BY WM.   H.   RUSSELL,   LL.D., Special Correspondent of the London Times. BOSTON: GARDNER A. FULLER, 112 WASHINGTON STREET. L ONDON : Trubner & Co., 60 Paternoster Row. S T E R E O T Y P E   E D I T I O N. No. TWO WILL CONTAIN A SECOND SERIES OF MR. RUSSELL’S LETTERS. A LIBERAL DISCOUNT TO THE TRADE .   CAMBRIDGE, MASS.: MILES & DILLINGHAM, Printers and Stereotypers. BY WM. H. RUSSELL, LL.D., SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT OF THE LONDON TIMES. ——— BOSTON: GARDNER A. FULLER, No. 112 Washi

I N presenting the first number of the Modern Age to the public, I have selected the letters of Mr. Russell, deeming them the most appropriate topic for the times, and worthy of an extensive circulation. That these letters are written by the most interesting correspondent of the largest, ablest, and most influential paper in the world, is sufficient proof of their merits, and that they come to us “well recommended and properly vouched for.” The universal “desire for more light” in regard to affa

W ASHINGTON , March 29, 1861. I F the intelligent foreigner, who is supposed to make so many interesting and novel observations on the aspect of the countries he visits, and on the manners of the people among whom he travels, were to visit the United States at this juncture, he would fail to detect any marked indication of the extraordinary crisis which agitates the members of the Great Republic, either at the principal emporium of its commerce, or at the city which claims to be the sole seat of

W ASHINGTON , April 1, 1861. F ROM all I have seen and heard, my belief is that the Southern States have gone from the Union, if not forever, at least for such time as will secure for their Government an absolute independence till it be terminated by war, or, if their opponents be right, by the certain processes of internal decay arising from inherent vices in their system, faulty organization, and want of population, vigor, and wealth. That the causes which have led to their secession now agita

W ASHINGTON , April 9, 1861. T HE critical position of the Federal Government has compelled its members to preserve secrecy. Never before under any Administration was so little of the councils of the Cabinet known to the public, or to those who are supposed to be acquainted with the opinions of the statesmen in office. Mr. Seward has issued the most stringent orders to the officers and clerks in his department to observe the rules, which heretofore have been much disregarded, in reference to the

Norfolk, Va ., April, 15, 1861. S UMTER has fallen at last. So much may be accepted. Before many hours I hope to stand amid the ruins of a spot which will probably become historic, and has already made more noise in the world than its guns, gallant as the defence may have been. The news will produce an extraordinary impression at New York—it will disconcert stock-jobbers, and derange the most ingenious speculations. But, considerable as may be its results in any part of the Union, I venture to s

C HARLESTON , S. C., April 21, 1861. I FIND some consolation for the disappointment of not arriving in time to witness the attack upon Fort Sumter in describing the condition of the work soon after Major Anderson surrendered it. Already I have upon my table a pamphlet entitled “The Battle of Fort Sumter and First Victory of the Southern Troops,” &c.; several “poems,” and a variety of versicules, songs, and rhetorical exercitations upon this event, which, however important as a political

A PRIL 30, 1861. N OTHING I could say can be worth one fact which has forced itself upon my mind in reference to the sentiments which prevail among the gentlemen of this State. I have been among them several days. I have visited their plantations, I have conversed with them freely and fully, and I have enjoyed that frank, courteous, and graceful intercourse which constitutes an irresistible charm of their society. From all quarters have come to my ears the echoes of the same voice; it may be fei

M ONTGOMERY , May 16, 1861. A LTHOUGH I have written two letters since my arrival at Charleston, I have not been able to give an account of many things which have come under my notice, and which appeared to be noteworthy; and now that I am fairly on my travels once more, it seems only too probable that I shall be obliged to pass them over altogether. The roaring fire of the revolution is fast sweeping over the prairies, and one must fly before it or burn. I am obliged to see all that can be seen

Montgomery, Capital of the Confederate States } of America , May 8, 1861. } I N my last letter I gave an account of such matters as passed under my notice on my way to this city, which I reached, as you are aware, on the night of Saturday, May 4. I am on difficult ground, the land is on fire, the earth is shaking with the tramp of armed men, and the very air is hot with passion. My communications are cut off, or are at best accidental, and in order to re-open them I must get further away from th

M OBILE , Alabama, May 11. T HE wayfarer who confides in the maps of a strange country, or who should rely upon even the guide-books of the United States, which still lack a Murray or a Bradshaw, may be at times embarrassed by insuperable hills and unnavigable rivers. When, however, I saw the three towering stories of the high-pressure steamer Southern Republic, on board of which we tumbled down the steep bank of the Alabama river at Montgomery, any such misgivings vanish from my mind. So coloss

M OBILE , May 16, 1861. O UR little schooner lay quietly at the wharf all night, but no one was allowed to come on board without a pass, for these wild-looking sentries are excellent men of business, and look after the practical part of soldiering with all the keenness which their direct personal interest imparts to their notions of duty. The enemy is to them the incarnation of all evil, and they hunt his spies and servants very much as a terrier chases a rat—with intense traditional and race an

M OBILE , May 18, 1861. I AVAIL myself of the departure of a gentleman who is going to New York by the shortest route he can find, to send you the accompanying letters. The mails are stopped; so are the telegraphs; and it is doubtful whether I can get to New Orleans by water. Of what I saw at Fort Pickens and Pensacola here is an account, written in a very hurried manner, and under very peculiar circumstances.   T UESDAY , May 14, 1861. Two New Orleans gentlemen, who came overland from Pensacola

New orleans , May 25, 1861. T HERE are doubts arising in my mind respecting the number of armed men actually in the field in the South, and the amount of arms in the possession of the Federal forces. The constant advertisements and appeals for “a few more men to complete” such and such companies furnish some sort of evidence that men are still wanting. But a painful and startling insight into the manner in which “Volunteers” have been sometimes obtained has been afforded to me at New Orleans. In

N ATCHEZ , Miss., June 14. O N the morning of the 3d of June, I left New Orleans in one of the steamers proceeding up the Mississippi, along that fertile but uninteresting region of reclaimed swamp lands called “the Coast,” which extends along both banks for one hundred and twenty miles above the city. It is so called from the name given to it, “La Cote,” by the early French settlers. Here is the favored land—alas! it is a fever-land too—of sugar-cane and Indian corn. To those who have very magn

C AIRO , Ill., June 20, 1861. M Y last letter was dated from Natchez, but it will probably accompany this communication, as there are no mails now between the North and the South, or vice versa . Tolerably confident in my calculations that nothing of much importance could take place in the field till some time after I had reached my post, it appeared to me desirable to see as much of the South as I could, and to form an estimate of the strength of the Confederation, although it could not be done