Latest from the North.
The Washington Chronicle, of Tuesday, the 23d ‘"On Saturday afternoon, after mature the President sent a joint note to Sew and to the effect that in his best judgement the Government could not dispense with their them to resume the duties of Departments. This they have both done, and the Cabinet crisis is over."’has written Halleck a letter, in which at his reasons for moving the Army of the the Rappahannock sooner than by the President, Secretary of and of Halleck, and for crossing at a point from the one suggested by Halleck and President that he, Burnside, thought he dis that the enemy had thrown a large por of his force down the river and elsewhere, as he supposed, his own defence in He also thought that our army did not that he, Burnside, would cross his whole at Fredericksburg, and he hoped, by rapidly the whole command over at that place, to by a vigorous attack our forces; and, he but for the fog and delay in building bridges, gave us twenty four hours to concentrate in strong positions, he would certainly in which case the battle would more decisive than if he had crossed at first named. He says became very near and that after waiting two days for us to and fight him, he recrossed, without loss or material, and adds "to the brave officers who accomplished the feat of re in the face of the enemy, I owe every For the failure in the attack I am re He compliments his soldiers fight sympathies for the dead and his pray the wounded, and says he is the more for the disaster, as he moved on this Warrenton rather against the opinion of Secretary of War and Halleck. He be moved earlier than was expected, and Stanton, and Halleck told him to be He gives, as his losses, 1,152 killed, wounded, of which, he says, a large are very slightly so, and his prisoners are He says the army is in good condition, and the Government for its support and confi
of Maryland, is dead.
The Chronicle says Bragg has been reinforced by
on Monday, Vallandigham offered looking to peace, which lies over.
The following, from the Herald, will give some the present tone of the Northern press:
winter campaign East and West--What is the prospect?
The disaster to the national army Fredericksburg has dissipated the confident previously entertained throughout the ‘"short, sharp, and decisive"’ against the rebellion, East and West, has brought the public mind to such inquiries What is the prospect before us? If with overwhelming land and naval forces we advance only to defeats, disasters, what have we to expect from a con prosecution of this war under such men as and Halleck?hope that President Lincoln, rising of the exigencies of the day, the of the country? Or will he and system of military the last ten months, continue to drag to the end of his administration?
such as these are the absorbing topics of the day; but the only man who can answer them Lincoln. The public mind is gloomy; not utterly, despair while awaiting the of the waters. Meantime let us glance field, and see from the situation of things Union forces employed here and there the prospect of this winter campaign in the in the West.
a great and powerful army in front --larger to-day than it was on the morning of the fearful slaughter, but little time for rest and for the needful of its heavy damages. Whether General therefore, is to go into winter quarters to resume offensive operations on Rappahannock, or from some other base of operations, we cannot tell. It will su the present that he has received a that he must turn the rebel his front of abandon that line of march they are deliberating now in Washington upon next to do. The absence of any formi movement to General Burnside by of Suffolk and Petersburg or the James river has enabled the rebel Gen. Lee to con forces in front of Fredericksburg, and to delay another advance on our side perhaps for to come.
view of the "situation"--Unmerciful of the "imbeciles" at Washington.
We copy in full the New York World's editorial last, to which brief allusion has been in the telegraphic column:help us! There seems to be no help in The cause is perishing. Hope after hope has till now the only prospect is the very of despair.
But how can we adjure Heaven for help? Was said by the wisest of Pagans that ‘"there is a which battles even the gods?"’ and is it a proverb among Christians, too, that ‘"God those only who help themselves?"’ What have we to expect that even Infinite Mercy the of the universe that we and ours from the track to death? Is it not presumption to imagine that the Eternal which has ordained cause and effect, will the folly that now governs us !
yet it is a terrible spectacle. A ship, the that ever sailed the tide of time, freighted for the race passing all calculation beyond all price, the marvel and the glory of world — we say it is a terrible spectacle argosy in the hands of chatter and blind, blundering imbeciles, driving on upon the breakers and quicksands, the the stoutest and the most faithful deck, are compelled to look passively helplessness, await the all fate.
call this extravagant language. It is not extravagant. It but feebly expresses the dreadful Here we are reeling back from the third upon Richmond. Fifteen thousand of the sacrificed at one swoop, and the rest only by a hair's breadth, and all for what? same old accursed trio of imbeciles at Washington, Lincoln, Halleck, and Stanton. Those murderous, might have been carried had the pontoon bridges been de the time promised by the imbeciles at In the face of the stupendous work the enemy was able to accomplish by reason failure, Burnside would have never made as he did, had he not in spite of his pressing protests been peremptorily ordered the river and storm those heights, then and by the men at Washington. That is the true Not all the cunning, nor all the impudence of White House flunkeys, can change that record one Like the fatal blunders that preceded it, it unalterably into history.
our country! Given over, it would to the most ignoble fate that ever befell a --wrecked by imbeciles! Time was, we when an incompetent ruler was not among men. If he could not or would himself up to the task required of him, he to give way, and often very swiftly, too, to the who God made to command. This cannot The people have named the one to hold of State for four years, come sunshine or storm. We must abide him as he is, and find what solace we can. And yet it is a that he cannot be induced to call in proper Why, look for a moment.
