From Washington.
The Alexandria Gazette, of Saturday, has the following by special express:‘ Washington,May 3, P. M.--The steamer Pocahontas is on route for this city, having on board one million of gold. Government crafts on New York are of no value or account, and hence this transportation of money, which is to pay the employees of the United States.
The proclamation of the President concerning new divisions of the army, and relating to the original boundary of the District of Columbia, is the occasion of much comment and uneasiness by those of our citizens who have friends in the adjoining portions of Virginia, as some still say that the city of Alexandria is by it included in one of the new divisions.
Should the Federal forces attempt to invade the State of Virginia, military men say that three routes only lie open to them. These three are, one from Harrisburg, by railroad, through Harper's Ferry to Winchester; one from Washington, over the long bridge, and through Alexandria to Richmond; and the last by water, from any Northern port up the James River to the Capital of the State.
A great change, it is said, has taken place lately in the sentiment of the border counties of Virginia in regard to the action of the Virginia Convention, and this will, it is supposed, prevent, for the present at least, any actual invasion of the State.
Warnings to leave Washington are not only given by rowdies and unauthorized persons, but also by high officials. A few days since, Commodore Paulding notified Charles H. Winder, Esq, that if he continued to visit the Navy Department, as he was wont to do on business, he would be arrested, as it was understood that he was a secessionist.
The proposed invasion of this city by the famous Billy Wilson's regiment, has been forbidden, it is said, by order of the President.
The qualifications assigned as necessary to obtain a position in this rare regiment are numerous and various; but all assert that the greater the rascal the higher the situation. It is said that one fellow of this regiment, after receiving the commission that Alderman (now Captain) Wilson handed him, politely presented the Captain with his own pocket-book, which the adroit knave had abstracted while in the enrolling office. The Captain instantly appointed him a Sergeant.
The remaining portion of Col. Ellsworth's regiment of Zouaves, the whole of which is composed of material derived from the firemen of New York city. arrived here this morning. Col. Ellsworth's command may, and no doubt are, efficient agents in extinguishing material combustion, but whether their presence here tends to subdue the concealed fires which are burning in the minds of our innocent, lawful and peaceable citizens, remains to be seen. Several members of this regiment were arrested to-day by the police, for disorderly and riotous conduct.
The news from Harper's Ferry is, that Gen. Jackson has superceded all other officers stationed there, and is now in command of about twenty-five hundred or three thousand men.
The following is from the Baltimore Sun's Washington correspondence of May 2:
The troops say there must be a fight, and fears are entertained by many that the Government will not be powerful enough to restrain those particularly who propose to match through Baltimore.
Last evening Rev. Dr. Sunderland delivered a discourse to the Seventh New York Regiment at the House Hall of the Capitol.--Its drift was ‘"to persevere unto the end"’ --meaning, (as it is said by those who heard it,) that the Government should be maintained in its integrity, by force, if need be. He repeated some lines of the song of the Star-Spangled Banner, and the same were subsequently sung by the choir, which was improvised for the occasion.
I hear from relatives of Col. May that his resignation is in accordance with an understanding that has existed for some months back.
Corporals' guards of soldiers visited the houses of several persons yesterday who are suspected of entertaining secession views.--They had all left, however, for Alexandria, as have many others who fear arrest. Therefore there is no means of getting an intimation of what is going on in Virginia. It is not doubted, however, that steps are taking for the marching a large force, sooner or later, at the intersection of the railroads beyond Alexandria.
’ Another letter in the same paper says:
‘ Never did public sentiment undergo so rapid and sudden a change as has been witnessed in the entire North since the fall of Fort Sumter. Even that and other incidents and episodes in the progress of events would not have united the North for war, had it not been for the secession of Virginia, and the general belief that Maryland was also ready to assume an attitude of hostility to the Federal Government. But one idea now prevails in the entire North, namely: That the integrity of the Union, politically and geographically, must be maintained, and that all combinations against it shall be put down by force. This prevails with all parties, and is sustained by Democrats as well as Republicans and Americans.
’ Only ten days ago highly influential Republican leaders talked of pacific dissolution, and the question was treated as one of boundaries. But that time has passed, and no man at the North now tolerates either compromise or pacific division of the Union. At the recent great New York meeting, where prominent Democrats were the chief speakers, not one word was uttered in favor of compromise, or time, or mediation, or separation.
With the commercial North the question is now to be one of life and death. The internal commerce of the country would be destroyed by dissolution of the Union. Again, the questions presented by the possession of the Mississippi, the Chesapeake, the Florida straits, and the Federal City, presented an insuperable obstacle to a pacific separation by any boundary line. The natural divisions of the country do not indicate, but seem to forbid, a division by any line drawn between the North and South, for the range of our mountains divide the Atlantic from the Western States, and not the North Atlantic from the South Atlantic States.
But whatever may be the reasons, the North, as with one mind, runs far in advance of any Administration policy of defensive war, and demands one of aggression.
It is intimated that when the twenty days of warning given by the President in his proclamation of the 15th of April shall have expired, the Administration will take more decided measures for objects beyond the defence of this city.
The ultimate course of Maryland will necessarily have a bearing upon the Government's policy. If Maryland does not secede, this city can be easily held by the Government, and can only be attacked at great disadvantage. Already it is said that the further collection of troops here has been stopped, and they are to be stationed at convenient points for future orders.
It is supposed that General Harney will command the troops here.
The New York Albion, while declaring nonintervention between the North and South, states that the British Prime Minister had authoritatively advised British subjects to express no opinion upon the merits of the unhappy controversy; and further, the same paper states that all the Governments of Europe will treat privateering as piracy.
According to the following it would seem that Alexandria is included in one of Lincoln's military districts:
‘ The War Department at Washington has issued an order which constitutes three new military departments, the first of which composes the District of Columbia, according to its original boundary, Fort Washington and the country adjacent, and the State of Maryland as far as Bladensburg, inclusive. The second is the Department of Annapolis, with the headquarters at that city, and including the country for twenty miles on each side of the railroad from Annapolis to Washington, as far as Bladensburg; and the third is the Department of Pennsylvania, and includes that State, Delaware, and all of Maryland not included in the other two. The same order transfers the Annapolis Naval School to Fort Adams.
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