Northern news.
From Northern papers to the 15th instant, we make up the following summary of news:
The New York Herald in a Fit of Desperation.
Yesterday we gave a couple of extracts from editorials in the New York Herald of the 15th. The style is frantic, and shows what McClellan's ‘"victory"’ is thought of at the North. The extracts were brief, and this morning we give the articles entire. This is the first:
Fighting in earnest — down with all traitors.
This is the crisis of the rebellion. It is more than this it is the crisis of the country. There is no longer time for argument, indecision, or delay.--Every reasonable man has now arrived at the conclusion that the rebellion must be put down, and that it must be put down by force. The repulse from before Richmond is to this final act of the drama of rebellion what the surrender of Fort Sumter was to its prologue. It closes the argument at once and forever. There is no time left for talking, and there is nothing left to say. Henceforth we must have only action, action, and again action. We are done playing with war, and must now fight a earnest. The order of the day is, down with all traitors.This civil war has dragged its slow length along for fifteen months. It could have been, and ought to have been, settled in half the time. It has already cost the country six hundred millions of dollars. The greater part of this immense sum has been wasted and stolen. Up to this date thousands of lives have been lost upon our battle-fields.--Thousands of these lives have been thrown away, unnecessarily sacrificed, wantonly squandered, heedlessly murdered. The bones of our dead soldiers would make a Golgotha monument higher than that of Banker Hill. The money already spent upon this war would have given competences to a million of people.
In return for this immense outlay of blood and treasure, what have we gained? Are the rebels subdued? On the contrary, they seem stronger than ever. Is the rebellion at its last gasp? It has to-day more soldiers in the field than the Union.--Have we succeeded in reviving the Union feeling at the South? Why, every day the two sections drift farther and farther apart, every day we become more and more ignorant of the sentiments of the Southern people; every day that this accursed rebellion is permitted to continue, the number of Southern Union men becomes less as the old Union seems more powerless and remote, and the new Confederacy more powerful and successful. What, then, have we gained? In spite of our brilliant victories, our naval superiority, our numerous but isolated triumphs, we have practically and in results gained very little and lost very much.
What then, shall we do next? Shall we give up the war, disband our army and navy, and let the rebels go in peace? Never! It is too late to think of such a course. The recognition of the Southern Confederacy by our own Government is no longer among the contingencies of this war. --The rebels may defeat our armies and capture our capital — these are possibilities — but the rebels can never conquer their independence. The conflict has assumed a new and a sublimer aspect. We have to decide now, not whether the rebels can be subdued, but whether the country is to be saved. The question is no longer the putting down of the rebellion, but the salvation of the nation. We are in cul de sac, from which our only escape is the suppression of the rebellion by force.
Fifteen months ago we might, perhaps, have peaceably divided the Union; but such a division is now utterly impossible. Later still, if there had been one great statesman in the country, we might have reunited the nation by compromise, or by a diplomatic appeal to the old national feeling against a foreign foe; but now no compromise is possible, and the only diplomacy left us is that of the sword. Like Alexander, we cannot untie, and must cut, the Gordian knot of our affairs. Like Cæsar, we have passed the Rubicon, and must advance. Like Carter, we have destroyed all means of retreat, and must fight the matter out. The crisis is no longer the comparatively insignificant affair of the secession of a few States, but it is the crisis of our national existence. What Rome suffered during her intestine conflicts; what France suffered during her revolutions; what England suffered during her civil wars, this republic is suffering now. From these cruel pangs we must emerge a great and united nation, or the hissing, the reproach, the scoff and the by-word of the world. If we succeed we shall rank the first among nations. If we fail, Liberty is dead, and we die with her. But we shall not fail if from past experiences we learn the secret of success and prosecute the war with a united North.
