NEWS OF THE WEEK.
THREE important documents have been added during the week to the history of the American civil war, and will be found in another column. The first iapoint of interest, though not of time, is a letter from Mr.. Seward, Secretary of State, to Mr. Dayton, the new'. Minister to France. Mr. Faulkner, Mr. Buchanan's nominee, had expressed to M. Thouvenel his conviction that the President would consent to the secession, that them., were divisions in the Cabinet, and that public opinion was opposed to the coercion of seceding .states... Mr. Seward, therefore, in despatching a new Minister, directs him to disabuse M. Thouvenel ofthese impressions, to inform him distindly that no disruption of the Union, peaceable or otherwise, will be permitted, and that the tinted States have accepted civil war as an inevitable necessity: These views were un- derstood before, but their publication in a diplomatic form is the most explicit assurance yet received of the warlike policy accepted by the Cabinet of Washington. As such they have been published throughout the North, and received everywhere with applause. The second paper is the first message of Mr. Davis to his Congress, which is as wordy as if it had been spoken from the Capitol. The first and most important section is an elaborate apology for the right of every state to secede, based upon the argument that the Union was framed by' the voluntary alliance of independent States. This argument is answered in the third paper, a letter to the Times, signed J. L. M., and emanating, we presume, from the pen of John Lothrop Motley. Mr. Motley argues that, although the original Constitution was federal, the Constitution of 1787 was accepted with the special.view of turning a federation of States into a nation. It was ratified by the people, not by States, and its authority, which extends .to questions of life and death, is exercised directly, and not through the State Governments. These papers, which place the legal part of the dispute fairly before the world, will well repay perusal, even in the 'condensed form to which our space condemns the advo- cate of the North.- The question to English minds seems past the province of the jurist. In the message quoted, Mr. Davis asserts that he has thirty- five thousand men under arms, sixteen thousand of whom are on their way northwards through Virginia. He recommends the raising of one hundred thousand men for the war, exclusive of volunteers, and announces a treaty of alliance offensive and defensive with Virginia. Two steamers have been purchased for the navy, and contracts made for ordnance, shot, and shell. He recommends that the Brigadier- Generals of the army be raised to the rank of General, and that a school of military 'education be established as speedily as may be. These words are followed up by vigorous action. By the latest accounts, which extend to 11th May, a powerful force, called one hundred thousand men, was marching from the South on Washing. ton; Tennessee had beenreceived within the Confederacy; Virginia was raising her militia to-twenty thousand men, under General Lee ; and Federal troops in Texas had been compelled to surrender.
Ou the other hand, it is announced that thirty-five thousand men are concentrated in Washington, and troops are arriving in great numbers from every point of the North. Relay House, the point at which the Ohio railway joins that of Maryland, has been taken by the 'Federal force, and a forward movement was, on 8th May, commenced upon the city of Baltimore. The city of Baltimore was thus invested from all sides : one force at the Relay House, cutting off communica- tion with the West; another advancing from Harrisburg, threatening the city from Pennsylvania; a third closing up the Susquehanna; and a fourth embarked on a fleet occupying the harbour. The force at Relay House marched in on 13th May, and Baltimore submitted without a struggle. The bridges between the city and the capital have all been repaired, and the route vid Annapolis thrown open to the public. Pre- parations are announced to retake Harper's Ferry, Fort Monroe, and Norfolk, and to drive the Virginians from a point they have occupied on the Maryland bank of the Potomac. The President continues the enlistn;tent of volunteers for three years, and a large majority of the volunteer corps have accepted the terms. It is calculated that an army of one hundred thousand men, engaged for that term, will be ready in August, though they cannot move into the South until November. Up to that time the climate would be more dangerous than the enemy; the " cold weather" in the Carolinas, as in India, being the season for campaigns. Thirty thousand more volunteers are ready organized in New York, Pennsylvania, and New England, and the telegraph reports the Western levies at a quarter of a million. It is probable that the turn-out is very general, but that number must be an exaggeration, unless it includes the home guard. The enthusiasm in the North has scarcely diminished, and the subscrip- tions of the States, cities, and individuals, in aid of the war, amount to 23,000,000 dollars. Maryland has voted for adherence to the Union, but condemns the action of the President, and is suspected at the North of intending treachery. Western Virginia has called a con- vention to set up a separate Free State and join the Union. Ken- tucky still remains neutral, but her efforts to induce Indiana to follow the same policy have failed. Missouri, though Southern as a State,.has raised four regiments for the Government, and her capital has been seized by Federal troops. Washington is placed under martial law, and beneral Scott seems confident of a successful defence.
It is rumoured that Mr. Davis intends to resign the Presidency of the Confederation, and assume the personal command of her armies— a wise step if he can rely on appointing his own nominee to the vacant chair, but otherwise, not so wise. There is talk, too, of appointing him Dictator of Virginia.
There are some faint signs of reaction perceptible in New York. The 7th, the "pet regiment," intends to return from Washington after its month of service is up. There are rumours of a party which will oppose the Republicans, and the Herald, which has been quiescent for some days, ventures to publish an article headed "Black Repub- licanism." The feeling does not, however, extend beyond the city, and the arrival of the Western men will soon release the President from his dependence on one section of the country.
