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The Ho** of Representatives, before aa
jO . .ni„g unanimously adopted the foUowmg
That.be thanks of the House of
‘‘ w ’ tit -.- ar<* hereby tendered to the
Ti' Pr Thw S Bocock. for the distinguished
lion, in .t**cv njicl impartiality,
Which hebas presided' over Its sessions du
"'The'peakTr 0 Mr. Bocock, in response to this
resolution, addressed the House as follows :
GrrUnrvn of the How of RepreterOcUtvet :
Itefore performing my last official act asSjx-ak
erW.’Sou*. you wilt
f nurtini? observation*. <>'»r iaiK»rs ar<
ur reLrd is made up. and as it stands.
alTiist go down to the remotest generations.
r i*Kiu is a -uilfiiiii reflection
tim( . of a. lion is alway- a time of deling,
me vim o , n t nreiudice. The future
<■» • •* >•«»•
“hich * human hand can uplift, and no rnor
’,e“”in penetrate. The past alone is fixed
ir \ n 4 i,ow as we stand and look back over toe
hist ,ry of the last two years, the mists already
begin to Dissolve, the clouds to lift themselves
up and our pathway to grow clear and distinct
in the calm light of reason and reflection. W e
„ee now more clearly than ever before the
dread responsibility which has rested upon us ,
and how deeply our action has involved the
safety of our country and the best interests ot
mankind. As we stand and contemplate, bow
iltlo appear the momentary ebullitions of pas
sion Miich may have caused us to walk un
steady in the path of duty ; awl how criminal
it at any time, an unholy selfishness has caus
ed any of us to depart therefrom. If. howev
er, notwithstanding our best and truest efforts,
wo have in any thing fallen short of what the
oi- asion seemed to require, it in our Privilege
to plead in our own defence that infirmity ol
human nature, from which no mortal man isex
einpt; and as the Speaker of the House of Com
mons is accustomed, at the beginning of his
terra, to stand before the Sovereign of the land,
and claim the ancient rights and privileges of
the body over which he presides,?so I now,
standing here at the end of my term, claim in
your name, against all menkind, that charity of
judgment, and kindness of criticism, which all
have so much reason to desire.
In order correctly to appieciate the action of
this House, and of this Congress, it is proper
to bear in mind the circumstances by which we
have been surrounded, and the difficulties we
have had 'o encounter.
We have been called to legislate for an infant
nation, struggling witli some of the embarrass
ments within that usually attend anew politi
cal organization, and assailed from without b>
war—and such a war! So vast in its dimen
sions; so unexampled in its ferocity ; so alto
gether unchristian nid unholy in its spirit; and
so exacting in its demands. And why waged
—because we have assailed another people?
By no means; but simply because we have pre
sumed to assert, the inalienable right so dear
to our patriot fathers of ’76, and so necessary
to our own safety—the right to govern our
selves
To meet the requirements of such a war, has
indeed been no easy task; to give the men and
the money. And yet wo have not shrank from
the perlonuanee of this duty. When in the
spring ot 1862, tbo failure of the State Legisla
tures to furnish us with a sufficient number of
troops, raised by State authority, rendered it
essential that prompt and strong measures
should ho taken by us, we boldly resorted to
the measure of conscription, then new in this
country; and thus we saved alike our army
and our cause. And since that time, as the ex-
igencies of the service have required it, wohavo
enlarged the scop of that law, and lessened
-the number exempted trom its opeviit'uiti, till
nt last, by u recent enactment, it is believed,
that wwlnivh made it as efficient as present cir
cumstances will allow. It might have appear
ed to some desirable that every able-bodied
man should bo put in the field, but to do so
would he to cripple and prostrate those indus
trial and producing interests, on which the sup
port of tho army depends. On the other hand,
it was necessary, so far us practicable, to swell
our army, eise those producing interests them
selves might he all over run and destroyed.
In order to aijn, equip, feed and pay our
soldiers, it inis been necessary that we should
have control cf very large supplies of money
or credit. Tho money could not be had. be
cause it was not attainable in the country, and
the stringency of the 111 >ckade cut off’ that for
eign trade through which it might have been
brought in. To push our credit to extreme lim
its without oppressive taxation accompanying
it, would Vie t«>destroy ilmtcredit Itself, llencc
the.difficulties in which our tiuances have be
come involved.
Shallow thinkers have said that those finan
cial difficulties were easy enough to remove, if
Congress would only act. They seemed to
tb nk that by some smart parliamentary ma
menvre, some cunning trick of legislation, our
debts could he paid off, and money brought in
to our coffers, lt is only those who have ex
plored the subject thorough))-, that have been
able to know the full extent, of these' difficul
ties. This Congress has given to the subject a
long, patient, laborious and earliest iuvestiga
tion. What the effect of 'he measures recently
adopted will ;be, I need not detain you to
predict. Time must determine this. Hut 1 »vill_
say that they are strong and thorough in their"
< haraotcr. aud afford proof to the people, tiitit
those whom they have entrusted with represen
tative duties jn this Congress, have not wanted
the npivo to adept any measure however strong,
if in their judgment the emergency required it.
Jt should be remembered, however, in this
connection, that legislation bfoften, and espe
cially oil difficult subjects, but a compromise of
oontiictiug views, not only among the different
members of the same body, but also between
the two bodies that makeup the Congress.
When we can not get*what we think is best,
wt* may be forced to take the best we can get.
£,e, it be further remembered, that the legis
lation on the subjects to which 1 have alluded
has not been shaped for individual benefit, but
for the good of iije country.
If some have been sent to the Held, it was be
came it was thought they could there best sub
serve the country's interest; if others have
been left at home, it was not for their own
\ase or comfort, but because that was supposed
to be the held oil which they could best wage
the war. If some have been taxed more hea
vily, while the hand of taxation has borne more
lightly on others, it has been so devised, be
cause such a system was thought to be, on the
whole, the Itest t'oi the country’s good. There
can lie no general plan tbit will not operate
unequally in individual cases. That it does so,
is therefore no conclusive argument against it.
If any shall be made to feel discomfort aud
hardship, let me tell them that, in a war like
this, discomfort and hardship must be, to a
greater ot less degree, the lot of all. Ho wlio
expects now to repose in ease and conitort, is
as unreasonable as the sailor, who, while the
storm is raging around, mid his good ship strug
gling with the dashing billows, asks to be al
lowed to go down and take a comfortable and
quiet snooze in his berth below.
Tocooiplain of having to give up a pftit of
n man's property, if necessary, for the good of
the cause*, is. of all tilings- thy most nmcasan
iible. It is given up to «‘vo the remainder.
If we achieve our independence, we must have
men aud money. Without both, we are un
done ; aiul what then will we save .
We will not save our soldiers fiom the dan
gets and privations Os the battle field ; for, if
triumphant over us, iu the insolence of their
pride. tho Government at Washington will
speedily seek to avenge some fancied wrong,
Hgaiost England or France, or both ; ami as
sveil to rid themselves of a population tliey
fear, as xo carry out purposes of revenue, they
wdl put our' bravo boys in the front ot their
battle. And then these, off the plains 0 f Mex
ico or Canada, ill suffer, in i:*a service of a
hated master, greater privations and hardships
than they now feel fighting at their own doors
in defence of their homes, their families and
their firesides.
Will we save ouijproperty v By imperial edict
it has already been declared that our laborers
no longer our property, and acts of couiis
caiion stand ou the Statute Book, ready, when
ever the power is given, to dutch our lands
and other property. Doubt it who will, sub
jugation brings destitution.
J T be j tK .; r ine is that rebels have no rights, and
when did Yaukee cupidity ever consent to re
li louisb what Y'ankee power could hold The
unprincipled mercenaries ot their army have
an apatite for plunder mat the wolf ol the
desert might behold with envy .
