From the North.
the retreat of Grant confirmed — Vallandigham to be sent to Dixie.
Dates from the North are as late as the 15th inst. We give a summary of the nows they contain:
From two to four regiments per day are now passing through Washington on their why home, their time being out. On the 14th inst., the 127th and 135th Pa., numbering 1,500 men, passed through.
It is reported in Washington that General Burnside approved the sentence of the commission in the case of Clement L. Vallandigham, which was that he be confined at the Dry Tortugas, but that the President has changed it to sending him South.
In reference to the case of Vallandigham, the American says: ‘"The true friends of the Union will learn with infinite satisfaction that the pestilent traitor — Vallandigham — so long permitted to defy and insult the Government, and all who stand by it to put down a godless rebellion, has at last a prospect of getting a modicum of his dues in being assigned to the care of his congeners in Dixie — a commutation of that sentence which should have sent him a felon to Dry Tortugas."’
A dispatch from New York, dated the 14th has the following news about the "pirate"Alabama:
The ship Antelope, from Calcutta, reports as follows: April 23d, in lat. 2 N., long, 29:31 W., spoke the British ship Victory, the captain of which reported that on the 10th of April, ten miles south of the equator, in long 29:40, at 8 A. M., was boarded by an officer from a steamer, who reported her as the United States steamer Iroquois, and was anxious to know if the Victory had seen any American vessels.
There was then a ship in sight and the officer went aboard his vessel, which then steamed towards the ship. It was calm all day, and at 7 o'clock they saw the ship on fire. The steamer was bark rigged, and mounted seven guns. She had a shield figure head, and was, undoubtedly, the British pirate Alabama.
News from the Army of the Potomac represents everything as quiet. The troops are resting and preparing themselves for another encounter with the enemy. All accounts indicate that the morale of the several corps is excellent, and that the men are drilling and are ready to give battle whenever their commander designates the time and place. It seems Gen. Hooker did design crossing the Rappahannock again, according to the plan conceived before his retirement; but General Halleck did not approve the new movement, and it was countermanded.
In Kentucky matters are assuming a serious aspect, the rebels being reported in force across the Cumberland. Morgan, with the commands of Forrest and Wheeler, is at Monticello, the espital of Wayne county, 100 miles south from Frankfort. Our forces are confronting the rebels, and we may expect, stirring word from Southern Kentucky in a brief period.
Little that is satisfactory has been received from Gen. Grant. He met the rebels, under Gen. Bowen, at Clinton, Miss., and, after a well-fought engagement; defeated and forced them back upon Jackson; but discovering that heavy columns of troops were reinforcing them from Charleston and Mobile, he judiciously retired toward the river. Joseph E. Johnston is expected by the rebels to reach Vicksburg in time to command in the coming battle. They believe themselves competent to hold the city against Grant, but think that, it Vicksburg falls, their hopes of a Southern Confederacy are dashed forever.
From West Virginia we learn that Floyd is moving forward at the head of ten thousand men to reinforce Jones and Imboden, with a view to advance upon the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad at some point between New Creek and Wheeling. Energetic measures have been taken by Gen-Kelly to rid West Virginia of the prowling bandits who have infested the mountains and valleys for some time past, and it is now hoped that quiet will be speedily restored to the State.
The iron-clads were still in the vicinity of Port Royal, and no indications of an attack upon Fort Sumter were apparent.
The Northern press on the death of Stonewall Jackson.
We are enabled to give fuller extracts from the Northern press written after the receipt of the intelligence of the death of Gen. Jackson. The Herald says:‘ By intelligence we published yesterday from Richmond, via Hooker's army on the Rappahannock, our readers have learned that the celebrated Stonewall Jackson died on Sunday last, partly from pneumonia and partly from the effects of the amputation of his arm, rendered necessary by a wound he received in the battle on the Sunday before. The interment was to have taken place on Tuesday last. This event is a serious and an irreparable loss to the rebel army; for it is agreed on all hands that Jackson was the most brilliant rebel General developed by this war. From his coolness and sagacity, rapid movements and stubbornness in the fight, and his invariable good fortune, he resembled Napoleon in his early career more than does any other General of modern times. According to the estimate formed of him by the Richmond Enquirer, the special organ of Jefferson Davis, the loss is greater to the rebels than if they had lost a whole division of their army. Their victory at Chancellorsville is, therefore, dearly bought. To him was largely due the victory at the first fight at Bull Run. Here he received his nick-name of "Stonewall," from the firmness with which he and his regiment fought. His raid through the valley of the Shenandoah was a masterly stroke of strategy; for while he kept McDowell's and Banks's corps employed, and struck terror at Washington, by a rapid retrograde movement he appeared on the battle field, in the seven days fight on the Chickahominy, to turn the scale just at the critical moment, while McDowell was non est, like Patterson at Bull Run. --Again, when Pope was retreating from the Rapidan and the Rappahannock, Jackson, by forced marches, gained his flank, caused terrible confusion, and obtained vast spoil. Lastly, at the battle of Autistam, after capturing Harper's Ferry, he turned up on the right flank of our army in time to repulse Hooker, save the remnant of Lee's force, and prevent the battle from becoming a rout. Wherever Jackson appeared on any field victory seems to have perched upon his banners.
