The Federals, under the command of General Grant, have at last achieved a brilliant success, having captured Fort Donnelson after hard fighting, and (according to their own version), have taken 15,000 prisoners and a vast amount of war material, and the Confederates were in full retreat. This success will probably be attended by political consequences of great importance, as Fort Donnelson was the key of a strong position, and its capture will open the road to further advances. Already the New York papers proclaim that the rebellion is on the point of being crushed, and great rejoicings are going on throughout the Northern States. It remains to be seen whether the South will preserve its constancy under the great difficulties which now begin to surround them, and if they will be able to maintain the strife. The Times' says: “The recent triumphs, though they have undoubtedly improved the position of the North as regards any possible negotiation for a division of territory, have scarcely brought the Federal Government any nearer than before to a reconstruction of the Union.” Fanny Kemble complains to me in a letter I received from her to-day, not only of the gross ignorance but the wilful misrepresentation of American affairs by the “Times” newspaper.
Last night at Flahault's I met Lacaita, who is about to start for Turin, by no means in good heart at the state of affairs there, and regretting the fall of Ricasoli, whom he considers to be the most honest public man in Italy.
SOURCE: Alice Countess of Stratford, Leaves from the Diary of Henry Greville: 1861-1872, pp. 25-6
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