What have they done with the country they
have ove.ruL ' Think of our desolated fields,
our smouldering houses, the wives and chil
dren of worthy citizens, roaming houseless and
homeless through the land, seeking shelter ami
begging subsistence. Think, too, ot oui noble
hovs whose bones are bleaching on a thou, and
bailie fields, or who are now sutK-ring « hv
i, death iu Northern dungeons. I bulk of all
these things, and then think of your money
Jn view ot these dread reaUties let all sedi
tious complainings be forever hushed in the land
V. r i«i any man be deluded with the idea that
t „„ulv submission peace msv be .obtained
ViCe eVU avoided He who has watched
• ; . the progress of this war will ha. e
S.W*. * “»sf
have in that same proportion the
strength and violence of the abolition and fa
paucai par./ hate airo increased. Lei iheui j
get • outiol over u* to-mo,row. aud '.Hat part*
will haie a Laic of puwer that will
last for a generation. In such aa event, there
might be a few who would wish to see us .ra
ttened to our former status and the old Lnion
re-established, but their vi ices would be lost
in the wild whirlwind and tempest of fanatical
triumph and fury. Men want peace—do we
not all want peace? l'eace! how gladly would
w e had its advent! How anxiously do we watch
for its coming. Aye. “we wait for it, as one
who waiteth for the morning.’ Our fancy
strains .o catch the rustling sound of its w hite
wings as it desceuds and hovers over us, like a
messenger from on high. We lift ourselves
up to meet the soft and sweet accents of its sal
utation—as soft and sweet as the whisperings
of an angel's voice.We listen with eager ears
for the faintest echo of its feathery foottalla up
on our door-ways as it seeks to re-enter its ac
customed haunts. While the imagination la
bors and agonizes with the thought, a bright
scene opens up around us. The roar of the
cannon is hushed; the clangor of arras is heard
no more; bonfires blaze on every hill-top, and
the notes of congratulation -and rejoicing
vibrate on every breeze. The son is restored
to hi- mother; the brother to hid fond sister,
and the bridegroom to his long-lost bride.-
The family circle is reunited, andjbeams from
love-lighted eyes shed a halllowed brightness
through every household. The scene charms
and melts the heart. But a bloody fiand is
suddenly stretched forth to mar its beauty—it
vanishes away, and leaves in its stead the dread
realities of war. Honorable peace we all de
sire, but our enemy will not allow us this.—
There is another sort of peace that submission
would give us. It is the peace that waits on
the lootsteps of the conqueror: the peace that
wa< proclaimed in that famous announcement,
“Peace-reigns in Warsaw!” It is a peace
whose mildest attribute is cheerless, endless,
hopeless slavery. Better anything than this !
Aye there is yet another sort of peace, which is
greatly to be preferred to it—the peace of the
charnel house I the silence of the grave. Pity
is sometimes expressed for those, who are mark
ed out, in the case of the success of our enemies,
to he tried and executed for treason. In that
event, their fate, in ray opinion, is not the most
to be deplored. Far better the gallows, the
.-take, an thing rather than slavery to a na
tion, whose chief and representative men are
Butler! Sickles! Sumner and the like. What
brave and manly heait is there that would not,
from the height of the gibbet, look down with
pity and contempt upon those mean ?.nd abject
wretches, who have turned from the cause ol
their own injured South, because it appears
weak, and, by mean compliance and sycophant
ic servility, have sought tocoiiiinend themselves
to the U rant who wishes to enslave us. Wash
ington in chains would have looked with con
tempt upon Arnold in purple ! Think ol'
Stonewall Jackson in his bloody shroud, aud
then think -of Andrew Johnson in his pride of
power !
Biit why speak of subjugation now? What
is there, in our present condition, to make such
an event in the least degree probable ? We
have resisted the utmost power of tho enemy
now for three years, and are as unsubdued as
ever! Contrast our prfsent condition with
what it was two years ago, when this Congress
opened, and what is there to discourage us?
The sad reverse at Spring Mill, or Fishing
Creek, was then iresh in our midst; the Roan
oke disaster had just occurred ; Forts Henry
and Donelson had just fallen; the coming
calamities at Nashville and New Orleans were
already sending forward the fatal men that
heralded their approach: and the army ot
Northern Virginia, a short time before buoyant
with hope and resplendent with success, now
weak and wasted, were actually preparing to
fall back upon Richmond.
Who does not remember that .dark and dls
maf 22d of February, on which the President
was inaugurated with its thick clouds over
head, its rain dripping carelessly down, 'and
the earnest, anxious countenances of lae as
sembled multitue ? Gloom rested on every
thing, hut more especially on the minds of the
people.
Since then we have lost much territory and
several strong points of defence, but consider
what we have gained.
We have learned in a great degree to live
within ourselves, and within ourselves to main
tain and support our armies. We have learned
to bear privation and suffering for the sake ot
our cause. The hearts of our people have be
come practised in the vicissitudes of war, pleas
ed with success, but steady under misfortunes.
High courage was always the characteristic
of our people ; we arc now fast acquiring forti
tude and perseverance also. These, united,
constitute the highest typo of military charac
ter.
Look, too, to the change in the condition of
our soldiers. Then they were mostly undiscip
lined recruits, disappointed in the duration of
the war, impatient of restraint, anil anxious to
return to their homes.
Now they are mostly well-trained veterans,
inured to the service, practised in arms, anil
having confidence both in themselves aud their
leaders. Then some were actually laying
down their arms and quitting the field in the
face of the foe. No\v there is a fierce emula
• tion among them who shall be foremost in re
enlisting tor the war.
Speak to them now of approaching conflict,
and the wild shout that rings along their ranks
and ascends to Heaven, gives token of the des
perate valor \\ith which, in the approaching
campaign, they will rush upon the mercenaries
who oppose them.
With such a cause to defend, such soldiers to
defend it, and a just God ruling ofer all, sub
jugation can never come while the hearts of
our people are true—never i never! *
If, in a vain effort to save their property, or
in a mad spirit of revenge for measures which
they do not understand or do not relish, our
people should relax their efforts and bow their
lie' ks, of course the yoke would be placed
upon them. Hilt it they are resolved to strug
gle on through all the shifting phases of for
tune —to bear all.and suffer all lor the cause—
to give money, blood, life, anything that may
be necessary—our ultimate triumph is, in my
judgment, as sure as the coining of to-mor
row’s sun. But. why doubt the people? Our
cause has thus far been borne up on their loyal
and steadfast hearts, as steadfast and loyal as
any similar convulsion ever before displayed.
Why should they now hesitate ?
Our foes have not displayed new qualities of
magnanimity and great-heartedness calculated
to reconcile us to their rule. Our honoris sot
less dear to us. Our torn affections and ruined
hopes plead not in behalf of our spoilers.
No. The people are resolved ! They are self
devoted ! They will make all nerdful sacrifices.
The fires of independence are burning bright
ly in (heir bosoms. Civil convulsions of this
kind usually give birth to prodigies of military
and civil greatness ; but it there have been
fewer instances of great individual supei iorily
in this instance than in others, it is, perhaps,
because the qualities of true greatness aie-uow
more universally diffused throughout the mass
of the people. We ha- e not now a hero here
and a IK-ro there. Every village, and every
hamlet, and almost every homestead, now has
its hero. Qualities of heroism have foun i
their way into the bosoms of the softe r sex
and men dare not, if they would, be otherwise
but brave and true.
ttrrforth then, fellow members ant? by word
and deed stimulate their zeal, nerve their res
olution, give them confidence iu them rulers
as well as is their cause, and fan the fires of
Independence, till in their broad, bright light
every city, and village, and hamlet, and every
place and cottage and hovel shall glow- and
gleam and redden like a very furnace of patri
otic ardor.
Victory sits far oft'on her mountain throne.
Between us and her there may be defiles to be
passed, ravines to be crossed, crumbling ledges
to be surmounted that may break beneath our
feet and throw us back. But if. notwithstand
ing all. we will move on with steady step and
determined purpose, all these difficulties
may be overcome, and soon, aye, sooner than
than we think, we shall seize ou her high seat,
bring her home lo ourselves, and enthrone her
over our fortunes for long yeais to come.
Mow, one word as to ourselves. I thank
you earnestly and cordially tor the kindness
with which t»ou have uniformly sustained me
in the discharge of the responsible and difficult
duties with which 1 have leen charged—dut ts
more responsible and difficult than many peo
ple i engine. I thank you especially for the
kind testimony which you la-t evening bore
unanimously to the fait fulness of my efforts,
and I only icgret that those efforts have not
been sustained by a greater measure of ability
on my part.
Aud now, standing here in this presence,
with my hand upon my heart, and my lace up
lifted to Heaven. I protest that in the perfor
mance ot my duties as Speaker ot this House.
I have been actlate i by no partiality, prejudice
or ill will, but have sought so ro do justice to
all as best to subserve the public good.
Aud everv member of this House will carrv
with him, when he leaves this Hall, my best
wishes for his individual happiness and' pros
perity; and my earnest prayers will ascend to
that iountaiu and source ot all mercy that all
of ns who are yet spared may live to see our
contest successfully terminated, our liberties
established, our country in peace and prosperi
ty. aud our own names remembered as those
who, iu its day of sore trial, did the State
some service.
