We have received a copy of the Washington Chronicle of Sunday, the 20th instant. Gold closed at the evening exchange, Saturday evening, in New York, at 219¾. There is literally nothing of interest from the North.
A blockade raised.
Lincoln has raised the blockade on Norfolk, Fernandina and Pensacola, in a proclamation, in which he says:‘ Now, therefore, be it known that I, Abraham Lincoln, President of the United States, pursuant to the authority in me vested by the fifth section of the act of Congress, approved on the 13th day of July, 1861, entitled "An act further to provide for the collection of duties on imports and for other purposes," do hereby declare that the blockade of the said ports of Norfolk, Fernandina and Pensacola shall so far cease and determine, from and after the first day of December next, that commercial intercourse with those ports, except as to persons, things and information contraband of war, may, from that time, be carried on, subject to the laws of the United States, to the limitations, and in pursuance of the regulations which may be prescribed by the Secretary of the Treasury, and to such military and naval regulations as are now in force, or may hereafter be found necessary.
’
Sherman's Prospects.
The New York Herald, noticing the wild rumors about Sherman, says:‘ We know positively that Sherman is in motion, and that is all that we do know. It is useless to speculate upon the exact line of his march, or the exact point that lies at the end of that line. The significance of his movement is clear enough. He goes to occupy certain important points in the Southern States, and they are the points that will best enable him to hold the country. He may choose what towns will answer this purpose best; for all are at his mercy. His operation is one that flows naturally out of the position that the war now stands in. The Southern States are absolutely denuded of all defensive force. Every man is in the armies that hold the frontier, under Lee, Early or Beauregard. We have matched each of those armies with equal armies, and hold them still with equal armies; and for the practical purposes of war, this is the same as if we had put those armies out of existence. Thus the Southern country lies helpless before us — practically conquered — and we march in and "possess it," just as Old Abe promised that we should in his first proclamation.
’
The Western conspiracy.
The military commission at Indianapolis is still engaged in the investigation of the conspiracy against the Government. Last Saturday, one Harrison Cornell, an elderly man, from Martin county, Indiana, testified as follows:I am acquainted with Stephen Horsey; I have known of ammunition being concealed in Martin county; I do not know who brought it into the county; I met Horsey at the Shoals one day, and he made an appointment for me to meet him on a certain evening, about a mile and a half from the town, on the railroad; I met him at the appointed time, and he took me to the spot, where we found some ammunition at the foot of a tree; there was a keg of powder and some packages of lead and caps; we put them in a sack and carried them to my barn, where I secreted them in my granary and covered them over with threshed oats; when I was arrested I gave the ammunition up to the detectives; I do not know where the money came from to buy it.
The Judge Advocate here closed his examination. Mr. Gordon cross-examined the witness, and elicited the following additional facts; I was at a meeting in the Gaddis House, where one Stone presided; heard the obligation administered, but cannot repeat it, as I have a bad memory.
Question by the defence.--Were you sworn into the service of Jeff. Davis?
Answer.--Stone, the man who initiated me, made a speech to that effect. We were told we were in the service of Jeff. Davis, and that if we were captured we would be exchanged like any other prisoners. There was a good deal of dissatisfaction about it among the members.
An arrest for Treason.
Dr. John McElwee, editor of the Hamilton (But the county, Ohio,) True Telegraph, was arrested onthe 15th instant and taken to Cincinnati, in pursuance of an indictment found against him by the grand jury of the United States Court. He is charged, under the act of July 17, 1862, section 2, with giving aid and comfort to the rebels through the columns of the paper which he was editing.--The articles specified are found in the issue of the Telegraph of July 21, 1864. The first, which is addressed "To the Patrons of the True Telegraph," and signed by John McElwee, is an editorial article, and advocates the separation of the States. The second, headed "The Ground Swell," protests against the draft, and suggests resistance to it.--The third and last mentioned, headed "Lincoln's Government," is abusive of the same, discourages enlistments, and opposes the draft. He was held to bail in three thousand dollars.
Gillem's whipping in East Tennessee.
The following telegram, dated Louisville the 19th, shows that the Yankees have got the news about Gillem's whipping in East Tennessee:Intelligence, deemed reliable, but the accuracy of which cannot be positively determined, says that very recently the rebel General Breckinridge, with ten thousand men, attacked General Gillem, near Bull's gap, Tennessee, and, after a desperate fight, defeated Gillem, who lost four hundred prisoners. The number of killed and wounded is not stated.
No fears of the invasion of Kentucky, as consequent on this reverse, are apprehended, the military authorities being fully prepared to meet any advance of such a force into the State.
Miscellaneous.
Official returns of the State of Wisconsin give Lincoln 7,000 majority on the home vote, and with the home and soldiers vote together, about 15,000. The Congressional delegation stands: Union, four; Democrat, one.On the 8th, there were in Mobile bay the United States steamers Hartford, Richmond, Lackawanna, Monongahela, Kennebec and Metacone, and the monitors Chickasaw, Manhattan and Winnebago.