There Secretary of War, an upstart in with neither knowledge nor experience of pretension and impatience, alike puzzle and pragmatical, his movements all and conjecture, now pitching loyal men Fort and now running a muck of in the field, a blatherskites and a blun a mischief maker and a marplot from the be There stands the Secretary of the Navy, in years, gentle at heart, mild in man admirably qualified to do the needful for a in.
Murmuring streams, soft shades, and springing flowers.
seas of milk, and ships of amber; as to his capacity to do the needful in these times on the broad ocean — go read it in the of the Sumter and the Alabama.--There stands, too, the Secretary of the Treasury, to his eyes paper, and yet to furnish even green backs for monthly pay of the soldiers, though the be a violation of the public faith them, the untold suffering of their families and their own demoralization and desertion degree incalculably damaging to the There, too, stands the man who calls General in Chief, the President's chosen military manager and adviser, whose strategy is in his dispatching the Banks expedition to Texas, when every principle of common sense required it to bear on Richmond, whose business hab are illustrated in his forgetting the pontoons, though he had expressly prohibited them, and whose judgment is shown by his persistent order to storm Fredericksburg heights, in spite of the conclusive of General Burnside against it.
How can the country be saved, with such men in charge of its destiny? Human reason in vain for an answer. But is there any prospect of a change? How can it come? The President is blindly and obstinately confident in these men. Of public opinion he takes no deed. In fact, he knows nothing of it as it really exist; for it is notorious that he reads as little of newspapers — which are the only true index of public opinion — as the child unborn. His notions of the popular feeling are made up mainly from the representations of the interested about him, and the fugitive statements of the few visitors who can quiet his jesting tongue long enough to get his serious ear. Of course notions thus gained are mixed, crude, and worthless.
What the Must the nation surely perish? Is there no remedy against all this incapacity? We vouch for nothing. The case at best is deplorable. But we are convinced that if there is any chance whatever it lies with the Generals in the field.--There is this one thing observable; the further off from Washington, the more successful are our military operations. It has been so uninterruptedly from the beginning. This can be due to nothing else than to the greater freedom enjoyed by distant Generals from Washington Let our Eastern Generals no longer submit to this terrible disadvantage. If worthy of their position at all, they have a right to manage their prescribed campaigns in accordance with their own judgment. No man, however competent, it away from the actual field of operations, intelligently order them when and how to give battle — infinitely such man as now presume to direct in Washington. We say, then, to those Generals, insist upon a carte blanche in respect to field operations, and, when it is once given. If it is infringed resign on the spot. McClellan did well in requiring such a permit; but he did not do well in suffering it to be constantly overridden. Burnside, in like manner, did well in exacting the same column pledge before he took command; but he did not do well in quietly submitting when, two days afterwards, its systematic violation began. Our commanding Generals cannot act too resolutely or too promptly under such high handed breaches of faith. Let them henceforth be true to themselves. The people know that they have a military right to undivided command, and that the salvation of the country depends on their exercising it. It would not take more than one resignation produced directly and distinctly by the disregard of this right and necessity — we say it would not take more than such resignation to raise a tempest that would frighten even the dunderheads at Washington into some improvement of their ways.
An interview with Gen. Bragg's Wife.
The Weitzel expedition from New Orleans to Thibodaux visited the plantation of Gen. Bragg. An interview with Mrs. Bragg is thus described by a correspondent of the New York Times.In the vicinity of Thibodaux is situated the plantation of Maj. Gen. Bragg. It of course attracted the attention of our soldiers, and his negroes seemed to have a very intelligent idea of the relation their master stood to the national troops. As our soldiers advanced, Lieut. Colonel Warner, of the 13th Connecticut, received ward from Mrs. Bragg that she would like to have a guard to protect her property. This request was promptly complied with, and when Col. Warner came up two of his regiment were pacing quietly before the door of the mansion. They had, however, arrived too late to save the property entire. The negroes had taken advantage of the opportunity to break open the closets, invade the bureaus, ran open the feather and moss beds, in search of treasure, and otherwise destroy valuables in the different rooms.
Upon Col. Warner's appearance, Mrs. Bragg with some excitement, commenced expressing ‘"her mind."’ I knew this lady many years ago, long before she was married, and few women were handsomer or more eloquent with the tongue. I can therefore, readily imagine that Col. Warner got the worst of it, so far as words were concerned, at any rate. I venture to remark that she had the ‘"last say."’ Col. Warner suggested that it was a sad time; the lady said, ‘"no one asked the national troops to come in this vicinity and why were they there?"’ ‘"Because,"’ said the Colonel, ‘"our duty and my duty, which I learned from your once honored husband, taught me to follow my flag, and defend every portion of my country."’ Mrs. Bragg insisted ‘"that the Federal were intruders and invaders of the South."’
The Colonel replied in courteous language that he could not understand his position in that light, and incidentally remarked that, as an old friend of Gen. Bragg, he would have been pleased to see him. At this allusion the lady's dark and sparkling even flashed and she said, ‘"If you would see Gen. Bragg you should meet him in the West, and not here on his plantation."’ The Colonel, with a little replied that ‘"our Western troops had been trying to meet Gen. Bragg, but that their efforts had not been altogether successful."’ Here upon the lady demanded protection, and getting into a carriage rode beyond the immediate lines of our troops — sad, no doubt, to feel that her husband, and the trusted friend of Gen. Taylor, and the hero of one of the best fought battles on our continent, was now ing out of Kentucky a defeated rebel.
