The New York Herald Newspaper, January 1, 1862, Page 4

NEW YORK HERALD. JAMES GORDON BENNETT, EDITOR AND PROPRIETOR. OPFIOR N. W. CORNER OF FULTON AND NASSAU STS. Volume XXViI o—_—— = AMUSEMENTS THIS EVENING. —Paov, Hermvanx. NIBLO'S GARDEN, Brontw: WINTER GARDEN, Broadway.—Liges or KiLtaaxar— Fasur Cincun —Custv4s oF tax Countar. -- e WALLACK’S THEATRE, No, Si4 Broadway.—Scnoot | Fou Soanpat. ps LAURA KEENE'S THEATRE, Broadway.—Lirrix Tow Rosinsow Causox. Aficravon and Evening. NEW BOWERY THEATRE, Bowery.—Afternoon—Ma- warraeMacic TRUMYeI—Swies SwaiNs—CKoss oF GOLD. Heaxe, tux Husten—Macio Bannet—Juxny x Tiger. BOWERY THEATRE, Bowery.—Sricaner’s Narionay Oimove. Afternoon and kvenng.” BARNUM’S AMERICAN MUSEUM. Broadway.—Day and —Onnua—Hirrorotanus, WHALE, AND OTe Uo- BRYANTS’ MINSTRELS, Mechanics’ Hall, <72 Broad wey.—Un Bato in Mascunma. HOOLEY'S MINSTRELS, Stuyvesant Institate, No. 659 .—Ermiorian Sones, Dancss, £0. NIBLO’S SALOON, Broadway.—Pese Fairy Bec ‘Rurceas.—Afternoon and evening at MELODFON CONCERT HALL, No 639 Broadway.— re Dasces, Busresques, &c.—DiaNa. Afternoon and emia. CANTERBURY MUSTO HALL, 585 Broadway.—Soncs, Dances, Buetesques, £0.—Mons. ‘Decustuneay. GAIETIES CONCERT ROOM, 616 Broadway.—Drawixa Boom Ewrgntaiments, Baltets, Pantomimes, Farces, £0. AMERICAN MUSIC HA! 444 Broadway.—Sones, Bat- ‘Lexs, Pawromixns, pil, i m ORYSTAL PALACE CONCERT HALL, No. 45 Bowery.— Buncesques, Songs, Dances, &c.—Jar Por Pix. PARISIAN CABINET OF WONDERS, 563 Broadway.— Open daily trom 10 A M.UE Me si NATIONAL MUSIC HALL, Chatham street.—Buairs- quEs, Sones, Dances, 40. Afternoon and Evening. NOVELTY MUSIC HALL, Bones. Dances, £0. Broadway.—Bux.esquxs, New York, Wednesday, January 1, 1362. THE SITUATION. ‘The. reconnoissance of the pickets, made from the centre of the Army of the Potomac within the past few days, has established the fact that the Pickets of the rebels have been withdrawn two or three miles back from their former position. The inference was that the rebel army was going into winter quarters. The Court of Inquiry, in the case of Colonel Miles, charged with being intoxicated at the battle of Bull ran, has honorably acquitted him of the @harge. The decision is furnished in a report of Beverdy Johnson and R. S. Gillett, in which they declare that the bulk of the evidence produced on the trial goes to show that the charges are entirely false. It appears that another’ officer, who was mistaken for Colonel Miles, was open to the charge Of being intogieated on that day; but as no accnsa- fion has been brought against him, his name is withheld. It is time that justice shoutd be done to Colonel Mites, aftor the protracted and eften post- Poned investigation to which his case has been , Subjected. The expeditiog of General Burnside, which is about to sail from Annapolis, is said to be ready to start at two hours’ notice. It was learned from Some contrabands taken in small canoes off Back river, in the Chesapeake Bay yesterday, that the Inhabitants of Yorktown are in a state of great tre” Pidation, fearing that the destination of General Burnside's expedition is the York river and that a Brand attack is to be made on Yorktown. It is Said that General Magruder telegraphed to Rich. Mond for permission to destroy Yorktown by fire, and that he was directed not to doso except in case of the greatest emergency. Meantime, the rebels are forti¥ying both sides of York river. BRamors were circulated yesterday in Louisville of a general engagement in Southern Kentucky, the particulars of which have not been stated in | @ny quarter on reliable authority. A despatch to the Cincinnati Comziercial from Indianapolis re- Peats the report of a fight in Kentucky, but at | what point is not stated. Gen. Buell, it is stated on the same authority, had ordered a regiment of fusileers and a regiment of light artillery to Green river. The rebel cavalry of Gen. Buckner were said to be within a short distance of the Union pickets, near Green River bridge, and an attack by him upon Colonel McCook, with the expectation of @estroying the bridge, was considered probable. In antisipation of such an event, all the Union | regular troops were thrown across the bridge on Monday morning.. Of the battle which has been reported to have occure’ 9 !'aducah, the particu- lars whereof were said to have been suppressed by telegraph, we have no authentic information. Ta fact, all the intelligence from Kentucky needs Confirmation so far. ince the advance of Gen. Pope's army in Mis souri, everything is said to be quiet. The rebels @re making no demonstration. It was rumored that the people of Arkansas refused to allow the rebel General Price to enter that State with his army, except those regularly enlisted. It was said by a fugitive who was captured and taken to Spring” field by the rebels, and made his escape from them, that Price had taken possession of all the houses in that city for the use of his soldiers, turn- ing all the women and children into the streets; that he had unloaded his wagons and was prepar- ing for a long stay. The Toronto Leader, of the 27th December, on the faith of a statement made by the Halifax, Nova Scotia, Express, of the i3th ultimo, repeats the rumor to which we have before alluded, that John C. Breckinridge, and Mr. Hunter, of Vir- Binia, took passage on