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Auiuinitc. Vol. xviii. lije ftplheffy IS PUBLISHED SEMI-WEEKLY. ON TUESDAY AND FRIDAY. BY Wm. H. HTTjSTT. TERMS: —2.00 a year in advance. Subscribers at a distance, must always pay in Advance !! “X»8 RATES OF ADVERTISING. One Insertion per line, 10 Every Insertion after, per line _ o !tail Sprite of 5 lines, per year S 5 00 < )ne Square of 10 lines, one year 10 00 2 Squares “ “ “ " 15 00 :■ •• “ “ “ •* 20 00 For privilege of changing twice a rear 10 per cent, a iced. Changing/c»zr times 20 per cent. added. Changing atpleasure, 30 per cent added to above rates Advertisements respectfully solicited. <• •*>-*iimw^*?- .MUM FRIDAY, JANUARY 25, 1861. Our advertising friends will please bear with us for the omission of their cards in the present issue of our semi-weekly. So impor- i taut is the news of the day, in the political world, we give it to our readers in preference to the advertisements. But will make amends n the future. * — J-nun the Charleston Courier. Interesting from Louisiana. New Orleans, Jan. 16. —The six companies! which left this city to take possession of the Arsenal at Baton Rouge, have returned, after successfully executing their mission. Trie event was signalized to-day by a grand trimn phai reception. An immense multitude, con sisting <>f the military and citizens, turned out to greet them, and patriotic shouts rent the air. The Arsenal is now in the hands of the Raton Rouge military. A new company, of this city, will leave immediately to garrison it. Pennsylvania Speaks The following resolution was adopted in the House of Repicstativcs of the Pennsylvania. Legislature on Saturday, by a vote of 50 26 Read it: Resolved, That we affirm’the doctrines of the Chicago Platform as expressing the sentiments of a large majority of the people of Pennsylva nia, and that we have no reason to ignore it. We do not believe that anything in our polit ical condition demands concessions on our part. Immediately after the adoption of the fore going resolution, another was offered by Mr. Bowyer, of Berks, for the appointment of a select committee to report a bill to repeal por tions of laws of Pennsylvania nullifying th e fugitive slave law of Congress. This resolution was indefinitely postponed, by—yeas 49, nays 26! Thus answers Pennsylvania to the petition •156 feet long for the repeal of these acts’ Will they not all answer in like manner? —— Richmond, Va., Jan. 18.—In the Senate to day, the House resolutions, contemplating a national Convention, were debated. The House appropii ited one million of dol- Jars for the defence of the State, and authorized the issue of six per cent, treasury notes. Richmond, Va., Jan. 20.—1 n the Senate the report of the Committee on Federal Relations was amended by naming Commissioners to •he Sou'.hern States and to the Federal Govern ment, and also delegates to a National Con vention to be held in Washington city. As thus amended, the report was adopted. l’he following resolution was also unanimously adopted: Resolved, That if all the off >rts to reconcile <he unhappy differences between the two see 1 ions of this country prove abortive, then everv consideration of honor and interest demands that Virginia shall unite her destinies with her mister slaveholding States. In the House the Senate’s amendment to "eport of the Committee on Federal Rein was concurred in. Marietta, G-eorgia, Jaiiuiary ‘25, 1861, A resolution was also adopted declaring that the interests of the Southern States are the interests of Virginia, and no reconstruction of the Union can be permanent or satisfactory that does not afford to each section self-pro tecting power against invasion by the Federal Government, or by the other States of the Union. Washington, Jan. 21.-—Mr. Hunter, of \ irginia, to-day resigned his position as Chairman of the Senate Finance Committee. [ He gives as the reason for his action that the I political complexion of the Committee will ! s oon be changed. Messrs. Yulee and Mallory, of Florida, Clay and Fitzpatrick, of Alabama, and Davis, ol Mississippi, addressed the Senate to day, explaining the action of their States and ! taking final leave of that body. Ihe speeches were very brief, except that of Mr. Davis, of Mississippi, who spoke at ' considerable length in an impressive and feeling strain of eloquence. An immense crowd assembled to witness the ceremony, and when the Senators, at the conclusion of their remarks, left their desks and formally withdrew from the Senate Cham ber, where tney had sat for years, one seemed to realize that a great calamity had befallen the country. Each face was solemn and sad, and many were affected to tears. The Postoffice at Pensacola, Florida, has been discontinued, because the mailed orders of the Government were stopped there. It is ! presumed they related to the military move-' ments in the Gulf. Lieut.gllAi.L will remain ' here for several days. A Cabinet session wa s i held this afternoon, with special reference to i Col. Hayne s letter. No definite conclusion ! was reached. Judge Peden, of Florida, is out in the pa-j pers this afternoon with a card, denying the I statement that he was not in favor of imine- i diate secession. 