Beg the question as you may, there can be no sane doubt but that the cause of our ill success thus far has been the want of unanimity in sentiment and action at the North. Those Abolition fanatics who adore the negro and despise the Union have distracted our counsels, impeded our armies, and neutralized our advantages. To a strong but divided North we have had opposed a weaker but more united South. The result was certain; for unanimity is power. It is now quite time that we had this power on our own side. The Abolitionists are the only faction which prevent this, and therefore prevent victory. The Abolitionists in the Cabinet, in Congress, in the press, in the pulpit, and upon the rostrum — the Stantons, the Sumners, the Greeleys, the Cheevers, and the Wendell Phillipses of the day — have hampered our Generals, divided our forces, discouraged recruiting, hindered enlistments, and endeavored to weaken public confidence in the President, in whom alone the people can now trust. We urge, as a life and death necessity, that this disturbing and disorganizing faction should be put down. It is the stumbling block in the path of the loyal people. It misrepresents this war for the Union by calling it a war for the negro; and no war for the negro can be popular. It cries ‘"emancipation"’ to drown the battle-cry of ‘"Union."’--Its utterances serve to exasperate and encourage the rebels; for Sumner, Greeley & Co., have brought Jeff, Davis more and better recruits than the conscription act. It is a faction of traitors. If it had been crushed months ago we should have had an end to the war, at half the price of blood and treasure. As it is, the end seems no nearer than before. Three hundred thousand men are now rushing to arms. Three hundred thousand more patriots offer their lives for the salvation of the country. Millions upon millions of dollars are ready to be poured into the national Treasury by willing hands. We are proud of this popular, uncompromising devotion to the Union, but, taught by the lessons of past experience, we forewarn the Administration that this third apprising of the North will be in vain unless the people are united and the cause justified by the suppression of all factions, abolition or secession, which prefer the negro to the Union, and which by traitorous intrigues delay our arms, while prating about questions of slavery, which the war, if properly prosecuted, would settle for itself. Will the Administration be wise in time, or must we endure another year of war and debt before we learn (as we must ultimately learn) to fight in earnest. Let but the Government strike one blow at the abolition traitors and the rebellion will stagger with a mortal wound, while thousands of loyal but scrupulous men, who have been misled by Abolitionists, and now hold back, declining to fight for emancipation and amalgamation, will crowd our armies and carry the old flag triumphantly over the last strong-hold of rebellion.
Richmond the Citadel of the rebellion — everything for Richmond.
[From the N. Y. Herald, July 15.] Gen. McClellan has been checked in front of Richmond by an assailing rebel army of two hundred thousand men. Jeff. Davis and his confederates have staked their game of Southern independence upon their defence of Richmond. All their available military forces and resources are concentrated in and around their chosen ‘"Confederate"’ capital. They know that if they are driven from it their prestige and power at home and their dreams of foreign intervention are at an end.--They believe that if for a month or two longer they can bold their capital, France and England will come to their rescue. With their superior forces in front of McClellan, they have become bold and daring, and from their late dashing operations we can understand the importance of looking well to our defences of the Potomac while actively and heavily reinforcing our noble army on the James river.An intelligent army officer gives it as his opinion that if we were at once to withdraw all our well trained and experienced troops from every other quarter, to strengthen the army of General McClellan and the co-operative army of General Pope, so as to be able to pounce in overwhelming strength upon the rebel army of Richmond before its recovery from the serious damages it has lately suffered, we should end this rebellion in a single blow, and gain everything from Virginia to Texas in gaining Richmond. Look at the game and its results. If, within the next two weeks, we can reinforce our two all important armies of Virginia, each to the extent of fifty thousand men, we may, before the end of August, realize the grand consummation of the overthrow of Jeff. Davis and his spurious Confederacy with our occupation of Richmond. We believe, too, that with proper activity, within two weeks a hundred thousand tried and experienced soldiers may be added to our armies in Virginia, and that under the present aspects of the war this movement would be wise and economical, whatever might be our temporary disadvantages resulting from rebel raids and guerrillas in other quarters. Such shallow devices as those in Tennessee, for instance, should not divert the Government from the grand and crowning achievement of an over whelming army in Virginia in the shortest possible time.