It only remains for me to pronounce as I
now do, that this House stands adjourned sine
dte.
sU. ill \tSSll Si AL.EDU iOBV ADOHE**.
Tne following i» a report of the remarks or
Hon. Robt. 51. T. Hunter, President prefer.!, ot
thc Confederate Senate, upon the announce
ment to him by Mr. Orr, of S. C.. that the Sen
ate had unanimously adopted a resolution of
thanks for the able and impartial manner in
which he had discharged the duties of presid
ing officer during the session.
Senators—lt is with no ordinary emotion that
I rise to return you my thanks for the honor
you have done me and to offer you my parting
salutation. I should be insensible, indeed, if 1
could be inditfereat to any mark of respect or
regard from those with w bom I have worked
so long in friendly association and to whom
I am bound by the ties of a common and a holy
cause.
The session which we are about to bring to a
close, is. perhaps, the most eventful in our his
tory, and its lesulis have proved our determ
ined purpose to throw the whole energies of our
people into the war. It has been in no stinted
numbers and with no sparing hand that we
have placed men in the field and imposed the
taxes necessary to maintain and support them,
l'or what is life, and what is property in com
parison with peisonal freedom and national in
dependence ? If there be any man who is dis
posed to count the cost or hesitate at the sac
rifice let him reflect on the one hand, upon the
nature of the subjugation with which we are
threatened, and estimate on the other, the
priceless fruits of victory. Peace, liberty and
independence, unrivalled oppotunity for moral,
material and social development, and a renown
which the proudest natious of the earth might
admire and envy. •
The evidences which are being given of the
fixed and unalterable purposes of our people to
scare no effort, and to hesitate at no sacrifice
which may be necessary to support the cause
upon which they have staked their all, afford to
the impartial observer the best augury of the
suecess which we feel and believe to be cer
tain aud assured. We feel it to be certain be
cause we know that after three years of such a
war as that which we have waged we have at
this day, the most efficient army which we have
ever placed in the field, and that we can com
mand the resources to maintain and support it,
not only now, but for as long a period as may
be necessary to achieve our independence.
Enough has already been done by the people of
the Confederate States to characterize the con
test on their part as being amongst she mo-t
glorious of those which are commemorated on
the page of history.
When has the world beheld a nobler specta
tacle than tnat of a whole people springing to
arms in defence of their liberties anil maintain
ing the war for three long years by levies
en masses, —the living pressing forward with un
flinching will and unfaltering devotion to take
the places of the dead who fell where they held
the front ranks of battle.—Woman forgets her
feebleness in the excitement of the struggle,
and manhood gathers strength under the aspi
ration of the cause, or the st ruggle waxes fiercer
until- the whole border for thousands of miles
resound with the din of arms and the shout of
the battle cry.
It is in the face of such a spectacle as this
t ;at the mighty nations of the earth have
folded their arms iu silent indifference and re
fused utterance t > that word of recognition
which at one time might have given peace to
others without injury to themselves, and thus
saved a continent from a war which will be ever
memorable in histoiy for its miseries, - its
atrocities and its destructiveness.—Their states
men have boasted of a cold neutrality, in a
contest where there was everything ou the
one side to enlist human sympathy and respect,
and everything on the other to excite reproba
tion and detestation. Aud yet, if #e had fallen,
as they seem most erroneously to have supposed
at llie commencement of the struggle, wlmt a
wall of humanity would have ascended to heav
en to demand judgment, against them from Him
who rules the destinies of nations, for having
permitted the suffering which tiro mere expres
sion of public opinion at one time might have
saved.
But, when we have derived the victory and
won our independence, it will be a proud
thought to know that we shall owe thftn only
to Ood and ourselves; and that we are under
no obligation to any other nation for a'liauce
and assistance. The liberty which is bought
by the blood of heroes and martyrs is always
the most jealously and faithfully preserved,
and the teachings of even one year of such a
wav as this in regard to the conduct of public
affairs, may be more valuable to a people than
the experience of a whole country cf peace.
Senators : You are about to return to your
homes. Be it vonrs to cheer the hearts of the
people find to strengthen the arm of our de
fence. If you speak to the farmers and produ
cers, remind them of their heroic defenders in
the field, who stand as a living wall la-tween
them and the unspeakable woe ami oppression
of such a subjugation as that with whitji we
have been threatened. Tell them it is their
duty to feed and clothe the gallant men who
protect them, and to see to it that they dis
charge the duties with no niggard hearts or
stinted hand. If you speak in the equips, tell
the soldier that the eyes of the country and the
world are fixed upon him; remind him of the
mighty interests which are staked upon the is
sues of this war, and truly may you say to
him that victory, in such a contest, will bring to
him a fame which shall be imperishable as
'lime itsell, and- above all which adorn the
Roman or the Greciarwname.
If it be your own heart with which you com
mune, see if there be cherished in it any emo
tion of unholy ambition or any selfish aspiration
which interfere with the singleness of your pur
suit of the one great object, and if there be,
pluck it oirt. and cast it from you. For, after
discharging the duties which we owe to God,
there should be one hope, one interest, one de
sire, and all should be concentrated in that
great and holy cause upon which we have
staked, not only fortune, family and home, but
personal liberty and national indepedence.
And now, Senators, imploring, as I do, the Di
vine blessing upon you and upon one cause,
and wishing that we liiay all meet here in May
next, to miss no familliar face and find no place
mpde vacant by death, but with renewed hopes
and refreshed energies, to discharge our duties
to the country, l otter to each aud all ot you
the r ght hand of friendship and of fellowship,
and bid you an affectionate farewell,
Tiik Constitution ok Arkansas'. —The Mem
phis Bulletin, of Jan 29th, says the State Con
ventio’n of Arkansas, after a session of nearly
three weeks held at Little Rock, has completed
anew State constitution which is published in
full in the Unconditional Union, together with
an address to the people of Arkansas. The ad
dress states that the constitution is to be sub
mitted- to the voles on the second Monday of
Marcli next, the 10th—that it is simply the old
constitution with some lew amendments—that
slavery is forever prohibited, as peace made on
any other plan would be of short duration. —
Twenty-tv. o counties were present at the open
ing ot the convention, and six others had held
election; the convention rely for authority for
the instrument they have prepared not upon
its authors, but upon the votes of Lincolnite
citizens.
The following is-tire article bearing upon
the slavery question, the only portion of the
Constitution iu which the old instrument is very
materially departed from:
ARTICLE V—ABOLITION OF SLAVERY.
Sec. 1. Neither slavery nor involuntary ser
vilude shall heieafter exist in this State, other
wise than lor punishment of crime whereof
ths party shall have been convicted by due pro
cess of law; nor shall any male person arrived
at the age of twenty one years, nor female ar
rived at the age of eighteen years, be held to
serve any poison as a servant under indenture
or contract »ade unless such person shall en
ter into freedom, and on condition of a bona
fide consideration received, or to be received for
their services. Nor shall any indentureof any
negro or mulatto hereafter made and executed
out of this State, or if made in this State, where
the term of service exceeds one year, be ot the
least validity, except those given incases of ap
prenticeship. which shall not be for a longer
period than until the apprentice shall arrive at
the age of twenty-one years, if a male, or the
age of eighteen years, it a female.
How THE St ITES ABE BROUGHT BACK INTO
the Union —The Northern papers do not all
endoise Lincoln's farce of ••dragooning" the
seceded States back into the Union. The De
troit Free Press (the organ of General Cass)
says of the game being played in Arkansas:
The President says to the people of Arkan
sas: I will allow you to return to the Inion,
but not under your own Constitution and the
Constitution ot the United Stales. You must
first join the abolition party, and next you must
make—or I will make for you—an abolition
Constitution aud abolition laws. Tt you don’t
do this, I’ll send an army there to thrash you
t i you do it. I’ll send Northern politicians
to rule you—some consistent bantam like T. W.
LoCkwood, or some virtuous chieftain like Col.
Dorus Fox. I'll make you a Constitution, and
enforce it upon you by bayonets, and the First
Michigan Ethiopian. It is my will, and you
must submit. You must accept this ••uncondi
tional Unionism ’’ "The interests of God and
humanity" require it, and the people of Mas
sachusetts wish it.