that day on board the Canada, from Halifax, to represent the rebel con- feieracy in place of Mason and Slidell. BY \ve Asia at Hatifax—on her way to New York—wut the Etna at this port yesterday, we have News from Yarope to the 22d of December, 1961, seven days late. England continu. jor preparations for war un- Gor the pressure Of ® very inionse and general ex- Citement, stimulated a0 promoted by the daily oMasions of the ministerial ig aristocratic press, Troops wore still mustoring fo service in Canada, although—os the Hemano reporm ahow to-day— the Australasian, Persia, Adriatic, Pavvna, Niagara and other vessels had already been Grpatched, NEW YORK HERALD, WEDNESDAY, J. that the newspapers are disappointed at the fact of his not a!luding to the seizure of the Trent, and interpret his silence on the subject unfavorably to the maintenance of peace. Indeed, it appears as if the commeacement of a war with the United States was accepted 25 a foregone conclusion in Great Britain, and that her Cabinet will be likely to undertake hostilities—for some reason or other— either in the difficulty of the Trent or some other matter. Passengers at Halifax yesterday, from England, state that even the surrender of Mason and Slidell will not satisfy her, and that she will probably object to the sinking of the stoue fleet | at Charleston, in order to induce an excuse for an attempt to “rectify her American frontier” and other matters aot very agreeable in prospect to our people. The London press correspondents in Paris gener- ally say the belief that hostilities between England and Ameriea will not be arrested, had become more general in France. The position which France | would be likely to assume, under such circumstan- | ces, created very great uneasiness in the minds of the English war party; and with good reason, for the Opinion Nationale—the organ of Prince Na- poleon—openly asserts that ‘England is the only enemy of France,’’ while the Revues des Deux Mondes and other French journals, show, in arti- cles of great force and spirit, that the dearest “revolutionary traditions of France’’ are with the United States, and that she cannot be so foolish as to go to war with us in behalf of the only Power onearth which has reason to ‘fear’? our maritime extension. The Revue adds that Eng- land only wants to “conquer bread" for her manu- facturing classes. The Italian press is adverse to England's as- sumption of supremacy on the ocean, and while it condemns the action of Captain Wilkes, it in- clines to a continental adhesion to whatever course France would take in case of war. The London Post of the 17th ultimo says that intelligence reached Kingstown on Saturday morning, by the mail steamer, that a large war steamer, with double funnels, having a gunboat tender alongside, was scen last night and early this morning lying off Holghead. The steamer is the Caractacus, of 806 tons burden. She belongs to the North American government, and has been em- ployed in the Alexandrian trade. She is stated to have been driven into Holyhead harbor by atress of weather on Friday. She Kes inside the great breakwater, and it is stated that her officers for sometime refused te let a pilot or any official on board, no colors being meantime exhibited. A rumor meantime gained considerable circulation that she was laden with ammunition. She wag still lying in Holyhead harhor on Sunday at 3 P. M- when the mail steamer !eft, the Stars and Stripes fying at her masthead, The London Times of the 17th of December re- ports that the Americans in London belonging to the Confederate States manifested satisfaction at the intelligence to-day of the proceedings in Con- gress, on the assumption that all prospect of a sur- render of Messrs. Mason and Slidell, except under compulsion, has thus been terminated. On the other hand the federalists assert that the action of the House of Representatives, unsupport- ed by a corresponding vote of the Senate or by any declaration of the President or the Cabinet coliec- tively, is but of secondary importance,and merely furnishes another illustration of the subserviency of that body to the populace. Those who take this view consider that the avoidance of the subject in the Presidential Message is a far stronger symptomfor good than the other is for evil. They deem that | the President and his advisers had resolved to | wait to hear of the manner in which the affair had been met in England and throughout Europe, and that, having thus paused, they wili not be likely when the accounts reach them to act with andden | recklessness, The American shipping at Havre were, it is said, in a state of panic, owing to the presence of the Nashville at Southampton. The Journal du Havre states that several of the largest American vessels in that harbor have purchased rifled ord- nance and ammunition, 40 a3 to be able to repel an attack, MISCELLANEOUS NEWS. Our European news is dated to the 22d of De- | cember—seven days later. The Liverpool cotton market was rather dul! on ; the Ustantimo. The stock of American on band amounted to 230,500 bales, Breadstuffs were dull and slightly fower in Liveepool, Coasols closed in Jondon on the 21st ultimo at 903% a 90% for money. Of (ull report of the dying moments of Prince Albert, with scenes which took place in the cham ber of death, are very affecting. Queen Victoria bore up under her affliction wonderfally at first, calling her children, who were present, around her and ad- dressing them words of consolation and counsel on the melancholy occasion, The con uct of the Princess Alice towards both ber par ited the unqualified praise of the pressof England; but the remarks in the London Times indicate that the bearing of the Prince of Wales has not been so satisfactory. At the latest moment the health of the Queen was “unsatisfactory,” and the Court had arrived at Osborne. Prince Albert will not be “laid in state,’ nor will he have a “state faneral.’’ A Dublin paper, commenting on his devease, says:—‘: When it is known that one of the last suggestions of the Prince Consort was that gentleness and turbearance should mark the de- meanor of England to a kindred people, soured and inflamed by the passions of civil war, it will en- hance the love of the American people for the Queen, deepen their sorrow for the loss she has sustained, and dull the edge of irrational hostility to England.” ‘The American residents of Paris are earnest and condolence with the Queen. In Haly, at Turin, the budget bas been approved by 232 against 39 votes. The financial statements of Minister Vaelgi produced a good impression in Parliament. The deficit for 1861 is put down at four hundred millions, and for 1862 at three han- dred and seventeen millions. The Council of Prassian Ministers have determined to convoke the Chapbers on the 14th of January. The rumors of @ ministerial crisis in Berlin are un- founded. It bus been decided in London that Parliament is to assembie on Tuesday, the Mth of January. A despatch from London, of the 22d ultimo, filled with the most efficient regiments in 1, Brit ish service, to North America. All the AVBIAd Ie vesacla jo the British Mediterranean fleet had bee, ordered to assemble at Gibraltar to proceed, ag ‘was supposed, to the same destination. President Lincolu’s Message to Congress had been received in England, and elicited a vast pmount of attention. It is quite evident, however, sayathe ship Kon Payson, from Charleston, had arrived at St. Naaaire. | The steamer St. Andrew, of the Quebe; Glasgow line, has been chartered by the Sovernment to convey troops to Canada. | Os Poteet of Aldermen met last evening. The | “! Feport of the Corporation Counsel was pre- | ettted. and one thousand copies ordered to be | = ‘The resolution of the Councilmen, award- | IE $200 20h to the offtcors of Bogrd, was most sincere {on their expression of sympathy and | concurred in. A resolution compl.mentary to the President of the Board, Mr. Genet, was offered by Aldermaa Dayton, to which the President respond- ed in appropriate terms, and the reaolution was unanimously adopted, Resolutions complimenting the subordinate officers of the Board and the re- porters of the press were also adopted, and the seasions of 1861 were brought toa close. The Board of Councilmen were in session over four hours yesterday; but uearly ull the papers dis- posed of referred to unimportant matters, A pe- tition of the Captain of the Montgomery Troop for an appropriation of $5,000 to reimburse them for mounting and equipping the regiment was referred to the Committee on National Affairs. A donation of $500 was made to the Inebriase's Home. A long list of Commissioners of Deeds, whose ap- pointment was recommended for confirmation, was concurred in, A committee from the Board of Aldermen announced that they were about ad- journing sine die, whereupon the President stated that the Councilmen had no communication to make. He instructed the committee to tender his thanks for the uniform courtesy extended to the Beard during the year by the Aldermen. The Board adjourned till Thursday, which will be the last meeting. Skating was resumed yesterday on the lower pond of the Central Park, and about fifteen thou- eand persons visited the ice during the day. The ice became very soft after the sun had passed the meridian, and unless there should have been colder weather during the night the chances of skating to-day are poor. However, should it ‘not actually thaw, both ponds of the Park will be thrown open to the public as a New Year's present. Where the ice on the upper pond has broken away, through the effects of the wind, the holes have been fenced in with barrels and planks, so as to allow the sound ice to be used. Should the Public be disap- pointed in skating, through the softening of the weather, the Park authorities wi!l not deserve blame,as they have done what they could to enable the ice to be used. In the Court of Genera! Sessions yesterday Joseph Georgi, who pleaded guilty a few days since to manslaughter in the second degree, was sentenced by the Recorder to the State prison for seven years and six months. Valentine Coomb was convicted of an assault with an intent to do bodily harm, and sent to the city prison for thirty days. A private despatch received from Washington states that General McClellan, on investigating the specifications of the charges against Brigadier General Benham, has ordered the latter's release from arrest, and he is to be, ordered at once to duty. This will be grateful ews to the numerous friends of this brave officer. We are under obligations to Wm. Tobin, of the Union Goast Guard, Colonel