We have expended six hundred millions of dollars, a whole year of active war by land and sea, and have lost from the casualties of war many thousand soldiers in fighting this rebellion around a great circle. We have routed the rebel armies from Missouri and Kentucky, and Tennessee, and partly from Arkansas, Mississippi, Alabama, and Louisiana, we have removed for a thousand miles, down to the Gulf, the rebel obstructions from the Mississippi river; we have recovered New Orleans, Norfolk, Newbern, Fort Macon, Beaufort, N. C., Beaufort, S. C., and Port Royal, Fort Pulaski, and several seaboard places in Georgia, and several rebel strongholds in Florida, including Pensacola. We have driven the great rebel army of Virginia from its offensive position in sight of Washington back to the defence of Richmond; but there, in measuring our strength with that rebel army, we find it twice in numbers the army of Gen. McClellan, and apparently confident of its power to destroy him, and to turn the tide of invasion back upon Washington and the North.
Everything now depends upon the army of Gen. McClellan and the co-operating army of Gen. Pope--all that we have gained, all that we expect to gain, and all that is in danger. The immediate reinforcement of those two armies is therefore the immediate and paramount duty of the Government, and of our loyal States and people. We say, let McClellan and Pope be reinforced at once with our experienced troops from other quarters, and let their present points of occupation be supplied by our new recruits as fast as they can be raised, and if for this purpose the volunteer system is too slow, let us have a call of the militia. We have the whole available strength of the rebellion concentrated at the very point most convenient for our object, if we would crush the monster at a single blow, but at the very point the most dangerous to our safety and our cause if we fail to hurry up in season an overwhelming army to General McClellan and General Pope, in front of Richmond and in the rear of Washington.
Granted that the rebel leaders at Richmond will be very cautious in challenging General McClellan to battle again, after the terrible slaughter which they have suffered from their late desperate but impotent efforts to crush him, we still know that every day's delay adds something to the strength of the defences of Richmond, and that the season is approaching when the roads of Virginia will again be impassable. We know, too, from the threatened complications of the negro question, that this summer's campaign must end this rebellion, or that this may be a very long and eventful war.
We call upon the Government to supply, at once, from our troops in the field elsewhere, an overwhelming army to McClellan and Pope in Virginia, and upon our loyal States to push forward their volunteers or militia. If, within two or three weeks, we can reinforce our Virginia armies to the extent of a hundred thousand men, it may save us a vast amount of human life and a thousand millions of dollars, which may otherwise be required for the suppression of this rebellion. Now is the time for action, if we would save the Union. We can. Let action, then, be the word.
Source of the Mismanagement of war — the hope of reform.
[From the same.] There can be no doubt that the Government has expended six hundred millions of dollars and the lives and health of one hundred and fifty thousand troops since the inauguration of the war, and still we are without any decisive result. It was expected that, with the immense army brought into the field, and the millions of money raised to sustain it, the war would be terminated in one year. But instead of that it will extend over two years, and it may be for a longer period. What is the cause of this? Mismanagement of the grossest kind. By the interference of the committees of both houses of Congress, and by their ill-advised and silly speeches, expressing their opinions upon matters of which they were profoundly ignorant, they have brought disaster upon our army and caused the expenditure of so much blood and treasure in vain. They have rendered necessary the calling into the service three hundred thousand additional men — perhaps half a million would be nearer the mark. It is fortunate that Congress is about to adjourn; for otherwise the consequences might be most fatal to the country. Now that Jacobin committees are about to take their departure from Washington, and to leave the management of the war in the hands of the President and his Generals, there is a prospect of brighter days, a confident hope that a new era of reform will be inaugurated, that a great many of the blunders will be retrieved, and that the next year will see the war brought to a successful issue.Meantime the elections will, take place, and we trust the people will look after the men who misrepresented them in the legislative halls of the nation. Let every man of them get leave to stay at home in future, and let a totally different set of men be sent to Congress. Let the Wades, the Chandlers, the Sumners, and the Wilsons be consigned to oblivion, and let patriots and practical men take their places.
Yankee accounts from Fredericksburg.
