Northern news items.
From the New York Herald's news summary, of the 4th inst., we extract the following:‘ A fight occurred on the 2d instant between the Union gun-boats Yankee and Anacostia, of the Potomac flotilia, and the rebel battery at Cockpit Point. The missiles from the rifled gun of the battery struck the Yankee, doing but small damage. Several of the projectiles from the gun- boats took effect in the midst of the battery.
The news from the Point of Rocks is not particularly important. The rebels sent a body of cavalry, two hundred strong, on a foraging expedition in the neighborbood of Bolivar. They were saluted by a few shells from the Parrott guns belonging to a section of Col. Knapp's Union artillery, which made them move off rapidly in a contrary direction to that intended by them. Five thousand rebels were reviewed at Leesburg yesterday.
The news from Kentucky is very important. The rebels, under Generals Johnston and Buckner, have destroyed a large portion of the Louisville and Nashville Railroad beyond Green river, burhing all the material of which it was constructed that could be thus con At last advices they were engaged in blowing up the tunnel, which is some three hundred feet in length.
There is nothing of particular interest reported by the arrival of the transports Roanoke and Cahawba from Port Royal. Com. Truxton, of the sloop-of-war Dale, is rapidly becoming acquainted with the rebel positions in the country around him, their strength, &c. Reconnoissances are being made, with some success, in the neighborhood of the Edisto river. The military movements are unimportant. A new naval expedition is said to be on the tapis. A rebel privateer succeeded in running the blockade off Charleston harbor on the night of December 29, having previously made several ineffectual attempts.
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Newspaper Opinions Regarding the surrender of Mason and Slidell.
From the Maryland News Sheet, of the 3d inst., we clip the following:‘ The Montreal Gazette speaks of the surrender of Mason and Slidell as a bitter humiliation for the Federal Government Had the British Ministry been guilty of so blundering a piece of statesmanship, the Gazette says that ‘"the Cabinet would have been broken up, and its members ignominiously kicked out of their places."’
The Providence Post declares that the surrender of the prisoners ‘"cannot fail to humiliate and degrade the high character to which abler counsels had elevated this once prosperous Republic."’ Mr. Seward's letter to Lord Lyons is sharply satirized by the Albany Argus. He is accused by that journal with arguing both sides, and ingeniously pausing in the middle to confess that he does not know which he has done best.
‘"His attitude,"’ says the Argus, ‘"as he holds himself in, at the turning point of his ratiocination is a perfect tableau."’ The Boston Advertiser denounces the British demand as ‘"arrogant,"’ and asserts that the release of the Commissioners only postpones the issue; whilst the Boston Courier adds--‘"in view of all the facts we go for clearing the decks and preparing for action."’
The London Examiner, after quoting the comments of the New York Times with regard to the object of the stone fleet, asks whether the civilized Christian world ‘"will suffer a warfare to continue which is carried to this flendish pitch of destructiveness?"’ ‘"Rivers,"’ it remarks, ‘"are the highways of the world, and to destroy one of these means of communication is an injury to all, which should not be permitted to the malice of any Power."’
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From Washington.
A special dispatch from Washington, Jan. 2d, to the Maryland News Sheet, says:‘ The tone of the English press upon the President's message and especially its strong denunciation of the Stone Blockade has had a most depressing effect in Administration circles. Apprehensions are felt that demands may still be made which will test the national spirit quite as offensively as the requisition for Mason and Slidell and the more Mr. Seward's letter is examined, the less likely it appears to be a final settlement of that affair.
General McClellan's immediate return to the discharge of out door duties is not to be expected. His disease is typhoid fever, which would be fatally aggravated by exposure.
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