Wardrop, at Fortress Monroe. for late Southern newspapers. The market for beef cattle opened buoyently yesterday, at an advance of a quarter of a cent oa all grades, but closed heavy. Prices ranged from six toten cents. Milch cowa, veals, calves and sheep and lambs were steady and unchanged. Swine were active at three to foar cents for still fed. The receipts were as follows: —3,889 beeves, 86 cows, 204 veals, 7,733 sheep and lambs, and 40,488 swine. Our regular report of the market, published in our weekly edition, will contain the figures for the entire year, as they have appeared in our columns from week to week. We may re- mark here that the receipts of Leef cattle daring the year have been enormous, amounting to not far from 225,000 head. The cotton market was firmor yesterday, while the sales, in lots, embraced about 700 bales, closing on the basis of 37¢. a 88e. for middling uplands. The tour mar kot was firmer butnot active, and closed at about 5¢.,and in some cases a3 much as 10c. yer bb!. higher. Wheat was hold abov jews of buyers. The demand was good and prices quite firm, with moderato sales, in part for export. Corn was fir: chiefly sold at 66c. in store and afloat, ‘for shipping lots Western mixed." Pork was tieavy, while sales of 700 bbls. were made, in lots, atgl2a $12 50 for old and new mess, and at $9 a $9 50 for new, | and prime mass at $13 26 a $13 75; India mese sold at $21. Sugars were firm, with sales of 200 2300 hhas. The jock of sugars on hand is 36,663 bhds., against 1,638 at the same time last year. Coffeo was quiet but firm; the stock embraced 44,017 bags of Rio. ‘Total of all kinds on hand, 71,060 bags. Freights were stealy, with mode rate engagements. The Sinking Cause of Jeff. Davis and His Southern Confederacy. ‘The independent cotton confederacy of Jeff. Davis has seen its best days. Under the in- creasing pressure of our fleets and armies, it is reduced to the condition of a city inested by an overwhelming force and cut off from its sup- plies. Growing up. as in a single night, intoa luxuriant developement, like Jonah’s gourd, it is wilting as rapidly away. V'rom every quar- ter of the South, in every variety of manifesta- tion, the facts and the evidence are daily accu- | mulating upon our hands tbat nothing but the intervention of England or France can prevent | this overstrained and exhausted rebellion from collapsing within Mr. Seward’s limitation of ninety days, like the Great South Sea Bubble or any other audacious but shallow imposture. In the interesting statements which we pub- lished yesterday from two Union refugees who bad run the gauntlet of the Davis despotism | from Texas te Indiana, there are some very el eel mo ow i. Siggestive disclosures. Thus it appears out “blockade is depriving the people (of the re- volted States) of many of the necessaries of } fe: that “their currency is in the most wretch- ed condition, and is daily growing worse, while the sugar and cotton planters have already — mortgaged their plantations. in order to raise | means of subsistence for their families and slaves:” that “gold and silver (down the Mis- sissippi) have almost entirely disappeared, the former being at thirty-five per cent premium, and the latter not to be had at any price ;” that “many of the most intelligent and influential of the sugar and cotton planters frankly acknow- ledge that their ruin is sealed, unless the block- ade is raised; and of that they are beginning to lose all hope;” and that “ already in the city of New Orleans a large and formidable organiza- | tion of Union men exists, which is ripe for in- | surrection when they are satisfied that a federal | army is in a position to sustain them.” We are entirely satisfied of the truth of all these statements, and are as well convinced that they afford but a faint conception of the ; wreichedness, destitution, confusion and despe- ration which prevail throughout all the States groaning under the iron heel of this rebellion. We give to-day some confirmatory extracts from | the editorial columns of a stray copy of the | New Orleans True Delta which has fallen into | our possession. The first of these extracts is | a leading article of that paper on the late mes- sage of Jeff. Davis to his Confederate Congress at Richmond. The editor does not believe that the peculiar logic of Davis will convince Eng- land or France of the inefficiency of: eral blockade, or bring either of those Powers to his assistance, bAt argues that European ne tions are not to be gained to the rebel cause by foolishly refusing them any cotton exvept through Confederate ports. Jn the next article | of our New Orleans philosopher, on “The Pros pect,” he thinks that praying and fasting are | not equal to the duty of coping with Enfield | rifles and rifled cannon, for that Providence often takes the side of the’heaviost artillery; that our “formidable fleets” have created a ter “pect” of an independent ; many branches of rible panic throughout the South; that Fernan- dina, Brunswick, Savannah, and other places on the Southern seacoast, are in great danger of sharing the fate of Cape ffatteras, Port Royal and Ship Island; and that, in short, “the pros- Southern Utopia within any reasonable period of time is exceed- ingly gloomy. But the third article, that on “Government Speculation,” from our