XIRTUERK SKVVb.
j no.'. Carney, of Kansas. has been ideated
•senator from that Stale to succeed Geu.J. H.
Lane, for six years from March 4, 1864.
It is stated that Gen, Sickles has been or
dered to the department of the Arkansas with
civil and military powers, necessary to enable
him to have control over the efforts to take
Arkansas back into the I'nion.
The Buffalo board of Hade protests againts the
Construction of the proposed ship canal around
the falls of Niagara until it is toun i necessary
for naval purposes. Their objection to it is that
it will divert the upper lake trade from Buffalo
by directing it through Oswego to New York.
The new comet which has been discovered
by Prof. Watson, of Michigan, is 4.">.000,000
milts from the earth at present, but will be on
ly 15,000,000 miles distant from us by the-first
of February. It will probably be visible to the
naked eye, and will lie found iu the Northwes
tern part of the heavens.
The unsettled state of Poland, says the Jewish
Chronicle, begins to produce the effects which
are generally the consequence of political dis
turbance. Two hundred Polish Jews we learn,
lately arrived at Quebec from Hamburg. They
intended to form a colony iu the country near
Ottawa.
The N. Y. World says prominent officers will
soon be arrested for blundering in the late raid
towards Richmond by Gen. Butler.
Gen. Butler has started free schools, on the
Massachusetts plan, at Fortress Monroe and
Norfolk.
Tour Ohio regiments at Pulaski, Tennessee,
having expressed their intention of re-enlist
ing as Tennessee volunteeis. the matter was
refeired to tbo War Department. Secretary
Stanton decided that inasmuch as Ohio should
be credited on her quota, and such change of
organigation would conflict with the settlement
of accounts in the department, it could not be
allowed.
Captain Fiske, of the United States army,
has jest arrived iu Chicago from -Idaho, and
c iused a sensation hy his reports of the rich
gold mines of that Territory. He states that
hq saw nine hundred dollars worth of gold
taken from a single panful of earth, and is
confident from what he canid learn from relia
ble sources, that there has been already mined
$26,01)0,000. None of this treasure has yet
been shipped out of the Territory, for want of
a proper escort.
The Little Rock Democrat gives the condi
tion of Confedeiate forces in Arkansas, thus :
Price has about 6,000 troops at Washington.
Marmaduke, Brooks, and Campbell are in the
mountains in the vicinity of Murphreesboro.
Shelby recently routed a command on the Low
er Saline. Cooper, Steele and Mclntosh’s In
dians are at Warren ton and the North Fork
town in Use Indian Territory. The total forces
including guerrillas is about 14,000.
Gen. Dana has been ordered to Matagorda
bay, and Gen. Herron to Brownsville, Texas.
Three hundred and fifty bales of cotton have
arrived nt New Orleans from Matamoras.
It is said that Washington Irving realized on
his works the sum of $205,388. Since his
death, to September 40,1863, the sum of $34,-
273 has been received by his executors.
It is estimated that 5,000,000 of gallons of
sorghum syrup were made in the Western
Stales the past year.
A project has originated at West Point Jo
erect there a “battle monument,” upon which
shall lie inscribed the names of all officers of
the regular army who shall have been killed or
died of wounds'received in the field during the
present war. The expense of the monument
is to be defrayed by a sliding scale of taxation
upon the officers of the regular army. $97 for
a Major-General down to $7 for a lieutenant.
To extend the source of supply of domes
tic sugars, the Federal Government procured
last spring from Em ope, a supply of seeds of
various kinds of the sughr beet, and by tha
agency of the Illinois Central Railroad Com
pany, distributed them among the farmers on
the line of that road, and through a range of
two hundred miles, with a view to ascertain
the kind of soil aiul climate best adapted to
the growth ot the root. The result so far has
been successful. The production of sugar from
beets has now come to be a leading interest in
several European countries. It is the most im
portant crop in the Empire of France. In
1861 142,000 tons were raised in that country,
against 9,000 tons in 1830. In Belgium the
crop in 1861 was 18,000 tons. In Germany a
very large amount was produced ; the aggre
gate for Kurbpe exceeding, in 1861, 200,000
tons, worth more than $40,000,000. Iu Fed
eraldom Hie beet is beginning lo attract gen
eral attention. The agricultural * societies of
several Western States have already taken ac
tion in the matter.
The Federal House special committee on the
bankrupt law has adopted a bill empowering
judges of district courts to appoint registeis in
bankruptcy, with full power where there is no
opposition, and, if there is any opposition, the
district judges are to hear and determine the
cases in their circuit courts, and are to have
supremacy and concurrent jurisdiction. I’ro
visiou is made for voluntary and involuntary
bankruptcy. All corporations are included in
Us provisions except banks and railroad com
panies.
The new monitor Dictator has been launch
ed at New York. Her dimensions are—extreme
length of hull 314 leet; length between partic
ulars 2fio feet; extreme breadth 50 feet; depth
22 J feet. Tho Dictator is almost exclusively
of iron, where iron could be used. The armor
is eltveu inches of iron, including a solid beam
of five inches, beginning at the deck an J going
down six feet, which will 10-ve when fuhy
freighted two feet of deck above the water
line. There is one turret of anew pattern
with sixteen inches of iron. The firm is so
fixed that it could be carried away without in
juring the hull or springing aleak. The Yan
kees, of course, predict great things of this
monster pet.
Northern dispatches state that large numbers
of the contrabands in the Mississippi Valley aie
dying with small pox.
Washington, papers skate that dissipation
is the order of the day and night in that city.
General Burbridge is leported appointe i as
cormftander of the United States forces in Ken
tucky.
Commodore Win. J. McCluny, United States
navy, died in Brooklyn on the lfitb insN Jdc
had been in the service fifly-two years.
Washington newspapers say that the Go..fed
erate forces are stronger now than ever, and
that the Federate must lose territory, unless
their armies are also greatly strengthened.
Federal letter writers say that the seat of
war is to be removed from the coast of South
Carolina to Florida.
Prof. Nash, of Van Amburg’s Managerie,
New York, came near losing his life not long
since, by the tusk of the War Elephantdlanni
bal. His keeper being absent, the Professor
undertook to push a tub of water to the ele
phant, when slipping, his feet going on either
side of the tub, tho brute instantly dropped
on his knees and rfiade a ths ust at the Professor,
but luckily his tusks were so short they struck
on the tub; this, together with the admirable"
presence of mind and thorough knowledge of
the Professor in regard to the modes of attack
of these animals, saved bis life.
The case of the Delaware and Hudson Canal
Company against the Pennsylvania Coal Com
pany, was decided a few days ago at Albany,
New Y'oik It was in favor ot the plaintiffs’
the damages being one-fourth of what they
claimed. The case had been in court for near
ly twenty ye.rs, and the law costs amounted to
more than $200,000.
An off er has been made to connect the whole
ot the West India Islands by telegraph with
the mainland at Cayenne, in French Guiana
and at Key West, near Florida, if a guaranty
of s x per cent, on the outlay can be obtained
The cost is estimated at £300,000. It ig pro
posed that Cuba shall subscribe £2,500 a year-
Trinidad, Surinam, Porto Rico, Deme’rara
Barbadoes and Jamaica £1,500 a year each •
and St. Thomas, Cayenne and Santa Cruz £SOOO
a year each.
The military committee in the Yankee Hons®
has reported a bill dispensing with the services
of Generals out of command. This settles Mc-
Clellan and Fremont.
It is said that the Federal forces in Arkan
sas are preparing for a movement which will
be directed against Magruder.
Gen. Win. F, Hunter is now spoken of as
the new commander cf the army of the Po
tomac.
A Nashville correspondent of the New York
World says that Longstreet is having his own
wav in East Tennessee.
An Albany letter writer makes the annexed
disclosure: A pretty revelation was made in
the Assembly chamber, in the course of an ex
citing debate on the Metropolitan Police bill,
'fhe Democrats got into a fight among them
selves, in the course of which it came out that
Mayor Gunther is at the head of an extensive
peace organization which has its secret meet
ings periodically in the city of New Y'ork.—
One of these meetings, it was further stated,
was held recently, at which were present repte
sentatives from every State in.the Union. This
disclosure took the War Democrats by surprise,
and an urgent desire was expressed for further
Jight on the subject,
YOftrtiEllM VEUD.
A private letter *frora aa officer at Hilton
Head, says there is as little companions.jip be
tween the Massachusetts negroes and thftse of
Carolina as there is between blacks and whites.