1 here have been three more resignations! from the Navy by citizens of the seceding States, including* Commander Thomas W t Brent, of the sloop of-war Marion who has been 35 years in the service. He is a native of Florida- The Alabama and Florida Senators will leave this city in a few days for their homes. The Georgia Delegation is awaiting offr cial notification of the secession of that State. As soon as it is received, they will withdraw from Washington. Judge Iverson, of Georgia, voted in the Sen ate to-day. Mr. Cameron, of Pennsylvania, is the Re publican Senator who has shown a disposi tion to compromise. He declared in the Sen ate this evening that he was willing to make any sacrifice to restore peace to the coun try. The Bill for the admission of Kansas into the Union, with slight amendments, will prob ably pass the House to-morrow —• . Vera Cruz, December 31, 1860. The first act of the great and terrible drama which has afflicted this country for the last tln co years has finally been closed, by the to' tai rout and defeat of Miramon, with the de struction of his army, on the 22d inst. it appears he left the city on the 21st, with the greater portion of Ins army—some 7500 troops and 34 pieces of artillery—to attack the Liberal forces under Gen. Jesus Gonzales Orte ga, who had some 16,000 troops and 100 pie ces of artillery, at Arroyozaco, about 16 leagues from Mexico. The battle, however, took place at San Mcguslito, on the 22d inst, and lasted some three to four hours. It was a most bloody contest, and the entire forces of the former were dispersed, with loss of all his artillery, §IOO,OOO in specie, some of his princi pal officers killed and taken prisoners, anuoth cis badly wounded, he only escaping to take 1 this news back ' o Mexico. i Fort Pulaski, da. I Savannah is guarded on its sea, approaches Iby Fort Pulaski, built on Cockspur Island, fourteen miles from Savannah, at the mouth of the Savannah river. The site of the fortifica tion was selected by Major Babcock, of the United States Engineer corps, about twenty six years ago, lint it was not till 1831 that the work of i recting the present massive masonry fortification was commenced in earnest. In that year Captain Mansfield, now Colonel Mansfield, of the Inspector General’s Depart ment, took charge of its construction. Hie fort was finished a few years ago, at a cost of $923,000. The fort is of a pentagonal form, covcri g several acres ; its walls arc forty feet hig'li, and present two faces on the sea approach, with ranges of fire radiating at op posite angles. Tin? fort is embrasured on the front and channel side for one row of guns under bomb proof casemates, with an addition, al tier of guns open or cn barbctle. Hie salient points and flanking approaches in the rear of the work have n > embrasures for heavy cannon, but a:e thor ughly covered by enfilad ing musket loopholes, which renders a land or c*calading attack extra hazardous to an enemy. The full armament of the fort, when it shall have been brought within its walls, will consist on the lower tier of sixty five thirty-two poun der iron pieces, and the upper tier with fifty three twenty-four pounders, four eighteen pounder flanking howitzers, one thirteen inch mortar, twelve eight inch Columbiads, and seven ten-inch mortars —in all, one hundred and fifty guns. We understand, however, that not more than one hall the number of guns required for its full armament are in the fort, and these are dismantled. The Columbiads, to which reference has been made, are very destructive weapons, of long range, and adapt ed to use spherical shot or shells. Many of those now in Fort Pulaski can be mounted to have a horizontal fire one hundred and eighty degrees, and a vertical fi'-e of five degrees de pression to thirty-six degrees elevation. The interior of the fort is well supplied with mas sive furnaces for heating shot, officers’ quar ters, soldiers’ barrracks, magazines, and a tolerable supply of shot and powder. In the cut above the small black figure on Cockspur Island is Foit Pulaski, somewhat diminutively displayed, but sufficient for our purpose ; the exterior line represents the ditch which sur rounds the work, and which, when dry, can be used by sharp shooters, or should it be nec cessary at the approach of an enemy, easily flanked. Beyond this ditch is a glacis or inclined bank, which is enfiladed by the •tubs from the lower or casemate row of the fortification. The fort at present is net on a full