A correspondent of the New York Herald, writing on the 12th inst. from Fredericksburg, notices that trade is increasing there. The brute says that ‘"New England calicoes vie successfully with the sombre crape of mourners for rebel fathers, husbands, and sons."’ The cotton factory is again at work:Though seventy miles from Washington, and at almost an equal distance from Richmond, the heavy boom of guns roll in upon us from both Capitals; and while to-day we may hear the cannon at Arlington, the south wind to-morrow may bring us the roar of battle from the crimsoned flats of the Chickahominy. Not long since the greatest excitement was occasioned here among the troops by the report of heavy guns in the direction of Richmond, and as night came on a ruddy glare on the southern sky stirred up the regiments to the wildest pitch of enthusiasm, so confident were they that the rebel capital had fallen, and that fire was at last sweeping down the den of treason into ashes. Days passed on with no intelligence concerning the cause of the mysterious illumination, and many had begun to regard it as some new and strange phenomenon of nature, when, to our great surprise, we learned that the roar of guns came from the Appomattox several miles beyond Richmond, and that the brilliant light was but the reflection of burning coal fired by the rebels near Petersburg. Scarcely a night passes, when the wind is south, but we hear the guns in the vicinity of the James river, while the curiosity of the volunteers is only equalled by the intense anxiety of the citizens, whose hopes seem all bound up in the success of Jeff. Davis & Co.
Nearly all the sick have been removed to Washington during the last few days, and the hospitals here are now almost empty. A few of the most violent cases remain; but these have as good care as they would receive at Washington, and are certainly in a much more pleasant locality. Among those remaining is Captain Caldwell, 2d regiment sharpshooters, whose life is despaired of. Since the occupation of Falmouth the Captain has been serving as Provost Marshal of the place, and by his superior qualities has won the esteem of every officer. The general health of the troops continues excellent, and the great quantities of blackberries afford a most agreeable remedy for the many little ills resulting from an impure state of the system, for the cleansing of which no better specific can be prescribed; while at the same time, they attract the men from the vile wares of the sutlers, whose pies, cakes, &c., have proved the bane of every regiment.
Notwithstanding the vigilance exercised in excluding liquors from the army, little difficulty is experienced by those who know how to get it, and case after case of whiskey, gin, &c., passes daily under the noses of officers, who, in their ridiculous fumbling of ladies' baggage, are oblivious to the choice brands packed away in unassuming boxes, or neatly hidden in the fine assortment of ‘"hospital stores."’ Every carpet bag, trunk, and bundle entering Fredericksburg undergoes a rigid examination, rank being no safeguard against search; and the pouting of ladies at the tumbling of laces, silks, bonnets, &c., seems to have inspired the officials with a sort of grim delight in ransacking every package large enough to hold a bottle.
Several of the officers of the division are going home for the purpose of organizing the new regiments. Among these are Capt. Robinson, of Gen. King's staff, and Capt. Hodge, of Gen. Auger's staff, both accomplished officers and well qualified for the command of their new regiments. A few officers are absent on recruiting service; but furloughs and passes to Washington have recently been entirely suspended, curtailing the amount of travel by rail and steamer amazingly.
Mayor Slaughter returned from Richmond the day before yesterday, completely disgusted with affairs at the rebel headquarters. It will be remembered that the Mayor was sent by the citizens last week to procure the release of Gen. Reynolds; but, to his great disappointment, he was coolly informed that the General could not be released, nor seen, and that the Secretary of War was equally invisible. After vainly endeavoring to obtain an interview with the Secretary, Mayor Slaughter filed his petition and returned to Fredericksburg. General McCall, he reports, is in good health, and is situated as comfortably as is possible under his circumstances.
The Richmond papers are received here every other day within thirty hours of their issued and there is not the least doubt but that the rebels have free and uninterrupted communication with parties within our lines. Deserters come in occasionally, who report that the authorities in Richmond have taken possession of almost every house for hospital purposes, and that great fear is manifested of an epidemic, so foul is the atmosphere throughout the entire city.
