, is marching to at- tack the Confederates, with a dubious prospect of success. He has about 20,000 men under his orders, while his adversaries have 25,000, and can besides choose their own battle-ground. If he is defeated Missouri is lost, and with it the Federal cause in the slave-holding states of the West. If he succeeds, he will be by far the most powerful individual in America. Already there are symptoms abroad that the West confides in him, and not in the Government. The mere rumour that he had been superseded stopped all recruiting, and Mr. Seward was compelled to telegraph a denial of the report. Armed citizens were holding dangerous mass meetings, and the local papers were full of " Fremont's policy." Mr. Russell reports that he is the idol of the Germans, who throng into his service, and who are not very deeply penetrated with loyalty to the Union. Victory, we suspect, is becoming rapidly a political necessity for the Federal Government.
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