The Massachusetts darkeys think it beneath
their dignity to ass< ciate with the unfortunate
-freedmen” from the plantations. The ‘ First
South Carolina.” negro regiment undertook on
one occasion to visit the "54th ilasaachusetts."
also negro, but the Titter refiised*to receive
them, and peremptorily ordered them off. as
a “pack of dirty contraband niggers." The
Rev. Mi;. Higginson's teachings are clearly
needigl by hft> own men.
Northern advices admit (hat the late raid on
the Baltimore & Ohio railroad was a very suc
cessful one. Over a million dollars worth of pro
perty was destroyed. One entire Federal com
pany was captured ; also one hundred and seven
wagons, heavily laden with rations, clothing,
and munitions of war; also five hundred or
six hundred horses and mules. Also several
cannon.
On the first Januarv the Mercury stood ten
degrees below zero at Memphis. Ice froze ten
inches thick near the city. In DeSota county
Mississippi, the ground iroze to the depth of
twelve inches. Such cold weather has not
been experienced iu that section for thirty
two years.
The Louisville papers are complaining of the
depredations of gangs of Confederate guerrillas
iu various parts of Kentucky.
'The Supreme Court of California fias decided
that the law allowing; oldiers to vote is uncon
stitutional.
Specie still continues to be largely exported
from New York to Europe.
The city of Baltimore gives two hundred dol
lars to recruits whether white or black. The
State bounty added to tfiis makes the sum eve
ry new recruit receives, eight hundred dollars.
Veteran recruits receive nine hundred aud
twenty-five dollars.
The Washington Chronicle says when Far
liament separated. England was iu close alli
ance with France. That alliance is at an end.
The New York Times’ London correspondent
represents the Confederate cause as prospering
in England. Everybody is signing petitions to
the Government to do something to stop the
war.
The leading New York Abolition papers are
urging Lincoln to prepare for a warm spring
campaign. 4
The celebrated African traveller, Dr. Living
ston, has been murdered by. the natives.
The New York Daybook is openly denounc
ing Lincoln, and states that liis course must ul
timately produce revolution. The Herald con
tinues its abuse of Lincoln and his party, fore
shadowing the defeat of the Yanks this spring
campaign, while urging Grant's claims toise
Presidency.
General lleintzelman, of Pennsylvania, has
established his headquarters at Columbus, Ohio.
He commands the Department of the West,
which includes the States of Ohio, In liana,
Kentucky and Illinois.
United States Navy officers commanding the
blockading fleet of St. Mark’s, Fla , in a com
munication to the Confederate officers off that
p >rt, say that they had received orders from
Washington to the effect that no parole or re
lease will in future lie granted to captured
blockade-runners; that the same are hereafter
to be held as prisoners, and no release made
uatil after the war.
Chattanooga letter writers say the Federal
Huntsville expedition has returned.
Railroad communication between Chattanoo
ga and Decatur will be soon opened.
Washington dispatches say Chase haß $21,-
000,000 in gold on hand.
Cotton at last accounts was selling at eiglity
four cents pej- pound in New York.
Since tjie active efforts of Federal authori
ties to prevent the shipment of goods from New
York that may possibly re ich the Confeih racy,
the plan has been adopted, and is being carried
out, to send goods to Canada per railroad.—
Large quantities have recently, it is stated,
been forwarded to St. John’s, whence ibey are
shipped to Nassau.
Gen. John A. McClernaml, of the Yankee
army, has resigned b ‘Cause lie was not allowed
to go to the field, to vindicate his own actions,
or to obtain a fair investigation at t„e hands of
the Government.
A recent copy of the New Y'ork News, re
viewing the “Second Ycar of the War,” a
work originally published in Richmond, and
referring to the uuthor’s contradiction of Mr.
Vallandigham's statement that the Southern
leaders were prepared, “ when the war shall
have ceased and invading armies been with
drawn, to consider and discuss the question of
re-union,” makes some very curious a.'d strong
assertions. It contains the letter of a corres
pondent. who writes: “ I am expressly author
ized by 51r. Vallandigham to re-affirm, in its
whole extent, the statement above, and to add
now, that in almost the words as they stand,
it was suggested by him to distinguished pub
lic men of the South, some of them high in
authority, and by them assented to, and that
he still retains the original memorandum in
pqncil.”
One Gol. Hamilton, described as a Confede
rate guerilla, with five hundred men has taken
possession of Scottsville, Kentucky, aud at
last advices were moving on Glasgow. The
Journal says that ilamiltou burned the Court
House at Foottsville after a desperate fight
with Capt. Gillum at the head of one hundred
and fifty men.
Great demonstrations of respect for Rosc
erans were made when he was in St. Louis a
few days ago.
The Philadelphia Enquirer says the Confede
rates have five hundred guns in and around
Charleston.
The Northern press is endeavoring to encour
age enlistments in their army by stating that
our troops arc deserting in large numbers.
No more horses are for the present to be sent
to Grants's army. Forage is too sc iroe.
lteverdy Johnson delivered a very able
speecli in the Federal Senate against Senator
Bayard's being requiied to take anew oath of-,
allegiance presented by Congress. 'The princi
pal point of his argument was that Senators
were not clearly within the Meaning of the
law, requiring sucli an oath to be administered
only to officers of the Government. His posi
tion elicited some surprise from the Republi
can Senators.
Ten Kansas regiments have re-enlisted for the
war.
Four steamers are transporting supplies ffom
Bridgeport to Chattanooga.
The Federal authorities have sent a large
number of mechanics to work on the railroads
supplying Grant.
Northern papers state that General Logan has
left Huntsville with an army corps and is mov
ing southward. They also state that Gens.
Grierson and Smith have left Memphis ior the
south with a large body of cavalry. It is also
stated that Thomas' army at Chattauooga is
moving forward. The Federal papers say these
movements in conjunction with Sherman’s,
will epd in the occupation of Georgia, Alabama
and Mississippi. We think the Yankees count
their'chickens before they are hatched, this
time.
Governor Y'atestias ordered the arrest of al !
persons recruiting white or black-men in the
State of Illinois lor companies or regin. ents in
other States.
Sumner, Reverdy Johnson and others, says
the New Y’ork Herald, are now rSoving for an
amendment of the Constitution of the United
States, prohibiting slavery everywhere. II
can’t be did.
The hotel proprietors of New Y'ork are pro
posing to organize a special hotel police, “to
protect the travelling public from the profes
sional sharpers and thieves who live upon the
plunder they levy upon strangers.’’
The mortality at the Federal hospitals in
Chattanooga is very great.
The Y ankee Senate and House are at a dead
lock on the Enrollment Bill. It hasn't passed
yet. 3
An injunction has been placed upon Danbury,
Conn., to prevent the payment of the two thou
sand seven hundred dollars incurred in filling
the <iuota; also to prevent the holding of any
more town meetings to appropriate money for
volunteers. The injunction, it is declared, was
signed by men of all parties.
A railroad train was stopped near Harper’s
Ferry and what was wanted taken therefrom,
by a body of Confederate guerrillas a short
time since.
YYinter Davis asserts in his [resolutions pre
sented in the Federal Congress that General
Banks has neither constitutional authority nor
power to re-organize a State Government in
Louisiana.
Several Abolitionists have been arrested in
Louisville for kidnapping negroes in the North
west, and selli"g them in Kentucky. A good
specimen of Abolition philanthropy.
The depot of the Camden and Amboy Rail
road has been destroyed by tire with heavy
loss to the company and U. S. Government.
The Abolition papers teem wi>h the most un
paralleled falsehoods as regards the condition
of the Confederacy, stating that we have no
army, are in a state of starvation, aud at® on
our last L®t theni think so,
s.-• >t v< \it‘.
she bili-tn eeialTi.h a burc.au of foreign sup
plies, after being passed by both Houses #i Con
gress. was, by some mischance, returned in the
custody of the House Committee to l.xamine En
rolled Bills, until it was tix> late lo have it en
rolled for presentation to the President for his
approval. The act, consequently, failed to be
come a law. ,
A well known financier predicts.asthe South
Caroliniitn informs us, that ity less than ninety
days, $6 6b will purchase as much as $lO at
the piqpent time. Prices may go up tor a few
weeks but the decline has got to follow.
The operations of Ihe Beast Butler in Vir
ginia and North Carolina sime the opening of
the new year, have be#u directedchietiv against
private property and non combatants. His raids
have had no other purpos than to burn and de
stroy, and now, the news is borne to us that the
Yankee army in Slississippi is marking its line
of march with blazing towns and desolated
homesteads.