A few days since Colonel Holmes, of the 30th Virginia regiment, was captured a short distance beyond Fredericksburg, and was sent up to Washington yesterday. This regiment was raised in the vicinity of Fredericksburg, the Colonel having resided for many years in Stafford county. Last week he came up near our pickets and sent some letters in by a contraband, who, in inquiring after the Colonel's friends, aroused suspicion, which led to the capture of the rebel officer.
Yesterday a large bark came to Aquia Creek and anchored of the landing in the channel, where she awaits such refugees as can be induced to go to Hayti. The vessel is fitted out by James Redpath, and is apparently well adapted to her new business. The contrabands, however, are not delighted overmuch with their strange visitor, and nothing will cause them to skedaddle from the wharf sooner than an intimation that they are wanted on board the mysterious black craft swinging at anchor. Of the scores of negroes round about Aquia, but four have gone on board the bark, and the prospect of a full cargo appears rather less brilliant to the colonization skipper than when his vessel first swung round upon her cable with the tide of the Potomac.
The war plans of the South.
The Baltimore correspondent of the Herald gives the ‘"full particulars"’ of a recent council of war among the Southern Generals at Richmond, at which the following programme was determined upon:It was unanimously agreed not only that it would not do to lose any more territory, but also that what has been lost must be regained. The results of the defensive policy, which has been hitherto the policy of the South, were not regarded as satisfactory, and its abandonment was strongly urged. Both Gen. Beauregard and Gen. Lee endeavored to demonstrate the feasibility of an invasion of the North at three different points — namely, from Cumberland or Williamsport into Pennsylvania; from Louisville and Cincinnati into Indiana and Ohio, and from Paducah and Cairo into Illinois. It was not certainly known whether the ‘"invasion" ’ flank of the platform had been accepted or not. It was strenuously opposed by Jeff. Davis and one or two of the Generals; but a large majority of them were in favor of it. It is known, however, that the following operations were agreed on, as forming parts of the summer campaign:
- 1. the immediate obstruction of the James river, so as to make it impossible for McClellan to use it as a means for communicating with the Government and for the transportation of reinforcements and army supplies.
- 2. the reoccupation of Williamsburg, Yorktown, and the entire Peninsula.
- 3. the recovery of the whole of the territory of Virginia, and the repossession of the Baltimore and Ohio railroad.
- 4. the recovery of New Orleans, Memphis, and the Mississippi river, and the expulsion of the Federal troops from Tennessee and Kentucky. When these objects had been accomplished, the Lee and Beauregard plan proposed:
- 5. to make the Potomac and Ohio rivers at once their base of operations and frontier line, and to transfer the seat of war from Virginia to Maryland.
- 6. to burl upon Washington, from Richmond, a column of two hundred thousand troops; the capture of that city, the ‘"liberation"’ of Baltimore, and the invasion of the North at the three points named above. By becoming in turn the invaders, they hope to make it necessary for us to keep at home for the defence of our cities fully five hundred thousand troops.
the importance of Virginia to the rebels has been forcibly demonstrated by the events of the spring campaign, and hence the strenuous efforts which they will make to regain it. If they can restore there the statu quo ante bellum, or even the State of affairs as they existed in June, 1861, they believe that we never again can invade that State. Its capabilities for defence are superb; indeed, unequalled anywhere. And if, on the recurrence of the cool weather of the fall, we can be compelled to begin the campaign over again at Manassas and Romney on the North, and Fortress Monroe on the southeast, the rebel leaders expect that we will find the road to Richmond still less practicable in fall than we found it in the spring.
such is their rather extensive programme for the summer campaign. The means at their command for its execution are rather inadequate; but they count upon the active assistance of both England and France. Both of these nations, they think, will recognize their independence, and their vessels, breaking the blockade, take their cotton and sugar away and bring them arms and ammunition in return. They have now in arms 500,000 troops, distributed as follows:
| Richmond | 200,000 |
| Central Virginia | 40,000 |
| Charleston | 30,000 |
| Savannah | 25,000 |
| Mobile part of these troops are from Beauregard's late army. | 50,000 |
| Vicksburg part of these troops are from Beauregard's late army. | 75,000 |
| West of the Mississippi river | 40,000 |
| Knoxville | 20,000 |
| Interior of Georgia and Alabama | 20,000 |
| Total | 500,000 |
So far as Gen. McClellan's army is concerned, the rebels at Richmond are confident that by the end of this month they will have driven them entirely from the Peninsula.