doleful New Orleans contemporary, we are gratified to say, reveals the fact that all the swindling jobs of govern- ment officials, contractors, bucksters, sharpers and rogues are not confined to the public ser- vice of the United States. Judah P. Benjamin, the head of the rebel Department of Justice at Richmond, has at least one subordinate who deals out “justice” by first extorting silver from the people, and then selling it at fourteen per cent premium; and this, we are told, is in “per- fect keeping with the extraordinary conduct still pursued by the Post Office Department.” “Indeed,” says our indignant New Orleans edi- tor, still harping on the Richmond rebel junta, it is no exaggeration to say that Buchananism isin full and magnificent developement, the machinery to conduct it is perfect, a complete espionage over the telegraph, the exercise of unregulated and unrestrained power over the export trade of the country, the unlimited and arbitrary control of logal machinery, by which the property of one citizen is illegally and des- potically taken from him without adequate compensation, while that of another is paid for at enormous prices, and the most profligate abuse of authority generally in every depart- ment is the rule.” This testimony is from a New Orleans editor, and we take it directly from his own columns. There can be no doubt that he is telling the truth; and, though we are sure that he does not tell the whole truth, he tells enough to show that Jeff. Davis, with his Southern confederate despotism, is fast becoming a public nuisance in the estimation of his victims. But, it may be asked, if there is such an intolerable despot- ism existing in the revolted States, how is it that this New Orleans editor is per- mitted to speak so freely? The answer is given in our preceding information that there is a large and formidable Union league existing in New Orleans, “ripe for insur- rection,” and that it is only awaiting the appear_ ance of a federal invading force to break out into open revolt. Our New Orleans editor has the league at bis back, and Davis and his tools are aware of it. New Orleans, it will also be borne in miad, is the financial centre and commercial metropo- lis of our rebellious Confederate States; so that with its restoration to the Union, through the as- sistance of its “formidable Union organization,” we may expect a grand succession of such esca- pades, from New Orleans around to Richmond, and thence through the interior to Nashville, ut- terly breaking up the Davis despotism, root and branch. Let England and France exercise their patience and philosophy a month longer, and two things’ will be made manifest to them——first, that the Southern cotton nationality of Davis and his confeder: is an exploded bubble ; second, that the government of the United Siates is a fixed and endusing reality among the great Powers of the earth. The Failuwes of the Year—How the South Has Carricd on War at the Expense of the North. We publish on another page the important statistical statement of the Mercantile Agency of Dun & Co., of this city, giving the aggregates of the failures in the different States of the North during the last year, and of the States of the South up to the Ist of May, together with the liabilities, in the chief cities of the Union. These tables are highly interesting and instruc- tive. One of the most remarkable and curious features which they exhibit is the comparison between the facts and figures of the failures of 1857 and 1861. In J in the Northern States, there were 4,257 failures, amounting to $265,818,000; in the past year the failures were 5,935 in the Northern States, being an excess of 1,678 over those of the year 1657, while tho liabilities are only $178,632,170, being a dimi- nution of $87,185,830 on those of 1857. The reason why the aggregate liabilities in money is less, though the number of failures is so much greater, is that ihe amount of business done was much smaller in the past year. the importa- tions being greatly diminished on account of the war, the disposiiion of every seller and every buyer being to take in sail in view of the storm; while, on the other hand, the number of failures is increased on account of the terrible political convulsion through which the country is passing, destroying or impairing a great ayes In 1857 the larger private banking, impofting and commission houses were the heaviest sufferers. In 1861, on the contrary, the jobbing houses have been the chief losers, The commercial crisis of 1857 was caused by overtrading, and was artificial in its nature. There was no necessity for it had prudence prevailed. The commercial crisis of 1861 arose from political events, but for- tunately came upon the country at a time when it was well prepared for it. Never was the trade of the United States in so healthy a con- dition. Were it not for that the commercial disasters would have been far more extensive. If the demon of discord had not divided the country and produced » civil war, there never was such prosperity as there would have been during the last year, owimg to the short crops in Europe, the abundant crops here, and the consequent excessive exports of bread- stuffs. At an early period of our domes- tie troubles it will be recollected by all our readers that we earnestly advised