A negro van a red hot wire in a shell at Char
leston the other day, to find out if it contained
powder. He soon found out.
The returns from the election of Confederate
States Congressmen from Kentucky come in
slowly. The Richmond Whig says enough is
known, however to authorize the statement that
slessrs. Machen, Elliott and H. W. Bruce
are re-elected, and Messrs. Humphrey Mai shall
and Clnisman are belived to be, also.
Gen. Vaughn has collected a large portion of
his old Brigade, and East Tennesseeans from
all quarters me joining his command.
The juacon Manufacturing Company have fur
nished 90,000 pounds of bacon to Gen. John
ston’s army within three months. We shall
soon “save our bacon” and deliver our land
from the foe it all corporations and citizens, ac
cording to opportunities and means, would do
as well in furnishing men and me it ami thus
give and shew fruits meet for tlieir professions
of patriotism.
Snow fell to the depth of half an inch in the
vicinity of Tallahassee, Fla., on Ihe night of
February 18.
Col. Thomas Houghton of Dougherty coun
ty. was thrown from a buggy a few days ago,
and sustained injuries which nave since caused
his death. His father was killed in the same
manner, about ten years ago.
The late cold weather was the coldest that
has been experienced in Milledgeville since
1835. It is feared that the wheat crop in that
section lias been injured by it.
The treasurer of the fund for the relief of the
family of Dr. Wright, Ihe Norfolk martyr, has
now in his possession $12,300 for that object.
The good work of re-enlisting for the war is
progressing rapidly amongst the troops of Gen.
Beauregard’s command The noble example
set by the Beaufort Volunteer Artillery has
been followed with rapidity throughout the
Depart men l .
The Bishop Book Committee and Missionary
Board of the Methodist Episcopal Church,
(South) will meet In Montgomery, Ala , on the
6th of May.
Mr. V. D. Sharp, of Girard, Ala., is engaged
in the manufacture of hair rope. The great
strength is attested hy the fact (hat a quarter
inch cord, on trial, sustained a weight of 500
pounds, and broke with 580 pounds. Its supe
rior durability under exposure to the weather
is evident, and its lightness and pliancy* ar)
strong recommendations.
Os the distinguished officers now in rebel
service who left the U.- S. army alter secession,
are named, Beauregard, Hill, Hardee, Stonewall
Jackson, Albert S. Johnston, Lee, Longstreet,
Maury, Marmaduke, Magrnder, Peg ram, Pem
berton, Quattlobaum, Rains, Stuart, Kirby
Smith.
In view of the threatened .’aids into the heart
of Alabama, Gov. Watts calls upon the mid
dle aged, the young men and the boys to orga
nine into companies at once aud report to the*
Adjutant General.
Col J. J. Williams, of Tallahassee, Fia., an
nounces that lie will supply with shoes, free of
all charge, the wives of soldiers in Leou county
upon application.
A Glass Factory, on ail extensive scale, is
about to go into .operation in Savannah. A
company, composed of men of diameter and
means, purchased a site on the canal, just be
yond the Central Railroad depot some months
ago, the buildings are already erected, and the
preparation generally in such a state of for
wardness as to justify (he expectation that tlief
will go into operation in four or six w eeks.
Col. Tlios. H. Rosser, the military command
ei at Selma, Ala., has ordered all the drinking
saloons in that city to be closed.
The following officers of the Southwestern
Railroad have been chosen for file ensuing year:
President, R It Cuvier: Directors, John W Ans
derson, Win A Black, Wm S llolt, P ,M Furlow,
•John McNab, John E Jones, D A Vason. The
directors have declared a dividend of nine dol
lars per share on the operations of the last six
months. »
Letters to go North, or anywhere outside of
the Confederate lin s, must not be of greater
length than one page of ordinary sized letter
paper. Tne’contents must be strictly confined
to private or family waiters. Besides the let
ter in an envelope addressed to the person for
whom it Is intended, putting on the enve ope
a United States postage stamp, or, if that can
not be obtained, live cents in specie inside.—
Confederate money will not do. Leave the
letter unsealed and inclose it in another scaled
envelope, addressed lo Capt. Wm. H. Hatch,
Assistant Agent of Exchange,. War Department,
Richmond, Va.., who will give it the proper
destination.
Arrangements have been made by the offi
cers of the Central and Atlantic & Gulf Rail
roads to connect at Savannah, hereafter. This
is an accommodation to the traveling public,
and is as it ought to be.
The Secretary of War has decided that the
substitute men, as they are called, who are li
able to service in virtue of the repeal of the
substitute law. shall, in no case, be allowed to
evade service through the contract system.
No contract will bo entered into with them.—
They are to be soldiers and nothing else, un
less subsequently detailed for some special
duty.
Tire steamer Spunkey, aground off Wilming
ton, will be save,). Her c irgo lias already been
rescued, or nearly all of it. She lies insiih: the
bar under the protection of Fort Campbell.
The annual meeting of the .Stockholders of
the Charlotte and S. C. Railroad, was held in
Columbia on Wednesday. The Treasurer’s re
port shows that the roeeipis of the Road from
all sources and iring the year, amount to $1,008,-
760 16, expenditure $710,588 18.
Gen. Beauregard has given orders prohibit
ing the exportation of subsistence or forage
supplies from the State of South Carolina, for
other than strictly military uses, without ex
press authority from headquarters.
Fifty-six planters of Washington county' in
this State have pledged themselves to sell corn
at $2 per bushel to soldiers’ wives, and children
of indigent soldiers, in the service.
Several shooting affairs have occurred in Sa
vannah recently.
Four genileinen went into the room of anoth
er a few days since in Montgomery, and partook
of the contents of a bottle—which they suppos
ed was some kind of sprits. The result was
one died, and the others were made very sick.
The contents of the bottle were poisonous.
Col. Rosser, of Selma, Alabama, commandant
of that post, has published a card to the citi
zens of Selma, to organize into companies and
hold themselves iu readiness to do seivice at a
moment’s warning, in defence of the city.
The Louisiana Democrat of the Jan. 27, says
the enemy below are gradually leaving and
crossing the bay. 'They have yet a foice of
some 4000 at and near Franklin.
Five dollars for women and seven dollars for
men is the established price of the enemy to
employ free negroes on Southern plantations.
Snow fell for two h rurs at Charleston, Thurs
day night.
The State of North Carolina is distributing
cotton cards among the families of soldiers at
$5 per pair. Necessitous wives and mothers
of soldiefs have the preference.
a quantity of snow fell in Wilmington,
Feb. Iff.
Negro stealers are carrying-on quite a busi
ness around Atlanta.
Col. Clement H. Stevens, formerly of the
Twenty-Fourth South Carolina Regiment, has
been appointedaßr gadier-General and assign -
ed to the the command of Major-General W. H.
T. Walker’s old Georgia brigade.
Capt. Coxetter. of the steamer Fanny & Jenny,
says that a statement which seems to have gone
the rounds of the press, to the effect that that
steamer while attempting to run into Wilming
ton,. Was mistaken by our batteries for a Feder
al vessel, fired on and destroyed, is wholly in
correct. The Fanny and Jenny—late Scotia—
was not firod upon bv our batteries until after
she had been boarded and taken possession of
by the Yankees. 'She was then opened upon
by onr people.
Gov. Hawes, of Kentucky, is in Macon, where
it is expected a meeting of all tho officials of
that State will be held in a few days.
I’ianteis in various sections who have fed rot'
ten sweet potatoes to their stock ‘in order to
save the vegetables," have lost large numbers
of their stock in conse (iieuce. Better lose the
lOtteu potatoes, wo think,
PEOXf VIRUMI
Two Germans, namdl Helnu aud Fried land,
recently arrested on a charge ot being con-pi -
ratovs in a diabolical plot to assassinate the
Present, and deliver tho city over to ibe en
emy. have been examined aud discharged, for
lack of evidence to convict.
Flour is selling in Richmond at $220 to $250
per barrel.
Marshal Geo. P. Kane, Chief of the Baltimore
Police Department in IS6I, and a staunch sup
porter of the Southern cause, has arrived in
Richmond.
The Examiner says a rumor has been circiilij
ted in that city that Lt. Col. Polk is to be re
placed by Gen. Bragg.
Sixty-five of the escaped Yankee officers have
been returned to the Libby Prison.