The President's bill to compensate any State which may abolish slavery.
The following message from the President was delivered to Congress to-day:
Fellow Citizens of the Senate and House of Representatives:
Herewith is the draft of the bill to compensate any State which may abolish slavery within its limits, the passage of which, substantially as presented, I respectfully and earnestly recommend.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That whenever the President of the United States shall be satisfied that any State shall have lawfully abolished slavery within and through-out such State, either immediately or gradually, it shall be the duty of the President, assisted by the Secretary of the Treasury, to prepare and deliver to each State an amount of six per cent, interest-bearing bonds of the United States, equal to the aggregate value of — dollars per head of all the slaves within such State, as reported by the census of one thousand eight hundred and sixty; the whole amount of any one State to be delivered at once, it the abolishment be immediate, or in equal annual instalments if it be gradual, interest to begin running on each bond at the time of delivery, and not before.
And be it further enacted, That if any State having so received any such bonds shall, at any time afterwards by law, re-introduce or tolerate slavery within its limits, contrary to the act of abolishment upon which such bonds shall have been received, said bonds so received by said State shall at once be null and void in whosoever hands they may be, and such State shall refund to the United States all interest which may have been paid on such bonds.
The House Select Committee on Emancipation in the border States will probably report on the subject to-morrow.
Expedition up little river Inlet.
The Navy Department has received dispatches stating that Lieutenant Commanding Braine recently picked up at sea, in an open boat, eight contrabands from Little River Inlet, S. C., from whom information was obtained that two schooners were preparing to run the blockade, laden with cotton and turpentine, and that the cargo was already in the warehouse, near the wharf, ready for shipment. Capt. Glisson ordered an expedition fitted out, consisting of an armed boat from each vessel, commanded by Lieuts. Braine and Bruce. The town was found deserted. The schooner at the wharf was not considered worth the trouble of bringing away. They found at the wharf and warehouses two hundred barrels of turpentine, sixty bales of cotton, and fifty-three barrels of rosin, the whole of which was destroyed by fire, valued at about $50,000.
M'Clellan's campaign.
The visit of the President to Gen. McClellan has suddenly silenced most of the clamor against the latter, and McClellan stock is advanced. If either he or Stanton is to be deposed, it will certainly not be McClellan.It is now plain that everything went charmingly, and produced only a series of successes as long as McClellan's plans were adhered to; but since the arbitrary change in that programme, on the 2d of May last, there has been only disaster followed by worse disasters.
Gathering of Generals.
There is a complete Congress of Generals in Washington — Pope, Wallace, Plummer, Mitchell, Sigel, Blenker, McDowell, and half-a-dozen others of less celebrity. Pope intends to make his headquarters in his saddle, and will be prepared for any emergency.
Numerical strength of M'Clellan's army.