war footing; to complete it, twenty-six new barbette gun platforms are required to suit the prescribed armament; and the ditches should be cleared of the mud accumulated throughout. their whole extent, the bottoms of the ditches repaired, and the banks of the feeding canid revetted. The full war garrison of the work is eight hundred men, but one half that number could hold it. successfully against any armada the Federal Government can bring against it. Vessels of any consider able size,"in beating up the channel to Savan nah, are obliged to approach within the ap proach within seventy yards of the fort, and at this point many guns of large calibre can be made to concentrate their fire. The forti fication is pronounced by expert army engin eers one of the stiongest and most perfect of its kind on this continent. It covers mote area than Fort Sumter, but has oiie tier of guns less than that work. ~ Fort Pulaski is now garrisoned by upwards of two hundred Georgia State troops, who are working like beavers to put the place in a complete state of defence The garrison is now under the command ®f Col. Alexander R. Lawton, graduate of West Point, and subse quent] v an officer of the Firsft Regiment of ■ United Sta.tf-s Artillery. He aftewards r<* signed, and is the present President of the Savannah and Augusta Railroad. FORT JACKSON, OA. This is a small work, built on a low marsh, four miles from Savannah, on a site near the bend of the river, and commanding important points in the channel. It is built of heavy brick masonry. Its armament consists of ten twenty-four pounder iron guns, three field pieces, fine eight-inch howitzeis, one ten-inch mortar, and one eight-inch mortar. Its war garrison consists of seventy men. It cost the Government SBO,OOO. The Whue Slaves in England.—The N. Y, Express calls attention to a significant item of news by the recent Liverpool steamer to the affect that there is a dreadful distress in Cov entry, England—distress so great that Forty Thousand Weavers are actually starving! Perhaps it may be an impertinence on the pait of an /Yinerican journal to suggest now, as we have often before suggested to our British cousins, the propriety of appropriating to the relief of their famishing countrymen, some lit tle of the “aid and comfort,” which not a few of them—of the unco guid so'-t—are in the habit of ostentatiously Acstowingjupon Ameri can beggars who go over among them, on be half of the “poor negro” of the Southern States. Why don’t the Puritan Anti-Slavery Humani tarians of Glasgow and Edinburg, who are busy raising subscriptions to enable such men as Rev. Dr. Cheever to keep up his crusade against slavery on this side of the Atlantic— do something for these hungry slaves of Coven try ? Coventry, Coventry, comparatively speak •ng is right under their eyes and nose, and surely the “ humanity ” and “ philanthropy ” of England and Scotland may find a nearer, as well as more needful field there, than three thousand miles away among the well fed, well clothed, and well housed negroes of Virginia, Carolina, Georgia, etc., where “starvation is a thing utterly unknown.— ■ Richmond Whig. — (From the Mercury,) From Washington. Washington, Jan. 17. —Ilayne lias com pleted bis communication, but will not present it to the President to day. I learn that his views have been much modified at the solicita tion of Southern men. The impression pre vails here that friendly relations will be re stored between Fort Sumter and Charleston, and bloodshed avoided. After confirming several unimportant Con sular nominations to-day, the Senate took up the nomination of Holt as Secretary of War. The motion to refer the nomination to the Military Committee was defeated by a large majority. The session was stormy. Mason, Slidell, and others, denounced the President and Holt in violent terms. Bigler and Doug las def nded them. It is also rumored that dnr irg the Executive Session, Senators Benjamin and Wade came to blows. lloh’s nomination will probab'y bo confirm ed to-morrow. Nothing new has transpired this evening in relation to Col. Hayne’s mission. His rooms are constantly crowded with distinguished peo ple, anxiously inquiring for information but your commissioner is exceedingly cautions. There is considerable excitement among the Black Republicans at a rumor which is rife hero, that the Cabinet hold a stormy session to-day, because the President has resumed the pence policy, in opposition to the whole cabi net. The Republicans arc denouncing him to night. A despatch was revived by tho Alabama delegation, from the Governor of that State, directing them to remain here for the present. Mclntyre’s nomination is now considered to be defeated. The secessionists have already taken posses sion of twelve of the government fortifications, worth from about seven to e : glc m llions of j - USTcx 5-