them to con. tract their expenses, The saving produced in | this way is estimated by Dun & Co. at $100 per family, amounting in the aggregate to $400,000,- 900. This will go a considerable way in de- fraying the expense of the war. It is worthy of remark that of the total fail- | 57, to New | ures at the North, nwnbering 4,2 York city and Brooklyn belong 915-—more than one-fifth of the whole; while of the whole lia- bilities, amounting to $265,818,000, more than haif—namely, $1:5,129,000—:nust be assigned to New York and its suburb over the Kaat river—showing the vast amount of business transacted in the great Impire City of the Union. In Boston the failures numbered only , and amounted in money to $41,000,000, In Philadelphia the failures were 280, but the amount of money was still less-than in Boston, namely, $32,954,000. It isin vain for Phila- deiphia or Boston to think of coping with New York in business. In the Southern States the failures have far ox, seeded those in the North in proportion. In ANUARY 1, 1862. ness of $25,932,000, while the partial returns or the year 1861 reveal 1,058 failures, with lia- bilities amounting to $28,578,257, although the returns from the revolted States embrace re- turns only for four months, when the facilities of communication were cut off. This excess of failures arises from the fact that many of them wore voluntary, and for the purpose of evading obligations to the North. Subsequent State ac- tion annulled all Northern claims. To New York city the South owes $159,800,000; to Phila~ delphia, $24,600,000; to Boston, $7,600,000; to Ballimore, $19,600,000. The entire indebtedness to these four cities is 211,000,000, and it is estimated that (here is about ninety millions more due to the rest of the loyal cities and the States of the North, making a total of three hundred millions, of which more than one-half is due to the city of New York. In dry goods alone New York lost seventy-five millions by the-de- falcations of the South. It is thus evident that the South has been fighting us of the Northern States with our own money during the last year. The three hun™ dred millions due to us have been employed in breaking up the Union. The Southern rebels have used our capital against ourselves. With- out it and the arms and ammunition of*which they plundered us they could have done nothing: Now that our capital in their hand#is exhaust- ed, the sinews of war will soon fail them, and the rebellion will die of sheer exhaustion. The Prophet Russell Upon American In- ‘ J stitations. Still remaining in a country whose integrity he opposes, whose institutions he slanders, whose policy he misrepresents, and whose hospitality he abuses, Mr. L.L. D. Russell continues to write silly letters upon American affairs to the London Times. Having lost here what little reputation he had as a correspondent, he now seems anxious to convince those who read his letters that he is a prophet. The num- ber of such phrases as “I told you so before,” and “as I formerly predicted,” and “as I said it would be,” and “as I told you months ago,” contained ia his letters, would baffle the Light- ning Calculator to compute. That Mr. Russell brought extraordinary pow- ers to his prophetic work no one can doubt. He had been in this country but a very short time before we discovered that he reported oc- currences upon the clairvoyant principle, and that it was not at all necessary for him to be present in order to accurately describe any in- cident.cr occurrence. His description of the battle of Lull run, for instance, and of the panic that ensued, was a masterly piece of workmanship. It was impossible for ordinary people to undersiand how Mr. Russell could describe so vividly things which he never saw, and, indeed, things which never actually occurred. He was not upon the battle field, and yot he confidently asserted that no batteries were charged by the federal troops. Itis true that all the official reports give the lie direct to Mr. Russell's statements; but, then, what is the veracity of an official report com- pared to that of a Times correspondent? Mr. Russell was Rowhere hear the baitle field, and yet he saw Capt. Meagher play the coward. It is true that all of the officers of the Sixty-nimth and all other persons who were witnesses of the contest agree that Capt. Meagher fought like ahero; but then Meagher is only an Irish- man, and Russell is that lusus nature, an Irish tory. After the battle Mr. Russell wrote that he encouraged, animated and talked with the flying soldiers. Itlis true that a gentleman who was with Mr. Russell during the ride to Wash- ington contradiets these assertions, and says that Russell did nothing but spur up his horse and beat a hasty retreat; but is Russell’s word to be doubted upon such evidence? Certainly not. Russell is a medium, aad sees things by clairvoyance. It is not necessary for him to see a battle in order to know ali about it, or to be pré&ent with men in order to converse with them. With such powers it is singular that the prophet Russell has not sueceeded very well in his predictions. Our readers will remember that when he first came to this country he grasped the whole question with that facility of observation aud readiness of deduction peculiar to his genius, and immediately informed us that the Union