(Army Correspondence of the Cincinnati Commercial.) It would not be prudent to attempt to state definitely how much it has been reduced numerically; but there can be no impropriety in stating that Gen. Mc'clellan was never able to carry over 80,000 effective men into battle. When he landed at Fortress Monroe his muster roll exhibited 115,000 men of all arms. A considerable proportion of these — say 8,000 --were cavalry, of which 2,000 were serviceable; the remainder would have served their country better behind their plows at home. Others were necessarily detailed to keep open our communication and protect our flanks — leaving about 100,000 to be disposed of. A very large percentage of sick were then to be subtracted. It is not very extravagant to say that wounds and deaths at Yorktown cost us 1,000 men; Williamsburg, 8,000; West Point, 250; Hanover Court-House, 500; Fair Oaks, so say official bulletins, 5,700. I wish I could believe that were all. Skirmishes and affairs before Richmond, 1,000 at least; Mechanicville, 300; Gaines's Mill, 7,500; Savage's Station, 1,000; White Oak Swamp and Turkey Creek — oh, how many!Where are the stragglers? To be sure, the enemy have lost full as many; but they could afford it. Without attempting to estimate the average number of sick. I will give one exceptional face which may cause you to shudder. When General Casey's division landed at Fortress Monroe it numbered 13,000 men, when his division was routed at Seven Pines it numbered less than 6,000 --all the rest were dead and in the hospital. But no other division suffered as much. After Seven Pines it was no division at all. Many of these losses were compensated by reinforcements--seven regiments — say, 6,000 men, from Fortress Monroe, and General McCall's division of 10,000 effectives from the Rappahannock. But even with all these reductions the army could sustain itself against attack if it had requisite rest and supplies. I state these facts because the crisis seems to have passed. Reinforcements and supplies have been forwarded.
Meeting of Governors — a Camp to be established in Cleveland.
[From the Cleveland Herald, 5th.] Yesterday afternoon an important conference was held at the Angier House, at which was present Governor Todd, of Ohio; Governor Solomon, of Wisconsin; Governor Morton, of Indians; Governor Blair, of Michigan; General Buckingham, of Washington; Colonel Stager, Superintendent of Military Telegraphs, and Colonel Temple, of Kentucky. Governor Curtin, of Pennsylvania; Governor Morgan, of New York, and Secretary of State William H. Seward, were expected but did not arrive.We are not apprised of the full results of the conference, but we understand that one of the acts determined on is the establishment of a Camp of Instruction in Cleveland, in which recruits from this neighborhood will be collected and drilled. The location is not yet determined on, but we understand that the most probable site is the ground lately occupied by the camp of the 41st regiment, across the run from Forest street.
All the members of the conference returned to their homes this morning. Previous to taking the train, they examined the Soldiers' Aid Hospital, at the depot, and expressed their satisfaction with the arrangements.
Letter from Major-General Sanks in answer to a resolution of Inquiry of the House.
--In answer to your resolution of inquiry, I have the honor to say that there is no foundation of fact for the statement contained in the resolution enclosed to me. No person not belonging to the army, white or black, was allowed to use or occupy Government transportation of any kind on the march of my command from Strasburg. If any instance has occurred, it was, with one exception, not only without authority, but against orders, and has not yet come to my knowledge. Citizens, traders, refugees, &c., were protected in the occupancy of their own wagons, and allowed to move with the Government trains in order, nothing further.
The rear guard of infantry and artillery halted in the rear of Martinsburg from two o'clock till evening. When at considerable distance of our march we overtook a small party on foot. --My attention was attracted by a little girl, about eight years of age, who was toddling over the stones by the wayside, and I asked ‘"How far she had travelled?"’ ‘"From Winchester,"’ they said. We were then about twenty-seven miles on our march. I requested the cannoneers to give her a lift, and the gallant men who had hung upon the rear of the column for its defence the greater part of the distance answered with alacrity. No successful efforts were made to ascertain her complexion, but it is not impossible that she belonged to the class referred to in the resolution, and that her little limbs had been strengthened by some vague dream of liberty to be lost or won on that hurried night march.
I have the honor to be, with much respect, your obedient servant,
The Correspondence about the White House--its Accommodations — Why it was guarded, and not used as a Hospital.
The correspondence on the subject of the White House, on the Pamunkey river, just laid before the House of Representatives, is interesting. General McClellan, in his telegram in reply to Secretary Stanton, (which stated that urgent complaints were made that the rebel General Lee's property was protected, and the necessities of our suffering soldiers demanded its use, and that the soldiers had to buy water where they were.) says that the Secretary's dispatch struck him with pain and astonishment, and adds that the story about the soldiers purchasing water is without foundation. General McClellan then adds:‘"I have given special direction to protect the property of the White House from any unnecessary injury or destruction, because it was once the property of General Washington, and I cannot believe that you will regard this as a cause for rebuke or censure. I protect no houses against use when they are needed for sick or wounded soldiers. Persons who endeavor to impose upon you such malicious and unfounded reports as those alluded to, are not only enemies to this army, but to the cause in which we are now fighting."’