The report that reached Richmond some days
ago, that Gen. Meade’s aimy was falling back,
has been confirmed The papers think lie is
only selecting another point of attack.
The late cold weather checked the movements
of our army in Northern Virginia.
Mrs. Patterson Allan, wlidse examination on
a charge of traitorous correspondi nee with the
enemy has been so long pending in Richmond,
lias at laat been committed to answer the charge
before the Confederate Court.
One of the Richmond runaways named Hy
man, was stopped a short time since on his way
to Yankeedom by our pickets, all his valuables
and twenty thousand dollars in gold taken from
him, and then allowed to proceed on his way.
It is said that all runners from conscription
who are caught by our troops an treated in the
ame way.
The Richmond papers state that the citizens
of that place, rather than pay the extortionate
wages demanded hy owners of servants, will
not hire them at all. This is a species of extor
tion that can be prevented if ladies will only
consent to attend to their own matteis more
and those of other people leas.
The Examiner says it is understood that the
Richmond banks have agreed to invest in the
new four per cents to tho extent of five ov six
millions.
Twenty-five ladies by flag of truce from Nor
folk, arrived in Richmond on tho 22d.
The ’mercury at Lynchburg, Va , Feb. IS
stood two degrees below zero.
At a cargo sale of goods recently importe 1
into Petersburg, made on Wednesday last,
prices advanced from fifty to one hundred per
cent over any figures heretofore obtained.
Owing *o repeated frosts and paitly to bad
seed, the wheat crop in Virgiira promises to be
thin. Immense q mntities of land have been
fallowed for corn.
The clerk's office ol the House, of Represen
tatives at Richmond is to be kept open during
this vacation of Congress.
Gen. Pemberton is in Richmond. It is said
lie has been trying tor months to get a court
of enquiry, or to get his report before the pub
lic but there appears to be some strange ob
stacle in tlie way.
FROM FLORIDA.
A severe battle was lought near Olustee,
Florida, thirtee i miles east of Lake City, Feb.
20th. Our forces were victorious, defeating
the enemy with heavy loss. Their dead aud
wounded lay thick on the field. Our loss was
also heavy, especially in officers. Lt Col. Jas
•Barrow, of the 64th Georgia, was killed ; the
Colonel and Major of the same regiment
-wounded. Col. Carraway Smith had hi a horse
shot from under him.
The Yankee forces were commanded by Gen.
Seymour.
The expedition into Florida was much more
formidable than at first supposed. By the state
ments of deserters we learn that the Yankee
array which lauded at Jacksonville numbered
from four to five thousand men—among them
two negro regiments.
The main object of the expedition was to de
vastate tiie country and destroy the railroads
in that section. The deserters state that they
lived on half ration-, and were instructed to
live off the country through which they pass
ed. If the statements which they give are
true, there is great dissatisfaction in the who'e
Yankee army in Florida. One of the desert
ers, a German, says i hat his whole regiment
would desert if they thought they could reacli
our lines in safety and not be recaptured. They
are very hostile to Hie negro troops, and as
sert that they are not to bo trusted in battle,
but will retreat on the first fire, ibeir officers
instructed them to capture-all the negroes they
could, asserting that it was theintention of the
Federate to colonize Florida with blacks.
The tilth Georgia Regiment lost, heavily in
officers and men in Hie late battle near Lake
City.
We understand that Col. Robert 11. Ander
son. of Hie stli Georgia Cavalry, will command
the cavalry forces in Florida.
Col. George I’. Harrison, jr., of the 32d Geor
gia, will eonunand a brigade, consisting of the
32d Georgia, 11th and 18th South Carolina, and
29th Virginia troops.
Gen. Taliaferro lias left Savannah to assume
command of all the troops in Florida.
The enemy have advanced a considerable
force of cavalry and fftfantiy, between Trader’s
Hill and theSatilla river.-
Thei£ gunboats and several transports are in
St. Mary's river, near King’s Ferry, about ele
ven miles from Jeffersouton. There is a large
quantity of provisions, consisting of corn, rice,
Ac., in that section, and a large number of ne
groes are employed oh the plantations.
Eight Yankees deserters who came from
Jacksonville, and gave themselves up at Fra
dar’s Ilill, have arrived at Savannah.
A dispatch from the telegraph operator at
Lake City dated Feb. 2-llh, says : —The enemy
is com; letely whipped and letreatiug. They
have . lundoned-their position on the St. Ma
ry's fixer, and are reported so be abandoning
Baldwin and retreating to their gunboats.
Orn oss is 85 killed, and from 700 to SOO
wound'd. The enemy's loss is between 2,500
and 3,0.10.
'The enemy's force in the late battle near
Lake City, is reported to have been 10,000
men of all ai ms. Our force was obout 3,500 to
4,000.
The enemy placed two of their negro regi
ments in the front, aud urged them on at the
point of the bayonet. They withstood our fire
at a distance, but as our troops advanced, they
refreshed.
More than one-half of the two negro regi
ments are said to have been killed and left
dead oil the field of battle.
FROM MISSISSIPPI.
All the bacon at Cuba Station, considerably
over four hundred thousand pounds, was saved
with five thousand head of fatted hogs which
had been callected there to be slaughtered.
All of the rolling stock on the three roads
has been saved, and a good deal of it has
been transported to this side of tho Tombigbee
river.
Sherman declared in a speecli before he left
Memphis that he would subdue the spirit of
Mississippians by a system of barbarities never
before puicticed upon any people.* His fiendish
acls prove that he meats what he said.
The Alabam'a and Mississippi Railroad lias
been totally destroyed ten miles east ol Meri
dian, and Sherman has thrown out wings
in every direction to desolate the Country gen
erally.
The Yankees pillaged every house in Jack
son as they pasdfed through, treating some of
the citizens in the most brutal manner. Judge
William Jerger, one of the first citizens of the
State, was, we are informed, knocked down in
front of his residence and bis watch taken from
him. 'fliis is the treatment residents of sec
tions overrun may expect from the vandals.
The various reports about the demoralized
condition of General Polk’s array have, of.
course, no foundation whatever. The anny
uner Geneial Polk, we are assured, is in excel
lent trim, and eager, as they have lieen since
the enemy started from Jackson, to have a
chalice to meet the foe. Reasons of strategic
character have thus far restrained them, but it,
s reasonable to suppose that they will be grat
ified socn. Meantime, let our people at home
ignore all stories about desertions, etc. The
iarrny is all right. Isit the people do (heir duty
FROM J MOBILE.
Gov. Watts in his speech at the Battle House
said, that he would rather see Mobile in ashes
than have it come under Y'ankee rule. He ad
vised all non-combatants to leave the city at
once.
The Mobile Register states that non-combat
ants are leaving the city, and that Mobile is
rapidly stripping itself for action.
Fort Rowell, which the Yankees have been
shelling, commands Grant’s Pass—abroad sheet
of water, with a shallow, narrow channel, con
necting Mobile bay with the waters of the Mis
sissippi sound. Boats from New Orleans, when
the water permitted, passed through this chan
on their way to Mobile. The fort is thirty
mile- from Mobile, twelve from Fort Morgan,
six from Fort Gaines and on the same side with
it. By capturing Fort I’owell, J,he enemy could
confront our land batteries several miles from
Mobile. The tort is a strong one, built on the
same plan as Fort Wagner off Charleston, and
is considered able to resist almost any attack of
the enemy.
About one hundred bales of Government cot
ton was burned in Mobile on the night of the
19th. The fire is said to have originated from
sparks where some soldiers had built a tire and
camped within a few feet of the cotton pile.
The rumor which had reached Mobile, is re
ferred ♦« in the Northern papers, to the effect
that Magruder has utterly destroyed Banks’ ar
my in Xexaj,
PttOM iit.VYIvSfcEB.
A gentleman who has in- , .
ting through tho Federal lines says that ithfffi
C *•’ Ket '•'wound 'he i-ederal
outposts. Ihe main reads are not watched half
so Closely as Ihe .hidden paths through the
woods and mountains, aud sentinels are more
ZZZLZhZn U,a r in < l *.vl*hh Such
"‘is never been exercised bv any
I tdt ral commander as by Gun Grant " Tt,’.,
S flated“y n ffie in ,i SS ° m l » contlm
isof of whkh
Great numbers of FeiWai *- , .
brought down the river on t I * x a ’J’ being
Knoxville, while very few Z f*™ 1 ?* *
bv railroad. ’ V ' go m that Action
Unionists in East Tennessee have suffered
Southerners" 1111 ' 1 '‘ y l ' t ‘‘ U ‘ ral W B»»wayinen at 4
*a r i tN n,nn -i om 1 °” ua *
Fist leunesee*’. which was to l>c redeemed
by the presence of Federal armies, is becondit
an unhabitable barren waste Disease les ?'