would be peaceably dissolved, be- cause our merchants were apathetic, and pre- ferred eating strawberriés and cream to fight- ing the rebels. We ull know hdw completely that prophecy has been fulfilled. It must be source of gratification to the eminent British seer to review that trnthful prediction, A Wooster street “seventh son of a seventh son,” of the tribe to which Mr. Russell aspires to be- long, would curse his unlucky stars, and either commit suicide or change his place of business forthwith, if he had made sagt fiasco and it were found out. But, Rifsell is no ordinary soothsayer. Such failures do not in the least diapitit him. His “‘self-consciousness,” as Oakey Hall calls Massa Greeley’s vanity, is altogether too great lo admit of a defeat. He picks his prophetical flint and tries again. This time he predicts a Northern civil war because fremont was not presented with a real sword for nothing. Evidently he imagines that the Pathfinder intends to burke Honest Old | Abe, transfix the Cabinet like pigeons on a skewer, and seize the government, Consefous- however, that he is unprophetically behind the age, and that he has read in the Henan that the | abolition conspiracy is unpopular, and only exhibits itseif in certain non. combative ways, peculiar to the ex- citable Greeley and the virulent Phillips, Mr. Russell shifts his ground and bolsters up his prediction of a Northern civil war by the excessively subtle and abstruse arguments that the leading New York dailies ave discnss- ing their relative circulation, and that New York city has elected a new Mayor. fore, says the oracular Russell, of course we shall have a Northern civil war. Common sonse people do not see the deduction, and think the argument rather obscure. But, then, ix not obveurity a prophetic quality? Why, for thousands of years the world has been puzzling itself over some of the Biblical predictions, and | can yet make nothing out of them. Regarding Russell, as we do, as not only the equal, but the superior, of such fellows aa Jeremiah and Hosea, we defy any one to find any weaning in his ut- terances in any less time than twice as many thousand years. To be oracular one must be obaenre. What is the use of being a prophet if every one can understand your reasons for your predictions? Nor is.the objection less trivial that the rea- sons contradict the prophecy ; for if the papers have no greater matter than their circulation to discuss, and if the people can become so excited 1857 thegnumber wes 675, with an Indebied- | about such an unimportant affair as a mayoralty election, then, certainly, there can be no great conspiracy brewing. But is it not the privilege of a prophet to contradict bimself, tf he tiles ’ All religions have contradictory doginas; and are we, therefore, lo be without any religion t Ab, no; Mr. Russell seems to wriie trash; but be knows more ebout this country, ils people and jnstitutions than evea Lord Lyons, who expounds our constitution forus, or the London Times, which informs us chat we persecute British resi- dents and drive them out of the country, Whea he sees conspiracy breeding in a newspaper discussion about circulation, aud civil war preg: nant in a charter election, we ielks wio have not the gift of double vue had better be sileay and look out for squalls. There. | We have not the slightest doubt that Rus- sell’s predictions of a Northern civil war wilt prove as true as his assertions that the North would never fight ; that the Union oan never be res‘ored, and that the people would resist the surrender of Mason and Slidell. It is with ua- feigned sorrow we notice that zeveral of our con- temporaries write Russell down an ass, and that people generally regret that the threatened war with England did not at least result in the ejeo- tion or suspension of Russell. Russell does lie; villify, slander, abuse, misrepresent, traduce the North and support the rebelg, it is true ; but then he ig a prophet and an Irish Englishman, and ought to have a little license; if it be only a licenge to leave. Later rrom Evouanp—Tus Lonpon Jovnnaa oN THE Presipent’s Messaax.—The advices re- ceived by the Asia and Etna, although sevea days later, are of but little importance, their chief interest consisting in the comments of the English press on President Lincoln's Mes- sage, and in the details of Prince Albert’s last moments, with speculations on the political of fect of his death. The London Ties quarrels with the Message because it is non-committal on the affair of the Trent, on the emancipation ques- tion, on the financial schemes of the government, and on several other matters which it would be useful for that journal to know the President's sentiments upon, ia order that it might base upon them further attacks upon him and his administration, and aqd to the exasperated state of feeling which it has been the chief in- strument in creating against this country. In- stead of attacking the Message for its reserve, itseems to us that our contemporary should have accorded it praise for a quality which brings it so near to the standard of royal speeches, the great merit of which, according | to European ideas, is their skilful evasion ef everything which it is interesting for people to know. The Morning Post, Lord Palmerston’s organ, exhibits its usual ignorance