A brute's letter.
The following letter, published in the Whig, was found on the dead body of a Yankee after the battle of Gaines's Mill. It is dated North Middleboro' Mass, June 15th:‘ "I cannot yet fully sympathize with your apprehensions of the re-establishment of the slave power on a firmer basis than ever before, unless our Western States form a coalition with the South for the sake of a free Southern commerce. I somewhat fear this result, since an Eastern and Western collision seems to have shown itself in our Congress. There is, probably, less sympathy for the slave at the West than in New England, from the fact that the capabilities of black men, in a state of abject servitude, are better known there than among us, and that the Western people know less, and think less, of the elevating power of freedom and of education, in the negro race, than we do, who estimate men according to mental, rather than according to their mere animal powers. If we can aid in opening the Mississippi to Western trade, this may be all some of our Western demagogues want of us, and they may then cast us off. I hope this is but imaginary, and that our Western brethren will aid us in establishing the freest government the sun ever illuminated.
"By the way, how do you like squint-eyed Butler? Isn't he a 'whole team?' Didn't he relieve the New Orleans Mayor of his ponderous weight of responsibility in a manner we call 'a caution to magistrates?' Didn't he pull the New Orleans Ladies' (!) crinoline over their 'sensual, devilish' eyes, in a fashion to guarantee to them 'leg bail' as their best security! Ha...ha...Ha! Go it, Butler; thou shalt be our next Governor, if thou will become a 'Republican,' and protect my neck from a New Orleans lamp post court of inquiry.
"Didn't our fleet at Memphis pitch in, tooth and nail, neck and heels, giving the rebels 'fits,' and then restoring a portion of them by a Mississippi bath? That's the way to show them the 'last ditch' which they find so difficult to designate. They have called for 'war to the knife,' 'war to the bitter end,' and I hope, like tavern waiting men, our soldiers will give them what they have called for so many times, and so loudly and pompously."
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Butler's orders.
All of Butler's orders in New Orleans form a part of the history of this war. Their infamy will endure forever. We give a copy of the latest:
Headquarters Dep't of the Gulf,
New Orleans, June 30, 1862.
Special Order No. 152: John W. Andrews exhibited a cross, the emblem of the suffering of our blessed Saviour, fashioned for personal ornament, which he said was made from the bones of a Yankee soldier, and having shown this, too, without rebuke, in the Louisiana Club, which claims to be composed of chivalric gentlemen:
It is, therefore, ordered that, for this desecration of the dead, he be confined at hard labor for two years on the fortifications at Ship Island, and than he be allowed no verbal or written communication to or with any one except through these headquarters.
Special Order No. 151:
Fidel Keller has been found exhibiting a human skeleton in his bookstore window, in a public place in this city, labelled. ‘"Chickahominy,"’ in large letters, meaning and intending that the bones should be taken by the populace to be the bones of a United States soldier slain in that battle, in order to bring the authority of the United States and our armies into contempt, and for that purpose had stated to the passers by that the bones were those of a Yankee soldier, whereas, in truth and fact, they were the bones purchased some weeks before of a Mexican Consul, to whom they were pledged by a medical student:
It is therefore ordered, that for this desecration of the dead he be confined at Ship Island for two years at hard labor, and that he be allowed to communicate with no person on the island except Mrs. Phillips, who has been sent there for a like offence.
Any written message many be sent to him through these headquarters.
Upon this order being read to him, the said Keller requested that so much of it as associated him with ‘"that woman"’ might be recalled, which request was therefore reduced to writing by him, as follows:
New Orleans, June 30, 1862.
Mr. Keller desires that part of the sentence which refers to the communication with Mrs. Phillips be stricken out as he does not wish to have communication with the said Mrs. Phillips.
Said request seeming to the Commanding General to be reasonable, so much of said order is revolted, and the remainder will be executed.