In his demeanor he is represented as having been extremely quiet and modest, plain and unostentatious in his dress, silent and thoughtful; in his habits temperate, in his conduct strictly moral, and in religion he is said to have been almost a fanatic. He was a universal favorite in the rebel armies, and popular even in our own. Over his men he exercised the strictest discipline, and always moved them with the least possible quantity of baggage — Hence his rapid marches, and the sobriquet by which his troops were known--"foot cavalry." What is curious about the manner of his wound is that, according to the Richmond Enquirer, he was shot by some of his own men — which is very probable in the smoke and confusion of so terrible a battle, with perhaps one part of his line more advanced than another, and he, as he generally was, in the front of the fight. His death is no doubt owing less to the wound than to his exposure in the rain storm, and by continuing in command in such a condition, superinducing pneumonia and a fatal termination.
’ The Washington Chronicle, speaking of Jackson's death, says:
‘ Stonewall Jackson is dead. While we are only too glad to be rid, in any way, of so terrible a foe, our sense of relief is not unmingled with emotions of sorrow and sympathy at the death of so brave a man. Every man who possesses the slightest particle of magnanimity must admire the qualities for which Stonewall Jackson was celebrated — his heroism, his bravery, his sublime devotion, his purity of character. He is not the first instance of a good man devoting himself to a bad cause. Let us devoutly acknowledge the Providence of God, who, while He smites that accursed land with famine, and the people with madness, takes from their accursed cause its bravest, noblest, purest defender. Stonewall Jackson was a great General, a brave soldier, a noble Christian, and a pure man. May God throw these virtues against the sins of the secessionist, the advocate of a great national crime.
’
An expected raid on Washington
The people in Washington have been very much frightened during the last week by ap- prehensions of a rebel raid on Washington.--A correspondent of the Philadelphia Inquirer, writing on the 14th inst., says:‘ Reports of a cavalry raid upon the national capital, via the chain bridge, circulated freely, citizens of Georgetown seemed to have great anxiety, on Tuesday, with the Stuart or Mosby were about rivalling impudence of the Harris Light Cavalry, when they dashed up to the gates of Richmond a short fortnight since. Lest such a foolish movement might be indulged in by the rebel mad caps, it is said the planks of the chain bridge were removed, while a full battery was stationed at the Aqueduct bridge. No doubt the enemy would like to pay us off in our own coin, but it is not probable that they will find the fortifications about Washington as empty of defenders as were the rebel earthworks at Richmond.
Gen. Lee is presumed to be meditating the offensive, from the fact that he has detained the surgeons and nurses who crossed with the ambulances to look after our wounded. At the United States and Banks's fords he has placed batteries in position, and it looks much as if he designed an advance over the Rappahannock; and an attack upon our army. It may be, however, that he himself fears a forward movement on the part of Gen. Hooker.
’
European News.
News from Europe is two days later than the advices of the Bohemian.Our reports from England are of a more pacific character.
The case of the alleged privateer Alexandria was set down among the first for trial in the Court of Exchequer, Westminster, London, before a special jury. It was reported that a Union agent, versed in maritime law, would be dispatched to London to assist Mr. Adams with his advice towards an early settlement of all cases arising between the two countries in consequence of seizures or searches at sea.
The London Times cautions the British public who sympathize with the Union not to favor the establishment of a precedent for the search of neutral vessels at sea, which may be ultimately used to "harass" English commerce in all parts of the world. The London Times adds that, if American writers or speakers are to be trusted, England will have to call "all the weapons she may possess into play before long.
