NEWS OF THE WEEK.
THE civil war in America, expected ever since the election of Mr. Lincoln, has begun in earnest. The fall of Fort Sumpter, re- ported last week, was regarded by both sides as the signal for hostili- ties. The news, while it created unbounded enthusiasm in the South, roused in the North that passionate sensitiveness individual Americans so frequently display. Immediately on receipt of the despatch, announcing the evacuation of the fort, the President ap- pealed to the Act passed in 1794, to enable Washington to suppress the whisky riots in Pennsylvania. Under its provisions he can call for aid without waiting for Congress, and, accordingly, on 15th April, he demanded 73,391 men from all the States not openly in revolt. He informed the State Governors at the same time that the first service assigned to the force would be to repossess the forts, places, and property seized from the Union. In the Free States, where the inaction of the Government has been for some time only tolerated, the proclamation was received with a tumult of applause. In New York, the most important State, both from its Southern sym- pathies and its wealth, the Legislature voted 3,000,000 dollars for war purposes, with only one dissentient. Lists were opened in the city for volunteers, and so great was the rush to inscribe names, that the police were called out to preserve order. The numerous regiments of volunteers in the city expressed their eagerness to defend the flag of the Union, and numerous bodies of partisans, under popular commanders, commenced starting for Washington. It was believed that the State would furnish thirty thousand men, but we do not perceive that they have started. It is sig- nificant that the mob of New York, always supposed to be specially favourable -to slavery, threatened the anti-national news- papers, and attacked the editor of the Herald, who was obliged to change his politics somewhat summarily. The Legislature of Pennsylvania also voted a loan of three million of dollars, and one man instantly offered fifty thousand dollars for preliminary expenses, and a bank sent in the same sum. Two regiments were organized for immediate despatch to Washington, and, as Pennsylvania would be in immediate danger if Washington were lost, the whole armed popu- lation may be relied on for defence. In Rhode Island, where the South considered itself secure, the governor, Mr. Sprague, a young and wealthy man, offered a regiment, with himself as commandant, and his offer was accepted. Massachusetts raised and sent a regi- ment within forty-eight hours of the declaration of war, and this regiment was the first to shed blood in the cause. The Free West was, of course, in a wild condition of excitement. Ohio instantly raised twenty thousand and Illinois thirty thousand men, while Indiana doubled her proper contingent. The movement in all these States is still scarcely organized, 1:.iut no doubt remains that all, North and West, heartily approve of open war.
The effect of the proclamation in the Border States was widely different. The planters there regarded the call to arms as a menace of coercion insulting to themselves. North Carolina accordingly seized the Federal forts. Virginia seceded, and declared herself a member of the Southern Confederacy. Tennessee offered President Davis ten thousand men. Kentucky blankly refused to comply.with Mr. Lincoln's requisition, as also did Missouri. The action' of Arkansas is not reported, but the State is considered gone, and of all the Border States, Maryland and Delaware alone are doubtful. De-
laware is a small State which will soon be free, and which is exposed to attack by sea, adheres steadily to the Union. Maryland has not seceded, but the Secret Society, founded on the order of the Lone Star, actively hostile to the Union, and has struck the first stroke. The Massachusetts regiment was the first to move, and on the 19th April arrived at Baltimore. Here, on its passage through the city it was attacked by the crowd with brickbats, stones, and revolvers. The regiment seems to have behaved patiently, but was at last compelled to fire, and in the scuffle ten or eleven persons were killed on each side. The mob then proceeded, it is said, to destroy the bridges be- tween Baltimore and Washington over which reinforcements must pass to Washington, but this incident is not completely confirmed. The rails, however, have been taken up. On the same day the Vir- ginians made an attempt to seize Harper's Ferry, the Federal Arsenal, and Norfolk the Federal Navy Yard. At Harper's Ferry the comman- dant finding himself defenceless piled up powder and straw in the buildings and fired them, destroying fifteen thousand stand of arms, and large quantities of stores. His small force was pursued by the citizens, but retreated in safety to Pennsylvania with a loss of only two men. The Virginians also made an attempt on Norfolk, sinking three boats in front of the Navy Yard, which contains the Merrimac, a splendid steam frigate, and five sloops of war. It is believed, how- ever, that the Merrimac can sweep away these obstacles, and as the vessel's armament is strong enough to destroy the town, all attack is not probable.
In the South, President Davis answered the proclamation by another, granting letters of marque to Southern privateers, which again called forth a resolution from Mr. Lincoln, that all Southern privateers captured should be treated as pirates. Mr. Davis also assembled his own Congress, which will vote, it is believed, one hundreci and fifty thousand men. So intense is the war feeling in the South, that one hundred thousand men are said to be already enrolled and armed. The loan of three and a half millions is al- ready subscribed, and the Southern leaders threaten an attack on Washington.
The capital stands in a bad military position, surrounded on all sides by slave soil. The only roads to it from the north, west, and south lie through Maryland or Virginia. To the east it is accessible from the sea, but to reach it vessels must pass up the deep bay called the Chesapeake, the safe entrance to which depends on Norfolk, and then up the Potomac, which may be in the hands of the Virginians. A powerful squadron has already been despatched to the American coast to protect British rights, Mr. Lincoln having declared all the ports of the South in a state of blockade. The British Government may possibly demand that the blockade be made effectual ; but Lord Sohn Russell stated, on Thursday, that the policy of the British Go- vernment was to keep aloof from the contest. The war, however, opens up all sorts of international questions. The British Govern- ment, for example, cannot respect the rights of the belligerents. when exercised by the South, or prohibit British subjects from taking up arms upon the Northern side, or tolerate the seizure of British vessels by either party.