SSto'iteff"" w **•:
low ill the tram ot Lnion mimes
• LetLrs f om Rogers villo state 'that our scouts
now go into the suburbs of Knoxville
Gentlemen from Nashville say that a iiromi
■ertK V! r ° ! ' °. fi . icial i» that citvre
uf .. I; Ii ‘ MUI 'hlluential Union citizen
of a lieig.ihovmg county, that it will W ini
possible for the Yankees to liobi Middle Ten
iiessec next summer ; that they have not a
sulm lent force for the purpose ; and that ihev
aio not bln ly to have, fix m the ci mparativelV
tew recruits that are aing obtain, and at the
Noith, Lo added, however, that they would
return with a large force alter a while, drive
ou. the Lonfeder.ries, and hold ti e country im
■ll i.li. n-on i s ~ra-h..,1, „
1 ivo Federal steamboats running from Chatta
n , of f* ‘“ !i 1 “ mpp.y, Fuilci"t minv with all
ih(‘ foot! they hnvu.
Within the List month fourteen Federal regi
ments, two of whom number one thousand each,
have been musieicd om ol .service in Fosters
army. •
A letter from upper East lent essee says the
he Fedora forces are evidently veiy weak
om < hatmnooga to Strawberry plains. At
Charleston they have live regiments, one of
whom pickets up (he liver some folly miles.
‘r h m.qt Ve .‘ !TC i n , ta f en awa >’ ,ho;r courier posts
iron Lle\ eland to London, whenever stationed
they were always captured l,y our guerrillas.
1 , y ll ” not evea use tho telegraph line. Their
only communication is by way of the liver and
Kingston.
The Federitfs have inaugurated a system of
crue.ty in the expulsion ot non-Ci mhatauts
trom Knoxville, unprecedented in the annals
°l modern warfare. Every family . f .South
ern proclivities has Wen ordered jout of the
(hk's, without any turn- for pupjMation for the
journey; and these banished women and chil
dren are not allowed to come to their friends
within five rail£s oi Die city, hut are
tiijie the ior.g'and circuitous route by waTof
Chattanooga to Dalton.
. A great many of the young ladies at Knox
ville have been forced to swallow the Yankee
oath at the point of the bayonet.
The titter disregard of the 1 unices in Knox
ville to all the decencies of civilized life, is ei
idenced by tlieir utter disregard ot every feol
iug of respect lor Tie dead, in tlieii canductat
the _1 uncial of the Rev. Isaac Lewis. The pro
cession was halted on its way to the Cemetery,
and John a negro hoy was forcibly taken from
the driver’s seat of the carriage', in which Hie
daughters of the deceased were following tho
remains of their earthly protector to the grave,
and amid much confusion he was dragged off
and forced into liny Yankee army, ( 'ommi lit
on such an act is unnei essary.
I Hundreds and hundreds of dead horses line
the streets of Knoxville and till the alleys—*
scarcely a vacant lot but lias upon it one or
more ot these carcasses, polluting the air aud
breeding disease. It issuid that no sanitary
regulations whatever are enforced ; that cat
tle are butchered in the streets, and that apes -
tilcnce must certainly ensue.
The Federab; in‘Knoxville are having no easy
ta-k in siihji gating the rebel Indies, if wo
may judge by a few instances ol spirit which
have come to our knowledge Mis If., a re
markably handsome widow lady, was required
to leave without move than an' hour's notice,
and no iiiTeiod iier to dispose
of her tiirnit.uro tor her own benefit. Tho har
pics wore even b sieging her door, with the
expectation ot appropriating .lie entire lontents
of the residence the moment she should vacate
the premises. Aware of this, by acme little
dexterity, she kept Hu m at buy. whilst she man
ufactured a ioliloll, consisting cl her pickles,
sweet meats, wines, tmiimaladcs, preserves,
flour, vinegar, mil.Ju-il sugar, slops. Ac., and
deliberately s proud Ibis over her parlor carpets;
broken mirrors ami crockery wore quickly ad
ded, whil-t a buck i or two of ashes and suds
completed the ruin ot ln-i household treasures,
sacrificed within hearing of the enemy. Mrs.
H.’s last remark t . the officer, who escorted
her out of town, was an admonition to him to
mUke haste hack to her residence before his
brother officers appropriated Ids part- of tho
plunder, and oat his share of the enteiUiinmcnt
she had prftvided for them.
from Tun coast.
The demonstration < n Whit marsh island on
Monday, Feb. 22d, was on a huger scale than
at first supposed. We gather tho subjoined
particulars of (lie affair from our Savannah ex
changes:
The Republican’s account says (bat the ex
pedition was composed of four regiments and
part of a fifth. It sailed firmri liilton Heml
soon offer dark Sunday < vening, under the
command of Col Howell, or Pennsylvania,
now acting Brigadier. About three hundred
of the party weie despatched in humi fies from
near Fort Pulaski, and landed oil Whilinarsh
not far Bom Out land Bridge, about daylight.—-
The remainder, or four regiments, landed about
a mile further east, on the plantation of Col.
Gibson.
The object seems to have been so capture our
forces on the island, and to this end the first
named parly sent forward a detachment of
twenty men under Lieut. John E. Micbelor,
commanding Company C, Both Pennsylvania
Regiment, to take possession of the bridge lead
ing from Oatland to Whilinarsb. They had not
proceeded far before they came in sight of a
small earthwork armed with two brass pieces.
This (he Lieutenant was ordered to charge,
with a promise that'he should be supported by
the entire force.
He pressed forward lo within seventy-five
yards of the battery-, but the fire was so hot,
and seeing no support coming up, lie ordered
his squad to retire one by one, as fast as they
could. He teinained lo bring up (he rear, but
too late, as sonjp ot our men pressing forward,
be, together with one of his men. Private Eli
Shallenbergor, fell into our hands. The rest of
the party escaped.
The main body of four regiments, soon after
landing deployed skirmishers, .and, it is said,
captured four or five of our pickets, who made
avigorotis lesistance. They lost one man in
retum, C'orp. James C. Bailey, of Cos. K. 85th
Pennsylvania.
The whole affair was a very discreditable ora
to the cranny, and shows that we have nothing
to fe-ar when pitted against such metal at al
most any odds.
Lieut. RichdanUono, who commanded the
section of artillery, lost one man killed. Hu
was shot through the moufb and died soon
thereafter, though wo have failed to ascertain
his name, lie also iost one of his horses. It
is not known whether any of the Yankees were
kil.od and wounded, but a considtffable lo>co
wa- sent over under Col. Pritchard about noon
*nu H.t last accounts tin* enemy were
nresr-ed very hard and cmbaiking with all
haste.
The three Yankee prisoners were brought to
Savannah Monday afternoon, and will be sent
forward.
We learn from the prisoners that the foiccat
Hilton Head numbers at this tine about ten
thousand, several regiments that went north
having returned largely recruited. The Yan
kees made great preparations and talked large
ly of their Florida cm edition, which was to
accomplish w«#idere. The prisoners manifested
very little concern when Informed that it had
come to a bloody and disgraceful end.
The News says about one hundred and fifty
negroes with their overseers were cut off but
they succeeded in escaping and reached our
lines in safety.
During Monday afternoon the enemy were
engaged in shelling tho island, it is supposed
with a view to cover the retreat of their lorces.
FHO.II RICH HU Ml,
Marshal Kane, of Baltimore, was serenaded
in Richmond on the night of Feb. 22d. He
ackm wledged thecomplimeiit in a brief speech
full of patriotism aud eloquence. He is to be
tendered apm lie dinner in ah w dais when
he will move fully expross his views on the
present situation..
The friends of Robert S. Forde, who shot
Mr. Dixon, clerk of the House of Rt-prisen
tatlve#, . e interceding to have him pardoned.
The cotiec ,n h of Baker A Cos., in Ric hmond,
was destroyed by fire, ou tbc morning of Tues
day, February 23d. The books and paters
were saved. Loss estimated at $40,000 to SSO -
000. Ihe explosion of a boiler in Ilia mill (hi
ring the conflagiation, caused the injury of
several persons iuai falling bricks,