of the con: stitution of the public mind in this country by } founding on the vote of thanks passed by the | House of Represontatives to Captain Wilkes, the’anticipation that the demands of England if the case of the Trent would raise a tremendous storm here. The utter indifference with whick these worthies will be returned to the protec- tion of the Union Jack will, we imagine, ea- lighten the Post, and the English press gene- rally, as lo the absurdity of their again attempt. ing to base political calculations on the as- sumed analogy between British and Americaa ideas. The manner in which the decision of the adwninistration in this affait has been arrived at and received by our people ought to be suffi- cient to convince them that our government is as little under the dominion of what they call mob influences as that of any European nation. The Queen’s Messenger to Washington. CAPTAIN C. C. SBYMOUR AT THE EVERBTT LOUS‘-—-HIS DEPARTURE FOR ENGLAND BN THE CUNARD MA(L STEAMER AMERICA, ETC. Captain G. C. Seymour, who was tho special messenger of Queon Victoria, with despatches from the Fogkah gov. ernment to Lord Lyons, the British Minister ia Washing- ton, arrived at the Everett House on Monday, and will sail for Europe in the Gunard mail steamer Amorica to- day, carrying with him despat¢hes from Lord Lyons to the English government. Those despatches will no doubt consist of tha terms agroed upon by the United Statesand the British Minister at Washington in regard to Mason and Slidell, the rebdi commissioners from the South for England, and a full report of the correspondence on that subject, aa it appeared in the European edition of the Hazatn. The America consequently will sustain no delay in her regular hour of departure, as she anchored in the rev& yes- terday evening for that special purpose, and her passengers wil! Bo conveyed ina boat from the Cunard dock in Jersey City. She leaves at an early hour, and the aext arrival at this port will be the Asia, which reached Halifax yes- terday. Tho Mason and Siidell affair, with the decision of the government of the United States, and the corres. pondence between our goverpment and Engiand, will ot road with more than ordinary interest in the otber coun. try frem our columns. Therefore the arrival of thie steamer wili be anxiously locked for at the other side of the AUantic by parties of all classes, croeds and political opinions; and he cond sons upon which the prysent amicable arrangements have been secured will no doubt mect withthe hearty concurrence and approbation of our English friends. tors of themselves, eouvince must, even the moat skeptical that, in tho part whi U States has taken, she pag acted @ moat sraiseeoy laudable part, The which cannot fail to moot with the ‘Appreciation of all the great Powors. Movements of General Scott. General Scott bas remained im strict sectusion in hts apartments at the Brevoort House since his return from Furope. His health has been much benefitted by the ayo across Une Atlantic, and the old hero is now in the enjoyment of good health and fine spirits. He doe not intond leaving this city sor Washington for some tim" tocome. Since his return @ large number of distin. guished and infvential citizens have called upon him a the Breyoort Honso. Among those who called yesterday were Hon. Henry Wilson, af Massachusetts ; Roy. De. Luther Bradish, BRq. | Pots, a The following copy of insolt-— Captain John T. Brace, Assistant Adjutant General o the Excelsior Brigade, hae leave of absence for ten days, w visit New York on urgent private business. 1D. i. SICKLES, Brig. Gen. Com. Came Brapronn, Dec. 2t, t , wish permiasion to for as JOSEPH HOOKER, Gon. of Div. tain Libenau, formerly appointed Assistant Adiu tant General, did not report to General Sickles, bub tis been tranaterred to another command, a official document explaim Harsun’s Muskom —To-day, in order to gratify the crowds which, on the frst of the year, always throng the Museum, the new fairy spectacte of ‘Ondina” will bere, presented nearly every honr, beginning at haif-past ten & | M. We perceive that the last bulletin of the health the whale gives rather an unfavorable account of hiv condition, Those who hays not as yot seqn this inter. ng monster Lad better be quick about It, 08, from at accounts, he is 1 on “to shufie off his mortal coil," PRak Vawtny oF Rine afternoon ard avoning the Bell Ringers give their interesting per formances. ‘The day performance begins at two o'cluet, and the evening commeaces at thousual bout. Nisto’s Garoey.—Horrmann will give be uauet pret. digitatorial performance to-night at this house, @ ANew Comet.--A teloscopic comet was discoverd by | Mr. Horace P. Tuttie, at the Harvard College Obsarva. tory, carly on Sunday morning, neat the bright ster Tete Virginnis, Mr. Bead’ sends the following account ¢ the comet to the Poston Advertiser: — A comet was discovered this morning at thtee o'clock, by Mr. Horas ‘Tuttle, in the conateilation Virg», follows —Right aacension, 14l., igm.; 4. south tng evouing the groat comet wi) ah ap- Joly faat was still easily seen with the grows lis distance from the earth was aleve throw ‘The periotical pumet of A FOND. Onagnyatony ov Harvann Qorsnae, Dec. 20, Ubi, telaseope. bentred millions of miles, Kncke was also plainly visible to the naked ey: GP.