We have received Northern papers of the evening of the 18th instant. There is nothing of importance in them.
Sherman's plans — his March a Dangerous one.
The New York Times, writing of Sherman's plans for his march to Richmond, says:‘ It is well known now to the public that General Schofield has a very heavy force near Wilmington, which, of course, will flank any body that Lee may send out south of that point to oppose Sherman's army. We can count the time almost by weeks in which General Sherman, in his victorious march, will form a new base in Wilmington, or at some other point in North Carolina.
’ With these fixed elements of the problem, with an approaching concentration, under the two best generals of the national armies, of some two hundred thousand veteran Union soldiers on the blood-stained fields of Virginia, what is Lee, with his hundred thousand men and his reduced supplies, to do?
We admit that the progress of these various concentrating movements on our part may be delayed. Beauregard, with the remnants of various armies, and the State militia and a corps from Richmond, may defend some of the numerous streams and rivers on Sherman's line of march, and retard his advance. Sherman's own tactics, too, daring as they are, and conceived with true military genius, are full of peril. Still, with all his preparations, his well-known caution and his great force, composed of the best soldiers the Union has sent forth, we may well calculate that not many months will be required to put him, with a powerful and flushed army, on the southern border of Virginia.
Lee, before that event, may have evacuated Richmond, and have taken his position on some new line south of the rebel capital. What then will he do? Will he fight or retreat?
A telegram from Fort Fisher, North Carolina, the 13th, says:
‘ A courier from General Sherman to Admiral Porter arrived at Smithville yesterday, having ridden across the country at great peril, announcing the capture, by Sherman's forces, of the town of Branchville, after three days hard fighting.
’
From the Trans-Mississippi.
A letter from the Trans-Mississippi says:‘ Price's headquarters are at Bonham, Texas, four miles south of Red river, in a fine foraging region.
’ Magruder is at Camden, Arkansas, with a part of his command, but the main body (chiefly cavalry) is on a stealing expedition in Texas. The horses of both commands are in an exhausted condition. Magruder has twenty thousand men on his muster-rolls, two-thirds of whom are effective.
Kirby Smith's headquarters are still at Shreveport, Louisiana. His entire strength is estimated at thirty-eight thousand, only about twenty thousand of which are available.
Immense droves of beef cattle, numbering some hundred thousand head, are roaming on the prairies of Western Texas.
From Nassau.
The Nassau Guardian of the 8th informs us that several blockade-running steamers had returned to port, having been unable to get into Charleston. Between the 6th and 11th instant the steamers Secret, Dream, Florence, Caroline, Chameleon, Virginia, Hansa and Owl returned to Nassau, after unsuccessful efforts to run the blockade.
Miscellaneous.
Richmond is again reported to be in process of evacuation, shipping blown up, and all that sort of thing.Franklin W. Smith, a Boston merchant, has been convicted by court-martial of frauds in the quality of articles furnished to the Government, and sentenced to two years imprisonment and twenty-five thousand dollars fine.
The Canada authorities have succeeded in arresting another of the Chesapeake pirates, named Sinus Seely.
Professor Wm. C. Bond, astronomical director of Harvard University, died on Friday of consumption.
The Rev. R. O. Kellogg, formerly Professor at the Lawrence University, Wisconsin, recently became insane after some revival labors at Fort Atkinson. He was taken to the Insane Asylum at Madison, and during the night dashed his head against the wall with such force as to cause his death.
The mother of Mrs. Admiral Farragut died at Norfolk, Virginia, on Thursday.
